James is Home!

This was such a great ending to a crazy January, and a great way to start off February. Russ was able to rearrange his schedule and take a little time off so I could fly up to Utah with Sadie and see my little (or not so little) brother James, who just returned home from his mission in Toronto Canada, speaking Portuguese!

Jen, Amanda, and I were all able to be there. It's the first time in a long time we've had our entire immediate family together, and it was such a blessing! We had a great time catching up and eating great food (thanks mom and dad). I'm glad I brought Sadie... James was able to meet his new niece and his newest nephew - Amanda's cute Colby!

I feel so lucky! I only have one brother... what are the chances it would be someone as great as James? He has been such a great example to all of us, and we really appreciate all of his dedication and hard work these past two years. He's bound to have great things ahead! Thanks James - we love you! We missed you a lot! And we're SO glad to have you home!

Made it through January!

I'm so glad I didn't know ahead of time how hectic January was going to be, or I would have been dreading it for a long time! We had 3 out of 4 weeks at preschool at our house (lots of fun, but busy), Parker's Birthday (combined with preschool made that one easier:), James' Homecoming (the highlight of the month), and Cole's mishap with the tree.

Here is Parker with that fun preschool group! We managed to pull off his requested pirate ship cake, and he had such a fun time having his friends over for the big day. It worked out great because Cole (after his accident) was home from school, and Russ had a couple of hours with no patients... so we were all able to be there for the celebration. And who would have guessed what a big hit a little box of bendaroos would be for a group of preschoolers! Those TV ads did them well!

Our Latest Catastrophe!

Wow, we really know how to break in the new year! Luckily Cole decided to fall out of the tree the one week I wasn't teaching preschool... although that also happened to be the week Russ was out of town, of course. This will be more of a memorable journal entry for me, so feel free to skip reading the long saga.

So, just after putting Mason and Sadie down for naps, I looked out the window to see Cole and Parker high up in our backyard tree. They play there all the time, but not usually so high, so I made them get out. A few minutes later, they were back in, but much lower so I let them be. Should have made them get out again like I was thinking about...

A few minutes later, I'm frantically calling a babysitter and trying to figure out where Cole hurts the most. It seemed to be his arm, so I figured I was okay moving him and tried to get him cleaned up a bit in the bathroom. He and Mason both have a pretty high tolerance for pain, so when the screaming continued, I knew we were in trouble. Thanks to the Brienholts for keeping everything under control at home all night, and especially Kim for the good advice to take him first to the pediatrician, since we found out later that the ER had been crazy!

We got him to the doctor's office. They checked his head first since he was bleeding from his mouth and nose and couldn't remember what happened. Besides some minor temporary amnesia, his head turned out to be fine, thank goodness! Then they discovered quite a bit of discomfort in his abdomen and were worried about internal bleeding (rightfully so), and sent us to the ER by ambulance. I've got pics from my phone I'll add when I find the right cord:)

Turns out anything higher than twice their height is considered a critical fall for a child, so we were rejected by Presbyterian Hospital (which is where I would have gone - good thing the pediatrician did all that work) and were sent to the UNM trauma center.

Two CT scans and multiple x-rays later, Cole was diagnosed with a ruptured spleen and broken arm. After a day and a half in the pediatric ICU and another day and a half in the regular pediatric unit, we were ready to go home. Thank goodness my mom was able to fly in, since Russ couldn't get out of work... and thank goodness for so many wonderful ward members who helped so much with the other kids!!

Colton is fine now. We did make one more trip to the doctor today to take care of an infected cut on his arm, but he gets his cast off next week, and we've just got two months left to limit his physical activity (not easy for a 6-year-old boy). Thanks to all of you who helped us so much and kept us in your prayers. Hopefully we're out of the woods for a while!