How My Four Year Old Beat Me Up

Ok, seriously not sure what is going on in my world lately.  But I'm pretty much ready for things to just be quiet and NORMAL and HOSPITAL, DOCTOR FREE.  
I was playing Wii sports with Blake this afternoon, our new favorite past time since it is one million degrees outside.  I had told him we were done because we had to drive daddy to physical therapy.  I thought (my mistake) that he actually listened and stopped playing.  I know, you're laughing at me being so naive right??  I bent down in front of where he was on the couch to pick something up off the floor and as my face was lifting up his hand was throwing forward and, WHAM, smacked in the orbital bone with a Wii remote.  Can you say, OUCH??!  Hands immediately cupped to face.  In horrible pain.  Then realized I was gushing blood.  YEA!  We cleaned up, put a bandaid on it and I  drove down the highway to take Brad to rehab, driving with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand holding an ice pack to my face.  Brad, my in house doctor, assured me no stitches, but I could feel the pain and looked at the open wound on my face and decided to consult the trainer at the gym.  He said, "I think that might be a three stitcher."  So, after rehab, I got Brad and the boys settled with food at McDonald's so they could keep occupied on the playground and I went next door to CareNow to get stitched up.  It's not fun until someone gets hurt...or something like that.  I told Brad, we are quite the family.  Walking out of McDonalds, with his giant brace and crutches and me with my bandaged face.  Ridiculous.  So, that my friends is how my four year old totally abused his momma.  
I'm totally accepting wine donations.  

Lately

Brad has not been having a great recovery.  In turn, its been a lot on me as well.  I might have even totally had a breaking point today when I was trying to do one thousand things at once and as I was trying to get glasses unloaded from the dishwasher to move on to the next to do, I dropped one on the counter and glass went EVERYWHERE.  I in turn started sobbing.  Yeah, not my finest hour.  My mom was admitted into the hospital today as well.  So, it just seems like the sky is pouring rain.  BUT, I've since taken lots of deep breaths, maybe had a glass of wine (or two..ish) at dinner and the afternoon has gone much, much, much better.  "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."
The last couple of nights, one thing that has really helped is taking the boys and Darcy on a long walk after dinner.  We all have loved getting out of the house and its been a time that the boys are on their best behavior and listening and the stress level is just at zero.  And I relish in it.  Plus the evenings have been beautiful weather.  So rare for this time of year and I love it.  I've snapped some pics with my phone to document our evenings out. 


The boys are collecting some nuts to take back as a present to their daddy.  He was sooo appreciative! :)

Brady loves to hold Darcy's leash.  He gets to proud of himself.  So cute.

And finally, I just had to snap a picture of Blake holding my hand.  The kid of mine that is usually so independent insisted on holding my hand the whole way back to the house.  Sometimes he frustrates me so much and then its moments like this, that make me want to keep him like this forever.

Thanks to the Grands!

My parents have been such a huge help to Brad and I over the years.  Can not express how grateful for them I am.  They are our #1 source of help at all times with the boys.  Without any complaint they agreed to keep the boys Thursday evening since we had to be at the hospital way before their normal wake up call.  They kept them all day Friday and then when they heard how the recovery was going, they told me they were keeping the boys another night.  That first night was rough and I'm so grateful I wasn't having mommy duties to add to all the other stuff.  And, as always, they spoiled the boys with fun activities.  On Friday, they went bowling for the very first time.  They loved it.  Brady insisted of course on carrying his own ball.  What a sight that must have been.  So precious.  They said Blake was a natural bowler.  Brad's dad loved bowling and played in a league when Brad was growing up, so I'm sure he was looking down on the boys with a big smile.  

Saturday morning they had breakfast at Chick-fil-A and then went to see the new Madagascar movie.  They dropped two very exhausted and happy boys off Saturday afternoon. Well, happy until their over tiredness kicked in and then I had two very cranky boys on my hands! 

Brad's mom and step dad are moving back to Colorado and were driving through on their way so brought us dinner.  A very big help.  And Brad's mom was able to help with bath time so I could help clean Brad up at the same time.  Another big help.  And then brought over breakfast and goodies Sunday morning as well.  It was so appreciated.  Very thankful for the grandparents as always.  And the boys love love love their time with them!  

Hurtin

If you ever have the opportunity for your husband to tear his ACL, leaving him at not full capacity around the house for six weeks and then needing surgery...on your birthday, I would definitely say, pass.  Oh, how fun these last few days have been.  SARCASM.  Let's see if I can recap a little bit...

Friday (which was also my birthday, but not bitter or anything) I woke up at 4am.  We arrived at the hospital at 5:30am.  I sat at the hospital, allll day.  Alone.  And did I mention it was my birthday? :)  I guess the one positive is that I read an entire book I had really wanted to read and when do I ever have that long with a book having my undivided attention??  The surgery lasted four hours, which was way longer than I had anticipated, leaving me a little worried, but the surgery went well.  Brad's ACL was completely removed from the femur and the graft from his hamstring they took to make the repair was way longer than normal because, in the surgeon's words, "Your husband has large tissue.  He is a big guy."  ha.  

Here is Brad in the recovery room.  Where we stayed for several hours.

We also went into this surgery not fully realizing the depths of recovery.  

Here is a picture of Brad's robocop looking knee brace.

Brad is in so much pain.  He has periods of feeling somewhat ok, thanks to pain meds and a catheter that is still hooked up to him, dispensing a partial pain block.  But he's thrown up several times.  Has had periods of incredibly intense pain.  Hard to do anything for himself.  And earlier tonight he ran a 101.2 fever, which scared me half to death.  And then there's the caretaker part.  Cleaning up throw up.  Waiting on Brad hand and foot.  Worried.  Such a helpless feeling seeing him in so much pain.  Setting an alarm on my phone for every four hours, through out the night as well, to make sure he takes all his necessary medicine.  Help him up to the bathroom, etc. etc.  Plus, taking care of two little ones, a dog and a household.  Its been intense, I'll be honest.  Exhausting.  Oh, and starting tomorrow I get to attempt taking off this massive brace, undo his bandages, clean his incisions, re-bandage and put back on the brace.  Every 24 hours.  Yikes.

Picture of all his meds lined up, with logs I made so I can remember when he is supposed to take what pill.

One day at a time though, right?  We'll get through it.  That's what I keep telling myself.

Also, I should note, that Brad did still manage to make my birthday special.  I came home Wednesday night from a much needed girls night out to this on the counter...

My favorite flower.  And my favorite candy.  Come to find out, it was because Blake told Brad he wanted to get me treats for my birthday.  Heart melted.   I woke up Thursday (day before b-day) and had two very excited little boys showing me the flowers and "treats" they helped pick out.  Brad and the boys also gave me two cards both with sweet notes and the boys having colored on theirs, of course making it absolutely priceless.  I said to Brad, "You do know today is not my birthday right?" And he replied, "You know I'm going to be unconscious tomorrow right?"  Touche.  And we had a wonderful dinner out with of course a Steins cake, with my parents that evening to celebrate my birthday and fathers day and I was a happy girl.  Even though it wasn't technically my birthday, it was a day filled with lots of love and it was definitely enough to carry me through the next day. 

Life Lately

We haven't been up to all too much of anything, but thought I'd post my iPhone pics from the last few days....

I have really started looking forward to our Thursday mornings.  Most weeks, that is our trip to the library.  We have a beautiful new library down the street from us and we so enjoy our time there.  The boys look forward to trading in their books for new ones and getting in computer time and play time.  (the library has an actual play room for kids, pretty cool.)  The boys have really come to understand the #1 rule in a library, being quiet, and their love for reading really shines while we are there.  I love to read as well and love having this shared passion with the boys.  Here are the boys on the computer.  Blake was helping Brady choose the right answers in a learning game he was playing.  They were playing so sweetly together.  (notice Brady'd dino mask)

Blake continues to act older and look older to me every day.  I took this picture and felt like he just looked so grown up. *sigh*

 We spent Saturday at our beach club.  Brady's favorite part as usual was eating snacks on the lounge chair.

Saturday night we went to our friends house to watch the hockey game finals and eat and hang out.  We had so much fun.  They also just welcomed a new bundle of joy to their home, a four month old corgi puppy.  Odie had inspired them to get a corgi when they were ready for a doggie, and oh.my.goodness. this dog was so adorable and totally made me miss my Odie.  She had so many of the same characteristics as Odie.  So sweet.  And the boys were in love with her too. 

And today we spent the entire day at my parents.  Best day ever.  Yummy breakfast.  Pool time.  Relaxing time.  Snuggles.  And yummy dinner.  Also, Blake is gaining more and more confidence in the water and swam the entire length of their pool by himself.  We were pretty proud of our new little fishy.

Brady just cracks me up.  He has found a new obsession.  A hockey game on Brad's old iPhone.  He refused a nap today so he was lounged out on their living room floor, snuggled up, blankie over his head, playing his hockey game.  Love this silly boy.

My Little Dinosaur

This boy makes me want to squeeze him and attack him with kisses all day long.  He has rediscovered this week the dino masks from Blake's party and wears one of the masks pretty much all day.  My little dinosaur.  He insisted on taking it to the pool the other day and wore it while lounging in a chair eating goldfish.  He insisted on wearing it to his doctor appointment yesterday and to gymnastics today.  So silly.  But so adorable.  He's also wearing a sticker on his shirt in these pics.  It says "special" on it.  A sticker that was on on a package of bagels I got from the store.  Couldn't sum up this boy any better.  He is so special to me.  I try so hard to not worry about Brady, but I truly can't help it.  The love you have for your child is like no other and I just want this precious baby to be healthy.  He looks so frail to me in the picture on the left and when I capture glimpses of him sometimes like that it makes my heart ache.  I do feel reassured after his appointment yesterday that he is continuing on the curve.  Of course we all wish he'd grow further on the curve, but I know we have to celebrate the small victories.  This little guy is still sitting at 26 pounds.  But at least he is not regressing backwards.  I know this is a good thing.  He is a little bit taller.  And of course he's still the happiest guy around.  I know I'll feel even more reassured next month when his immunologist plans on re-running a huge blood panel on him.  Well, I won't feel great while they take all that blood from him but hopefully it will calm me further with the results.  The gastro also finally admitted based on a few other "symptoms" with Brady, it might be a good idea to visit with an endocrinologist, something I've really felt we should do for awhile now.  So, more doctor visits, hopefully more reassurances.  But of course I'm still worrying.  Meanwhile, I'm busy squeezing the heck out of this little dinsosaur!