Our first broken bone

This pic was taken in the ER last night.
This is the pretty version before everything turned black and blue. Poor Jane broke her finger last night. (Friday)  :( She was eating dinner when her chair (that we found out was broken) fell over with her on it and the heaviest part of the back of the chair slammed her pinkie. I've never heard Jane in that much pain before. I almost cried with her because I felt awful for her. Robert and I took her to the ER. We only had to wait 2.5hrs. which was much shorter than what I was expecting. The xray confirmed a broken bone. It's the section of the bone underneath the base of her fingernail. She needs to keep the splint on at least 2 weeks, or longer if we can manage it. 4-6 weeks healing time for the bone. It's a total bummer because Jane is queen of the monkey bars. 2 days in to school and she's going to have to be careful when she is playing. She is hurting this morning.

I'm supposed to check in with her pediatrician in a week to check how it is healing. The good news is that they don't think we'll have to see a bone specialist because it was a clean break, not jagged or crooked.

 This morning. (Saturday)

UPDATE....
I changed her gauze yesterday (Sunday). Here's what the other side of the finger looks like. Her fingernail is also filled with blood so she may loose it eventually.

Claire's 4yr. Stats -

The best part of Claire's Dr. appointment yesterday was when the Dr. asked her if she knew her first and last name. She very clearly and confidently stated:  CLAIRE   BEAR

Height: 42.5"
91st   percentile

Weight: 35.8lbs.
49th  percentile

She got all of her Kinder shots yesterday, so she's ready for next Fall. She is the last of my children to have completed all of her shots! Three cheers for no more shots.

First Day of School - 2012

4th Grader, 3rd Grader, 1st Grader

Well, they're off to their first day of this school year!

Linda got Mrs. Wickman, who was Bruce's teacher last year.

Jane got Mrs. Briggs, who was Linda's teacher when she was in 1st grade. I'm very happy about those teachers. This is Jane's first year of full day school.

Bruce, however, got stuck with a teacher that I've been repeatedly warned about. I was not happy. I spent most of yesterday morning in the office trying to get him out of it. I even talked to the principal on the phone last night. Unfortunately, he'll be in there for a couple of weeks before we can get him transferred out. Ughh! Of course all of the teachers were standing outside of their class this morning greeting parents and students but when we got to Bruce's class his teacher was nowhere to be found. It's going to be a long couple of weeks for him. 

Claire and I will be hanging out at home. This is Claire's last school year at home with me. She starts Kinder next year!

Surgery Results

We met with Claire's surgeon today to go over test results from her surgery. He read the results and the only thing I understood on my own was the word  BENIGN. :) The tissue in her neck was healthy tissue, just in the wrong place. However, it would have kept growing as she grew and got older, so she would've had to live with a big lump in her neck or a small scar. So, good news! Movin on...

A few pics of the incision area. This one is where they marked before surgery. It's actually underneath that circle, but she has her head tilted back.

Here it is post surgery with the steri strips on.

Here's how it looks when the steri strips were removed. The surgeon said to keep it covered when we're in the sun long periods because sometimes scars will darken when exposed to sunlight. She still has stitches underneath the skin which makes the scar a little puffy. They will dissolve in time.

Jane - 6 years old- August 16th

Happy birthday to Jane! Jane is sweet. We really like her. :)

She has a quiet confidence about her. She holds her own with anyone but is never the kid that needs to get attention from everyone. She loves learning anything new and is very determined. For example, last month Linda lost a tooth. Jane saw that Linda got money under her pillow so she went to work on one of her bottom teeth and it was out within a week! :) When she decided she wanted to ride a bike she was constantly in the back yard working hard at it until she got it. She is really good at anything she does because she follows directions and works hard. She loves being active and is really good at reading. She is always the first one down the stairs when I call for the kids and always remembers to put her plate away after every meal. She's a keeper. She does not like to be left out or treated like a little kid.

Facts about Jane:

She hardly ever uses a pillow or a blanket

She often snores

For her birthday dinner she chose macaroni & cheese, toast, and strawberries

Her favorite treat is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

She loves sweet but also loves salt. She would put salt on everything if I let her. She eats is plain.

When she grows up she wants to be a mom

Jane is my only girl with pierced ears (and she's proud of that)
Her favorite color is black

Birthday Destination

Bruce & Jane have birthdays close together. They both decided that they wanted to go to Disney California Adventure this year. So, I convinced them to go together. :) We had a long, hot, but FUN day. They were most excited to go see Cars Land.

It was a fun day.

Horse Camp

Jane liked her riding lesson so much that we signed her up for a week long camp. She was excited to go each morning. They rode horses, learned about horses, played horse games, and even dressed up horses. How could she not love it!

I wasn't in town, but Robert and the kids got to go watch her show off what she learned on the last day.

She got a ribbon for being the "Most Determined". DETERMINED. That word describes Jane perfectly.

Our oldest is 9!!

Bruce turned 9yrs. old today. We're so proud of what a good kid Bruce is.

 He has a kind heart and a lot of energy. He is growing like a weed these days.

Facts about Bruce:

He sleeps with 2 pillows

For his birthday dinner he chose Ramen Noodles

Loft house Sugar cookies are his favorite treat

He's not a fan of cake

Favorite color is dark purple (Laker's fan :) )

He wants to be a Scientist when he grows up

Math is his favorite subject

He loves riddles and jokes

This morning we had a pile of cookies and opened presents. He got a boogie board, a BB gun, a Wii game, remote control car, walkie talkies, and a water gun. "Best birthday ever." in his opinion.

Keeping Busy

We went to the 24th of July celebration at church....

Modern day wagon

We hung out in the desert recently. We love hanging with cousin Irene. :)

We left Linda out there for a week. She had fun.

Claire finished up soccer.

Linda and I went to Wicked!!

Bruce and Robert and friends went to the Real Madrid/LA Galaxy game. They got free sunglasses. Here he is with his soccer buddies.

Jane got to go to a riding lesson!

Surgery Is Over With

Claire had her surgery yesterday. They removed the cyst from her neck. She was a champ about the whole thing. We're glad it's behind us.

She got her hospital bracelet which was her ticket to a Popsicle at the end of the surgery. She kept saying she wanted a purple one...her favorite color.

 Three cheers for cartoons which she watched while we waited for her turn. She was happy they had a purple gown for her.

 Nurse Ashley promised to take good care of her. They said I could come in if I thought she'd have a total meltdown but they'd rather I didn't. I knew she would be alright. The staff was amazing and made her feel very comfortable.

 Off to surgery. She was so brave. Not one tear, and she was aware of what was going to happen. I was nervous waiting for my pager to go off that would tell me she was out of surgery. Robert was totally calm.

The surgery only took about 45min. The pager went off and we met with the surgeon first. He said that the tissue in the cyst looked like healthy tissue, which is a very good sign. He said she did great and there were no problems. We will get official results on the 17th. They removed the cyst and some surrounding tissue.

About 10min. later we got to go back to see our sweet girl.

 Her comments,
"The mask they put on me wasn't silly, mom."
"I was coughing with the mask on."
"I kept trying to open my eyes but they just kept closing."

 As luck would have it, they did have purple Popsicles!! This was her tired, groggy moments before her uncomfortable, I want to go home moment.

She was very uncomfortable yesterday after we came home, but with Tylenol she felt great. She took a good 5hr. nap which I woke her up from to eat and take Tylenol. Today she wants the bandage off but is doing really well. She will have a scar. I'm interested to see how big or little the incision is.
Today's comments from her.
"I can't believe I got my bump out mom."
"It hurt when they took my bump out."