Sunday, April 06, 2008

Putzing don't pay

My idea of a dream house has never included stairs. My earliest memories of them are plagued with creepy crawlies lurking in the dark and chilly basement. Ascending stairs requires way too much energy, descending is bad for my knees (oh no, Ma-- I'm complaining of knee pain already!), and vacuuming them is just a nuisance. Plus, I have this nagging fear of kids falling off ledges and through railings and down stairs. No, I'd much prefer a safe and sound one-story house. In China, where free land is scarce, yards cease to exist and a "dream house" is only large because it's layered into five or six stories. Such is the case of the home where Chris and Emily had been living.

Wednesday night we had our last sleepover at their house before their return to the homeland (we miss you already!) and I suffered quite a poignant reminder of my aversion to stairs. Basically, long, velour pants + hardwood stairs + holding Didi so no arms to catch my fall =



In true Goodwin-style, I giggled my way through the pain of the crash so none of us thought much of it until we noticed that the entire left side of my bottom had swelled and hardened to an African booty proportion. Actually, this isn't a picture of my bruise-- you can probably tell it's an arm. Even from a strictly clinical standpoint, Kyle refused to let me photograph my injured rump. I think my award-winning shiner is even more impressive than this one, though. Mine is still colored solid black, though it's starting to purple around the edges, and measures the size of a small planet (8" x 5.5" oval). I'm happy to report that last night I was finally able to sleep on my back and the limp has been replaced by a nice, comfortable waddle. I've been chugging lots of oj, but it looks like this shiner is here to stay...


In better news, spring is here! And Ellie finally let me put her hair in pigtails.





8 comments:

The Country Larsen's said...

Sorry to hear about your bruise! Can't say I blame Kyle for not lettting you take a picture!:)
Ellie's hair look's super cute in pigtail's though!

blaine and michelle said...

It reminds me of the Ivan incident...you are just so happy and nice, so you don't notice when you're seriously injured (or you do, but refuse to burden others with the knowledge). You should have shown me the bruise on Skype, though. And I LOVE Ellie's hair. I can't believe Didi's so big and I haven't even met him in person yet. Hopefully soon!

Joe and Christie said...

STOP TORTURING ME WITH THESE ADORABLE CHILDREN!!!!

...I already said I would come visit :)

[JK, you know I love it-]

Sorry about your bruise--I understand the hazardous nature of daily existence, particularly stairs. Now Ivan has a friend!

liso. said...

Hey, Tiff! Just going through some old Uganda emails and stumbled on your blog address! Such cute kids and great stories!!!...

It's great to hear what you're up to! (Sounds like such a different tiff than we knew in Uganda! :)

...we missed you at our get together back at christmastime...let us know if/when you ever come back to utah and we'll plan another!

-liso

S. said...

Thank you Kyle for nixing the bruise pics. I know we're related, but still... Yeeesh.

I would much rather see pictures of the kids, who are at least as big as your bruise, anyway.

Emily said...

You know we thought Didi had died or something when you screamed. I was glad to know that he was okay and I'm even happier that I was able to see that bruise first hand...from a clinical perspective of course. Ellie's pig tails are super cute and do help differentiate her from the nan haizi.

Sharn Woo said...

Aww! I hope you're feeling better!

Marilyn said...

I'm super disappointed. i want to see a picture of your rump!!