a series of significant events.

Life is good in the C House.

Fall is on its way in. 

We are home until Christmas.

We are finding a groove (some times we are more successful than others).

We're getting a little more sleep and shedding a few less tears.

[Alma Mater's son and daughters . . . the cutest Cougar fans you've ever seen.]

This last week, however, has been full of action.

We've been facing a series of significant events.

On Saturday we went to a friend's house to enjoy the BYU game. We got home and headed inside. Chris and I each took one of Carly's hands and started swinging her. We swung her higher and higher, like we have a million times. We put her down and she grabbed her hand and told us it hurt. We brought her in and as time passed she started crying and protecting it. She would scream and pull it away when we tried to examine it, especially when we twisted it. We put ice on it, but the crying continued. I am the last person to take my kid to the doctor, especially the ER at 8:00 at night. But she is the kind of girl who typically shakes pain off. And she was still screaming about it. So I took the twins up to the bath . . . and Chris took Carly to the local hospital's pediatric ER. She came home FIVE HOURS later with a big "bandage" and a fancy new "arm purse."

X-rays didn't show break, but there was a suspicious bulge that the ER doc said could be a "growth plate fracture." We headed to the orthopedic 4 days later, and he seemed to believe it was "nursemaid's elbow," a common injury when parents swing kids. Nevermind that Carly used her elbow just fine and always said the pain was in her hand, not her arm. He did something to her arm and sent us on our way. I felt like he was not thorough at all, and that he heard the story and made a fast assumption. He took Carly's splint off, and since then (now 2 days later), she has been holding her hand and in pain. Yesterday she cried half the day over it. It is gradually getting better, so I suspect a sprain, but it is frustrating that the doctor wasn't a little more helpful. C'est la vie.

In between her two doctor visits, another big event happened for our girl. She had her very first day of preschool. A few mom's from our church group put together a co-op preschool. It is once a week, and the moms take turns teaching. We are going through the alphabet, doing a letter per week. The night before her first day, Carly and I went to Target and she picked out her own outfit (pink on pink, surprise). We got her a ladybug backpack, and she was the cutest little preschooler in the history of ever. Complete with massive splint.

She seemed to have fun, and now knows all about the letter A. She asked me, "Did you learn about the letter A today?" I explained how the moms would take turns being the teacher and she asked, "When is it my turn to be the teacher?" She is excited about it, and it will be good for her to have a built-in activity every Tuesday to be with friends and learn her letters better.

As for the other girl in the C house?

She had a big event of her own.

Miss Q graduated from her orthopedic manipulative therapy.

Holla!

It was originally meant to last 6 weeks, and here we are 4 months later.

Her neck is 100%, her face looks nearly symmetrical, and her head is really rounding out, though it likely won't be all the way round until she is about 2. It helps that the girl REFUSES to be on her back, and sleeps on her tummy. The pressure that once led to her lopsidedness is gone.

I'm just happy we don't have to go anymore.

And so is she.

Also going on with Q?

She had two teeth break through in the last few weeks.

And . . . the girl is up on her hands and knees and starting to rock.

She can't sit up on her own, but crawling is not far away.

She already really gets around, rolling and twirling and army crawling.

Its crazy how un-babyproofed our house is.

We need to change that, stat.

And John?

Well John eats record-setting amounts of food, including entire cereal bowls full of rice cereal.

And he smiles really really big.

And screams high-pitched happy screams just for kicks.

That's what John does, and we couldn't love him more for it.

Then there is me.

I drink a 100 calorie mini can of Dr Pepper just about every day at 2.

I recently configured a new cleaning and laundry schedule that hopefully will help control the chaos that is the C House.

And I'm training for a 10k.

At the beginning of the year I made a resolution to run a 5k. As I've been running these last few months, I've found that I can already run a 5k on a daily basis, so I decided to set a goal that was a little more challenging. The race is October 20th, and the only thing standing in my way is the fact that I have elderly knees. If my knees hold up, I think I just may be able to pull it off. Fingers crossed.

 

And Chris.

He is back in school, beginning year 3 of his PhD (have we really been here that long already?). He is taking classes, teaching two upper-level undergraduate classes, and working to finish up a pile of academic papers. The plan is to clear the slate a bit for an easier spring, since big bad Comps are in May. He still does all the grocery shopping, makes dinner 50% of the time, and comes home after long days to tackle our trio so I can go running. I love him a lot.

We're looking forward to another beautiful Michigan fall, hoping someday our babies will start sleeping though the night, and thanking our lucky stars we won't have a 3-year-old in a cast for six weeks.

Like I said, life is good.

xoxo.