Baby Elbows, Dinner, and Shoes

I had quite the eventful day yesterday. My morning was relaxed, but then I went over to my mom's to watch some cable tv. (yes, it's true. We have rabbit ears so about once a week, I take the kids over to my parents to watch Dora and Blues Clues and Diego, etc. Meanwhile, I sit on mom and dad's bed and watch, like 4 cooking shows in a row.) Anyway, I wanted to go to Target on our way home so we left shortly after lunch. Brenna was playing with Daniel in the backseat and she accidentally pulled his arm too hard. She knew she'd pulled too hard right away and immediately said, "Mommy! I'm so sorry! I think I pulled Daniel's arm too hard." Though he cried out, he seemed ok so we went on to Target.

About an hour later, we were at home and I realized that his left arm was hanging limp and he wasn't using it. Every single time I lifted it, he would cry out in pain. So I called my sister (a first year pediatric resident, who just happened to be in town for a few days) and she guessed that he had what's called Nurse Maids Elbow. In other words, Brenna pulled his elbow out of socket! Ouch!!!!

I met my sister at her mother-in-law's house and oh-my-goodness you guys...I watched her literally pull and wrench his little elbow back into place while he screamed. It was awful! Thankfully it was an immediate fix and when we put him on the floor, he began crawling right away. His little arm gave out on him the first few times but he quickly regained strength and was crawling everywhere. Huge sigh of relief. I really thought we were headed in the ER direction. She saved me a TON of money!!! Daniel is fine now. He was a little fussy last night, but there is no indication of lingering pain in his arm. And poor Brenna has apologized so many times, I've had to tell not to say she's sorry one more time!

Last night was a girls night for our small group. Two of our girls are within weeks of giving birth and we wanted to celebrate with them before they become confined by nursing schedules and exhaustion. There were nine of us and we had planned to go to The Cheesecake Factory. Now my previous experience there wasn't great, but this wasn't my Blessing. (sidenote: In our small group, we give a shower for the first baby and a Blessing for any after that. We think each baby deserves a celebration, but showers just get too expensive!) Once we arrived at The Cheesecake Factory, I went in to put our names on the list. The hostess asked me to step to the side and a manager would be out to speak to me. I kinda felt like I was in trouble! Anyway, he came over and informed me that there would be an HOUR AND HALF TO TWO HOUR WAIT for non-smoking and at least 45 minutes for smoking! Good grief! Did he think we wanted to spend the night? How ridiculous. They do not take reservations and will not take your name until your entire party has arrived either. So I calmly told him I'd need to talk it over with the rest of my party.

So Miss Molly got right on her cell phone and called Maggianos, who told her they could seat us in 45 minutes. Not great, but much better. Then she called Firebirds. Now, I LOVE Firebirds. It is one of my very favorite restaurants. They told her they could seat us...get this...IMMEDIATELY! Did I mention how much I love Firebirds?

SO, I went back in to politely let the manager know our group had decided not to stay. The hostess called him back over and I said, "I'm sorry. Our group has decided not to stay. Firebirds can seat us immediately." And he said, with the most flippant and snippy attitude, "Oh well, enjoy your meal." So rude. But you know what? We did enjoy our meals. We had an awesome night of fellowship and laughter. It was a great Baby Blessing for Suzanne and Amy.

Of course the best part for me, besides the food, was that everyone liked my shoes! I reached a personal goal I'd set and I rewarded myself with these shoes from Target. Thanks for the Christmas money Grandma!!