In the meantime let me update you on the chaos and craziness that was our life right before Christmas.
Gingerbread house making/decorating
Pine cone bird feeder making and stringing of popcorn and cranberries to decorate trees outside!
Face-painting with our sweet friend and neighbor, Sarah.
Falling off couches and breaking arms- well, ok, only one armand spending far too much time in an ER just days before Christmas.
We had some fun planned for the week before Christmas like decorating gingerbread houses and making Christmas cookies, attending Addy's school holiday party and playing with friends, but breaking arms and spinning rooms were unplanned adventures we also experienced. On the Wednesday before Christmas we had plans to finally, after so many games of phone tag, play with our dear friends Elissa and Zea. I was happily brushing my teeth in the bathroom while the kids played in the living room and over the hum of my sonicare (I'm practicing my product placement so I can start getting paid for blogging) heard a loud thump, not unusual, and then cries, also not unusual. I garble, "What happened?" not rushing to the scene because there are thumps and cries frequently throughout our day, with two active kids what would one expect. Addy called back, "Elliott hurt himself." So I head to the scene and surely enough Elliott is pretty upset but he gets upset. He's saying "Ow, ow, ow" but he has said this before. So I ask him what hurts and he says my arm. He doesn't seem to be holding it funny and I feel it to see if it feels funny. No bones sticking out. No bleeding wound. "Elliott," I say, "do you want me to kiss it?" Usually this is the magic that stops the crying.
"No!" he cries.
"Do you want an ice pack?" He nods his head yes. So I set him on the couch with an ice pack and he settles down. I head back to the bathroom to spit out my toothpaste and get Rose (she had been in her bouncy seat in the bathroom the whole time). And Elliott screams out, "Ow, ow, ow" and starts crying again. I think, Oh shit, he really hurt himself. I can feel the worry warm my body and my brain runs through all the things I need to do, to figure out. Elliott can I put some cream on your arm? He nods his head yes. I lift the shirtsleeve of his right arm and rub on some arnica cream. No noticeable swelling. I ask him if he can move his arm and he won't or can't. Hmm. Call Jason. The extent of my injury experience is stitches, broken toes and sprained ankles. My sister and I didn't spend much time at the urgent care or ER. This is not the case for Jason and his brother. But Jason didn't answer. He happens to be in a marathon Wednesday morning meeting. So I call our pediatrician who tells me to come in at 11:15. OK, so here's the chaos of this scenario with three kids...call Elissa to say playdate cancelled. Figure out what to do with Addy because she not only has school but her holiday party in just a few hours. Nurse Rose. Change Rose. Pack food, diapers, water for us all in case we end up in the ER. And give adequate attention and sympathy to poor little injured Elliott. Busy. To say the least. All this time I am hoping it's just a bad bruise or sprain or something that won't require an ER trip. Thankfully Elissa and Zea arrive and so wonderfully whisk Addy away for an hour or so of fun, fun, fun before they take her to school. And I am so thankful that Addy is able to be so flexible in this situation to go with the flow. This wouldn't have necessarily been the case a year ago. I get ahold of Jason and let him know I'll keep him posted once we get to the pediatrician's.
Elliott, Rose and I pack up to drive to our pediatrician's office. I know in my pounding heart and feeling of worry that I should have asked Jason to meet me at the office. It's pouring rain now, of course and both kids have fallen asleep. How the hell am I going to get an infant and a 30 pound sleeping kid with a hurt arm into the office in the pouring rain. Shit! Thankfully Jillian and I have been working out lately (heh!) and so I carefully hoisted Elliott into my left arm and carried Rosie in her carseat with my right.
Elliott attempted to use his arm for the first time since the accident when we arrived at the office. He did ok, climbing onto the couch, no complaints of pain. I was hopeful. We get called back and the provider asks me to take off E's shirt. When I did somehow I saw the look on the nurses face and then I saw the massive swelling of Elliott's arm and I immediately felt like the WORST parent in the entire world. How could I have not taken off his shirt? She called in the doctor and I hop on the phone to tell Jason to mobilize. Yep, we're heading to the ER. But first I need to nurse Rose. The nurse pops her head into the room to say, "And no food." And no food, I think. Hmm, why no food?
(hmm the chaos has clearly not ended as I am just returning to this story on March 20)
On the drive to the new hospital I more than adequately beat myself up. I am far too hard on myself. I know this but it's hard to not be critical of yourself (well at least for me). We arrive at the new Mott Children's ER (which by the way I jinxed myself days before commenting on how I hadn't seen the new hospital yet, but that I'm sure I would) and it's quite chill there, thankfully. I still have Rose but now Jason is with us. He met us en route and calmly talked me down from my insanity of self deprecating thoughts and tears, like he usually does. The folks at the ER were quite lovely and Elliott appreciated being able to watch Dora Christmas specials. He was a true champ. He endured lots of doctors and lots of x-rays. In the meantime I'm hemming and hawing about what to do about Addy who is expecting me to show up to sing carols with her at her school party. So I leave with Rose and sing Deck the Halls with Addy while Elliott patiently waited for his cast with Jason. It turned out that he broke the tip off of his elbow. They didn't think he would need surgery but we had to see the orthopedic doc in a week.
Fast forward...one week later...two days before New Year's Eve. Turns out Elliott's fracture was the kind that needed surgery. It actually got worse over the week in the cast. The pediatric orthopedic clinic was AMAZING and WONDERFUL. I hope none of you ever have to go there but if you do you will be in good , sweet, caring, hands. They scheduled us for surgery for the very next morning which worked out very well given the holiday weekend coming up and for insurance purposes we had already met our deductible and part of our copay with Elliott's eye surgery last July. What a whirlwind. A three hour surgery, 2 pins, an incision, and one purple cast later, Elliott came out of the anesthesia angry and ornery as I warned the post op nurses he would. Once we got the hell out of the hospital he chilled out. Though the nurses tried to give him valium. VALIUM to a 3 year old, really? Wouldn't you be pissed if you just came out of surgery and your parents weren't there and your arm hurt? Elliott had his cast for four weeks. He managed quite well with it and Addy only got knocked with it accidentally. No other casualties to report.
I forgot to explain the spinning rooms...the Wednesday Elliott broke his arm I started with Vertigo. Thought it was the one beer I drank that was making the room spin. Nope. Vertigo. Fun. Thankfully, it didn't last long. Did I say this pushed us over the edge? Well it did. Our little somewhat balanced world was turned upside down and sideways and every which way and we are still recovering. I'm beginning to think this is the new normal. And so forget posting monthly. Until all my kids are in school I think any post will be quite remarkable (not the post itself, that is, just the fact that I posted anything!).
"No!" he cries.
"Do you want an ice pack?" He nods his head yes. So I set him on the couch with an ice pack and he settles down. I head back to the bathroom to spit out my toothpaste and get Rose (she had been in her bouncy seat in the bathroom the whole time). And Elliott screams out, "Ow, ow, ow" and starts crying again. I think, Oh shit, he really hurt himself. I can feel the worry warm my body and my brain runs through all the things I need to do, to figure out. Elliott can I put some cream on your arm? He nods his head yes. I lift the shirtsleeve of his right arm and rub on some arnica cream. No noticeable swelling. I ask him if he can move his arm and he won't or can't. Hmm. Call Jason. The extent of my injury experience is stitches, broken toes and sprained ankles. My sister and I didn't spend much time at the urgent care or ER. This is not the case for Jason and his brother. But Jason didn't answer. He happens to be in a marathon Wednesday morning meeting. So I call our pediatrician who tells me to come in at 11:15. OK, so here's the chaos of this scenario with three kids...call Elissa to say playdate cancelled. Figure out what to do with Addy because she not only has school but her holiday party in just a few hours. Nurse Rose. Change Rose. Pack food, diapers, water for us all in case we end up in the ER. And give adequate attention and sympathy to poor little injured Elliott. Busy. To say the least. All this time I am hoping it's just a bad bruise or sprain or something that won't require an ER trip. Thankfully Elissa and Zea arrive and so wonderfully whisk Addy away for an hour or so of fun, fun, fun before they take her to school. And I am so thankful that Addy is able to be so flexible in this situation to go with the flow. This wouldn't have necessarily been the case a year ago. I get ahold of Jason and let him know I'll keep him posted once we get to the pediatrician's.
Elliott, Rose and I pack up to drive to our pediatrician's office. I know in my pounding heart and feeling of worry that I should have asked Jason to meet me at the office. It's pouring rain now, of course and both kids have fallen asleep. How the hell am I going to get an infant and a 30 pound sleeping kid with a hurt arm into the office in the pouring rain. Shit! Thankfully Jillian and I have been working out lately (heh!) and so I carefully hoisted Elliott into my left arm and carried Rosie in her carseat with my right.
Elliott attempted to use his arm for the first time since the accident when we arrived at the office. He did ok, climbing onto the couch, no complaints of pain. I was hopeful. We get called back and the provider asks me to take off E's shirt. When I did somehow I saw the look on the nurses face and then I saw the massive swelling of Elliott's arm and I immediately felt like the WORST parent in the entire world. How could I have not taken off his shirt? She called in the doctor and I hop on the phone to tell Jason to mobilize. Yep, we're heading to the ER. But first I need to nurse Rose. The nurse pops her head into the room to say, "And no food." And no food, I think. Hmm, why no food?
(hmm the chaos has clearly not ended as I am just returning to this story on March 20)
On the drive to the new hospital I more than adequately beat myself up. I am far too hard on myself. I know this but it's hard to not be critical of yourself (well at least for me). We arrive at the new Mott Children's ER (which by the way I jinxed myself days before commenting on how I hadn't seen the new hospital yet, but that I'm sure I would) and it's quite chill there, thankfully. I still have Rose but now Jason is with us. He met us en route and calmly talked me down from my insanity of self deprecating thoughts and tears, like he usually does. The folks at the ER were quite lovely and Elliott appreciated being able to watch Dora Christmas specials. He was a true champ. He endured lots of doctors and lots of x-rays. In the meantime I'm hemming and hawing about what to do about Addy who is expecting me to show up to sing carols with her at her school party. So I leave with Rose and sing Deck the Halls with Addy while Elliott patiently waited for his cast with Jason. It turned out that he broke the tip off of his elbow. They didn't think he would need surgery but we had to see the orthopedic doc in a week.
Fast forward...one week later...two days before New Year's Eve. Turns out Elliott's fracture was the kind that needed surgery. It actually got worse over the week in the cast. The pediatric orthopedic clinic was AMAZING and WONDERFUL. I hope none of you ever have to go there but if you do you will be in good , sweet, caring, hands. They scheduled us for surgery for the very next morning which worked out very well given the holiday weekend coming up and for insurance purposes we had already met our deductible and part of our copay with Elliott's eye surgery last July. What a whirlwind. A three hour surgery, 2 pins, an incision, and one purple cast later, Elliott came out of the anesthesia angry and ornery as I warned the post op nurses he would. Once we got the hell out of the hospital he chilled out. Though the nurses tried to give him valium. VALIUM to a 3 year old, really? Wouldn't you be pissed if you just came out of surgery and your parents weren't there and your arm hurt? Elliott had his cast for four weeks. He managed quite well with it and Addy only got knocked with it accidentally. No other casualties to report.
I forgot to explain the spinning rooms...the Wednesday Elliott broke his arm I started with Vertigo. Thought it was the one beer I drank that was making the room spin. Nope. Vertigo. Fun. Thankfully, it didn't last long. Did I say this pushed us over the edge? Well it did. Our little somewhat balanced world was turned upside down and sideways and every which way and we are still recovering. I'm beginning to think this is the new normal. And so forget posting monthly. Until all my kids are in school I think any post will be quite remarkable (not the post itself, that is, just the fact that I posted anything!).
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