Battle of Wills???

Last week Olivia started something new. When she would be in a one piece pj she would not let me bend her left leg to change her diaper. She is often silly about diapers and so I didn't think much of it. Then, my sister asked me, "Why doesn't Livvy bend her left leg when she crawls?" I hadn't noticed this. I watched her play and sure enough she didn't bend that leg to crawl or play. When she would walk, it looked like she was mainly standing on the right leg and using the left to balance. I decided I would take her in to see the doctor.

Monday morning I woke up and called the office to see if we could come in. They were closed for Martin Luther King Day. I decided to send a message to the on call doctor to see if this was something to take her to urgent care for, or something that could wait to Tuesday when the doctor was back. The on call doctor felt it could be something bad and I should probably take her in sooner than later, but it was very likely NOT life threatening, so do what I thought best. Let me back up for a moment. When we woke up that morning we looked upside and it had snowed 8 inches or so and it was still falling. Taking Olivia to the doctor meant I had to take Marcus to work and go back and get him later. I DO NOT like driving when the roads haven't been plowed. I decided I would play it safe though and take her into urgent care. After taking Marcus to work, on unplowed roads, we drove over to urgent care (passing a car that spun out about 100 feet in front of us on the way.) We saw the doctor and the doctor felt that something was wrong and Olivia needed x-rays. She also thought that she might need blood work. Instead of doing to x-rays there and then most likely having to send us up to the children's hospital for blood work, she sent us up there for both. Primary Children's does alot more x-rays on children anyway, so they would probably be able to do them better. (Toddlers don't generally like to sit for xrays the way an adult will.) We got back in the car and drove through the still unplowed roads to Primary Children's Hospital. Olivia was admitted to the ER, and the testing began. First the x-rays. No sign of a break. Next blood work for different things, mainly an infection or arthritis. Clean. By the time we reached that point we had been in to ER for 3 hours and at the doctors for about 5. It was 3 in the afternoon and I had not come prepared. I usually bring enough food, drinks, and toys for several children, but I had not been planning on a day at the ER and had drastically underestimated our needs. Luckily, we were able to walk over to the hospital cafeteria and get some lunch. After coming back to our room and eating it we both felt much better.

Anyway, after 4 hours of tests and playing with the baby's leg the doctor diagnosed her, through the process of elimination, with a toddler's fracture. This is a fracture (a break that doesn't not go all the way through the bone) that is often just caused by learning to walk and the weight being put on the leg, or the falling associated with it. The breaks are usually so small that they do not show up in x-ray's until they start healing 7-10 days after they happen. They put a cast/brace on Olivia leg and asked us to come back in a few days to rexray the leg. So that is where we will find ourselves this afternoon, the fracture clinic of Primary Children's Hospital. At least I will be more prepared this time.

I will try to put on a picture of her cast soon.

Teeth

Yesterday Livvy and I were sitting on the couch together playing. I was tickling her and when she laughed I noticed something in her mouth. So like any mother (or just the unsanitary ones) I stick my finger in her mouth right then to feel it out. What did I find? She had had two teeth break through the previous night! Now she is up to four! (Three on the bottom, and one on top.) She also has another top one that should poke through today or tomorrow, unless it decides to go back down.

Hopefully there will be a picture coming. It depends on if I can get her to let me take one.

Also, later that night I was getting ready to go to an Enrichment Committee meeting. The baby saw me go down the hall and decided that she wanted to come too. I heard her voice getting closer, so I poked my head around the corner to see how close she was - she gets distracted when she crawls - but she wasn't crawling. She was holding onto the wall and walking down the hall toward me. I was excited. She walks all around the furniture, but she had never done that. (Sorry, the video is sideways.)

Missing Car Seat

As most of you know, when we flew back from Texas earlier this month, our car seat did not make the journey with us. After spending two weeks working with the airlines delayed/lost baggage department, I had all the paperwork filled out and ready to send in for a refund. The day I was going to put it in the mail I received a call. I was at Sam's Club and I didn't know the number, so I let it go to voice mail. When I listened to the message, this is what it said. "We think we found your car seat. It came in today on the flight from Dallas..." I confess my first thought was, "Crap, after two weeks it is probably in pretty bad shape, I would really just rather have a refund." I wasn't able to get ahold of the airline that day, but the next day they called back and I was able to speak with someone.

"We think we found your car seat."

"Ok, great."

"What does it look like?"

-I describe it to her.

"Yep, that is what we have here. Can we bring it out to you later today?"

"Sure, but I am in Lehi and won't be home for a while. Can you tell me what kind of condition it is in? I'm just a little worried it's been 'beaten up' while it's been floating around airports and airplanes."

"Actually I think it has just been sitting in Dallas. There wasn't a tag on it and they didn't know where to send it. Either way, it doesn't look damaged, or dirty."

"Super."

After making arrangements for the delivery company to deliver it between 5-9 I thank her and wish her a great afternoon.

Later that night...
I get home around when they say they will bring it. I sit, and I sit. Normally you don't need to be there for a lost luggage delivery, but I had a loaner seat from the airline that I had to give back. 9 pm rolls around and I still hadn't seen or heard anything. "I'll give it a little longer, they are probably just running late." At 10:30 I still hadn't seen or heard anything, so I decided to call the airport.

"Hi, I was supposed to receive my car seat tonight. It's ok that it hasn't come, I just wanted to let you know (in case your records show something different.)"

"Hold on, let me talk to the guy. Yeah, he is still out delivering."

"Oh, so he is bringing it tonight still?"

"Yes ma'am, it will be there tonight"

"Ok, thanks. I'll just wait."

A little after midnight Marcus and I decided it must not be coming and they didn't want to call and tell us because it was late. So we got in bed and started watching a movie. Around 12:30 my phone rings with a strange number.

"Hello???"

"Hi, Mrs. Cardon?"

"Yeah..." I'm very confused who would be calling me in the middle of the night and not think it is odd.

"Hi, I have your car seat and I'm just pulling into your complex. Cam you tell me where your unit is?

"Um, Ok..."

I tell him how to get to our apartment and we go into the front room to get the door.

After closely scrutinizing it I decided it looked just fine. Everything was there and working. Now scratches, dents, or dings. For good measure though, I did wash everything on it. No, I'm not obsessive, I'm thorough. :)

Christmas 2007

I figured it was about time to blog about our Christmas. Marcus, Olivia and I had Christmas on Sunday, the 24th. (We are cheaters I know...) We hooked up the web cam so that my whole family (they were all at my parents house for Christmas) could watch us open presents. Of course by us I mean Olivia. There is nothing exciting about Marcus opening up presents. :) Anyway, on Christmas day we flew to Dallas so we could spend Christmas with the whole Cardon clan. (Well, almost. At the last minute Marcus sister Kari got really sick and she and Scott weren't able to make it.) We had 15 people at his parents house and while it was a little hectic at times it was so much fun. We went shopping, we saw "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," and we had family pictures taken. On Sunday, Becca, Alison, and I sang at church. Olivia decided to get sick halfway through and we ended up having to take her to urgent care Monday morning. She had a double ear infection. We also got to go see animals; sheep, goat, a donkey, and a horse. Livvy had fun feeding and petting them...as long as she was watching mommy do it and not doing it herself. On New Years Eve and New Years we set off fireworks, and even managed to light one of Ann bushes up! (It never caught fire, but it did glow quite brightly for a minute or two while the firework was lodged inside it.) We were able to spend just over a week there. Fate apparently did not want us to make it back home. Our flight was delayed by a couple hours and when we finally made it home at 1:30 am our car seat had somehow not made the trip with us. Oh well.

Here are some pictures.

Livvy sitting in a pile of presents at our house.


Opening up presents at Grandma Ann and Grandpa Kirk's house.


Grandma and Grandpa got all the kids matching jammies. This is all of them sitting on the couch. Left to right...Seth, Johnathan, Robert, Megan, James, Livvy and Susie.


Ben has a blow up jumpy thing that the kids can play in. I set Livvy on the outside so that she could bounce but not get squished by her cousins. She loved it, and I loved what it did to her hair!



Livvy and Megan had lots of fun playing together.


This is visiting the animals. We are feeding the sheep!


With 15 people staying in one house hot water often ran out. Especially during specific times. One being bath time at night. Livvy really needed a bath this night, but we were out of hot water so this is how we fixed it. We heated up water on the stove, then put it in this big pot and washed the baby in there. She thought is was a little strange, but it worked.