pros and cons

There are a few good things that have come from my ankle break. For one, being in a cast and unable to walk has really lifted the pressure that I was feeling about getting back in shape after having Izzy. Now when I go to the pool, I really don't feel self-conscious about the extra baby weight at all (granted, I'm not in a bathing suit anyway since I can't swim). We live in an area where there are a lot of very fit 'soccer moms', which can be a little disheartening post-partum. Now I'm not really all that worried about it because there is nothing I can do.
Also, it has forced the boys to really step up and help me. Devin can now get most of his breakfast on his own (he needs help with the milk for his cereal) and Alex will hear me coming down the stairs and call out, "Mommy do you need help?". Then he will come over and carry my crutches down for me. They have always had 'jobs' to do, like take out the recycling, put away clean silverware, clean up their toys, but this has taken things to a new level.
The biggest down side of breaking my ankle isn't really the injury (although I am a little concerned about my skinny little peg leg, and about my lack of ankle flexibility) but the impact that is has on Andy. Isabel has been getting up to feed twice each night for the last couple weeks. That means that Andy has to either feed her or bring her to me and then put her back to bed once I'm done feeding and changing her. Plus, he needs to get up every time she loses her binki and needs help. For that reason alone I hope that I am able to get off the crutches at my appointment next week - so I can carry Isabel and let Andy get a decent night's sleep for a change.

thank goodness for Mom

My mom is such an amazing help. I don't know how we would have made it through Andy being out of town without her. The first day Devin spiked a fever and that night he threw up. It was actually kind of funny. At 3:00 am he came running down the hall crying and throwing up into a bucket. When he got to my bed (because I can't get around very well with the broken ankle) he handed me the bucket and said that his tummy didn't feel good (which I had clearly guessed already). Once we got his face wiped and my mom cleaned out the bucket, he was sitting on the floor waiting for me to get him some Motrin and he started singing, "Everybody dance now...". There was one more vomiting episode in the morning, but by the afternoon he was eating like crazy and playing basketball. However, the second vomiting episode coincided closely with me nursing Isabel and Alex splitting his lip. I needed three sets of hands and two functioning legs to manage it. Thank goodness I had Mom here. Then later Alex whacked himself in the eye with a hard plastic bat, so he looks like a boxer, or like social services should be called on his parents. Andy is back and my Dad is here too, so we have a better ratio going for the next few days. The kids are all loving the extra attention and affection from Grandma and Grandpa, and I think my parents are enjoying the little ones (especially that smiley little Isabel!).

Izzy's weight class

Andy and I are convinced that Isabel is trying to "make weight" like a boxer or a wrestler. She's trying to go from lightweight to heavyweight in a short amount of time, and eating like a machine to achieve this. The last couple days she has been eating every other hour during the day, and every three or four hours at night. This comes after she gave us a little taste of what life could be like by sleeping nine hours one night. What a tease! Needless to say, Andy is thrilled about the increase in nighttime feedings, since he has to either feed Izzy or bring her to me every time (and has to get up to give her the binki countless time each night after his crazy long day of working and taking care of the kids and the house). Her full cheeks and chubby legs sure are cute though. =)

we're getting by

Everyone is asking how we are doing, so I thought I'd post a quick update. All things considered we are doing really well. I am able to get around more now that my pain has significantly subsided and I am getting much better on crutches. Andy is unbelievably busy taking care of breakfast and dinner every day, doing laundry, bathing everyone (much as he is nervous bathing the little slippery baby, he thinks he's a better candidate for the job than I), cleaning up the kitchen, putting the kids to bed and carrying Isabel anywhere that she needs to go. Oh, and he's working full time too. The boys are both being very helpful, but their help is sometimes terrifying. Today Devin got a band-aid from the bathroom cabinet for Alex. When I went to the bathroom a little later I discovered that he reached the band-aid by climbing on a stool that he put on top of the toilet. While I have to give him props for his ingenuity, I clearly have to review with him which items are acceptable for climbing.
The person most enjoying my lack of mobility is Isabel. She loves hanging out on the couch with Mom. She even takes all her naps on the couch, since I can't carry her while I'm on crutches. Any guilt that I was feeling about her getting shuttled around to all the boys things and spending too much time in her car seat is long gone, since she is getting more time with me than I ever thought my third child could get. I think we are both enjoying that though.
I am extremely grateful to my friends who have been absolutely wonderful about helping us. We have friends who are driving my kids to camp and swim lessons, bringing us dinner, inviting the boys over to play, picking up groceries for us, and even coming over to help me get Izzy into the car when I need to go somewhere. While Andy and I both feel bad about being so needy, we recognize that we truly cannot manage on our own right now. Even though we have babysitters coming daily to help with lunch and things around the house, we still rely heavily on our friends, and we feel so lucky to have made some wonderful friends in such a short amount of time.
We are calling in reinforcements this weekend though - Grandma is coming! Andy has to travel next week, so my Mom moved her trip up (she and Dad were planning to come later in the week) and has extended her stay until I am (hopefully!) off crutches. I hope that she is able to give Andy a little breather, since he has been pulled in a lot of directions lately and he definitely needs (and deserves) some down time. I know that I'm not the only one counting the days until I go to the ortho again.

four weeks

Sometimes four weeks seems like it passes so quickly, and other times it feels like an eternity. I wonder how fast the next four weeks will go by, since I need to stay off my ankle the whole time. The doctor put me in a boot (that I can remove only to shower) and told me to use my crutches and don't put any weight on my leg for four weeks. Then I will get to wear the boot for two more weeks when I can start walking on that foot. So I will spend the remainder of the summer in a hot, sweaty boot, hobbling on crutches for most of the time.
As my mom put it, I guess it was time for me to slow down.

unbelievable

Maybe I tempted fate, or jinxed myself. See, I mentioned that we had an easy July ahead of us, with no vacations, no big house projects, no real plans other than my parent's visit later this month... but July will be anything but easy now. Yesterday (in an attempt to return to a normal fitness routine and get in shape again) I went for a run. I was less than half a mile from the house when I fell. My foot came down on an uneven part of the pavement (where the street meets the curb) and my ankle twisted and I went down hard. I limped about a block before I waved down a passing car and asked for a ride home (thank goodness we are in a friendly neighborhood!). Within half an hour the outside of my ankle was the size of a tennis ball. We waited a couple hours (but followed the ice/elevation/motrin protocol) before going to the ER. So a couple Xrays later we found out that I broke it. To be specific, I have a hairline fracture of the fibula. They immobilized my leg, gave me pain meds and crutches, and told me to stay off of it until I can get in to see an Ortho (hopefully Monday!). The ER doc thinks that I will either be in a walking cast or a boot for a few weeks. I just know that taking care of two kids and an infant while on crutches seems impossible. At this point I am not a whole lot of help with anyone other than Isabel, and that is because she is very content to hang out on the couch with me. Andy has been wonderful and our friends and neighbors have been very helpful. However, this will be a challenging week.