Arm Update #1

Wednesday Ben had his first appointment with Dr Latz at Children's Mercy. He is the Chief of Orthopaedic Surgery in the Sports Medicine section and he is Ben's primary doctor for the next 6 weeks. Ben's appointment started with x-rays to check the progress being made. Then we met with Dr Latz and he is concerned about how close one of the fractures is to Ben's elbow. If the bones are not perfectly matched up when they heal then there can actually be permanent damage to Ben's arm. As it sits right now the bones are off by 15 degrees. Which isn't horrible but it may lead to Ben having to have his fracture reset again which Dr Latz said would be quite painful. He wanted to add a wrap around the plaster cast to ensure its stability. Ben wanted purple and I knew Vince would have a fit if he came back from his work trip and saw a K-Sate Wildcat cast so then he chose black and there was no way I was letting him get an MU cast. So then he chose brown-who picks brown as a cast color??? I also vetoed that and finally talked him into blue! He did get to choose between Royals blue or Jayhawk blue-and he chose Jayhawk blue! Sadly all the cool art work on his plaster cast got covered up but I guess now we have a new blank canvas to decorate! As of now our up coming beach vaca is up in the air. We are set to leave October 9-13 but we aren't sure how it will go with an almost 3 year old at a beachfront resort with a cast that can't get wet or get sand in it. We are going to see how his appointment next Wednesday goes and make our decision then.

Just a Matter of Time

Well we almost made it 3 whole years without stepping foot into Children's Mercy Hospital. I still can't believe we made it this long with our little daredevil! But that all changed on Friday when Ben rolled off the bed at Grandma Carols house. Luckily Grandma & Aunt Carrie were right there and took great care of him until Vince & I got there. They had called 911 so Ben also got to have his first ride in an ambulance. He was such a trooper. I really think I cried more than he did. It was obvious that his arm was broken. His arm looked like a teradactyl wing. He did great in the ambulance. They strapped us to the stretcher and he actually fell asleep for much of the 20 minute ride. The worst part of the whole day was when they were trying to start an IV they blew a vein in his left hand and then left arm it was awful. Ben was so upset. A different nurse tried the top of his foot and got it. I think it was probably best it was in long run so that way he at least had one arm he could use. They finally gave him some pain meds and then took him for x-rays. When the doctor came in to show us his films the first one looked like 2 clean breaks but the second film showed a much different story. The break was the worst kind of fracture you could get. Luckily the protective coating over kids bones is a lot thicker than us adults so that prevented the broken bones from breaking through his skin. That coating also helped the broken ends of the bone not rip any muscles, nerves or veins. So the plan was made to put him under and have his arm set and put into a cast. We had to wait a few hours since Ben had ate a decent amount for lunch. So we killed time on the iPad  watching a few of his favorite shows. We got to stay with Ben until he was asleep and then we had to leave. The whole procedure took less than 20 minutes and we were back with Ben before he even was awake. He had to wait until the medicine wore off before we got released. We left about 8:30pm so we were there a good 5 1/2 hours. When we got home we gave Ben a few oyster crackers and some water and then we all went to bed! I got up about 4am to check on him and he seemed to be in pain so we gave him some pain medicine. Saturday morning was spent on the couch until Grandma Carol, Aunt Angela & Taylor came by to visit and then Ben jumped off the couch to play with Taylor! Since then he has been his normal self with a few extra stumbles or falls as he gets use to the weight of the plaster cast. His hand is still swollen so we have been making sure to give him motrin to help control it but no other pain meds since Saturday! Hopefully the next 4-6 weeks will go fast and he gets his cast off I time for Halloween and his birthday!

Another First...The Movies

Last month we took Ben to his very first movie....Planes! Ben was so excited and he didn't even really know what "going to the movies" meant! His eyes got huge when he saw the concession area-so of course that meant popcorn and a little candy. When we got in the theater he was still not sure what was going to happen. When the lights dimmed he was a little scared but once the previews started he was good! Once the movie finally started after all the previews he got the biggest smile on his face! He was so excited! He did really well staying in his seat or sitting with Vince or I. He is already excited to go see the movie Frozen about a snowman when it comes out!

1st Day of School 2013

Ben started Early Preschool this year at Rolling Hills. He was so excited to learn that a few of his best buddy's were in his class! This summer some of his Moms Day Out usually were in a different classroom and he was not happy about it. His new teachers are Miss Jane & Miss Cosby- they seem great! They always give me tons of details about his day which I love! Both his teachers say that Ben is just one of the funniest guys they have seen and can't believe he doesn't have an older sibling at home teaching him things. We enrolled him in 2 days a week this year-Tuesdays & Thursdays. He seems to be enjoying going 2 days!

The End of 1st Season of Soccer

Well I'm pretty behind on my blogging....there have been a few special projects I've been working on that have taken up a lot of my time the past few weeks. I will be blogging more about them shortly.  But here I go getting the blog caught up...

Ben finished his 1st season of soccer in August. All in all I think it was a success-I'd say he was engaged about 50% of the time. To his defense he was the youngest on the team. The team had a few kids who were almost 4 years old and he was only 2 1/2. I think his favorite part of soccer was that Ryan was on his team! He still asks me weeks later if he and Ryan are playing soccer on Saturday! I think signing up next year is a must for sure!

A Day In The Life Of Ben...

Thursday
7.18.2013

Ben's morning started about his usual wake up time of 8:15 am. He always wakes up so happy and most mornings he starts singing songs!

As I change his diaper we discuss what we should have for breakfast. Today he choose waffles.

As soon as his new diaper is on he is off to the playroom to start playing as I start breakfast.

 Ben has to do his chore before he eats...feed Miles breakfast.

Waffles, turkey sausage and yogurt with granola is whats on the menu for breakfast today.

After breakfast I needed to take a shower. Ben runs and gets my iPad and sets up shop on his step stool while I get to take a shower mostly in peace!

Brushing teeth, getting dressed and picking out shoes is next.

Then is was off to run some errands. Our first stop was Sams to buy one of our favorite snacks!

Then it was a special trip to Toys R Us. We had been talking with Ben about giving up his "b" aka binky for the past week or so. I know I am a few months past due getting this done but it's hard to let yet another baby thing go. To my defense he only has his b sometimes in the car and only in his bed at home. But its time and today is the day. So we scoured the aisles and once we hit the Tonka aisle Ben couldn't contain himself! He was so excited it took a bit of time but he finally settled on a new bulldozer. He was so excited but yet still very sad about the thought up giving up his b. He was worried he had to give up his lovey and blankies but I reassured him he could keep those forever if he wanted. He was trying to convince me to let him keep just one b in his bed. No dice kid-all or nothing. So I told him he couldn't open his new bulldozer until he threw all his b's in the trash....

Ben has been asking to ride an escalator all week. So I took him over to the mall and let him ride the escalator a few times in Nordstrom.

It was nearing lunch time and we happened to be riding the escalator up to the third floor where Nordstrom Cafe happens to be and it also happens to be one and Ben & I's favorite lunch spots!

After our belly's were full we headed home but stopped into Hy-Vee for Ben to pick out some Magic Pops or as he calls them "crunchies". He picked blueberry (shocker) and strawberry!

When we got back home Ben had a timeout to do. He had thrown a tantrum in line at Nordstrom Cafe over a dropped raisin and wanting apple juice.

Once Ben was out of timeout is was nap time. New diaper, blinds closed, fan on and last nap with a b (fingers crossed). He was pretty upset about this being the last time he would have his b.

2 Hours later Ben is up and ready to roll!

Snack Time: Ben decided on some trail mix & some "crunchies".

Snack is generally eaten on the couch as we watch a show on Disney Jr.

Then he told me he was ready to throw his b away so he could have his new bulldozer. So we gathered up as many b's as we could find and then Ben threw them away. So then we opened up his new bulldozer!

We were kinda bored and knew Daddy wouldn't be home for another hour at the best so we decided to make some blueberry muffins. My little baker loves to wear his fire truck apron and stand in his "castle" aka learning tower and help me cook! He loves cracking eggs and stirring! Once the muffins were baked we just had to try a bite because they smelled so yummy!

Daddy got home about 5:30 pm and Ben was so excited to tell him about his new bulldozer and that he had thrown all his b's away.

Dinner was next. Ben hardly ever eats the same thing as Vince and I so on his plate tonight was organic chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, blueberries, orange and the rest of his blueberry muffin. Not much of a surprise that he ate all the fruit and muffin but only took a few bites of chicken and mac & cheese.

Bath time with Daddy follows dinner at our house. I clean up the kitchen and Vince cleans up Ben.

Once a clean Ben in his jammies comes back its time to read some book, pick up toys and hang out before bed.

Bedtime is anywhere from 7:30-8:30 pm depending on Ben's mood and what we have going on the next day. Tonight bed time was right at 8 pm. And it went as I expected since it is the first bedtime without his b-tears, tears and more tears. Poor little guy.

B is for Blueberry

I had been wanting to go blueberry picking all summer and finally decided that the Friday after the 4th we would go! Vince was not very excited about it (boo) so when my dad said he would like to go I let Vince off the hook. We got down to the The Berry Patch late morning and got our buckets and started picking! Ben was in heaven! He loves loves loves blueberries! More blueberries ended up in his tummy than his bucket. He did really well only picking the blue ones as he learned the red ones are a bit tart. After about 30 minutes Ben was hot and tired-he plopped down under a blueberry bush in the shade and informed us he was ready to go. So we headed back to get our blueberries weighted and pay for them. And then it was off to find some ac and lunch! We just finished eating the blueberries we picked and Ben always asks if they are his blueberries from "the garden" that he picked! I am so excited to go apple picking this fall along with our traditional pumpkin picking!