The Last 2 Weeks

Wow.  If I had to sum up the last 2 weeks in one statement, it would be:  Thank you, September.

Thank you for school starting (technically that was August, but we're not going to thank August for ANYTHING.  Seriously, who invented August?).  I have re-gained my sanity, and for a while I thought that might never happen.  I have time to just ... sit and breathe and think.  Bliss.

Thank you for cooler weather.  It's not always cool, but it's not always brutally hot, either.  Perfect.

Thank you for my arm (and back) feeling better.  I am out of pain entirely, I sleep soundly, and I can do pretty much anything I want.  Correction:  Not anything I want.  My doc put a 3-month ban on contact sports.  That didn't seem long before, when I felt awful, but now I'm feeling better, and I'm starting to think things like, "What would it hurt to play some soccer?  ... What's the worst that could happen?  ... How would the doctor know anyway?  ... It's probably an over estimation of how long I should take off.  ... The bone's fully healed anyway."  ...

I went to the doctor on Friday and he said the bone looks good.  But he was still not impressed with my palm up and palm down.  He told me to keep going to physical therapy (of course).  Then he said, rather ominously, that if my range of motion didn't dramatically improve, they'd have to "do something about that."  Umm, could you elaborate, please?  He was sketchy on details, though.  He didn't make it seem like it was my fault, he just said that some people are tight, and some people aren't, and you can't predict who will be which way.  (I'm trying to be sympathetic to my body.  You know, all these years it's healed well and produced scar tissue, and I've praised it.  "Good job, body!  What a good girl!"  And now it's produced excess scar tissue, and I'm unhappy.  My body must be thinking that I'm hard to please.)  So, I'm hoping that I get that dramatic improvement, cause I'm not too excited about ANOTHER medical procedure.  I just got my life back, thank you very much!

Thank you for my mother.  Last week she sent cards and stickers to each of the kids.  They loved it!  Here's Tank sporting his stickers:

Too cute.  And here's Elijah getting in on the camera action, too:

Thank you for the ease of modern medicine.  Here's a picture of Elijah taken today.  See if you can spot what's different about Elijah:

Did you see it?  No?  How about now:

At least it's tucked away under his chin.  We were up North with family, and Elijah was running around with his cousins.  The story has 2 versions, so here's both of them combined.  He was running / spinning around a pole in the basement and he fell and hit his chin on the cement floor / on a bolt holding the pole in place.  Either way, he came up with a hole in his chin. 

There must have been something different about his cry, because when Elijah came up the stairs I turned to the person sitting nearest me and said, "You know what would make this day perfect?  A visit to the E.R."  And right on cue Rob said, "Looks like you're gonna need stitches, buddy."  Yep.

5 stitches to be precise.  It wasn't very long, but it was wide and deep.  The P.A. who did them said it's the worst he's seen in his 13 years in practice.  That shocked me.  And I have to say that I wasn't super happy about not being near Cincinnati Children's Hospital when it happened.  That hospital is the best.  Truly.  But they took care of us at St. Mary's.  Thank you.

And on the same note, thank you for life just being life.  Kids fall down.  They get stitches.  And you move on.  It's all good.

Thank you for soccer and piano.  I love watching my kids DO things.  I love seeing them work hard and improve.  I love seeing them accomplish things.  Love, love, love!

Thank you for my new calling.  It'll be official on Sunday.  I'm already excited!  I haven't had an official calling since January.  The break was nice, but it's back to work!

Thank you for apple cider!  Best cider ever is Tangeman's, in Maria Stein, Ohio.  Hurray for 4 gallons in the freezer!

(There's a few no thank you's in there, too.  Like, extra time spent in the car, and extra gas money to match.  But we're going to stay positive!)