Surgery 101

We had a lesson in pediatric surgery today for Brogan's finger and boy was it no fun. Intersesting, but not fun. It took us longer to get her calmed down and knocked out than it did for them to do the surgery. We always knew she was fiesty but we didn't know she was THAT fiesty! (I don't know where she would have gotten that from! Ha! Ha!) She did great though once they got started and has been a real trooper since. They said she would be "out of it" for most of the day but boy were they wrong! I know she is feeling okay because it didn't take her anytime to start teasing Joshua or bossing the boys around. She wanted to go to Jeremy's ball game then she ran around the whole time. She is even becoming a little ambidextrious and drawing with her left hand. What a week it has been!

Not wanting to take medicine or go in for the procedure. There was nothing we could do to calm her. They finally had to take her screaming.

Waiting for her to come out of the sedation.

Jeremy reminded me that this is how she used to sleep when she was a baby. It has been a long time since we have seen her sleep this way!

Recovering at home.

Joshua made her jello for when she woke up.

Her brothers wanted to make her bandage look "pretty" so they helped her by drawing pictures and signing it. What awesome brothers!! Who could ask for more?!

Wanting her picture taken this afternoon!

This is a picture she drew this afternoon with her left hand. It is a girl robot. I think she did a pretty great job since she is right handed. Now no more complaining that she's not a "good drawer"!

A View From Brogan

Brogan said she needed to update her blog

so these are some pictures she took Wednesday afternoon.

Rylen upside down.

Christian & Rylen posing on their horses.

Christian posing with the UHBC Kids Club newsletter. They love reading about their friends and finding out what is coming up next.

Brogan wanted some pictures of her dancing but couldn't take them herself so I helped her out. She did the posing and told me when to take the picture so I'm pretty sure she was still in charge!

Duck Pond Outing

We went to the duck pond Wednesday before church to relax a little after the crazy week that we have had. The kids had fun getting chased by the ducks and Rylen gave me heart attack running so close to the edge of the pond. We had a great 20 minutes!

Brogan's Follow Up Visit

Okay, it's official...This is our first MAJOR injury. Brogan has to have surgery on her finger Thursday morning. We went for our follow up and like Dr. Heath suspected the nail under the skin has been damaged and needs to fixed. We went to the surgery center and got to take a tour of where she will be going. Talk about a fun field trip! I told her if I would of known we were going there I would have brought the camera. She didn't think that was very funny. Anyway, if you remember tomorrow morning please say a prayer for her. She is very upset about the idea. The older boys on the other hand think it is pretty cool and wanted to know if they could go with her. Imagine that, they want to be there for her, that is to watch her in pain I'm sure, no not really, it is definetely for support! ;) I told her that this was a perfect excuse to get a new pair of shoes but she wasn't going for it. Anyway, I will definetely have my camera tomorrow to document her experience. I am sure she will LOVE that!! Catch y'all up tomorrow when we get home!

Brogan's Doctor Visit

Well, we went to the doctor today for Brogan's finger and the good news is that it is not broken like Jeremy thought it might be. We got to see Dr. Heath and Brogan was somewhat relieved since she knows him. I say somewhat because she stilled screamed in my ear louder than I have ever heard her scream, and that was before he even started doing anything. He popped the blood bubble and we go back tomorrow to check the status of her finger. It may need more work but we will have to see. So, with that said, no softball for awhile. In the meantime, here are some pictures I MADE her take of her first real injury. You know, milestones and all! As you can tell she was real entusiastic about doing it. P.S. She doesn't want anyone to see her bandage on the blog so don't tell her you saw it here! I finally got one of those pretty (half) smiles! It may have gotten her out of schoolwork for the day, but it sure didn't prevent her from playing those video games!

Our second major injury?

Well, I don't have any pictures but I wanted to post about our sweet little girl. First thing this morning Brogan and Christian were playing spaceship and chase or something around they house. Even though they were told twice not to play inside the desk with it on its side they decided to continue to do it anyway (imagine that!). Well, no surprise there was an accident and the desk fell over and landed on Brogan's middle finger just at the bottom of the fingernail. She pulled it out rather quickly and it immediately had a blood blister that swelled up. Needless, to say she was rather upset and her brothers were in awe of the blue & purple bubble that was building up. After a few phone calls we gave her some ibuprofren and put in movie and she fell asleep. (I think it was all a ploy to get out of schoolwork for the day and boy did it work!) Well, it still hurts, she can't write since she can't bend her fingers (yes, it actually got two of them once we looked at it again!), we had to cancel her horse lesson for the day since they are swollen and hurt so bad, and Jeremy thinks she might of broken the end of it. She was doing fine with it until he mentioned that and now she is all upset, again. Well, I made an appointment for the doctor tomorrow and put in a "no, no" movie (Legally Blonde 2, a favorite of both mine and Brogan's) since Jeremy was outside. She is settled back down now, with the exception of the throbbing that has started back. Jeremy says she probably won't be playing softball anytime soon but I guess we will find out more tomorrow. By the way: You're probably wondering what's up with the title. Well, I have to say that with 5 kids we have been blessed to have had only 1 accident in twelve years and that one was when Joshua fell and had to have stitches when he was 13 mths old. That was on Jeremy's watch, so I guess I deserve this one!

Little Tyke "Radio"

Christian participated in the Little Tyke Rodeo and the Walker County Fair and Rodeo this week. He was so excited when we signed him up and wanted to "practice" the night before and the day of so he could be ready. For two days he couldn't stop talking about his "radio" as he would call it (don't worry Brogan was fast to correct him). If you have ever seen him ride his stickhorse you know that we THOUGHT he would be great and surely do well. Well, it turns out that he does NOT like a crowd! We got there and all he could think about was how hungry he was. Boy was he hungry, he ate a foot long corn dog and still wanted more! The whole time he was eating it he kept saying "Momma, take a picture of me!". We got out to the rodeo arena and he didn't want to do ANYTHING! Anything that is except touch a calf that they had tied up to the fence that was kicking and trying to get lose. The whole night I tried to get him to do his events and he just kept saying "I want to touch the cow!" and "I'm hungry. I want some candy." He meant cotton candy and I promised him after he did his events we would get some but he just wasn't going for it. He walked the stickhorse race and came in with a time of 17.5 seconds (he could usually do it in 5 or 6), refused to rope or do the wagon-pulling, and once the calf was wrestled to the ground and not kicking around he reluctantly walked (he was supposed to run) over there to touch it and came back. I did manage to get a few pictures of him warming up before my batteries died. And, he did manage to get a little dirty rolling around in the dirt. Needless to say, his first "radio" was not what we expected. But it sure was fun!

Eating his corndog before the BIG Radio!! A clown we met before the rodeo. Taking it all in. Getting some roping tips. His roping warm-up.

Showing off his Participation Ribbon once we got home. He was so excited when he got his ribbon. The first thing he said was "Yes! Now I get to hang it in my room!". When we got home that was the first thing we did after his picture. It is up by his bed!

Now we just wait for next year to come around!! :)

Fun with Friends & Mud

We have become very good friends with another homeschool family, The Riley's. Suzy and I swap kids two Fridays a month so we each have a free "Mom Only" day while the other has all of the kids (that would be 9 in all!). It is so much fun for the kids and usually we can get some things done without the baby-in-and-out routine of errand running. It is so nice to know that ALL of my kids enjoy getting together with the Rileys. Even Joshua and Codey look forward to our Friday-swaps. Codey is so great with younger children and such a big helper! I think Joshua just enjoys everyone being entertained so he can be left alone! Usually while they are visiting, Maddie and Brogan work a plan to stay over at one or the other's houses. This time Maddie stayed over our house and the girls had so much fun!! It had rained and they played outside and inside and everywhere in between and changed clothes a dozen times. Christian and Rylen crashed the party and Maddie outlasted Brogan by staying up late with Codey, but they still had fun.

Brogan and Maddie had so much that they wanted to do and didn't always agree on when to do it so they decided on their own that they needed to sit down and make a list. First they wrote down everything they had already done (and made sure to check it off!) then they added what they wanted to do. They used the lists the rest of the day so that they each could do what they wanted and what the other wanted. All of this on their own without any prompting . They never argued or got their feelings hurt because they each took turns. It was so cute!

Friends just having fun!

Rylen was a mudbug and enjoyed every minute!

This is Joshua's idea of fun...video games!