Mother's Day Weekend

We had a great Mother's Day weekend! The boys and I drove up Friday morning so Lance could spend the night with his dad (AND go mountain biking the next day with Scott--dad--and Kirk, Scott's buddy). 

Lance has always loved to play in the car and I guess Jude noticed how fun it is. This is his new favorite thing. At least it kept them occupied while I finished packing up the car.

While Lance was hanging out with his dad for a day or so, Jude and I spent a bit of time with my family. My mom's been going through her garage trying to organize and condense. Jude and Mason found a fun way to spend the time:

George drove up Friday night after he was finished with his ENT rotation to be with us and our families. I was glad we got to be together. Usually when I come to Ashburn to bring Lance to his dad's, Jude and I spend the night and drive home the next day. Being away from George two days out of 14 gets really old really fast. 

Anyway, Saturday was busy! I got to go to the Temple with some friends from my ward that morning and then ate lunch at the newly-opened Cafe Rio in Maryland! Cafe Rio was my favorite place to eat in Provo, UT and they FINALLY franchised. It's still pretty far away so I won't be going that often, but it was exciting to taste the wonderful food that brought back so many college memories.

Jude got to hang out with Jen, Callie, and Bryce that afternoon while I picked up Lance from his dad's and George went to the Temple to help out with our ward's Baptism Day. Everyone in my family was out and about, so Jude and Lance and I spent some time with Grandmom and Pop Pop.

Jude loves Pop Pop. Ice cream, anyone?

That night after the kids went to bed, George and I went on a date for Mother's day to a wonderful Mexican restaurant called Uncle Julio's. They have the best steak fajitas I've ever tasted! It was great to be out with George and just talk. It's sad we don't do this more often... with his schedule, dates are rare, so this was a special treat.

Mother's Day morning, George got up with the boys and let me sleep in! I finally got up around 8:30 because I just couldn't sleep anymore and went downstairs. George was entertaining the kids AND making a wonderful crepe breakfast for me and his mom. It was so nice!

He was getting pretty good at flipping them!

 Mom and Dad enjoying the breakfast.

All Lance wanted to eat was strawberries and cream. Yum!

Jude thought he was a big boy sitting up next to Pop Pop at the table.

The two moms!

After Church, we attempted to take some family pictures, but with Jude needing a nap and Lance not feeling very good, this was the best we could do.

I love that we are all looking in different directions.

That afternoon, we all got in the car to drive to a Chinese restaurant to celebrate with George's Mom. Lance had started running a fever and refused to take medicine, so he was feeling pretty crummy. Right before we pulled up to the restaurant, he threw up. :( We changed clothes and wiped him down and drove him back to the Glass's house. He finally consented to take medicine and felt much better about 30 minutes later.

Poor guy. Feeling lousy on the drive home.

After Lance started feeling better, we drove to my mom's house to celebrate with her. Glenn had prepared a great meal of leg of lamb, brussell sprouts, and sweet potatoes (a tradition in his family).

The menfolk working hard in the kitchen.

Everyone watching George cut the lamb leg.

Sitting down to a wonderful meal.

After dinner, we tried to get a group-shot of the family (as is Allred-family tradition).

Mason

 Jude

Lance had started feeling yucky again and actually fell asleep after dinner. I woke him up when his dad came (he's spending this week with his dad and his dad's brother who's in town) and we shot this picture. Poor kid was miserable.

I hugged Lance goodbye and sent him on his way. I talked to his dad later that night and he was feeling much better after taking more medicine. :( I hate being away from my little guy, especially when he's sick, but I know he's going to have a fun time with his dad, aunt, uncle, and baby cousin. It was a fun weekend. I'm glad I got to celebrate Mother's Day with my wonderful husband, kids, and extended family.

Broken Arm

So yes, Lance has a broken arm. He broke it more than two weeks ago on April 18th.  I waited to write about this until we were at a good point in his recovery. Why has it taken two weeks to get to a good point? Let me begin...

Lance was playing outside a lot that Monday. We had just eaten dinner and I was bathing Jude while Lance was playing outside on the playground that neighbors our house with his buddy Killian. Apparently, he was doing something like this:

All of the sudden, I hear: 

"HELP ME! OW OW! HELP ME, SOMEBODY!" 

Anyone who knows Lance knows he has a tendency to be a little over-dramatic, so I have to be honest and say I wasn't terribly concerned when I heard his initial yell. 10 seconds later, when it hadn't subsided, I knew something was definitely wrong and I sprinted outside only to be greeted with a picture of Lance lying in a crumpled heap at the foot of the swing set crying and not getting up. I rush to set him up and notice his arm doesn't look quite right. If you've ever seen a crooked arm, you'll understand the nauseating feeling that swept over me as it became obvious his arm was broken. Broken badly. He told me he had been hanging on the top bar of the swing set (he climbs up the angled bar) and when he dropped as he usually did, this time his arm hit the baby swing on the way down. Ugh...

I scoop him up and rush him inside. I was in a bit of a panic and found myself carrying him around the house not really knowing what I should do next. Our neighbor Melissa came over after Killian told her what happened and took Jude while George and I loaded Lance into the car and drove him to the hospital.

All in all, I have to say it went quickly and smoothly. We were taken back almost immediately and were placed in a room to wait for the doctor to come. Lance was uncomfortable, obviously, but I think he was scared which made it difficult for him to calm down. One of the doctors started an IV (and got it first stick with a kicking, crying child--George and I were very impressed) and gave him some Fentanyl right away. About two minutes later, Lance was happily resting on his stretcher waiting for his xray. I think the pain medicine made him a little high. I remember at one point, he looked down at his broken arm and said:

"I like this arm. It's my favorite arm. I really like my arm."

I told Lance I was going to take his picture while we were waiting (and was greeted with an "are you serious?" look from George), but I was disappointed to realize I left my camera at home. Unusual for me. So, no pictures from the hospital. Sorry!

It was an ugly break from the look of the xray and they had to get an orthopedic surgeon to come set the bone. They gave Lance some Propofol that put him to sleep and proceeded to basically bend his arm in half while we watched. 

SNAP!

I looked at George and realized what that sound was. I just heard my son's bone break. The surgeon said it was necessary so they could set the bone properly, but it was still a horrible sound and I have to admit I felt a little sick. That's my baby's arm they're breaking!

We were in and out in about 4 hours. They wrapped his set arm in a soft cast, gave us a sling, and sent us on our way when Lance woke up. 

It took some getting used to, and his arm was sore, but we managed to have some fun even with his broken arm.

Lance got to swing in the baby swing. He actually liked it a lot.

We tried to do things that were easy and not active, but it's hard to keep a 5-year-old boy still.

Finally, it was 7 days since the break and it was time to get a hard cast! Lance was sooo excited!

Getting an x-ray. Jude wanted to watch the lady adjust it.

Lance was really excited to get his cast and kept waffling between colors (he wanted a purple cast, but we managed to convince him blue was probably better).

After looking at the x-rays, the doctor came in and gave us horrible news. The bones had shifted during the week and needed to be re-set. I guess the cast they put on in the ER was too loose and when he was running around, the bones were able to move.

I remember getting this terrible knot in my stomach. Re-set? They told me that we could go back to the ER to have him put to sleep again, but in their experience, it was better to just get it done quick in the office--less time and less invasive. I decided they knew best and said okay.

It was awful. They hung Lance's broken arm perpendicular to the floor by his index and middle finger and then put weights on his elbow. I had to hold him down while he cried and screamed because his bone was essentially being re-broken. I broke down and cried and they added more weights and then manipulated the arm by pushing on the break. The worst was hearing Lance cry and say "Please stop! Please, this hurts. Please!"

I think it only lasted a couple minutes but it seemed like an eternity.

Lance was pretty subdued afterwards. You can see the weights next to the bed that they hung on his arm and that pole is the contraption they used to hold his fingers. Barbaric-looking, huh? They re-wrapped his arm in a much better-fitting soft cast.

They discharged us with a lecture about proper sling usage and essentially told us he couldn't do anything a 5-year-old was supposed to do. I was feeling extremely guilty about his arm having to be re-set, so I promised them I'd keep his feet on the ground.

It went better and he was a little more still last week, but it was nigh impossible to keep him immobile. On Saturday, we had a pretty good scare. We were at a park with some friends and Lance was doing this:

He fell off this orange fence thing onto his broken arm. George and I were pretty worried and George thought I should take him in to get an x-ray that night just to make sure everything was okay. After three hours on a stretcher in the ER, everything looked okay and we were sent on our way.

This past Monday, we had our follow-up appointment.

Lance was excited, but hesitant. Last time we were here, they broke him arm!

This is the picture of his break right now. Apparently, in children as long as there isn't any angulation and the bones are aligned decently, the bone will heal and any bumps will get smoothed over with time. I think that break looks pretty ugly, but apparently it was good enough.

He got his hard cast!

We still have to be careful and he does still wear his sling around sometimes, but the hard cast is so much better than the soft splint! 18 days in this baby and we should be good to go! Now all he needs is a bunch of drawings and his cast will be perfect!

An evening at the park

Last Saturday, a few of our friends decided to have dinner at a local park, so we packed up some panini sandwiches, chips, and cookies and joined them. It was a great way to spend a perfect evening!

Yum! Grilled cheese!

Lance and Killian, thick as thieves, as usual.

Despite their faces, they really were happy to be there and were having a good time.

Jude and Bennett enjoying a drink between a lot of running around.

Caroline (not looking), Kendall, and Lucy--if ever there was a pack of giggly girls, this would be it!

The men playing Bocce Ball.

As you may have noticed earlier, Lance's arm is broken. I'll post more on that later. It didn't stop him from running around, though, and despite our best efforts to keep his feet on the ground, he still fell again on that same arm at the park and we had to endure another 3+ hours at the ER later that night to make sure the bone hadn't shifted (again). We were lucky... everything was fine.

Jude being a stinker.

The ladies had a good time chatting and watching the kids play.

At some point, all the little boys made their way over to the men playing Bocce ball and I couldn't resist snapping a couple pictures of the kids each standing next to their daddy. So cute!

It really was a perfect evening and even though Lance and I ended up in the ER that night, we had a great time.

Caterpillar

We found a caterpillar outside the other day and the kids had a fun time passing it around. I finally started feeling bad for it and convinced Lance it was going to die if we tried to keep it, so we let it go.

Lance liked letting the caterpillar climb all over his arm.

Killian wanted his picture taken, too. :)

 Killian helping Jude put on a cowboy hat. He wasn't a huge fan, but he sure looked cute!

"She thinks my dump truck's sexy..."

Dinner with the Hays and Jude jumping!

This past Thursday, April 28th, George and I drove with the boys up to Arlington to have dinner with a very special family--the Hays. George served his mission in Southern California (Ventura) and fell in love with the area and the people. One of his favorite families had flown out this way to do some sight-seeing and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them. I had never officially met the Hays and was very excited to finally meet the wonderful people George kept telling me about.

At the Cheesecake Factory in downtown Arlington with the Hays.

Lance, George, and Sis. Hays.

After dinner, we found this little playground in the middle of an nearby outdoor mall and let the kiddos get their wiggles out.

Jude loves to go down slides and thinks he's a big boy.

Lance had a good time, despite being told he was doing too much with his broken arm. Poor kid.

Jude was nervous to go down the twisty slide, so his big brother uh, encouraged him a bit.

They both made it down in one piece.

After we said good-bye to the Hays, we drove over to Ashburn to burn a couple more hours before the boy's bedtime when we would drive back to Charlottesville.

Jude helped PopPop mow the back  yard. He wasn't too sure of it, but even when he got off, all he wanted to do was watch. He kept saying "Pa Pa" and pointing. Super cute!

Lance and Allen also taught Jude how to "jump". It was so funny to watch Jude try so hard only to end up on his bottom. He thought he was hysterical, too, and didn't mind jumping several times to show off his new skill.

After the kids were in their PJ's, George and I loaded them up and drove back to Charlottesville so George could attend class the following day. It was a lot of driving, but so worth it!