Paige

Paige is scheduled for surgery Monday, January 5 at 12:30 at Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta. The pediatric orthopedist explained her injury in terms even I can understand. He likened it to pulling a weed in the garden. (of which I have a lot of experience from my youth) Her ligament is the weed. When she hit her leg, it pulled the weed (ligament) up by the roots...the roots are the chunk of bone that came out with it. In an adult, it would have snapped the weed (ligament) into two pieces. The surgery is to put the chunk of bone back in so that the ligament holds the two bones together like its supposed to. It is her PCL which is behind the knee, not the common ACL. Because it's behind her knee, it will be 'open' surgery, not the scope. He said there is too much going on behind the knee to use the scope. It will be outpatient surgery, but we plan on hanging out in a hotel til we are sure she is well enough to travel home. She will have physical therapy, and we don't know how long rehab will be. She isn't in a lot of pain, and is getting the hang of the crutches better here on the carpet. Today there is an American Girl movie marathon, so life in bed isn't so bad for her.

Frank's parents and aunt from California are supposed to come tomorrow. Should I cook the traditional black eyed peas and greens for them? Haha, what do yankees eat for New Years? I'm guessing it isn't hog jawls! Happy New Year!

Poor Paige!

Poor Paige! She fell off her bike not 2 hours after arriving at Red Top Mountain. And by saying fell, that's putting it lightly. She was whizzing down a hill, turning a curve, on wet pavement and pinestraw and skidded into a rock, flying through the air, busting her knee on a big rock. The blow was so hard that it pushed her tibia backwards and broke a piece of bone off that connected her ligament that is behind her knee off. That piece of bone happens to be part of the growth plate which makes things even more interesting. We spent 7 hours in the ER yesterday, and saw an orthopedist today. He is sending us to a pediatric orthopedist who specializes in sports injuries. This injury is extremely rare, especially in children. The only time they see it is usually in car wrecks where the leg bangs into the dashboard. So Paige hit that rock really hard. The good news is, it isn't her head! It could have been so much worse. We can fix the leg, it very possibly needs surgery, but its fixable. She is in good spirits, not a lot of pain, but walking on crutches is really hard on her. Please pray that we see the pediatric specialist soon and that if we need surgery, that it is done soon too. I'll update when we know something more. And when you are praying, please pray for baby Stellan too. His mama's blog is on my sidebar and he is very very sick with RSV.

Merry Christmas!

I hope that you have had as merry a Christmas as we have! I take back all of the things I have ever said about Frank's gift giving abilities. He and the kids gave me a bracelet I have been admiring since my jewelry store days (circa 1991) and the laptop I am typing this on! :o) Aren't these just the cutest kids you have ever seen?! I bribed Jacob with opening one gift early last night to get a good pic out of him.

My favorite part of Christmas is watching them open their presents. They never notice the things they didn't get, and are always very excited about what they did. Apparently I miscounted and Paige had more to open then Jacob, and as much as I worried over it, it didn't bother Jacob at all. They are really good kids, because my sisters and I would have had a hissy fit over something dumb like that. Frank's favorite gift was a watch...I got him good with a cheap watch under the tree and his real watch hidden in his stocking. Poor guy was trying to be excited about the el cheapo in the panty hose box, haha! Jacob's favorite was probably a civil war ps2 game that he didn't know existed and Paige's was her American Girl doll, Mia.

I am very blessed to be able to have given my kids the things they wanted for Christmas, and I know that the only reason I can do that is because of the gift we were all given for Christmas. Happy Birthday Jesus!

Ta Dah!

Our stockings are hung, on the mantle with care...in my beautiful new dining room courtesy of my wonderful handy husband and his right hand man!
Here are close ups of his handywork!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I am so glad I am married to a handy guy! For Christmas, my husband is redoing my dining room floor. Just 2 years ago about this time, he was putting down off white carpet for me. Since we go in and out of the house through the dining room, as Jacob would say...maybe white carpet wasn't such a good idea. It wasn't really all that dirty looking, but it was hard to keep clean. Sooooo, today, Frank and his trusty right hand man, Rick, took out the old carpet, and have started a border around the room of hardwood. We had 3 boxes of wood left from the kitchen, but you can't buy it anymore, so we couldn't do the whole room. I saw a room in a book that used hardwood and ceramic tile, and he actually agree with me that it looks good, so I'm getting a beautiful new floor for Christmas. Two years ago, I got my kitchen for Christmas...pretty good gifts I must say! I complain about Frank not being the romantic type, and not buying good gifts, but he does make up for it with his handiness! :o) I will post pics of the finished product...or you can just come over and see for yourself!

As for the little patient, it's amazing how much a doctor knows! She did hit quite the little wall Sat/Sun, and is having a pretty rough go of it. Her breath smells like when you get a tooth pulled (blood) and her throat and ears hurt pretty bad. She isn't eating a whole lot at all, doesn't want to drink, and barely talks. It's kind of up and down though, because she was feeling quite well when texting me this afternoon about her world record she broke: typing 1000 dots on her phone in less than an hour! Woo Hoo! I'm calling the Guiness people as I type! Seriously, please pray for her continued healing and that she will drink, drink, drink!

And for me, I have 4 more days of work...we spent a LONG recess outside today which helped a lot. If we can go two more days without rain, I'll make it through. (Thurs and Fri are half days, I can do those no problem) 4 more days!!!

Thursday Evening

We made it through surgery just fine, and Paige is actually eating chicken noodle soup that she made herself. She has only had one dose of pain meds, but I am going to insist she take some before bed. I knew she was going to be alright when she asked about 4 pm what was for lunch!

Now I'm going to try to do something I've never done before...

It worked! Ta Dah! I finally feel like a 'real' blogger now!

The Big Day

Today's the big day. We are to be at the hospital at 7:45 for Paige to have her tonsils out. She isn't nervous...yet. I woke her up with 4 new sets of pj's, including some that light up, so she is a happy camper. I'm a little nervous, but know I shouldn't be. Please pray for us today. Pray that Paige will have no complications and a high pain tolerance. Pray that Frank and I will have a lot of patience for her over the next few days. (and with each other) I feel like this might be my last real chance to baby her because she is growing up so fast. I don't want to lose my patience and ruin it. I'm off to go get ready for "the big day".

O Christmas Tree

This week has flown by! After a year of planning, I get to finally decorate my Christmas tea tables. I still have some little things I need to get, and I know I will need to make a list or I will be making 20 trips to Walmart! I put up our Christmas tree tonight. Frank will have no part of putting up the tree...or taking it down for that matter. He and Jacob thought it should go in one place, and I gave in...at first. But when I realized I was the only one in the room putting the doggone thing together, I figured I could put it anywhere I please! And I did :o) And it looks lovely there. A bit naked, but lovely. I fluffed it all out and put the lights on it (oh why didn't I pay the extra $20 for the prelit tree?) but I haven't put the decorations on yet. Paige wants to help with that, and she had to go to bed, so it'll wait a little longer. But for now, I can go lay on the couch (after I fold the clothes that are on it) and bask in the glow of my Christmas tree...MY Christmas tree, and think about what else I must do to make those tables as absolutely fabulous as possible!