Today marked our anniversary. We have been married 18 years! I just can't believe it. We have had many ups and downs during those years. But through it all we are definately happier now than 18 years ago! I recently read where a friend said that if she knew then what she knew now she would have somersaulted down the isle. Well, I ditto that! I was so nervous as a bride. I was a baby you know! I wanted everything to be perfect and beautiful. If I had known how beautifully Steve would treat me then I would have skipped the whole thing and rushed to the first JP I could find when he proposed!
How did we celebrate? Steve and Angie style. We went to church, late of course. Then I talked too long while everyone waited in the van. Then we went to lunch with some friends and the kids. Once we got home, Steve and little J took a nap while the kids and I made a mad dash for school supplies (6 stores and counting!). Then we all had smoothies for supper and watched a Veggie Tales cartoon and played with flashlights. Now everyone is asleep and I will go wake Steve up to watch a silly TV show and eat a Twix and drink a coke!
Okay, so J is our third. By the time our first was 6 months old I was taking her to the party supply isle to pick out decorations for her first birthday. Boy have I changed gears. Last year for J's first birthday I threw something together the week before. This year I was out of town the week of his birthday. As soon as I got in town though I started thinking!! LOL!
But I was able to score some free Wiggles tickets for a little work. So I have my mother-in-law, hubby and three kids working to get in to the Wiggles for little J. Well as it turns out J really couldn't have cared less. He does not watch TV or movies and I guess nor does he watch live shows! So we wrestle through the whole thing and go home exhausted!
Next we keep 4 kiddos for some friends that are moving. Each of my kids has a friend their age over for 3 days and 2 nights. Now that is what I call a 2 year old bunking party right? Can't I count that as a party?
So finally the big day comes and I throw together a little family dinner. I plan the menu as posted in the previous post. Sounds good and sweet right? Well this is the inside story of what really happened.
I am marinating the ribs while at least a thousand other things are going on. I turn around to find our outdoor puppy with paws on the counter licking the ribs. I yell at the dog and try to rescue the ribs somehow. Then Steve takes them out to and burns them - excuse me, prepares them very well done! S is standing in the corner for yelling at H and I tell her there is never, yes I used the word never, a good reason to yell like that. So what happens 2 seconds later? The puppy now steals a cupcake from the counter! (Why is the dog in anyway?) So I spin around and yell that "I am going to shoot the dog! No, I am going to shoot all three dogs and be done with the whole thing!" I look at Steve and he has this look of total disbelief on his face as I hear the wailing begin from S! She is our animal lover and standing, remember, in the corner not 5 feet from me. I try to quickly back peddle that one but I really uh oh'd big time with this one. Steve just says "great timing" and walks out of the kitchen for me to fix the tears. I think there was a smile tugging at his mouth! I am sure he was headed out to burn those ribs!!!!
Well the green beans weren't good the night before and they aren't any better warmed over. The German potato salad caused the kids to hold their noses because they smell like vinegar! So the kids basically eat chocolate cake and root beer for dinner!
Now all good parties have presents right? I suddenly remember that I can't remember where I put the presents! So I drag out Grandma Marcia's big box of gifts and take pictures! (Don't worry Grandma Marcia, we gave you credit but I had to have pictures for the future!!!) Finally, H says he knows where I put the presents!! (Think I need a different hiding place for his things now, but my odds of losing them in a new hiding place goes way up!) So I rescue them from their very safe hiddy hole and wrap them in strewn tissue paper!!!
As we are falling into bed that night I sigh and tell Steve what an awful day. Now the saddest thing of all happens! He honestly looks at me and says "Why do you say that?" I then remind him of all the things that went wrong and he simply says in reply, "Well that is just kinda normal don't you think?" :-0
So there you have it. Want me to plan your next party?
This year we had a small family party for J. We had ribs, green beans, and german potato salad, green tea and chocolate cake. But we also had 4 other kids over for 3 days so I am exhausted and going to bed. I will have to fill you in on all the details later. But isn't he cute?
Thursday we went to the ortho doc again and little S's arm is still healing fine. They removed the old plaster and fiberglass cast and replaced it with a new waterproof cast! It is purple and much more lightweight and she can get it wet!!!! That is a big deal! We have taken as few baths as summer demands until now. She also went swimming tonight and will be able to go to the water park with the church in a couple of weeks. She may not be able to zip down the slides, but she can go! Sometimes it is the little things in life that make the difference.
Little S is doing better. Her arm is not hurting near as much. She has had some itching already and that was interesting. She was writhing in the bed begging me to scratch it. I did everything the paperwork said to do and nothing was working. After your daughter cries and begs for you to help her it just get to ya. So I did what any self respecting mom would do. I got something long and skinny and pushed it in the cast and wiggled it around. She immediately stopped kicking and crying. I was so scared I was going to hurt her. But everything was fine. So know that little plastic stick is sacred in our house. I thought I lost it tonight and panicked. I think I need to get several sicks to keep around!
H and J are of course jealous of all the attention that S is getting. There have been lots of arguments and tears. The rainy weather has not helped at all. H finally went to a friends house tonight and we had some peace. Well almost peace. S is a little more whinny than usual and J is always a commotion. But no screaming and fighting. And of course it is not all H's fault. It is just that he is now absent from the picture. I think we would have had the same calm if S had gone to a friends house. They just needed some space.
I will try to post a picture soon. She gets a new cast this week. The plaster cast is so heavy and then they put a layer of fiberglass on it. She has to carry her arm around with the other hand if she does not have the sling on. The new fiberglass only cast is supposed to be lighter.
Well more excitement in the Titus household this week. Thursday morning at work I did not answer my cell phone when it rang because my head was literally in the sink as a gloved nurse helped me wash my face and hair. Don't ask why, I had obviously showered and dressed before going to work, but something really gross at work caused me to start all over. Now it turned out that this just happened to be one of those calls you really don't want to miss. By the time I get another shirt on and my hair wrapped in a towel Steve is on the office phone sounding very stressed. He began telling me that S had been hurt while she was riding horses at her aunt's house. So I immediately call the aunt and hear commotion in the background as the aunt tells me that S fell off her horse that morning and has obviously broken her arm and they are taking her to the ER! They put her on the phone and she burst into tears saying it really hurt. Needless to say my day at the office was over and I bolted for the door. They were going to a hospital a little over an hour away from where I was and of course my gas tank was on E.
When I get to the ER over an hour later she is pale and very still. She already has an IV in place and has had some morphine. I help them hold her for the X-rays, which was painful for her, and we soon learn that she has broken her little arm in 3 places. Two bones are broken completely in two and overlying themselves and the elbow is cracked. They will need to send her to the OR to reset the arm. This required intubation and complete sedation. While waiting for room in the OR they gave her 8mg of morphine through her IV and she never closed her eyes for more than a mere second or two!
She was in the OR and recovery for about an hour and came through the procedure fine but in a lot of pain. She cried more after they set it than I had seen all morning. The doc said it was very difficult to set and they really had to manipulate it to set it. He was glad they had chosen the OR route instead of trying to do it in the ER. (Me too!) But now because it is after 3 they are short staffed and send her to a regular room to finish up the recovery. Due to her pain level we stay about 3 more hours.
Finally about 12 hours after checking in we put her in the car and head home. Fortunately, she slept all the way only moaning with one bump! Through the night we got up every 3 1/2 to 4 hours to change the ice bag, potty and get more pain meds. Her arm has been cramping and spasming a lot. This morning she was nauseated and her belly hurt. Then we had to get out to get the boys from my cousins house and she was really beat by the time we got home. She slept a couple of hours and woke up feeling much better. But the tears came again tonight. She hurts more when she is tired. So I am trying to keep her quiet and rested. She has also been running a low grade fever and I am watching that closely.
We go back in one week for X-rays and a permanent cast. They put a splint cast on because they are anticipating swelling from the difficult time they had setting the bones. They said 5% of these types of breaks require pins, so please pray we will be in the 95% that do not!!
Since riding horses is her favorite thing in the world, everyone keeps asking if she thinks she will want to ride again. She smiles and says she thinks she will but might need a little time to get well first. We are planning on taking her to see the horse this weekend if she is up traveling that far in the car.
