Ashlyn's Cast

I never would have guessed that the first kid in our family to break a bone would be my sweet little Ashlyn. But sure enough, it was. Over a simple pillow fight even. Seems she hyper extends her limbs (loose joints like her Daddy) and her Doctor said she will be prone to injury because of it.

It happened on Thanksgiving Day. We had dinner at my brother's house and the kids were having fun running around and being silly. Toward the end of the night, Ashlyn runs up to me crying saying she hurt her arm. She's not one to calm down quickly when hurt, so I didn't think much of it. We went home, put an Ace bandage on it, and put the kids to bed. The next day it was swollen and she couldn't bend it very well. We kept it bandaged and gave her some motrin thinking she must have sprained it. The day after, even her hand was looking swollen. So we took her to urgent care. They x-rayed it and said she had a broken elbow. They put her in a splint and gave us the number to a pediatric orthopedic doctor in our area. That was Saturday.

On Monday, I called the number and got an appointment. Turns out the doctor wasn't really in our area, more like Tarzana, but whatever. It was a mad dash to get down there in time to be "squeezed in". But once at the office, we sat and waited for about 2 1/2 hours before seeing the doctor (lucky for me my Dad was in town and him and Heather watched Brandon and Leah while I was gone). We FINALLY got called back and I swear the doctor was so old. He shuffled around the office barking orders at his nurses and seriously looked like he had one foot in the grave. Oh well. He looked at the xray, said it was just a hairline fracture and to cast it for two weeks. Whew! That wasn't too bad afterall. Ashlyn chose her favorite color, and we were off.

Two weeks later, back at the same office, they took a" saw" to her poor little arm and cut that cast right off. Then the doctor told me to make sure she gets more calcium and that she can't play at school for the next SIX weeks (lucky for her that winter break is three of those six weeks).

Through it all she was extremely brave. I was so proud of her. And she even conceded and let me take a few pictures of her before heading down to get it taken off. I told her she'll want to see them when she's older and she'll be glad I took them.

Jingle Bells (batman style)

As most of you know, Batman is a very popular character around our house. As is the Batman version of Jingle Bells. We decided it needed more to it, so this is our rendition of Jingle Bells (batman style). Feel free to adopt it in your own home if you'd like, but don't tell me if you don't like it. We're not pros here okay!

Dashing through the snow,

In the Batmobile we go.

Through the street of Gotham,

We are so awesome!

Joker thinks he's cool,

But he never goes to school.

Fighting crime all day is neat,

As we're running down the street!

OH....

Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg

Batmobile lost it's wheel and Joker got away!

Brownie Scouts

Many of you know that Ashlyn was in Daisy Scouts the past two years. Well, at the end of last year, she had to quit because her leader was going back to school and no longer had time to commit to it. There was no one else that could step up to lead (I was tempted to, but being pregnant put an end to that temptation), so the troop dissolved. I was so sad. Ashlyn was so sad. But then a couple of months ago, one of the moms decided she could do it and they reformed the troop (although much smaller this time). Ashlyn is so excited and so am I. They had a Holiday party last week to get re-aquainted and will start up regular meetings every other week after the New Year!

A little Pre Christmas Fun

This past weekend we got together with my Aunt and Uncle for a little Pre Christmas celebrating since they will be out of town for Christmas. We had a delicious ham dinner (courtesy of my mom since I am pretty much completely preoccupied with my little fussy man most of the time). It was delicious and I must have been hungry because after it was all said and done, I think I ate two complete plate fulls.

Here are some photos from the weekend.

Paul couldn't look up because he would have messed up his game. Oh brother!

Leah and Grandma Dana

Me with my little man sporting his totally awesome batman attire. Brandon thought that was pretty cool!

We had 7 adults and 6 kids at our house. It was a "bit" crazy!

Brandon opening his gift from Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Jim.

Awww.....

Proof that Ashlyn does have a cast on. She doesn't like me taking pictures of it. She'll be glad she has a few once it comes off (which is TOMORROW. Hooray)

Leah got dressed for the occasion in her pj's of course.

Heather put this beautiful picture frame together for my mom. It made her cry of course. It made me realize how FEW pictures Paul and I have of just us. Gotta do better about that.

Here is our attempt at getting a photo with me and all FOUR children (unfortunately Paul was already at church). Is someone missing you say? Oh no, just look to the left behind my hair. He's there.....hiding.

Little man is starting to smile. It's rather cute, but hard to catch on camera still. This was my best attempt at it. Isn't he adorable! Yes, I think so too!