{ajm}

I hope your day is sweet and your Valentine sweeter!

Thank you Lord for showing us what true love ls and means and does.

It will come as no surprise that I love taking pictures. It's more than a hobby or a (very) part-time occupation. Capturing fleeting momtents in light and color feeds my creative self. It fills me full of joy and delight. It makes me want to participate in life more fully. For the third year in a row I will happily continue taking photos (almost) every day. I give myself the gifts of grace and gentleness. I don't demand photos be taken EVERY SINGLE day. Some days, I take several I love and will space them out. These tend to balance the days it just doesn't happen. I do try to keep photos accurate to within a week of when they were taken. I give myself time off when I need it (like a whole week last summer.) But for the most part I do take pictures every day.

For this third annual collection of daily photos, I've created a new blog. It's linked to this one and the other years are listed as well. This year I am planning to (gasp) print the photos as well. They will be chronicled in a Becky Higgins Poject Life Album so the little people around here can see and begin remembering too.

Bedazzling the bright purple cast was Mallory's most favorite thing. The cast came off Wednesday and Mallory has mentioned missing her jewels. I can't say I miss anything about it.

Living with a 4 year old and her cast is an adventure in relearning previously acomplished skills. Learning how to eat again (bowls and plates move around if not stuck to the table.) Learning how to buckle the carseat  again (this took until 5 days before the cast came off.) Learning to build in extra time for EVERYTHING including bathroom breaks. (It's hard to reach the toliet paper with a broken arm!) We also learned about dressing with a cast. It's pretty difficult to stay warm wearing half a longsleeve tshirt in the winter. And putting on a coat is harder still. Let's not get started on bathing-we mostly didn't. It was cold-who cares.

I am so thankful it is off and the pins are out. That process was long and drawn out and terrible. Barberic and tortureous are mild descriptors. "Thank you!"  needs to be said repeatedly to our most favorite Ms. Sara for coming to walk through the process with Mallory and I. Repeat. Also, to Rene and Rachael who kept Mark while I was occupied with the cast. I am so very thankful for the people we are blessed to call friends. Our cup overflows-THANK YOU!!!

Now, we get to play and relearn how to do life with two (mostly) working arms, and play and play some more. And hopefully, in a month, when we go back, her ranges of motion in both arms will match. But that's four weeks away. For now, I'm kinda hoping she will keep the ability to write with both hands 🙂

Sunday night we got LOTS of snow! Blizzard like snow 🙂 Ben stayed home for a few hours Monday morning and we got to play outside together!

Mark continues to ADORE being outside no matter the temperature. He wanted to be held for a bit and then wanted DOWN thank you very much. Who am I to stop the exploration 🙂 He even managed to climb up and down our snow covered steps all by himself. (Yes, Ben "the spotter" standing very close by.)

Mallory didn't want to wait for "play clothes" and since all the shirts that fit are chopped off t-shirts, I was fine with fleece pjs (thank you Mimi D.) She had a great time tromping around making footprints and "passages" in the snow. 

She also gave the snowball maker a workout. It's a bit more challenging with a broken wing, but she managed just fine.

They had a great time in the snow. I had fun snapping pictures. And now, we are ready for spring 🙂

Wendesday before Christmas Mallory broke her arm. We were planning to drive 800+ miles Thursday so I decided a "play day" was in order. We headed to our favorite local bounce house-an indoor play area with lots of inflatable bounce castles and slides. She played happily with several other new friends while Mark and I watched. Just before we headed out the door for lunch, the little girl Mallory has spent the bulk of her time with, came running up and said, "she's crying. You need to come."

Yes, she was definately crying. She told me through the screams that her arm hurt but wouldn't let me touch her. When she would let me touch her sleeve, I gently raised it and saw a ping pong ball size welt behind her elbow that isn't normally there. At that moment I knew we were in for a cast. I didn't know we would be meeting a pediatric orthapedist and scheduling surgery later in the afternoon.

After a phone call to the peditrition asking where to take her (the office or ER) we arrived at our doctor's office for an x-ray. After the pain of breaking her arm, moving it to the technion's specifications was HARD. At one point through her tears, she excalimed, "NO THANK YOU."

After the serveraity of the injury was determined, and phone calls to several specialists completed, we were on our way to Vanderbielt Children's hospital to meet a new doctor. I had no idea how thankful I would be to have that hospital 25 minutes away. I am still thankful that Ben was intown that day (not gauranteed) and able to meet us at the doctor's office. I am also thankful that my sweet friend Rachael was able to meet us and take Mark home to nap and eat and play until we got home at 11pm.

Upon arrival at Vandy, we were re x-rayed (not any more fun the second time,) and almost immeadately saw Dr. Keith (Douglas,) the resident, who asked several questions, did some tests (moving her hand) and Dr. Lovejoy who explained more about the surgery. There were a few tense moments when we thought the surgery might have to be delayed overnight (no eating or drinking before general anesthisia.) 

Then we met my very FAVORITE person at the hospital. The child-life specialist. Sadly, neither Mallory nor I can remember her "real" name, I've come to think of her as our angel. She talked to Mallory about the surgery in words that communicated on her level. She had a great box with a new stuffed bear for Mallory to keep, oxygen masks to hold and try on both the bear and Mallory (you will remember my girl is TERRIFIED of masks.) Also in the wonderful box, flavored lip gloss. Mallory got to smell them all and choose which flavor to put inside the mask. And finally some SUPER COOL flashcards. They had pictures of the waiting rooms, and the beds on wheels, the doctors and nurses with funny hats and masks. Everything Mallory might see or wonder about was covered. I think I learned as much as she did and it was SO helpful to both of us.

Our "angel" took us to the cast room where Mallory got a splint. This is the only other time she cried-when I choose to cut her new purple shirt off rather than try to take it off! The splint helped stabalize her arm while we waited for surgery. Then our child-life specialist/angel walked us to the surgical waiting room and showed us the fish tank. I'm not sure what happened to her after that, I vaguely remember saying thanks you and goodbye. I wish I could tell her what a blessing she is and how much easier and less scary she made the whole process for Mallory (and me.) 

The surgery was, thankfully, shorter than forcast. The eons that passed between when they took Mallory away and when we got to see her afterwards were made easier by our sweet friend Ms. Sara. Ms Sara is Mallory's Sunday school teacher. All I can say is that she is a HUGE blessing to us and Mallory and everyone who is blessed to know her. I thank God for her weekly and Mallory prays for her by name almost as often. She arrived just as we were looking for a place to wait.

After it was done and we got to see her, the reality began to sink in a bit more. Mallory's arm was put back  together by three 4 inch pins, and covered in a purple (what other color??) cast. It was still all sureal, but we got to sit with her and hold her fingers as she came out of the ansethia. We were able to see that we could take her home that night. And after a bit we did. As we drove away from the hospital, she said, "I like that place, nothing hurts there."

The next day was hard. Mallory was SORE and scared and tired. The enormity of it all begin to hit her. The cast was heavy and it scared her. Her memories of the doctors, and nurses and anthesiologists began to surface and her version of the tale began to come out. Some sweet friends dropped by to say hi and hug on her and play (thank you Cook family!) We began navigating the whole winter cast warderobe as well as discovering the joys of narcotic pain meds. We said countless prayers of thanksgiving for friends who came to help and for the family that dropped holiday plans and flew here to bring Christmas. Did you remember that we were to drive to TX for Christmas? Santa was planning to see us there! Nonnie and Pape arrived in time to hold us and play and deliver the children's gifts.

I am still amazed two weeks later how brave and strong Mallory was and is. Several people have asked me how did I do. All I can say is that when your 4 year old is braver than you are, you can't break down. We are so fortunate to live in a place where virtually instant medical attention is avaliable. I just can't get past this fact. Some HUGE percentage of the world's population doesn't have Tylenol, much less x-ray machines, Loratab or pediatric orthopedists. I will never take it for granted again.