Catch up of 2013

I do so well at keeping up this blog for a while then it goes down the drain. I figure that since it's the end of the year I should get some news out to family and friends. This post will be our "recap of 2013" that most people send out with their Christmas cards. I had no time for Christmas cards this year, so this is the best I got :)

2013 has been an amazing year for our family. While Leah spent the entire Winter in her wonderful cast, we still had an amazing time. We bought our first house in January and moved in in the middle of February. It took us a while to get into the swing of shoveling a drive way, taking out garbage cans and enjoying the extra space we now have. Leah's favorite part has been the basement where she can ride her bike, make a mess and just play and be a kid. Allie's favorite part is the fenced in backyard where she can run freely. Leah also loves the backyard where we had a garden and we were even given a huge playground for her by our cousins. Thanks Aunt Kelly, (other) Uncle Brian, Adam and Aaron!

Early Spring took us on a family trip to Florida with the Siebert's to see Great Grandpa Siebert. How much fun that was! I loved that Leah got to go the beach and to Disney, and she asks about it all the time. She had fun, and we couldn't have been happier to see Grandpa! We miss him so much! Leah is asking frequently when we can go back to Florida. To be honest, dear, we would love to go back as soon as possible too!!! Especially with all this snow!!

May was also eventful for our family. Uncle Brian got married and we love weddings. Leah loves wedding so much-she's a dancing kind of girl :) Love her! Weddings always seem like a big production, so even though this was the only big thing we had in May, it still seemed so busy!

In June, we took a trip to Great America with the Siebert's and Leah had the time of her life. She is a roller coaster girl for sure, which Ryan loves! Not my thing, but hey, at least he'll have somebody to ride the rides with in the future.

July and August were calm months. We spent a lot of time playing outside together as a family. We would do bubbles, care for our garden and play with outside paints. Leah's in love with art!!

In August we also found out that we are expecting a little sibling for Leah. We couldn't be more excited, and Leah is ready to tackle to roll of Big Sister. Baby number 2 will be here in early April:)

For Halloween we did our usually trip to the Kasper's house to have dinner and go trick or treating. They always have the BEST decorations up and make the best Halloween food. Leah loves going to their place for this holiday, and we do too. I dread the day she decides she wants to go trick or treating with friends instead of go to the Kasper's. Hopefully that's not for a long time :) Leah dressed up as Princess Tiana from the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog. Grandma Kim made her outfit and she absolutely loved it.

November took us to one of our favorite places-Minnesota! We planned to head that way for a family wedding, but we went up a few days early to spend some time at Ikea and Mall of America. I knew Leah would love the rides and the mall, and we thought we'd take her to the American Girl store, since she's really into those dolls right now. We had so much fun. I personally love Ikea, but Leah didn't seem too impressed. I thought there would be more displays for her age that she could see and play with, but most of their kid sections were under construction. Oh well.

She had a blast at the mall, of course. She loved the rides-and she only went on the easy, tame rides to mommy didn't freak out-I really hate roller coasters. Hate them. But she had fun on the little rides, much to my surprise.

Then, we went to have lunch at American Girl. We bought Leah and new Bitty Baby doll for Christmas there so she was in love with the doll. The baby sat at our table in a high chair and had some play food too. It was so sweet. After lunch, she was exhausted, so we headed to the hotel and Leah took a short nap in the car.

We also had our ultra sound at the end of November, and saw that we are having a very healthy, although shy, baby. The little one had its legs crossed so we couldn't see a gender, but have decided that we are fine not knowing. The baby also struggled to give us good profile pictures, as it was covering its face for most of the appointment. We are excited to find out the gender in April!

I have been feeling pretty good with this pregnancy, which isn't how it was when I was pregnant with Leah. I was so sick, and I felt horrible for most of the 40 weeks. She was just a tough one I guess. This little one has been easy going as I've had next to no morning sickness, and only a few migraines. I'm almost to the 3rd trimester, so hopefully the feel good continues!

We will end the year with a trip to Monroe for Christmas, and then heading do to Illinois for Leah's birthday. I can't believe my sweet baby is almost 4 years old. Where did that time go?

We have an exciting 2013, and I think 2014 is going to be even more exciting!

Happy Holidays to everybody!!

Love,
Amy

Good Mom's have sticky floors???

I found a pin on Pinterest the other day that said "Good Mom's have sticky floors, messy kitchens, laundry piles, dirty ovens and happy kids". Well, My floors are NEVER sticky, my kitchen is only messy when Ryan cooks in it, there's only laundry after a weekend trip or a shopping trip (guilty), never have a dirty oven-top at least-so does that mean my child isn't "happy"? And does this make me a "not good" Mom?

I've actually thought about this quote a lot, and I can't lie, for a while it bothered me. Why is that since I'm a "clean freak" my child isn't happy? Sometimes I think maybe the quote is right. I tend to get home from work and we usually eat as Ryan has made or is making dinner, we eat and then Ryan will play with Leah or now that we have a house she plays outside, while I sit inside and clean the kitchen. Then, I'll either throw in some laundry, clean the bathroom or sweep the floors. She then takes a bath and gets ready for bed. So it seems like I really don't spend much "time" with her after school.

I used to go in and see her during my lunch breaks at work, but now that I have a different break I don't get to do that-that will be changing next week as I get different hours and there for I will get that  break again. I felt like I was letting Leah's childhood slip by without my even noticing. That lady is my life, and it bugged me that I myself didn't think I was spending enough time with her.

On weekends, we get to be together more. We play outside, color or watch a show together in the mornings. Ryan and I each have our own day to get up with her in the mornings-I get up on Saturday's and Ryan on Sunday's-and it's just extra alone time we each get to spend with her.

But I worry that maybe I'm not spontaneous enough, and that I get too caught up in the things that don't really matter. Does it really matter that my floors are sticky? No, but do you want to walk barefoot on a sticky floor? My kid doesn't. Does it matter that my kitchen is a mess? No, but who wants to wake up to a dirty kitchen?? Nobody, that's who. And piles of laundry is just frustrating when you have something you want to wear and it's dirty day after day. Also, Leah only wears like 3 outfits so not doing laundry around here would mean Leah would go to school naked a lot. No, thanks! I feel like I can have all of these things done, and my child can still be happy-maybe even more happy than kids with a dirty house because who wants to live in a messy place??

So, today I thought I'd try and do something fun with Leah and not worry about cleaning or laundry. We got home from school and it was raining. It's pretty much rained everyday for the last week so she hasn't gotten to go outside and play much recently. I took her to go get the mail and decided that she and I should go play in the backyard any ways. "In the rain, Mom?" You bet child, in the rain. We ran around the yard, played in her water table and threw the water at each other. She got some play food and cups out and gave us both chocolate milk and candy. The smiles and laughs that I got from her were amazing, and something she'll remember for a long time-or at least until she falls asleep. We came inside and took a bath with bubbles and glow sticks. Then came a dinner of leftover pancakes, waffles and chocolate milk. Then Ryan, who had been out golfing, came home with a hot fudge sundae for her. Her night was perfect she said. I even managed to throw in some laundry, clean the kitchen and the floors after Ryan got home.

And what did Leah remember from this night? "Playing in the rain and throwing water at each other. She doesn't notice when I do laundry or clean, and she doesn't look it at it as a roadblock in her life, or something stuck between her and I. I think the people who write things like this are horrible multi taskers, are lazy, and probably don't sleep too well at night knowing their house is a mess. Me and my child? We are happy AND have a clean place to lay our heads every night.  

I have no pictures from tonight, as it was raining and Ryan wasn't home. But here are some pictures of an adorable, happy, 3 year old:)

 

Love,

Amy

 

 

 

Little Bro Brian Gets married

First off, I love my little Brother. I say "Little" and I laugh as I write that because he's not very little. He's not a giant or anything, maybe 5'10" or so, buff like a bouncer, and sweet as can be.

Brian has always had a special place in my heart, probably because we got into enough trouble together as kids over the years. There was that one time we were fighting over the Internet-90's kid problems-and he started to chase me around the house. I shut the door on him and he may or may not have, but definitely did, run though the middle of the door knocking down the middle section. The door stayed closed, except for the massive hole in the middle. We were sneaky, and we rigged the broken piece back in and made it so that when Jenn came home and opened the door the piece would come crashing out, making Jenn believe she broke the door.

There was that time when my Varsity basketball team was scrimmaging his JV boys team. I was a senior-him a freshman. I took a shot and Brian blocked it into next week.

Those 4 softball games in high school that Brian came to-because he got out of school to go to them of course.

There was that time he won a state championship in high school, and I was so proud.

I love my baby brother to death-and I am so proud of the man he's become. Last weekend he got married to his love, and it was beautiful.

The details aren't important. Well, they are, and they were beautiful, but I'm choosing to focus on the people, and the memories made.

I spent the morning a little stressed out-I know, it wasn't even my wedding right? But I was. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing, Leah was in the wedding and I didn't know how to do her hair, if she would walk, if she could cry, anything. And then I was helping the photographer out too, and I didn't know where exactly to be. So I was feeling a little out of funk, until Brian came and needed help getting ready. And I was there. Just him and I..... and Ryan, but let's be honest, he doesn't really count here:)  I helped him get ready, and spent some time with him on the most important day of his life. So far :)

I helped Molly-the photographer-take pictures and then we went to the park. Leah walked maybe 10 steps down the aisle and freaked out. So I walked down with her. As I watched Paula walk down towards Brian, I cried. I was so happy and just so proud of him at that moment. It was a moment that I will never forget, and I will never forget how I felt.

I didn't get a chance to dance with Brian at the wedding, but that's ok. I know that someday we will get that dance. It might be at a wedding in a few years, or maybe even Leah's wedding some day in the future-way in the future. Who am I kidding, that kid's never going to be allowed to get married:)

I'm so proud of you little brother, and I look forward to having another person help us create chaos. She even beats you at Uno. And that's a BIG deal to us.

I love you Brian and Paula, Congrats on your special day!

Love,
Amy

Florida!!!!!

Wow, where have I been. I feel like I do so well with my blogging and then something happens to put it all on hold. So much has happened since my last post about Leah's casting off party-which was actually back in March-Hello, it's almost June. OK, so I'm not the best blogger ever. I'll get there:)

April started off in a hurry with us planning our vacation to Florida with the Siebert side of the family. I'm not one for flying. At all. I never have been too keen on the idea, even though I've flown maybe 20 times in my life. It seems to be getting worse as I get older. Anyways, I almost didn't even go on this trip due to the flying, but I'm so glad I did.

Leah, who was previously known to us all as "the world's WORST traveler EVER" has apparently outgrown that amazing title. She loved flying, well I think she just liked having all of her favorite people in one place at one time where they couldn't escape from her. Plane ride down was so easy peasy!

We stayed at a cool little rental place with a pool. It was great because we used a company that we rented cribs, toy's for the twins, toys for Leah, beach toys, pool toys and anything else we could've needed. It was so great to not have to worry about bringing toys and stuff for Leah to play with as its not cheap to take extra bags anyplace.

We went and spent some time with Leah's Great Grandpa Siebert, that was the reason for this little jaunt to Florida. He's looking so great, and it was awesome to get to spend some time with him. Even though Leah was shy and didn't really want to hug Great Grandpa, she talked about him at night and worried about where he was when she couldn't see him. She cares so much-she just pretends not to:)
We took a boat cruise with Grandpa which was fun. When Ryan and I got married in Florida 4+ years ago we got married on a boat down in St. Petersburg, and we took a cruise this time with the same company. We were secretly hoping to get the same boat we got married on, but that boat has since been "moved up coast" as we were told. Sad, but still so much fun! Leah only broke 1 plate, so we consider that a successful outing:)

We went to the beach one day, too. I though Leah would love to go walk in the water and the soft, white sand. look for seashells with me, and even build a sand castle. My kid? Yeah right. We walked her down the water and she freaked out. Pulling as far away from Ry as she could. I showed her the shells-she didn't care. The soft sand? No, thanks. She wanted to play about a mile from the water in the hard sand with broken shells. Seriously?? I didn't get it at the time-but looking back that Gulf must've seemed like the biggest thing ever and it was probably pretty scary for a 3 year old. She did build castles, though, with Aunt Melissa.

The next day was what I'd been waiting almost a full year for. DISNEY! When we first talked about Disney, Ryan and I were a little conflicted. Leah hates characters. She's terrified of them. We went to see Bucky Badger once and she screamed at the sight of him. I thought princesses would maybe be ok as they are actual people and not dressed in a big animal suit. So Ryan and I decided to take the chance and take Leah to Disney. I just couldn't go all the way to Florida and not take her there. After all, its the place "Where Dreams Come True".

Ah, Disney. Where to start? When I went to Disney 10 years ago-yes as a senior in high school, I remember Disney having 1, maybe 2 parades. Well Disney these days has a parade every 4 seconds. We got there just in time to see the 2nd parade of the day and I was so happy. I was almost crying as the floats came around with people singing and kids so happy, until I looked down at Leah and saw complete fear in her eyes. She in hysterics at the sight of that many characters all in one place. So we tried to stay away from the parade for a while. We got a few pictures, bought Leah a Minnie Mouse hat with ears and started on the rides.

Dumbo, classic Dumbo. Amazing! They have 2 Dumbo rides along side each other, so more people can go on the ride at a time. The best part? The waiting area. You go into the Big Tent and they give you one of those little restaurant beepers that goes off when it's you turn and then they have indoor play place for the kids to play with they wait. Air conditioned. Best. Thing. Ever!! I wasn't sure how Leah would do with the ride itself, because she's so hit or miss on rides, but she loved it! The smile never left her tiny face!

We also hit up the carousel, It's A Small World, A big Paddle Boat, The Jungle Tour Ride, Aladdin, and a train ride around the park to end the day. As we were leaving, there was another parade going on. This time Leah stopped and yelled, "Mom! The parade! I want to see the parade!" So we saw about 4 minutes of a Disney parade. We had such a great time and I couldn't have asked for a better experience with my little lady.

With the Florida trip ending, I realized something. She may not remember this trip to Disney, but I will always remember the look on her face when she first saw Cinderella's Castle. The look on her face every time a cast member would say "Smile, Princess" to her as they took our picture. The look on her face when got to ride in a stroller for the first time in 2 years. And yes, even the look on her face when she was terrified of the parade. Those little things are a memory and I will have with me forever and ever. She was so happy that day. Disney made all of my "Dreams Come True" for my little angel.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Siebert for making this trip amazing for ALL of us! We couldn't appreciate it, or you guys, more! Love you!!!


Love,
Amy

Leah's Casting Off Party

The cast is off! Hurray!!!! It's been a long few weeks/months for our family with the cast, but on March 30 we put it all behind us.

We stayed at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, and most of our family was there. We decided that we would all go up Friday then spend all day Saturday playing in the water. Leah loves slides at the park, and water so we figured she would just go crazy for slides in water. Not so much.

I'm not sure what she was so afraid of, but Leah wouldn't go near the water....or the slides for that matter. In the beginning, all she wanted to do was play in the little swings that babies play in. Literally, the age range on those things was 6-12 months. So, we all kept trying to get her in the water and after an hour or so we gave up and decided to go eat cake.

 We ordered cake and balloons for Leah since it was for her birthday too. She loved the cake-what 3 year old doesn't?

 

 

 

 

After the cake, Leah finally began warming up to the idea of the water park. She was splashing around and laughing, and she eventually started going down the slides by herself.

 



 

It was a great day once Leah decided to try a few rides. We would love to take her back again someday!

The next day was Easter, so when Leah woke up she had a little present from the Easter Bunny, who came all the way to the Kalahari to deliver her basket.

 

 

 

When Leah first broke her leg-back on November 30, 2012, I'm sure Ryan and I thought it would never end. So many appointments and small set backs, pants that would never fit. It seems so unreal to have her cast off and it all behind us. We realized what a strong little lady we have and how she won't give up or let a little (or in this cast-huge) cast bring her down.

 

Her leg is back to normal now-maybe it's still a little hairier than her other leg-but strong and ready to run. Let's hope that this is the last injury we have for a while.

 

 

Date of original Fracture-November 30, 2012

 

 

Date of 1st cast change - December 5, 2012

 

 

Date of 2nd cast change- December 14, 2012

 

 

Date cast came off and the walking boot came on- January 7, 2013

 







Date the walking boot came off at home- February 8, 2013

 

Date the cast came off at school- February 22, 2013

 



Date of the Casting Off Party-March 30, 2013

 



Date in cast from Fracture date to cast off permanently date-12 weeks

Time after cast came off that Leah was allowed to run and play like a normal 3 year old-4 weeks.

 

Total time for the injury-16 weeks. 4 months, November 30, 2012-March 30, 2013.

 

 

 

Amy

4-6 weeks....or 14.

We took Leah back to the Dr on Feb 8 hoping for a bit of good news. It'd been forever since she had been in the cast and we thought this, for sure, would be the end of it.

When she first fractured the leg, all they told us was "She'll be in the cast 4-6 weeks." Ok, not such a big deal. The accident happened on November 30th, so we were thinking best case scenario we would be out of the cast on December 28th and just in time for her 3rd birthday, or worse case we would be getting out of the cast January 11th. Both seemed fine for us and totally do-able. Well, things can just never be that simple.

We took her back to the Dr a few times in December (see previous post about cast) and they decided to wait until January 7th to take the cast off. 6 weeks. Still not bad. But then the cast came off. And wasn't healed. Well, the Dr wasn't surprised that it wasn't healed yet, but Ryan and I both were. Because nobody told us that it might not be healed. So they sent us home with a walking boot and orders to come back in 4 more weeks. Total cast time-10 weeks.

So now we thought-Great! She'll have to the boot for 4 weeks and be done! We thought we'd be done sometime around the beginning of February and Leah would get to experience some of the fun winter brings-at least for a month or so. No such luck.

At the Dr appointment on February 8 they said that her leg was looking better-the fracture was still there but not even close to as bad as it had been. Good news! Bad news? They were now concerned with how much smaller her left calf muscle was than her right one. So the Dr's new orders are as follows:

She's not allowed to wear the boot at home.
             This is because he wanted her to walk without it to strengthen the muscle.

She HAS to wear the boot for another 2 weeks to school.
             This one was because her teachers wouldn't be able to give her enough 1-1 attention without the boot and he felt that if she was too rambunctious (who? Leah? Never!) that muscle wouldn't be strong enough to protect the bone.

She's not allowed to play outside at school for at LEAST 4 more weeks, or until she stops limping. Whichever is LONGER.
            This is because of the obvious. Snow is slippery. She could fall and again the muscle wouldn't be strong enough to support the bone.

So 4 more weeks at least. At this point she's still limping a bit, but not too bad. So who knows, maybe we will be done in 2 more weeks. Maybe it'll be longer. Total time for the injury-14 weeks.

It's so frustrating to not have any idea what's actually going on with your child's injury. Why didn't anybody say in the beginning "Well, she'll be in the cast 4-6 weeks but just a heads up it might not be all the way healed so they may give her another cast or they might to a walking boot for a few more weeks. And then the muscle could be smaller so there may be more boot time"? Because there is a huge difference between 4 and 14 weeks. I feel so out of the loop with my own child and now I don't even know what to tell her. "Mommy will I get my boot off today?" Who knows Leah, who knows.

Again, Leah has been nothing but a little trooper. She wants to do things herself and rarely does she complain about any pain or having to wear that darn boot around. She doesn't even complain about not being able to play outside. That's nothing new to her at this point. She is showing such persistence at times to do things on her own, and a great deal of patience-something she obviously doesn't get from me-to not rush her healing or to do things she just can't do yet. She really is an amazing little girl and I wish that I could deal with all the set backs as easily as she has. There's no frustration from her at all, just a smile and little limp.

Looking back to November 30th, neither Ryan nor I would've ever guessed that we would still be dealing with this issue in February, much less in March. Never trust those Dr's when they say "4-6 weeks". They mean 14. At Least.

Amy

Cast of 2012

On November 30, Ryan came to pick Leah up from daycare since I had a basketball game and had to leave right from work. Ryan picks her up maybe once a week and he has to come to the room I work in to switch keys so he can take the car with Leah's car seat.

On this day, he came in with Leah SCREAMING in his arms. Now, for us this isn't too abnormal for Leah. She cries/whines all the time. But she never cries at daycare. Never. Like, Ever! So when she came into my room in hysterics, I was a little concerned. Ryan said that she had fallen out on the playground and wouldn't stand. Right, I thought. She just won't stand for Ry. So I took her from her and she screamed even louder. That's not normal for her, as she will usually come to me instead of Ry when she's hurt. I took her and put her on the ground and sure enough she started to freak out and lifted her left leg off the ground. I thought a trip to her classroom was in order.

I asked the girls what had happened, and as usual with these things, nobody really saw what happened. The story I got was that a little boy had pushed her and she had fallen off on the steps. OK, nothing too major. I took her shoe and sock off to see if there was any swelling and I saw a bit, but not really anything too crazy. I went to put the sock back on and she let out a cry that broke my heart. Quick! To the Doctor!

Called the Dr, and of course it was a Friday night and our doctor's office was closed so we had to drive downtown about 25 minutes away to urgent care. And our urgent care is crazy and we had to have an appointment. I wasn't going to wait 3 hours, so we took her in and ended up sitting in the waiting room for only about an hour. The doctor looked at her leg and said that since Leah wasn't flinching when she would touch it she didn't think it was broken or that it would need x-rays. After mulling it over for about 5 minutes, the doctor decided she'd rather be safe than sorry and they decided to get her an x-ray.

Have you even done an x-ray on a 2 year old? With a potentially broken leg? Let me tell you something-it's not fun. At all. Or any word describing fun. It was absolutely horrible. Leah screamed so badly that I started to cry. I'm sure it hurt her, and I'm sure she was scared. It broke my heart to see my baby in such pain and to know that there was nothing I could do. After the first x-ray the lady said "Oh yeah, it's broken" and my heart sank.

The official diagnosis was "a spiral fracture of the left tibia". Because I'm a DR and know exactly what that means. It's a fracture that occurs when torque is applied along the axis of the bone. Thanks Wikipedia! In basic English, it's when the bone is fractured horizontally rather that vertically. So now our story of her falling less than 1 foot didn't really make sense, since there had to some torque somewhere.

While sitting back in the Dr's office waiting for them to decide what to do, Ryan and I talked about how upset we were. Not upset at the little boy who pushed her-kids will be kids-but just upset that she in so much pain.

The Dr decided to send us to the UW ER and she gave us some meds for Leah to take on our way. We sat at the pharmacy for like 30 minutes waiting for a dropper of 1 tablespoon of oxycodone, which made Ryan fume. How in the world did it take this long for something so small?

The road to the ER was fun. I called my boss-since the injury happened on her business. She was supportive and asked to be informed of what happened. Leah, by this point, was cried out and was trying to find things to do. She still had her sock off as she wouldn't let anybody touch that darn leg.

The ER. Boy, what an experience that was. I've never really been to an ER, but I've seen them on TV. That sounds bad, but I've been pretty lucky to be mostly healthy in my life, or maybe I just get sick/injured at the right times when my doctors can actually get me in. Anyway, you know how the ER's look in the movies-lot's of people there running around, loud sounds, and lot's of sickly looking people? Yeah, that's what the ER was really like. I guess it was a popular night in the ER as people kept coming in. We sat in the waiting room for about an hour until we got called into a room. They said that they were going to prep her for surgery "just in case". Surgery. Awesome. Something I hadn't thought of.

And then, we sat there. And we sat there. For a long time. We had a few nurses/Dr's come in to talk to us and it was all the same-"what happened?" "This happened where?" "Are you sure that's what happened?" In the ER, and especially with spiral fractures-there's that "torque" again, they need to make sure that something really did happen to the child rather than the parents doing it and abusing the child. I understand that's their job to do, but they question you like crazy and almost make you feel like it's your fault for not only the accident but for also not really knowing what happened. It was one of the worst things ever-on top of by baby's broken leg. Fracture-sorry. Darn torque!

Eventually-around 10:00pm or so, they said that they wouldn't be needing to do surgery and that they would just cast it. Great! They said they'd be back soon! Well, soon doesn't exist in the ER. It was also a popular night for car accidents and for heart attacks as we kept hearing an announcement over the PA-"Ambulance arrival in room 27" "Ambulance arrival in room......." And the little girl with the fractured tibia in room 32 got pushed to the end of the line. Can't argue there. Leah was hungry, tired and so bored by the time they came in to give her some medicine to sedate her so that it would be easier to cast her. After the meds Leah was hilarious. She kept asking if she could eat the walls and why people didn't eat chairs. Glad she found her humor again:)

Casting her didn't take too long and we were on our way home by 1AM with a cast that went up over her knee about 6 inches. She has a little leg. That cast was huge. 2 hours at urgent care and 6 in the ER. Fun!

Dad and Jenn were at our house waiting for us since Dad came up to the game that I was supposed to coach 7 hours earlier. They also did come down to the ER to get the house keys as Allie hadn't been let out since that morning. Unfortunately, Allie was also having a rough time. She had gone to the vet 2 days earlier and had a tooth pulled so she was having such bad diarrhea that we dreaded going home because she was doing nothing but pooping in the house. And it was so bad. So Dad and Jenn had to clean up her poop that was all over the floor too. Thank goodness they were there to help us!

That night Leah slept in our room. We brought her little bed in and snuggled up. She slept well-she must've been so exhausted! And in the morning I went out to buy some bigger pants to fit over the huge cast and some leg warmers in case our little fashionista decided to go that route. Grandma and Grandpa Siebert also came up that day to spend some time with Leah. They were great to have around to help.

 

Help. Something Ryan and I don't ask for much. After all, we can do it ourselves, at least we are both stubborn enough to think we can. Help is something we've needed a lot of with this cast. In the beginning I had so many questions/fears of the logistics of the cast.

What will she wear? Her pants are too small and the cast is too big.
How will she get around? A wheelchair would never work at school. (Also her teachers would have probably hated us for getting our crazy child a wheelchair:)
Will she be in pain?
Will she ever sleep? In her room? Ours?
How will she go to the bathroom with that cast so high up?
How will I get her school bag, my purse, my lunch and my daughter down the stairs to the car in the morning to go to work and how will we get into school with all those things?

Ugh. I cringe just thinking about that list. At the time, I really had no idea how all of these things would happen for us. But things were a lot easier than I thought.

 I bought her some huge pants-we're talking since 6 from the girl section at Target. There. 1 problem solved. Though they did kind of fall off her tush, they worked much better than leg warmers!

Getting around was a little tougher. The first day of work I had to have a co-worker help me in. I just hadn't really thought too far ahead and I was so exhausted from the weekend. After that first day we started to use her little umbrella stroller. We would use it to take her form the car to school and then they would use it at school, and then we would take her back out to the car using it. Simple enough, and so lucky we still had that thing around when she hadn't been in a stroller for 18 months.

She did sleep! In our room for the first week, then Ryan and I decided we needed to get back into a routine. She slept like a true champ in her bed and we almost never had a problem with it.

Bathroom. HA! We came up with her just hanging on to us around the neck while we pulled her pants down, she would go, then we'd wipe her and have her grab around our necks again to pull the pants back on. Not the best way I'm sure, but it worked!

I never really get a good routine down for getting all those things down to the car, I just grabbed as much as I could and ran :)

At school that next day I finally got the real story of what happened. Leah was pushed off a small step by a little boy. But then as she was trying to get up to run away he jumped on top her while her foot was turning to walk away. There you are torque:)

She went back to the Dr 5 days after the fracture and they put a blue fiberglass cover over the cast, and then again on the 14th of December. They took the old cast off and they put a smaller and lighter blue cast on her. Her pants fit much better after that new cast and she is so much lighter! She also started to walk on the smaller cast so that was nice.

Leah missed out on playing in the snow for the whole month of December. We had a huge snowfall and she sat and sadly watching all the snow fall. That made me sad that she was finally old to really play in the snow and she can't. Ryan doesn't want her to ruin that cast so she just doesn't get out. One day at school the girls decided to get her out there. They wrapped her foot in about a thousand plastic bags and borrowed snow pants from a friend and she got to play. I cried when I saw that. They really helped my girl get to do something that I never thought she'd be able to do with that cast.

For Christmas, Leah wanted nothing more than a water table. A water table is just a little table that kids can play in with water and there are little cups that go in it and she can dump water. So simple. But she wanted one so bad. Well, with that cast that she couldn't get wet, it just didn't seem like a good idea. But she was very persistent, and even asked Santa for that to be her gift. How could Santa say no to a 2 year old with a cast? He didn't. Leah got the water table, but we told her she couldn't play in it until the cast came off. Poor girl. But she was OK with it.

Originally for her 3rd birthday we had planned to go to the Dells and stay at an indoor water park. Obviously that couldn't happen with the cast. So we just stayed at home and had a family birthday. We do plan to go to the Dells sometime in March when this is completely over for her birthday, just a few months late.

The cast came off on January 7, 2013. They took the blue cast off X-rays showed that the fracture was still there. Not as bad as it had been, but not healed either. She cried so much when they took the cast off. I'm sure her knee and ankle hurt from not being use properly from 6 weeks. But she did. She cried just as bad as she had for that first x-ray. Every memory of that first night came back when I saw the pain in her eyes. I just wanted it to end. They took her blue cast and put Velcro on it so that she could rest her foot in that until she was ready to go in a boot. The walking boot was our dream as she could then take a bath again, play in the water table, itch her leg. All the things we had been waiting weeks to do. She stayed in the blue cast for about 5 seconds and then she decided the walking boot would be way more fun.

She is currently still in the walking boot, but getting more and more ambitious every day. We take the cast off for short periods during the day and at night she doesn't wear it either. We should have an update in a few weeks as to if we are officially done with this crazy nightmare, which turned out to be not too bad of an experience. Except for the pain. Because that really sucked:)

 

Amy