Leah's cast

Here's Leah sportin' her new purple cast that she got today after school. She only has to wear it for 2 weeks! If it looks good after two weeks then she'll wear a brace. She told me on the way home from the doctor that she wanted her sister to be the first person to sign it......and she was!

Logan took his first steps!!!

Logan took his first steps to me last night! I knew he was getting close because he has been trying to walk for such a long time now. We were actually outside playing in the front yard when it happened. He was unstoppable once he figured it out! He seemed to do really well walking in the grass and on the driveway....maybe it's better support out there than inside on the slippery tile. Plus, there was nothing for him to hold onto so he just figured it out! Anyway, just wanted to share this good news that brought a smile to my face. A much needed smile after the past week we have had. By the way, thanks to all of you for caring so much for my little Leah this week. We really appreciate the thoughts, prayers, phone calls, cards, emails, and visits! It helped make a tough week more bearable. Leah stayed home Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and the plan right now is for her to return to school on Monday and get her permanent cast Monday after school. Her friends from school made her cards which she absolutely loved! I think she is ready to get back to school to see them all. The neighborhood kids that she plays with outside regularly have been extra sweet to her as well. They have made her cards everyday and surprised her with flowers yesterday. They (including Lauren) even created a show and had Leah come outside so that she could sit and watch their performance. I know that made her feel really good. My good friend Leeann brought her son, Hudson, over Thursday night to deliver some beautiful flowers for Leah and yummy cookies for both girls. He is the most adorable little boy and was so sweet. I tried to get a few good shots of him giving her the flowers, but Leah was not too thrilled to be having her picture taken. We are now praying for a speedy recovery for our sweet girl. She has been a real trooper this week - I am so proud to be her mom!

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Update on Leah.....

Thank you all so very much for your thoughts and prayers for my sweet Leah today. After a visit to her orthopedic surgeon on Monday, we found out that she would need surgery to straighten the bone that she broke this time in her left arm. He said he wanted to do it today and not wait so that's what we did. My mom came down spent the night (and of all days it was her birthday today). She got Lauren ready and off to school (thanks Jen for picking her up today). Then, she stayed home with Logan today and enjoyed having some one on one time with him. MawMaw says he is quite a little monkey man......more on that later. Anyway, so Stephen and I were off to the Tomball Regional Hospital at 5:30 a.m. - way to early for a family that is in no way, shape, or form, morning people. We had to go to Tomball because that is where our doctor would be today - he has offices in several areas including The Woodlands and Tomball. They told us the surgery would take about 30 minutes......well, after about 45 minutes we were starting to wonder. I really needed to go to the restroom but I knew as soon as I got up they would probably come out and call us back. I ended up going and sure enough......Stephen said as soon as I walked into the restroom, a nurse came out and said that Leah was fine and the surgery was going well. However, it was going to take about 30 minutes longer than they had thought and it was going to be more extensive than he had thought because he couldn't set the bone without using some sort of device....pins, rod, etc. We were okay with this news only because he had told us that this would be a possibility from the start. And, actually, what they ended up doing was inserting a plate with 4 screws to hold the bone straight because the pins and rods were not going to hold......that's how bad the break was. So, thirty more minutes go by and they come and tell us she is out of surgery and that we should be able to come back and see her in 20 minutes or so. Well, 30 minutes passes and we hadn't heard anything and I'm thinking......Lord help me! Thank God for anxiety pills! Here's a picture of her arm after the procedure - the darkened part you see is the plate and the screws they inserted.





So, thirty more minutes go by and they come and tell us she is out of surgery and that we should be able to come back and see her in 20 minutes or so. Well, 30 minutes passes and we hadn't heard anything and I'm thinking......Lord help me! Thank God for anxiety pills!

On a side note about that, Stephen informed me that he was at a disadvantage today because he had no anxiety pills to take.... hence the reason he was so emotional and worried about it all.
Then, the nurse comes out and says that Leah was in recovery, but she was having trouble breathing. Again, Lord help us! She was congested before surgery today and they said that is very common for little ones to come out of anesthesia coughing and needing a breathing treatment. Sooooo, they would not allow us to see her until that was done. Finally, we were able to go back and see our baby girl and we were so proud of her. She was so brave, didn't cry at all, and didn't complain of any pain at all! The doctor was really amazed at her - she's a tough little cookie is what he told us. We got home around noon and Leah slept most of the day. The doctor even called to check on her which I thought was very nice for him to do that. Lauren was excited to ride home with my friend, Jill (thanks Jill) and to bring many, many cards from all her friends at school. I could tell that she had been worried about Leah so she was very glad to finally see her sister. So, all in all, things went well and we are glad it is all over with and are praying for a speedy recovery for Leah and also for no more injuries or broken bones. We've had enough to last for a very long time!

When it Rains.....it pours

Well, we had a very eventful start to our three day weekend. We were supposed to go to Huntsville today to spend the day with family and celebrate my mom's birthday, however things changed last night. Yesterday was a work day at school for me so Stephen's dad was willing to keep all three kiddos here at the house for me. Lauren woke up with a low grade fever so I came home at lunch to check on her and she seemed to be doing better. So, back to school I went and ran a few errands. When I got home around 4:30, Lauren was in bed running 102 fever. She had chills and was crying that her throat hurt really bad. I called our pediatrician's office praying that their after hours clinic would be open, but with my luck it wasn't - they closed at 5:00. So, against my better judgement, I decided to take her to this "Quack Shack"....er........I mean...... Oaks Medical Center (which is like a walk-in emergency clinic). I had actually been there for myself back in November so I felt like it was an okay place to take Lauren. Well, who knew that the "WALK-IN" clinic prefers you to have an appt. So, we waited......and waited......and waited....... Did I mention we W-A-I-T-E-D???????? We sat there and watched as all these people came pouring in from God knows where with appointments! The whole time Lauren is in my lap burning up with fever, shivering with chills, and crying that she wants to go home. It couldn't get any worse than that right? Meanwhile, Stephen was picking up his mom on his way home from work and they were headed to get dinner and meet us back at the house after our doctor visit. Well, Stephen and his mom never made it to get dinner because his dad (who is at our house watching Logan and Leah) calls Stephen on his cell and says, "Get home now". Stephen didn't ask any questions......he just assumed his dad was really needing a break from the kids after having been with them all day.

So, here I am with Lauren waiting at the Quack Shack when I get this frantic call from Stephen. He says to me, "I think Leah has broken her arm again."

'Scuse me???

I literally thought the man was joking and I was not having any part of this ridiculous joke. The more he tells me, the more I realize he's not joking and then I can hear Leah sobbing uncontrollably in the background. It was the same cries of pain she cried when she broke her arm last August. Stephen then asks me if I think he should bring Leah up to the same clinic we were at or if he should go to the emergency room. I told him I would go and ask the front desk if they did x-rays and I would call him back. Lauren overhears our conversation and then says, "Awwww man, does this mean I have to start sleeping up on the top bunk again?"
I guess she was having flashbacks of when she had to sleep on the top bunk for 2 months when Leah broke her arm before and couldn't climb up the ladder on the bunk bed. Can't ya feel the sisterly love?
Anyway, I proceeded to walk up to the front desk and felt like the worst mother in the world as these words came out of my mouth, "Mam, do you do x-rays here because my husband just called and he thinks our other daughter just broke her arm".

Fast forward.....

Stephen shows up to the clinic carrying Leah in his arms and they get right in to a room. Lauren and I continue to wait out in the lobby. Lauren tells me that she doesn't think it's fair that we have to continue to wait so long to get called back, but her sister walks right in and gets seen immediatley. Finally, we are called back to a room. Stephen and I are communicating by cell phone to each other what is happening to each twin and giving status updates. We both received a few strange looks from the nurses....almost as if they were thinking that we were negligent parents or something. What a way to kick me when I'm down! Then Stephen calls me and tells me that her left arm (same exact arm) is broken and it is much worse of a break this time. He also tells me that they are wrapping it up, but are sending them to St. Luke's Emergency room to have their "Pediatric Specialist" set her arm and wrap it up better. So, they leave and Lauren and I continue our wait. They do a strep test - negative. Flu test - negative. Blood test - determines it's something viral. Chest x-ray - she has fluid in her lungs. All of these tests to give me a final diagnosis of.......................................

Are you ready for this folks?

Infectious Asthma!!??!!!???

That crazy doctor barely gets out the words....let's go ahead and give her a breathing treatment right now.... when I said we're outta here! Lauren has never had any kind of asthma related problems in her life (all 5 years of it)! I could have made a better diagnosis than that by looking on WEBmd.com. Have you ever heard of bronchitis lady? She then hands me an inhaler and tells me she wants to see Lauren use it before we leave. Ain't happenin' lady! I told her we had a nebulizer at home that we were quite fond of. Then, she gives me a prescription for some weird steroid or something. I took it by CVS just to see what it was and they said that they couldn't even fill it because she didn't give adequate information about the dosage and the quantity.

OMG!

Meanwhile, Stephen is at St. Luke's with Leah and I come home with Lauren and get her in bed. I finally go to bed around 3:00 a.m. with all hope lost that they will ever come home. They arrive at 5:00 a.m. (they were at the ER for 10 hours)!!!!! Way longer than what it took last time. We're getting to where we know the ropes of these ER's, but who in their right mind would have thought you'd need a freakin' sleeping bag because you'd be there so long? Not only that, but they had to give her an I.V. to knock her out from the pain when they reset the bone because it was so painful - and not only did they have to do that once, but twice because they couldn't get it set right the first time! He told me that there is no way I could have sat there and dealt with what they did to her. I just don't even want to think about it.

They both rested alot today. Leah and Stephen slept ALOT! Stephen basically went with no sleep for 24 hours straight.....I don't know how he did it and still managed to remain focused and calm through it all. He is amazing and without him I don't know what I would do. I guess I'd be in the loony bin........wherever that is. We took Lauren to her regular doctor's office today. Praise God for the Saturday Care Clinic they have available during cold and flu season! We were advised to never visit the Oaks Medical facility again and also advised that Lauren does NOT have asthma. She does have some sort of upper respiratory infection and she has been feeling a bit better today.

Now, to answer your number one question......how in the world did that child break her arm again? Here's the story I got from her.......she was on our bed watching T.V. and she stood up and walked to the end of the bed and tried to jump off. When she did, she somehow fell and landed on her arm. I tend to believe that she was probably horsing around on our bed (which I've seen her do many times). She's also been warned MANY times, but chooses not to listen. Well, maybe now she'll listen. I don't know though.......my parents say she's alot like me at that age. I was VERY stubborn, hard-headed, and extremely accident prone. I guess you could say she "gets it honestly". I had several teeth knocked out, nearly cut my nose off, and got my finger stuck and broken in a window all by the time I was 8.

This blog is like my journal. I hope to one day look back at this archived entry and be able to smile about it all. Today I didn't feel much like smiling about any of it. Thank God that Logan is fine....no injuries or illnesses to report....praise God! We're going to try and enjoy what's left of our weekend, rest, and get well. Oh, in case you read my last blog entry about Leah's unknown stomach pain.......well, we ended up taking her in for an an x-ray earlier this week and found out that her intestines are impacted bigtime......which basically means she has really bad constipation. Of all the things it could have been, I would have never guessed that! So, now she has to deal with a broken arm on top of everything else. Don't think I'll be getting mom of the year award. LOL!

Is there a moral to this story........

#1 - Stay away from the Oaks Medical Center if you live around here.
#2 - Make sure your kids eat LOTS of fiber!

Hello everyone! Happy New year again to you all! Things have been good in our neck of the woods. I usually do not like the month of January.......holidays are over, bills are due, back to work, crappy weather, pressure to make resolutions, yadda...yadda...yadda...

However, this year it actually hasn't been that bad and I've enjoyed the start of a new year. We all had a wonderful holiday together and I felt rested and ready to return to work last week. I was mostly ready to get back into a regular routine. Things go so much better when we're on a schedule......we're a well-oiled machine! Well, most of the time anyway. I have always been a night owl and LOVE to stay up late after the kids are in bed doing whatever I want to do - MY TIME! I would watch DVR'd episodes of Oprah, play games on the computer, do crossword puzzles, take long bubble baths, shop online, etc. One night around 1 am, I wound up on some cute kid rocking chair website and ordered the girls this adorable pink fuzzy chair with an ottoman for their room. Okay.....that would NOT have been happening on a school night! It was so nice, but oh....so.....hard to get back into the swing of things again. Logan never missed a beat though. Speaking of my little bug (we call him Logan bug), here is a video of him yesterday. An unlikely place, the laundry room, seems to be where I find him doing the most hilarious things these days. Usually, if I'm quick enough, I can catch it on camera.

Me and little bug were hanging out yesterday while Stephen took the girls to the doctor. This visit was for Leah. She has been complaining of her stomach hurting off and on for a while now. I've always attributed it to her not wanting to do something (it seems like that's when it always starts to hurt). However, lately I couldn't connect it to anything. So, Stephen and I both agreed that we should take her in. Her doctor said her urine sample came back fine, however she did notice a high amount of protein in her urine. Well, that was all I needed to hear to go into a paranoid researching frenzy on webmd. Worst case scenario, she has some sort of issue with her kidneys. However, I don't think this is the case. Anyway, we're taking her back in this week so they can do an x-ray of her stomach area - the doctor doesn't think it is anything to be concerned about, but just wants to check to make sure we don't miss anything. We have to take her back in a few weeks from now to do another urine sample to see if her protein level is still high. There is a good chance it won't be so there'll be no need to worry. If it is still high, then they do some other testing. There is a condition (forgot the name) that some kids have that causes their kidneys to produce more protein than it should - I think it can be regulated with medication. I just pray we don't have to do any of that with Leah. Stephen told me that when they arrived at the doctor's office and were getting out of the car to go in, Leah said, "Daddy, I just want you to know right now that if that doctor tries to give me a shot, I'm outta there!" I couldn't help but laugh when he told me that! I'm sure I would be thinking the same thing!

Friday Night Shenanigans

Friday night. 6:30 p.m. A group of "innocent" teachers (plus a nurse) gather to play Bunko, eat, chat, laugh, and have a blast together.

Then. Things change. Someone in the group yells "Ca-caw"! We all immediately spring into action. For you see, that simple word, "Ca-Caw", is a code word for a very important mission. The mission??????

Operation Pocahontas!

Time passes......

Time....is now 10:30 p.m.

Place.....is Imperial Oaks neighborhood.

Mission.......is to wrap as many houses we can of people that we work with. And.....to leave their driveway marked with this everlasting message below.........

When you pull off a mission at this

magnitude.....there are certain

things you MUST have.

#1 - Get-away drivers

(we actually had two) - who are

both pregnant by the way.

#2 - You must know how to

assume the position in the back

of the get-away truck to hide

from suspecting neighbors.

#3 - A window to hang out of and

make silly faces such as this.

#4 - A group of nuts willing to

jump in and out the back of the

get-away truck in a

hurry. Hoods and glasses as

a disguise are helpful too.

#5 - Must be in good physical shape

and must be able to do two things

at once - hold onto toilet paper

while running for your life trying

not to get caught.

#6 - Look good wearing toilet

paper on your head such as Amanda

seen here.

#7 - Must be able to jump the back

of the truck while holding multiple

rolls.



#8 - Be very sneaky.......heehee...

#9 - Look good in war paint.

urhhhh...I mean chalk.......

#10 - Have fun!

Can you tell I work with the most awesome people ever?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I can't believe it's already 2009. Seems like just yesterday it was New Year's 2000 and I was up late freaking out about the whole Y2K Millenium thing. It doesn't seem like that has been 9 years ago - how weird is that? We had a great New Year's Eve here at our house this year. We had some friends over and ate, played games, did a white elephant gift exchange, and fireworks. It has been a tradition to get together with this group of friends now for years - we usually do a get together for Christmas and then again for New Year's. Well, this time, we never managed to get together for Christmas so we had to do our annual White elephant gift exchange for New Year's. No one seemed to mind.....it was funny to see all of the stuff brought this year. I put together a slide show from last night and in some of the pictures you can see everyone opening their "gifts". Some of the crew left early and then things just got crazy with the rest of us. Well. Not really. But, we did have fun. The adults played a heated game of Taboo (which I haven't played in forever). Meanwhile, the kiddos were in the backyard watching fireworks and in their words, "having a Christmas party". In Taboo, it was girls against guys and we ended up tying - which is bogus.....girls should have won. When you're playing games with Wyndel (who is extremely competitive) there is some fuzzy math scorekeepin' going on if you know what I mean. Anyway, we toasted the new year with everyone and went outside to shoot off our own fireworks - it was a blast! Amazingly, Logan slept through it all......never even made a peep. After everyone left, Stephen and I were so wound up. We cleaned up from the party and then watched Elf which was on TV. We also watched this documentary on DisneyWorld that was on the History Channel. It was so interesting - I never knew there is a whole other world underneath all of the Disney theme parks where the crew and characters hang out. It makes sense though because you never see anyone coming to or leaving from work there.....it's sort of like they just appear and disappear. Anyway, I think it was somewhere around 2:30 before we actually fell asleep. Maybe that's why I felt like a had a hangover today - whew.......going back to work is totally going to be for the birds next week.

The girls went to spend a couple of nights with Nanny and Grandad today. I think they needed a change of scenery. They've enjoyed being home and playing with their friends outside, but there's been some drama going on so it was time for a break from that. I think they've had a little too much togetherness here around the house and with the neighbors which equals crank city!

Oh, by the way, I have to post something hilarious that some friends of ours showed us last night. The pastor of Fellowship (the church we've been attending) got up on a roof and tied a dummy to 1500 balloons to see if he would fly or not...... it's been said that people from all over the area were calling in thinking that a real man was tied to those balloons and needed help when they saw it. Oh yes. It's true. Evidently, they do these type of goofy videos all the time and put them on Youtube. I watched several of them tonight - I had no idea they were even on there. There's one of Pastor Kerry getting "Punk'd" just like on the MTV show and also some of him and his wife imitating those Sonic commercials where the husband and wife are sitting in their car. They really are hilarious. Anyway, here's the link to see "Fellowship Fred". It is a must watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUZOF0wBnPQ

Speaking of videos that you MUST watch....here's one of my little man cruisin' in his new ride he got from Santa. Love it!