First ER Visit

Poor Lyle baby had his first trip to the Emergency Room on Sunday.  He was crawling on the deck and got too close to the railing.  His uncle grabbed him quick so he wouldn't fall, but he caught him by his arm.  Zach and I had gone to a movie.  I think you always know something is wrong when you get a call while you are still in the movie.  We headed back over, and tried to reassure ourselves he was fine.  When we got there he was happy, but only playing one-handed.  The other arm was just hanging there and he would cry if you tried to move or bend it very much.  So off to the ER we went.

Everything went pretty quickly, and once the Dr. looked at it she wanted to get a few XRAYS.  Zach volunteered to stay in the room with him, and I'm grateful for that.  It was hard to listen to him cry while they got all the pictures they needed.  He was pretty cooperative otherwise, playing and looking at books while we waited.  The Dr came back and told us they didn't see anything, but were waiting for the radiologist to confirm.  So we waited for another couple hours while the radiologist dealt with trauma's that came in.  Lyle finally fell asleep,  they confirmed nothing showed on his pictures, and we were told we could go.  They gave us information on "non-specific arm pain" and "nursemaid's elbow" which of course I didn't read until we were gone, and told us he would probably favor his uninjured arm for a day or two, but should improve.

I stayed home in the morning on Monday with him, just to monitor and see how he did.  He wasn't wanting to play a whole lot and stayed pretty close to me.  I decided to take him out to Annie's after his nap so I could go to work in the afternoon.  He still would not crawl on his arm, and was fussing whenever you bent it.  He was so pitiful playing with only one hand and he couldn't get to any of the toys out of his reach, it broke my heart.  I couldn't leave him, so back home we went.  I don't think I ever would have expected to react like that, but when it's your own child who is hurt, it's a whole different ball game.  I called the Dr's office and made an appointment for the morning.  I just had this feeling that whatever was going on was not going to get better in a day or two.

We went to our doctor's office in Harper and she confirmed that it was "nursemaid's elbow" or basically a dislocated elbow.  Apparently it's pretty common in kids under five, when you catch or lift them by their arms.  She was able to put it back in place (she was not sure why the ER did not do this in the first place), and pretty soon he was lifting and grabbing things.  What a wave of relief.  He cried for a bit when they reduced it, but then he was happy and waving at all the doctors and nurses.  By the time I dropped him off at the sitter's he was crawling and playing like nothing happened.

And now he is great.  And I once again confirmed that I much prefer to be on the nurse end rather than the patient end of things.  I was grateful for all the family that was praying, that it was an injury easily fixed, and that he won't be in a cast on his birthday! :)

Turning Two

Saturday my neice Zoe turned two.  We went up to Wichita for her (and my brother-in-law's) birthday party. 

Baby Eric is three months old! I love him.
He is so long and skinny!  Such opposite from
chunky man Lyle at this age.

Her nurse kit from Uncle Mike and Aunt Steph.
Maybe she'll take after her Auntie Kim ;)

Her doll that Uncle Zach picked out for her.

Zoe and her daddy blowing out birthday candles

Such a sweet girl.  We love you Zo-Zo!

Topeka

We got back from Arkansas on Sunday night, and I repacked my bags to leave Monday for a work trip.  Five girls from my office traveled together to a WIC (a supplemental food program for Women, Infants, and Children) conference in Topeka.  We left around noon, stopped in Wichita for lunch at Pei Wei, and got to our hotel about five.  And what was on our minds?? Where to eat supper!  The front desk recommended The Blind Tiger Brewery and Restaurant.  We made a trip to Target, then headed over.  Oh my goodness the food was amazing!  I'm pretty sure it was all of my favorites in one meal: fried pickles, pulled pork sandwich, and sweet potato fries.  Yumm.  A little too much food after a full lunch, but still delicious.

Our conference was Tuesday and Wednesday, and I felt like I got a lot of great ideas to bring back to the office.  It is a statewide conference so there are employees from health departments from all over.  I think it's great to talk to other nurses and see how their department is run, and what programs, classes, support groups work well for them.  WIC has a big push on encouraging moms to breastfeed, and we are always looking at different ways to educate, encourage, and support them.  (So if you have any great ideas or things that helped you, let me know! :) )

I made Annie send me extra pictures
of Lyle while I was gone.

We went to get our nails done after meetings on Tuesday and out to Chili's for supper.  More good food.  Both nights we were all bums and crashed pretty early after watching TV. 

Drinking pop and watching shows
about cars with Dad while I was gone.

Wednesday we had meetings until about two, then headed back home.  They were forecasting bad weather, but thankfully we didn't run into rain or snow until about 20 miles from home.  I was missing Lyle (and Zach) like crazy by this point and couldn't wait to be home!  That was my first time being away from Lyle....he did great at home with Zach....much better than I did I'm sure!  I'm glad that neither Zach or I have a job that takes us away from home very often. 

So incredibly happy to be home with my baby.

Easter Weekend

We spent Easter weekend with my sister Kristen and her husband Philip.  We headed down Friday night after work.  They live in Rogers, AR which is about a five hour drive from our house.  Five hours really isn't too bad, but does seem a little long at the end of an eight hour work day at the end of the week.

Lyle riding Bosco.  SUCH a different personality
from our bulldog.  But just as awesome :)

Saturday morning my sister and I caught up while drinking coffee and watching Lyle play.  Neither of us are great at keeping up with phone calls, so it was so so nice to just be able to sit and chat.  We headed over to Fayeteville around lunchtime to watch Zach's cousin Chase's track meet.  He throws javelin for Wichita State, and we were glad that timing for his track meet in Arkansas met up with a weekend we could visit Kristen as well!  It was rainy and overcast when we left the house, but the sun came out and the weather was beautiful!  We all ended up a little sunburned even...oops!  I now keep sunscreen in Lyle's bag so I won't be the terrible mother caught without it!  Poor guy's nose and cheeks were so pink!  But the sunshine felt sooooo good.

Kristen and Philip go to church on Saturday nights, so we headed over there after the track meet to meet up with Philip.  He was playing drums for the services that evening.  We felt a little weird going to Easter service on Saturday night, much less in our Wichita State get up, but it was an awesome service.  I love our small church, and the community that we have, but I also love the feeling of a huge church with a praise band and hundreds of people singing and lifting their hands. 

An advantage of going to church on Saturday is that Sunday is so relaxing!  We spent the morning just hanging around, letting Lyle search for Easter eggs in the living room, and went to take a few family pictures before lunch.  It is so awesome to have an amazing photographer as your brother-in-law! :)  I will post those pictures soon!

We had such an awesome weekend.  I used to go visit Kristen a lot...for spring break, summer trips to the lake, and just whenever to hang out.  Since I've been married...and now have a baby...it seems like it just doesn't happen often enough.  It was also fun to see updates to their house (they just redid their bathrooms, and it made me oh so excited for our master bathroom project!) and plans for their yard/garden.  And of course, good to just be together with family.  I feel blessed.