it's off!!

She got her cast off yesterday.  She laughed through the whole thing.  They said it would tickle, and apparently it did, because she just laughed and laughed!

She was really tentative about moving it for the first few hours.  Every little movement bothered her and anything that touched her skin was annoying.  They said her skin would be sensitive for awhile.  I was kind of worried because she just wouldn't move it and said it hurt, but the doctor said it was fine, but would be stiff for awhile.  As the afternoon and evening went on yesterday, though, she started trying to straighten it out a little bit and she gradually was able to get it almost straight.  She was excited to take a shower instead of a bath, to wear real PJs instead of just PJ pants and a t-shirt, to wear a long sleeved shirt this morning to match her sister (they both love to match and they haven't been able to wear any of their matching clothes for the last month), and tie her own shoes this morning for the first time in month.  

She ran to the bus stop this morning yelling, "I can run again!!!"

So glad all is back to normal!

germs

November seems to be full of germs around here.  Every fall seems to turn out this way, with one of us constantly sick.  Right now it's me.  A few days ago it was Rebecca, and I was up almost all night with her for two nights.  Before that it was me (it's been me for the last month, actually, with a few of the girls' colds in there, too). 

My previous sinus/ear infection never completely went away.  Then on Saturday morning I woke up with a killer sore throat.  Then an upset stomach.  Lots of really unpleasant symptoms to go along with that.  Yesterday I felt almost fine (except a bad headache, which I always seem to deal with, so that's nothing new), but this morning I had the sore throat again and the nasty stomach flu symptoms, again, too.  I went to the doctor--he says it's a virus that's going around and to give it 72 hours.  That means by tomorrow morning I should be good as new.  Let's hope he's right, because I am really, really tired of feeling lousy.

Hopefully soon I'll have something more exciting to write about.  Right now a day of feeling good would be exciting.

no news

My husband commented the other day that I hadn't updated my blog in awhile.  There have been several times that I've thought about the fact that I haven't but I've thought, "What should I write about?  That Rebecca's getting in trouble every other minute?"  Because that's really all that's been going on around here.  

They say the terrible twos are nothing compared to having a three year old, and that's definitely the case with Rebecca at the moment.  She is pushing limits, trying out her independence, and getting thwarted at every turn.  It's constant discipline, correction, and lots of tears and frustration here at the moment (the tears are mostly hers, the frustration is mostly mine).  

She's a stinker, but is also full of hugs and declarations of "I love you, Mommy."  She's easy to love, but also easy to get frustrated with right now.  I guess that just about sums up most three year olds, though.  I remember the fours being so much better with Rachel.  I'm hopeful that that will be the case with Rebecca, too.  Not that I really want her to grow up that quickly.....I just want her out of this phase!

Rachel gets her cast off in six days.  She's counting down.  Me too....I'm ready for her to be able to wear long sleeves and zippered pants (she's been wearing the same elastic waist pants and short sleeve shirts for weeks now!), take her own showers instead of me bathing her, having her tie her own shoes, put her own coat on, and all of the things that have been a struggle for her for the last month.  I hope her strength comes back quickly and she'll be able to get back to her beloved monkey bars!

trick or treating in the rain

All week long they talked about the "Frankenstorm" that was coming on Halloween.  All day long on Halloween they scrolled trick or treating times across the bottom of the TV screen, because some of the towns were postponing it because of the coming storm.  The towns in our area mostly chose to start at 5:30 instead of 6 and only go until 7 instead of 8, to try and get it in earlier, before the worst of the storm.

So at 5:00 there was a change of costume plans....again.  I told Rachel that her Belle dress would drag in the rain and mud and wouldn't be a good idea, so I showed her every option I could come up with that was short.  She chose a butterfly, then added a tiara and declared herself a butterfly princess.

Rebecca, who had decided to be Minnie Mouse again, saw her pink cowboy boots just before getting ready.  "I want to wear cowboy boots!" she declared.  So I came up with the cowgirl costume in a matter of minutes.  All the more reason I'm happy we didn't buy costumes this year!  But it helps when your daughter has loved playing dress up for four years and has amassed quite a collection of paraphernalia! 

Anyway, Daddy took them out in his rain suit while I stayed snug and dry in the garage, passing out candy to the few brave souls who decided to trick or treat.  There was actually a decent amount, but nowhere near the number of trick or treaters we normally have.  I started giving out two and three pieces at a time to make sure I got rid of it all.

(This picture with the hat on top of the hood cracks me up....)

They came home about an hour later, soggy, but happy.