Doctor, Doctor

This past Sunday morning while the kids were eating breakfast, Isabella jumped off the kitchen stool, slipped on her sock-feet and fell on the hardwood floor, and hurt her elbow. She was hurting but willing to continue to get ready for church until I asked her to raise her arm to get dressed. Poor little thing was in terrible pain and she began to sob. We called Brad to tell him we wouldn't be at church and we iced and elevated it. It didn't swell, nor were there any bruises on the elbow and although she continued to protect it and seemed to be in some pain with it, she could definitely still move it some too. So, after a couple of days of this TLC for her elbow (and using her "hurt elbow" as an excuse for not cleaning her room and other chores around the house), I was sure she was "milking" this injury. I told her that her elbow seemed fine and that she really needed to stop being dramatic and "pretending" her elbow still hurt. She maintained that her elbow really hurt, so we had a pretty intense discussion about being honest and "not pretending you are hurt to get attention", etc. I knew it couldn't be broken because she could move it and bend it, just not completely. She cried and told me that she was being honest and was very insistant that her arm really did hurt! So today, she was standing with her back facing Brad and he called me over to look at her elbow. I was shocked that her right elbow was HUGE and had new bruising on top!!! Tears began filling up in my eyes and I began apologizing profusely to her about how wrong I had been with her! I just kept saying, "Mommy is sooooo sorry I didn't believe you about your hurt arm!" She then crawled in my lap, put her hands on my face and with the sweetest and most honest and sincere voice said,

"Ohhhhhhh Mommy, don't cry! I am not mad at you. I forgive you for being mean to me about my arm. Sometimes Mommies are not nice to their kids when they think they aren't telling the truth, so I forgive you. So, now you just need to ask Jesus to forgive you for being mean to me. It's okay, Mommy! I love you sooooo much!"

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry some more!! It was so precious, honest and hysterical all at the same time!!! So, I quickly got some more ice packs and "babied" her the rest of the day after awarding myself with the "Mother of the Year" award!!

Later that afternoon, Elijah began to get cranky and feverish. I gave him Tylenol fever reducer and his fever continued to creep to almost 103 degrees, so since it was after hours, Brad told me to take them to a minor emergency clinic that stayed open until 8 pm. Brittany also had a high fever and bad stomach pains, so I dragged her out of bed and hauled her, Elijah and Isabella to the clinic. After waiting passed 8 pm, they finally called for us (thankfully, Brad had met us there after Wednesday evening church!). They x-rayed Isabella's arm, swabbed Elijah's throat and poked and prodded Brittany's veins for bloodwork and after two and a half hours later, we left with a prescription for Elijah's strep throat, 5 prescriptions for Brittany's virus, and Isabella's arm in a sling (with a possible fracture on the growth plate!) They will have their Radiologists read the X-ray and let us know what they find. Everyone came home thoroughly exhausted and feeling "germy"!

I just have a feeling we will all have strep throat before this is all finished!