Wordless Wednesday - Sleeping Beauty

Wedding Pictures are here!

As promised! Here's just a few of the pictures from the wedding up in Ft. Bragg.

Ryan was the ring-bearer. Sorry the picture is blurry - had Kylie in one arm squirming while he was coming up. We had to bribe him to get him to do this. That is my step-daughter walking him up the aisle. The only way he would do it was to have her walk him up and I had to promise him I would take him to the mall later to pick out any Spiderman toy he wanted. Once he got to the pews, he said, "That was very scary!" Then he sat down and announced very loudly - "I'm never doing anything like that again!"


Here's my step-son Danny with his soon-to-be new bride. This is just after her father handed her to Danny.







This is our "Hallmark" picture of the day. As the services began, Ryan stood up to get a better look so obviously, his little sister had to copy him. Look at those curls!





I don't know if you can see this very well - this is the aftermath of sharing the cake. Danny made a very huge mistake! He went first! I don't know why people think they need to start their marriage off with a tradition like this..but..I know she was very mad! When it was her turn..not only did she smash it in his face, she rubbed it upwards to make sure it got into his nostrils as well!




And - here's my wife Mary and Danny - the newlywed! You can definitely tell he's her son! She had a very hard time with this whole thing. Afterall, she raised him as a single mom for 18 years. She is very connected to him. She has come to the realization that she is not the only love in her son's life anymore! It was both a sad day and a happy day for her.



And - finally - if you didn't see them down there - I also posted pictures of Crystal and her new pink cast!

It was Dress-up Day today!

I guess while Daddy was at work today, it was Dress-up day back at the household! Mary took the first picture - these are some awfully cute kids! But, you know, I'm just their Daddy!

From what I understand, Kylie found her Pooh costume and wanted to wear it - so Jelly Belly Ryan just had to put on his Spiderman costume as well. Here's both of them together in Kylie's room.

I thought the first picture was so cute, I decided to see if I could get them back in their costumes so I get could some more pix when I got home. Ryan didn't want to put his costume on again - he was too busy watching Spiderman! Here's Kylie in her room.

Finally got a full-size picture of her. What a cutie!

Did I mention how much I really like having a digital camera again? We've been capturing some really great pictures lately! There are going to be many more where these came from. Stay tuned!

Anyone else ever hear of Apraxia?

Well, just found out more news that just keeps the chaos going in this household. As you know from previous posts, my daughter Kylie is almost 2 years old. She's actually 22 months, but close enough to 2. She hasn't really been talking much. Doing a lot of babbling with a few occasional words. However, those words coming out haven't been very clear either.

We took her in for a hearing and speech evaluation last week. As it turns out, they suspect she may have Apraxia. I had never heard of this before now. I found a website called Apraxia-kids.org that had a great deal of information on it. Apparently, this is one of those conditions that is life-long.

Apraxia is a condition in which the motor functions of the mouth do not function properly. As it is described, the brain thinks about what it wants to say, then sends a message to the muscles in the jaw, tongue, voice-box, etc. and then words are created. With Apraxia, there is a miscue. The message between the brain and the mouth get mixed up. Kids with apraxia have to work on actually managing the muscles to create the words. While kids who have apraxia can be very bright and intelligent, they can often fall behind in school because they cannot communicate verbally very well.

The good thing is that we found it early and we can get her in to speech therapy at a young age. They say she may never really sound "normal" when she does start talking. She may always have difficulty with "r" "s" "th" and "w" sounds and may appear to have an accent.

Is there anyone else out there who has children with this condition? I'm looking forward to hearing from anyone else to see how things have progressed with you and your kids as I embark on this new journey!

Mother's Day at Islands of Adventure Orlando

As many of you may be aware, I took the family over to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in Orlando for Mother's Day. We had a great time over there! I've decided to post just a couple of the pictures here for you all to see. You can click on the images to make them larger.

The first set is Ryan meeting his most favorite superhero of all time - Spiderman! Ryan was very excited the whole ride over knowing he would get to see him. You'll notice that he is wearing his Spiderman shirt.

Here's Ryan meeting Spiderman. Spiderman gave him a high-five and commented on his shirt.


Here's Ryan and Spiderman striking a pose!

Ryan and Spiderman posing for the "real" picture. I went ahead and bought that one for him. If I get an opportunity, I'll scan that one up some time. It's a really great picture and well worth the joy Ryan will get from it for years to come!

Ryan with my step-daughter on the Carou-Seussal

Mary with Kylie on the Carou-Seussal. You'll probably have to enlarge this one to see them..they're in the middle there!
We all had a great time. It was a heart-breaking departure. :( When it was time to go, Ryan refused (naturally). He started crying because he didn't want to go. This wasn't the usual - fun time is over cry - He was genuinely sobbing because he had to leave Spiderman! I had to carry him back to the car. The poor little guy cried all the way there - which was about a 20 minute walk back to the car. The whole time he was crying and saying how he was going to miss Spiderman and that Spiderman him too! Talk about tugging at the heart strings! The good thing, he was asleep before we got out of the parking garage - and he slept all the way home.

Kylie Broken Arm - Final Updates!

Hello All - if you've been following this saga, you will know that my daughter, Kylie, broke her arm over Easter weekend. I've posted up the pictures of her in her cute little pink cast. Well, this is the final, hopefully, update!

We took her back in to the orthopedic surgeon today. Her arm has healed completely and the bone looks great. They've removed the cast and we don't need to go back for any follow-ups. Her little arm is red and has some bumps from the moisture that built up, and her skin is flaky and dried up, but otherwise it looks great.

She was a bit tender and had a little trouble straightening out her arm since she had it casted in a 90 degree angle for the past 6 weeks. However, she has since come on strong! It's almost as if she never had that cast on. She's already giving her mom a heart-attack! She's only had the cast off for about 6 hours now and she has already dumped the dog's water dish and subsequently slipped and fell in the water. She has already removed the cushions from the couch and jumped on it like a mini-trampoline ~ thankfully, mommy got to her before she was able to fall. Her brother has already figured out that her cast is off, meaning she's much better, so he's back to torturing her and pushing her down.

Things are all back to it's normal chaos in this house!

Gratuitous Picture Moment!

I admit..the only purpose for this post is just to put up some pictures!! These are in no particular order..and..now that I have a working camera...there is going to be some serious picture overload here now!! LOL

Kylie hangin out in the kitchen

Kylie posin' for mommy in the kitchen

New member of our family. This is Crystal
hangin' out in the kitchen! Guess this was a kitchen kinda day!

Ryan eatin' breakfast in the kitchen. Okay already with
the kitchen pictures! LOL

Max the Yorkie chillin' on the couch. Yay..not a kitchen picture!

Ryan and Kylie in Ryan's 4x4 in the driveway.

Apparently, neither my wife or I have taken a picture of Abby yet. Guess I'm going to have to take some and get those up here. She's a cutie too! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the pix! Trust me, there will be plenty more where these come from!

Back - Temporarily - Had to post this!

(bringing this back to the top for those who wanted to see it again)

This is sub-titled "How to break an oven door!" Please reference the diagram for this discussion!

Okay..by now..most of you are probably thinking I take great pleasure from blogging about the misfortunes of my family! This is furthest from the truth! In all actuality, this is documentation of events in case Children and Family Services ever decides to come and investigate. I need to have witnesses to the calamity to prove that I have absolutely nothing to do with any of this! They would never believe me. I can't possibly make up this stuff!

So..reference the diagram. This is the floorplan to the first floor of my house. Those are the steps in the middle that Kylie fell down. She was only on the third step..still don't know exactly how she did it! Anyway..moving on. This is about how the oven door got broken that I referenced in this post Don't put the puppy in the oven! I figured you guys need to see this layout in order to be able to get the same picture that I did.

So..here's the key.. R = Ryan, K = Kylie, and Mx = Max (the puppy). This is where each of them were when it happened. I purposely left off Mary...you'll understand why in the moment.

So..I'm at work. I get my usual "hubby check" phone call from Mary. It's the usual daily banter about how my day is going, how her day is going, some of the stuff she's done around the house, etc. She was sitting in the master bedroom watching her soaps while she was talking to me. She had told me that one of the things she had done that day was to polish the wood floors in the living and dining rooms. While we're talking she tells me to hang on..I asked her what was going on...she's walking out to the kitchen when she says.."Shit! I'm gonna have to call you back." I asked her what's going on. She says that Ryan got hold of the floor polish and soaked the dog with it. So..I told her I would call her later and let her go so she could deal with that little problem.

It was only about 15 minutes later when she calls back frantically - Ryan is crying hysterically in the background...she must be holding Kylie in her arms because Kylie is crying also and it's very hard to hear anything else but her....here's that conversation ---

Mary - Oh my God! You'll never believe what just happened?

Me - What? What happened? (I'm getting worried..everything that could possibly go wrong is going through my head right now...dog is poisoned because of the floor polish...Kylie fell again reinjuring her arm...Ryan was running from Mary and busted open his head again..etc etc)

Mary - I'm not sure I should tell you!

Me - What? What's going on?

Mary - You will never believe me. It's probably the stupidest thing I've ever done! (She sounds like she's getting ready to cry now)

Me - What?

Mary - I broke the oven door!

Me - You broke the oven door? How the hell did you do that?

Mary - Well, not exactly the door. I shattered the glass in the oven door.

Me - Really? Are you okay? What happened?

Mary - I don't know if I should tell you. You'll probably laugh at me.

Me - Okay..seriously. What happened? I won't laugh.

Mary - Promise?

Me - Promise.

Mary - Okay...I took the can of floor polish from Ryan. I guess when he was spraying it on Max, he got it on the floor also. As I turned to put it on the counter, I slipped and fell. When I fell I guess the floor polish flew out of my hand because next thing I knew.."BANG" the oven glass was shattered and sprayed everywhere! Did you know that stuff breaks up into tiny little pieces?

Me - (holding in the laugh now) - Really? I thought it was a plastic bottle?

Mary - It is! I don't know how it broke the glass. I guess I must've thrown it so hard that it just shattered the glass.

Me - (still trying to hold in the laugh) - Okay - so, is everyone okay? No one got hurt or cut by the glass?

Mary - Well..no. But, when I fell, I screamed..the glass shattered and went everywhere and made a very loud noise..which scared Kylie so she started screaming, and it scared Max and he's still soaked so he went slipping through all the glass, then Ryan realized what happened and all he could think to ask me was "How are we going to eat now?" and I told him I won't be able to use the oven..so now he's crying.

Long long long silence as I am trying so hard not to just break down laughing hysterically myself now. I have the full image of this now playing out in my head..and..knowing how clumsy and klutzy the three of them are..plus..Ryan only thinking about food...It was almost too much (plus, everyone was okay)!

Mary - Are you still there?

Me - mmm hmmm

Mary - You're laughing aren't you?

Me - mmph no

Mary - Yes you are!

Me - uh uh.

Mary - You promised!

Me - (Straining with everything I have to not laugh) hhnnn! Gotta call you back!

Mary - Fine!

NOTE to DCFS: Really! I didn't make this up!

Kylie Broken Arm Update 2!

Well...we finally went out and bought a new camera last weekend. I can actually share some now! Whoopie! So..here's the update..with pictures! We took Kylie for her 3 week check-up. They did an x-ray...and it looks like everything is healing up just fine. Her bones are in a nice straight line. So without further adieu..here are the update pictures:


I'm not exactly sure what she is doing here other than just hammin' it up for the camera..but...you can see her new spiffy pink cast there. It's pretty cool...it's waterproof. She can play in the bathtub now!


Here's a better look at it. Also..she's sitting on the step that we believe she hit when she fell that actually caused her arm to break. She was standing on the 3d step (right behind her head) when she fell.


One last picture here. She's just sitting at the foot of the steps..not real sure what she's focused on there. If you look behind her, you can see how our stairs widen and flair out at the bottom. It's for this reason we aren't able to put a gate up at the foot of those stairs. We can't actually place a gate on the stairs until the 5th step..that's where there is finally a banister.

When we bought this house, our older kids were...well...older. We weren't thinking about having other children and weren't thinking about any safety issues related to those types of stairs. We kick ourselves every day wishing we had a different kind of stairs or that we hadn't actually bought this house.

Anyway, she goes back in 3 weeks for her final check up. If everything is okay..the cast comes off. I'll post those pictures then!

I'm Back!

You know..considering I've been gone for a couple days...I really didn't think I would be able to come up with anything else to post. I know no one who frequents this place really wants to know about Epidemiology and the research I conducted while I was in D.C. I already posted about the highlight of my trip with my little post about Jeffrey Goldberg. Now that I was going home, what could I possibly post that could keep my "friends" and readers come back again....well....fate always seems to be good for me when it comes to screwing things up!!! (I apologize in advance...this is a long one!)

Prior to the job I have now, I used to be a consultant for one of the "Big 5" accounting firms, before Anderson collapsed and now there are only 4. I started a little tradition that whenever I travel, I always bring some type of souvenir for each of the kids and the wife. I left that accounting firm and the life on the road before Kylie and Ryan were born. This was my first lengthy travel since their births. I've done some single day trips, but that doesn't count. I was always home before they went to bed. So, I promised Ryan I would bring him home a "surprise."

During the course of my studies, I have made a very good friend. He is a professor at East Tennessee State University. He is an M.D. He's currently working on a Ph.D. in Epidemiology as well. We met up again in D.C. While we were there, we decided to take a trip to one of the local malls to pick up our souvenirs for our kids. We found a "Washington Redskins" store while we were there. We both picked up some items for our kids. Since I bought stuff for two kids, mine fit in one bag. I bought Kylie a white and pink jersey that said "Taylor." You guys may remember him, #21, killed here in Florida last year by some idiot kids during a home invasion. If you buy any Sean Taylor gear from that store, they donate some of the proceeds to the Sean Taylor Memorial Foundation. So..back to the story...Kylie got the cute little jersey and I bought Ryan a red polo with the letter "R" on the front. I figured..that's cool..The "R" will be for Ryan and Redskins. I think he'll get a kick out of it.

In the meantime, my friend bought everyone in his family something, including himself. He has three children. He bought his youngest son a white redskins t-shirt and matching red shorts. He had enough stuff they put it in two bags. (By this point...you guys can probably figure where this is going). After there, we stopped on our way back to the conference center and ate at a restaurant. Once we got back to the conference center, he handed me a shopping bag. I saw white and red. Just a cursory glance.

Later that night, with everything else I had to do, I also got to packing my bags since I was leaving the next day. Again, I come to the shopping bag and just put it in the bottom of my luggage. I couldn't wait to get home to give Ryan his surprise. The trip home went off without a hitch...until...I got to the airport....from this point forward...I should have known everything was just going to fall apart.

So, I arrive in Tampa at 7:10 (exactly on time! woohoo!). I figured I would be home by 8:00. The kids would still be awake. So...I get my bag, up the elevator, on the tram to my parking garage, out to the car....hmmm...that's not looking right. My car looked like it was tilting a little. So, I get closer, open the trunk, throw everything in there, walk around to the driver's side...and...awww man! The front right tire was flat.

Me: Honey? I'm going to be late

Mary: Aww hun! Why?

Me: Flat tire. But, I have that compressor in the trunk. I can inflate it here and I'll just get some of that fix-a-flat on the way home.

Mary: Okay. How long do you think its gonna be?

Me: I don't know. I'll call ya when I get back on the road.

Mary: Okay. But, make sure you call me when you're not in a lot of traffic..you know..like on I-275.

Me: I don't go anywhere near I-275. I'll call ya in a little bit. Love ya.

Mary: Love ya too. Just hurry up. You have a Booper and a Squeaker here that are really looking forward to seeing their daddy!

Me: Okay. I'm hurrying.

(Our nicknames for our kids are Booper (Ryan) and Squeaker (Kylie). I'll give you that story later).

Anyway...I pulled out the emergency air compressor from the back trunk. Plugged it into the cigarette lighter, hooked it up to the tire, and waited...and waited...and waited...it took about 30 minutes to inflate. So...I'm back on the road again. I get out of the parking garage, pay the frakkin $75 parking fee (last time I flew it only cost $35 for 7 days!)..and was on my way home...or so I thought.

Lots of construction going on around the airport. It looks nothing like I remembered. I no longer knew where my exit was to get home..and the signs weren't clearly marked...everything was still under construction. Oh well...I'll just trust my male instincts of stellar direction! Okay..so...I found a sign for "60" which I thought was my exit. Well..I normally go West 60. Never saw a sign for West 60..just 60. Turns out..this is a sign for East 60. Didn't know that until I was already headed that way. Now...once I'm on 60...and with construction going on...there are barriers all around me...no way to turn around. Okay..so..I know where this comes out at, I'll just get off at Kennedy and turn back around.

Okay...where's the signs for Kennedy? What the frak? I-275 South? How the heck do I get to Kennedy? I thought this was East 60? Frak! Frak! Frak!. Okay...I-275 South. So...I have to go over the bridge. Once I get over the bridge, I'll just take the exit for 688. That only takes me about 15 miles out of my way. (Here's the sitch, once you get on the I-275 South exit from the Airport, you have no choice, again..you can't turn around..and...it takes you over the Howard Franklin bridge that connects Tampa Bay with Clearwater..about a 5 mile bridge).

Alright..I'm over the bridge...let me call Mary and let her know what happened.

Me: Hi Mary!

Mary: Hi Honey! Are you on your way?

Me: Sorta.

Mary: What do you mean, Sorta?

Me: Well. I think you jinxed me with that I-275 thing..cuz..I got lost coming out of the airport, ended up on 275, had to cross the bridge, now I'm looking for the exit.

Mary: Awww. Honey!!!!

Me: I know. So, I'm going to be a little later than I expected.

Mary: Fine..just get home!

As you can tell..at this point, the excitement of me coming home is beginning to become disappointment...possibly a little frustration...who knows...there could have been a bit of anger in there as well.

So..During that conversation, I took my exit...or...so I thought. At this point, I should let everyone know that those warnings about talking on cell phones...well...they're right. You really don't concentrate on the road as well as you think you do. I got off the wrong exit. I exited too soon. So..now..here I am heading East. I'm supposed to be heading West. I'm NOT calling Mary again!!!

So..long story short...I finally get headed back in the direction I need to be going. I get home at about 8:50. It has taken me almost 2 hours to get home when it should only have taken me 45 minutes!!! But, happy happy joy joy..the kids are still up! What a reception! Kylie started crying as soon as I walked through the door (I tell myself its tears of joy)..got big hugs from her. Max jumped over the gate from the kitchen...I bent down to pet him...he peed on my shoes! (I tell myself its pees of joy!) Then I have to do the usual hide-and-go-seek game with Ryan. He hides as soon as I get home and I have to find him.

Okay..found him...got the big hugs. Then I tell him..."I got a surprise for you!" He gets really happy!

Ryan: What did you get me?

Me: You'll see.

Ryan: Is it a toy?

Me: (Sifting through my bag). Hang on..you'll see!

Ryan: (Moving to the couch). Where is it?

Me: (Pulling clothes out of the bag now). It's right here! Just hang on!

Ryan: (Ants in his pants, bouncing on the couch now). Daddy!

Me: (Picking up the bag and dumping all of it. NOTE: Put gifts at top of bag next time). Got it!
Pause
Pause
Pause

Ryan: Well?

Pause - Me looking at Mary now - Frak! Frak! Frak! - I don't want to say it. I can't tell him. Frak!

Me: Ummm. Ryan? I don't have your surprise.

Now - if any one of you have ever seen joy turn to hurt in less than a second..it is not something you want to experience.

Me: I have Ed's little boy's surprise. My friend Ed must have your surprise. I'm really really sorry. I must have gotten his bag by mistake.

Ryan: (Crying) Well..you're just going to have to get me another surprise.

Me: I know. I know. I'm really sorry. I promise I will get you a surprise on my way home tomorrow!

Ryan: (Still crying) Okay.

So..I immediately get on the phone to call Ed. I get his voicemail. Apparently, his plane still hasn't landed. He had to fly from D.C. to Nashville with a layover in Detroit (go figure). So, I leave a message telling him he probably has Ryan and Kylie's stuff, because I have his son's stuff.

I spoke with him this morning. He got my message after he landed in Nashville. But, lucky him...he bought other things for his kids while in Detroit as well. Anyway, he confirmed, he did have my kids' stuff. I'll be mailing him his stuff and vice versa.

Well..that little mistake cost me big time today! On the way home, I stopped at Target. I only paid $20 for that shirt in D.C. Today he got "The Bees Movie" ($19.99), The "My First Batmobile" for all of his matching superhero figures ($29.99) and a Lex Luthor action figure ($7.99) this completes that collection.

I probably could have just gotten him the Lex Luthor action figure..but..Daddy guilt set in. I'll know next time to check the bag! I don't know if I can afford to buy him a pony if it happens again!!!!

Checking in!

Hello everyone...just checking in real quick...I will be dropping some cards tonight...for a little bit at least. I don't think I'm going to make the 150 mark that I usually reach..but..nevertheless, I'll be dropping.

Well..being away from the family just got a little harder! I'll be back home Sunday night. However, I just got off the phone with Mary. Apparently, Ryan is sick. I talked to him, and he sounds pathetic! Then..she put Kylie on the phone...she kept saying "Daddy" "bye". So..she realizes I'm not around right now!

Can't wait to get home to them all! But, I guess these few days away now will be beneficial for us all in the future!

Quickie Update on Kylie

Okay..so..I don't have the pity pictures up yet. Have a problem with the digital camera. We think its broke. Can't download any pictures cuz we cant get it turned on. In any case, Kylie had her surgery last Thursday. She didn't need to have her arm pinned! Yay! Took her back for a follow up this past Monday. Everything is lined up perfectly..0% deviation! She has a pink cast now. I promise..as soon as I can..I will get those pictures uploaded!

Cheers!

Kylie Broken Arm Update!

That's my little darling to the left there. I'll put up the "pity pictures" tomorrow showing off her little splint and sling. Well..she did very well today considering!

Our day started off at 4:45am. We had to be at the hospital by 7:00am. We live that far away! We also had to drop of my 4 yr old, Ryan, at the pre-school by 6:00am. Everything started off okay --- everyone was just very droopy eyed. We got Ryan off to the school okay and battled traffic all the way down..but we got there in time.

We got into registration and signed in at 7:00. We were done there by 7:25 and the triage nurse took us back by 7:30. A Nurse Practitioner came in and did an assessment, took vitals, and explained the process a little more. We were done in there and moved to a holding area by 8:00. At 8:30 the Anesthesiologist, Nurse Anesthetist, and the Dr. came to explain everything to us. Did you know that along every step of the way they keep verifying everything? We must have been asked her full name, her birthdate, and what procedure she was having done at least 10 times. I asked the Dr. about this..especially the part about everyone asking what she was having done. He says they all know what is being done...they just want to make sure we know and that it is part of the verification checks and balances. Then he wrote his initials in blue marker on her left arm indicating this is the arm he was to be working on.

They all left and the OR nurse came in right behind them. I carried her out the door while they rolled the gurney. At the door I handed her over to mommy so she could get some hugs and kisses. Mommy handed her over to the OR nurse and she immediately began screaming. We heard her the entire time we were walking down to the post-op waiting area. This was at about 8:45. The receptionist in the post-op waiting area directed us to another private waiting room where she said the Dr. would come and talk to us after everything was over. We got in the waiting room, turned on the private TV, and I opened up my school books. I comforted Mary..pretty much going..."yes" "mmhmm" "sure" "its going to be okay" and all the other things hubbies say to their wives when they aren't really paying that much attention. I was trying to study. I read about three pages when the physician came in and set everything was done. I think that had only been about 15 minutes. He said what took the longest was the anesthesia and making sure she was out. He said the "snapped" the bone back in place, checked to make sure it was stable, then wrapped her up arm up. I think he spent more time explaining everything to us than the amount of time it took to fix her up. We were especially relieved to find out they didn't need to put a pin in her arm.

So..to make a long story short...she was fine, the surgery was fine, I was fine, my wife was still a nutcase (as mommies are in these situations)...we went and got a bite while she was coming out of the anesthesia, came back, sat with her for about an hour for them to make sure she was eating and drinking and then we left. That was at 11:00. So..all told, we were only there for 4 hours. Kylie has been doing fine all day..except for doing that toddler thing..you know..falling down and bumping into things.

Let's see, she bent over to pick up a DVD case she dropped, and fell into the entertainment center...she now has a little square shaped scratch on her cheek.
She was running out of the kitchen and tripped...she now has a fat lip from where she bit it.
Her brother was swinging some beads around (of which we kept telling him to stop) and she walked right into them...she now has little circles on her forehead where she got hit.

She's supposed to go back on Monday to see the Ortho for a follow-up assessment and then they will put the waterproof fiberglass cast on once the swelling has gone down. The problem is making sure she doesn't kill herself before we get there on Monday and making sure mommy doesn't have a complete meltdown trying to protect her!

It's definitely broken!

Well...we took our daughter Kylie to see the pediatric orthopedic today. Her arm is most definitely broken..poor thing. I saw the x-ray. Her ulnar bone is snapped in half. The ends are pointing up and touching, much like the tip of a triangle. Man, that has got to be painful for her. Good thing she's on that tylenol with codeine stuff..considering the way mom has been handling this whole thing...I think she needs to take some too!

Well..on the way down to the ortho (it was about 1 hour away) the wife and I got into a discussion about everything. We're both pretty stressed about this. Other than my daugher breaking her arm, we were supposed to leave on Wednesday to New York. My wife is supposed to be a bride's maid in her friend's wedding. That obviously is not happening now. Just some quick background...Mary is a stay-at-home mom. She takes on the entire household! So..while we were driving down to the ortho, we were discussing everything, the stress we're under, etc etc. Well, after she rattled off a few things from her list of things to do..I said, well..you can do it..after all, you are supermom! To which she replied..I don't have a cape. The peanut gallery in the back spoke up..and only as a 4 year old could..said "Or the suit!"

Okay..so..he provided a little levity to the whole situation..for the moment. Once we got down to the ortho office..Ryan became the hyperactive 4 year old that we know him to be. Good thing there was no one in that waiting room..he was running, screaming, climbing over all the chairs, teasing his sister..you name it. Sure, we kept trying to correct him. It got to the point where I had to hold him on my lap..which only made him scream some more. I finally spotted the kids books on a table way on the other end of the room. He agreed to let me read some to him. Well...good thing we were in a doctor's office. Remember in the previous post I mentioned that along with my wife..both of my kids are very accident prone. He was sitting on his knees in the chair next to me as I read the book to him. I don't know what got into him...for whatever reason...he just fell off the chair. Face first. Right onto the floor. Well..that caused him to let out a blood curdling scream! My wife, who is already in tatters over my daughter..who was trying to complete the pre-appointment paperwork (must have been about 10 pages worth!)..looked at me and said.."What the F...k?" Which definitely got my attention! She tossed the paperwork on the floor in order to get to my son. I was already there..picking him up in my arms. She assessed the situation..saw the blood coming out of his mouth, took him...no, yanked him from my arms, hugged him some more and demanded that I finish the paperwork. Good thing he only bit his lip..and the lady at the front desk brought out lots of paper towels and some ice.

I don't know..maybe I need to get someone into my house and cover everything with bubble-wrap...and make sure they leave enough for me to wrap up the kids too in case they want to go somewhere outside of the house! Okay..so..back to Kylie. We were given 3 options...1. He could put a splint on now and "mold" it to see if he can work the bone back in, 2. Sedation at a later date with a closed reduction, or 3. Sedation at a later date with a pin. (Actually, he presented it as a 3d option but in reality he says he'll do that as a follow up to option 2 if option 2 did not stabilize the bone.) We took option 1. He molded, she screamed, Mary cried (BTW - Kylie is on Mary's lap, while in the meantime I'm trying to keep Ryan from poking my eye out with some stupid Nemo spinning flashlight thingy). They took an x-ray after option 1...it failed. Kylie is scheduled for sedation and closed reduction this coming Thursday. I'll tell you about my hassles with Hotwire later and trying to get a refund. In the meantime...I'll update everyone on Kylie on Thursday.