The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY

 

 

***WARNING*** the last picture in the post is NOT for the weak.

The GOOD-

Our Sweet little Lacey is 8 months old today.

at 8 months-Lacey is on the go- She isn’t crawling, but she gets where she wants to be by either rolling, laying on her back and pushing herself with her feet, or laying on her belly and pushing herself backward or by stretching and inching forward with her little toes. It is so fun to watch her go, go go.

She just got a new walker on Monday and she LOVES it! She is all over the kitchen and it makes her squeal with delight.

She is sleeping through the night. From 6:30 pm to between 6 and 8 am.

She points, to nothing in particular, but is always pointing.

She is definitely a meat and potatoes kind of girl. She will also down the veggies, she couldn’t care less for fruit.

She is a danger in the bumbo, she pops herself out.

Does NOT enjoy sitting. If she is in something she is down with it, but to try to get her to sit on the floor just makes her angry.

She no longer hangs on when she is sitting on my hip, she now reclines as though there is no care in the world. I love it, although it does make my shoulders sore.

She loves the attention she gets from the older kids (99% of the time). She loves laying on the floor and rolling around with them.

She is very laid back and easy going.

Loves finger foods.

She will NOT take a bottle, no ifs ands or buts about it!

We moved her out of the bucket car seat into a big girl car seat. She loves it!

We are so happy to have this ray of sunshine in our life. She makes us all happy.

 

The BAD-

Odds are, if your morning starts with a 2 year old YELLING, “Mom, I just broke my finger off!” It’s going to be a long day. And, it was. Julia yelled that at about 8:00 this morning. I grabbed her wrapped her hand in a towel, threw on a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt, grabbed a bottle, a diaper, and a container of food, and threw all the kids in the car. Not even bothering to put Lacey in a car seat. I dropped Lacey and Kevin at a neighbors house (thank you Colleen, you are a life saver!) and Julia and I raced to the ER.

Still no tears from this girl. On the way to the ER she said, “How are they going to glue this back on?” and “It ruined my nail polish!” We learned that Julia had a 3/4 partial amputation of her index finger, (her finger was shut in the door to the garage and the top 1/4-1/2 inch was detached and hanging on by a little bit of skin. We would need to be transferred to the Children’s Hospital. The Dr. asked if I was okay to drive and I said I was. I texted Cody the word, “COME!” and the Doctor said, “I think now would be a good time to have your husband come.” To my credit, I was holding it together really well!  They wrapped her finger up, when they were finished Julia said, “They’re going to make me take it home like this?!” She was still upset that her fingernail was messed up.

Still no pain meds and one hour after the incident, Julia was hugging her new bear, “Teddy” as we made our way to the Children’s Hospital.

She enjoyed a movie with Dad and then doctor #1 came in to take a look. She did really well. Still no tears, but she was NOT very happy because after taking a quick peek he said, “I’ve got to find someone that can take care of this.” and quickly rewrapped her hand in a messy way. She was very annoyed that “he didn’t do it right!”  Cody then gave Julia a simple, sweet, priesthood blessing.

Then she climbed into bed for some pain meds before we went for x-rays. She was ok and still tear free until they did the IV. Once that was over, she was down to no hands and really bugged that she couldn’t move her IV hand at all.

Once the meds were in, which caused some burning, she was a happy camper.

We even got a few smiles.  We then went for X-rays and learned that the finger was not broken, a big surprise, it looked pretty mangled. We met with the Resident Orthopedic hand surgeon. Julia asked him to put on a clean bandage. She was very particular that is was wrapped nicely. (Turns out, she gets what she wants!) One of our really good friends is also a Resident Ortho so I called his wife, she tracked him down and sent him over to us. We learned that the surgery would be happening within the hour to reattach the finger, there is possible nail bed damage, but she should be totally fine. They did a conscious sedation. She was pretty loopy and speaking jibberish, but soon fell asleep. The surgery went well. She has dissolving stitches and a full cast.

While Julia was in surgery, our friend Eric checked in on her and came and explained everything to us. He said that the surgery went well and that she was doing really well. It was so comforting to talk to someone that we know personally and someone that we know has her personal interest at heart. (Her doctors really were fabulous, everyone we worked with was, but it just made it better to have someone we know and trust!) When we were allowed back into the room Julia was awake and the doctor was finishing up her cast. Most of her tears happened after the surgery was over and she realized that the ginormous pink cast that goes up past her elbow was coming home with us. Our friend Eric stopped in a few more times, reassuring us that all was well, and giving us a few bits of advice.

But a red popsicle later she was happy again and passed out in my arms.

I picked Kevin and Lacey up from our neighbors house and brought them home along with a delicious dinner. Kevin and I raced off to pick up prescriptions and go to swimming lessons. Where he rocked the house. He went all the way under water several times. He’s doing great and we are so proud of him.

When we got back Julia was her normal, happy self again, but still bugged about her cast.

Cody and Kevin got to work making it a designer cast.

I need to get another final picture. Cody drew the Harley-Davidson bar and shield on it too and along with a smiley face Kevin also signed his name.

I then tucked the children all into bed. And no one lasted longer than about 30 seconds. Julia was a little disgruntled though, she said, “Mom you said you wouldn’t leave me at the doctors and you did!” I didn’t think she would even know we were gone because she was loopy when we left and was just coming out of it when we went back. Either way, I felt bad.

And the UGLY--- If you don’t want to see her flesh wound now would be a good time to hit the X and read no more…

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Last chance-

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This is not a very good picture, but you get the gist of it.

We are counting our blessings today. I’m grateful that Cody has a job that I was able to get ahold of him, I’m grateful I have neighbors that I can drop my kids off with, I’m grateful to have the Priesthood in our home, for the comfort it gave us all,  I’m grateful it was just a flesh wound, I’m grateful for all the prayers, phone calls, and kind words on our behalf.

And… I’m grateful for my bed…

 

We are blessed and we know it!