Wordful Wednesday: We Are Cast-Free!

Sam got his cast off Monday. Everything has healed perfectly.

We are all very happy about this.

Or, perhaps they are just happy about the cake?

Really happy about the cake!

Nah, I'm sure it's the end of life with a cast that has us so happy.

Hair-raisingly happy!

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© Trippin' Mama 2011

Pardon Moi: The "Monster Storm"

I finally tuned in to the national news today to find that this had been dubbed the "Monster Storm." My apologies to the creative genius who thought that one up for merely calling it the Storm of the Century.

Mercifully, we did not lose power last night, thanks to a sudden warmup for about three hours that helped take some of the ice off the trees and power lines. It was a good thing, too, because shortly after that the winds were gusting in excess of 45 miles an hour. That likely would have done us in if there had been any more ice on the lines.

After determining that the storm was mostly past us, I gave the go ahead to eat the crockpot full of white chicken chili that's been cooking and/or staying hot since Monday evening. I made it with the plan that we'd at least get one hot meal after the power went out, so every mealtime that we had power we ate something else. I learned two things: 1) A crockpot full of white chicken chili is apparently pretty good insurance against power outages and 2) that stuff is just as yummy after slow cooking for three days as it is on day one.

The wind blew lots of little branches off the trees in our yard and enough ice into our bedroom window to keep us awake and wondering if a window was going to break. But thank heavens the power stayed on.

The streets and our driveway are a sheet of glass still today, and then Mother Nature kicked a little snow in our faces just to make sure that we got the message she's in charge.

We heard you, Mama, loud and clear!

Jeff and I have been shoveling the drive ourselves this year, but today we called the plow guy. You saw in yesterday's video that it was almost impossible to chip even a little hole in the ice with a shovel. Turns out you couldn't chip a hole in it with a snowplow either. Poor guy's wheels were spinning and he was getting nowhere. He dumped a little salt and left without charging us. We'll see what that looks like tomorrow.

I suspect we'll either have to wait for the spring thaw to clear it or set up the nets and teach the kids to play hockey. I'm sure Sam can play goalie even with his broken leg.

On the plus side, Phil says that spring's right around the corner. I'm pretty sure even that groundhog is bright enough to know that any other prediction may have cost him his life this year!

Now that the danger's passed I've turned the heat down. I was keeping it fairly tropical on the theory that the warmer it was in here the longer it would take to really get cold if we lost power. I was perfectly comfortable. The children, on the other hand, were begging to wear shorts and summer jammies!

Since I've been posting video updates of this storm, here's today's video of the aftermath.

All in all, we got off pretty easy. And since we prepared for the worst, I've got lots of meals packed up and in the freezer.

That should be a big help now that I'm spending 80 percent of my day with Sam on my hip or on my back. It's pretty hard to say no to picking him up when he crawls across the floor then holds up his arms and says, "Mama, can you carry me?"

Sam took a few tentative steps on his cast today, so for the sake of my back I'm hoping he can walk on it pretty well by next week. Although it is kind of nice to have one of the triplets slowed down a little bit!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Some Good News!

Sam went to see the orthopedic specialist today. He's now sporting a cast adorned with dinosaurs.

The good news is that they expect the break to be completely healed in a month, and he can walk on it now that he's got the cast.

He doesn't want to walk on it, but we'll work on that. I'm sure he won't be able to resist the lure to chase after his brothers for long!

I should post a picture, but I don't have time because the bad news is that we are going to be hit by the big ice storm that's going to cover half the United States. The ice is already pinging on the windows, and they have been warning us all day to be prepared for power outages that could last "days or even a week." Yikes!

We're prepared. I've been cooking like crazy and we've got wood for the fireplace. But if all is quiet on the blog, think of us trapped in our mostly cold house with four small children and say a little prayer for our sanity, won't you?

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Two Down: Sam's Turn in the ER

Just about a year ago we made our first visit to the ER with one of the boys, when Isaac split his chin open.

Today, it was Sam's turn.

I'll let him tell you what happened:

Yes, the boys were standing on the little child-sized chairs flipping the lights on and off, despite being told numerous times that we don't stand on chairs and we don't play with the lights.

From the very beginning, Sam has stuck to his story that Alex pushed him. I suspect it wasn't a push so much as three boys jockeying for space on one chair.

There was a thud and some wailing about being pushed, but no real tears. It didn't sound serious, so I walked into the room after a couple minutes, picked Sam up, kissed the foot he said hurt and figured that would be the end of it.

I wound up holding him and carrying him the rest of the evening. He refused to walk on his foot, and begged to be carried. I thought maybe a sprain, but never a break! These boys have taken bigger spills than that, and little ones tend to bounce.

So I gave Sam some ibuprofen, wrapped the ankle and figured he'd be right as rain by morning. He slept all night, but refused to put any weight on it this morning.

Off to urgent care he went with Daddy. After the x-ray showed a break on the long bone, they headed to the emergency room. I met them there after Sarah, Dustin and Taylor showed up to watch the rest of the kiddos.

I got there in plenty of time to hang out for a couple hours, help with the second set of x-rays and then get Sam's leg splinted. It's too swollen for a cast right now, so we'll see a pediatric orthopedic specialist early next week.

The final diagnosis was a rotational break. That means he twisted as he landed on it when he came off the chair.

Now all I have to do is keep him off his leg as much as possible for the next six weeks while chasing two other two-year-olds. Piece of cake, right?

I'm getting out the hiking backpack and scheduling weekly visits to my chiropractor. And I've already informed Sam, who weighs 30 pounds now, that he is not allowed to gain any weight in the next six weeks!

It's just a simple break and broken bones heal. It certainly could have been worse.

It could have been MY leg!

Then what the heck would we do around here?

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Isaac The Fearless Visits The ER

Well, Isaac the Fearless was the first to make a visit to the emergency room. He split his chin, and while it clearly wasn't really bad, we still needed a doctor to take a look. Since we couldn't get into the doctor's office today, we headed to the emergency room.

Isaac had a 1 cm cut that left a nice little gap, even though it wasn't very deep. The docs put him back together with a little super glue (Dermabond) and pronounced him good as new.

Isaac shows off his repaired wound. Please ignore the supper on his chin.

Isaac wasn't even acting like a daredevil when the accident happened. We *think* he cut his chin on the panel door of our built-in cabinets in the family room after he slipped on some toys. I say think because there's always a lot going on in the playroom, so we didn't really see everything. In fact, it didn't bleed all that much, and Grandpa D. was the one who really noticed it was more than a little bump a short while after the crying had ended.

Our trip to the ER was pretty uneventful. The ER was very quiet, so Isaac enjoyed walking up and down the hallways and watching cartoons while we waited. He HATED the life-sized dancing Santa Claus they had in the hall, and gave it a very wide berth after one of the nurses turned it on for him.

Of course, Isaac was hollering mad after the docs glued him back together. I had to help hold him so they could do their job, and boy was he upset with me. Seriously. He wouldn't even let me pick him up. He sat on the bed and screamed. Then when I tried to pick him up he gave me a very mad look and screamed even harder. Eventually we made up, thanks to a peace offering of a bottle.

Personally, I consider it a minor miracle that we made it to almost 15 months before we had to take one of the boys to the ER. And I'm glad it was for a pretty minor injury. I just worry that we're being warmed up for bigger things to come, though I certainly hope not!

Tomorrow we'll move on to happier things when I can post the photos of our visit with Grandma and Grandpa D. and Uncle Jacob.