I mentioned yesterday that Reagan broke her arm Friday night. It was a very interesting end to a pretty interesting day. After returning from strawberry picking, which included almost running out of gas and finding out our next possible city of residence, we prepared for our Pity Party. We had invited neighbors over for an evening of grilling and chilling where everyone could jokingly commiserate with us since we’re one of the few families who still don’t know (officially) where they’re moving to next.
We set up our grill out front and had a nice relaxing evening with some friends. Don’t let the fact that our grill was out in the driveway affect your opinion of us…we’re in the south. We do it the southern way. We have a nice, big, beautiful backyard; everyone does in this neighborhood, but we all seem to congregate in front yards. I should have had Ashlyn out in nothing but a diaper; that would have truly completed the WT picture. No, what truly completed that picture was Reagan running down to the sidewalk to chase and catch grasshoppers.
She was playing peacefully by herself when all of the sudden a brown spider with yellow stripes on its legs (her words) jumped at her threatening to maim and dismember her (my words). She turned to run from it, took only several steps and fell hard…knee, right arm, chin…kind of a rolling motion. Du ran over to check on her; she was squealing pretty loudly. We, however, don’t really know when the squeal represents real pain or perceived pain so he tried to calm her down and took her inside to assess the situation. By this time it was already close to her bedtime and she was saying she was tired so he put her to bed. We didn’t need a cranky kid interrupting our awesome WT Pity Party anyway.
Later that night we heard her crying from her bedroom. She was afraid the cats, who were jumping up onto her bed, were going to touch her arm. She normally loves to have the cats bunk with her so we knew something wasn’t quite right. After checking the arm we could tell it was swollen slightly and was definitely tender to the touch. The loving mother that I am, I decided to solve the situation by taking her to the emergency room. If it wasn’t broken then she’d learn her lesson (the lesson of overreacting to smallish situations) by being scared out of her wits through the ER experience. If it was broken, well, then we needed to be there anyway.
Upon leaving the house I smiled inwardly to myself, congratulating myself that we were heading to the ER before all the drunk idiots had a chance to injure themselves on a Friday night. It was 10:30pm. We checked in at 10:45. We weren’t called back until 1 freaking 20 in the morning. I guess all the drunk idiots get started early in Montgomery. Probably in their driveways, grilling. Oh, by the way, I am in no way implying there was imbibing going on here. There was no drunken neglect of our children. We are not that WT.
I need to wrap this up. After a five hour ER visit we found out her arm was indeed broken. At this point I was super proud of Reagan because she was completely calm and collected throughout the whole ER experience, even when the doctors were poking and prodding and twisting her arm around. We couldn’t get the cast on until Monday…and that’s a story I could only cuss to tell. Our appointment was at 1:00 and we weren’t seen until 3:00. Livid. That’s all I can say.
Reagan got her choice of colors for her cast. I think everyone that knew her thought she’d go for hot pink. I would have. No, she chose red:
And this is the only picture I’ve gotten of it so far. Aren’t they the cutest! The old me would have had her pose outside, inside, out back, pretending to dunk it in the tub, pretending to do a headstand. Now? I catch her climbing out of the truck before life speeds by at 90 to nothing. We have no idea how long she’ll have to keep it on. We go back in two weeks for them to x-ray it to see how the bone is healing. Please pray that it’s healing correctly. She’s having to miss her last two swimming lessons, and the YMCA is graciously allowing her to make those up once the cast comes off. She’s also not going to be able to perform the gymnastics and baton portion of her recital this Saturday. She’ll still be able to do the jazz and tap though. She’ll be the one everyone will notice (proud, dance mother moment here. Wait, I am NOT a dance mom).
P.S. The moral of the story is don’t grill in your front yard. Grill out back with the grass. That way when your kid decides to chase and run from bugs s/he will not break a bone on the pesky cement.
Not So SAHM 
For some reason, Dad’s oft repeated saying that you shouldn’t be afraid of spiders and freak out when you see them is not taking. Yes, I tell her that she should move “smartly” away from Black Widows and Brown Recluses but that’s it. Let the rest do their thing and eat the annoying bugs…
Honey, I love you…but you *are* in Alabama and not Mississippi (I’ll give Georgia a break — just for youo)…you don’t grill out in the front yard…you only sit in your plastic chairs under the trees with fans watching everyone else in your front yard…you grill in the back yard, so the rest of the neighborhood can not see you burn your food or catch the grill on fire…or your child run around in her diaper! Sorry R broke her arm…Girly Girl broke her elbow @ 18 months old….I still have the teeny tiny cast! It is so cute, and not smelly! (I aired it out and then put it in a zip loc back with a bar of soap) *not* WT at all!!! 😉
Oh, Du, I run away from any type of bug that gets within a close distance…you know, one that I can actually see.
I am proud of Reagan! She is such a big girl! I am sorry she had to break her arm (no surprise chasing bugs!). 😦 But now she will have a story when people start talking about broken bones. Everyone needs one!
Good color choice, she must want to be wonder woman when she grows up!
Part of me wants to be all, “Aww, poor Reagan!” but I can’t imagine a better I-broke-my-arm story. She’ll have fun telling this one for years to come…
I saw in your “about me” that you liked commenters and subscribers? Well, I found your blog through a blog of a blog and I am enjoying your last few posts. Being a mom of three little girls myself I am relating to your stories (the having to pee and then falling asleep rings VERY true)–although I definately do not grill in my front yard LOL I find you very funny and will continue to follow if that is okay with you to get a good laugh now and again! Glad I found you 🙂
Aghhh! A broken arm! I love that you and Du were so calm about it. The first time Mikey gets hurt Josh will probably call an ambulance, or 911. What is your emergency? My son fell down! Hee hee.
Kudo’s to Reagan on the awesome cast 🙂
Now, go gander upon my new banner and all its patriotic glory!
Man, that picture looks familiar! I had a cast that size when I broke my elbow the first time, when I was 6. Had that thing on for SIX WEEKS! (That wasn’t my summer cast though. Luckily, that one was just a wrist and was a much shorter cast.)
She’s a super trooper. But don’t worry. Kids have 5 bazillion bones (that fuse together as we age) so the chances that they’ll break one or more are not in your favor (WT party not withstanding.) So don’t pick on yourselves over it. Just glad she’s OK and besides, that brigh-colored cast is a genuine conversation starter!
I hope this is her last one…. I wound up having three I think throughout my childhood. And one was from simply running across the street! Good for her for being so calm at the ER!
Benjamin broke his arm in the fall…jumping off a slide at school during a game of freeze tag. Anyway, he also could not get a cast until the next day. Thankfully, it was a not a weekend. I was so irritated. A kid breaks their arm–seems like they should get a cast.
I hope Reagan recovers quickly. Benjamin was supposed to wear his for 4 weeks and it turned out to be six. We have lovely cross marks on the wood of our kitchen table where he sits–a little souveneir. Sounds like she was a trooper!
I linked from “Best Posts.” Thanks for this service, and for picking “The Jenny Tree.”
What a story here about Reagan! What a tough girl! I have two daughters, and Reagan reminds me of one of mine. Sounds like she has a high tolerance for pain. Mine does. She broke her hand in two places in her first high school basketball game. She had surgery and six screws but healed quickly enough to play again before the season was over. In her first game back she hurt her finger, maybe broke it, but wouldn’t tell anyone lest she couldn’t play again. That’s tough, and sounds like Reagan has that spirit, too!
Oh, to be in the Southern US, sipping mint juleps under the magnolia tree next to the ’48 Ford lawn ornaments!
Honey, you grill anywhere you want to ! That’s what makes you special!
I came from ‘best posts’ – choosing the cast is pretty cool. My daughter wears leg splints, which come in a variety of alarming designs. I dread the choosing moment.
Ain’t nothing wrong with being WT, but don’t go to the ER in Montgomery. The one up in Prattville is much faster (trust me) even with the driving time. Been there, done that.
How is your daughter’s arm doing? Kristin is hanging in there with her injuries, getting therapy, but not missing a game yet. She won her first varsity game (as a pitcher) the other night. She had 3 JV wins, too. I have a brief “interview” posted with her from the other night after she hit a triple.