Brailey Shaye's Summer of Turning Lemons into Lemonade

Honest to Pete, you won't find a sweeter girl than my Brailey Shaye-Shaye... She is always such a good little girl and tries to do the right thing, whatever the situation may be. Her spirit was tested this summer, but her happiness and positive attitude prevailed. What could have been a stellar summer was less than spectacular for her, but when we think about it, she still had some good times. We just had to alter things a bit...
For starters, the first week after school was out, she fell and ripped the ligaments in her ankle. This resulted in a trip to the Emergency Room and crutches and a cast, which meant no swimming lessons. It was hard the first day to watch Britt enjoy his swim lessons while she had to sit on the sidelines. But before long, she was taking pictures of him and reading her Boxcar Children books and keeping an eye on her little brother. After her cast came off and she was promoted to a walking boot, she was able to participate in swim lessons for three weeks, and I know I've said it before, but she was truly the happiest kid in the pool! She enjoyed every single second of her time in the water and worked hard to learn how to swim. She wasn't able to climb the rock wall or play in the ocean water or ride her horse with the boot on, and it was hard for her to lug it around all the rodeos and places we went this summer, but she did it all with a smile, even though it wasn't always ideal.
During the last week of her swim lessons, she had to have a baby tooth pulled. She had a molar growing up instead of down, and it was partially attached to her jaw bone, and becoming more attached by the day. As  a kid who has never even had a cavity, she had to experience the needles in her gums for deadening for the first time. The appointment went well, but the codeine made her extremely loopy, and she had to miss another swim lesson - very poor planning on her mother's part. So along we went, and about two days later, she came down with hives and a rash all over her body. Can you guess what the problem was? She is allergic to codeine! Turns out Brady is, as well. Let me tell you - she had bumps and itchies everywhere...
The following week, we found ourselves in the Emergency Room AGAIN. This time, her symptoms mimicked meningitis. She had every single symptom, and she was down like she had never been down before. She just wilted and was sicker than sick instantly, which is not like her. Turns out it wasn't, thank goodness, meningitis. It was tonsillitis! Which she has never in her life had. The unfortunate part of this diagnosis is that she and Britt were going to my parents house for the week for a big camping trip. We had to delay the trip a day, and she wasn't totally healthy, but the antibiotics got her going well enough to go, and she had a wonderful time fishing and picking wildflowers and shooting the BB gun and spending time with her grandparents. Britt came down with a much milder case during this time, but he bounced back super quick and without antibiotics. We think Brailey's immune system must be a bit compromised from the stress of her foot and pulled tooth...
Lo and behold, just when we got her healthy, she came down with a flu bug that was horrendous! Yes, the flu in summer! And during her last week of summer vacation... She was fine one minute, and the next she couldn't hold anything down nor get off the toilet. It was AWFUL! We are blaming the flu bug on the antibiotics killing all her good bugs...
Now, she is in school, still wearing her ankle sleeve, which is supposed to protect her foot from rolling over again as it continues to heal. We've been pouring the Activia down her, trying to get some good bugs in her system. And she is looking happy and healthy, at this point. To be honest, I had to talk myself down from hysteria, a couple of times, because with all her sickness, I started thinking the worst. All the cases are unrelated, even though they are sort of related, so that put my mind at ease. It is horribly frustrating when your kid is sick, though, and I feel so much empathy for parents whose children are truly sick. Put in perspective, Brailey is lucky!
So we started and finished our summer at the ER, and all's well that ends well, right? We still managed to have fun, even if it meant altering our plans a bit. But really, that's what life is all about, isn't it? Learning to roll with the punches. Being flexible and willing to go with the flow. Making the most of a less than ideal situation. Turning lemons into lemonade...