An update....it's not short!

Well it has been a month since I blogged and most of you know how Joe has been doing and all the chaos that went along with his injury just in case you haven't heard the news this is the latest and greatest. July 8th Joe had reconstructive surgery to repair all of the damage that was done. Before the surgery the plan was to put two titanium plates in his face to hold the bones together -one on his orbital bone (above the eye) through a cut just above his eyeborw and one on the zygoma (below the eye) by going in through the lower eyelid (not fun) and to make an incision at his hairline on the left of his head to repair the cheekbone. The day before surgery the doc told us the front of Joe's cheekbone looked like cornflakes so they were probably going to go in through the mouth and explore the area to see if it needed a plate also. After surgery he ended up with three plates and incisions above his eyebrow, in his eyelid and in his mouth between the gums and his lip. The removed some loose pieces of bone that were just "floating around" in there (ew!) and put in the three plates. The surgery went very well. The worst part was that they had sewed his left eye shut so the lower eyelid wouldn't droop and to prevent infection. When Joe came around he couldn't open his right eye either -it was too hard to do that without wanting to open the left one which caused him pain when his eye was moving all around SO they patched his right eye which meant he was blind. Very unexpected and so disorienting for him. I had my hands full those next couple of days. Haylee got really sick too. She was running a fever of 103 pretty much the entire day of his surgery and a couple of days after. There was no way I could let her get Joe sick so she lived upstairs and he lived downstairs. The night of his surgery I was running up and down getting her what she needed and taking care of Joe on one of my trips upstairs Haylee said "Mom, I have been trying not to call you a lot because I know it must be hard taking care of TWO people especially when one of them is upstairs and one of them is downstairs." she was so cute and SO GOOD to just rest and watch TV while I took care of Joe. 2 days after surgery Joe got the stitch out of his eyelid and was able to see again pretty well, he had some double vision which was normal but that cleared up in a couple of days. Besides the follow up doctors visits which all went well, that brings us to now. He is STILL on a soft foods diet!!! Until the 22nd of August so three more weeks, SO NOT FUN!! He is so tired of eating the same food all the time we are trying to find new things he can eat but it is pretty limiting since he cannot chew AT ALL per the doctors instructions that even micro movment of his bones can cause the healing to take longer/not go exactly right. His face gets sore if he talks and/or laughs too much but all in all he has done well. It was very, very hard for him to be blind. Joe is a mover and a do-er and HATES sitting still he is also extremely independent and hates relying on anyone, even me. We made it through and I am so grateful to our friends who are like family to us. I have never felt more supported in my life. The guys Joe works with and their wives are some of the awesomest people I know. They were here every day when he was so laid up just chatting and keeping him in good spirits, they went to the store for me and offered to do anything else they could think of. I am so, so, so grateful to them.
Tomorrow we leave on a quick trip to South Carolina. We are going to meet some friends at a lake there for some fun in the sun and relaxing. I can't wait!!! It has been both the longest and quickest summer I can ever remember! Hope you are all having a wonderful summer too! Happy August!!!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

It's a good thing I changed the name of the blog to Never a Dull Moment because that describes our life to a T!!! :) Now for the title of the post, THE GOOD...Joe is going to be okay.
Now for THE BAD on Monday night Joe was playing a softball game with his squadron. About halfway through the game Joe was on second and the ball got hit out to center field. Joe made it to third and was headed home the catcher was on home plate (he should've been in front of it) I saw Joe running as fast as he could and the thought ran through my mind he better be careful or he was going to collide with the catcher. From my view Joe got to home plate and then there were people kind of gathering and my friend told me I should go over to where Joe was he was hurt -she was sitting right next to me I have no idea how she knew/saw that it was him, so I started walking toward the dugout and he was walking towards me I could see that his face was red and that his eyes were pouring water and he looked a little dazed, my first assumption was that he got poked in the eye. When he got to me I could see that his face was concave on the side a bit. Mione -my friend saw it at the same time and said "that's not good take him to the ER- just go!" about then Joe's nose started to bleed I still wasn't sure where/how he had been hit but we took off. Haylee was there so I ran to her and told her to stay with Mione. As we walked to the truck the pain started to hit Joe and he was freaking out a bit just cussing a lot and moaning -that freaked me out! I am always the spaz and he is so calm no matter what so that was scary. We rushed to the ER -it's only a mile away thank goodness- I pulled right up to the doors (I have never done that before) and jumped out got him out and inside filled out paperwork as quick as I could my hands were shaking so bad, I just kept telling them over and over that he was in severe pain and they needed to hurry. On the drive over I asked what happened and he said he was hit with the ball, basically the ball was thrown from center field it came in so fast -the guys who were standing right there said it sounded like a ball hitting a mitt when a major leauge pitcher throws it to the catcher. A loud smack! They got Joe right back in a room and within 15 minutes or so a doc had looked at him and they were giving him IV pain meds. Things calmed down then, I have never in my life seen ANYONE in that much pain. It was horrible. They did a CAT scan of his face and called the oral maxillofacial surgeon to evaluate him and decide if they needed to do surgery right away. Basically all the bones in the left side of Joe's face are broken/fractured. His brow bone is fractured, his orbital bone is fractured, and his cheek bone is broken - that is why there is an indentation in his face, and his sinuses are also out of whack. After the evaluation from the oral surgeon he said no surgery that night -only 20% of facial fractures require surgery he said Joe probably would need it at least for the cheek bone. They let us go home about 1 am and we saw the oral surgeon again at 9am. He said Joe definitely needs surgery. There are four main places that that part of the bone connects to the skull and Joe's is broken in three so he needs to go in and repair the fractures to stabalize the bone. He said we were very lucky the ball didn't hit him in the temple and that there was no damage to his eye. He saw an opthamologist this morning to check his eye thoroughly and it looks great! His vision is the same in both eyes. That is such a huge blessing. I am so grateful to our friends here. The waiting room in the ER had no less than 15 guys in it who wanted to see Joe and make sure he was okay. I had a ton of offers to take Haylee and help in any other way needed. We are so blessed! JOe will have surgery next Wendesday so I'll update after that he has never been under before and there is a very very very small risk to his vision so send your prayers our way.

And now for the ugly...well not really but here you go!

You can see the indentation on the left side of his face.

The blood in his eye will go away in a couple of weeks

The same picture as above but labeled so you can see where the fractures are.

He was in more pain today than yesterday but the swelling has gone down. He doesn't have feeling in his cheek or his upper lip on that side. Hopefully that will come back soon. I think you can click on the pictures to make them bigger. I'll keep you posted.

No more braces!

Hooray! The best news yet! HD got his braces off today!! He was so exctied! So am I after our four week (actually 7 weeks since D will be in Utah) he gets to go back at 3 months, then every 6 months. Oh how I will NOT miss the dentist/orthodontists office! :) I am ready to spend my Wednesdays doing something else...okay it was only one appointment a month but still I am happy to be done with it! Not as happy as D though! After he got them off he said "Mom, there is only one thing I can't wait to eat. Your caramel. And I can't wait until Christmas!" I will be making him a batch in the next day or two.

Here he is in the car just before his appointment At home and all smiles with those gorgeous straight teeth!

He has his retainers on in this picture...You don't see them? Look close!...still no? That is because his retainer is an invisiline retainer. He does have a permenant metal retainer on his bottom teeth but it is hidden behind his teeth. You can't even tell he has anything in his mouth! It is fantastic!!!
Super smile

So glad we are done! At least with one kid anyway! Sierra is good to go no braces for her, Haylee however is headed in the orthodontics direction. We'll have to see if her mouth can grow big enough for all of her teeth, with as much as she talks you would think it would be HUGE! :)

Our new bedding!

Okay this picture is completely out of order but I need to get Haylee in bed! The armouir (sp?) in the corner used to be the center of our entertainment center now it is our tv/clothes holder :)

I am so excited!! We got this new bedding set this week and I love it! We had Americana in our room and I love that too but I was ready for a change. We rearranged our furniture last week and that made me even more excited to get new stuff. I got the whole 10 peice set from Penney's for 160.00 +free shipping! Joe saw it in a catalog but he hasn't seen it on the bed yet -he has been TDY this week. He gets home tomorrow and I really hope he likes it! I painted the "artwork" above the bed

See? ignore the weird white marks! and the black smudge - that is the spot where our tv sat on top of our old dresser and we would turn it back and forth depending on where we were in the room! :)

from the foot of the bed...

looking in from the door

It is important to note that Joe's dad, my talented and fantastic father-in-law, built every piece of furniture in our room! The bed was our wedding present, the nightstands were "just because", the cedar chest was for our five year anniversary, and we paid him (way to cheaply I'm sure) for the entertainment center. I am so thankful to him for all of his hard work!

Ticket update: I don't think I'm going to get one I have a couple of friends who frequent that intersection and have had the camera go off while doing the exact same thing as me and they have never recieved a ticket. So I'll keep my fingers crossed that that is the case with me as well! Have a great weekend everyone!

I think I'm getting a TICKET!!!

Today I was taking Sierra to Bolling AFB in DC so she could sleep over at her friend Tasha's house -they are doing a walk for childhood cancer research in the morning - ANYWHO I was at an intersection turning left onto Firth Sterling Ave coming off of Suitland parkway (which I know means nothing to you non MD/DC readers but just so everyone else can get the picture) :) There were two cars in front of me and the green arrow came on they went through the green arrow went away and the light was just green. I edged into the intersection a bit so I could turn left when there was a break in traffic. I had to edge out a tad more than I normally would because there are train tracks that run on that side of the intersection and obviously you never stop on train tracks. SO there was never a break in the traffic so I waited until the light turned yellow and the oncoming traffic stopped and I made my turn as I turned I saw a white flash and Haylee said "hey that light just blinded me!" I knew right then it was a red light camera that went off. WHAT THE HECK? I just turned left out of the intersection!! I was NOT running a red light! I have not had a ticket since October of 1999!!! Almost TEN YEARS! I am so torked! I am planning on fighting the ticket but I'm not sure how that will turn out. I always hear people complaining about the red light cameras and I think "Dude, if you run a red light you run it! You SHOULD get a ticket!" the people arguing against them always say they shouldn't be legal because you have the right to face your accuser or whatever it is. I didn't really agree with that until now! If it had been a cop there, well first off he wouldn't have given me a ticket I didn't do anything wrong, but if he had for some reason pulled me over I would have argued my case and asked him what I should have done because when the light turned yellow my options were to a) back up onto the railroad tracks or b) stay where I was and block traffic coming from both sides ---neither one of those was a safe option so I did what every other person in America does which is to go through with my turn when oncoming traffic comes to a stop so you don't get pulverized... I mean seemed like a logical enough reason to me. Anyway, thanks for listening/reading... :) I needed to vent. I will be so upset if I have to pay this ticket! Who knows maybe the lens of the camera was all wet or fogged up or something and I'll never see the ticket in the mail. But I doubt that will be the case :( .... so wish me luck in fighting it and I'll keep you posted or call you from the slammer when they haul me off because I won't stop arguing my point. Ha ha ha! Wish me luck people! :P

Haylee funnies...and a quick update

Just a couple and just so I don't forget them. We have had another busy month or so starting off with our ward (congregation at church) being combined with another ward. So I was the Primary president in our old ward and then everyone got released and I got called to be the Young Women's president in our new ward!!! CRAZY! Could have knocked me over with a feather when the bishop asked me to do it....our conversation went like this:
Keep in mind the whole time I was thinking I was going to get re-called into primary in some capacity.
Bishop: We want you to be the new Young Women's president.
Me:.....okaaayyyy...(I had just said a prayer in the car that I would do whatever they asked me to do even if it was being the bathroom monitor... :) -
Bishop: Wow! That was easy!
Me: the church is true right?
Bishop: you just keep telling your self that.
LOL!! Too funny! I am enjoying my calling and mostly don't feel like I am drowning anymore. It has been a really crazy time though!!! Combining wards is not easy! :)

Then our very best friends moved away! :( So hard to be in the military and have to say good-bye. I cried way too much! I miss you Stevens family!!!

Right after that we went to California to see my Dad and my brother, his wife, and my nephews came to join us. We did all the fun Cali stuff and were very sad when our week was over. (I will post some pictures just not tonight!)

Then mom and Krissie came for the air show. They were here about 6 days which was great but it's never long enough. We had such a great time.

The day after they left I got to see some old friends from California when they came here on their 31 state road trip! They are crazy and so much fun. It is so fantastic to see old friends and pick up right where you left off.

Other than that just busy with the end of school and church stuff and photography stuff and going out on the boat - A LOT! Never a dull moment and lots of fun! That is going to be the new name of my blog I think!!! Quick family notes Joe is TDY this week in Texas, I'm busy with photography and church, HD gets his braces OFF in 9 days!!!!! Yahoo!, Sierra wants to get her hair cut again -she is staying short! :) , and Haylee is a character as usual. Haylee funnies that I can remember at the moment -the other night she was in the shower and she said "Mom for some reason when I am near you I feel giddy" -she is an old soul that girl and so sweet when she wants to be! Then on Sunday we were talking about church and she said "Hey! Father's Day is in three weeks, we talked about it at church today" I asked her what we should get for dad and she said "hmm...probably something from the Dollar Tree" She is her father's daughter!!! :) There have been many more that I just can't remember I really need to be better about writing them down! (I say that all the time! I guess I need to just carry around a pad of paper! She says at least one per day I swear!)
Happy June everybody! :)

Happy Easter

We had a beautiful Easter Sunday. Lot's of sunshine but it was chilly! We enjoyed a nice morning finding eggs and then we went to church. We went over to our friends house for dinner it was a fun evening. :) Hope you all had a wonderful day as well! Here are a couple of pictures before church. The egg hunting pictures will be posted sometime this week...probably! :)