On the Mend - Part 2

Livvi went back to the hospital on Wednesday for a follow up to see how her arm was healing. The old cast was removed and Liv headed to x-ray.

The x-rays indicated it is healing nicely. While the view from the top doesn't look like it, this is apparently well within the range of acceptability (and hasn't moved since being set 3 weeks ago). The view they are most concerned with is the side view and that is perfect!

With the good news, Liv was able to get a new, waterproof cast! More good news is it doesn't go over the elbow. Even more good news is, after about a week, she can start many of her activities again. This means she can resume her Tae Kwon Do, though she obviously can't be sparring (or any other activity that involves her hitting that hand against anything). We are certainly encouraged by her progress thus far! She didn't waste any time and jumped in our small pool shortly after she got home!

In other news, Joie's eye is feeling much better!

Shy?

Most of you have a hard time believing Joie speaks. She is very shy in public, but in private, she can be a different little girl. We were reminiscing this evening about her singing about a year and a half ago as posted on our blog. I also came across a video I shot back in March:

Tonight she was trying to "(s)pin like a princess" in the restaurant where we had dinner (in public) and smacked her head on the table. Probably gonna leave a nice shiner.

She's doing pretty good now. And all is quiet...she's asleep!

On the Mend

Livvi went back to the hospital on June 23 to see how the bone was healing. After reviewing the new x-ray, it appears the bone has not moved and seems to be healing nicely. She then had the ace bandage taken off the splint and a cast was put over the splint, making it much heavier. Here are some pictures:

Getting the glitter added in that last picture!

She went back to the hospital on June 30 for yet another x-ray and, again, everything is looking really good. She'll need to keep this cast+splint for one more week. Next week, she has a good shot at getting a waterproof cast.

Sending Their Love

I was at the Cincinnati Commandos playoff game last night and didn't get home until a little after 11:00 p.m. I texted Heather I was on my way and Livvi hijacked the phone to text me she wanted to show me something when I got home. She actually fell asleep before I got home, but Heather told me what happened:

About 9:45 p.m. last night, there was a knock at the front door. Wondering who in the world would be visiting at that hour, Heather answered the door, expecting to see one of the neighborhood kids. Instead, it was a few folks from church, more specifically, from the Vacation Bible School Livvi was in prior to the accident. Livvi came down wearing my t-shirt as a night gown (big arm holes). They gave her a big card they made wishing her well, telling her they are praying for her, and sending their love. Livvi had a huge smile on her face and twinkling eyes. Heather could tell she felt very special, almost like a superstar. It nearly brought me to tears to know how much our church family and friends love our Livvi. If you are one of those folks and are reading this, THANK YOU! We love you, too! God is good indeed!

Livvi is doing much better and has an appointment to see the doctor again on Wednesday.

Broken

I got a call from Heather in tears around lunch time today. She was sad because her little girl was broken. Livvi was jumping over her Wavemaster in the basement, which she's done quite a number of times. Well, this time she fell, landing on her left arm, breaking it. Heather took her to Children's in Clifton and they took good care of Liv. When I arrived, she had already had X-rays taken. This is what I saw when I entered the room:

Heather said that looked better than when she was at home. By the time I saw it (above) some of the swelling had gone down. The X-ray showed a break all the way through the radius and a buckle fracture in the ulna:

She had an IV put in so they could administer pain medication (which didn't help much). They also had to put her out in order to set the arm back in place. They pulled in back in place and placed her arm in a splint.

Our girl was a trooper! She never really cried, even when they did the IV. We were warned that when she comes out of her sleep-mode she would be extra affectionate, have none-then-double-then-blurry-then-normal vision, and be a little forgetful short term. All came true! She kept telling Heather, Joie, and I that she loved us and wanted to hug and kiss us (we soaked it all up!).

We are home now, resting. She's in some pain, but doing pretty well. I'm sure disappointment will set in tomorrow when she realizes she can't:

• test for her next belt tomorrow night
• participate in her board-breaking camp next week
• participate in a Tae Kwon Do tournament in Indy next weekend
• participate in her weapons camp the next week
• participate in much of anything for the next 2-3 weeks
• swim for the next 3 weeks
• etc.

We take her back on Wednesday to get more X-rays to make sure it is staying in place. If OK, they'll put her in a cast, but won't be able to get it wet. It will be at least 3 weeks before she gets a waterproofed cast.

While our heart breaks for our angel, we are so thankful and blessed. She's a healthy girl with a minor set back. We saw a baby less than a month old getting X-rays for some reason, a little boy who was bald (we assume from cancer treatments), etc. God is good and took care of Liv today. It could have been so much worse.

Stormy Weather

In addition to being space geeks, our family enjoys the changing weather, too. We've had our share of storms this spring, but thankfully, nothing too serious. Here are some photos and a video of recent storms:

A front moving in overhead while I was at work on June 2:

Here is a storm that came in pretty quickly later that same evening. The clouds were actually rolling underneath each other and at a rapid pace, so I took some pictures and video:

Video (warning: there's some screaming towards the end when the rain starts):

A cloud after the storm that looks like a dragon:

Finally, some cloud development the next day as well:

Quoting Joie

Josephine has been full of interesting quotes over the last few months. I need to do a better job of getting these on the blog. To start us off, Heather just emailed me Joie's quote from this morning:

"Sleeping makes me hungry so I want a drink"

Also, here is a string of texts from Heather on April 10 taking Joie home late one evening:

Text 1:
She's crying that she isn't tired & doesn't want to go to sleep.
I didn't even say anything about it. Now crying about fears - firefighters,
doctors, her mouth might start to hurt, doesn't want to wash her hands because
she loves her germs. Whew. I didn't bring anything up.

Text 2:
Said
she's crying because she's not tired. I didn't ask in the first place.

Text 3:
She doesn't love any of us because she's sad because she's
not tired.

Most of her greatest quotes are when "she's not tired." Never a dull moment...