Things learned.

Random things I've learned this past week...
it's *good*...

1. ...to know how much your kids weigh. In the ER, after getting Asher all situated and x-rayed and all (to the point where he was finally somewhat comfortable), they wanted to have him stand on a scale so they could get his weight. I told them "no." I mean, I get why they needed his weight (for medication purposes), but to ask the boy to stand back up with his dangling arm was just cruel. As luck would have it, the boys had all been on the scale at home within the past week...trying to convince me of how much they weighed. So. I informed the nurse that Asher weighed 49 pounds and that he'd just have to take my word for it. He wisely agreed to go with that weight. :)

2. ...to have a wedding ring that's on the big-ish side. I accidentally dropped mine in the sink last week (not something that's ever happened to me before that I can recall) but was seriously relieved to realize that it was too big to fit past the drain thing. Whew. (Something to think about for any of you guys out there who might be ring shopping, lol.) Here's a picture taken once upon a time, when I actually had my nails done...

3. ...to keep children's ibuprofen on hand. We'd recently run out due to the colds and such of a week or so ago, but had (fortunately) gotten another. Nathan had the presence of mind to give some to Asher before heading out for Urgent Care and then the ER. The nurses thanked him for doing so, as it helped with the swelling and had made Asher more comfortable during the waiting time between getting there and actually getting seen/having any medications administered. 

4. ...to carry a book to read to your kids with you at all times. I've mentioned this before but it merits another. I have no idea what we'd have done in the ER for all those hours to help keep Asher distracted without it. 

5. ...that Sears was having a sale on long sleeve Star Wars tees. We were in search of a coat situation for Asher (was looking for one with zip off sleeves but ultimately settled for a vest and the option of using his new winter coat and just zipping his arm inside) and came across a couple racks of long sleeve Star Wars tees on sale! So easy to make my boys happy. ;) Because I'd promised Asher a new "favorite" shirt after his other was cut off him in the ER, he got two (the other boys convinced me to get them each one also, lol). The thing I particularly love is that the design of the shirts is such that I was able to cut off the left long sleeve portion for now and will just remove the right side come spring...voila, tee shirt that's still perfectly usable for another few seasons! Here's what I'm talking about:

6. ...that young kids' bones heal so fast. So, Asher got his cast on Friday. The doctor tells us that it looks good that he'll only need this one for four weeks. It's freakin' amazing to me that kids can heal so quickly! We'll reevaluate after four weeks to decide whether he'll switch to a short cast (not over his elbow) or whether a simple splint will do for awhile. Yay! Here Asher is earlier this weekend sporting his new vest. He's still wearing the sling intermittently for support:

So. Long week. Doing pretty good right now and feeling truly blessed by how well Asher's doing. (It's still hard for me sometimes to look at him and not remember how his arm was just dangling there...darned amazing that he's fine now.) Another post about our weekend activities soon...

Deep breath.

Well. As many of you know, last night was a bit more eventful than we'd have liked. Our sweet Asher...our poor most accident prone of the three boys...broke his arm. And, he didn't just fracture it a little (like last time...when he was almost 3 and I was hugely pregnant and he scared the begeezers out of me)...he, um, *broke* it. I'll convey the story first...then the pictures. Be warned, if you have a weak stomach.

So. The boys were playing the Wii...nothing hugely strange about it. Nathan had just gotten home from work. Asher (as is completely normal for him) jumped/stumbled off the couch where he'd been taking his turn at bowling. In landing, he collapsed to the ground screaming. After the briefest of inspections, we could tell why. His left forearm had snapped. Both bones. It was, um, dangling. (Fortunately, though, there was no blood or puncture.)

Allow me to interject here that the boy leaps off that couch numerous times every single day (despite my protests which are largely due to my not wanting them to jump on the furniture and not so much about any belief that they would hurt themselves). It's a big, cushy, sectional...not dangerous or anything. Honest. He just happened to land wrong and, in bracing himself, managed to break his arm. 

Anyhow. So. We surprisingly calmly (but hurriedly) readied ourselves to take him to the doctor. We got the other boys ready and in the van, wrapped Asher's arm in a towel for support and grabbed his shoes for later. I called our neighbor (thank goodness for awesome neighbors!) to come over and deal with the dinner that was in the oven and (since her husband works for the hospital administration) asked whether they thought we should head to Urgent Care (which is nearer to us) or the ER. They advised us to go to Urgent Care (where treatment would likely be the same but cost would be less), and off we headed. 

Small back story here to say that we're not unfamiliar with Urgent Care. When we arrived, they drew up Asher's chart almost immediately. We've been there before for significant head lacerations (when he rolled off the couch and landed on a snow globe, breaking it open with his head and requiring significant irrigation and stitches...that was almost exactly 6 years ago) and the last time he broke his arm (in the summer of 2005, just before Micah was born...that also happened in the family room when he rolled down the two (carpeted) steps from the hallway into the family room...again, something he'd done numerous times before but just happened to land wrong). In any case, the doctor at Urgent Care was able to tell immediately that they wouldn't be able to deal with the level of break there and sent us on to the ER.

At the ER, we waited for a bit then were finally taken to a room where they proceeded to get Asher hooked up to various machines (to monitor his breathing) and get an IV in so they could administer morphine. As we waited for the morphine to take effect (which, um, it never did), Nathan took the other two boys home so they could eat and asked our awesome neighbor to stay with them (she'd offered initially but we were already all in the van at that point). He came back about the time we'd decided to switch to a different medication to put Asher to sleep so they could set the arm (the morphine wasn't helping with the pain at all and he really didn't want any more shots, which was the other alternative). They got him under, set the arm (which was honestly amazing...horrible to watch but amazing all the same) and got him splinted. We then stayed at the ER for another hour or two so they could keep an eye on Asher as the medication wore off and make sure he was good to go before releasing him. It took that long before he could take a couple steps on his own and he still wasn't really walking a straight line. When we were finally ready, though, Nathan came back with Noah and Micah and picked us up (Nathan had headed home again to relieve our neighbor after the setting, when it was just a waiting game).

Now. Let me just tell you what a champ my sweet Asher was. After the initial shock of it all, he didn't cry much at all (it helped that we explained that crying made him move his arm which made it hurt more). He was *such* a good patient, making comments about how he wished we already had medical tricorders (like on Star Trek) and how it was a good thing that it was his left arm and not his right (since he's right handed). After settling him in the bed and getting the x-rays and all (fortunately they brought the mobile unit to him...a couple different times), he continuously insisted that the IV in his right arm bothered him more than his broken left arm. Basically, he was just such a trooper. At the end of the night, the thing that bothered him most was that we'd had to cut his shirt off of him (it was his favorite shirt...no worries, I've already promised him a new one).

(Insert here a little Public Service Announcement. It's a *good* thing to always keep a book in your purse. Asher and I made it about half way through the chapter book I keep in my purse to read to the boys when we find ourselves waiting. I'd recently put this one in, so it was new. He thinks it's cool that he's heard it and his brothers haven't.)

Anyhow, to wrap up this long story, we stopped at the Wendy's drive through about 12:30 am and then headed home...having been in the ER for about 5 hours. Food was Asher's request...we'd been just about to eat dinner when this all happened and they wouldn't let him eat anything in the ER (due to the medications and fear of vomiting), so he was hungry. (I was, too, lol.) After he finished off his chicken and fries, we put him to bed. We'll take him in on Friday to get the cast (once the swelling has gone down). Whew.

So. Here are the pictures. (My phone wasn't working once we were in the ER, btw (and I was a wee bit distracted, lol), but Nathan managed to snap a few shots for "the record.")

 (Yes, really. This is in the ER before things really got underway.)

This is after they'd set it. Ash was still pretty loopy.

He was collected enough, though, to later ask for copies of his x-ray pictures...he was curious. These are the before and after. The doctors and nurses were so impressed by my boy. :)

And that, my friends, is that. Thank you all so very much for your well wishes and kind thoughts! It's so wonderful to have that support! We feel so blessed that this seems to have been a clean break and was "easily" set...that we live in a time and place where this kind of treatment is readily available to us. Now that I can breathe again, it's back to normal for us...or as normal as we can get. :)

Countdown.

Okay. Yes. It's December. I suppose that means I should just accept that and move on. ;) Sigh. I had these grand plans to get myself ready for December just after Thanksgiving this year. Really. I did. But. Being sick over Thanksgiving and then prepping for the 3rd annual Ornament Afternoon with our homeschool group (I've organized this for the past couple years...we set up tables run by parents and the kids get to come make about 5 ornaments and go home happy...two sessions, 62 kids altogether) and having Nathan out of town most of this week for business (he got home late last night) and having boys who were each sick at varying points throughout (fortunately, they're all better now) and not being able to reach all the Christmas decorations in storage, lol...meant that I didn't get my "normal" December stuff out by December 1 as desired.

But. I think I'm caught up now. Here's what's started...

- December books. We started this in 2006 (I think) after reading about it somewhere. We take a bunch (at least 25) of holiday/winter themed books and wrap them up individually. We then put them under the tree and the boys take turns selecting and unwrapping one (sometimes more) each night leading up to Christmas for their bedtime story. It's been so wonderful. The boys (for the most part) stop asking to unwrap any other presents that may appear (as they're getting that unwrapping bug out of their system each night), and we don't have to read "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" twenty five times during December (nothing against Rudolph, of course). Plus, it's just a nice little reminder that time spent together is a gift all its own. In any case, I wrapped more than 50 books yesterday...will perhaps work on weeding out books as we go this year. ;)

- Advent calendar. Yes, we're going with the good ol' Lego Advent Calendar again this year. I believe this is year three of having one for us. If it ain't broke... ;) (I've had this on hand since October, I think, as I know they sell out...just been trying to figure out where to put it.)

- Elf on the Shelf. We've had this little guy out for a couple years now, and the boys love hunting for him each morning. We (ahem) didn't find him that first day of December but the boys remembered to start looking for him last night. (Fortunately, I also had found him earlier that afternoon, lol.)

- Candy for strangers. Okay, I need a new name for this. Ideas? (Please?) I started it last year as a way to remember my dad during the holidays and just loved how good it made us feel and how many smiles it brought during the month. Yesterday, my dad would have been 61. For his birthday, I started prepping the box of 3 Musketeers for this year...it's sitting here ready to go now. Here's the layout I did about it last year (click to make it larger):

- Countdown calendar. I finally finished this yesterday. I started it last April, honest. (Yes, Laura, this is what I was working on at that crop when I proudly announced that I'd cut out a deer, LOL!) I'm rather proud of myself for finally finishing. ;) It's the first scrapbooking I've really done since summer sadly. In any case, here's what it looks like:

 
The idea is to flip the page each day to tell the boys how many more days until Christmas. Each "page" is 4x6" and it hangs from my fun 7 Gypsies album stand:

 
Even though it took me forever to finally finish and even though I feel like I could/should have done more, I'm so happy with the results...and proud of myself for actually using up a bunch of my miscellaneous Christmas embellishments. ;)

Whew. And that's why I felt behind on the whole December thing. ;) I *think* (knock on wood) that we're good now...so now we're on to the rest of the decorations and getting a tree and all that...but that just has to happen by Christmas, not December 1, lol.

Gift ideas: Random.

Okay. Last one (probably). Here are a few more random gift ideas. This time, the theme is pesky relatives and friends...you know...the ones you love but have a hard time shopping for:

Dylan Christmas CD. Okay, this would be an acquired taste sort of thing. But. *If* you happen to know a Bob Dylan fan, this one's fun. ;) Click on track 10...it's hilarious. While I'm on the topic of Bob Dylan, did you know he has at least a couple children's books (where the words are his lyrics)? Look here and here. Also, he's quite the artist and you can find collections of his work in a book like this. (For those who are wondering whether I'm off my rocker here...my dad was a huge Dylan fan. That's my explanation.) ;)

Solar lights. I just think these are cool. I'm trying to figure out where I could use these...

Aeropress. I don't generally drink coffee, but my husband swears by this contraption and uses it regularly. It makes a single cup of coffee at a time so would be great for that coffee-loving friend or sibling who's trying to break the Starbucks habit. ;)

Copic markers. If you have someone on your gift list who loves papercrafts, Copic markers would make a lovely indulgent gift. I can say from experience that these pens are beautiful and worth it. If that's too spendy for you, how about a sweet pen/pencil case like one of these?

School House Rock. If you grew up with School House Rock, you'll appreciate this...as will friends of similar age who have young children. As a homeschooler, I'll tell you that my boys love this and I'm delighted with the topics covered.

Anything ThinkGeek. I tried to pick just one or two things but couldn't. Let's just say that if you know a geek, chances are darn good that you can find something for him/her at ThinkGeek. (I know I do, lol!)

The Pioneer Woman cookbook. Having recently had such success with her recipes, I'm thinking this might be just the thing for someone on your list. I don't generally use cookbooks much but have been very impressed by the ease of The Pioneer Woman's recipes online. ;) (I'm assuming they're similar in the cookbook.) 

Wonder Woman tin. For that mom friend who definitely qualifies... ;)

Okay. I could go on and on. It's really rather fun to just look for cool stuff. ;) Hope your shopping is shaping up! Let me know if you find anything fantastic, okay?

And yes, again, I am not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned or linked here...just sharing ideas for the sake of sharing. ;)

Mayflower centerpiece.

Yes. I know it's too late to really do any good this year. But. I thought I'd share my "process" pictures of how I made my Mayflower centerpiece for Thanksgiving before I forgot. :) This way, too, I can just link folks back to this post come next November. 

So. Here's what I did:

1. Gather materials and inspiration. I don't know about y'all, but I love looking through the Pottery Barn catalogs. Such beautiful things, but just way too expensive. Here's the centerpiece that caught my attention. I *wanted* one. But, I wasn't willing to pay $40 plus shipping. Instead, I hit my local craft store and spent less than $3. Here's what you need:

• two 12x18 sheets of stiff felt, black (I'd have gotten brown but they were out)
• three 9x12 sheets of "normal" felt, tan (you could also use canvas)
• three wooden dowels (I think mine were about 1/4" diameter and each was 1 yard long)
• one block of floral foam for dry arrangements 
• one skein of brown embroidery floss (I already had some on hand)

2. Make the hull. Cut the two big felt pieces into the hull and sew the outside edges together with the embroidery floss. I just eyeballed it. You could make a template out of paper first and then cut along that, but I was feeling in a bit of a hurry. ;)  

(Click on any of these images for a larger version.)

3. Make the sails. Fold one of the short edges over to create a small lip...maybe 1/2 - 3/4 inches (enough that, once sewn, a dowel will fit through). Before you begin sewing that, though...fold the felt in half lengthwise to find the middle. Snip a small hole so that you'll be able to thread the vertical dowel through later. Now, stitch the "lip" down (leaving room for the dowel) and continue around the other edges just to make it look pretty. I didn't do anything fancy...just a straight stitch. I did, though, start at the middle (just left of where I snipped a hole for the vertical dowel) and then continued around from there...ending just shy of that spot where I snipped the hole so that the vertical dowel doesn't have to contend with any stitches. If you aren't fearful of your sewing machine like I am, that's probably easier. ;) (I'll mention here that I opted to have all my sails the same size so used each piece of felt just as it was. By all means, feel free to shorten some of the sails or have a double mast or whatever.)

4. Attach the dowels. My boys informed me that my sails aren't how you'd find them on an actual sailing ship. I opted not to delve into history here and exercised artistic license...going with what I thought looked nice. ;) I had my lovely husband cut my dowels to 23, 24 and 25 inch lengths (for the vertical) and three 10 inch lengths (to hold up the sails). (Yes, I could have done this myself but I was busy stitching the sails at that point, lol.) I placed the 10" lengths through each sail and then added the uprights. I left about 1.5" at the top of the vertical dowel. To keep the horizontal bar from slipping down, (and I thought this was rather ingenious if I do say so myself) I simply added a little rubber band to the vertical dowel. I've heard that hot glue works as well, or you could get fancy and try to notch the two dowels together. 

5. Arrange your sails. Stick your sails into your floral foam block, spaced as you like. Easy peasy. Because floral foam can be crushed to shape, I then just stuck this whole thing into my hull and squished it all to the bottom.

6. Weight it down. At this point, I began to realize that my boat was a bit top heavy and lacking in stabilization since my base wasn't large in the way of surface area. My sweet Micah volunteered to go gather me some rocks. I just set them on top of the floral foam. I probably could/should have glued them in some way. I didn't. It was fine. :) (In retrospect, you could use clay instead of the floral foam and then the base would be heavier on it's own. I liked the floral foam, though, because I figure I can just buy a new one each year...and then everything's easy to store, nice and flat.)

7. Fill it up. I crinkled some kraft paper (had some from a recent shipment anyhow) to cover up the rocks and floral foam. Tucked it in loosely. Then, I just took miscellaneous things that were already on my dining table centerpiece/bowl and filled the hull...with small gourds, indian corn, decorative flowers, etc. Voila! 

And that's my version of a Mayflower centerpiece. :)