SO YOU THINK: September 2009

a fast update

There were a handful of blogs I have been meaning to post but haven't gotten to it. Now that time has run out (surgery is tomorrow morning) one big one is being posted.

While I was home after the arthroscope, I learned alot of things. I learned to do mom things one handed. It may haven't taken me FOREVER to fold the laundry but I COULD do it it. I also learned to slow down. Well I was forced to. I learned to ask for help, something hard headed people don't do. My favorite part was being able to be with the kids all the time. Because I had one hand I HAD to ask them for help cooking supper, setting the table, getting dressed etc. I loved just being around them. Watching them play.

This is a very classic kid picture. Wild hair, red faces. Raymond loves to fold Ashlynn like she is a plane. He chases the girls making Ashlynn "shoot" at her sisters. Ashlynn loves it. She sequels the whole time. Kayann and Kaylee love it equally. It is fun to see them play together

Sweet Ashlynn is 8 months old now! I cant believe it. There are lots of things we love about her. she is so spunky. She has her only personality. Its not like any one else. She is a bit wild and crazy. Very independent. She wants to do it herself.......she likes to feed herself, roll to get her own toy. She loves when the kids play with her. She is starting to understand reading. She likes to feel and see all the books. She loves to eat (you wouldn't know by her size). Once in her high chair she will smack her lips and bag the tray. She loves to sleep. She does it most of the day. She just started giving kisses. It is so sweet. She keeps us on our toes. There is never a dull moment. We just love this little girl!

How couldn't you?

Lastly I wanted to post this picture of my mom, grandma, and girls.

It is easy for my mom to do things with Raymond because she has Kobe. The girls don't go with grandma as much. But my mom put together the greatest tea party ever! She spent weeks make sure she had everything she needed. Hats. Rings. A real tea pot. Flower shaped sandwiches. Pink cupcakes. The girls had a blast! They still have the jewelry. They still talk about it. They are just cute

So there you go. I fast update.

And the doctor says........

I went in for my follow up today. He said everything looks just like he thought, except, for my ligaments and tendons are NOT over stretched or strained. Which means that it isnt my tendons and ligaments not working right. It is a capsule problem. That means this is how I was born. This is how my body wants to work. It just causes me pain. UGH! Stupid genetics

We need to talk

We all know what today is. What happened on this day. But when I say "all" I really mean anyone old enough to read this on a regular basis.

Today I had a conversation I never thought I would have.

We were driving home. The radio station was playing a mixed song. It had a few different songs like Lonestar "one more day", Enrique Inglesias, "I can be your hero". During the song there were different people talking. Kids reading letters about lost parents. The 911 operator from the last phone call. Things like that. My 6 year old asked me what they were talking about.

I swore I would never lie to my kids. I would explain to them in an age approiate way. But how? How do you explain something like that to a 6 year old? I had no choice I had to.

I took a breath and started. I left out the political garbage behind everything. I explained that some very bad people wanted to hurt us so the stole planes full of people and crashed them into a building to make it fall.

I was a bit choked up. But he still had more questions. He asked, "mom what will happen if bad people want to hurt us again?"

Really? This is getting harder. Thankfully I have brothers, and Raymond's dad, that are in the service. So I respond, well you know uncle Joe? He is working very hard to keep the bad people from trying to hurt us again. He says and uncle Sean and my Azhé’é ? Yes Raymond. And all the people that work with them. They are working very hard to keep us safe

Then he was quiet for a while

The ending to this conversation.........Mom, when I'm as old as you and bad people want to hurt us again, I will work very hard like uncle Joe to keep us safe

My heartbroke. He is so young. So sweet. To think that even a 6 year old knows that this could happen again..........

Oh mom, we need to be grateful for the people working so hard to keep us safe. We need to say thank you and pray for them

As you can imagine the tears were flowing.

THANK YOU UNCLE JOE, UNCLE SEAN, AND ALL THE PEOPLE THAT WORK YOU WITH,

FOR KEEPING US SAFE.

LOVE

RAYMOND

Farmers Market

I LOVE the farmers market. Nothing says the end of summer like it. We recently spent a few hours there with my mom and grandma. We wanted to get stuff to dry for my brother Joe.

I love taking the kids and talking about the farmers and how the produce is grown. They, however, love to eat more.

Everyone LOVES fresh raspberries!

After raspberries, Ashlynn got to chew on sweet corn

There is nothing like a day eating fresh fruit, outside with your family!

A little thing I learned

In church our pastor defined a couple good words. I wanted to share them.

AFFECTION: the expression of love.

LOVE: a sacrifice for the benefit of another.

BENEFIT: an act where someone is helped.

I guess that puts me back to selfless or selfish (see, what are you?) . Love is selfless. Which means being affection is selfless. You do it because you want to show love. These things go hand in hand.

But now I ask, can you have one of these things but no the others?

A little explaination

I havent been blogging as much as I would like to and now I will tell you why, with a brief history, of course.

Roughly a year and a half ago my wrist started hurting. Mostly a dull but bearable ache. It didnt really notice it too much while I was pregnant. A few times my fingers would hurt but nothing much. After Ashlynn was born my dull ache turned to a super annoying pain. Sometimes my arm would hurt so bad that the only thing that helped was to sleep. Work, obviously, made it hurt more. I finally, after a year, decided to go to the dr. He wanted to try "low key" treatment, thinking it's tendinitis. A few weeks of wearing a brace and extreme frustration I go back to tell him it didn't help. Next, a nerve test. NOTHING. On to the hand specialist, who orders x-ray with contrast and a MRI. This was not my idea of fun. The MRI shows a dye leak but not where I hurt the most. Another x-ray shows my ulna is longer than my radius. (I will post the x-ray, JoEllen, when I get a copy). Which means my TFCC (the cushioning between my hand and ulna) is wearing down from the bones hitting each other. This is called, ulna carpal impaction. Cure......to shorten my ulna.

The MRI didnt show the main pain. But the dr. thought it was caused from midcarpal instability. I had a scope done on tues to look for this. He was right that is exactly what I have. Because my bones dont move right, it over strains my ligaments. The cure......the fuse my carpals together! UGH!

I have not been blogging because I only have the use of one hand for a few more days. It is proving more difficult and frustrating that I thought.

Here are some pictures for the medical junkie in you!

This is what my wrist looks like relaxed.