We're "Fall"-ing

Kissing her baby

No, no one else has fallen here - except Q, who continues her quest to conquer all things climbable. Cast or no cast. Her latest trick is to sit on the floor, throw herself backwards so she lands flat on her back, and giggle while enticing her sister to tackle her. Strange baby!

What I actually mean is that we are ready for fall. It's a favorite season around here (we do kinda like them all - best part of living in the north. FOUR seasons!!!). Fiona and I spent Q's morning nap today putting away the flower decoration and pulling out leaves, acorns, and pumpkins. We headed to the library and needed hoodies. We're discussing Halloween costumes and pumpkin patches. Life is awesome! So many things to look forward to. Plus, it's just early September so we know we'll get a few more hot days - just to fill our banks for February.

Ice fishing at the Children's Museum

I had a bit of guilt this morning as Fiona and I checked out all the pictures of kids heading off to school on Facebook and she looked at me sadly and asked why she wasn't going to preschool. Next year, my darling, next year. We would send her this year, but since she'll be almost six before she starts kindergarten, I'm just not sure she really needs THREE years of preschool. But my, she is ready!

Speaking of, here is her latest joke. I tried to teach her a new one. It just got blended with the old. I give her an A for creativity if nothing else ...

F: Knock knock.
S: Who's there?
F: Why did the chicken cross the road?
S: Why?
F: I don't know.
S: Impatient chicken
F: Moo!

Oh yeah - Q uses a plate now!

Yep - we know. It makes no sense, but she bursts out giggling every time.

I know this was a random post. Not much new and exciting is happening here. Just the same old wild craziness (just ask Auntie, who said FaceTime with us last night was like a tilt-a-whirl ride). Happy Fall!

Casting Call

Quinn is sporting a new hot pink cast. The appointment was long - mostly because it was a lot of waiting. But we suppose that is better than being the top priority on the doctor's list. Once we saw the doctor, it went pretty quickly. He told us that she has a "buckle break" - basically she landed with outstretched arm/wrist and her wrist buckled. The break is clean and she's so little that she should heal quickly.

They put on a water-proof cast. Yep, you read that right. Her cast is waterproof. Like just stick her in the tub with no extra work. Like sign her up for swimming lessons. That is just crazy. And awesome. She has to wear the cast for three weeks - so will get it off the day before Bugs' birthday. If we had to go through this milestone as a family, it's definitely the best case scenario!!

You can see that her cast is quite decorative. We approved the autographing efforts of her friends at day care and it made their day!! And Fiona is really proud - as she was the first to sign it.

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.

One Year Update

Love our birthday girl

One post on the big first birthday just didn't seem like enough! So here's another post about all things Quinn - at one!

We had a great birthday party on Saturday. The day was gorgeous, so Mike popped up the pool, added a slide, and is the new hero to several 3 and 4 year olds! The backyard was filled with good family and good friends! So much fun! Quinn had a good time and Fiona had a fantastic time! Bugs loves a good party! Quinn liked her cupcake, but enjoyed the melon balls even more. The "polka dot" party was deemed a rousing success. If you came and enjoyed, rumor has it - same time same place in about a month. If you couldn't make it, we'd love to see you this time around!

Yum! Cupcake

On Monday, Q had her 1 year well check. She was royally peeved about the whole process and was rather mean to the poor resident. She behaved slightly less surly for our regular pediatrician. After 3 shots and a finger poke, the entire clinic + mommy was on her list! Luckily, by the time I got home from work, she had forgiven me. She weighed 20 lbs 1 oz (53 percentile) and was 30.25" tall (84 percentile). For comparison, at Bugs' one year appt, she was 19 lbs 6 oz and 29".

She [perhaps] had a reaction to the shots and some loose stool yesterday got her kicked out of day care for today. She and I had a fun day at home together. Hopefully tomorrow, we're back to normal and the shots don't give her any more problems.

Birthday princess

Big sister - the fish. She stayed in the pool until her lips were blue.
Then I still had to forcibly remove her!