A hand report

Ellie's hand is really coming along nicely. I haven't posted an update in quite some time, but that is because her hand has quickly become so close to a normal hand, that I tend to forget anything was ever wrong. Until tonight, but I'll come back to that. For now,

This shows how great of a separation there is between the thumb and index finger. Truly amazing that they were connected by bone 8 months ago!

Here Ellie is using her hands to flip pages in a book.

This one shows how nicely the skin grafts are healing.

People often ask if there will be surgery down the road. She has 2 main issues - the index finger has oddly shaped bones and she still isn't using it. I think the shape of the bones prevents her from wanting to bend it. It does bend, but it must not be very comfortable, and she doesn't try it since she never could move it before surgery. The other issue is her crooked middle finger, which I'm guessing will require straightening some day. For now, they don't do anything other than watch it and let it grow until she is at least 5 years old. A lot of times, things improve as the fingers grow. It really is very crooked, though, but it looks so much better than even a month ago! It has grown a lot in that time.

Now, going back to what I alluded to, most of the time, I have handled this process with ease and a real sense of calmness (maybe not so a YEAR AGO, at this time, mind you...) Tonight we had a surprising reminder of how fragile this little beautiful hand is. PREGO ALERT: My pregnant readers, avoid this story if you're queasy! Ellie was eating pasta pick-ups out of the container tonight. She was truly chowing down, and we didn't think much of it. We sat down for dinner, and everything was going fine until she caught glimpse of mashed potatoes. She developed a desparate need to have mashed potatoes the instant she saw them. I said "no, you can have some when you finish this," while pointing to her bowl of veggies. The horrific face before the cry developed, and sobbing ensued.

All of a sudden I look over and her hand is bleeding. I exclaim, and Sean says "no, that's from the pasta." It really does look like pasta sauce, and she calms down, I give her the beloved mashed potatoes, and dinner resumes, but I look again and think it really is blood on her hand. I say, "Sean, what kind of pick-ups were those?" I head over to look at the empty container and it says chicken and cheese. It dawns on us, that there WAS no sauce. The poor dear cut her hand on the metal rim - did you know those rims can catch on skin? Oh, I'm horrified even thinking of it.

It wasn't bleeding anymore by this time. What seemed like a good idea, putting the whole container in front of her, ended up cutting her. What is surprising is that she didn't even ever seem bothered by her HAND, only the mashed potatoes. Since it wasn't bleeding anymore and the kids looked worried by our demeanor, we finished dinner before cleaning her hand up really well, and de-potatoing it. Then I soaked it in a peroxide/water mix, put aquaphor on it, and put her hand in a sock to keep her from sucking on it. (which she has done incessantly since she was in the womb!) It looked almost completely back to normal by this time, and it wasn't bothering her at all. She got about 4 little cuts from that stupid container! I bet there's a warning on it somewhere, I should check.

Anyways, the thinking is that we'll call her hand doctor tomorrow if it doesn't look right. I anticipate it will be almost entirely healed by morning, as children have an amazing ability to heal. Being this is the first time she's really hurt her hand, it threw me into a reality check. We're going to have to worry about her fragile hand a lot as she grows up. The skin seems so delicate. This mom can't seem to shake the image from her mind!! Even though everything is fine. Better sneak in and peek at her before I go to sleep, or there will be no sleep. Not to worry, grandparental types, Ellie is fine. Everyone is fine except me. Me? I have a knot in my stomach. This is one of those let go and let God moments, I think. Say a little prayer for her hand if you think of it. It's fine, but prayer can't hurt.

Product

I find it terribly amusing that the hubs is the one who sparked this. One day we were talking about E's hair, and he said, we really need to get that girl some...... wait for it...... "product." A word I never imagined would come out of the mouth of my hubs. What a man!

Do you think we need "product" for some reason?

We now are the proud owners of Graham Webb curl defining shampoo and conditioner. You know the kind, the horribly expensive, found in salons shampoo and conditioner. I have a feeling it's going to be an expensive life with E and her hair. But who can resist those curls? So far so good with the product, by the way. You can glide a brush through like butter, and it makes her hair much softer. Oh my. I can't believe what I'm in for.

Why? Because I said so.

Where do I find myself these days? In the land of why. If there is a statement, it WILL be followed by "Why?" Parents everywhere have suffered through this phase long since the beginning of time. Yet somehow I find myself surprised by this. Why? (ironic) Because it follows EVERY THING I SAY. It's not just when I say no to something, it's after everything. I have become that dreaded person that when confronted with why for the 100th time, says "Because I said so." I really AM that person. Ahhhhhh. Let me now embrace it. :)



Why did you just say embrace?

Why does this surprise me?

Church Nursery Duty = A cold developing by Wednesday

Guess what I did Sunday, and guess what I now have? A cold. Coughing, snotty noses, and communal toys with a perfect put-toys-in-mouths set of ages. What else would a person expect from such a petri dish?

On a healthier note, see Exhibit M and Exhibit E

Bedtime Conversations

So I climbed into bed shortly after the hubs, after we'd watched quite a few back-to-back episodes of Ghost Hunters, which is one of our favorite shows.

Even though hubs had spoken no less than a minute before, little did I know he was already almost asleep, when I so rudely interrupted with the following:

J: rolling over with great idea... "they should really do Ghost Hunters International"
S: with a sigh "there already is Ghost Hunters International"
J: "No, not HOUSE Hunters Int'l, GHOST Hunters Int'l"
S: with growing irritation "There is Ghost Hunters Int'l. You've watched it!"
J: fits of giggles as I start realizing he's right

I really thought I had an original idea there. Poor S. I woke him up for that. Mawwiage! (whenever we have a strange marriage moment, we sing an Elmer Fudd "mawwiage," in case that made no sense...)

The Grandma Confessional

Apparently kids save certain secrets for only their grandmas to hear. Well, grandma Margaret has been doing a lot of babysitting the last few weeks during my and my husband's music committments. Which, by the way, are complete after a long weekend of orchestra concerts. While grandma and Matthew were playing Chutes & Ladders, Matthew's latest favorite, out of the clear blue this conversation happened....

"Grandma, I REALLY like eating boogers."
"Well, that's pretty gross."
"But Grandma, they're really yummy."
"The only problem with that is when you have your fingers in your nose and then you take them out, you get boogers all over everywhere."
thinking.....thinking.....
"I better go wash my hands now."

One funny per child

Matthew this morning was playing with some toy tools, more specifically a screwdriver. All of a sudden he's walking towards Ellie with it saying "I'm going to screw Ellie." Sean and I instaneously stop what we're doing and raise our eyebrows at each other. Then he says it AGAIN. Sean quickly said, "Matthew, you don't know why yet, but just don't say that again."

I almost died laughing!

Ellie, at lunch time, came up the stairs and was on a mission. She knew it was time to eat, even though we didn't say anything. Usually she walks over to her high chair and waits to be put in it, but this time she went straight into the main part of the kitchen. Sean was trying to get her to come back, but low and behold, she knew exactly what she was doing and went straight to the oven and pulled her bib off the handle where it was hanging, then went straight over to the high chair. Serious as could be.

This has been a really good Saturday without much incidence. And believe me when I say that's nearly a first for a Saturday.