Now What?

The week went really well! I felt rejuvenated and renewed even though my gut has been acting up (the last remnants of the stress ended up there). I got a lot done and Andy and I are getting along and working together as a team. (Yeah!) I made my way through some paperwork and did some homework and rested and worked and spent time with the kids. We had a busy weekend but spent time with family and worked on Gavin's room. (I am almost ready to post pictures.. maybe after next weekend) With the help of my mom, we even got one of the bookshelves put together! (I can't post pics of that because the drawers and baskets are not in yet!) It is frustrating that we now have ANOTHER project half finished, but I am dealing with it!

The fact that my mom came over to help leads you to the title of this post, my mom had to help put the bookcase together because..... Andy broke his hand! Last weekend he was trying to get a nail out of board and when the nail came out, his hand slipped and he punched the board! He broke his pinkie finger down by the wrist. It looked terrible and he spent an entire day at the Dr's office trying to get it taken care of. He is not very happy about his cast, it is waterproof, but not very comfortable. Being in a cast made it near impossible to use the drill or a screwdriver, so.. he called in the troops!

Funny story about the waterproof cast...Gavin got one when he broke his elbow last summer so Andy asked for one too. The Dr. asked if he was a surfer or something and Andy replied that he was a dad. Andy explained that he needed to be able to wash dishes and bathe kids without worrying about his cast getting wet, not to mention the convenience of bathing himself without bagging his arm. The Dr. seemed very confused about this and told Andy that it was a very unusual reason for getting a waterproof cast and that he would have to confer with some other Dr.'s about this. The Dr.s convened and they all agreed that this was not the usual reason and that they were not sure that Andy's reasons warranted the special cast. Finally after much deliberation and coaxing from Andy, they gave in and gave him the waterproof cast that he had requested. Apparently, surfing is a loftier reason than dad duties. I wonder if they would have questioned it that much if it was a woman who had mom duties? I told Andy that he should have just said, "Yeah, surfing.. that's it!" and been done with it!

I was able to take some time out this morning and join a few of the wonderful and amazing "Moms" in my life for coffee, conversation and a great speaker who talked about ways to strengthen your marriage. It felt like he was talking to ME! I really needed to hear his words and I am thankful that I made it to this meeting. (of course I had a hundred excuses of why I couldn't go, glad that I didn't fall for my own tricks). I really need to get to my homework and then head off to the gym (of course there will be laundry to fold in there too) so... I am off...

Hopefully we can finish up some projects and I can take pictures for you all to see all of the work that has been going on here... until then...

Back to School

We are all back to school (except Ella who starts next Tuesday!). Gavin is in 2nd grade, Andy is teaching 7th grade math, I am back to work and had my first class last night. I am taking 9 units again, which is full time for Masters... it will be a lot, but I know that we can handle it! We enjoyed our vacation and even headed down to San Diego for the holiday weekend and went to Legoland, walked in Torey Pines Preserve and met my Dad's horse! The kids swam and we relaxed and on Sunday we went to the zoo! Monday was spent relaxing by the pool at Jack and Sharon's...one of my favorite summer spots!

Gavin's arm is doing really well, the cast is off and he is getting over the stiffness. The scar is big, but it looks like it is healing well.

Kelsey, my cousin's baby girl has been in the hospital... please pray for her and for the family. You can check them out here: http://sweetpeakurtz.blogspot.com/

I have been knee deep in paper work and photos, just trying to get a handle on all of the things that fell by the way side during my summer craziness. I uploaded 868 photos on Wednesday and have edited about half. Next, I will file them and order prints... I am hoping to finish today.

I will be placing a Creative Memories order soon too, so if you need anything... please visit the website: http://www.creativememories.com/ and be sure to enter my name "Yvonne Huffaker in Whittier" as your consultant. You can have items shipped directly to your door and not pay anything extra!

Hopefully a more interesting post will come next week... this weekend Gavin has his first soccer game, I will be in N. Hollywood for an all day training for Sunday School teachers and Andy will be cleaing up the crazy, overgrown yard. Oh, and I have homework....

What's the worst that could happen?

Trying to regain my center and find some balance has not been easy around here. After my last post, I did finish my last assignment and went off to school feeling really great. I turned in everything that afternoon, some assignments a day early and some a whole week early! (you learn a few things in your "older" age). Andy and I had a rough weekend, getting on each others nerves and fighting over stupid stuff... I think it was just everything from the last 6 weeks coming to a head. We were both trying to figure out how to re-shift all of the jobs and responsibilities. We had a good talk and settled a lot of things and the rest of the weekend was good. We rested and went to a pool party (torture for Gavin in his splint) and headed to his parent's house for our Sunday dinner visit. I got to cook, which I haven't done in 6 weeks! I even made a pineapple upside down cake for dessert.. yum!

The week started out smoothly enough. I had big plans for my week off.. mani/pedi, dr. appt that I have put off for 8 months (you know the one), scrapbooking, reading by the pool, my list goes on... Gavin begged to go back t Broadoaks for the week and we happily obliged thinking that we might even get some grown up time together while both kids were at day camp! We had a date planned for Wednesday... out to breakfast and a 10 a.m. movie...

Boy.. did I have it all wrong!

Tuesday, Gavin could not go to camp because he had his follow up appointment and xrays. We waited a while and when they did the xray, my stomach dropped into my toes. I am no Dr., but what I saw was horrible. I turned to Andy and mouthed, "He is going to need surgery." Of course, we both thought that I was exaggerating (I do that, ya know) The entire tip of his ulna was shirred off on one side and it was slightly displaced. It really did look bad.

The xray is backwards but you can see, even in this grainy copy how bad the break is!

We saw the Physician's Assistant who told us that this was an uncommon break and that it would more than likely need surgery. Then my heart did a flip because I had HOPED that I WAS just exaggerating... but.... The Pediatric Orthopedic surgeons were not available to see us, one was in surgery and the other was on vacation, so they would re-splint his arm, the Dr's would look at his films, conference and then get back to us later in the day. We left, feeling hopeful that maybe there would be no surgery. We went out to lunch and took Gavin to see Wal-e (is that how they spell it?).

Gavin had soccer practice that day too, and he did drills and had a great time, acting like there was nothing wrong with his REALLY broken arm. The Dr. called during practice and told me that Gavin would need surgery and that it needed to be soon. She asked if we could be at the hospital at 6 a.m. the next day (there went our date). I said of course, started shaking and wrote down everything she said. We went home, made arrangements for Ella and packed up a bag. That night I cuddled Gavin and stayed with him in his bed until he fell asleep.

I woke up at 4:30 the next morning and we left the house by 5 a.m. We dropped off Ella at Jack and Sharon's house (they would take her to and pick her up from school) and headed to Kaiser in Bellflower. Gavin was strangely calm. We got admitted and waited in a little room for an hour and then the action began... a stream of docs, nurses, etc came in and talked to us and that is when Gavin lost it. He asked me to take him to the bathroom and once I closed the door, he started to cry and begged me to just take him home. I calmed him down and we went back in to listen to the Dr. tell us about the procedure. They gave Gavin some drugs to calm him down (thank goodness) and then off he went. Andy and I had our breakfast date on the hospital patio and I caught up on the magazine reading that I had fallen behind on during school.
The calm, before the storm...note his cozy and GIGANTIC Broncos sweatshirt.

About an hour and 45 minutes later, the Dr. came out and told us that all had went smoothly and that she had put in two screws to hold the bone in place. He could come back in a week and she would check the incision and either re-splint or cast him. He would only have to wear the cast for 2 weeks. We asked about options and she decided to have him in earlier, on Monday and that she would put on a WATER PROOF cast! Hooray! I went in to the recovery area and he was so confused and disoriented.. this was the worst. He was crying and asking if I could get him out of there.... finally he settled down and went to sleep. After an hour, we got to go back to our room and Andy could come in.




Screwed back together, resting quietly with Teddy and a
photo op with mom. My sticker says, "Hug Me! I was brave!"

Gavin was fine... he was hungry and wanted to play his Gameboy. We waited a couple of hours, ate a sandwich, watched Gavin sleep and were able to leave the hospital at 3:00 p.m. On the way out, Gavin spotted Del Taco and asked if he could have a burrito. He ate the whole thing!

We got home and it all hit me like a ton of bricks. School, the surgery... all of it... I took a nap and ate dinner and went to bed. Luckily Gavin slept well all night (thank you codeine). The next day he was up and running around like nothing had happened. It was quite an ordeal, but everything has worked out. Gavin is excited to get his cast on Monday and hopes that it comes in "coral", but "teal" would be o.k. with him too.

I didn't get to do most of the things on my list, but I did read, I did have time with Andy and I did get that mani/pedi! I also got to have dinner with friends and go to Dream Dinners to make my meals for August and September. We are now officially on vacation.. it's a "stay-cation" and we are looking forward to some down time, some together time and a fun time. I'll keep you "posted".

Accidents Happen

This is my last week of school. Last weekend was really rough, I put in three solid days of work, sitting at the computer for about 14 hours each day. My projects are almost done...

But this post is not about me and school... it is about Gavin.

He broke his arm today, his elbow to be more specific. I could go and grab his paperwork and tell you the exact bone, but I'm not going to. I was in class and Andy got a phone call from the school. He took Gavin to the hospital and my mom took Ella to swimming and I knew NOTHING about it. My phone was on silent mode, because I was in class. I had a lunch meeting for a group project, so I didn't even check my messages. When my day was finished, I went to call Andy and found a text message that said that they were at the hospital. They were home by that time, so I raced there feeling horrible, that my poor baby boy had broken his arm and I wasn't there, and I hadn't even known it had happened.

He ran to get a big cuddle hug from me when I got home and he told me all about his "adventure". He was playing tag and fell off of the climbing structure at day camp, he landed on his arm and it was his elbow that hit the ground first. He said that it felt like someone had shot him in the arm (?? I don't think that he really knows what THAT would feel like.. but...) He said that it hurt pretty bad and that he couldn't move it. That is when the school called Andy who told me that there was a huge, ugly goose egg on his arm and he made the decision to go to urgent care.

His arm was very swollen and Gavin couldn't move his arm well enough for them to get a good x-ray, but they could see a break. They put a splint on it and hooked him up in a sling. He has to go back on Tuesday for another x-ray and they will most likely put a cast on it then. I am so bummed for him!! He doesn't realize it yet, but he is gonna hate this thing. He is supposed to go to a swim party on Saturday and we are getting ready to have our vacation! We were going to swim, have backyard water play, head to the beach and go to a local water park. We will definitely have to reconsider! Fortunately, he is in very little pain and seems very nonchalant about the whole thing. We are thankful that he wasn't hurt any worse. My baby has now been fully initiated into boyhood.