To Do Tuesday

Well, we made it through Christmas!

Yes, that was a mighty feat in and of itself. *grin*

Here’s how it went down:

Saturday the 18th, youngest son, JR, and youngest daughter, K, were playing “horse” as they cleaned the hall. JR was riding on K’s back even though I’d asked them to stop at least a thousand times. K stood up and JR went down (hickory, dickory, dock . . . well, more like crunch). He cried and cried and said he thought his arm was broken. He did have some swelling, but nothing seemed obviously broken. Still, he insisted he’d heard it crack when he fell so I took him to Urgent Care (faster than the ER).

They did an examination and took x-rays but didn’t see anything broken. They said they’d send the x-rays off to a specialist in Tucson and let us know if they found anything. JR went home with his arm wrapped and a sling. By Monday he was still complaining and crying, and I called our primary care physician. Unfortunately, he wasn’t going to be in the office all week. The only one available was the nurse practitioner who works out of that office. I debated about just taking him in to the ER, but decided to go ahead and let him see the NP. She ordered more x-rays, and JR and I came home to wait for them to get back with us.

They called about three hours later and wanted me to bring him back into the office. I did, and they said he had a chip fracture on the end of the ulna (at his elbow). *sigh* They put him in a half-cast (which means it only covers the underside of his arm where the break is and leaves the upper part of his arm uncast) and wrapped it with a bandage. They instructed him to wear his sling and made an appointment with a pediatric orthopedic doctor for January 14th. In the mean time, he’s managed to loosen his arm in  the cast and is bending it . . . though he can’t straighten it, he can bend it at the elbow as he plays with his toys and video games, etc. I’ve tried to explain that he needs to keep it immobile, but he’s a seven-year-old boy and it’s hard for him to be inactive. I might have to take him in and have them do a full cast. *sigh*

Christmas Eve, hubby and I made another trip to Urgent Care because he smashed his finger while trying to switch out the hitching ball on the truck he borrowed from his friend (because hubby’s truck had some problems and ended up in the shop). No broken bones for hubby, but they gave him a splint to wear and told him to wear it for three weeks . . . he took it off Sunday and hasn’t put it back on . . . I’m beginning to see where JR gets it from. *wink*

Then K twisted her arm and ankle while playing on the trampoline (one year of owning it and this is the first real problem we’ve had so I guess it’s not bad), E smacked his ankle on the side of his bunk bed (metal frame), and J had a bit of stomach flu.

Still, we managed to get the tree up on the 21st, I managed to bake a few cookies, and Santa and Mrs. Claus managed to stay awake long enough to fill the stockings and leave presents.

Then the in-laws wanted to see the kids (we went to my family for Thanksgiving so they were feeling left out, I suppose). So MIL and SIL came down and picked up J, K, and JR (E stayed home) and took them to Flagstaff to stay until Thursday when hubby and I are supposed to go and pick them up . . . then we’re supposed to go to my parents’ for New Years on Friday and the kids go back to school on Monday.

So, what am I going to do today while the kids are gone? As soon as I’m done writing this blog, I’m going to jump in and see if I can get some work done on my rewrite (yep, still working on that). And later today, I hope to make some more cookies and do more laundry (maybe I can catch up while the kids are gone and aren’t changing their clothes every five seconds).

What fun (or not so fun) things have you done so far this holiday season? Did you all have a great Christmas, or was yours filled with drama and stress like mine?

Write on!