Pieces of Us...

I'm Finally Back - Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Oh where to begin… I know you probably thought I was never going to return. Things have just been CRAZY! I can’t believe it has been almost two whole months since I have posted to my blog. Geeze, I am such a slacker. No, I take that back. I’m not a slacker, I’m just too busy to stop for a few moments and write!

Well first there was our wonderful vacation in Myrtle Beach. It was so great to have the whole family together. My mom, step dad, brother, Jonathan and the wee ones. We had an absolute blast. It wasn’t a relaxing vacation like when Jonathan and I take our cruises. But it was a great family vacation.

As you know, Jonathan’s friend let us use his wonderful beach house. Free of charge. Can’t ask for much more than that. It was beautiful and spotless. Which, of course, was mighty scary with a 5 year old and 2 year old. But we managed to not break anything. Whew. A few handprints on the mirrored wall and one pee pee accident on the hardwood floor, but other than that, we were good to go.

The kids absolutely loved the beach. Chase learned how to jump in the pool and swim around with his swimmies on. It was hard to keep Skyler away from the pool. I will say the kids actually preferred the pool more than the beach though. Go figure.

We went to Broadway at the Beach a couple of times. One night they had an awesome fireworks show. There were so many cool shops and things to do there. If your ever in MB, you must visit Broadway at the Beach. We went to the Pavilion one night. Its so sad to know that this time next year it will no longer be there. Fifty years it has stood at that very spot. Very sad.

All in all we had a wonderful time. We ate most of our meals at the beach house. We went out to dinner a few times, but most of our meals we cooked. So it was a very economical vacation. Just the way I like it!

If you would like to view some of our beach pictures. Just click here.

Things were just chaotic after we returned from the beach. By the time we turned around it was time to go home for Labor Day for the family reunion and the kids’ birthday party. Since Skyler and Chase’s birthdays are so close together, we have just had their birthday parties together. I know we won’t be able to do that once they are bigger, but for now it works out fine.

They received so many presents that I still haven’t even unpacked them. When we got home from Tennessee, we just carried everything (boxes and all) up to Chase’s room and put them on his bed (he still sleeps in his baby bed). That’s where they still sit.

If you would like to check out some of the pictures from their party. You can find them here. As usual, I’m running around helping them open presents and stuff, so I only got a few pictures. I can never get Jonathan to take pictures.

We left Chase with my parents in Tennessee because the following weekend I was leaving for Savannah for our convention. I left early on Saturday morning and Sam and I drove to Savannah. The next four days were just a blur. I worked about 13 hours a day while at convention. I was exhausted by Wednesday. It was an awesome convention though. Our members loved Savannah. Hopefully we will get to go back there again in the next few years. Next year’s convention will be in Myrtle Beach.

Then on Wednesday I drove from Savannah back to Tennessee. I had Thursday and Friday off because I had so many hours from convention. Jonathan spent an entire week alone with Skyler. It was good daddy/daughter bonding time. I think it also made Jonathan appreciate what I go through every day. And he was only dealing with one and not both of them!

I spent Wednesday through Sunday at my parents’ house in Tennessee. My mom and I took Chase to the Ripley’s Aquarium in Gatlinburg on Thursday. I wanted to spend some special mommy/son time with him since I don’t get to do that very often. We had a wonderful time and even did a bit of shopping at the outlets.

Jonathan and Skyler came to Tennessee on Friday. Saturday morning Jonathan went to Knoxville to watch Tennessee get beat by the Gators. Oh joy. And by one point no less.

Saturday evening I took Chase and Skyler to my dad and step mom’s house for a visit. They played outside for awhile on the swing set. Chase was swinging on the swing set and just let go. He did flip and landed face first in the grass. He jumped up and went about his business. It almost gave me a heart attack. When he fell, I looked over at my step mom and said,

“You know, he really scares me sometimes. He can fall and hurt himself and not cry a bit. I know he really gets hurt sometimes, but he hardly ever cries from pain.”

I would later be eating those words…

About two hours later we were in the house watching the Tennessee game on television. Chase was climbing up on the bench seat to the piano and all of a sudden I heard a thud, followed by a piercing scream. Chase had fallen backwards off of the piano seat. I ran over to pick him up and he was holding his arm funny and he was crying. I was worried he had hurt his arm.

After about 10 minutes or so he stopped crying. I was holding him trying to decide whether or not to take him to the doctor. He started using his arm again, but was favoring it. I told my dad I was going to go ahead and take him to the emergency room since the clinics were closed. Dad told me he thought Chase was fine, but I went with my gut instinct. Little Man hardly ever cries when he gets hurt.

So I called my mom and step dad and told them what was going on and that I was taking Chase to the emergency room. I tried over and over again to call Jonathan, but could never get in touch with him. So we head to the hospital where my entire family meets me. Me, Chase, Skyler, dad, step mom, mom, step dad and I go traipsing into the emergency room. Luckily they took Chase straight back.

We’re all sitting back in the emergency room and Skyler and Chase are climbing all over the gurney. I’m thinking, “He is fine, I’m just being a worry wart.” The doctor came back and poked and prodded on his arm. Chase didn’t make a sound. Then the doctor told me to sit him on the floor and ask him to walk. He said he noticed he was holding it a bit funny and kind of favoring it, so he ordered some x-rays.

A few minutes later an x-ray technician came back and told Chase we were going to go have his picture made. Chase was a champ and stood still and did everything she told him.

After the doctor came back with the x-rays, he told us Chase had a fracture on his arm. It was a really high fracture and they didn’t put a cast on it. He said it would heal in about 4 to 6 weeks. Well that just freaked my mom out. She had never heard of not putting a cast on an arm that is fractured. Its not broken, just “cracked.”

So when we returned to North Carolina on Sunday, I called first thing Monday morning and made Chase an appointment with an orthopedist. I was thoughtful enough to ask the emergency room in Tennessee to give me copies of Chase’s x-rays so I could bring them to NC. The orthopedist looked at the x-rays and at Chase and said the same thing.

Poor little guy. You wouldn’t know a thing was wrong with him. He can use his arm just like always, except he can’t put any weight on it.

So Monday we took Chase to the doctor, on Tuesday I had a doctor’s appointment and today Chase and Skyler have their yearly checkup with their pediatrician. So you can see how busy we have been over the last month and a half. I can’t even think about it.

I have so much more to talk about. But I think I have rambled on enough for one day. I really hope I can get caught up on everyone’s journals. I miss reading them. Hope everyone has had a great month. We’ll all catch up soon!

I'm Finally Back Monica; 1:05 PM

1 Comments:

♥Caroline♥ said...: WOW what a month! I'm glad that you had a wonderful vacation.
You needed it to start your horrid rest of the month.
I'm glad that chase is alright. Poor little man, like you said you ended up eating your words..
Isn't it amazing how mom's know when something ain't right. Good call.
Hope everything starts getting back to normal soon for you all.; 1:22 AM