Gymnastics

So tonight is Tuesday, and what does that mean? Gymnastics night!! I have to say that I'm glad that this is the last week that Ciara has to sit out due to her injury. This is a good thing because all she does is bug me about how she just wants to do one thing on the bars, or just one thing on the floor. As for Allison, I have a BIG announcement to make!


Allison moved up to level 2!! She is SUPER excited about this. She has worked so hard at this. It hasn't even taken her a year to move up like it usually does. Either she is having too much fun with her little friends to pay attention, or she's off doing her own thing. She has really focused on doing what she is supposed to do and I can't be more happy for her. With this move, there's only 1 level between her and Ciara. I don't think Ciara is to thrilled about this because Alli will have her old coach, and heaven forbid that that happens. Also with level 2, Alli will now have gymnastics on Thursday afternoons instead of Tuesday nights, hooray for me :)

Before Ciara got injured, she did move up a level, kinda....instead of just being in level 3, she's in level 3 competition. She is excited that she will start to compete for trophies, medals, etc. So that means that she got a new coach. She's bummed about that part because she has had the same coach ever since she started and I have to say, that she is a GREAT coach. But she still gets to see her old (favorite) coach since she is still at the same time, and all the kids warm up together.

Dog Bite

***WARNING, THIS POST CONTAINS PICTURES THAT MIGHT DISTURB SOME PEOPLE***
As many of you know, on March 31, Ciara got bitten in the face by a dog. This was very hard on me when I got that phone call saying that Ciara was hurt. I tried my best to keep it together on the phone, but when I heard her screaming in the background, I almost lost it a few times in that brief phone call. Right when I hung up the phone, I completely lost it. I tried calling my Mom, even though I knew she couldn't answer because she was at work. Next I called my Dad, in hysterics I might add, and I could hardly talk. I managed to get out that I really needed him to meet me outside his house so that he could go with me to the E.R. On that very short ride to the hospital, yes I live fairly close to one, my Dad managed to calm me down. He told me that I can't let Ciara see me cry because then she will get more scared herself since I'm breaking down. I have heard that speech before several times in my life. Anyway I dug very deep and pulled myself together because I knew what he was saying was true.
Ciara knows that I can't handle blood that well, so she tried her best to keep her nose and mouth covered. I have to admit I kept it together in the E.R. Until that is, it came to the part where she had to get all stitched up. I had a plastic surgeon come in to fix her up because since it was he face, I really don't want her to have a scar. Anyways, the plastic surgeon noticed that I wasn't going to be able to be in the room while it was going on, so he asked me very nicely to just wait right outside the door in the hall. I knew that I had to otherwise I would be needing to be stitched up myself. While I was in the hall I started to cry. First because I could hear Ciara crying from them trying to numb her up, and second, I couldn't believe what was happening. She was in that room for a good 30 minutes while the surgeon stitched her up. These are the pictures he took before he fixed her. I have not had the strength to see these pictures until today. So here they are:

This is her nose. As you can see, the dog bit right through and that part of her nose could flip up. On the edge of her nostril, where it tore, this is the piece of her nose that he couldn't save


At this angle, you can see her lip and nose,and how swollen they are.







This is what the inside of her upper lip looked like. I'm pretty sure that one of the teeth went all the way through her lip.




I have to say that Dr. Clayton is a very nice, sweet man. He has helped Ciara and I through this horrible situation. He has put up with so many of my questions, and he has put me at ease.
Ciara is dealing with this better and better everyday. She is such a little trooper! I can't believe how much strength she has! She has had nightmares almost every single night, sometimes several times during the night. It was either Thursday or Friday of last week that she actually slept the whole night through! I have to admit that I missed A LOT of sleep along with her, but that one night of sleeping the whole night through was such a blessing! I didn't know how much longer I could go without sleep :)
Anyways a big thank you to everyone for their well wishes! Ciara really appreciated every single one!

Pillows

So last Sunday I took the girls to the doctor because they had a really bad cough, runny nose and they just seemed off. Well that doctor said that they just had colds. I didn't agree, but I don't have a medical degree. Anyways that doctor said that they should sleep with extra pillows so that they can breathe better while they are asleep. Ciara was all for that, Allison not so much. Whenever I went to wake her up, she was about a foot away from the pillows. This is very common since Allison hates pillows, I don't know why but she has never really liked/used them. Thursday came and Allison was still sick and thing were getting worse. I took her to her doctor and she came to the conclusion that she has walking pneumonia. I knew that she just didn't have a stupid cold. We finally got her medicine (the z pack, which is awesome) and her doctor said that she still has to sleep with two pillows until her cough goes away. Lets just say that she still refuses to sleep on two pillows, much less one pillow. Allison was texting my mom (because she thinks that texting is so much 'funner' than just plain old talking) and she told my mom that she hates to sleep on pillows. My mom told her that she would feel better if she listened to what the doctor said and just sleep on two pillows. So she told my mom that she would sleep on two pillows. Now do you think for one second that Allison did that? Heck no she didn't! Once again she was a foot away from the pillows and she actually threw one of them off the bed. I asked her how it was sleeping on her pillows and she goes "I slept very well thank you" What?!? That's right, she's a little liar! I asked her if she was lying, and she said no with the BIGGEST, CHEESIEST, smile ever, and then starts to laugh after. So I just realized that I've been spending money on stupid pillows for her that never gets used. I don't know where she gets it from, but she just hates pillows.

Gymnastics

Well it's Tuesday night, and what does that mean? It's gymnastics night!! The girls are getting ready for their recitals, and they are doing great! Ciara was scared of doing the beam, which I understand because she got hurt the other time. She was on one of the higher beams and she wasn't doing that well. She was scared to do a full handstand, her jumps, and her dismount. She changed beams for one that's closer to the ground and she did so much better! I guess she just has to take baby steps until she feels comfortable again. Ciara just got put into a competition level, and she is way excited that she gets to start to compete to earn medals and trophies. Ciara was doing her bar routine tonight and she did awesome, it was a perfect routine! She had it down pat for a while, but then something happened, I don't know what, but she got sloppy, but not anymore :)

Allison did great tonight also! She was working on the vault and the bars tonight. Usually when she does the vault, she either only jumps with one leg, or she completely jumps over the spring board onto the mat. Well not tonight! Every time she was up she did it perfectly! Then on the bars she did a back hip circle without any help! She was on a roll tonight! Her coach was so impressed and so was I! She is so close to moving up a level.

I am so proud of my girls! They are so awesome!

Friendship

This is awesome! Now that's what I call a true friend! :)

Spring Has Sprung

Spring has sprung.....in Ciara's mouth that is! Hahaha no not really. The other day she had to go back to the orthodontist to get her braces changed/fixed. They gave her a different wire that hold her braces together, and she got to change her band colors. This time she went with a pastel purple and a pastel yellow for Easter. Her teeth are coming along quite well. They're not angled anymore which is awesome! This new wire will help pull them together so she won't have huge gaps in between her teeth. You can compare this pic with the one where she just got them put on, I see a BIG difference :)


As for the real Spring, I wish it would hurry up and get here already. I'm tired of the snow and cold. I can handle rain, but I really don't like when it snows, especially when it snows after the first day of Spring. I'm looking forward to warmer weather, flowers, and of course more photo shoots with my girls. I'm so lookign forward to all those nice things :)

Foot Update

I know y'all have been dying to get an update on the progress of my foot, so here it is :) I have officially been wearing regular shoes to work, and and the weekends...yay for me!!! It's not as bad as it used to be, but it's still not 100%. The thing that hurts me the most is my pinky toe. The scar really isn't healed all the way like my other scares. I got a total of 4 incisions, one on the side of my foot, one on my 4th toe, one on my pinky toe, and one under my pinky toe (that one is to fix my tendon) I still wear tape on my toes because first it pulls my pinky toe straight, since it wasn't before (it was kinda curled under), and when I wear regular shoes, the tape acts as a barrier from my shoe to my scar, so it's not as painful. Granted there are time at work when I'm sitting at my desk and I have one shoe off, but hey, at least its not that stupid ugly surgical shoe thingy :) So here are some pics. This first one is a side view so you can see where they did everything.


This next one is just of the incision on the side of my foot, hasn't it healed nicely? And how about that tape job?!? I did it all by myself :)


This last one is of just my toes. You can't even tell that I had been cut open on my 4th toe...at least I think so :) I have to admit that my pinky has a long way to go, but hopefully it will get there soon.


The only scar that I don't have a pic of is the one under my pinky. First, I just can't get a pic of it, and second, if I did take a pic of it, you couldn't even tell that I was cut open there. Which is a very good thing by me :)

I have to say that I really, really miss wearing high heel shoes. I just love how they look, they make me look taller, and I also love the noise that they make on tile or concrete. So right now I'm stuck wearing flat shoes, but at least I got a cute pair at Target, and they were on sale. Because why would I ever pay full price for a pair of shoes that I will only be wearing for a short period of time :)