Teeth

Yes folks, those are teeth. That makes six. Four up front, two molars on top, and the two bottom molars are working their way in.

***Please ignore the giant baby boogie. She's been sick, and runs from the tissue.

Broken Arm

  Our first big accident was Gabrielle's broken arm. At the end of March she fell off of a play structure at preschool. I will never forget that week, and I hope she was young enough that she won't remember a thing.
  The phone call came at lunch time on a Wednesday. She fell and her arm was swelling. I rushed out of work and took her to urgent care. They got us back fairly quickly, x ray, and pain meds. It was bad enough that all they would do was splint it. So we rushed to the ER. After we battled the waiting room with grandma it got crazy. Our phones wouldn't work in the back, she was dressed in a gown, hooked up to an IV, the computers went down, and the pediatric orthopedic surgeon left. So we went from being ready for surgery to being sent home and told to make an appointment with the surgeon.
  The next day (Thursday) we were able to get in to the orthopedic surgeons office and get more xrays done. We didn't realize how bad the break was until we sat down and talked to him. A very common break in children, but hers was on the bad side. The only thing worse would have been a compound fracture. We were the first appointment for surgery that Friday.
  Everyone was awesome and made this whole experience manageable. The nurses, anesthesiologist, and doctor were so helpful and made her (and me) feel comfortable. The surgery went a little longer than what they said because of the severity of the break. They finally got it to hold in place and had to use 4 pins that were about 3 inches long each to keep it together.
  After we got home the next few days kind of blurred together. Ethan made her a cake with rainbow sprinkles. We slept on the couch for about a week so she wouldn't hurt her arm. It was hard for her to get comfortable those first few days. Once we got her back in her own bed, and our routine got back to normal things started to get a little easier. We had family sign your hot pink cast for her to show off.
  She had about four weeks in the cast and a month of at home exercises to get her range of motion back. At her final doctors appointment we got the all clear and were told that we did great with her exercises. She still has a little ways to go with her range of motion but may never get all off it back. The bone fragments and scar tissue will heal on their own. So all she is left with are some scars on her arm from the pins and a lump on each side of her elbow where it is still healing.