Christmas concerts...that did & didn't happen

Brayden was beyond excited for his first Christmas concert! He set out his clothes the night before and got up before I usually have to wrestle him out of bed. He waited for the rest of us to get out the door for nearly 20 minutes. Brayden looked sharp in his white shirt and sweater and sang awesome! Matt and I think he was the most enthusiastic singer of all the boys so far! My favorite part was the sign language to Silent Night. EVERY time I watch that it makes me cry! We sang carols together before he headed back to class and enjoed spending that special time with him! What a cute kid my little Brayden is!

Drew was SUPPOSED to have his Christmas concert on Wednesday. I was just about to walk out the door when his school called. She said that Drew had an accident on the play ground and that his finger would need mending. I told her, "great, I am leaving to come there right now for his concert and I'll take him to the Doctor afterwards." She told me that NO...there would be no concert and that she'll call the clinic and let them know we are on our way! OH NO!!! So I called Matt and told him to meet us at the clinic instead of the school. I pulled up in front of Drew's school, parked illegally and met him by the office. He was not doing so well. He was pretty hurt and upset that he had to miss his concert and his biggest concern was having to get stitches. The school nurse had his finger all wrapped up so I had no idea what we were dealing with. We arrived at the clinic and they sent us right to the ER, based on what the school nurse told her. Still...I have no idea what we are dealing with but we head to the ER. I am sure that 100 yard walk will triple our bill!

The story Drew tells is that he was playing tether ball, and GOING TO WIN, when he hit the ball really hard and came in contact with a metal piece near the top of the ball. It sliced his finger, upwards creating quite the cut.

The nurse at the hospital took off his bandage from school and we had the first look at the damage, it looked terrible and so painful. While his had was soaking, he started to tell us some of the words to his favorite song. There is part that says, "Christmas is a happy holiday". He immediatly teared up big crocodile tears and said, "it is NOT a happy holiday"! I wanted to cry, I felt so bad for him! After he was admitted and had finished soaking his hand, the Doctor began to inspect the damage. She was worried about tendon damage and made sure he could move his finger. He did with a lot of pain and stiffness, thank goodness! They were unable to do stitches because there wasn't enough good skin to sew together. DuraBond and SteriStrips were applied then it was wrapped then "buddy wrapped" to his middle finger to help keep it straight. He is such a tough guy. Not one tear was shed while the Doctor cleaned his cut, and she was being very thorough. Matt took him to get ice cream while I picked the other kids up from school, which helped to lift his spirits. He is usually in pain in the morning but he is being quite a trooper. Thank goodness it is his left hand so he can still eat, write and pick his nose without a problem! ha ha I changed the bandages yesterday and it looks weird to me...but what do I know. The whole glue thing is strange to begin with, I guess we'll give it a few more days and see if we need to head back to the Doctor.

my sad guy on the way to the Doctor