Ye Olde Art Faire

Over the weekend it became apparent that we (and by 'we' I mean 'me') had procrastinated making something for the upcoming Art & Science Fair long enough. I'm not exactly sure when the entries were due but since the actual fair is on Thursday it seemed like Monday was a safe bet.

So we headed out to Hobby Lobby - me, the man and the girl. Tay originally wanted to make "snowmen in a winter scene." Now that may not have seemed as daunting had I not been sick for the past three weeks straight (and, quite frankly, still counting but I'm positive you're tired of hearing me whine by now).

Thank God the man was there because, seriously, he saved the day when he suggested that Tay paint a pre-made birdhouse. You see, this fair awards everyone a ribbon. The same ribbon. I learned this only after killing myself on a science fair project last year. So I'm not exactly willing to recreate the Mona Lisa here. 

And painting is artistic. Particularly when you add stenciling to the mix. And you know the best part? Dave supervised all of the painting while I had a bit of a rest. It was blissful. Until he put me in charge of the stencils. 

Turns out, though, that my 10-year-old is more adept at this task than me. So what you see below, my friends, is all Taylor. I have a sneaky suspicion she will win a ribbon. But don't tell her. Let's make it a surprise.

Always Happens in Threes

It's all fun and games in the morning until you wake up to a freezing cold house and a non-functioning heater. When you pick up your cell phone (after dropping off the hormonal 'tween) to call the landlord about said heater just before you cross the school zone line, life becomes even more interesting.

Why?

Because you get pulled over by someone named Corporal Painter, who is apparently a member of the local SWAT team and wears a cool stocking cap to keep warm in the winter. You see, it is now illegal to use your cell in a school zone.

Which I already knew!

But I was frustrated and trying to jam one more thing in my scheduled because Dave's at work today. Of course he is.

Luckily, Corporal Painter had pity on me and didn't give me a ticket. He did, however, explain very patiently that you only have 30 days to get your address on your driver's license changed after you move. That would be significantly less time than the TWO YEARS we've lived in Woodway.

Of course the computers were really slow this morning so it took forever to get the "all clear" on my license. He, at one point, just told me to go ahead and go to work because "if you're wanted, I'll just hunt you down."

Awesome.

Right after he said that, I was cleared.

Whew!

And while I thought all the fun had been had for the morning, I was wrong.

Someone hacked into my iTunes account. Can I just tell you what a fun experience it is to try to clear that up?

Trust me, you don't want me to.

And now I'm off to find some Calgon.

Mammoth Fun

A Blessed Day Indeed

So yesterday was the big appointment for the man and the girl. And it was awesome. Truly. The doc (who I probably singlehandedly kept in business for about 7 years straight) and his awesome trainer, Ron, both chatted with me and Tay while Davey was in x-ray. In fact, we'd already pretty much settled the entire issue of his knee before he ever got back but that's a different story.

Anyway, the short story is that Dave's knee will FINALLY be fixed on March 5. Yep - four weeks from today and he'll have a new knee. We're not sure if it's miniscus, ACL, patella damage or a combination of the three but there's definitely a big issue that will be taken care of next month.

To say we are extremely thankful this is finally being addressed would be a gross understatement. And while most couples probably wouldn't be so excited about major surgery, six weeks off of work and lots of rehab, it's gotten to the point that Dave really just can't enjoy life at all. So we're off to the races for him.

We also asked him to take a look at Tay's arm and he was incredibly helpful on that front as well. He thinks the reason she continues to have these two areas of scabbing is because the subcutaneous sutures dissolved before the skin had healed completely. It will continue to scab and slough off but, with time, will eventually heal. No infection. He thought it looked pretty good.

He was really impressed with her extension and flexion, which was a huge relief. The look on his face when I told him NO ONE would give her a PT consult was rather amusing - disbelief, really - but it looks like all of the hours we've put into figuring out how to get the motion back have paid off. Thank you, Lord!

She does have a large amount of scar tissue but he doesn't really think we'd gain much by removing it as it will, in all likelihood, simply reform. This, too, should improve with time and continued movement of the limb.

The final question is whether we should have the plate removed or not. Because of her age, he is leaning more toward taking it out; however, he's going to share her x-rays with two of the trauma surgeons to get their opinion before we make a final decision. If another surgery is needed, we will be transferring her care to him. If not, we'll attend our final appointment with the original doc (who couldn't do another surgery anyway because he only covers call on the weekends) in March and let it heal for about a year before revising the scar.

So that was our afternoon. It all went down so much more quickly, smoothly and easily than I could have ever imagined. Although a lot of anxiety has been present leading up to this day, there wasn't really any present yesterday. Just peace. For that, and so very much more, I am incredibly thankful. And we are immeasurably blessed.

Thank you for your prayers. They mean more than you can imagine.

We will be taking it easy this weekend as we're all still nursing colds. That's also the reason you haven't gotten any pics this week because we all look pretty rough. I'm sure all of our moods will improve drastically should the Saints win the Super Bowl on Sunday, though.

Who dat, y'all!

And have a wonderful weekend!

The Big Day

Today is the big ortho appointment. Dave is super stoked. Taylor is super hesitant. And me? I'm just super hopped on cold medicine still. Unfortunately, I was reminded last evening (and into the morning) that these meds make for insomnia. 

Knew I should have picked up some NyQuil. But then you end up on the DayQuil/NyQuil carousel and just sort of feel like you're floating...then again...

I digress.

Anyway, I'm currently praying for wisdom (for Dr. Hamilton), patience (for my dear husband), peace (for my anxious child) and for sanity (I'll let you guess who that's for). No matter what, we'll be farther along this orthopedic highway after reestablishing care with Wild Bill.

And for that I'm very thankful.

Now please excuse me while I continue contemplating how one participates in a bowling league when they feel like they're flying...

Guess What?

Yesterday my precious child woke up with allergies that had turned into a yucky cough overnight. You could hear the congestion in her cough so I quickly decided it was going to be a day at home. I know my little one's progression and usually we go from allergies to croupy cough to it landing in her chest and manifesting in fever.

So we stayed home and took Mucinex every four hours (both of us as she had kindly shared her germs with me :-), Zicam every three hours and an Advair inhaler at breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was lots of fun (read sarcasm, please) - particularly when all of that junk in her throat made her sick. Which activated the gag reflex of our pups. All. Three. Of. Them.

It was a glorious morning, let me tell you.

But little one was feeling better by mid-afternoon and was feeling even better this morning so off she went to school. I, on the other hand, was miserable with a capital 'M.' Did I also mention it's cold and rainy again? Fun, fun, fun...

I went home to check on the pups since I had mercy on them and left them inside today. The good news is they only destroyed one of their water bowls. If you've followed this blog for long, you know that's a WIN!

On the way back I dropped into Walgreen's and purchased the economy size of Sudafed, some Dayquil and a giant package of Kleenex. Can I just tell you that this Sudafed/Dayquil cocktail is working wonders for both my congestion and my mood?

Can I get a woo hoo?

Anyway, that's all the excitement going on in our lives this week. Tomorrow is the big ortho appointment for Tay and Dave so we are both excited and anxious about that. We're also stoked about the football recruiting class Baylor brought in this morning. Can I get a SIC 'EM?

I'll stop now because I'd hate to bore you to tears (yes, I know that happened six paragraphs ago).

Happy Wednesday!

This Week

Miss Tay and I had a wonderful weekend for the most part. On the up side, we went to see Tooth Fairy and it was definitely worth the price of admission. It was cute, really funny and seeing The Rock in a hockey uniform wasn't all that bad either.

We also made a huge grocery store run (it's the beginning of the month - obviously), took care of a bunch of errands, made homemade Valentines and did a craft project. We currently have three cheerful (one pink, one white and one red) tiny bears halfway made on my dresser. :-)

The only downside is that my little one's not feeling well. And her scar/incision was all scabbed up AGAIN when she woke up on Sunday morning. After some hydrogen peroxide and steroid cream, it's looking better. But I'm still of the belief that a scar should be healed four months after surgery.

I won't go down the path of the horrible care she's received because her injury happened on a weekend. She's fallen into the cracks because of an out-of-town doctor. We are very thankful that he was the one on call when she was hurt but it's been really difficult follow-up.

The good news is that Dave has an appointment with his previous orthopedic surgeon (who was also my ortho doc when I was in junior high and high school - yes, I injured myself often) on Thursday. We are SOOOOO hoping and praying that Wild Bill can fix his knee once and for all. Unfortunately, they didn't think his ACL was actually torn when it was operated on 6 years ago so Dr. Hamilton (aka Wild Bill) was only able to "patch it." He told us at the time it would need to be fixed correctly in the future but when our insurance changed, no ortho doc in Waco would believe us. 

Dave's pretty much been in constant (and often times debilitating) pain for the past 5 years (the patch helped for a bit) and it definitely affects our home life. You see, he usually goes mute when he's hurting. That would be every time it rains, gets cold, gets humid, etc. You can imagine how fun our household is right now, eh?

Anyway, we're taking Taylor with us to the appointment so that Bill can look at her arm and at least point us in the right direction. I tried to make her an appointment with her surgeon but was told they wouldn't see her until March because "the computer says she doesn't need to be seen for 3 months."

No, I am not kidding.

My personal belief is that she'll need to have surgery again to remove the plate and screws and scar tissue, which will also give them an opportunity to revise her pretty bad looking scar. While I'm incredibly thankful that her arm looks better today than yesterday, I must admit to just being tired of dealing with this injury. It's been four months of working with it every single day. And we're both just tired.

I'm keeping my chin up, though, and praying Thursday will bring some relief for 2/3 of our little fam. We also found out this morning that my grandmother has been diagnosed with aortic valve stenosis. Quite frankly, it's amazing she's gone this long without any cardiac issues as she had a bad case of rheumatic fever as a child.

So if you happen to think of it, our family could certainly use a few prayers for wisdom and discernment right now. (And I haven't even gotten into the appointment I have looming later this month :-)

I'll leave you with a little Taylor funny: Miss Tay informed me yesterday that her tongue is named Bill. In addition, she told me that my car is to be known, from this point forward, as Bad Bob. For some unknown reason, my car shocks Tay and Dave pretty much every time they get out of it. 

No idea why. Doesn't do it to me. 

Anyway, she is apparently going to "thump his antenna every time he shocks me" on hopes of "teaching him a lesson."

Oh, how I love this child.

Happy Monday!