Two crazy, eventful weeks...

Well, first, the good news: We're having another girl!! Isn't that fun?! Sophie was a delightful baby, and we're sure her baby sister will be just as lovely and fun. Just as a hint at how she might look (if she's anything like her big sister - and so far the kids tend to look very similar), here's an old favorite of mine:



Isn't that tender?

Anyway, the ultrasound also showed a healthy looking heart, brain, spine, etc. (in as much as they could tell). We always get very anxious about the baby until the movements become consistent and until we've had the ultrasound. We feel very blessed that she looks well so far. We hope she'll continue on that way. We have a few thoughts on names, but we're open to any suggestions.

On the day following the ultrasound and the exciting news, however, we had a day full of stress and sadness. Our little Ian broke his leg. I know, it's terrible, and I was very humbled in knowing that I wasn't watching him better. He was playing in the kitchen and sitting backwards in one of the dining room chairs with his legs through the space in the bottom. The chair then fell back and pinned his legs. I was upstairs gathering laundry, distracted by something stressful and taking too long to gather things, when I heard the crash. I knew from his cry, the position of his legs, and the look on his face that I'd blown it. We got him in to his doctor who referred him for an x-ray at the hospital. It wasn't a terrible fracture (as if any fracture in the leg of a 15 3/4 month old is anything but terrible). It was a small "buckle" in his right tibia. Dr. Zollo got him into a splint that day, and we were scheduled to see an orthopedic doctor a week later to get a cast, which he'd probably wear for 6 weeks. The good news, to our surprise, was that the doctor took a good look at the x-ray of the fracture, examined the great splint Dr. Z had done for him, and determined that 3 weeks should be sufficient time for the fracture to heal. He also felt that the splint was good enough that a cast would be unnecessary. So we are scheduled to come back next Thursday, October 15th, and Dr. Schow will x-ray Ian's leg to see if it has healed. He hopes that Ian will be well enough to be without the splint from then on. We all hope so. Ian has done very well considering, but he misses his freedom (as he daily demonstrates by walking around on his splinted leg - Dr. Schow said this is okay). We miss his skinny right leg and being able to bathe him without plastic bags over his leg. (And Ian tends to have a number of messy diapers a day, and frequent rinsing/bathing usually helps...)

I guess that's what has gotten most of our attention these past couple of weeks. It has been humbling. We are blessed, and Ian's broken leg was a wake up call that I often allow myself to get distracted from what's most important and focus on less important matters. We/I can just count our blessings that his injury wasn't worse.

On a lighter note, I read a fabulous book called The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. If you find European culture and history interesting, and if you like vampire novels, you might really enjoy this one. The writing is fantastic, and the storyline is told in such a creative, fascinating way. And, no offense to Twilight fans, this book is no Twilight. This book eats Stephanie Meyers and her whole series for breakfast - no joke. Bram Stoker's Dracula (which is mentioned repeatedly in this book), while being clever and fun and a novelty for its time, is a snack next to this one. The Historian is just over 900 pages long of relatively fine print, and I'm not the quickest reader I know. So it took me about 9 days to get through it, but I LOVED it. It's definitely a new favorite of mine, and I expect to read it many times more. If you ever read it, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

Lastly, I finally made a start on my speed-reading class this week, and I'm hopeful it will help. I'm very interested in getting a masters degree someday, and I think I'll need to be a better reader if I'm to prepare for the G-SAT, etc. My only complaint is that I'm supposed to do much of the next assignment sitting at a table or desk with both feet on the floor, finger tracing while reading at least 30 minutes a day for 5 consecutive days. I never read sitting at a table. It's always in my bed, and frankly I'm pretty pooped in the evening (which is the only time I'll be able to commit to the course). But I must finish the course before the holidays hit in full swing, or I'll be in big trouble with BYU Independent Study. Well, either that or I'll have lost $40 and won't be any faster a reader. Either way, I need to get cracking!!