Dropping In

We've had company this past week, which is why I haven't written. I'm wondering if anyone really even notices. Sadly, I'm realizing more and more that I use the computer to keep up with my friends. Since I just moved, I haven't made a huge amount of friends here (although I've been blessed by old friends who already live here!). Plus, with 5 kids, it's just difficult to make a phone call or go over to someone's house. Ya know? I mean, seriously, how many people want to have us invade for very long? And these days it seems like most people are too busy to come over or invite us over. I'm not meaning to complain here, just making observations.

My point? I have NO idea! :-) I just wanted to say "hey" and let you all know where I've been. Old Man's sister and her family have been here, so we've been busy hiking and touring and running ourselves ragged. I have taken tons of pictures, so will be posting the better ones here soon.

Little Bit had her tests done to see if she has kidney reflux. (Not sure if I even mentioned this had to happen. Because she had a UTI at such a young age, they wanted to rule out problems.) She is fine! Praise God! I didn't think I was the slightest bit worried about the whole thing, but when they told me she didn't have reflux, I felt like crying in relief.

David's cast comes off next week. Hopefully we will figure out what normal is here after that.

Miss you all. Will write more later. Bedtime for these kiddos so I need to run!!

Change

Our lives seem to change constantly. I cannot comprehend people whose lives stay the same - live in the same house, have a schedule (that works!), see the same people, do the same things ... Not ever in my life. I'm sure it's nice, I dream it would be nice, but it hasn't happened for me! Between moving, pregnancies, babies, sickness, LIFE, no week looks the same as the last one. So, for our latest changes around here . . .

First change, David is now walking on his broken leg! The doctor bent the cast, to prevent him from walking. Didn't work. He's walking (even running when we don't see) all over the place! The evidence is on this video. Oh, and notice he's standing on a mini-trampoline at the beginning of the video. I started the video right after I said, "GET OFF the trampoline! You already broke your leg on one, don't jump with the leg still broken!"



Second change, Anne turned 8 on Saturday! Here's a picture of her on her birthday. We had a fun party for her at the swimming pool and then back to the house for supper.



Third change, and probably the biggest, we got a dog! We had 2 dogs at one point, but both have died. After Zoe died, we just weren't ready to get another one quite yet. Then we knew we were moving and having a baby, so we put it off. Dawn has been begging for us to get another one and we started looking a couple months ago. We found Lucy online through a rescue. She was a stray. They think she's about 1 year old and she's a lab/boxer/pit bull mix (that's the best guess). She is very sweet and gentle - oh, and she is super quiet!!! She is a bit shy still, but I'm guessing that will work itself out. :-) All this to say, meet the newest member of our family, Lucy!

Getting Over Myself

This past month has been incredibly stressful here at my house. Part of the stress is my expectations. Last year was soooo stressful that I just expected this year to be WAY better. So, you know, January 1, 2009, life was going to get easier. Well it didn't. First we had all the kids with coughs, then a baby with a UTI and now a 2 year old with a broken leg. Oh, and I should mention the child who is fighting me every second of the day (not really every second, but it feels that way). Truthfully, I think I could have handled all this with much more grace if I hadn't just expected and looked forward to things being easier! Yesterday I had a meltdown. I felt evil. Called Old Man and cursed about everything. Hung up because he didn't immediately say he was coming to my rescue. How old am I? TWO? Criminey. Grow up, deal. My sweet husband did come home early and then pampered me all evening. This I did NOT deserve. I'm crying now just knowing how much I didn't deserve anything but to be told to grow up! Instead, he loved me. And I remembered that God loves me even more than Old Man does. And I confessed my horrible attitude, my grumbling and complaining and I thanked God for all the ways He has blessed me. So, today, I will post fun pictures instead of moaning and groaning about my stressful life. :-) Hopefully I will remember to be much more grateful for the blessings and much less focused on the difficulties.

Tonya The Grouch

I'm feeling extremely grumpy right now. And mean. Do you ever feel mean? Right now, I would love to just tell somebody off, glare at someone, tell them where they can get off. And this isn't directed at ONE person, it's pretty much directed at everyone. Nice, huh? Very Christian in my attitude today. Old Man called and I answered the phone with, "What." He laughed and I said, "I told you I don't want to talk on the phone, what do you want?" He loves me, really he does. Why? I don't know!?! And I'm not mad at him either!

Bottom line, don't call me today. Don't stop by. Don't be nice. Don't tell me about your vacation or your cute kids or your clean house or your helpful parents. Just shut up and leave me alone.

Time to go back to bed and start over later.

**Maybe you could all start praying for me to GET OVER MYSELF.

New Blog

You have to check out this new blog: Bryn's Blog. Please read and comment - she would love it!

Hopefully I'll get a chance to put some pictures on here later today. Have a great day!

Articles

I just read two articles that are a bit related and very interesting. Read this and this. Thanks! :-)

Thanks!

I knew you would all come through with great book recommendations! Wow! Thanks! I already own a bunch of the ones recommended, but I did order some of the others. Can't think of what they are right now though. :-)

I have a million posts going through my head, but no time to get them down! David is definitely taking up lots of my time with his injury. He is able to crawl around (praise GOD), but is so stinking needy right now. He's very frustrated with the whole thing at this point. Actually, I think we all are. Thankfully it should only be a month in the cast. And he did manage to get up on the countertop to eat cookie dough the other day. I'm thinking the cast hasn't slowed him down too much!

Book Recommendations Needed

Anne's 8th birthday is on Valentine's Day. She is an avid reader and wants some new books for her birthday. Lately, she's been reading (and rereading) Judy Moody books. She would love more Judy Moody books. The problem is that I don't really like Judy Moody books. They just seem like a waste of time. So, any recommendations on better reads for her? We have all the Little House books and Anne of Green Gable books. She CAN read them, but chooses to read shorter, easier books for fun. Her preference is short chapters. We have some Magic Tree House books (which she reads and likes). Any ideas?

The Scoot

Here's David's new way to get around:




He got the cast on today. They made it so he cannot walk, but told him he could crawl. They will check the break in 4 weeks and hopefully he will be fully healed and can get the cast off then!

Broken Leg

Not the best video in the world, but thought you could hear about the leg from The Boy himself! :-) Now I can tell you the more involved version.

Friday afternoon, David and a couple of older kids (who will remain nameless) were jumping on the trampoline. The older kids weren't being quite as careful as they should have been, they all jumped at the same time and David came down on the trampoline right after the big kids had landed. Sort of like landing on concrete, I'm guessing. He started crying and wouldn't move. One of the older kids came to get me. I got to the trampoline and asked if he could walk to me. As soon as I saw he couldn't put ANY weight on his leg, and hearing how he was crying, I knew. I just knew he had a broken leg. We got him inside on the bed, took off his pants to see how bad it was. (Let me just tell you how much I did NOT want to deal with this. I am so stinking afraid of seeing blood or broken bodies. Terrified. I actually stayed out of the room for a minute, gathering my courage. Melissa, YOU ROCK. I could never do your job.) Thank God, there was no blood, nothing to see, actually! But, still, I KNEW. He wouldn't straighten his leg and his cries were gut wrenching. We quickly got him to an acute care clinic around the corner.

Let me pause in the storytelling for a minute to tell you how much God was in this whole incident. First, it's Friday at 1:00 - Old Man and my sister were here - never are they both here on a Friday at 1:00. Second, there is an acute care clinic 5 minutes from my house, they have an x-ray machine, they had NO other patients. Third, he only broke his leg - it could have been so much worse.

Back to the story. WE were able to take him to the clinic - Old Man and I. My sister stayed back to take care of my other 4 kids (yep, including the baby) and her kids. Oh, and she folded my laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned off the table, swept...and that has nothing to do with my story, but I just had to share! David was so funny when we got there. (Remember he cried the entire time, so all he said was while screaming and crying.) The nurse put a pulse "ox" (ocsimeter????) on his finger and David yells, "It's not my finger!!!" Then she goes to take his temperature in his ear and he yells, "It's my LEG!" (He was thinking - you stupid adults, get it right, will ya?)

After much cajoling, begging and pleading we managed to convince him to straighten his leg and let them take pictures of it with the x-ray. This is also evidence God was working! David is not known for his cooperation. :-) We were able to explain to him that he had to cooperate, had to obey, had to so his leg would stop hurting. He did. He laid on the x-ray table, straightened his leg and cooperated. Amazing. Of course, when they were done with the x-rays and Old Man said, "All done!" David yells, "But my leg still hurts!" Poor kid.

The specifics? I think they called it a "non-displaced, cracked tibia". Someone with medical knowledge can probably laugh and then correct me. Basically, his tibia (shin bone) has about a 3/4" crack in it about an inch below his knee. It really isn't a bad break! (God again.) They put a temporary cast on it and he is on his way to see an orthopedic doctor right now to get his "real" cast. He's terrified of all this, so pray for the kid. He doesn't want anyone to touch it or get near his leg at all. I did give him some codeine before the appointment, in hopes this eases his pain and fear.

All in all, he's doing very very well. He has been in good spirits most of the time. He hasn't even needed much meds. Of course, after Joseph tried to pick him up last night, and dropped him, he had to have some pain meds. I am surprised at how this is affecting everyone in the family. The girls have been sick to their stomachs, tired, more emotional than normal. Poor Joseph has lost his best buddy to play with too. We're all exhausted emotionally.

Oh, another funny thing happened. Friday night, Joseph said something about David breaking his bone. David said, "My bums not broken!"

Old Man leaves for DC tomorrow (go figure), so I called a girl from church to help with bedtime tomorrow night (he's only gone one night). This girl is going to stay the night and help all day Wednesday too! WOW! Another lady from church is bringing us supper tonight. Ahhh, nice.

Here are a couple more picture of David. You can tell he's really suffering. :-)

Eating brownies and ice cream last night.


He asked for a bandaid to help the pain. :-) Aunt Dawn happily complied.