Our first break

It happened last Monday afternoon. I wasn't in the room, and it's killing me that I don't know the full details of the incident. All I know is that Eli was going potty and Carter was in the bathroom too and trying to take Eli's glasses.  Eli was gently pushing Carter away from him to protect the glasses, and somehow Carter broke the glasses straight in half anyway and must've fallen down wrong in the process and I don't know what else. Kevin was the one that went up there first and dealt with the situation, then I went upstairs and found Carter sitting on the floor of Eli's room crying. I figured he was sobbing because of the situation. We continued getting ourselves ready to go out for dinner. There was a fundraiser for Eli's school at Pizza Hut. Carter finally calmed down in the car but started crying as soon I got him out of his car seat.  I was taking Eli and Carter in to Pamida real quick first to pick out Eli's small present for his class party and a few other things. Carter was fine in the shopping cart, but cried when I got him out. Fine when I held him, cried when we sat down at Pizza Hut. Fine when Kevin held him but cried when we tried to put him the high chair. Fine when Kevin held him in his lap but cried whenever Kevin tried to shift position.  He didn't have much of a nap in the afternoon so I knew he might be grumpy because he was undoubtedly tired, but I couldn't help but think to myself "It's like his leg hurts..." The more we carried on, the more it confirmed my suspicions. Then when we got back home and started getting the kids ready for bed, as I was changing Carter's diaper he'd cry when I tried to lift his leg to put the diaper under him. Then after the diaper I tried to stand him up on the floor and there it was, he wouldn't stand on his leg at all. Clearly he was lifting the one leg.

We finished getting the kids in bed and I plopped on the couch, heaving a big *SIIIIGH*

Carter slept all through the night wonderfully without a peep and even late. I actually had to wake him up at 8am (he's usually awake in his bed around 6am, 7 at the latest) because I wanted to check him out before taking Hannah to preschool.  He again was just not standing on his leg at all so I called the Dr. and got an appointment scheduled so I could do it in the same trip as Hannah's preschool.

The Dr. examined him and then ordered an x-ray from hip to knee. Carter layed on the table perfectly and didn't make a peep. The x-ray, however, came out clear and we were sent home with orders for him to just take it easy, and if after a few days he's not improving or if he gets a fever, then bring him back.

During those couple days Carter seemed to be improving. He went from just being content in a chair to crawling all the floor and even pulling up to standing. But he still wasn't standing on his RIGHT leg at all; he'd always leave it bent so it was off the floor. So I knew if he's crawling all over it must NOT be his hip afterall. So I set him in my lap to wiggle around his toes and foot and that seemed fine too.

By Friday morning he was still avoiding his right leg so I scheduled another appointment to get an x-ray of the bottom part of his leg. 2+ hours later alone with three kids at the Dr's office with NO TOYS or books or ANYTHING remotely entertaining other than the crayons I'd brought and counting ceiling tiles, we finally got official word that Carter does indeed have a fracture. The bone is still very well aligned so it won't take long to heal and he did not require a cast. Instead he has to wear a full-leg (past the knee) splint for at least a week, then he'll be checked and re-evaluated. I have a feeling it's going to be a long week for a busy toddler not able to walk or even crawl now. He's a trooper and does scoot himself around but you can tell he's not comfortable. =(

being so sweet and cooperative!

look at the adorable little baby "cast"!

BUT Dr decided it did in fact need to go over the knee as well so that adorable little baby "cast" gone redone

Okay, update, he's MISERABLE. Crying constantly since he woke up from nap when I was typing the earlier report. I have tried to pamper and spoil him but he's irritable and wants nothing. He was only quiet for the 3 minutes he was eating a lollipop. I even tried to distract him with an activity like play dough but he was only happy to throw it on the floor.

Getting him to bed was a doozie. He was SO TIRED, yet he just couldn't get comfortable. Finally at about 8:45pm I got him back up and gave him some Benadryl and I rocked him a little while waiting for it to maybe kick in. Then we took him upstairs and laid him in our bed with us. He was content and almost asleep, for awhile. Then he started to roll around and turning sideways, taking up the entire bed, so Kevin and I both moved to the guest bed. But I couldn't rest. I was worried Carter might fall off our big bed. I went in to position pillows along the edges but his head was already at the edge of the bed. And after all the screaming he did all afternoon there was no way I was going to move him when he was finally sleeping so peacefully. I went downstairs for a little bit to take some pictures of the Christmas tree, trying to relax a little bit. Went back upstairs to check Carter and his head was now most of the way off the bed but still sleeping peacefully. So I moved the pillows to the floor below him, went to lay down on the guest bed again, and 30 seconds later, thump and CRYYY! Carter fell off. Kevin jumped out of bed and grabbed him and he stopped crying immediately. Kevin puts Carter back in his own bed and we move back to ours. Carter's still just fussing fussing again. So I get up, surround the guest bed with proper pillows and blankets and lay next to him for a few minutes. He's calm and content so I slip out and go to my own bed. With more room to thrash around but not worry so much about falling, Carter then slept peacefully from about midnight to 5:30 am. Ahh... I then laid next to him and he stayed mostly quiet until 7am when I finally decided to just get up. We went downstairs to find the big kids coloring and Carter happily joined them. I'm hopeful that today will be a MUCH better day!

look who's smiling again!!

Praying for speedy healing for our lil' guy!!