Another one bites the dust

Yes, it happened again.  Ethan was playing upstairs yesterday with Adam and some friends.  Apparently he jumped off our 2 foot plastic slide and landed wrong.  Long story short, he has a buckle fracture on his left wrist.  A buckle fracture is very common among young children.  It is when the bone actually sort of bends or buckles.  (Imagine his bone is a banana.  A normal fracture would be breaking the banana right in half.  The buckle is more like pushing on the banana and it indents.)  Little Ethan was very brave.  He actually even fell asleep while we were waiting.  I was so glad Mike was home minutes after this happened.  He drove us to the Syracuse Instacare (where we are becoming regulars and they know us by name.  ha ha) while I sat back with Ethan holding his wrist.   

This was Ethan about an hour before it happened.  He is so wild and crazy and yet got hurt doing something so simple.

He felt much better after his little nap and the ibuprofen kicked in.  He was so cute and chatted up a storm with the nurse and doctor.  If you notice he does have some money in his right hand.  There is a cute story behind this.  Right after he got hurt I was examining him and asked him if he could move his arm.  He said no so I offered him a quarter.  He didn't want to.  Later at the doctor's office out of the blue he lifted his arm straight up and then asked for his quarter.  Of course I didn't have a quarter so I gave him a dollar.  Then I gave him another one because I felt so bad for him.  Mike points out that I gave him his money.  Guess it was good Mike didn't have more than two bucks.

Happy little boy with a burger.  Glad we kept Jaime's sling.  Who would have known we would be using it so soon?  Ethan has a splint for five days until the swelling is gone.  He goes back on Tuesday to get a cast.  I think he will wear that for about 3 weeks.  Then he will have another brace to wear for a few more weeks.  Man, we aren't even done with Jaime's healing.  She still has 1 1/2 weeks of being careful herself.  We had planned on going swimming today, but had to cancel.  It would be fun to go bowling but half our family is injured.  Crazy Crazy.  Poor little Adam.  He was upset yesterday that he would be next.  He is also sad that we can't do anything fun as a family for a few more weeks.  What is really sad is that the boys have really been enjoying playing football on our new grass and now they can't most likely till spring.  I will have to get creative to keep Ethan entertained while he heals. 

Ethan will be watching a lot of tv for the next little while.  We were glad we found a smaller sling for his arm (it was used when Jaime broke her collar bone the first time when she was six).  He slept in bed with me last night.  He woke up about midnight, confused and in a lot of pain.  I put a movie on for him.  Then I fed him yogurt at 2am.  Guess we will both need a nap later.  I am glad it is his left arm, but I will still have to help him with a lot of things.  I am getting really good at playing nurse.  Just hope this time is the last for a looooooooooooong time.

He wanted to wear a mustache.

 I caved and let him wear his Halloween costume for next year that I just got on clearance.

His little swollen hand. 

 

Happy Halloween

Alex was a stud and got all messy during our ward carnival.  It gave me much pleasure smashing a pie in his face. 

Ryan's room is done.  I haven't moved all his things down.  That will take some time as I am not ready to do that yet.  It is just to painful to close that chapter of our lives right now.

Ryan's headstone was placed on Halloween.  It turned out perfect.  I can't wait for the pictures to be put in (the black circles).  It makes me both happy and sad to have it all done.  I am glad we have a beautiful reminder of Ryan and the life he lived.  It is also hard because it makes it seem real.  I am still in denial and Ryan has just "gone fishing".

I am asked so often how I continue on.  My response is that I have two choices- to continue on in faith or to fall apart in despair.  We are so very sad and our continued trials don't make it any easier but, we have already lost so much and we don't want to lose anything else.  I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior.  I know there is a purpose in all our suffering.  I know that if we continue to endure that some day we will be blessed beyond measure.  As a family it is our goal to live our lives better.  Yes, we are still so imperfect but we are trying harder.  Families are forever and we aren't going to let anything stand in the way of us being with each other forever.  Ryan is waiting and rooting for us.  He has a great mission for him on the other side and even though that doesn't take away all my sorrow, it does help.  There is a purpose to this all and we just need to be patient. 

I had the following engraved on his head stone, "He will carry us until we meet again."  This is so true and I am so thankful not to be alone in my grief.  I do take it a day at a time and know that I am surviving because I am truly never alone.