When it Rains it Pours

Wow! Yesterday was definitely not my day... However, before that was great, I had my MIL to help just after the baby arrived and then my mom came up for 5 days. But yesterday the help left. It was sad to see both of them go. They were so much help! The laundry was always done, the kitchen has never been that clean for that amount of time, the kids were so happy to have someone to play with, I was able to take naps whenever I needed, and I was even able to have a jump start on organizing and unpacking more of the boxes that have been driving me crazy. Thank you so much Shellie and Mom!

But yesterday I had to say goodbye to the help. It was very hard, and I cried for quite awhile after. But I knew the day would come so I had to buck up and be the mother of 3 I was now. I turned on a show for Ethan made some lunch for the two of us and waited for Kiera to be dropped off back home from preschool. It went pretty smoothly.
Then when Kiera got home I tried to have "quiet time."  Ethan went down just fine but Kiera not so much. She ended up staying downstairs with me and kept me busy answering question after question. It was not the rest I was hoping for.

Then the neighbor kids got home from school! That is always a challenge for me. I don't feel that the those kids appreciate my kids very much. They are all quite a bit older and I get the vibe that they are annoyed when my kids run out shouting "friends friends!" and want to play. But Ethan and Kiera are persistent and really want to go. I feel like a meanie if I say no, and at the same time I want my kids to make friends and have fun with the neighbors. So what do you do?
However, I think yesterday I should have kept them home because it all went down hill after that. . . I'll warn you now it is a long story but at the end of the day I knew it needed to be a journal entry.

Fast forward about 30 mins or so. I was busy feeding Emma and would occasionally glance out the window to see how the kids were doing. Kiera would come in every once in awhile wanting a drink or a snack and Ethan would have the occasional bonk or crash that would send him over for a kiss from mommy to make it all better and then be back out in a flash. But the last time I looked out, I see the neighbor carrying Ethan across the cult-de-sac. Not good.

He had been crying pretty good and I couldn't really understand him. We just thought he bonked something on the trampoline. So I told the neighbor to go ahead and set him down and I'd take him inside (remembering I am not supposed to lift more than 10 lbs. for awhile). But when she tried to set him down he wouldn't put weight on his left leg. GREAT....not. So I set him down on the curb and moved his legs and ankles around. He seemed fine with that but he still refused to put any weight on it. So being "super mom" I ended up carrying him inside anyway. A little ice and a wrap for a bit and still no progress.

Dinner was ready and it was time to get up to the table. Food isn't really turned down by this boy of mine and so I knew he was still in pain. I carried him to the table to eat too. ("I really shouldn't be doing this," I thought). We ate and Ethan complained about his knee. He had been just fine when it was propped up on the couch but now that it was dangling it hurt so I knew something wasn't right. If it is one thing I've learned about my kids is that they bounce back pretty fast, but if not, there really is something wrong.

So what to do now? I have all three kids by myself. The little Mitsubishi (one day we'll get a van), and the walk-in clinic is 30 mins away and closes in an hour. Dan works 30 mins away too, so by the time he got home and drove down to the clinic it would be too late. Grrrr.  Luckily I was able to get a hold of Dan and we decided I would drive down there and he'd meet me there to take Ethan in and I would come back home with the girls. Whew! One worry down.

So on our way home...Emma starts screaming...I can't ignore it any more. I pull over at the nearest gas station, move Ethan's carseat up to the front and get in the back to feed her. When she was happy again I strapped her back in and drove home again....yeah if only that happened. No instead I reached for the door handle pulled and nothing happened. "no biggie, just unlock it" I thought. UNLOCK BUTTON PUSHED. Still nothing... "Are you kidding me?!" Who would have thought to make sure the child safety lock was off first before getting in the back? "This cannot be happening!"

So picture this...or try not to if you can. There I am straddling the infant car seat as best I can to get over the front seats. My rear in the windshield, (thank goodness for giant dumpsters or at least I hope it did some good.) barefoot because my sandals slipped off in the process, and who knows what else. And I am sure I pulled something contorting like that. Not my day.

A couple hours later Dan gets home with Ethan and I ask what the verdict was.
"They don't know." 
"What, how come?"
"The radioligist had already gone home."
"So all that for nothing?"
"He's in a cast."

So apparently they decided to go ahead and splint it and wait for the radiologist to read the x-rays in the morning and they would call us.

I am happy to say the little guy's leg is not broken. They said we could take the splint off. I guess it is just a bad sprained knee. About 4:00 this afternoon he started showing signs of improvement and started putting a little weight on it.

Who knew being a mom of 2 to one of 3 would have been this much fun.

Well I am off to change a little one. . . wish me luck.