Happy Birthday Gampa!

Sleeping Beauty

Have I mentioned that we've been having trouble getting Tessa to stay in her room and go to sleep? Naptime is a distant memory, quiet time is never quiet and bedtime is hit or miss. Sometimes, Tessa crashes the minute her head hits the pillow. Other times, we find her in random places at all hours of the night. This is how I found her tonight.

Last night I sat in her room and cuddled her just like I did when she was a bitty baby, only now her long legs take up the whole chair. Staring at my beautiful baby I thought, it's moments like this that I never want to forget.

Loves music, loves to dance

It's a pretty normal thing for my family to randomly bust out in song and do a little impromtu dance. Ryan will surprise me with a slow dance in the kitchen. Tessa and my mom are the most energetic dancers and it makes me smile to see them waltz around the living room together dipping and twirling. Anabelle participates in the exciting potty dance whether she wants to or not. But, this week it was Granny kicking up her heels with Tessa while I made dinner. When I was little, I used to love when Granny would dance with me. I'm so thankful she's still able to do it with my daughter.

After the dancing, these two girls settled down to read about princesses. Sweet.

A Broken Wing

My sweet angel had her first trip to the emergency room this week-end. Tessa's official diagnosis was Nursemaid's Elbow, a subluxation of the head of her right radius (dislocated elbow). She is FINE now but we learned that it is apparently very easy to dislocate a three year old's elbow. I had never even heard of this condition before it happened to my friend a couple of weeks ago. And then, lo and behold, it happens to us too.

The injury occurred while we were getting Tessa dressed for church. She cried and told us her arm hurt but then seemed to get over it. But she refused to use her right arm at all which, I now know, is a classic sign. I wondered if her shoulder was out of joint so I gave her Motrin and decided to watch it. This is what happens when your mom is a nurse, you don't always get much sympathy. So we went to church and about our usual Sunday activities but Tessa's arm didn't get any better. By the time we arrived at G&G's house that afternoon my poor baby was walking with her arm clutched at her side like a little birdie with a broken wing. Pitiful.

It's at this point that we call the pediatrician and head to the ER. Tessa is an awesome patient, happily sitting and coloring (with her left hand) while we wait. After an exam, four x-rays and a hefty dose of Motrin she is cleared to go home. She had popped her elbow back in place all on her own. Now, two days later, it's like it never happened. I am amazed at her resiliency.

Furman University

A big thank you to our friends who gave us great tickets to the Furman game! The weather was absolutely gorgeous, we couldn't have asked for a better day to take Tessa to her very first football game. She was adorable cheering and clapping and dancing to the band music. She kept singing "take me out to the ball game" which cracked me up. (She also sings this when I read about Cinderella going to the ball.) You can tell Daddy's favorite sport is baseball.

We made it to the third quarter before Tessa got too restless to stay in the stands. We wished the Paladins luck and went for a walk around the gorgeous campus.

Tessa climbed the spiral staircase in the tower which is not at all child friendly, liked to give me a heart attack. Then she fed her goldfish to one of the swans. Those birds are huge up close! My favorite part was the romantic rose garden. Furman ended up winning the game and we had a pretty perfect fall day.