FHE IN THE ER

So while I was running around trying to clean up and get dinner ready I heard the usual squabbling between Ryder and Penelope--the all to familiar whine Penny makes when she's annoyed with her rather persistant brother. I heard the whiney complaints from Penny escalate and by the time I made it to the Living Room, Penny was in some serious tears and obviously hurt....and Ryder guiltily hanging out on the sidelines.

According to Ryder, "Penny just fell all by herself". At first Penny kept grabbing her mouth and going off of what little information I got from Ryder, I figured she fell and hurt her mouth. However, everything in her mouth seemed fine, especially given the amount our usual tough cookie was crying. After getting her calmed down somewhat, I noticed that she wasn't moving her right arm. I moved it and and checked it out and it seemed to just kill her whenever I extended her elbow. 

After calling a pediatrician who recommended the ER (the last recommendation you hope to hear. Oh, we just need to to take her to the emergency room? Okay, no problem!) we swung by the train station to pick up Phil and then made our way to the hospital that is conveniently two minutes away from our house. 

At first, the nurse and doctor both thought she dislocated her elbow (nursemaids elbow), which is something that they say is very common at Penny's age. Something that is easily fixed simply snapping it back into place and as good as new! But after "resetting" the elbow twice, Penny wasn't as good as new. She never stopped crying and she never moved her arm. After a second opinion, they took her to get an x-ray. Then, the x-ray didn't really show anything. The doctor told us that sometimes with the swelling and small size of the fracture, you can't see them in the initial x-ray. Still not sure what the exact problem was, the doctor treated her for a fracture, applied a splint with instructions to make an appointment with an orthopeadic pediatrication.

Later that night I did get out of Ryder that he had "yanked" on Penny's arm because he wanted her to follow him. So whether it was the yank or the fall that followed the yank that cause everything, I don't know.

It's all quite pleasant, really. I loved having to tell every nurse and doctor that asked me what happened, "I don't know what happened, because I wasn't in the room".  

After brave Penny got the splint on she was able to calm down and get her regular disposition back. And hopefully, everything will go okay at the specialist and we'll get her all healed up and as good as new. 

HUMBLED

So I have a couple rough recordings of me singing some Christmas songs with my guitar. I --thinking it would be fun--asked Ryder to listen to one of these songs and to tell me who he thought it was. After listening for a few seconds he got his big sweet smile on his face and said, "Clara!"

Me: Clara? Who's Clara?

Ryder: Clarabelle!

Me: From Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Clarabelle?

Ryder: Yup!

...

Oh you don't know who Clarabelle is? Let me educate you:

Besides being best friends with Minney and Daisy, her Wikipedia page reports "Clarabelle's personality is similar to Goofy's. She can be a little clumsy but knows when to focus on what's important similar to Daisy."


If you haven't heard her voice, it sounds like...well, you get the picture.


I think it's safe to say I won't be auditioning for American Idol anytime soon.

MOVING: PHASE III AND IV

 PHASE III

So after we got all of our stuff packed up and in the moving truck, we went to stay a week with my parents for some quality time with loved ones before we made our way East. As it so happened we were able to see all of my family including Phil's grandparents in Ogden and my grandparents in Downey. It was a perfect way to spend our last week there.

Gracie, with her Uncle Phil. We sure love being an aunt and uncle :)

My sister and me.

 Penny in the pool at Nana's and Pompa's

Our pretty mom and Nana 

Ryder and the watergun:) 

 We made mini pizzas one night for dinner and here is Ryder taking orders.

Getting some quality time with my brand-new nephew, Tyler.  So glad I got to meet him before we left! And yes, his hair is amazing! 

 Four heads are better than one! Especially when you're examining worms.

Can you find the girl in the picture? It's a little tricky because she's in disguise.  

 Big Tyler and Little Tyler :)

With Mommy

I also had more cute pictures from one more day with spent with Autumn and her family on the fourth (the day before we left), but for some reason I get get those to load right now :( I'll have to post those later. 

PHASE IV:

"Livin' out of a suitcase"

We flew out the Newark on July 5th bright and early! The flight to Chicago went pretty well and we had about an hour to kill before the second leg of our journey which was a perfect amount of time to let Ryder and Penelope work out some wiggles. Our flight from Chicago to Newark seemed short and both Penny and Ryder took naps (yes!), but the last 20 minutes were SO bumpy. Both Ryder and Penny were crying and complaining because their ears hurt and I wanted to puke. It was good that last part was thrown in there because having a perfect flight would make things just way to easy, right? 

We checked in to the DeBarry Inn (a fun little B&B). I wish I would've taken photos. We spent the first four days there and then moved over to The Grand Summit, which means we now have experienced every hotel here. Last week while we had Phil we went up to our house every day and did some work (I painted the LR and DR) and ran some errands. Yesterday, Phil had his first day of work (wahoo!) and I had to face the real world. Which here also means finding my way around (I need my GPS to get to the grocery store). So far, so good. Our stuff comes on Thursday--the day after tomorrow--less than forty-eight hours--Thursday.  I can't wait! I know it will be overwhelming getting unpacked but to have our own beds, not having to go back and forth, and oh TOYS! Beautiful toys in which to entertain my children! I'm kind of excited about it :)

On a fun note. I found a desk on Craiglist. Not just any desk--an antique library desk.  I sent cute, willing Phil out into the middle of nowwhere to pick it up. Not that I need any extra projects right now, but it was only $60 and it was love at first sight. All my favorite pieces of furniture have been love at first sight. I'll take some photos of it soon along with my plans for it (I'm still toying around with a couple of options). 

Until we have our stuff again... and Internet in our house :)