Aloha, Pink Cast!

Dr. Pring gave us the clearance to enjoy our Hawaiian vacation without an extra accessory on Riley's arm--the cast came off today after just two weeks! Her baby bones have already grown back together and her hip X-rays came out perfectly as well! After two hours of X-rays, waiting, and seeing the Orthopedic Pediatrician this morning at Rady's, we all left with huge smiles!!

The kids said their (hopefully) final farewells to the fun kid stuff they have around Children's Hospital--including "Old McDonald." I've never corrected Jackson on Ronald McDonald's name or his fine food establishment.

Thank you for the prayers and healing thoughts for Riley's arm--they worked!

And someone sure was happy to take a bath again!!!

Aloha! We are off to Kauai in the morning!

Big Girl!

Focus...concentrate...make some faces...

About two weeks before Riley turned one, I introduced her to the Frog Potty. Most nights before bath I put her on it to practice. It's just the beginning of the MANY steps involved to potty training...and there's no rush. 

But last weekend before I put her on the potty, I asked her if she needed to pee and she said, "Yes!" She sure did! That was her first time having a successful potty time! We all cheered for her and Sierra wondered why I kept the pee in the potty for him to see. Why not?! 

Like Mother, Like Daughter

My brave little girl!

Well I never officially blogged about my own hand accident because my left hand was out of commission for several weeks and typing was really hard one handed...but here we go again! Riley's turn this time. 

On Monday, Riley and I were running errands while Jackson was at school. Usually we head home after dropping him off so she can nap. However, it was housecleaning day so I like to stay away and come back to the magical transformation! 

After admiring all the pets at Petco and picking up some food and a new bed for Abby, we walked to my car. My car was parked right in front of the store so I let Riley walk--she had been running all around the store already and I could tell she was tired. Why didn't I pick her up? WHY?! Hindsight is 20/20. As I carefully held her hand and the bag of goodies in the other, she let go. This girl does not like holding hands so we have been practicing lately. Again, why was I practicing when she was already feisty from needing a nap?! She ran off towards the end of my car and I caught her just in time--she almost was in the big parking lot area. Shaking, we walked backed to my car. 

I was holding her hand again. I opened the passenger door just as she let go and BUMP--ran smack into the door as it opened. She fell to the ground and looked like a little doll. I scooped her up and she was crying. I could see the bump starting to form on her head and I could hear my heart beating between my ears. It felt like the day I fell down the stairs carrying the glasses. We sat on the bench in front of the store where I tried to calm her by nursing. She fed for a bit between cries. She has never cried so much. It was heartbreaking. Finally she was calm so I put her in her seat, still checking on that bump. It didn't look so bad--a little bruise and small bump. I guessed her tiredness caused the "overreaction." Each time I asked her, "Did you fall and hit your head?" she would burst into tears. So I stopped asking and we proceeded on our next errand. 

After picking up Jackson we headed over to the public library. The kids had fun choosing books and we sat and read one while we were there. Riley seemed fine until a little boy (20 months) came up to her to hug her. She pushed him away. He did it again, only this time he squeezed her and they fell over. Riley started that same cry as before--a hurt cry. She didn't get up so I picked her up and we quickly checked out our books. She settled down faster but she still seemed upset...

After we got home I realized that Riley wasn't ok. She was playing with Jackson and started screaming when she was trying to push up from the floor. She doesn't really crawl anymore but she was trying to stand up and couldn't. So then I watched her VERY closely for the next 30 minutes. I couldn't see anything visible on her hands and she was using them fine to eat, drink, play...everything but push up. I tried to get her to play "kitty kitty" with me -- a game she usually loves which involves crawling like a kitty -- and she wouldn't. She looked at me like I was crazy. I could tell it was her right hand that was bothering her so I called her doctor...as I was on hold I decided I didn't want to wait another second and grabbed the diaper bag, snacks, Ipad, and kids...we were headed to Urgent Care.

Luckily there was only one patient ahead of us -- randomly one of Jackson's preschool teachers. The doctor examined Riley thoroughly -- even checking her ears -- and everything was normal. Her bump by this point had almost disappeared. She pushed, pulled, and touched Riley's hands and Riley didn't squeak. So then we decided to X-ray because I kept saying that Riley couldn't push up without pain and she never cries, especially like this. 

I sat with Riley on my lap as the technician tried to hold her hands, one at a time, down for the picture. She screamed. It was awful. She was sweaty and had puffy eyes after the 10 minutes of trying to get two good X-rays. I was almost about to give up but I really wanted those scans! I just knew something was wrong.

The doctor said there wasn't a fracture and she was perfect. Maybe a sprain at most. I couldn't believe it. We were sent home with instructions to give Advil for pain.

Riley finally fell asleep on the way home--poor thing hadn't napped all day and it was 3:30 p.m. At 4:30 p.m. the doctor called to say that she had sent the X-rays to Children's Hospital and there was a fracture. Because babies/kids still have bones that are fusing together, the fracture looked different. When I saw the X-ray it looked like a bump off the bone just above her wrist--and that was after zooming in on it. So I can see how she missed it. 

So I packed both kids, more snacks, and books and off we went to Urgent Care Part II. They were waiting at the door for us and had everything prepped. Riley's temporary soft cast was put on quickly and the kids  happily found treats in the treasure chest at the end. Jackson thought it was really cool seeing sister's bones on the X-ray. 

A follow up with our pediatrician was recommended but really that just meant a referral (oh the joys of HMOs)...so he faxed it in thankfully. We went to Rady Children's Orthopedics yesterday morning to see if Riley's cast would be soft or hard and for how long. We are very familiar with this department as that's where we go for her hip check ups. This kid!!!

I used a legwarmer to cover her splint/soft cast so she wouldn't rip it off.

Of course the DVD I was given at Urgent Care (I had to drive back two days later since their  CD burner was down) did not show up on the computer at Rady's. So...more X-rays. 

Her second X-ray...two fractures, not one!

Jackson and Riley were so patient as we waited in one area, then another, and another, plus one more...they really have a system to keep you moving and waiting. 

We had such caring and sweet nurses! They said Riley was the happiest baby they had ever seen in a cast--of course this was after she was finally able to eat--they made her fast until the doctor had looked at her arm--four hours is a long time for a growing girl. 

Lucky to be their Mama!

And there's no stopping her even with one arm--she is getting around just fine and seems to be pain free. Such a tough little girl! 

So three weeks in the pink cast Jackson chose for sister. She fractured two parts of her arm above her wrist: torus fractures to distal radius. A pretty common injury with children apparently. The impact from her little fall caused her baby soft bones to crack. Poor girl! We will be sponge bathing in the meantime and trying our best to keep this active girl's cast dry.

Meanwhile we have a family vacation lined up in almost two weeks...so I made an appointment with Orthopedics to have her arm rechecked and if needed, we will put a waterproof cast on it for our vacation. We also have her final hip check up that day so we made them back to back. The fun never ends, I tell ya!

THANK YOU to everyone for your love and concern for Riley!!!

I am worried she will get the cast wet while eating...ziplock works great!

Jackson practicing his moves--he has seemed so grown up lately!

Hullabaloo time!

Our Anniversary!

Another year of wedded bliss! We spent our 6th waking up a little later thanks to Daylight Savings Time. Auntie Autumn and Uncle Marco volunteered to babysit so we could have some kid free time!

We drove down to Hillcrest to a restaurant I've been wanting Sierra to try--Snooze. The wait was an hour which normally with kids would have been "let's go somewhere else" but since it was just us--shopping next door of course! 

After a bag of goodies from Urban, we sat down to delicious grapefruit mimosas and brunch. The friendly server gave us melt-in-your-mouth pancakes with a banana bread glaze in celebration of our anniversary--we were good and only ate a few bites. The eggs I ordered were so yummy and I had the leftovers packed up for my breakfast the next day...which I left sitting in the microwave ALL morning. Does this ever happen to you? You heat something up and forget about it? How do I forget to eat?! This started once the second kid arrived--warning all you expectant moms! 

Since we weren't ready to go home yet, we stopped by the local brewery for a quick tasting.

The kids were happy to see us and had such a fun time with Autumn and Marco that I suggested every Sunday should be like this!

Six years of marriage has been awesome and I look forward to the next 60! Still thinking about my leftovers. We need to go back! 

Dr. Seuss Day: Thing 1 and Thing 2

Jackson's class celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday by dressing up as a Seuss character. Pinterest saves the day again!

The hardest part about creating Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes was finding the pants. Jackson asked his pre-school buddy Sydney to be his Thing 2 and I offered to make her accessories since I was already making his. Her parents were very happy and so were we!

My favorite was the craft they made in class--a Cat in the Hat. Something about those not-so-perfect whiskers makes me miss the classroom...for a minute!

Riley: 13 Months Today

How weird it was this month to say to strangers, "oh she just turned a year."

Well over the past month Riley had her first cold, ear infection, first year shots, and lots of low grade fevers with runny nose...welcome to one little bunny!

On the daily, Riley receives compliments for her fast walking as well as outfits and bows (of course). She looks so little walking next to brother but I checked in his baby book -- she is 1 1/2" longer/taller than he was at one. He weighed 2 pounds more but walked a month after her...I know let's not compare apples and oranges.

Riley has been talking more, too. Unlike Jackson (here I go comparing again), she is shy with her words. He was always confident and loud. Riley is quiet and takes about 30 minutes to warm up to people/new places. New words include, "sit", "cup", "nana" (banana), and "sock."

She learned to climb up here and read books!

Climbing down.

They both enjoyed watching the polar bears swim!

At TKD this week, I couldn't find Riley's other shoe. This seems to happen three to five times a day. She hides them I swear! I asked her where her shoe went? She found it and said, "there it is!" So I'll count that as her first sentence!

She loves Karen Katz books and received several for her birthday. If you know about her books, the little girl is always on the hunt for something. Riley enjoys flipping the peek a boo parts and at the end "there it is."

Riley also is learning about her body. She shows us her belly, eyes, and hair. We are working on nose and mouth which she mixes up.

HUGS!

Last weekend we introduced cow's milk. After taking predictions, we gathered around as a family to watch her drink it. I didn't even mix in breast milk because I was too lazy to pump and realized all the frozen milk was expired. We all predicted she would drink it. She drank it no problem so I am in the process of weaning. Currently she is nursing every four hours! SO much better!! I don't want to wean too fast because the evil mastitis looms. Instead I am having to wear nursing pads again. Leaky boobs never end!

Well...there it is...Riley is now 13 months!

Auntie Jane Meets the Kids!

Aunt Jane and Jackson

Daddy, Jack, Grandpa, and Uncle Noah

Two weekends ago we were in Ventura because Sierra's sister, Jane, and her husband, David, were visiting from England. They were last in the U.S. five years ago for Orion and Mariola's wedding in Lake Tahoe (and I was newly pregnant with Jackson).

Santa Barbara -- Aunt Mariola & Uncle Orion 

Riley, Mama, and Gram

Aunt Jane

Uncle Noah, Aunt Laura, Gram, & Grandpa (he celebrated his 71st birthday)

We stayed at a Marriott Residence Inn and you would have thought it was a five star resort the way Jackson was talking: "I have my own TV in my room!" That weekend Terry made a delicious English dinner and the kids stayed up way too late only to wake at their usual 6ish a.m. the next day. After naps we went to the pier in Santa Barbara with the family followed by dinner at Noah and Laura's. On Sunday after checking out of the Ritz Marriott, we spent some time with cousins Ella and Zoey and then back to Gram and Grandpa's before heading home.

The girls play

Ella looks like Riley, right?!

Jackson over the last few days really seems to be maturing into a "young lad" as Auntie Jane would say. We were fortunate to then have Jane and David with us for a few days. I was really worried that Jackson would copy everything she said but about two weeks ago I noticed his copying-everyone-annoying-behavior start to fade. Thank goodness that phase is just about over. So he just copied her cute English sayings like "perfect!" As well as "popsie" for Riley and "darling" for me.

First time carrying Riley on my back.
 Of course Jackson realized he could be carried as well!

 While Jane and David were with us last weekend we visited Mt. Soledad (Jackson napped in the car), walked LJ Cove and downtown LJ, went to Old Town for drinks and downtown for dinner with Uncle Clint and Aunt Angela, and had lunch at Jackson's favorite--Greek.

La Jolla Cove

Mt. Soledad

We would love to visit them and see Europe as well but think it's best to wait until both kids will have the memories and their own seats for the 11-12 hour flight. We miss them already! Cheerio!