Artistic Expression Through The Ages - Literally!

I love to give the same direction at the same time to different kids & see what happens!

Erika - age 10 "Dracula Done Right"

Lily - age 5 "Dracula Princess... "

Brock - age 2 "What in the ....?"

Final Erika Update for 4 Years....

At least in regards to her nose. Saw the plastic surgeon today, he wanted to check her nose after the fall & see her nose for himself post surgery. It didn't straighten the way he (we) had hoped. Still a depression on the right side. Still a little crooked - but, much better than it was. Once the swelling goes down we go back so he can see exactly what it looks like. She was happy to have the cast off, kind of sad it isn't "over" yet. Me, too..... He wants to see her again at 14, as she'll definitely need another surgery to complete the 'repair'. But, what a tough little girl I have! This little sweetie has smiled throughout the entire process. If we could all have that bright, cheery attitude this world would be a better place!

Erika Update, again...

Erika recieved a beautiful priesthood blessing from dear friends of ours the night before her surgery this week. I have never seen a child so moved by a blessing. She started to cry during the blessing & then sobbed for about 30 minutes afterwards. I sobbed right along with her. I was sad that Jim had forgotten to give her a blessing before he flew out on business, but now see that it was, literally, a blessing to receive the insight that the Lord wanted her & I to have through the mouths of these great men who were removed from the situation.

The surgery went extremely well. The Dr. was amazed that all the fractures he could see on the CT Scan did not all appear to be fractures once he was scoping the area. He said that her bones were able to move pretty easily back into place & he did not have to make the 2 outer incisions on the sides of her nose. What a blessing! He cast her nose & said that the cast would come off in a week & then, he would see her back in 6 weeks.

He said that there is a 90% chance that she will need to have another surgery to fix the crushed cartilidge (sp?) on the side of her nose where the compression fracture was & to straighten her septum that is very crooked. They can't do the soft tissue correction until they are 14 - 16 years old & their noses have quit growing. Until then, he expects that she will have a "dent" or "depression" on the right side from the damage.

So, in great Miller style (I despise that term, just so you know!) as she is getting up & around a little last night, she comes up the stairs to say goodnight to Lily & Brock as I am putting them to bed. On her way down, she falls down the stairs & SMACKS her casted nose on the bannister. No bleeding, a little bit more swelling & an increase in pain for her nose & right eye, of course.... the surgeon sees us first thing in the morning on Monday to take off her cast & make sure she hasn't undone his fine work already! I think that the man who brought this 'gift' for injury needs to spend more time at home 'mopping up the messes' his gene pool gets into! My McCleery genes didn't bring ANY of this into the mix - I swear!

What is the MOST EFFECTIVE & CHEAPEST form of Birth Control?

The GRACO Baby & accessories! Our dear friends (& adopted Aunt & Uncle to my kids) gave Lily this set for her 5th Birthday & what fun it is! She LOVES this baby & so do we - as I know that this babydoll will be the single greatest reason my children will wait to have children until they are married, IF AT ALL! I went to wake Lily up the day after her party & she immediately hopped out of bed, scooped Graco baby from her crib (next to Lily's bed) to put her in her stroller & start the day playing with her new babydoll. Graco baby IMMEDIATELY starts to scream - this baby does not do the 'cute cry' that most babydolls do! Lily RUNS & tries to cram her into her stroller as Graco baby is screaming "I'M HUNGRY! I'M HUNGRY!" Lily runs back - eyes barely open - to the baby crib & is fishing through the covers as fast & furious as she can trying to find the blasted bottle! I am crying with laughter at this point - but, can't leave the scene to grab my camera, because I don't want to miss anything! She finds the bottle, runs back & is stabbing it into the baby's face trying to find the exact little sensor that will make it drink & be quiet - while trying to finish pulling her feet into the stroller. At this point I run for the camera! I come back & poor Lily is half awake, still holding the bottle to Graco baby's mouth as the baby makes gulping sounds & says, "num-num". Lily looks at me & says, "Momma, this baby threw a flippin' hissy fit last night, too! She makes me tired...." Yeah, I think I may have said the same things about a few little Graco babies I gave birth to. Sweet, sweet, sweet revenge - for less than $40 bucks. We LOVE Aunt Lori & Uncle Lew!

It's Elementary My Dear Lily...

Really? Do you really think Mommy would graffitti & then sign her name? I place my bets on the lovely signature on the bottom of Brock's other shoe.... ALL Mommies know you don't sign your real name to graffitti, you silly child! BUSTED!

Dear Wealthy Insurance Company,

Erika met w/ the plastic surgeon this morning. She is having surgery on Tuesday, 11/4, Jim will be out of town.... what is new?! (Thank you in advance to my Mom for saving the day & helping me out!) The surgeon said that he ideally should have seen her within 10 days of the accident - would have been good to know that a little earlier! She is 14 days out today - so, he worked her into his next surgery day on Tuesday.

He is planning to make an incision from the outside on both sides of her nose - one to 'lift & restore' the crushed side & to reduce & realign the other side that is bulging out. This will require him re-breaking her nasal bone on both sides.... I am hurting at the thought! Then, he will cast it, splint it to hold it shape from the inside & call it good (for now).

He said that there is a high percentage chance that she will have to have another surgery after she is 14 to straighten out her septum (that she smashed & they won't touch the soft tissues until after puberty & her nose has stopped growing) & to most likely to re-align her bones *again*. I just can't believe what a nightmare this has turned into!

But, then again.... we are the "Miller" family, now.... aren't we? Can anyone say: Annual Deductibles & Out Of Pocket Maximums met at 100%+? Thank goodness for insurance....

Enough Said...

If you are going to do anything - Do it "MILLER Style"!

Well, Erika saw the ENT Surgeon today - Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Her nose is fractured in two places & the right side is not only displaced - but compressed / depressed. Which is causing the left side that is also broken to bulge. He contacted a facial plastic surgeon tonight for us. Dr. Gupta said that he knows when he needs to refer & Erika's case & the extent of her injury is too delicate & requires a facial plastic surgeon's expertise.

We will have a 2nd opinion with the plastic surgeon hopefully this week. Then, get her surgery scheduled shortly as well. I cannot believe that this little girl was as brave as she was & has been such a trooper. Other than her crooked nose - she had only yellow bruising - not the black & blue we were told to expect. I would have never guessed she did the damage that she did without seeing it for myself today on the CT scans. And to think her school didn't call me for an hour & she had gone back to class..... really, really infuriates me.

So, moral to this story: If you are going to do anything in this life - Do it "MILLER Style" or don't bother! Just make sure you have an excellent health care plan FIRST.

This year's Halloween Costumes

GOTH, baby, GOTH!

Complete with every "no-no" known to our children.... piercings, tattoos, crappy makeup & lots of black! You should have heard the "talks" we were giving our kids as we got ready for just shy of 2 hours: "Now, kids.... we DON'T get tattoos.... we NEVER get extra piercings.... we NEVER wear such horrendous makeup.... we DON'T wear black from head to toe - totally death color! In conclusion, sweet children: Do as we SAY. NOT as we DO!"

And, as all good children do......... they listened, of course! :)

Homecoming 2008

Our beautiful 15 year old is not old enough to date yet, but she went to her 1st Homecoming tonight with a bunch of her Volleyball team mates that were all going without dates. She found a beautiful lace dress for $4.50 (if you can believe that!) & then we added length to it & she added buttons to the neckline to simulate a necklace. It turned out just beautiful. And, MODEST - a real rarity these days! Her Daddy is in Shanghai, China & having fits that his daughter is old enough to look like this outside the safety of her bathroom! It is probably good that he is 14 hours ahead of us... he wouldn't have liked all the boys out in front of the school that were staring at her as she got out of the car.......

Or, was it her chauffers? :)

Erika Update:

After a couple of episodes last night & this a.m. where Erika's right eye (the one that took part of the beating from her nose) goes "totally black & then, when the vision comes back it is like someone is shaking (her) eyeball". Accompanied by nausea, dry heaving, double vision & dizzy spells - I took her down to Children's Hospital's ER this morning. They were able to control her nausea w/ medication & said that her closed head injury / concussion was worse than originally thought. No surprise. But, that there doesn't appear to be bleeding in her brain from yesterday's CT Scan. So, lots of laying low, pain meds & nausea meds for now. She loves the double vision & bursts into laughter as she tells me, "Momma - you have 4 eyes, 4 eyebrows - that look like one BIG uni-brow - & 2 noses & mouths! AND lots of double chins!" Momma not thinkin' it is THAT funny. Momma thinks her vision may be fine, sadly enough. :)

THANK YOU baby sis, Teresa, for being my safety net w/ kids & conflicts today. I wish everyone had a sister / best friend like you - that is what family really is all about.

WOW! It has been a while....

.... Since we reported on an injury (at least a couple of weeks, right???). I got a message from Imagine Charter School about 12:45 today- It was Erika... she told me that she fell off the top of the playset - HEAD FIRST - and her nose & face broke her fall..... all the way down each & every steel platform, until she landed face / nose first on the wood chips! Then, her shoe that flew off her foot during her fall - hit her in the face, as well! Great finale! This happened around 11:30 or 11:40am, but I didn't hear about it until nearly 1pm! The nurse & everyone in the office said that they couldn't believe how brave she was - not a tear! When I called the school back when I got her message, the nurse said that she suspected her nose was broken. I was beside myself with panic! The health aide said that she had given her some ice & Erika returned to class. I asked to talk be put through to the classroom to talk to Erika directly - and just as I did, the health aide said that Erika had just come back into her office in too much pain to stay & wanted to go home. I spoke to Erika to get the details & how she felt & raced to the school to see for myself the damage yet another Miller had inflicted on themself! You just can't write books like this - without including a complimentary dose of Prozac! :)

After several hours at the ER - we learned she fractured her nose & the right side of the fracture is slightly out of alignment (those of you who know her - will notice the hump & difference in her nose), she has "closed head trauma" / concussion & injured (but did NOT fracture) her neck. She chipped one of her front teeth - because you just can't skip the small details when you are a Miller! The Dr.'s immediately thought her cheekbone / orbital bone was fractured & it showed up to be fine in the CT scan. This little girl looks pretty swollen, bruised & rough right now, but how blessed she & we are it was not worse. The Dr's said that she will most likely have double black eyes & bruising all across her nose, and a very, very stiff neck. Such an absolute blessing from the Lord that she wasn't hurt worse.

So, lots of ice, rest & pain meds & NO soccer for the 2 final games (that is breaking her heart!) - and she sees the ENT who did my sinus surgery on Monday, Oct. 27th to see what we need to do (if anything) to get her nose "right".

I could not believe how brave this little girl was today. Not a tear at all, until after the ER when her headache & the pain from blinking her eyes was excruciating from all the poking & prodding. Not a tear - even when it happened. She said that she just crawled to the teacher on duty for help to the nurse's office. (The teacher on the playground didn't think she was hurt that bad & had a student escort her to the office....) Then, after getting ice - and leaving a message for me - she went back to class. She returned about 30 minutes later in too much pain to stay. So, I picked her up & ran her to the ER.

Thank you to Becky Vavla for picking up Lily from Preschool! I don't know what I would have done without that help with Jim in China, again! What a blessed, blessed day. And what a blessed, blessed little girl!