Injured Leg

Yesterday at about 4:45 I heard a banshee-like scream from my bedroom and Silly came running to tell me that Bubba had jumped off my bed with no pillows to land on and nobody to catch him (apparently jumping off the bed is safe with pillows or someone playing catcher).

I sat Bubba on the couch and looked him over, his right foot looked the tiniest bit swollen and when I straightened both legs out to compare the two, he kept pulling his leg back. After about 10 minutes of sitting he decided to get up. He limped from the couch to the stairs, tried a step, then gave up. Not good signs. I called my mom for a medical consult. She not only said I'd better take him in, she also informed me that my sister was having pins put in her broken elbow. She fell holding her baby and sacrificed her elbow to save his head.

I called the doctor's office, waited an hour for them to call back (why do the people who answers the phones at the after-hours answering services always have such bad attitudes!?! I have never yet had someone who sounded happy to help.) and for Scott to get home from work then set off for CHKD's Emergency Department. We got there at 6:40. We were in the waiting room until 8:30. We left at 10:30. Really, really made me wish I lived in Richmond so I could just walk right into the ER and declare that I am Dr. Ramsey's daughter and get the royal treatment. Those were the days.

Bubba was quite entertaining in the waiting room. There were two little baby girls there and he was having a good time watching and talking about them. It was pretty cold in that place, but luckily I had thought to bring his blanket, baby and nekkie mole. And we had fun playing with his disposable BP cuff. I kept blowing it up then he would squish it. That was probably an hour of fun.

They took lots of X-rays of his foot and leg. The X-ray tech told me he had to make sure the pictures came out right before we were done. I told him, "Sadly, I know the drill."

Dr. came back and told me there were no visible breaks, but referred us to orthopedics, same one we saw with previous broken arms, and sent someone in to splint his leg. She put a splint up to his knee, but then the Dr said she wanted it all the way up his leg so she had to do it over again. Bubba just sat there watching her.

We got home just before 11 and he slept until about 1:45 then woke up a few times crying. I think mostly he was just uncomfortable and hadn't figured out how to maneuver his big, awkward leg yet. Eventually Scott just put him in our bed. I don't know where Scott went. Bubba slept sideways the rest of the night. This morning he doesn't even want to stand. Poor little dude.

 

Silly playing with the BP cuff

 At least my kids decide to injure themselves in warm weather so I don't have to do things like cut off sleeves and pant legs. But, I'm supposed to be leaving all my kids in Richmond all next week. Having one in a cast will definitely complicate matters.

Kiwi Dreams

The boys were finishing their lunch and I went to fold a load of laundry, which took all of maybe 5 minutes. When I came back, Bubba had zonked out on the couch...

He looks so big! And the kiwi and cutting board match his shorts.

still holding his kiwi, not because he wanted to eat it, but because he didn't want Silly to eat it. That's what happens pretty much every time they ask for kiwi. Silly eats all of his, Bubba eats a few pieces, then Silly finished that kiwi off too.

After I pried the cutting board away from him and put him in bed, I scopped Silly off the floor where he was lounging half-asleep and carried him to bed. While I was carrying him he asked, "Are you going to launch me like a torpedo?" I told him I wasn't planning on it, but since he asked, I would. He didn't like it very much because his bed isn't very soft.

Killer Birds

When we got back from Charlottesville Monday night Scott was watching "The Longest Day" (D-day movie, he watched war movies while we were gone). There was a scene where two guys are opening these little canisters with pigeons in them. Silly sees them and asks, "Are those killer pigeons?"

Good things he's so hilarious when he's not acting like a lunatic.

Tonight he and Cakes switched to different gymnastics classes, he had to switch because he turned 5, and there was a girls class for Cakes at the same time. So now they're in the gym together. His coach is pretty awesome. When Silly was done, he came running out of the gym and crashed right into Bubba, knocking him down on the ground. His coach looked at me and was saying Silly had done a really great job, then he saw him knock Bubba down and added "until just now."

Charlottesville and Strawberries

I finally dragged myself, with the kids, out to Charlottesville to visit my sister. She's been living there for almost 2 years, I think. It's not that I haven't seen her in all that time; we see each other in Richmond fairly often. The drive wasn't as long as I expected, just a little more than 2 1/2 hours. Not bad.

Cakes slept the most on the drive there, Silly slept about an hour and Bubba didn't sleep at all. He was playing with his baby, nekky-mole, and pillow. He talks to his baby, which mostly consists of saying "ha-wo beebee" and he was sticking his feet inside his pillow case saying "wook at toosies." He's pretty interested in toes.

We packed up after church Sunday and rolled out to Maddie and Steve's house. The kids were terrified of their dog Zoe at first. Cakes got over it. Silly got over it for a little while, but then he was scared again. Bubba screamed his head off for the first few minutes and didn't want to the dog anywhere near him, but by the end he would smile at the dog as long as she wasn't too close. Zoe was very well behaved, but my kids are only used to their small, old, lazy dog.

Steve made us dinner, my kids ate about as much as they usually eat, which isn't much. Maddie had cots for Cakes and Silly to sleep on. I don't think they were actually asleep before 9. Bubba went to sleep just fine, but woke up around midnight and didn't want to be in the crib anymore. I put him in bed with me, where thankfully he stayed in his own space and didn't pester me all night (which is what he would have done in my bed at home).

Steve made us breakfast in the morning too. I did warn him and Maddie that my children do not know what "quiet voices" are, nor do they understand the concept of "too early in the morning to be so loud". (Hm, maybe that's something we need to practice before we go stay at the beach with my family and drive everyone insane with their 6am wake up call.) At some point Cakes asked me and Steve if she could watch TV and he found her a cake show to watch. Later on I came into the kitchen, passing my three kids sitting quietly on the couch and said to Steve, "Now you know why parents sit their kids in front of the TV." He also learned why toys with batteries are super annoying.

Once we were all ready, the kids and I plus Maddie went strawberry picking. We passed 4 huge peacocks on the way to the berry patch. Two of them were just walking down the middle of the road oblivious to the cars behind them. I wish I'd had my camera out.

The kids got right to work hunting for good strawberries. They did a pretty sweet job too. Silly insisted that I fill the box from one side to the other and not just randomly toss the strawberries in any empty spot or on top of each other.

Just getting started



Cakes helping Bubba



 





Me and Silly picking



I just now noticed that each "team" ended up with one red shirt and one blue shirt. I guess we were picking strawberries for about an hour. Maddie said strawberry picking is a lot more fun (and work) than cherry picking, which she and Steve had just done Saturday. We ended up with 10 lbs of strawberries. Don't worry, they will all be eaten. Lots of them have been eaten already, starting with eating them in the car on the way back to Maddie's house.

Bubba ended up with shorts completely covered in strawberry juice, Silly ended up with it all over his shirt. Having it all over their hands and faces was a given.

We had a nice little family cookout, which of course included strawberries among all the other super yummy things. We hit the road again around 3:00. All three of my kids were asleep before we got back to 250, which is only 7 miles from my sister's house. Silly woke up long enough to ask for the water bottle, take a drink, then pass out again. He actually woke up maybe three times to take a drink, but never said anything and went right back to sleep each time. I kept myself occupied singing along to some favorite CDs and didn't hear peep out of the kids until we were in Newport News. Awesome.

Maddie told me later that she'd found a squished strawberry in the bedroom, but didn't realize she was the one who had squished it so she tracked strawberry juice all through her house. Sorry Maddie! I'm really glad my brother has a baby now and can't wait for Maddie to have some too because being the only one around with little kids makes me feel like such a nuisance.