Thoughts on Today (and Yesterday)

Elisha had his knee surgery yesterday and they told us everything went perfect. That's great news I know, but man the recovery ahead of us is daunting. Six to eight weeks on crutches and the physical therapy they have asked us to begin today hurts a bit. Good times.

The tv has been on non-stop today and is beginning to drive me nuts.

(yesterday, after being home an hour or two)

Because Elisha couldn't eat yesterday until after his surgery, we all - including Bethany - fasted with him until he could eat too. Unfortunately Bethany had bad headache and stomach ache afterward which lasted through this morning. She conned her dad into staying home today too and if wasn't for the fact that she wouldn't/couldn't eat anything until early afternoon I would have called her a faker since she begged all week long to stay home with Elisha the day after his surgery and I kept telling her no.

Despite the fact that Bethany stayed home when I believe she probably didn't need to Elisha kept asking for her to come and sit in the room with him, so I guess he needed her after all.

(Bethany yesterday, after I took Elisha's photo, doing her best to look pathetic too)

Elisha is still in a lot of pain and taking two pain pills at a time. I'm not a big fan of pain meds but it's better than seeing him cry, which is what he was doing along with being extremely emotional until we upped it (per doctor's permission).

Elisha's knee is in a brace that keeps it straight and will keep it that way for the six to eight weeks he's on the crutches. He'll be home again tomorrow as he has to keep it elevated for 48 hours which will not end until 5:30 pm tomorrow. Which means tomorrow will be a juggle for Yohn and I as we try to balance who will be home with him at what times.

Track started today but Elisha will miss the entire season and he's a bit sad about that. Bethany missed her first day of practice as well because 1) she stayed home "sick" and 2) Elisha could not be left home alone and since Yohn was working this afternoon I couldn't go anywhere with her.

(Elisha today during his afternoon nap)

Elisha got a new pillow case (you can see in the pictures above) from the hospital that someone sews and donates to the kids. He thinks it's pretty awesome.

Because Elisha has to have his medicine every four hours, it's gonna be another long night as I will need to wake up to give that to him. Fun times I tell ya, fun times.

And just so you know, this post is not meant to complain. Not at all. we are blessed beyond blessed and have a great many things to be thankful for. I just needed a way to process my thoughts and what's been going on.

Although, we still appreciate your prayers!

Superbowl XLIX Recap

Once again we were invited to come and enjoy Superbowl at our favorite Seahawk fans house.

They were excited about their team making it a second year in a row.

Love these M & M's

Everyone was routing for the Seahawks, even the dog!

Watching the half time show.

Notice Elisha is missing from this photo. He was less than impressed with it and chose to stand and chat with me while I was taking pictures.

The girls who really weren't interested in football but instead enjoyed each other's company on the trampoline.

Everything is better with friends!

More Adventures in Doctorland

When last we left off I had explained that Bethany had broken her hand at a church event. We had pretty much spent the entire day Saturday at one form of doctor's office or another. 

The following day (Sunday) Elisha had a basketball game, and I had forgotten my camera and so was stuck, much to my chagrin, taking pictures with my cell phone. Boo!

Turns out it really didn't matter, because after the first minute of the game he had to ask to be taken out of the game. His left knee had started popping each time he bent it and by the end of the game his knee was swollen up like a grapefruit.

Back to the doctor's again on Monday, which happened to be Martin Luther King Jr. Day and we were supposed have the day off. Instead we enjoyed the day together waiting to get his knee x-rayed. Family time at its greatest I tell ya!

They are so funny, both were in a lot of pain last weekend and yet, every picture has a happy smile. Gotta love my kids! They really did have great attitudes in the midst of all this, for that there is so much to be thankful for.

No broken bones in that ole' knee. I'm told it could just be soft tissue damage and few weeks with some rest may make him good as new. Still, since they don't know what caused it he has an appointment to ortho too and we're just waiting for that day to see if there is an "official" diagnosis.

He still went to physical therapy for his back on Friday and at first the guy looked at me like I was crazy for even bringing him in, considering everything he works on involves the knees. But Elisha still got a little work out in and some tips on what he can still do while all laid up. 

Today (Saturday, nearly a week later) he is able to put a little weight on it, although he says it hurts to straighten it. Spending all day every day indoors is driving him crazy though and he cannot wait to just be able to walk around a little bit.

Waiting to finally see orthopedics, she declared this the best room ever! All because of a giraffe picture on the wall. It's the little things that make us the happiest, LOL!

Bethany finally got to see the orthopedist for her final diagnosis. Fractured pinky, in the hand area on her right hand. There is a clear fracture there where she experiences the most pain. Also possibly another one near the knuckle in the growth plate, as she has some pain there as well. Everything is clean and in place though and the doctor is not too concerned about the one in the growth plate as it is minor. She'll have the cast for about four weeks and then will have to do some exercises to get it back to normal again. 

She is lamenting the fact that she had just started playing the saxophone and now it'll have to take a back seat for a while. And it's a lot harder to write, but thankfully her schoolwork is mostly done on the computer, so it makes it just a tad easier in that regard. Not like when I broke my wrist when I was 13 and either had to have someone else write for me or try to keep up with the class writing left handed.

The day before Bethany broke her hand a teacher at our school fell and broke her hand too. She came in Friday to see everyone and Bethany saw her and wanted to show her cast off too. Crazy, interesting, long weekend that moved into the week. Whew! 

Now, on to next week when Elisha sees the orthopedist and his physical therapist for an update..

Dr. Adventures

 She came home early last night from the Gym Jam our church youth puts on once a month. The kids get to go and play games, jump on bouncers, eat, play some more, hang out... you get the idea. Well, She apparently, came down the slide incorrectly (bad girl!) and rolled over her hand. It was hurting so we got her early (okay not super early, it was already 8:30). We weren't too sure if it was broken or just hurt so we opted to wait for morning and call the Saturday clinic when it opened (with our insurance if we go to emergency and it turns out not to be serious they get upset, plus we want to avoid those germs if possible).

This is her waiting for the doctor. Rest assured that the frown is fake. Despite the fact that her finger (pinky on the right hand) hurt halfway to her wrist, she was in very good spirits. The doctor said, hmmm... we'll need an x-ray, because I will not chance it. Sooo... off to the hospital non-emergency department we went (halfta have a doctor's referral for that and it's too bad cuz' I just would have started there).

After the x-ray they confirmed it was indeed fractured. A green-stick fracture to be precise. One for sure, but possibly two, it was hard to tell on the actual finger part itself. 

Now over to the actual emergency department to wait some more. We started at 10:00 this morning with her appointment. It was 3:00 when we finally got to emergency. 

But you know what! We were in and out of emergency in 1 hour! That was the quickest we waited anywhere all day. We waited an hour and fifteen minutes in the morning just to see the doctor. And see my silly girl? She's happy because she got Chik-fil-a for dinner. 

Add to all this the fact that Elisha is seeing a physical therapist for his back (tight hip flexors to be exact) after having to see the doctor on three different occasions in December. We have had some doctor adventures this past month and a half. 

AND it's not over yet! Bethany has to see an orthopedist this coming week (and we'll see how that goes) and Elisha has physical therapy scheduled for several more weeks.

Kool New Year Photos

We started a little tradition a few years back to take fun family photos on New Year's Day. But this year due to "technical" difficulties we didn't get to take our pictures on the first day of the year. But at least that didn't stop us from having fun today!

I was setting up the camera and the kids were clowning around. When Bethany saw this later she said, "What am I doing?! I look like I'm singing some kind of song!"

Still doing camera set up and he thought I was photographing him. So I did!

1st attempt... I didn't realize the Kool Aid pitcher was in the picture because I couldn't see it on the screen. Don't know how I thought I wouldn't be. But it gives our pictures a bit of character I think.

Second attempt... a little better.

This picture looks like fun but Yohn misunderstood what I wanted him to do and starting pouring Kool Aid everywhere while trying to get it in the glasses. A second later and my face would have been much angrier. Actually I think I just started to ask him what he was doing when the picture snapped.

Love this candid of the three of them while I was setting the timer.

Silly toast, was supposed to all be facing in but the kids and Yohn looked at the camera. When I did Yohn looked down. So many laughs.

Enjoying some kid ideas.

Kool Aid mustaches!

Hope everyone has a Kool New Year! Oh Yeah!

The Rest of December and Happy New Year!

Thought I'd finish off our December adventures...

Made an ornament for a cow collecting friend...

Had a pajama party with some of our favorite kids! 

Not everyone would take a pajama picture though :(

Took them all too see the Christmas lights on Christmas Eve before taking them all home to enjoy it with their families. And made sure to give all three their special photo books from 2014. I started the tradition last year and plan to keep it up for as long as those kiddos are in our lives (or until they graduate, whichever comes first, LOL!)

Got their Christmas Eve pjs... This year I decided to match them. Ninja Turtles are a favorite of both so they became the obvious choice.

She has a giraffe collection and enjoyed this unique rope giraffe we picked up at the fair this year. It was supposed to be a birthday present, but we forgot all about it. Ah well! She still loved it!

An unflattering picture of me and my beautiful new necklace, LOL!

A beanie with his favorite basketball team!

Her favorite gift!

His favorite gift!

They decided to watch a movie on Christmas night and fell asleep in the same bed!

Got invited to Six Flags on New Year's Eve

The snow hill was not as fun as they remembered... but they still enjoyed it a little.

Took a picture in a snow globe.

Saw some dolphins perform

Only character we saw all night

Tried to eat a giant candy cane, :)

And waited around for fireworks that were less than mediocre. Ah well, it was still a blast. Happy 2015!

I know that Christmas has now passed us by but I thought I'd throw in the kids' class performance I mentioned in the last post. Don't be fooled by how it starts, it really is comical!

And if you have a few more minutes, this one is from the church performance and it's cute:

"Light of Christmas" by Owl City & Toby Mac

Again, Have a Happy New Year!

December Happenins' (so far)

Whew! It's been a bit since I posted here. Then I posted on my 365 for a bit in a vain attempt to catch up there and then... well, December happened. But we've enjoyed every bit of it (or at least a large majority of it! LOL!).

Celebrated a certain handsome man's birthday at the beginning of the month. He requested potato soup and a quiet evening home with a netflix movie and he got it.

Playing harder than ever!

Had the "worse storm" in years... ummm, yeah. People took off work and kept kids home from school for this dud of a storm. Although it did flood quite a bit in some areas. This storm and the subsequent rain that followed for days has taken the edge off of our drought. And yes, that's Koda's crater all caved in and filled with water.

Made some ornaments for a gift exchange.

Bethany got an award for memorizing 300 verses.

More basketball... although his game has been hampered by back pain due to tight hamstrings. A recent growth spurt is slowing him down apparently. Lots of stretching and has recently been put on two weeks of no activity. For an active kid this is pure torture. Please keep him in your prayers for quick healing.

I know it's hard to tell but the pic above is of his best game ever. Even in pain he played hard. The photo is of his pass through traffic to a teammate who made the shot. Awesome play, too bad it's a not-so-awesome pic.

We finally got the Christmas tree decorated and the kids wanted to do an impromptu photo shoot. They got dressed for it and everything!

Made a "tree farm" for a school gift exchange. It was a lot of fun and we've heard that the girl who got it has no plans to spend the money because of the awesomeness of the gift. Yeah, wonder how long that will last when she's short on cash, LOL!

We forgot to get a pic of Elisha's present to give out. We put money and candy in balloons in a box that said "Pop Me". Stuffing those balloons was waaayyy harder than folding the trees in Bethany's gift.

Class performance of "Deck the Halls". Hilarious! I'll try to remember to post the video soon. Elisha is second row on the right, in dark clothing so he's kinda hard to see. Bethany is front row third from the right.

The class performance was followed by the band performance.

Santa came to the preschool again (and Bethany made a surprise visit to see him!).

Then came home for a quick pic before a shower and a beard trim, HA!

Church performance of "Light of Christmas".

Another video I've got to get posted for you to see. The kids did awesome!

Photo with "Cow Santa" at Chik-fil-a. They may be too old for photos with the real Santa (except for Daddy-Santa, of course) but a silly Santa was a blast. Getting breakfast at Chik-fil-a was a bonus!

Attended a Living Nativity at a local church. I hate to say it but I think the kid may just have outgrown this as most of it is geared for smaller children.

Well, that's it for December so far... If you don't "hear" from me before then...

Merry Christmas!