Archive for July, 2009

Take this broken wing… learn to fly again…

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

There are so many great songs for the soundtrack to Kate’s life and this is just another to add to her playlist.  Noah broke Kate’s arm.  Ok, that’s dramatic.  Noah tried to jump over Kate and he accidentally fractured her humerus bone at the top near her shoulder… but what a crazy few days that brought us.

If you’re on Facebook you already know all the crazy details but for those of you living under a rock (as Facebook is the new black, I mean blog) I wanted to share some of her pitiful photos from the adventure.  Rest assured, she is fine.  She won’t need a cast and has already started crawling again, although she has a slight limp.  She’s also taken this opportunity to work on her will to walk.  I have a feeling that’s right around the corner (God, help us!).

Most of these photos were taken with my phone so please excuse the yuck of them.

Here the kids are at my mom’s that afternoon like nothing too crazy laid ahead -

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The accident happened after dinner and right before bedtime.  Neither Walter or I witnessed it but Noah says he tried to jump over her.  We just saw her planted face first into the wood floor, crying hysterically.  At first we thought she was just scared but it took longer than usual to calm her down.  She was super sensitive but it was also bedtime.  So we gave her a bath and took her to the ER just to be safe.  When we got there she was all smiles and giggles so we didn’t go in.  We went home and put her to bed.  The pediatrician said to keep an eye on her and wake her in two hours to make sure she was ok and didn’t have a concussion.  An hour and 59 minutes later there was hysterical crying from her room.  There was something wrong.  I took her to the ER again. 

We didn’t have to wait long and the pediatric side was pretty empty.  The one set of people who were there absolutely fascinated Kate though.  They didn’t speak English and she was enthralled.  She wouldn’t stop staring so they waved every now and again.  I couldn’t wait to be called in, kids really have a way of embarrassing you!

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The xrayed her and found nothing.  They pushed and pulled and she cried. 

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If you look close you can see the xray of her arm on the computer in the photo on the left and the xray of her shoulder in the photo on the right.

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It was the middle of the night, she cried when they touched anything.  They couldn’t figure out if there was anything wrong so they gave her Motrin, sent her home and said to follow up with the pediatrician. 

The next morning our pediatrician thought she had a strain or a sprain in her wrist and we would know in two days if it was going to get better without treatment or if she needed more xrays.  She hates xrays!  He said if there was anything broken it would have shown on the xrays the night before but that infants are difficult to scan and sometimes things don’t show up right away.

As soon as I got home from the doctor the hospital was calling.  Can you imagine my reaction to “We’re very sorry but we just realized your daughter has a fracture in her arm that we didn’t notice last night.  We recommend seeing a pediatric orthopedist.  Have a nice day!”?  And then the whirlwind began.  I cancelled all of my business appointments and became Super Mom.  I found myself making appointments with anyone who would see us and flying down to Pembroke Pines faster than the police would have appreciated.

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The pediatric orthopaedist was amazing!  She recommended we splint Kate’s arm and come back in two weeks for a follow up xray (in Boca thankfully).  Apparently infants’ bones grow so quickly that casting her arm would have slowed down the healing process.  They expect her to be good as new before her next appointment and she’s already on the mend.  A little fussier but she also cut her top two fang teeth the day after the accident.  I think she’s in pretty good shape for the shape she’s in.

We went to the beach on Friday and just to show you she has done more than cry this week, here she is…

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… having her first taste of sand.  I’m so thankful the drama is over and that she won’t remember any of this.  I have a feeling no one else will forget though and in thirty years I’ll still be able to play the remember-when-you-broke-your-sister’s-arm card. 

More on the beach and my sister’s vacation here soon.  I’m hoping to get better at blogging, you know, in my spare time.

Holiday Road…

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

This 4th of July holiday weekend we took off for a mini vacation.  We headed south to my very favorite hotel, the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood.  It was everything we hoped it would be and more!  The weather was perfect, the pools were fun, the beds were super comfy, the kids were even well behaved!  We were lucky enough to have a lot of friends with the same plans and because of that we enjoyed many laughs and large meals.

Here are a few photos from our relaxing weekend, there are many more to come -

First, let me show you why I love this place so much…

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Yes, really.  And yes, really, these are photos from this weekend.  The pool and beach didn’t look like this for long but they were still very beautiful and very relaxing when other people showed up.  This is one of four pools at the hotel so you never noticed that the resort was bustling; there’s so much room to spread out!

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And this is how excited we all felt when the plans were made and we were on our way.  A family vacation was so overdue!

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The one photo we got of the kids together this weekend…

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She may owe that pole dinner.

At the pool…

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Our friends Bettina and Dan and their daughter Helena happened to be staying the weekend at the resort as well.  The kids loved swimming together!

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Rachel, Robby, and Ayla were also at the resort as were thier friends Nicole and Chris and their children Nicholas and Carsen.  You haven’t lived until you’ve looked for a dinner reservation for 11 people 30 minutes before you’re hoping to eat!

Nicholas is such a cool kid!  A lover boy with a little Dennis the Menace mixed in for good measure.  We had a blast, he has such personality!  At one point I was holding Helena (above) and Nicholas (below) was playing with us.  Someone joked about how easily I could pass them off as my own kids.  I’ll just have to borrow all the redheaded children and wish their parents luck with the stubborness and sass that comes with the color! 

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Chris and Carsen                                                                     Little Miss

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For the fourth we were unknowingly misinformed and decided to take our chances watching fireworks from Rachel and Robby’s room.  Little did we know we would have been much better off on the beach, where we originally planned to go, but then we would have missed this amazing view of the city and the light show.

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The city after a few cocktails…

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The monkeys…

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And a certain little someone learned a new trick while on vacation… she now STANDS!  Where does the time go!?  Buh-bye baby Kate, hello toddler land!

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And just for fun we relived a few moments.  I told you this place was my favorite!

(Noah at 4 months)

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(Kate at 9 months, who doesn’t know how not to smile)

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(Noah at 7 months)

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(Kate at 9 months who apparently heard she was going to be late for lunch)

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Still think they look exactly alike?!

Unfortunately when we got home reality smacked us in the face!  Monday was right around the corner, grocery shopping needed to get done and the laundry fairy never showed up this weekend.  Oh, and there was a leak in our roof that was flooding our laundry room because of all the rain.  Fun times!  At least we’re tan!