Wish me luck!

Well, today Staci got her cast off. I know! It seems pretty fast to me, too! It was only 3 weeks yesterday that she broke it. (I was going to take a picture or her getting it off, but of course, my camera batteries died right then....oh well, and they had her sitting on my lap with me holding her, so it would have been a little hard anyway!!) The doctor did x-rays and said that her arm was "well on it's way to being healed" but that it was still broken. I guess because of where the break was, it was not good to keep it casted very long for fear of not getting back the full mobility in her elbow. The doctor just said to "try and keep Staci from falling on it, and don't pull on it for a few weeks". I thought to myself, "hmmm... has this doctor SEEN the SIZE of STACI'S HEAD? Does he know that just in the waiting room waiting to get our name called this morning, she FELL 27 TIMES!? (Maybe a slight exaggeration, but still!) I could no more keep her from falling then I could keep her from screaming in Sacrament Meeting!" (and anyone in my ward could tell you that is not gonna happen!!) These were basically my thoughts, but the doctor assured me that this was the right thing to do. So now I am paranoid of anyone touching her or making her run ('cause she ALWAYS falls when runs). Anyway, wish me luck to keep her arm from breaking again!! Yikes!

I am sorry it has been hard for me to post anything lately. I just haven't been in my normal blogging mood! I don't know why, but I have been pretty busy with things that are not blog-worthy (i.e. Doctor's visits, cleaning the house, yelling at the kids, wondering why all of my earrings are in a bowl filled with water and 9 batteries, and how long they've been like that!). I have recently gone to a neuro-muscular dentist that seems to have helped me. He hooked me up to a machine that basically sent shocks to my jaw and neck and shoulders. After more than an hour on that machine (It was interesting because I had all of these involuntary twitches that I could not control... about every second I twitched and blinked... interesting) my jaw was basically numb and he could see where I should naturally have my teeth fit together. I know it sounds weird, but then he shaved off a bunch of my tooth enamel (on all but my top 4 and bottom 4 front teeth) and fit my teeth together better. Before he did this the ONLY teeth in my mouth that lined up were my wisdom teeth! The dentist says that this will probably really help with my TMJ! I hope so, because the ear pain and migraines and everything else has just been getting worse and worse! I have been up to about 5 migraines a week! And I DON'T use the term migraine loosely! It is the kind that makes you just want to sit in a dark room and cry!! Well, I obviously can't do that (being the basically single mom that I am while Geoff is in school!) and so I just would sit in the light family room and cry! Anyway, today it seems like I have had a lot of relief of my pains! I am sceptical, of course, because no one has had the answer, but I am also optimistic that this will help. Is it possible to be sceptical and optimistic at the same time? I guess it is, 'cause I am.

Yesterday at the doctor's office I read a quote by John Homer Miller that says, "Circumstances and situations do color life - but you have been given the MIND to CHOOSE what the color shall be!" This is my new goal... to try REALLY hard to look at life and not focus on what is wrong with it - but what is right with it! P.S. If any of you didn't hear Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the Relief Society broadcast last Saturday, read it!! It was SO good! If you finished this post, you are a true friend, or you really have nothing better to do!

Oh, little Staci - Nothing but smiles from this sweetheart!

Turn up the volume on this one. You can hear Staci singing and then she stops and lets out some bodily noises a couple of times... too funny!

We just got back from the doctor's office where they did more x-rays on Staci's arm. It seems that everything is healing pretty well. The doctor did say that the type of brake she had is really rare, and so you really can't tell if you are going to need surgery until your arm just doesn't grow right. So, this could be something down the road several years... but at least for now they won't have to do any surgery. I am relieved, of course. She should be able to get the cast off in just a couple more weeks. I was surprised, but because she is so little it grows back so fast.

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Also, I have to write about our ward's primary program last Sunday. Natalie and Jackson had both been practicing their parts, and had them down. Well, the time came for Natalie's class of Sunbeams to get up and say their parts. It was like herding cattle up to the microphone, and so people were out of order all over the place. Of course, a primary counselor was up at the microphone prompting the kids on what to say, and not worrying about whether or not that was their assigned part. Natalie was last, and when the sister prompted her to say something that Natalie hadn't heard before, she said, "that's not the part my mommy told me to say". You could hear her in the microphone a little bit. Then Natalie leaned over and hugged around this leaders neck and whispered in her ear the part that she was supposed to say. The leader said to go ahead and say the part that she planned (which had already been said, but hardly recognizable coming from a Sunbeam) so Natalie stood right up and said her part just clear and slow and wonderfully. I thought that was funny. Then she went back to her seat and danced and sang at the top of her lungs, every song in the program. You should have seen it! I had several people tell me how entertaining she was! I wish I could have seen her from the front (she was in the front row in front of the bishop, and I was sitting in the back row of the choir seats). Jackson did a great job, too.... by the way.

A quick update on Staci's arm:

I FINALLY got in to the Orthopedist today (that is another story... basically got a lot of run around... don't get me started!) and he explained more about the brake to me. Basically it is a really bad break which involves quite a bit of the bone above the elbow, some of the elbow and the growth plate! When the doctor told me this I felt sick to my stomach because of the pain I have had breaking my own arm through the growth plate when I was six. I just don't want Staci to have to go through that! The doctor casted the arm, but we have to go back quite often for x-rays throughout the healing process. I will continue to keep you all updated! For now, Staci seems to be doing OK... she is sick of strange people touching her, though! Thanks for all of your concern for her! I appreciate it!

Our Accident-Prone Child...

It seems like only a few weeks ago I was posting pictures of Staci after we got home from the E.R when she almost bit her tongue off.... Oh, wait... that was only a few weeks ago!! Well, tonight we were there again, because of her falling again (danged big noggin) and this time she ended up with a broken arm! Poor baby! She was NOT happy! I think she remembered being at the hospital 'cause she did not like it from the minute we got there.... of course, her arm was broken, so she wasn't happy anyway! She broke it just slightly above the elbow, and they said it was a fairly long fracture. Tonight they just put her in a splint and sling because of swelling, and tomorrow they will cast it. I watched her fall (just from the bench of a picnic table onto soft grass) but she landed on it funny and then acted like she couldn't get up. I have broken my arm enough times to notice that as a sign. My Mothers' intuition just told me it was broken. Well, there you go. I am still not sure of all the details (she sees a pediatric orthopedist tomorrow) so I'll keep you updated. Hopefully that will be the last of the visits to the E.R. for a while!!!

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Jackson is 7 years old today! He is such a sweet and kind kid, and we are so glad he is part of our family! We had Jackson a pirate party last Saturday and it was a lot of fun! We had 15 kids (including ours) and fed them all lunch and had a fun time playing pirate games like "pin the eye patch on the pirate" and "musical islands", and of course having a treasure hunt. I had planned several other games but we never even got to them. The kids just had fun running around and playing with swords (Jackson had enough to supply the whole group practically). It was a dream come true for Jackson to have so many friends there. It was PERFECT weather, too, which made it fun to have the party outside in our back yard! We love you, Jackson!!

Such a sweet little guy... can you believe all that hair? He was born with it!!
3-1/2 months old - first Christmas

Jackson is our tough "skinny man"

Jackson with Natalie and cousin, Susannah