A Cast for Carter

Here is an update of Carter's broken arm. The doctor at the Urgent Care had set him up with a brace, and told us that the would call us with an appointment to see the orthopedist. Here is how the brace worked:

It's basically an ace bandage wrapped around his arm, with a U shaped plaster "cast" running from his elbow up to his hand, and then another ace bandage wrapped over top of that. Heavy and uncomfortable.

The soonest we could get in to see the orthopedist was more than three weeks away. Nearly 4 weeks into his 6 week healing time, Carter would finally get a permanent cast. Gregg and I we less than thrilled about that. Gregg did some research and ordered a Casting Kit online. He was careful, and made sure that a half cast was safe for the type and placement of Carter's fracture. He also watched a few instructional videos on the proper way to cast him up. Saturday night we removed Carter's brace and Gregg gave him a permanent cast right here in our kitchen at home.

First was the "sock" which is just a soft sleeve to protect his arm, and then a cotton wrap that went over that.

Next came the fiberglass. Carter had chosen red.Gregg did a really good job. Carter is thrilled to get rid of the brace and be able to move his elbow again. This cast is so much more comfortable for him. He is much happier now, and so are we.

Pacifier...What Pacifier?

Cameron turned Two last month. A week later I decided it was time to throw away her pacifiers for good! Gregg was going out of town that week, so I figured that would be as good a time as any. No point in everyone being miserable. A couple of months ago we weened her down to only having pacifiers in bed. Now it was time to loose them all together. Just like we had done for the boys, we went to Build-a-Bear Workshop and put the pacifiers in a bear of Cameron's choosing. This way, she gets a new toy to sleep with, and her pacifiers can still be in bed with her, just not in her mouth. The boys and I took her to choose her bear Monday after we picked Carter up from school. Here are some pictures I took with my phone.

Cammie choosing her new bear.

After the bear had been stuffed, she added her pacifiers and a heart for her new friend.

She was not happy when the girl who was assisting us tied the bear shut with the pacifiers inside.Giving the bear a "bath"And of course we had to choose the perfect dress for her new friend.Here she is. Carter named her Jessie and Cam liked it. Isn't she cute?The rest of the week broke down like this:

Day 1 (The day we got Jessie)

No Nap - I didn't even bother attempting that.

Cammie took a long time to fall asleep, and woke up crying many times in the night, for long periods of time.

Day 2

Tired Mommy

Tired,cranky, clingy Cammie

Short nap for cam, preceded by lots of screaming and fit throwing in bed (like for 45 minutes).

At bedtime, Cam fell asleep quicker, less waking in the night.

Day 3

Better rested Mommy

Still somewhat tired, cranky, clingy Cammie. Easily irritated and frustrated, only now with almost no voice due to all of the screaming and fit throwing

Short (but fierce) fit at bedtime

Slept through the night

Day 4

Huge improvement in all areas

Still almost no voice

Day 5

Everything almost back to normal

Still seems a bit clingy

Day 6

Cammie is back to normal

She did take some of her frustrations out on Jessie throughout the week, throwing her across the room a few times, but she would almost always go right back over and snuggle her. It's been a couple of weeks now and Jessie is no worse for the wear (and neither is Cammie.)

Here are Cammie and Jessie yesterday, watching T.V.

My baby is growing up. I'm so proud of her.

Deja Vu

Here is a picture of Carter, less than 2 years ago.

He had broken his right, arm falling off of his bunk bed.

Here is a picture of Carter a few days ago.

He broke his left arm, falling off of his bunk bed.My niece Jordan and sister in law Malissa were here for a visit. They had only been here for about 45 minutes, and the kids were all in the boys room playing. Somehow Carter fell off the top bunk of the bed, and was really shaken up. He wouldn't stop crying. He told us several times that his arm didn't hurt and that he was fine, but he was obviously hurting. Gregg took him to urgent care about an hour later when we were sure there was definitely something wrong. Sure enough, Broken! Unlike last time, only one of the bones broke, and it's just a fracture, so healing time should be a bit faster. He was in good spirits when he got home from urgent care with a brace, a sling, and a bunch of stickers. He was even clever enough to "milk it" a little, begging to go to Chuy's for dinner. Silly boy!

Here are Carter, Jordan, and Kyle later that night.All four of the kids getting ready for bed. Carter was all smiles!Ultimately we decided that this was the problem.So Gregg broke out the power tools and......Viola! Problem Solved!The orthopedist can't get Carter in for his permanent cast for three weeks! Crazy!

Gregg ordered some casting material online, so this story is to be continued.

To Catch a Leprechaun

Carter had to make a Leprechaun trap for school this year. It was actually kind of fun. The whole family got involved. It was a little bit hard to come up with a contraption that was suppose to catch a creature none of us had ever seen in person, but thanks to the Internet, and Gregg's skills in engineering, we got it done.

Here is how it works...First the little bugger is drawn to the trap by the sparkle and shine. Leprechauns are very naughty and often disobey signs, hence the "keep out" written on the side.Then he climbs the ladder to see the "gold" at the end of the plank.He walks out onto the "plank" to get the gold, but it's really just a piece of card stock, so he falls into the bottom of the deep box where he cant get out!At school each child left their trap out over night in the classroom along with a hand written note, hoping to catch a leprechaun. Unfortunately no one did. But the leprechauns were there. They left notes, chocolate coins, and made a mess of the class room.We decided tho give it a try at home. So the night before St. Patrick's Day we put the trap out again, in just the right spot. No Luck! We didn't catch any. We did attract one, however. And he was a naughty little thing! He turned our milk GREEN!He also drew (on the glass) on some of our pictures! He left a note for us, on the glass door, but I couldn't get a good picture of it. It read "Ha, Ha, Ha! You can't catch me. I'm too tricky, cuz I'm Sean O'Maley"Well Sean, we will try again next year! Until then...

An Impromptu Birthday Party

This year we wanted to do something super simple for Cameron's 2nd birthday. We had Courtney and Ashley with us that weekend, so we had planned on just going out for pizza, then coming home for ice cream and cake. Then we thought we'd invite Matt, Mandy and the kids to go too. Oh ya, and Dustin and Lety and their son Riley. That would have been a rather large group, so Lety offered to get Costco pizzas so that we could just do it at home. Then another few friends were invited over and before you know it we were having a party after all. All planned and put together in a day and a half. It was easy though, and really fun, and Cammie loved every second of it.
I had planned a multi-layer pink cake for her that would have turned out beautiful, except it fell apart. Literally, I finished icing it, and Kyle pointed out that it looked funny, like it was moving or something. I looked up just in time to see it crumble right before my eyes. Piece by piece started falling off. It was funny and sad all at the same time. Good thing Vons has a great bakery stocked with lots of cakes!

Cammie didn't care one little bit. In fact, when she saw the pile of cake on the counter she climbed up and started singing "Happy Birthday" to her self!

Here is a picture of some of the kids eating pizza later that night. Cameron and LetyThis year Cammie didn't need any coaxing to open gifts. Before Gregg could even get over to the pile of presents to watch her, Cam had already opened two of them! Luckily I was ready with the camera or I would have missed it.A new tea set from Gra-ma Lou and Gram-pa Charlie. Fun stuff!They also sent each of the kids a "car" which was a big thrill for Kyle especially.What birthday would be complete without a new baby doll. This one was from Dustin and Lety.Cammie new the drill for Cake too. As soon as the candles were lit she started singing "Happy Birthday" again.Her aim was a little off when it came time to blow out the candles, but Daddy was there to help.At the end of the night everyone was pooped, but that didn't stop Kyle from spending some more quality time with his new Jeep. The girls were with us for another day and that was (as always) a lot of fun. It's funny how popular our yard was with the preteen boys in the neighborhood that weekend. The next night was spent relaxing, snuggling, and watch movies on the couch.Cheeese!It may not have been the super simple weekend we had originally planned, but it was super FUN!