good as new

 This is not the best picture, but the point is Hazel's left leg. :) She finally pooped, peed and spit up on her cast too many times :) so on Thursday we went to the clinic late in the day for a new one. We got a couple x-rays and what do you know, she's healed and didn't have to get another cast! In the x-rays, you could clearly see new bone (or whatever it is) all the way around the perimeter of the fracture. The doctor was amazed at how fast it healed (only 2 weeks) and so were we! Now Hazel's just wearing band-aids for a few days to remind us which was the broken leg so that we are gentle with it. But she isn't favoring it at all and can go ahead and go back to normal activity. Now maybe this week we can get her crawling. :)

tough girl

Last week we went to the ENT clinic for a consultation for Hazel, and yesterday morning she had tubes put in her ears at Hays Medical Center. We could have waited till the 22nd for the doctor to come to Quinter to do it, but her ear infections are starting to come one right after another (or basically just not go away), and we've been having some rough nights of sleep, so I was feeling bad for her and just wanted to mark it off the list!

So we arrived to the hospital at 7am, Hazel went back to the OR at 7:35am, to the recovery area about 20 minutes later, and returned to me about 8:00. Then she screamed her head off for about 30 minutes. Once she wore down and became more alert, we were in the car and headed home about 8:45. Quick and easy! I felt bad for the rest of the people behind the other curtains in the Outpatient Surgery area having to listen to the screaming, but about the time we were done and leaving, the next baby was waking up from getting tubes in so the screaming started all over again for them anyway. :)

So here is the "before" picture...

 And here is the "after"...

 Of course the true after picture would have been one of her screaming, but my hands were a little full at that time. ;)

The last several nights Hazel has woke up several times crying and thrashing around, but last night there was not one peep the entire night. We'll see what happens tonight, but I really don't think that's a coincidence. :)

spring chicks

 While the tulips were blooming this was our hang out spot when the weather was nice.

 She's just recently started doing the full face squinty smile that some babies do.

 Fun in the sprinkler...

This is Nyla's first year to enjoy something like this. In past years she would always be upset to be sprinkled.

Indoor fun...

 Prunes...

So close to crawling...

handle with care

Here is the basic series of events regarding Hazel's broken leg, from what I understand to be correct.

I took Nyla and Hazel to daycare Thursday morning. I sat Hazel in the Bumbo seat on the counter. I left. I returned home. I received a phone call from the daycare provider 5 minutes after I got home saying that Hazel flopped out of Bumbo seat when she was reaching for something (hadn't done this before, and never had that experience with Nyla) and then fell off counter. She was caught by a daycare staff person so that she did not hit the floor. 

If she had hit the floor, I would have taken her to the doctor right away. But since she didn't, and since she was not even crying anymore when the daycare person called me, I thought it to be a major scare and lesson learned, luckily without consequences. By the end of the day Hazel did not seem herself, however she was just getting a new tooth and starting to get a fever so I attributed any crabbiness to that. The next day she had more of a fever, which I figured was another ear infection so I took her to the doctor because of that. I could tell that her leg was bothering her too that day but I thought she probably just got jerked a little when she was caught or was sore from the fall somehow, or from falling out of the Bumbo, etc. She was happy as happy can be at times so I didn't ever suspect anything serious. I would think a person with a broken bone would be kinda crabby most of the time. I'm sure I would be. So anyway, while we were at the doctor, I asked him to look her over to reassure me that everything was okay so we did an x-ray just to confirm. We went home and I didn't expect to hear anything again. About 4:00 when they called to say we needed to get back in there right away, I still didn't believe she broke her leg. (By the way, she does indeed have another ear infection and tomorrow we have an appointment with an ENT to see if she needs tubes in her ears.)

So back to the accident... Why was she on the counter, you ask? As ridiculous as it may sound, I actually felt like it was the safest place for her to be, temporarily and when someone has an eye on her. It's busy when everyone is arriving in the morning, the staff was tied up at the moment, and I thought for the few minutes while all the kids are together and before more staff arrive, Hazel would be better off up and out of the way (but right near where everyone was) rather than on the floor where she could get run over.

It was my mistake for putting Hazel in the Bumbo seat on the counter. She is getting too tall and too strong for it. However, after getting more details about what happened I'm starting to think that the fall had nothing to do with the actual break. The leg openings of the Bumbo can get a little snug on the baby's legs as they get bigger so that you can't pull them straight out or the seat will get hooked on their legs. You slide them out kind of like a high chair. Hazel's break is right above her knee where that leg opening hits her thigh. When she was reaching for something (which is how she got out), I wonder if one leg came out while the other was still stuck and the weight of her body jerked or twisted it out in such a way that it broke her leg. That really sounds like a freak accident, but it halfway makes sense to me since she didn't fall on the floor or have any bruising and the Bumbo was still sitting upright on the counter when it was all over. I don't know whether that's true or even possible, but I'll definitely think twice when I tell new moms that the Bumbo seat is (was) one of my favorite baby gear items. 

Do we think that the daycare was negligent or not doing their job? Tyler and I are fully supportive of the daycare and their staff. Everyone there is doing a great job and we are happy to take our girls there. People make mistakes and accidents happen. We are fortunate that we can all learn from this without any serious long term consequences. We all feel so bad for Hazel, but she is getting along fine. It's amazing to watch how she deals with obstacles as they come. I think we can learn from that too.

More later...

stepping stones and broken bones

Yep, Hazel broke her leg.  It's her femur right above her knee. The diaper goes over the top of this. It happened on Thursday morning right after I dropped her off at daycare. Didn't take her to the doctor till Friday early afternoon. Got the cast late afternoon.

Despite her new immobility and ear infection, she was still happy as can be that first night and slept all night.

There's always something to blog about. ;) For now that's all I have time for, but there will be more details to come.