Hilton Head Island, SC

Ahhhhh, the sweet smelling air of South Carolina. Oh how I've missed you. Like Jimmer and a pull up J. You were exactly what I needed after weeks of scooting on the floor and never leaving home. Your sun tanned my skin and your beaches let my wheelchair roll freely to the water's edge. Your restaurants filled my belly with sweet, sweet seafood and your tourists never laughed or stared at the girl in the wheelchair with a baby strapped to her chest and a toddler running wild like a little banshee. And now that I'm home I will keep my memories of my most recent visit... my trip to Beaufort to see your antebellum mansions, live oaks and Spanish moss, to your neighbors, Savannah and Tybee Island, with their colorful neighborhoods that take you back to a different time, and your numerous golf courses that distracted our husbands so we could go shopping. Hopefully I will see you again soon!

Playing with Actions

Here are a few of the pics we took with my sister's camera two weeks ago. This is a fun thing to do with pictures if you have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (this is what I have). Go to The Pioneer Woman website and download the actions. Once they are installed on your computer (it took me a good 30 min to figure it all out) then you can just play around. Pull up a photo, press a button and you have all sorts of fun looks for you pictures.

Here's an image straight out of the camera...



Seventies...


Pioneer Woman's B&W


Fresh Color...


Vintage... I love this picture.


Soft and Lovely...


So there you have it. Literally everything I know about photography!

Cast-off

So guess who gets her casts off tomorrow!! Yep, that would be me. I'm so incredibly excited to get the buggers off. These past few weeks have been really busy for me and actually pretty fun. I've had a ton of play dates (about 40!), lots of doctor's appointments and then we went down to Hilton Head Island last week to crash my in-law's vacation. It was awesome. But let me catch up before I blog about that.

I got new casts a couple weeks ago and decided to go with a more cheery color scheme for the downhill. Purple and hot pink. Much better than the black and maroon that everyone bugged me about. It was reflective of my mood, ok? For the record since I failed to mention it, I broke the 2nd, 3rd and 4th metatarsal on each foot.) At the last check, they were healing up just fine but I still don't know when I'll be able to fully walk. I'll know more tomorrow.



Teresa brought her babies up for a day when Julie was here and we had a fun time letting the kids run wild in the back while we took pictures of Sophie. Here's a pic of Eva and Erica playing in the wheelchair. Those two are two peas in a pod. I can't wait to see what they are like when they get older.

And a major crisis. Eva tried all week to give up her naps (a combination of her favorite binky breaking and 1-o'clock-church which always messes her up). Here's what she did to her room when I locked her in. I don't have help during nap time so it was absolutely miserable trying to deal with a raging 2-yr-old for 3 hours. But vacation and a new binky seems to have gotten her back on track (until Sunday). (And yes, I totally caved in with the binky thing but I just can't give up nap time. I'll have to work it out later when I have my legs back.)


Sisters and Soph! Now I'm going to go put my Pioneer Woman Actions to use and see what I can do with the rest of the pics!

The Longest Three Weeks

[A word to the followers. I'm finally catching on to Google Reader and it I'm loving it. I've started adding many of you as subscriptions or on the following widget. I was surprised to find out that I have thirty something subscriptions... Who are all of you? I didn't think I even had that many friends. So for those of you that go through Reader I've added a followers widget. It would be fun to see who you are and then you don't have to leave me comments because I'll know how much you love me already. :) ]

Here's a little photo to brighten up your day. I know all of you have a secret dream to use one of these things. Go ahead, envy me. It's ok to feel jealous.

But the bummer is I couldn't quite reach the cheese puffs.


I've had many questions about how I'm surviving. I will say this has pretty much been the longest 3 weeks of my life. But it has been amazing to see how willing and happy people are to help out. My mom and sister Julie have both been able to come out.



And I've had so many friends willing to take care of me. I took pictures of all my helpers on the first day planning to make a "helpers collage" but quickly abandoned the project because people were coming in faster than I could snap the pictures. I have been so touched by the support I've received. There was a 4 day gap between my mom and sister. All the girls around here signed up for shifts and meals. There was always someone to be here with me to clean my house, take care of my kids, make me food, bring me meals... It has been really fun actually. Then to top it all off they went in on a gift card for a full body massage for me. I started crying when I saw the card. I still can't believe what an amazing circle of friends I have.

Lara can be the friend representative for this post. She has already made me dinner 3 times (maybe 4, I'm losing track) this month. (Hello angel in human body!)



Eva updates: Still as sassy as ever. She's having a blast with having 3-4 play dates per day. "I broke my wegs" then freaks out when I try to put a "cast" on her with toilet paper. "R-O-S-I-E. Eva. That spells me." Trying to read a book. Starting to express love verbally. Saying "I Love You". Or "Sophie loves so and so" or "I love Sophie". She is such a sweet older sister and wants to know where Sophie is the second she wakes up and then has to hold her. She is very gentle with Sophie.



Sophie updates: Sophie = Adorable. Grabbing at toys and her toes. Is entertained for hours in her jumparoo or play mat. Sleeps from 7pm-4am the eats and sleeps until 7am. Had her first taste of solids. Squawks every time Auntie Julie puts her down. Sophie figured out very quickly she was a sucker. I get tons of comments on her beautiful eyelashes and nicely shaped head.

Good News from Duke

Yesterday we drove down to Duke University to get a second opinion. My sister had a connection to the program there and was able to get me an appointment with one of the top foot surgeons in the country. He was great. He took time out of his busy schedule to look at the x-rays and CT scans with us and ultimately agreed with our Richmond doctor. However he was much more optimistic about my injury. He said he had another patient with injuries similar to mine (he'd dropped a piano on his foot!) and said that patient was healing up just fine. And he thought there was a good chance I could get out of this with no surgery now or problems in the future. He also said he would let me out of the casts at 4-6 weeks and let me start walking around in the moon boots. We decided to continue with our dr. in Richmond for follow-up visits so hopefully he'll take this new advice into account and let me out of the casts before 8 weeks but I'm sure it will depend on further x-rays. But all in all I feel so much better about everything and just feel so blessed that I do not have to undergo surgery right now. My friend Leslie's husband came by and built ramps for my front steps so maybe I'll be able to go out more now. (Except that now our trunk won't open so I have no where to put the wheelchair unless I tie it behind the car like a water skier.) But we're all hanging in there! Thanks again for all your comment love! I'm sure I'll be returning the favor very soon!

My Little Buddy

With all the hubbub this weekend I never got to do my "Sophie's 4 Months!" post. Well, she is and I've decided she is the perfect age for this ordeal. She's over the newborn fussiness and can't roll or crawl around yet so she's basically content to hang out in bed with me. She's my little buddy and I love it.

Just the right size to fit in a box for easy transportation. "She's holding my hand!" Sophie loves her older sister and vice versa. Eva is so good with Sophie. Sophie is starting to baby talk more. Eva says, "Oh yeah? What else, Soph?" to all her squawks.
Thank goodness for laptops. My new life of sitting on my mattress (now off the box springs on floor level for easy entry) surfing the web with baby Soph by my side (or on top of me).
Starting to love her play mat. Napping really well.
Turning into a chubbers.
Starting to jump in the jump-a-roo.

Cutest little thing. I'm so happy you are in my life right now, Sophie. You lay next to me and smile at me all day long and make me feel so much better. I love you more than you'll ever know!

Feeling so much better...

Sorry for all the foot updates. It's just so much easier to put them in one place rather than relating the story over and over. My mom got in Tuesday night, whew! She sat down on my bed and made me laugh for about an hour about this baby shower she was planning that got pawned off onto my sister. She had invited 80 people to this thing! Oh man, I was dying. She made a couple bags of cookies for the refreshments because she was pretty sure all the ladies were on diets and she wouldn't have to make much food. And one of the games was to have everyone move her grand piano for her. Oh my goodness. I'm laughing right now just thinking about it.

Anyway, thank you for all your comments and thoughts of encouragement. They really have helped me realize that this will only last so long and that there are many other things that could be much worse in life. The Lord really has made this situation as good as it can possibly be. I am so grateful for the support of friends and family. This really isn't that bad of a trial and it will be over before I know it.

I hesitate to post any updates b/c we're really in limbo right now. I have scans shipped off for 2nd opinions and surgery is still an option. The current plan with my dr. here is to have my feet in casts (with no walking or standing) for 8 full weeks. Then we would wait and see if surgery is needed down the road. We're hoping to have a decision made by next week since our window is rapidly closing. So there you go. Thanks again for all your love and support.


Tuesday being taken care of by friends. Eating lunch with the kids while the moms do all my work for me. :)

...

Yes, it is true. I did have a little box with a pillow in it that I used to drag Sophie around the house. Good news is that since then we've figured out that I really am injured for the long run and I no longer try to do much of anything. We had the x-rays taken Sunday night. They splinted me and sent me to an ortho surgeon yesterday (Monday). He came in a explained that my injuries were so bad that I would in fact need surgery to at least one foot and that I would be in the hospital for a couple days. Then he sent me over for CT scans and called me today about them...more on that in a minute. I have had such overwhelming support from all our friends and family. I literally am still trying to return texts and messages from friends offering to help out in any way. I can't remember the last time I felt so loved and important. Last night Julie told me my mom bought a flight for tonight and I just broke down into tears. Monday was such a difficult day for me. We were getting all sorts of bad news, having to deal with the reality of not being able to walk for weeks and weeks, my kids were both falling apart... I just need my mommy.

Today was so much better. Chelsea came once Devin went to work, the Marci and Doris came and helped me clean, get ready, eat, Kim came and helped with the kids, Jenna did the afternoon shift and Mandi brought dinner. At one point I actually thought how fun it was to have all these people come hang out with me, clean my house, take care of my kids and feed me. My life is going to require a lot of manpower for awhile.

And can I tell you how sweet I look? I borrowed one of those sweet walker-sitter things that old people use (complete with NRA sticker). My friend (I'll keep her name anonymous b/c I know she feels bad) laughed her head off when she saw me sitting on it at the table eating dinner. So yes, I look like a total nerd in my moon boots and granny walker.

The doctor just called and he had a chance to look at the CT scans. I don't really understand what he said. I had him call my friend that is an orthopedic surgeon and explain it to him so he can help me know what is going on but as of now here's what I got out of the conversation. He doesn't think he can do anything in the surgery. He thinks he should just let them heal as best they can now and hope it isn't too bad. He's pretty sure I'll develop arthritis in one or both feet b/c there are so many bone fragments that can get into the joints. That can mean joint fusing and more surgery in the future. So naturally I'm having a really hard time with this news. I was ok with having a surgery as long as there was a light at the end of the tunnel but now I just don't know what to think. Both feet have very serious, multiple fractures. He's seen this kind of thing from car accidents or maybe a football injury. It's the kind of injury he wouldn't wish on his worst enemy. How did I do this to myself in a moon bounce???