Leg Drama

Last Tuesday we had a friend from school over to play.  While the "big kids" (Keeley, Kayden, and Owen) played outside, the other mom and I hung out with the "little kids" (Killian and Grace) on in the living room.  Shortly after the big kids ran outside, Keeley came inside crying and limping.  She said, "Owen made me jump off the cottage."  My response was, "Owen did not make you jump off the cottage.  You did that yourself."  And then I assessed the damage.  I saw no bruising, bleeding, or swelling so I sent her back to play.  They played for another hour or so with no complaints.  I noticed that she was still limping when Kelly came home (even though she was not complaining) so I asked him what he thought.  He thought similarly that since there was nothing obviously amiss and she was not complaining, everything was fine.

Wednesday and Thursday I noticed the limp continued off and on through out the day but she did not complain anymore.  However, I decided that I should at least get her checked out.  I hadn't seen the fall so I wasn't entirely sure how she fell - on her leg, her side, her bottom?  Thursday afternoon we went to the chiropractor who looked her over and couldn't find a problem with the leg - no swelling or bruising and no localized pain.  She said that her low back was off but that we should see the pediatrician if she didn't feel better by Monday.

Friday at lunch I was still pretty worried so we went to the pediatrician.  She looked Keeley over and had her run down the hall.  While she could see the problem I saw, Keeley could not localize any pain so the pediatrician suggested maybe she had pulled a muscle if she had landed funny.  Her recommendation was to give ibuprofen twice a day through the week and come back if she was still hurting in a week.

Over the weekend we exercised some stellar parenting and let her go to gymnastics and a gymnastics party.  No judgment please.  No one could find anything wrong with her and she wasn't complaining.  The problem was me.  I just kept noticing the limp.  Monday she woke up and was limping pretty badly but I assumed it was because we were too active over the weekend.  Still no complaining.

Tuesday morning she woke up and the limp was really bad.  When she came home from school at lunch she told me that her leg was wobbly at school.  I called the pediatrician.  We went back in and this time, for the first time since the incident a week prior, Keeley indicated that her lower leg was really tender.  We were sent for an x-ray at 4pm and told that it was probably just a "toddler fracture" which typcially heal on their own and are just painful for a few weeks.  Later that night the pediatrician called and told us the radiologist recommended we see a pediatric orthopedic specialist (just add that to our list of specialist) because the break was significant enough to probably need a cast.  Our pediatrician called and got us the soonest appointment which was on Friday.


So, Friday morning I loaded everyone up and we headed to Children's for the appointment.  He explained that breaks tend to be most sensitive 1-2 weeks after the trauma occurred because the bone starts to break down to re-form so it was very common to have an experience like we were.  We looked over the x-ray with him - bowing greenstick fracture in the right distal fibula - and he told us our options. 
 

That bone that is bent is supposed to be straight :-(

We could do a walking boot or a cast.  He said both were fine.  We chose walking boot so we could remove it for bathing and sleep.  For the next 8 weeks, this is Keeley.

She is also not allowed to do recess, run, or jump.  It is going to be a long 8 weeks!!  So far we've only had one incident of Kayden slipping on it in the bathtub, several of Mom and Dad getting it too tight, and our fair share of meltdowns because she can't run or jump or walk fast...We'll survive.

The Little Things

The kids are growing up faster than I'd like to admit.  I know that all parents say that. It is just so odd to watch it in your own kids.

Yesterday, Keeley came out of her room completely dressed for school.  I was excited and proud of her (one less battle that morning...) and, after I thanked her for getting ready so nicely, asked her to come over so I could do the buttons on her jumper.  She turned to the side grinning from ear to ear and showed me that she had already done them.  How can she already button her buttons? On Wednesday when Keeley got in the car after school she had a huge smile on her face and said, "MOM!  Tomorrow Mrs. Meepe is going go give me a lesson on the MOVEABLE ALPHABET!!!!!!!!"  That is a spelling work at school.  How is she old enough to start that? I know that she has been waiting almost a year to do that work and has patiently watched her older friends do the work.  Each time she'll tell me, "I can't wait until I can do the moveable alphabet.  I have to keep working on my sounds first."

I was noticing the other day that Kayden is starting to look pretty.  Babies and toddlers aren't pretty.  Little girls are.  It made me sad.  Last night during our "meltdown hour" Kayden was in her room.  Right before dinner I peeked in there and, instead of finding disaster, found her quietly coloring.  She looked up and told me she was drawing and then paused and said, "I was really angry with Keeley so I came in here to color."  When did she learn to manage that emotion?  (We had a major meltdown that morning, but that coping is at least starting to work its way in)
 
None of those things are "big" firsts like the first steps or first words.  They are subtle changes and advancements in skills that I notice and make me realize that the girls are really girls, not babies.

I look at Killian now with an entirely new appreciation.  While it is often challenging that he is attached to me, refuses a bottle, and likes to nurse at least every two hours, I know it is a phase and he will soon be running as fast as the girls.  Even now he is slowly starting to be more distractable about nursing.  Distractibility means he is getting more involved in his world.   We are about to start a lot of his big "firsts".  I'm sure they will be bittersweet as well.

Nap Time

This is how Keeley emerged from nap time the other day.  She had found and placed tattoos all over her body.

FINGERS!

Killian LOVES his hands.  In fact, he has some little raw spots between his thumb and his fingers from all the drool.

The whole hand going in there while he tries to talk to me.

Realizes it is probably easier to not have a mouthful of fingers and talk at the same time.

Settles on the thumb for a bit.  He doesn't really suck on his thumb much but has it in his mouth and chews on it all the time.  I particularly love this picture because of his "bracelet" fat roll :-)

"Mom!  What the heck?! You know I can't get my thumb this way!"

"Alright, I suppose we can just talk"

Rectangle

"Rectangle!"  That is what Kayden announced at lunch time the other day after she created this.  Yes, it is.  However, why aren't you just eating?!

Cabbage Patch

Three completely unrelated people in the span of two weeks told me that Killian looks like a Cabbage Patch doll.  How random is that?  I think he is pretty adorable but I have never thought to compare him to a Cabbage Patch!

Zinnias and "extra"

When we went to Disney World this year we were given seed packets at Epcot.  They claimed to be zinnias.  The girls were excited about them and I held on to them.  We waited until the packet said to plant them, got set, and started dropping these "seeds" into the holes the girls dug.  I didn't put a ton of effort into it because 1. I didn't even know what a zinnia was and 2. I thought the chances of us growing something from seed was not good.  I can't even keep plants alive most of the time.

Anyway, we planted them and watered them a couple of times.  And then they started growing.  And growing. And growing.  I still didn't know what a zinnia was but I was quite certain that I didn't know of any flower other than a sunflower that grew this tall!!!

They are almost as tall as me!

Grandma came over the other day and showed the girls how you can get the zinnia seeds from the flowers and have more to plant next year.  Today the girls decided that was their mission.

They worked for a long time this morning and brother hung out on a blanket nearby with me.

So smiley!

LOVES to stick his tongue out!

So much to love on!!

Even around his toes...

Later in the afternoon, they set up a "desk" and continued to prepare their seeds.  We are going to have hundreds of zinnias next year.  You may not be able to see our house!

Working in her heels.  I have finally convinced her it is not safe to run in them.  She'll say, "Hold on!  I shouldn't run in high heels!"

While the girls worked, Killian and I snuggled on the porch. There is lots of him to snuggle ;-)

More Playtime

Killian is, for better or worse, the boy after the girls.  We have a house full of "girl" things and he is already more interested in the girls' things than his own.

"Oooh!  Pink leopard heart princess wand.  Fun!"

"And I can wave it over this pink castle rug in the playroom filled with dress up clothes!"

Such a sweet boy.  Now that he can sit up a little bit better, we can play with more toys.

Loves the rolling ball game.  (notice it is a purple ball...)

He may look a little overwhelmed here.  But can't you just feel the love?!  Seeing how much the three of them love each other definitely makes all the hard days worth it.

School Cuteness

Now that the girls are both in the primary, they can wear the same things and just about every day they decide they need to match.  I like it because it makes them get ready so much faster.  Normally Kayden doesn't like to have anything done to her hair, but sometimes she is very insistent on looking just like Keeley.  I thought they were particularly cute this morning.

Playtime!

I can hardly keep the girls inside now that the weather is under 100 degrees every day.  Here we have the ever safe combination of the slip and slide raft and our playset slide.  Such big smiles though.

Little brother didn't want to be left out.  Look how cute!

Sharing

At lunch today the girls were discussing their birthday parties (they like to plan in advance I guess).  It was decided that the parties would be at our house.  Then Kayden said, "Owen can be Keeley's Eric and Drake can be my Eric.  Well, maybe we'll share Owen."  I asked her who Eric was and she looked at me like I was crazy.  So then I said, "Prince Eric?  From the Little Mermaid?"  To which she responded, "Yes."  I was perplexed by the sudden theme, the sharing of a prince, and the idea that it was going to be a costume party.  There is a lot that goes on in that mind of hers.....

Tummy Troubles

Over the weekend, Killian had a bit of a tummy issue.  I had gotten a massage and when I returned home and came over to Kelly to get him, the little guy started screaming.  Not crying or fussing but full on screaming.  As Kelly handed him over he told me that Killian had done the same thing when Grandma had tried to hold him.  I figured Killian was probably just frustrated that I was gone and expressing his dissatisfaction with the situation.  My opinion quickly changed, however, as I could not get him to calm down.  He is a big time momma's boy and loves to nurse.  He refused to nurse and refused to calm down despite all my best efforts.  After 5-10 minutes of colicky screaming, he suddenly stopped and seemed fine.  He was only fine until bedtime when he started all over again.  At this point, I was concerned that he had an ear infection or that horrible hand-foot-mouth thing so I loaded him up to take him to Acute Kids.  He fell asleep when we were driving but started screaming again as soon as we got inside.  He continued to scream for the next 45 minutes of evaluation.  They could find nothing wrong with him even though they checked all his vitals, his ears, his tummy, his throat.  It was even suspected he had scratched his cornea which babies apparently do so they checked that.  Nothing.  They could find no cause despite the fact that he continued to scream and refused to eat.  The nurse practitioner consulted a doctor who could also find nothing wrong.  Because he had been screaming as if in pain for so long, they would not let me leave and called our pediatrician to see what she recommended.  She wanted us to head to Children's so that he could have some imaging done.

Killian screamed the entire 20 minute ride to Children's and then for the next hour and a half.  An x-ray was ordered of his abdomen.  Apparently he is the prime age (3-6 months) and was exhibiting classic symptoms (colicky screaming that starts out spaced 15-20 minutes apart and then grows in intensity) for something called intestinal intussusception.  Basically what happens is the intestines telescope inside themselves.  The x-ray was inconclusive so we were sent to get an ultrasound.  At some point between the x-ray and the ultrasound, Killian calmed down, nursed, and fell asleep.  When he had the ultrasound he was as happy as could be.  The ultrasound showed no problems so we were released to go home.  Thankfully, the issue seemed to have resolved itself. 

The pediatrician and Acute Kids both called the following day to check on him.  We ended up at the pediatrician's office later that week about Keeley and she talked to me a while about Killian.  She reiterated that it is a really serious problem they were concerned about Killian having and also told me how concerned the Acute Kids staff was.  She told me that she had worked with the nurse practitioner from Acute Kids when she used to work in a hospital setting at that the nurse practitioner was very good so that I should feel good about the testing we had done.  I was so glad to hear that.  I checked into Acute Kids for a minor concern and somehow ended up at Children's getting testing done that didn't show a problem.  I left the ER at Children's feeling like the entire situation had spun out of control.  She assured me we had made the right choice because he had been in so much pain.  I'm hopeful we do not have to deal with it again!!  So far so good.  Little guy is back to his happy, smiley self.

Jungle Jumper

Grandma bought this great jungle jumper for Killian before he was born. I was overly anxious to use it and got it out before he was tall enough.  The girls played with it until it drove me crazy so I put it away.  Then my cousin suggested I put something under it so he could bounce.  His tummy time giraffe was perfect.

"Mom, you realize you put me down, right?  You realize you aren't holding me, right?  I like to snuggle you remember that, right?"

"Oh wait!  Maybe this looks fun..."

Contemplating if this is fun or not...

"YES!  This is quite fun! However, only leave me here for a few minutes before you put me back where I belong which is clearly on your hip"

Thanks, Grandma! I think we will be enjoying this a bit more now!!

Good morning, Sunshine!

This is how Killian wakes up from every single and nap and in the morning too.  He is such a happy guy!

Big smiles!

Some stretches with a thoughtful but still content face.

Checking out the door to see who else might be coming in.

More Cuteness

I am so in love with him!!!!  During his pedi appointment, she kept interrupting herself to comment on how cute he was.  She even said, "all babies are not this cute.  He's the perfect little gerber baby.  So happy and smiley."  A friend in carpool the other day asked me if all my kiddos looked like cabbage patch dolls.  Not sure if that is referring to cuteness or the "extra" that my babies have.  Either way, I think he's pretty cute and I love all his "extra" padding!

Big boy high chair.  No solids yet, but just talking away at the table during dinner.

Look at that cute little tongue and happy face.  He is such a happy little boy.

Chewing on a toy.  He's become quite skilled at getting toys to his mouth to chew on.

Loves to stand and also loves to look at himself in the mirror.  Here he is doing both.

Look at all that extra on his thighs!!!  Love it!!  Sweet little boy.  He has some chafing around his ankles because there is such a pronounced fold of extra down there.  Actually, okay, there are two folds of extra love down around his ankles.