Abilene, Spiders and Cast

I know that is a random title but I had three things I needed to post about. Let's start with Abilene.We had a great time in Abilene last weekend just spending time with family. We went to a balloon festival but we only saw one hot air balloon from a distance due to windy weather. However, Kate did go on her first horse ride there. She seemed to be having fun but maybe also a little anxious about being on top of a horse. We enjoyed doing some relaxing and good visiting. When we got back Kate had a horrible nightmare about spiders and it brought on a terror Zack and I have never seen in her before. We were up from 2:00-5:00 am with her on Sunday night. Zack slept on the couch and we tried Kate in bed with me. This was a first for us and I don't think anybody slept very well. She had a few more terrors on Monday but it stopped after that. She got upset a couple of times on Tuesday but it was not the panic from the previous days. On Monday she started freaking out believing that a spider was in her cast. She was desperately trying to take off her cast. I wanted so bad to cut it off myself to just to give her a peace of mind. We finally put some more gauze at the top of her cast and told her that it kept the spiders out. I had to go to some creative measures to get her back in her bed that night. I put a Halloween bag on her door with a bat on it and told her it would scare the spiders away because spiders don't like bats. This really seemed to help. We did a lot of praying about it. When she shrieked in terror, she really believed a spider was around her and lost sense of reality. I don't know what she saw in her nightmare but it must have been pretty scary. It would bring chills down our backs when she would panic. Zack said I even screamed one time with her because she scared me so bad. She was really upset about getting her cast off today, but that paled in comparison to the spider terrors. It really took us off guard because she has never been a child to be scared of bugs. In preschool, her teacher said she cried about some crickets in the hallway on Tuesday. We know this is because of her nightmare. She hasn't said anything about bugs or spiders the past couple of days so hopefully this experience doesn't cause her to continue to have a fear of spiders and bugs.
We were very happy to take off her cast today. She overall has done an incredible job with it on. However, she has woken up more in the night needing help getting her blankets back on her. She would ask a couple of times to take it off but it was very rare. She just adapted to it and used it like it was no big deal. In fact, on the way to the doctor today she said she didn't want her cast to come off. She cried while they took it off but was trying so hard to be brave and still. Zack did a good job keeping her calm. Her incision is still pretty open so we have to allow some more time for it to heal. We have to continue to keep a band aid on it for about a week until the new skin starts to grow over the wound. Kate was really upset seeing the wound today. She was better once we put the band aid on. It took her some time today to start using that arm again. She was so scared to move it on the way home she kept it elevated above her head the whole way back from the hospital. Then we went to a play area and she started to use it more and more. We are just so proud of her and how brave she has been through the whole experience.

Zack took some wonderful pictures while we were in Abilene.

Aunt Lindsey and Kate

Dad Dad, Mom Mom and Carly(Isn't the cookie in her mouth a nice touch?)

Kate on her first horse ride. You can see that she is not quite sure what to think.

Another sweet picture

Mom Mom gave Kate a great manicure and pedicure. Kate loved this special time.

One of Kate's favorite things to do in Abilene is for Dad Dad to push her on the swing outside.

One of our new favorite pictures of Carly

I love this picture. Dixie saw a cat outside so Kate was looking out the window with her.

Here is the cast removal pictures in stages.

Kate looking at me in desperation.

Seeing her hand for the first time again.

Good job Kate!

This shows you how long her fingernails got the past two weeks.

If only Mom Mom were here to paint her other nails now. :(

Kate's Surgery

Kate had her surgery for trigger thumb on her left hand yesterday. It was a long day but we are so proud of how Kate handled it all. I am also just so thankful that it was on her left hand and not her right hand since that is her dominant hand. I was also so glad that our good friend Erika took Carly for the day. It made our day so much easier.

Before surgery at home.

Before surgery they gave Kate what they call "silly juice." This helps them relax before going into surgery. They told us it would be like Kate had a margarita. It was quite funny. Kate was so silly and doing crazy things. I will have to see if I can upload a video later.

This was the hard part of them taking Kate away to surgery. There were some tears on my part. If Kate had been crying it would have been much harder on me though.

After surgery and trying to wake up. She was very disoriented. Shortly after this picture she got sick from the anesthesia. She threw up all over Zack one time and a little on me another time. Ironically, I had just given Kate to Zack when she threw up all over him. Zack got to wear a hospital gown for awhile and then they went and got him a new T-shirt. They were all just so sweet. We had to stay at the hospital a little longer to give her some medicine for nausea and more pain medicine. She was also adjusting to having a cast and was a little frustrated. She even tried biting her cast out of frustration. Plus, her cast was rubbing her armpit so we had to get some more protective gauze to prevent that from continuing to happen. I think it was hardest on her that her stomach was hurting. . Poor sweet girl!

We were so impressed with all of the doctors and nurses at Children's Medical Center in Frisco. They were so child friendly and nice. Kate was finally discharged and got to go out in a wagon.

Unfortunately, Kate still threw up in the car twice on the way home. She was also struggling to stay awake. You can tell that she is still a little groggy. You can see just how big the cast is in this picture. They have the cast all the way up her armpit to keep it protected and to prevent her from sticking things in her cast. Kate chose red so her doctor was joking that it really made it look like a punching glove.

Once we got home and got some chicken noodle soup in her she really bounced back. We even went on a short walk and Kate pushed her little doll stroller around. It almost brought tears to my eyes that she was already coping so well with her cast. We are so proud of her! Last night she slept really well. She was in a little pain this morning but luckily we have some pretty strong medicine to give her. I have gotten punched a couple of times accidentally from Kate. Let me tell you it hurts! I hope she doesn't get too mad at anybody in the next couple of weeks. We have been told that she will just have the cast a couple of weeks. Thank goodness!

Some pictures of Carly and Harper on a walk with Erika. She had a great time playing with Harper for the day. Thanks again Erika!

First Day of Preschool/First Time at Movies

Today marks the first day of preschool! Kate was so excited! In fact she did not fall asleep till 10:30 pm last night. I don't know if it was because she was so excited or because her nap went a little late yesterday. Either way, she woke up in good spirits. She was especially happy to be wearing her new dress. We feel so blessed Kate can go to preschool where we go to church. I realized that that now means we will be up at church five days a week between small group, preschool, class and Ladies Bible Study. What a great place to be so often, right?

I kind of a felt a lump in my throat when I had Kate meet her teachers last Thursday, but Kate was so excited we couldn't help but feel joy too. It is amazing she is now in school and will continue to be in some kind of school for many years to come. This is her foundation for all of it! However, I know she will love it and grow so much this year. Plus, I am really looking forward to having some time with just Carly. We had a great morning and I was so glad that Zack could step away briefly from work to come see Kate off and take pictures. He is a good Daddy and husband!

She was all ready to go and kept asking when she could go to class.

Waiting outside to enter the front doors

Putting her things where they go and finding her cubby.

She then picked the table where play dough was to work independently.

Giving Mommy a kiss good-bye. There were no tears from her she was ready.

Then there was just the two of us. Carly loves that baby! I enjoyed some time with just Carly. I think she had moments where she enjoyed it, but she also had moments of wondering where her big sister was. She just adores and admires Kate and wants to do whatever she is doing.

On Sunday, Kamara and I took Aubrey and Kate to their first movie. We saw Winnie the Pooh at the dollar theater. It was a great first movie and only a little over an hour. It helped that we pumped them full of popcorn and candy. That is what movies are all about though, right? It was a fun experience. We now know that Kate can sit through movies and I look forward to letting Zack take part in it next time. We didn't have time to take pictures before the movie so this is after it was over.

Sitting out front still enjoying their popcorn.

Family Pictures

Here are some of our recent family pictures. We used a new photographer that we got from a friend and got 13 pictures in a 15 minute time period for 30 dollars. Let me know if you are interested in using her. You can't beat that deal!

Lake Murray, OK

I am definitely behind on this post! We stayed in Lake Murray, OK from July 17-20 with Kamara and her family. Kamara and I had been many years ago with the Tate family before we were married. We had always said we wanted to go back some day when we had families. When we went with the Tate family, it was Memorial Day weekend in May many years ago. There seems to be a big difference in temperature from May to the end of July. Granted, it is has been particularly hot summer this year. It is a fun place because they have cabins at their park along with a playground, lake activities, putt putt golf, and snow cones, and it is very family friendly. Another bonus is it is only a couple of hours away. My main complaint which is a big complaint is how hot the cabins were. They had no insulation, and it was just really hot in the cabin except for at night. We also had some difficulties with Kate sleeping the first night. We have tried many times to have Aubrey and Kate share a room, and they have always brought out the sillies in each other. End the end, we have to move separate them. This particular cabin had three bedrooms and three bathrooms. We had the two babies in the couples room and had planned to have Aubrey and Kate share the bunk bed room with both sleep on the bottom bunk of the two bunk beds. They seemed to go to sleep pretty well. Then, at around 1:00 am, I heard Kate and had to go in and help her go to sleep. She then woke up again at 3:00 am, and I tried for an hour to get her to sleep. Poor Aubrey was trying to sleep through it and didn't make a peep. I was exhausted so I woke up Zack to give it a try. He did not get her to sleep until 5:00 am. Then she woke up at 7:00 am when she heard Carly cry. She was a little cranky that day because she had skipped her nap the day before with us traveling. I don't know if she was having trouble sleeping because Aubrey was in the room, if it was being in a new place, or if it was because it was her first time in a bunk bed. Needless to say we changed the sleeping arrangements for the next two nights. We moved Kate to our queen bed. Zack and I moved Carly to the bunk bed room, and Zack and I slept on the bottom bunk of the two bunk beds. Kamara and Rod were generous to move Aubrey to their room. In their room they could move Ryleigh to the closet which made her seem like she wasn't so much in their room. It wasn't a closed in closet but it was a big opening to the side of the room. They took a mattress from the top bunk, pushed it the other side of their room and had Aubrey sleep there. So, after all the rearranging, it really helped. They were all a little off their schedule being on vacation, but we didn't have anything problems like that first night with Kate. We really enjoyed the lake. The water seemed really clean and pretty clear. The first day we swam in the pool and the lake. The second day we rented a pontoon boat that had a slide on it. What powered the boat was a jet ski; therefore, we were able to enjoy a jet ski as well. We thoroughly enjoyed the day. It took us awhile to get used to the pontoon boat at the beginning because it was so open where you have to watch all four kids and make sure nobody falls in the water. They are supposed to have their life jackets on at all times, too. Ryleigh was really tired too. She ended up falling asleep pretty quickly. Once we tied up the boat on a stationary buoy, the fun started. We jumped off the the second floor of the boat, went down the slide, swam and road the jet ski. Obviously, it was more fun for the adults. We tried to take Kate and Aubrey out on the slide, but they were a little too scared. There was about a three foot at the end of the slide, which made you go little deep into the water before you can rise to the surface. Kate just now got comfortable putting her head down into the water, so that was a little too much for her. We had a great time, though. The girls had the best time when we went to the part of the lake that had a huge sandy beach and they could splash and walk around. On the last day, Kate surprised us by continuing to put her head in the water and trying to swim around the sand bar area. She would be underwater for at least 10 seconds before she would come up gasping for air. We had many laughs because of her. The girls also enjoyed feeding the fish, playing together and getting a snow cone. We would enjoy going back, but maybe at a time when it isn't quite so hot. We realized that it would make for a great day trip going to Lake Murray.

Kate's favorite part of the pool was going up and down the ladder.

Kate and Aubrey playing near the sandy beach.

Ryleigh and Kate playing in the sand together.

Carly loved just sitting on the jet ski with Zack. He obviously did not take her out on it though. I think she may have enjoyed it more than Kate.

Zack and Kate on the jet ski.

Kate and I trying the slide out together.

Kate and Aubrey loving on each other on the boat.

Doesn't look too comfortable does it? It was nice once we realized we could strap them in their travel booster seats to the bench.

Poor Ryleigh! There was no life jacket that seemed the right size for her.

The snow cones were a hit!

I love this smile! She was so excited when Zack gave her her own cup.

Feeding the fish. Look at all the catfish below them!

Carly enjoyed watching the fish too.

This was the playground they had at their park. All the kids enjoyed running around and playing.

Rod trying to bear the hot cabin by sitting in front of the fan and air conditioner. Carly enjoyed reading books beside him.