The x-ray for those of you that are interested.
The morning after the ER visit in her temporary purple cast and hospital gown. Did you know they give those away "free"? She was pretty excited about all the "free" stuff she got from her hospital visits.
Following doctor's orders and keeping that arm elevated while watching morning cartoons. She carried her own pillow in the living room and set herself up. Apparently she was listening during discharge instructions.
A few hours after surgery in her new light blue cast to match her eyes. Those little bumps are spacers to allow for swelling and will come out at her follow up appt next week. The pin itself is completely internal and will be removed in about 4mos.
We were instructed to keep her resting with her arm elevated for 48hours. Easier said than done. After about the second movie, Alli said "Kids are supposed to play! I don't want to rest anymore." Getting her to take the yucky pain medicine was another impossible task. In her defense, that stuff was awful bitter.
So, this was the best we could do most of the time. She loves her new coloring book! As you can see, she has been all smiles through just about all of this.Some things we have learned:
-We have to be a lot more careful. Turns out, kids can break.
-Alli is hilarious under the influence of Versed, otherwise known as happy juice- wished we had that on video. Just imagine a drunk 5 yr old slurring "Those doctors are crazy. That medicine didn't work. I didn't fall asleep. HOORAY! Look at those fans falling from the ceiling..." All the while trying to sit and stand up in bed, but falling back down. At one point she got real quiet and zoned out but then her eyes lit up and she said "They should call it quiet medicine."
-There is a point at which Alli gets tired of watching TV after all.
-Most importantly, we are surrounded by God's love in the form of family and friends who prayed, visited, called, encouraged, supported, sent gifts and offered help of all kinds. We are truly blessed. Thank you all so much.
When Dwaine got home, he said they had a good time but also mentioned that this was the year he lost her. She was really excited to see all the other little girls she knows and had fun socializing with them. I was a little sad for him, but when I asked her about the dance she said she was "as snug as a love bug with daddy." Her time with him was still very important to her and she really cherished being with him. I think it was just extra fun for her to be able to see all her friends at the same time.
Something else that made the dance extra special this year. Our close friends, the Westinghouse's were in town and Corry got to take his 2 beautiful daughters, Autumn and Shelby too! This pic was taken when they all got home. They came home screaming, squealing and dancing with excitement and apparently had done so all the way home in the car with Dwaine. I think he needed a little stress relief at that point! Three giddy girls can be a bit much to take especially in a confined space.
A unicorn (drawn back in November)..jpg)
One of her most recent creations and one of my favorites- a bird. Is that cute or what?
That costume, and of course the pretty little girl wearing it, really did steal the show. People kept asking if they could take a picture with her afterwards. She was so proud. What's funny is that she was kind of upset about being the star. According to her, the star wasn't as important as the angel and she really wanted to be the angel. But on the way home she kept saying, "Everyone wanted to take a picture of me!" She was pretty excited about it.
And the star's little brother was quite a star too. He stood up there just like he was supposed to, did all the hand motions and even sang a little (especially when it came time to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus). He was one of the only kids in his class that wasn't either crying, running away or staring blankly into space. Dwaine and I were really quite proud of both of our little stars.
Alli and TJ with Grandma and Pawpaw.
So happy to see Nana looking good and feeling good. She means so much to us.
Then we got to host the Dement family Thanksgiving at our house. Above: Aunt Christie, Meg and Alli.
Alli and TJ absolutely adore their cousins Lyndee and Meg and why wouldn't they? They played hide and seek with the kids, drew fun pictures, loved on them and gave them lots of attention. They are so sweet and we only wish we could spend more time with them.
Lyndee loving on TJ.
He was really sweet making sure he talked to them about behaving and going to bed on time. Too bad I don't think the talk worked (especially the bed time part).
For some reason Alli did not want to tell him what she wanted, but TJ was not shy about it. "I want a shooter gun!" And then when we walked away, TJ was looking all sad so I asked him what was wrong and in a pathetic little voice he said "He didn't give me a shooter gun." No wonder he was not shy about telling him what he wanted. He thought he was going to get it right then and there.
Back at home, trying to get a nice picture of the kids by the tree.
Somehow, boys are just instinctively better at making silly faces. Even Alli said "Ooh, TJ did a better crazy face than me!" 