Wrist Update

AKA: Why non-expert opinions are flawed (see previous post). We decided last night that we didn't want to chance it - and weren't quite sure how to treat a sprain on a 1-year-old. So I called the nurse line today. They decided they wanted to see her (I think they always want to see them ...) so we snagged a late afternoon appointment.

The resident and doctor checked her out and were pleased with her range of motion. But the doctor was not happy with the way she was "guarding" her arm. She just wouldn't fully extend it - and he felt like if it were just a sprain, she wouldn't be doing that. He asked if we could do an x-ray, just to confirm that they weren't missing anything. I agreed with him and off Q and I headed to x-ray. When we got back, we ran into our regular pediatrician in the hallway, gave her our scoop, and I could hear her consulting with the other doctor as we went into the room (reason #2047 why I love her!!). They both came into the room shortly after that to announce that Quinn had broken BOTH bones in her wrist. SAY WHAT!?!?!

Even though it's the nurse's job to help, our regular ped helped with the temporary cast (reason #2048) too. She didn't want anyone else working on "her Quinn." I got to see the x-rays and sure enough, there is a little crack in both the radial and ulna. The great news was that there was only slight impacting and no misalignment - so everything should heal up beautifully. We'll be awaiting a call from orthopedics tomorrow for her real cast.

She was infinitely happier tonight than she has been since her fall - so I think that protecting it and compressing it to heal has made a huge difference in her world. Stay tuned for pictures of the official cast.

Q Crashes the Party

Sad baby

A first birthday party was not enough excitement around here. So on Saturday, we hosted Mike's fantasy football draft. The draft consists of 11 families of college friends - and is always an awesome time. As our lives post-college have evolved, so has the draft. First, girlfriends joined the festivities. Then wives. Now kids! Our backyard was a passel of running, yelling, happy kids. It was awesome. [and hot!!!]

Now, the new one-year-old thinks she's a big kid. She walks, you know, so that clearly means she's big. She chased the bigs all day, desperately wanting to keep up. She did a pretty good job too. Until she fell. Off the climber. And hurt herself pretty good. Unfortunately no one saw her fall. So we had no context to how she fell.  We were clear she was hurt because she didn't settle down and her cry was different than usual.

Pre-accident. Day care called her
 a modern-day Duke of Hazzard!

I finally was able to localize the issue to her left arm. We were then able to narrow it down to her shoulder,her elbow, or her wrist (clearly, we had no clue!). She had a really tough night that night and I decided I thought it was her wrist. She did better on Sunday, but was definitely favoring her arm. Tonight, Mike was able to mess around with her arm enough and get a good enough look to spot some minor swelling around her left wrist. So our non-expert diagnosis is currently a mild sprain or twisted wrist. There's no bruising, but she's definitely still not in top shape. We'll keep our eyes on it ... and maybe consult with the nurse line tomorrow.

Hopefully she can heal quickly and return to her fearless ways.

Bath Time Adventure

This is a total overshare. So read at your own risk.

Tonight was bath night. In hindsight, I'm really glad Mike was home. I had popped the girls in the tub and Mike was picking up the mess from a day of play. As usual, I scrubbed them both and then let them play. Fiona was submerging her face in the water to blow bubbles and Quinn was laughing hysterically at her. Maybe it was the laughter ...

I noticed a brown area around Quinn and shifted her a bit. Several "floaters" appeared. I thought "oh crap - literally." So I scooped Q out of the tub. Helped Fiona stand up and get out. Thank goodness, because things were turning browner by the second in there! After everyone was pj'ed up, Mike volunteered to clean up the bathroom and I got to snuggle and read books with two freshly cleaned and lotioned girls. They smelled delicious! I love my hubby!

I can honestly say that was the grossest poop bath we have had. And this is coming from a family with spina bifida. We deal with a lot of floaters with Fiona's neurogenic bowel (seriously - make her laugh too hard in the tub and you are guaranteed to need the bleach!). Quinn continues to make her own places in the family lore!

*Disclaimer: the tub pictures are not from tonight. We did not make the children sit in a poop bath to get pictures. ;-)

Beyond the end of the rope ...

Oy! We arrived at the Target Photo Studio yesterday morning - bathed, combed, shined, goober free (ish), armed with kleenex for any stray goobers (stupid colds), and dressed to the nines. And early!

We pulled in to a full lobby (gulp!) and were informed that they were running "a bit" behind. A bit turned into FIFTY (5-0) minutes behind. Dear heavens!!! We brought happy, smiling, accommodating children. We lost accommodating at about 20 minutes in so we dug out the crackers from the diaper bag. We lost smiling about 30 minutes in when Quinn decided this was clearly not a good use of her time. And we lost happy about 40 minutes in when Bugs got sick of the 8 foot radius we gave her to play.

By the time it was our turn, the "stand on this red dot" request for a 2-year-old was laughable. And Quinn was happy as could be ... as long as Mike or I were holding her and she was not sitting anywhere near her sister. To say they were at the end of their ropes would have been generous. Sigh ...

The good news is that we got a handful of decent pictures. And since there were very few good ones, the selection process was fairly simple! To be fair, the girls were very good through this whole process - they were just simply done. And their parents were too, so we can't blame them. So enjoy the pictures . . .  because I think it will be a while until we all muster the stamina to go back!

Wordless Wednesday: Unauthorized Climbing Part II

Gma and Gpa's stairs are wicked fun

Why sit when you can stand?

The result of ~400 "butt on the chair" requests

Wordless Wednesday: Unauthorized Climbing!

Picture taken about 1.5 seconds before this turned into
STANDING on the dinosaur!