Lydia paves the way

Yesterday was a long day. It started like any other wednesday. I dropped all the kids off at school and went for a 5 and half mile run, came home and showered and had a snack. Half way through my snack I got a call from Lydia's preschool saying she had fallen off the monkey bars and wanted her mom. Everyone knows that Lydia is as tough as 4 year olds come so her wanting her mom and crying is a big deal. They told me that she wasn't wanting to move her arm but that it looked normal as far as they could tell. By the time I showed up to pick her up she was curled up in her teachers lap and still crying. I looked at her arm and thought her elbow didn't quite look right. It looked a little swollen. Had it been any other child I may have just said lets go home and ice it and see what happens. I called Brad and asked him what he thought I should do and he told me to just take her to the ER, so I did.

We sat maybe 5 minutes in the waiting area before we were able to go back. It continued to swell and she still wouldn't move her arm. At first glance the check in nurse thought it could be dislocated or broken. Pretty quickly Lydia was given a small dose of Vicodin and juice and was feeling much more comfortable. I was able to go back with her to do xrays. This was the worst part of the day. They had to take xrays from every angle and kept making her twist her arm every which way which caused whimpering and tears to fall. It was heartbreaking to watch but Lydia did so amazing. She made her momma so proud. Once they took us back to her room we waited some more. While we waited different staff members took turns coming to say hi to Lydia and bring her stickers. You sure get good service when you are a cute 4 year old girl. After awhile the doctor came back and said they wanted to xray her good arm now to compare the growth plates...oook. Brad was there at this point and he went back with her that time. Obviously these xrays went more smoothly. When they brought her back this time they put a splint on her arm. We were told we were waiting for xray results and then would meet with the orthopedic surgeon to discuss when she would get her cast. An hour later the doctor came back and said the orthopedic surgeon thinks it is best to do an MRI to check on the growth plates because the xrays didn't show them enough. Awesome! They had to take the splint off to do the MRI. I had never had an MRI before but was able to go right in the room with her. We both had ear plugs and head phones on. It was over an hour of standing there in a noise filled room watching Lydia lay down and be as still as possible. She did perfectly but I felt like I was an anxiety attack waiting to happen. Once we got back to her room the orthopedic surgeon was waiting for us and had already seen the results of the MRI. He said the brake is not in her growth plate yet but its really really close. Basically I have to keep her from doing everything my very active 4 year old does on a daily basis. It wouldn't take much for her brake to worsen before she gets her cast put on. By the time they put the splint back on her arm was huge. It looked like a big giant man arm:) Hopefully by this time next week the swelling will have gone down so she can get her cast. Unfortunately because the brake is in a joint she will have to have the cast taken off every week to xray it to make sure it is healing properly. Hooray for good health insurance! She is doing well this morning so far. She has discovered care bears on netflix:)

 Lydia when we first got to mason general

 drinking some juice after pain meds

 Snoopy sling? really? :)

Lydia holding her xray surrounded by her stickers

Friday Five

#1 song on repeat: "what are you drinking about" Florida Georgia Line


#2 watching: Monday night I started watching friday night lights. I started at 9 pm and watched until 4 am. Obviously I like the show.


#3 reading: I started reading Game of thrones on monday while at my parents house. I didn't get very far and then forgot it at their house. I am going there sunday so I may pick it up then.


#4 eating or drinking: Brad and I got to have a date night thursday. I went and watched his coed soccer game in olympia and then we had a late dinner at red robin. I wanted to order something I have never had so I went with the whiskey river bbq burger. It was amazing!! I will be getting it next time I go there.


#5 goal: my goal was to not sit around on spring break and let my kids play xbox. I think we did pretty well with that due to some nice weather. We had a couple play dates with friends and the kids did some fishing at my parents house.

Friday Five

#1 song on repeat: "Out Here" by Dan +Shay

#2 reading: nothing


#3 watching: nothing


#4 eating or drinking: lots of fruits and veggies..yup nothing delicious


#5 goal: I wanted to up my mileage on my runs. My longest run was 5.6 miles and then the other days of the week were between 4.5 and 5 miles. My shin started hurting today so I may have to move on over to the huff n puff for runs next week or tone it back down. Ugh! I feel like I am making progress....everything is in sync at the moment..good eating and good exercise. :)

I really have a sister

Remember when I wrote about the day I got a tattoo and what an eventful day it was for me and I couldn't say why...well now I can. I met my 37 year old half sister, Tamara the same day I got my first tattoo.

I have known my whole life that I had a sister out in the world. However, I never thought I would get the chance to meet her. I won't go into all the details of why but I will say that she is my dad's daughter. My dad was only married to her mom for a very short time right before he met my mom. Tammy's mom met someone else right away and she "forced" my dad to give up his rights to her. He did and never saw her or talked to her again until weeks ago. If facebook been around 20 years ago I might have gotten the chance to know her then. However, I know this is how it was supposed to be. Everything has gone so smoothly so far.

I also have another nephew. His name is Jax and he is the same age as Lydia.

This is us meeting for the first time. We met for lunch at red robin in Tacoma before I got my tattoo. She got our dad's height. She is 5'10". She is slouching:)

Tammy's son Jax is pretty tall too! She told me his dad is 6'6"

The next two pictures are from 2 weeks ago when she came to Laila's soccer game.


We are still getting to know each other but we are emailing back and forth quite a bit. I think I am still in shock that my sister is in my life after all these years. I'm lucky she lives close enough that we can get together and my kids will get to know their cousin Jax.

Friday Five

#1 song on repeat: "play me that song" Brantley Gilbert


#2 watching: I went and saw divergent last night with my friend. I didn't know much about it and thought it would just be ok. I was pleasantly surprised though. I definitely plan on reading the books now.


#3 reading: nothing


#4 eating or drinking: This has been a good week for eating healthy. My only real indulgence was getting kettle corn at the movie yesterday.


#5 goal: I didn't have any goal other than to keep with the running and I did...I feel like I am getting in the groove again and am not cursing under my breath anymore every morning I step outside for my run :)

Friday Five

#1 song on repeat: "sweater weather" by the neighborhood. I kept hearing this song on the radio but never caught who the artist was. On one of my runs this week it came on pandora and was able to see who it was. I love love this song but when I went to check out their other songs I was so disappointed. :( but..I still love this song.


#2 watching: becoming obsessed with LA Ink.


#3 reading: nothing


#4 eating or drinking: Brad's birthday was wednesday so I made him a peanut butter cup icecream cake.


#5 goal: Brad had the whole week off so I decided to take advantage of that and run every morning this week. There were definitely mornings I did not want to run but I am feeling great. I will be sad when I can't run every morning next week but I will try and force myself out the door when Brad gets home from work.

Friday Five

#1 song on repeat: "say something" by a great big world


#2 watching: two nights ago Brad and I watched 21 and over off netflix. We wanted comedy. I laughed a few times but probably won't ever watch it again.


#3 reading: still haven't bought divergent...still thinking about it though


#4 eating or drinking: Last night I made pb pancakes for dinner. It is my ultimate comfort food. They are very rich though so you can't eat many


#5 goal: I wanted to eat better while I was running during the week...although pancakes for dinner isn't the best...I didn't eat any candy this week. That is huge for me!