Dislocation

Last Monday, as my visiting teachers were over at our house, Lilie ran inside wailing,

"I BROKE MY BONES!!! I BROKE MY BONES!!! AHHHHH! HELP ME!!!"

As I looked at her arm, I could tell that something was definitely "off" and gingerly felt it, only to conclude that the entire bone felt out of place and she'd "just" dislocated her elbow. (You see, we've had prior experience with both broken arms AND dislocation, so I'm an expert now.)

If you like Lilie's "Bee Movie" from many years past, you should have been with us that afternoon. I sort of hate myself for the difficulty of keeping a straight face when my girl is in pain, but my goodness . . . she is something to behold.

"OH, WHY DID I DO THAT? I'M SO SAD I DID THIS! AAHHHHHHH! IT HURTS TO BAAD!!!"

Apparently, the girls had been playing on the swing set and trampoline and our resident dare-devil had made the carefully calculated decision that she could jump from the top of the slide to the trampoline . . . but had slipped before she even took flight. It's only about a four foot drop to the ground, but she landed right on her arm.

My visiting teachers were awesome and took the mayhem in stride (also having trouble keeping straight faces). We'd finished school and since we didn't have anywhere to go for the rest of the day, I was still in my fleecy "aztec-looking" leggings and an oversized hoodie. (Hot.) They told me that they could watch my kids while I took Lilie over to the Ready-Care. With that (miraculously) in hand, I told Lilie we would go straight there, I just needed to change into some "real pants". She yelled, "YOU DON'T NEED REAL PANTS!!!"

Hazel was very concerned about her sister, but the other girls are quite used to hysterics, so while I was quickly changing, they started playing and giggling. Lilie then yelled at them, "Oh! HOW CAN YOU BE HAPPY AT A TIME LIKE THIS??!"

Both properly dressed, Lilie and I made a speedy exit.

When Lilie was tiny, while playing with her daddy, she'd gotten "nursemaid's elbow" -- which is a very minor dislocation that can easily happen in toddlers. The remedy is fast and gives immediate relief. I was imagining this dislocation to be about like that.

We arrived at the Ready Care with Lilie practically screaming, where they deliberated for 25 minutes on whether or not they could "squeeze her in." About 5 minutes after we finally got into a room, a nurse decided we should just go down to the ER. (eye rolling)

All this time, I keep thinking, "How big a deal can it be? Pop that thing back in place and put the poor kid out of her misery! The ER? That seems excessive..."  Yes. I'm critical when I'm trying to not be worried.

Turns out REAL elbow dislocations ARE a big deal. Once we got into a room, they had to do an x-ray before all else. Had she broken anything, they would have just taken her into surgery. But, OH, the pain of positioning for those x-rays! She let everyone on that floor know that she was NOT HAPPY about moving her arm!

Poor girl. She was a wreck. She just kept saying, "Why is this happening to me? Why did I do this? AHHHHH! I can't do this anymore!!! My poor little arm!!!" She was given an IV (which she barely noticed) and administered morphine, which barely took the edge off the pain. They dimmed the lights and she started into a meditative "Oooooommmmm . . .."

With the IV and x-rays done, they were finally ready to put the bones back in place. Even with the morphine, she was going to be in a lot of pain, so they gave her a heavy dose of ketamine to drug her up and make her forget what happened next.

I was amazed at how hard they had to pull to get that humerus back in joint and SO thankful for modern medicine. After another x-ray they were able to splint and wrap.

This is my favorite picture of the night. She was SO out of it!
Her eyes were open, but no one was home. :)

All told, Lilie's elbow was out of place for close to 3 hours. She is one tough cookie -- even when she didn't think she could take anymore. It took her more than an hour to come around - with great hilarity in the process. Before she was verbal, she made some awesome faces.

And once she could talk . . . SO funny.

Lilie? Lilie. Do you know where we are?

"Uuuhhhhhhhhhhh. Yeeaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh . . . H, H, Hooooooooooo. Dooooooooooocc."

Yeah. We're at the hospital. The doctor fixed your arm.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrmmmmm. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrmmmmm. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm . . . . "

Does it feel like your head is full of fluff?

"YeeaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaahhhhhh!"

All while her poor little pin-point eyes couldn't focus on anything!

"Moooooomm! You have twooo eyes!"

Lilie, I always have two eyes.  :)

"Ooooh! Yooou have FOOUR eyes!"


Then she started throwing up. Over and over. Darn morphine.


She was instructed to keep the splint on and report to the orthopedic surgeon in a week.

She's done well. The first five days, we were grateful for the hyrdocodone, but she's finally doing well with just some ibuprofen. Her elbow is still REALLY swollen and bruised and I've been extremely concerned that she still has very little feeling in three of her fingers. She can't bend her pointer finger or thumb at all.

At the ortho today we got a good understanding of why my concern is currently unfounded.

 ^^above^^ This is what her bones are supposed to look like (taken today).

^^ The above are the x-rays taken last Monday at the ER. ^^

Yikes!! Dr. Pennington said that to even dislocate your elbow, it has to tear the ligaments. With as badly as Lilie dislocated hers, all those tough little ligaments got shredded. She'll remain in this splint for at least another two weeks and then we'll reevaluate. Hopefully as the swelling goes down she'll regain feeling and mobility in her fingers. Until everything heals up, the risk of re-dislocation is high, so we'll only be doing some small bending exercises. Mostly just waiting.

Lilie with her customized sling at the ortho today. The size "small" sling we got from the hospital
was too small (the medium was too big) and the angle was all wrong with the splint,
so I made her a new one.
Of course her consolation monkey from the hospital had to have one too. :)

Hooray for some fun bathing days in the weeks ahead and a creative Halloween costume! :)

Sisters

"I could never love anyone as I love my sisters." ~Little Women

I think Lilie is the best medicine in all the world for Hazel! She has felt better since Lilie got here than she has all day. It's been kind of a rough day, but Hazel is like a completely renewed patient with Lilie here. Restored her spirit.

When Nels explained the seriousness of the situation to Lilie last night, she just lost it. She told me that she was just running all around the house so, so afraid. Nels said she was carrying on something fierce - about how sad and scared she was. She was disappointed at canceling our trip to Seattle, but really, really worried about Hazel.

When Nels and I traded off for an hour last night so I could go get some things, I returned home to find Lilie sleeping in Elsie's bunk bed with her. When I asked her about it today she said she was just scared. To which I replied, "So you just needed to snuggle a sister, huh?" She took a big breath and said, "Yeah ... But when it's like that, even a brother would do." :)

Elsie was much more logical than Lilie. :) While Lilie lost her head, :) Elsie reassured her that everything was going to be okay and it was just fine that we weren't going on our trip, because Hazel was more important.

Such sweet girls. I love them so!

I just can't imagine anything in the world better than having your sisters be your best friends.

Dropping the Ball

Tonight I lay next to my sweet Hazel while she receives hefty antibiotics and morphine.

I am overcome with immense guilt.

I don't know how to deal with it. I can't sleep. I want to just stay awake and stroke her hair and watch over get to make sure that she's okay.

I should have brought her in Sunday night. As I went down the list of symptoms for appendicitis, I could check off every. single. one.

In the end I hesitated --- vacillating over a minor detail and not wanting to spend the extra money on an unwarranted ER visit.

I could put some blame on the misdiagnosis of the pediatrician we saw the next morning, but in the end, I feel like I failed my daughter by not taking her in the night before. For discounting her pain for the next 36 hours. For pushing down my concern at her intermittent fever. For attributing her sallow complexion to not eating for a couple days.

I should have done better.


I'm so sorry, Hazel.
You are so beautiful and so good.
You are far stronger and braver than I gave you credit for.
Please forgive my weaknesses and stupidity.
Please know that there is no price so high that I wouldn't pay it to see you happy and healthy.
You amaze me with your strength and kindness and and gentleness.
I feel I don't deserve you, but thank you for being so forgiving as I stumble my way so clumsily through motherhood.
Thank you for the example that you set for me.
You and your sisters are my greatest gift.
I love you with my whole heart.
I'm so sorry that so much of the time I don't know what I'm doing or how to do it.



12 hours ago, after a second visit to the pediatrician in as many days, Hazel and I were sent to the hospital for a CT scan and it was quickly determined that she had a ruptured appendix. She was immediately prepped for and underwent a laparoscopic surgery to remove the offender and the resulting infection. She and I will be spending the next couple of days here in the hospital as she recovers.

Humpty Dumpty

I feel like I say it over and over and over all day.

"Get down." "Don't climb on the couch." "We don't live in a jungle gym."

As I sat feeding Clara this afternoon, Elsie climbed up beside me, then perched herself behind me on the couch, then promptly fell off the back.

She started crying, but you know what? With five kookoo kids, crying just doesn't phase me too much anymore. She said her hand hurt and it wasn't like she was hysterical, so I told her to just come sit by me for a minute - sure that the drama would pass.

A minute or two later, she was still complaining, so I put Clara down and sat her on my lap to examine her hand. I couldn't find anything wrong with it. Another minute passed and she still hadn't forgotten about it, so I started looking for swelling and feeling her arm.

At that point I finally noticed a big dip in her arm where her solid bones should be and realized immediately that she'd broken it. Mother of the Year moment right there.

Nels came home and gave Elsie a Priesthood blessing before we headed to the ER.

That sweet girl. After getting to the hospital, I think she had everyone there fooled into thinking that her arm wasn't even broken - she was so chipper. However after X-rays, it was revealed that she'd actually broken both bones in her arm. Neither was really bad, but enough that they will need to set the bones before they cast it all up.

They put her in a splint and a cute little hospital gown and sent her home for the night with instructions to return tomorrow morning by 7:30. To set the bones, the surgeon said its MUCH less traumatic for children to just be sedated and then get it done quickly and correctly.

I'm kind of scared for her. I don't like my babies to be in pain.

Hopefully we'll be home by lunchtime to make Violet's birthday cake and celebrate.

I have a feeling that balloons, a happy little two-year-old, and Grandma Merkley's Angel Food Cake will make everyone feel better. :)

Photos out of order. Sorry. Phone blogging.

About Bees

A friend of mine asked me the other day where this video was. I then spent about an hour searching through my blog, because I was sure that I'd posted it on here, but to no avail.

So if I did, I'm going to repost it and if I didn't, shame on me. Because I still think this is my favorite family video that we have.

Two and a half years ago my dramatic little Lilie got stung by a bee. It was traumatic.



Post edit: I found it. But I'm still reposting this anyway. Because it makes me laugh. Hard.

The Amazing Body and Lilie

Had two separate conversations with Lilie today about bodies.

One about bones. Joints and spines, ulna and radius, ribs and carpals. Cool things like that.

The other was a little more . . . dramatic. :) I've been sewing up a storm the last few nights and stupidly I've left my sewing tools sitting out (because it is so hard to want to sew when you've got to clean it all up over and over again). I was upstairs when I heard Lilie start screaming hysterically. I'm sorry to say that Lilie, for me, is a little like the "boy who cried wolf" at this point. Any sort of scratch --- from the hang nail to the real, live gusher that needs stitches --- is met with equal hysteria. So when she started screeching, I wasn't terribly concerned. (Sorry, to the future Lilie who will someday read this, but it's true. You are kind of a crazy sometimes. :)

Anywho, Lilie had apparently been playing with my rotary cutter (which is incredibly sharp) - using it to cut loose strings off of my rug. As you can imagine, it's not the best rug trimmer and she'd managed to slice a small spot on her finger open. Because it's sharp, it had cut just deep enough to make it bleed pretty good.

Now any kind of doctoring with Lilie is really quite comical. She's bouncing around and crazy-yelling-crying, all the while she doesn't want to look at it, but as she says, "I don't want to look at it, but I don't feel like I can help it!!!" LOL! It was difficult for me to even look at it, because she's waving her finger all about "OH! Oh! OH!!! It's bleeding!!!! It's BLEEDING!!!! AHHHhhh!!! Oh! My finger!!!! AHhhhh!!" I so want to help her and feel bad for her, but she's so CRAZY! that I just kind of laugh and watch in amazement the entire time. LOL! Well, it's either that or tackle her and sit on top of her so she can't move. :)

Eventually we managed to get a bandaid on it and we started to have a discussion about how important it was that she keep it on until her finger "glued" itself back together. Then I couldn't help myself and had to start telling her all about how there are things called platelets in her blood that would come and help her cut to stop bleeding, but she had to calm down so that her blood would stop pumping so hard and they could do their job. :) (Can I tell you how much I love the human body?! It's so incredible!!!)

At that point Lilie started doing what I call "Yoga breathing". Closing her eyes and while trying to stop "hoo-hoo-hooing", taking deep breaths. All the while saying, "I just . . need to try . . . to calm down." :)

I couldn't help but kiss her sweaty little forehead and hold her close. LOL.

I sure love my crazy little wildflower!

Injuries are Hereditary in Our Family

Accidents in our family seem to be hereditary.

A couple of weeks ago, while I was in Utah visiting my new baby niece, I got a text from Nels,

"Hazel needs stitches. Should I take her to the ER?"

Nice.

Apparently while she and Lilie were supposed to be sleeping, they were actually "flying" off Lilie's bed. I imagine they must have been having some sort of contest. The funny thing about that is I imagine it would have been hard to tell who was winning in the dark. Also difficult to gauge where the toy box is located - as that is what Hazel smashed her face into. :)

Nels emailed me this picture. As soon as I pulled it up on the computer, my mom said, "She'll have a scar in the exact same place you do." -- As a child I took a nose-dive off the kitchen table and had to get stitches in the same spot.

I'm not sure who the blood and stitching must have been more traumatic for, Nels or Hazel. Nels just about passed out when I needed stitches when we were newlyweds and "demonstrates proper breathing technique" every time I have to get blood drawn when I'm pregnant. :)

I talked to Hazel on the phone while they were en route to the doctor. She was missing her mama and pretty upset about the whole thing, but she was still very brave. - Plus, Lilie offered great moral support, since she's a pro at all sorts of injuries that either do - or should - require stitching. Hazel ended up with four small stitches and a yellow teddy bear.

-----------------------------------------

And now I will tell you a story about how my family seems to be determined to knock their teeth right out of their heads. My maternal grandmother damaged her front teeth - I'm not positive as to the extent, but I know she did. I have at least one cousin and an aunt who have also damaged their front teeth. As a child, my mother broke off a chunk of her front teeth while climbing up a slide. When my brother was about ten, he ground off the majority of his front teeth on a sidewalk when the front tire of his bike came off whilst attempting a jump. A few years ago, my little sister, while impressing her date with her incredible ballet skills, broke off her front teeth on my parents' new hardwood floor.

Last but not least, when I was about seven years old, my cousins and I were playing dress up in my grandmother's basement. While walking up the cement stairs in a dress that was too long for me, I tripped and bent my brand new permanent teeth completely backwards into my mouth. Amazingly, they didn't break - as the roots must not have been fully formed yet - and my mom was able to pull them back straight. They turned black for a couple days, but as they healed, they returned to their normal white color. They've been perfect ever since. In fact, I've been asked by every dentist I've ever been to whether I had braces as a child, because my teeth are so pretty. :) Hooray for me. :)

A few years ago, when Genny had so gracefully met up with my parents' hardwood, I was laughing about it to a friend of mine. I told her about our long family history of knocking our front teeth out and she had suggested that maybe we just have weak teeth. LOL!! I informed her that not too many teeth can hold up to hereditary clumsiness combined with sidewalks, hardwood floors, cement stairs, metal slides and the like. :)

Well, I've always believed that I was the lucky one. My teeth had fixed themselves! -- However, at my last dental appointment, my dentist asked me if I'd ever had any problems with my front teeth. Apparently, it took about 20 years, but bending my teeth backwards did actually damage one of my teeth. As a result, I had the fabulous experience of my first (and hopefully only!) root canal last week. Lucky me!

I got home and went to kiss Nels goodbye as he left for work, only to realize that not only does Novocain deaden the paid, it also deadens you muscles. -- Muscles needed for kissing. :)

PUCKER UP!!!

These things are fun, and fun is good!

10 points to the person that can identify the book from which this post title comes from.

(Sorry, no pics this post. I'm a lazy picture taker these days.)

I'm happy to be home.

There were several family functions going on this past week and a half in Utah, so after debating on just skipping some, I just decided to pack up the kids, the bags, the van, and just plan on staying for the entire week + some. (It didn't hurt that for business related reasons, Nels' work was willing to pay for the gas down and back if I went when I did. :)

On the way down I had the lovely experience of having hard contractions for half the ride down and for several hours after I got there. I'm now convinced that they were just caused by dehydration and the subsequent "freaking out" that ensued as my emotions took over. -- You know, me being 5 weeks early, 3 hours from my doctor and home, and Nels being in Mountain Home -- 4 hours from either me or the the doctor and having contractions every 3 minutes for about 3+ hours. :) After drinking several gallons of water, I felt much better, but woke up at about 1 in the morning having hard, regular contractions again for several hours. Lovely. They eventually subsided and the girls and I really enjoyed the rest of the week with our family - with no extra stress of anything but the occasional Braxton Hicks.

Saturday my siblings all got together for a birthday party for my mother. In her usual fashion, my mom decided that it would be "easier" for her to make dinner for all of us :) but she needed a few last minute things from the grocery store. I offered to go, but while I was gone, Elsie decided to "help" grandma by trying to cut some extra tomatoes. The result was the loss of one very small and very sweet little fingertip. Luckily for us, Nurse Grandma was there to save the day! :) My poor little Elsie, although she's definitely got some fire, is also not much of an over-reactor and was a real trooper while getting doctored. We're praying that all the "meat" heals up well. Poor kid.

Monday I decided to take the girls for a quick trip to the Hogle Zoo. Let me tell you, February is a wonderful time to go see the animals. Most were out and active and we were even able to see their new baby elephant - which the girls have been wanting to see since she was born last Fall. Baby elephants have got to be one of my favorite baby animals of all time. :) She is adorable and my girls agreed -- especially Elsie. "Oh, Mama. She's so tute. I will love her and hold her on my lap. She's mine." "Well, Elsie, she's a big baby. As big as daddy!" "Yeah . . . I love her. She's big and little."  :) :) I love my sweet little baby! She likes fun things -- like elephants and pigs.

Wednesday I took the girls to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point with my sisters and their girls. We had such a wonderful time and they were so excited to see all the different bones and exhibits. Lilie was ecstatic to see the brachiosaurus skeleton! :) It would be fun to go again when I'd be able to read the various information and glean a bit more from the whole experience, but it was so much fun to see the excitement on the faces of my little ladies. They are so smart and so eager to learn.

Through the end of the week, I had the opportunity to spend some time with many of my sweet family members. Somehow, whether they live a thousand miles away or only a couple hundred, getting together over the past few years has been a rarity. I got to see quite a few of my cousins from near and far, meet their "new" little additions, and even play some games and gab. It was wonderful! We need someone to get married more often! :)

It was a wonderful week and I'm so glad that I went, but I am SO HAPPY to be home! Nels missed us too, which is always nice. :) As we were getting ready for church Sunday morning, he came in the bathroom and said, "You know. It's nice to be home. ---- I know I've been home all week, but with you all here again, I feel like I just got home too. It doesn't feel like home without you." :) I love my man! I don't like when we're not together. We're excited to spend today celebrating his THIRTIETH BIRTHDAY! I'll have to take some pictures as the day progresses. I love him so much!

To wrap things up, I'll share with you my favorite experience from the whole week -- which, of course, centers around my children.

This past Thanksgiving we spent at my parents' home. As turkey-cutting commenced, my mom showed the girls the wishbone and briefly explained it's purpose. Also telling them that they'd have to wait to break it, because it needed to dry. Well, in the midst of the chaos that seems to accompany any of our family gatherings, the wishbone was forgotten and left, unbroken, at Grandma's house. Ever since, the girls have been talking about it -- at least once a week. When and how we are going to get our own wishbone, how dare I have forgotten about it when we were there, and who at school wants to share their wishbone ---- when we eventually get one of our very own. In fact, the only thing I could even get out of Lilie as a Christmas wish for the longest time was A Wishbone. I've tried to explain that not all wishes come true -- to which I am immediately rebuffed with "Well, some do, right?" ---- Right.

You cannot imagine my surprise when we showed up at my parents house this last weekend to find that my mother had lovingly saved the precious Wishbone for her granddaughters. They. Were. So. Excited. :) And believe me. It was finally dry enough to break. As we sat down to enjoy the grand occasion, viewing the excitement on my girls faces, I told my mom, "You might want to explain to them what happens after they do this." She just looked at me like I was loony and said, "It's a wishbone, Rachel. What is there to explain??" --- Right. Whatever. On to the breaking! And break it did. The top broke right off, leaving two little girls with equally long sides. :)

As my mom told them that since both sides were the same, they BOTH got their wish, the look on their faces was priceless. Hazel sat there with a fairly dazed and dumbfounded look on her face, saying nothing, while Lilie, with a half-smile and air of expectancy, sit quietly momentarily, half-crouched over. I can see my mom looking at them, being so quiet, thinking, What is wrong with them? When suddenly Lilie asks, "Are they there?" Is what there, Lilie? "My WINGS!" Ummmm . . . . what do you think? She puts her little hand behind her back, patting all around, "Well . . . I think I feel something . . . but . . . only one." LOL! We were laughing hard at this point as she continues to feel around on her back. I tell her that maybe it will just take time for them to grow in. To which she replies, "OR maybe their just stuck together!" :) :) She spent the next 20 minutes or so trying to fly around the room - slowly accepting that there were, in fact, no wings on her back and not all wishes come true. We also come to find out, that while Hazel was less vocal about it, she had expected nothing less spectacular than her sister had. Ever cautious and leaving her options open, she had wished that she could turn into "whatever she wanted." :) Needless to say, she was less than impressed with the wish-granting power of the Wishbone.

Funny as the whole night was, my favorite part was yet to come.

A day or so later, I went downstairs to track down my mom, who was doing laundry with Lilie as her "helper". I walk in the room to find Lilie standing, amazed, in front of the door to the front-loading washer. This is not an unusual scene - as my kids have never ceased to be fascinated with watching the flop-floppity-flopping of the washer. In all truth, it IS kind of hypnotic. :) It flops to one direction, stops, sits for about 5 seconds, and then starts flopping the other direction. Very entertaining. :) So as I walk in, Lilie exclaims, "MOM! Watch this! I'm magic!" She stands in front of the door watching. As the wet clothes come to a stop, she picks up one knee, stands still for a second, then (while standing on one foot) quickly jerks her raised knee to one direction or the other. Upon doing so, the washer "magically" starts flop-flopping again in the other direction. :) I stand there smiling as she repeats this 3 or 4 times. :) "Wow, Lilie! That's amazing!" LOL! She turns around with a great big smile on her face and says,

"Well, I didn't get my wish, but I got somethin'!"

That's my Lilie. LOL!!!! I have not been able to stop laughing! She makes me so happy.  

And that my dear friends, is the definition of "looking on the bright side". :) Sometimes you don't get your wings, but if you look hard enough, you just might be able to control the washing machine with your knee. :) LOL!!!

Podiatric Injuries

It's hard to be a kid who can't take the time to wear shoes - and for some reason can't seem to keep them on (I think it may be a genetic problem). Lilie came to me the other day saying that she had "a bleed" on her foot. I took a look, saw nothing, and sent her on her way. Last Saturday morning as we were rushing to get to Duchesne, I asked her to stop jumping on Grandma's bed and put on her shoes. 30 seconds later she came to me wailing, with one shoe on, one in her hand, saying, "I have a bleed!" I kneel down, look at her foot, and see that her ANKLE is entirely SWOLLEN! WHAT??!!! There is but one scrape on the back of her heel - not even a CUT! The resident Nurse (a.k.a. Grandma) calms me from rushing to the hospital for an antibiotic :) and soaks her little foot in some hot salt water. Later that day, most all the swelling was gone.

Well, as the girls and I were driving the other day, all of a sudden Hazel starts screaming, "I have a scratch on my toe!!!" I calmly ask her if it's bleeding - she says no. Okay. Then stop screetching! :)
That evening as I'm washing her up, I get a look at said "scratch" and see THIS! When questioned about what happened, she has NO IDEA. How someone opens up a 3/4 inch gash on their toe and has no idea how it happened is beyond me!

My cute (and CLEAN!) girls soaking their injuries! :)
Salt water is an incredible healer!

So much for "Early to Bed . . . "

I really had high hopes tonight . . . :( Well. We started off the night with a bang. After having Family Home Evening - I needed to clean up Lilie's chinie - so I pulled off the bandaid and was greeted with this . . .

SO. I called my mother, the family nurse. Not only is her cut looking hideous, there is a lovely rash spreading across her face where the band-aid has been. She says she's probably just sensitive or allergic to whatever I've been using. So off to the store to get more medical supplies.

I was planning to come straight home and wake up Lilie, doctor her up, and send her back to bed. Instead I gabbed and cried at my mom for the next 2 hours - bless her heart. So, we wake up Lilie at 11:15 and doctor her up - bad choice. Lilie does not wake up well. So I doctor my sweet crying girl who, once back in bed, then proceeds to scratch at her new bandage, crying that it hurts. Get her up again. Clean it and try again. She then is just losing it and so to distract her from the crazies, I promise to sit and watch a movie with her for a while. I ask her if she'd like to watch "Nemo" --- NO. She wants to watch "Star Wars". --- I want to blow my brains out. Why are my children OBSESSED with STAR WARS??? Anyway. In the meantime, she finally falls asleep - but I need to make sure that she stays asleep without pulling her little bandage off --- so here I am. Not asleep. I think we're good now - still earlier than many other nights . . . :)