Freeeeeedom

I have been riding a high ever since Tuesday afternoon.  The first few hours after her cast removal were actually kinda a bummer because she was in a ton of pain and couldn’t move her leg at all and didn’t want me or anyone to touch it and was crying on and off at the idea of movement.  So that was sad.  And despite me coaching her through the whole experience, it was still pretty traumatic getting the thing removed in the first place.  But hour by hour she got better and better and by bed time she was moving it a little on her own and even standing (very gingerly) on her own with slight pressure on her left side.  Watch, she will be running by Friday.  This girl is the toughest person I know and I am not just saying that.  Her spirit will not be silenced.  In this case, it’s a good thing.

The day started like normal…I went on a run with the kids in the chariot (Kyle’s out of town, so no solo workouts this week) and then fed them breakfast before dropping P off at school.  After that Valley and I came home so I could pack some stuff up (underwear!) and then we went to her MD appointment.  I was so anxious.  I was trying not to think about it leading up to today, but soooo many people want to talk about it and so I am forced to discuss it ad nauseam.  I was fine until we got into the waiting area and then suddenly my stomach was doing flip flops.  It was so bizarre.  I was incredibly nervous, but in a way that made me feel like I had gotten my hopes up for nothing.  I suddenly felt like my optimism was all wrong and the x-ray was going to show she wasn’t ready for her cast to be removed yet.  I was reading into every little interaction with various staff members too.  The thing was, I had done things that normally would go against my superstitious nature.  But, if I’m being honest here, I consciously IGNORED my superstitions because I wanted to put my faith in God.  Ordinarily, I’d think bringing underwear would jinx us.  And then yesterday I ran out of diapers and didn’t buy any more.  And I threw out the plastic trash bag that I put over her cast for our sink baths last night.  All before knowing the outcome.  As if my actions could change the outcome!?!  No.

So as we sat in the room, waiting for the MDs to come in and tell us what the film showed, I fidgeted and sang and played with V while my heart pounded on.

The MDs didn’t waste any time, and delivered the good news right away.  She was healing great!  And although she proooobably could have kept in on a touch longer, they knew we were flying and offered to take it off early with the warning that she’d be extra needy and probably unable to walk normally for a while.  Fine by me!  I was already lugging her all over the place, so I’d happily do it without the extra LBs.

After texting the world the good news, we waited for the techs to get ready to cut her free.

That was actually not the worst part, although she definitely wasn’t a fan.  She was exceptionally brave despite the loud noise, scary saw, and vibrating that accompanied the buzzing up and down her cast.  Once she was pried free, she was in tons of pain.  Pretty much for the next hour or so she couldn’t move without her leg hurting a lot, so I tried as best I could to keep her leg as immobile as possible until we got home.

“Look mama, I can do this now!”

Even in pain, she was happy about the small stuff.  Like crossing her right leg over her newly freed left leg.

They recommended a warm bath to loosen up her ligaments so that’s immediately what we did.  My friend picked up P from school because I wasn’t sure if I’d make it back in time, but we both ended up arriving at our house at the same time!  Perfect!  I fed P in the kitchen and V in the bath.  It was the only way I could lure her into the bath…and even though she was resistant to it at first, I think she gradually got her leg to move fractionally more and more.  And she was eating crackers with almond butter and jelly in a bubble bath (with purple soap paint!), so that was pretty dang special too. I felt pretty psycho running up and down the stairs back and forth between both kids, but eventually everyone was fed and in bed.  Valley actually wore underwear home from the appointment and hasn’t had an accident since!!  [Can you tell how crazy proud of her I am!?]

I want it alllllll.

As soon as lunch was done, I got to work on food prep.  With one hurdle out of the way, I could focus on the next thing.  The Fall family picnic for Pacman’s school was that night, and I had to make us something. I didn’t want to get more stuff out of the freezer because we had random odds and ends I wanted to use up before we leave this weekend.

I decided that rather than make the whole gobble meal, I would just make the potato salad.  I omitted the garlic and onion (saved them for a dish I’ll show later) and used much more dill than called for.  I don’t use dill very often because Kyle doesn’t like it, but he was gone so make it rain!!  Same with capers.  All the pickled things!

P didn’t like this, but V and my taste buds were on the same wave length.

While I was preppin’ I steamed these green beans from my parents’ garden…followed by the haricot vert from the gobble box.  May as well bring those to the picnic too.

What do you do when you have extra dill…and want a chopped salad for dinner…?  You make herbed ranch dressing.  I used Danielle’s recipe from Celebrations.  It was so good!

So I made a salad with romaine, cabbage, carrots, leftover chicken skewers, and tomatoes.

Chopped up some leftover sausage and hot dogs for the kids and apple slices and called it a day.

All packed up!  Boy do I love using up leftovers!

After Valley’s nap she took a while to remember that she was still in recovery mode. She cried for a while but some melon and ergo time won her over.

We played all afternoon and over time, V got more and more strength and confidence. It was so crazy to watch. It was like a baby learning to walk in warp speed.

Picnic time 🙂

The kids started the meal off with popsicles, so that was great.  Actually, P was running around with his friends for the first half hour, and the popsicles got him to come back to the blanket…for a brief second…until he was off again.  He was running around non stop and it made me so happy seeing him so enthusiastic.  There’s being at ease, and then there’s radiant.  He truly shines his brightest in this setting.  It’s a joy to watch.  Both kids are obsessed with his teachers too, so we hung out with them and all our friends until wayyyyy too late.

They didn’t even get in the bath until 8 pm.  Yikes.

Due to dose timing, my dessert was pushed back pretty late.

I accidentally over ate and felt a little sick (went back for seconds after this), but ended up staying up til 11:30 doing random stuff to get ready for the next day.

Like this crockpot black bean (chili?) for Kyle.  I had a bunch of awesome tomatoes that I wanted to use up before we left…along with a ton of Mexican ingredients – roasted garlic and onions from the gobble meal, as well as leftover sautéed onions and bell peppers, chopped green onions, red onions, salsa, and tonsssss of black beans from various meals friends brought over.  Mexican food is very popular!  So I threw it all into the crock and that way when he was home early the next morning his food was ready to go.

I had tortillas and cheddar cheese too, so I made a bunch of burritos for the freezer the next day.  And he still has chili for both days’ breakfasts until we leave. 🙂