Monday, September 28, 2009

Our first Broken Bone...

And it wasn't Jake....it was poor Jenna. The worst part is that it took a week before we realized that it was broken. Talk about feeling horrible.

Jenna was out back while we were closing the pool. She was on a bouncy dinosaur (like the bouncy horse I had as a kid on the 4 springs with a metal frame). She's played on it many times before, but this time, she took a tumble and of course, it was on the cement since we had moved it to mow the grass earlier. After settling her down and doing everything we new to check...moved her fingers, no bulging bones, could bend her wrist, elbow and shoulder, nothing was swollen...we wrote it off to a minor tumble and possible sprained wrist. She even ate ice cream later that night with her sore hand.

Later that week, as she tried to keep up with Jake, she fell a couple of times and we could tell that it was still bothering her. And of the three kids, Jenna by far as the highest pain tolerance. She has fallen before and received skinned knees without a tear. The first time, we told ourselves that it was due to the fact that it was sprained and sore. The next time, a week later, we both agreed that we needed to get it checked out at the Dr. Durhams.


So, Monday morning I got Jenna in at 10:40..by 11:30 we were still waiting to see the Dr and poor Jenna was starting to get hungry and tired. The sucker and crackers that I brought with us were long gone.. Dr. Durham is wonderful. He calmed me down and did his normal checks. After seeing that there was a tender spot on her right wrist, he sent us down for x-rays.


Jenna sat on my lap for the x-rays and did wonderfully. It was after 1:00 at this point and I think that she was practically falling asleep, but still not a peep out of her. She was just taking it all in and being very observant. We went back upstairs where Dr Durham met us at the top of the stairs to tell me that Jenna would indeed need a cast. Of course, I felt like the worst mom in the world and I could barely see the x-rays through my teary eyes. He told me what it was, but everything was a blur after I heard the word cast. All I knew was that I was to be back at the Hospital at 4:10 to meet with the Orthopedic Specialist.


This gave me time to get Jenna some lunch, and drive home to get Leigh while Jenna slept in the car. Thank goodness Leigh came with us. Dr Clark was great. We found out that it was a buckle fracture which he admitted was hard to diagnose without an x-ray. He actually gave us the option of putting it in a splint for 4-5 weeks or casting it for 2. After finding out that the cast would be waterproof, it was a no-brainer. Jenna definitely has a strong personality and I just knew that if she didn't want to put the splint back on, it was going to be a long 4-5 weeks.


Jenna has adjusted wonderfully. She loves the Barbie pink cast and the special attention that comes with it. She was coloring with her left hand and dancing around the living room like normal that night. Megan turned into Jenna's other mother and has been taking very good care of her. Jake has learned to stay away from that right hook...


I, on the other hand, will now be that obnoxious mother that takes her kids to the Dr. for every bump or bruise.





Friday, September 25, 2009

Snuggle Bugs

Here is another picture that I had to share. The kids love to watch their shows all snuggled in our bed. It was nap time, but they all said that they "weren't tired", so I agreed to let them watch one show first for quiet time before they took their naps. Ten minutes later, Jake came into the Living Room and grabbed my hand. He led me into the bedroom to show me this...

How Precious


Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Young 5s

Where does the time go....hard to believe that Summer is over already.

Megan was very excited to start school again. She LOVES school. I only hope that love continues.


Megan's first day of Young 5s was an orientation day. We got to meet the teacher, find her locker and check out the classroom. Megan was disappointed that she didn't get to ride the bus and stay longer, but we turned it into a fun mother/daughter day. Orientation was followed with a lunch at Pizza Hut with some of her other classmates and then the real treat was her first Pedicure. She wanted a design painted on her toes, and didn't appreciate my attempts which ended up being polka dots. So, I surprised her with a trip to the Nail Saloon. It was alot of fun and she was so excited to show everyone her toes.



Day #2 of school, Megan got to ride the bus from her new Sitters. (For those of you that don't know, we had to switch at the last minute since Megan was in the morning class and LouAnn doesn't watch kids in the afternoon. We sure do miss LouAnn, but her new sitter has been great too. She knows alot of the kids that go to the new sitter, so the transition was an easy one. :) ) So, I dropped her off and waited with her for the bus to arrive. She was so excited, I had to yell her name as she was getting on the bus for her to turn around for a quick picture.






And finally, here are pictures from the Moccasin Open House.



Monday, August 24, 2009

Berrien County Youth Fair - 2009

We ended up going down to the fair 3 different times - Once for the Circus, once for Megan to ride the rides and once to hang out with cousin Adam. It was a great week for the fair, and for the most part was unusually cool. It's hard to believe that it was mid-August with the pictures below of us in our sweatshirts.

Tues Mom and I took the kids to the Circus at the Fair. Mom and Megan actually rode on an elephant...ah, what you do for the Grandkids. I guess that Mom can cross that one off of her Bucket List....

As for the circus. I swear that the entire Circus cast consisted of 6 people. The trapeze artist was also the dare devil on the motorcycle who was also the Lion Tamer who was also responsible for the Elephant rides before the show. By the time that the 3 elderly ladies (70s) came out with their poodles for their 3rd act, it was time that we got out of there. It held the kids attention for about the first 20 minutes, after that we were struggling to keep them in their seats and not fall through the bleachers.
If you look close enough..you can actually see a picture of me. :) But, notice that I had to take it of myself, and Jenna looks oh so thrilled. She was trying to watch the Circus, but I put the camera in the way. I really need to start pushing the camera off on the other adults so that my kids will know that I was actually around and just not behind the camera.
We had some time to kill before Dad and Leigh met up with us for dinner. So, we walked through the animal barns. Mom made me promise not to write anything about her "incident" in the animal barn...but, for those of you reading this, make sure to ask her about it. I have pictures as proof, but she would kill me if they were posted on here. Don't worry, I will hold onto them as they make great Blackmail material.

By the time that we met up with Leigh and Dad, Mom and I were pooped And, of course the guys couldn't understand why we were so tired...I'm sure that the wrestling on the bleachers, chasing through the animal barns and humidity for the day had nothing to do with it. Corndogs, Freshly squeezed lemonade and Elephant Ears were on the menu.







We stayed clear of the ride area on our first visit. We knew that Jake and Jenna would want to ride on them all and they weren't quite tall enough....which was the recipe for a couple of Major meltdowns. So, Megan was promised a special day so that she could ride on the rides. Next year, we will brave it will all 3. We better start saving up our $ now. We met up with so many of Megan's friends and she had a great time.


Megan and Paige


Megan and Claire


Megan and Campbell

Saturday Matt and Jenny brought Adam for his first fair visit. Although the weather was rainy and on the cool side, a great time was had by all.



Sunday, August 23, 2009

Megan lost her teeth...

My little girl already lost her 2 bottom teeth. About 2 weeks ago, we noticed that one of the teeth on the bottom were loose. We were surprised since it is sooo early. Megan is only 4, although she turns 5 in October. However, when we took a look, we could actually see her big teeth coming in behind her baby ones.


So, a week later, I picked Megan up from the sitters and Megan had a surprise for me. She had lost her first tooth, but swallowed it with a Gummy Worm. Lou told Megan that the ToothFairy took IOUs. I had to explain to Megan that although we could write the Toothfairy a letter to explain what happened...the tooth was gone for good.


So, that night, Megan wrote the following note to the Toothfairy. She was more excited in the morning when she woke up, the letter was still there, and the Toothfairy wrote her a note back in return. It said, "Great Job Megan. I'll be back soon for the next one."


So, two nights later, I got the experience of pulling my first tooth. I'm not sure who was more nervous...Me or Megan. It took 3 tries, but we finally got it out. It was barely hanging on, but I couldn't get a good grip on it. I think that I've got it down for next time. Megan did great...cried for only a second, but couldn't believe me when I told her that it was done.

We of course had to make something else for the Toothfairy for trip #2. This time Megan drew a picture of her in bed with the toothfairy coming to take the tooth. Complete with Windows, Curtains and her night light. I loved it!!!


They really do grow up too fast.