Blends With Savanna Grasses

Ok, now I'm starting to wonder. I'm in one of those periods where know something is just not right. It's as if my stars are out of alignment, my fortune cookie is cruel, my horoscope is frightening, and my tarot cards came up ugly. In my case, it's when I had to make nearly a half-dozen trips to the doctor's office and/or ER in one week.

Of course, it started with Dylan's grievious injury to his finger, which I already told you about.

Then, my beloved little Katie Jo, came down with a urinary track infection. I've come to learn that little girls cannot have bubble baths twice a week. I should've known that because we never allowed more than one per month with Emily. But somehow I just forgot my dad training and let her have a lot of them. She's doing much better now.

Then, after our day of snowy fun, Emily took a spill coming down from the staircase and we spent all night at the Vanderbilt Children's Clinic. Emily is normally the most stoic and healthy of my kids. She's not prone to exaggerating her situation and does not cry easily. It was about 7:30 on Wednesday and we were trying to get out the door for some grocery shopping. So when I heard her yell and start crying from the area of the staircase, I knew she was seriously hurt. I came running in (with Katie Jo in my arms) to check her out.

She was crumpled on the last couple steps of the staircase with her left foot pushed up into the air. She was wearing some fancy, fluffy winter socks so I couldn't see her ankle easily. However, she'd start crying again any time I or she moved her left foot. I knew it was time to go straight to the ER. Thankfull, Kelly, was available and willing to take Anna Lynn and Katie Jo so that they wouldn't have to spend a long and boring night at the ER. (Thanks again, Kell!) Once her ankle recovered from the initial shock and pain of falling off of that last step, her spirits seemed to recover pretty well.

I'm sure you probably have an idea how it is in the ER. Lots of waiting punctuated by an occassional "hurry up!". Our first hurry up of the evening was for X-Ray ("imaging" as the medical people call it). Emily did great in there and she really seemed to enjoy all of the Wiggles stickers I was plastering on my disco-sparkly navy blue radiation overalls.

The imaging made it clear that nothing was broken. This picture (to the left) also makes it clear that Emily definitely had some swelling on the outside of her left ankle. Plus, still had on a little toe nail polish from the last time she put it on - November of 2005. Yikes! Put on a new coat o'polish girl! Oh - and put that tongue on a leash.

The ER doctor decided that her ankle was sprained in three places and that she'd have to take it really easy for at least one week. That means crutches. The doctor also said that if the size of her feet are any guide (like with puppies), she'll be 5'11" at full height.

She managed to get through the evening in good spirits. So it was back to the house at about midnight. Kell was, again, very graceous and kept Anna Lynn and Katie Jo for the evening. So I didn't have to worry about getting them back home and into bed.

The next day, I took them all out to the new Cinco De Mayo Mexican restaurant. The food tasted great, but the portions could've been a little bigger.

The next morning, it was time for Dylan's stitches to come out. He was surprisingly stoic. Maybe he's turned a corner on how he controls himself in the face of something unpleasant but necessary. He did really great and I was really proud of him.

Well, I leave for a trip to Irvine on Sunday, Jan 22nd. I've got tons of chores to tackle, some work to finish, packing to do, my professional blog to update, blah blah blah. So lots to do. But all I really want to do is crawl back in bed.

Hope you're having a better day than me!

Cheers,

-Kev