What a Wild Weekend!

This picture sums up our Saturday mornings for the last month. This Saturday was no different, N's D-Backs team played the Cardinals. The game was wildly successful and tons of fun to watch. Because it was the last game of the season, it went very smoothly. Most balls were thrown to first base or somewhere close and most batters were able to hit the ball from a pitcher without using the tee! There has definitely been progress made this season! N's goal is always to hit the first pitch, I think he was batting .500 with that yesterday!
This game was especially fun because N had his own cheering section! Nannie, both Aunt M's, and MJ were here visiting for the weekend. We headed out early and walked ourselves, two strollers, and N with his fast moving two-wheeler to the baseball field. Just ask the adults, this was a trek! We made it and N played a great game. Here he is with a big swing!

And waiting for the next batter to advance him to second,

It seems that after each game this season we have had something to rush home for. Not this Saturday, N was free to play at the playground while us ladies rounded up two babies and all of their paraphernalia as well as N's glove, hat, and bat! He was having a great time and I didn't want to rush him. We were making our way to the play area when I look up and see him walking towards me holding his arm and crying! One look at the arm and there was no doubt that it was broken! Unfortunately since this wasn't his first broken arm, I was all too familiar with the look! He had been reaching for the next monkey bar and fell off. We all sprang into action. One of the other tee-ball moms drove N and I home to get our car. We left Nannie and the others to make their way home in an area they weren't overly familiar with, N's bike in tow. Once we got to our house, I loaded N into his seat. As with last time, this was the hardest part. Manoeuvring the seat belt around a broken arm was no easy task. He did so well on the way to the hospital. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a drive under the best of circumstances. Add a nervous Mom, crying boy, and lots of weekend traffic and it gets a little worse. But he was doing well for the first half of the trip, the second half got a bit hairy. As soon as we were in the ED, the nurses immediately assessed him and he got so calm. He rated his pain level 2 out of 10! One nurse thought it necessary to comment on his name, we get that every once in a while but not as often as I thought we would! At any rate, they moved quickly and he was in the orthopedic room in no time. Then it was time for x-rays and more doctors! The team of nurses and doctors all worked so quickly. Unlike his previous broken arm, he hadn't eaten much that morning and so we didn't have to wait 4 hours before he could have the anesthesia to set the arm. Thank goodness he turned down the oatmeal I tried to get him to eat! I was able to stay with him until he was groggy enough to start the procedure. They don't allow parents to be in the room during the reduction because even though the child is mildly sedated, he may still vocalize the pain of the process. So I waited in the waiting room and Nannie and Aunt M arrived with Sweet Baby M. After the reduction, I was able to go back with him and the doctor was just finishing applying the cast. N was so cute as he was coming around from the medication. He said hi to me every couple of minutes as he would remember I was there! He did the same with Nannie as she came in to see him. His wonderful nurse C gave him some medication to curve any nausea caused by the versed and then we were done. We were only there for 3 hours, I am sure that is some kind of record in the world of emergency department visits!
Here he is waiting for the reduction...

We took it pretty easy the rest of the evening. We enjoyed supper at home and then took our visitors on a short driving tour of Milwaukee. F showed them all of our favorite spots in the city and we stopped at Downtown Books, a spot not to be missed. The store is guaranteed to have a used copy of any book you could want. It is three solid floors of packed catacombs of books. One could easily get lost never to be discovered again. I think there would be worse ways to go than to perish lost in a book store!

Sunday morning we headed to church were N answered at least 100 times what happened to his arm. It seems many young children have met the same fate while playing on the monkey bars!  Every doctor and nurse commented, "Oh, those monkey bars will get you every time!" Which leads me to wonder why they are still included on playgrounds?!?! After church, we headed to his favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse! It has always been his top pick anytime we eat out! We were celebrating what would have been Grand Nan's 84th birthday! No party is complete without cake, so we headed back to our house for cake and a cuppa! It was the perfect end to a lovely visit with family, broken arm excluded!

Talk to you again soon, hopefully without any stories that include emergency rooms!