Spring Break 2012

For the third April in a row, my mom and older sister and her kids have traveled up to Seattle to visit us for Spring Break. It is becoming a fun tradition and this year was fun, again.

They arrived last Friday, March 30th. They got here just minutes before Chloe got home from school.

She was thrilled to play with baby Jackson right away.

He was pretty smitten with her, too.

Mitch and cousin Carter wasted no time playing together. They always find some game to play with the pillows.

Having 3 girls, it sure is fun to have another little boy around to play "manly" games with my son.

Saturday afternoon we headed over to a local furniture store for Easter entertainment. None of us were in the market for new furniture- rather we were going just for the fun activities provided. They had a fun little petting zoo. They let me hold a little bunny that the kids loved petting.

My sister Amanda and her 2 boys

Me and my girls

(Pretty sure this giant bunny is bigger than my entire house. Pretty sure).

We got pictures with the Easter bunny and yes, Leah is crying. But to her credit, this Easter bunny had very long, sharp whiskers that scraped her face. She was already timid about the whole thing to begin with, I will give you that, but as soon as she sat down, the whiskers poked her right in the eye and scratched her across the face and there was no recovering after that. But she sat for the picture. What a trooper. A few days later, during a sad moment, she remembered this traumatic moment and said, "The Easter bunny poked me!" Yes, yes he did.

The Etherington boys were all smiles. How adorable are they?

All the kids (minus baby Jax) enjoyed free popcorn as we walked through the furniture store. We stood in line for the Easter egg hunt, but decided against it when we saw how long the line was.

The past two years when my mom and sis have been here this same week in April, it has been rainy almost the entire week and we have been stuck in doors all week. The forecast looked grim, with rain predicted every day the entire week.

It definitely rained a few of the days, but there were some really nice days with lots of sun and some days with a few hours of sun breaks and the kids took full advantage of every minute of dry weather. We would literally run outside the minute we saw the rain stop and play outside until it started raining again. You have to do that sometimes in the Pacific Northwest.

There was lots and lots of bike riding.

The twins fought over who got to ride in the wagon with Jax.

We went to two different parks.

People have always mistaken my sister and I for twins. Do you see the resemblance? The two of us went out one night after the kids were in bed and the cashier at the store said, "You two are twins, right?" He was shocked when we told him no. We were roommates at college for one year and we stunned people over and over when we said we were just sisters. 95% of the time, I don't see the resemblance. But the older we get, I'm seeing it a bit more. But she is definitely the cuter, thinner version of our twin ship.

Have I ever said how wonderful of a grandma my mom is? The BEST, seriously. When she is with her grandkids, she spends every minute with them. It is amazing. She is the patient, nice, fun version of me. :) She never runs out of treats, hugs, games or time for them. At the park this day, the kids would slide down the slide and then jump into Grandma's arms.

Over and over.

Oh, this little Jaxi baby is a doll. He requires a lot of attention medically, but he is sweet as pie and a true angel. We loved having him in our home for a week. He made me miss having a baby.

After getting these two wimps over their fear of swings, we couldn't get them off.

Cheese!

Playing Red Light, Green Light

Carter found our play lawn mower and fell in love with it. My kids don't play with it much, so we asked him if he would like to take it home with him.

He happily said yes! He pushed that thing all over our cul de sac and even "mowed" the lawn for Ben one day, and was very proud of himself. He even knew how to put gas and oil in it.

Sharing an iPad

After watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", my mom started singing the Willy Wonka song and my kids thought it was hilarious so they all became silly and wanted to make a game out of it. They would sing the song and all fall down.

The problem with my kids is they never tire of doing things over and over and over again. Good thing their mom does...

One night after dinner, we decided to make caramel popcorn. The kids gathered around to watch the popcorn being popped. Carter wasn't too sure about it at first.

Once it started to pop, he thought it was pretty cool.

Even Jax like it!

All of my kids loved having a baby in the house again. It was quite an adjustment for all of them though. Anytime Jax would make a sound- happy or sad or mad, they would run over to Amanda and say, "Jackson is crying!" "Jackson is hungry!" (Mitchell would do that too.) When he was getting his diaper changed, all 4 would gather around and make comment after comment. It was ridiculous at times. At the stores, Mitchell would touch him in his stroller over and over. As soon as they heard him wake up from his nap, they would tell us immediately, over and over. You would have thought they had never seen a baby before. Oh wait, we just had 2 not too long ago... Sorry Amanda- I know that was super annoying.

They sure did love him though.

Jax looks like he's going to be a little red head and looks a bit like Mitch did as a baby. We got a picture of the "twins" one day.

The drama of the week came when we went out shopping one day. We headed over to Tukwila to go to Ikea and were getting off the 167 Hwy exit. The exit has a double left hand turn lane. We were in the inside lane and there was a semi truck in the outside (right hand) lane. As we were both turning left, my sister looks over and notices that he is getting awfully close to us and says "Carrie, look out!" I look over to see his huge semi truck trailing into our lane. I stop, and not being able to do anything about it, watch as he runs into the side of our van. It was quite the adrenaline rush, and when I realize that we are all unharmed, I am angry. There is never a fun or convenient time to get hit by a car. The first thing out of my mouth was "I don't have time for this!" When shopping with kids, you have a short window of time before everyone melts down and you have to go back home. But really, we were all just grateful that no one was injured. Really we were.

It was still frustrating to watch and hear the trucker hit and scrape the entire passenger length of the van. It was this same time last year that we had to deal with our van in the shop. Remember this? Our poor, poor van. How much more can it take?

Anyway, after the impact of the hit was over and with a racing heart and shaky hands, I realized the car was still totally drivable and that the damage was purely body damage. I got behind the truck in his lane and followed him until he pulled over into the Ikea parking lot (how did he know- it was our shopping destination- perfect!) We exchanged insurance information and waited for the cops to get there. A policeman arrived fairly quickly, took our statements and got our license, registration and insurance information and wrote up a police report. He then called me and the other driver back to his car. He started off by telling us that he was ticketing the truck driver which surprised both of us and angered the truck driver (and delighted me). When the cop had asked us both what happened at the beginning, the truck driver openly admitted that he had trailed into my line and hit me. The cop explained that I have a right to my lane and that although it's hard to do, he has to stay in his lane. If he can't stay in his lane, he has to wait for all other cars to go ahead before he proceeds because all other drivers have a right to the other lane. The truck driver tried to argue, but the cop was firm. This was great new for me, because with a ticket showing up on the police report, this pretty much proved that the truck driver was at fault for the accident.

After being given back my drivers license and a copy of the police report, I was free to go.

The damage from a distance- really not that bad, but not great for a van only 3 years old.

We are lucky the mirror wasn't completely snapped off.

Since the accident, it has been confirmed that the trucker's insurance company will cover the costs to fix our van 100%. That is great news, of course. The bad news is the hassle that comes with any accident- the time and energy involved in getting everything coordinated and taken care of. I have spent time on the phone with the insurance company giving my official statement of the accident. An appraiser has come out to the house to appraise the damage done to the car. I currently have an appointment next week to get the van into the shop to get everything fixed, and a rental van is all lined up. Everything has actually run very smoothly- much, much more smoothly than last years incident. Again, I am just grateful that none of us were harmed in any way. That was a true blessing. A van can always be fixed, no matter the stress or hassle. We are very thankful for being protected that day and that the accident was as minor as it was.

We had such a fun week and I am so thankful for my mom and sister making the long, long drive to come see us. I know the drive is not easy or fun and they both sacrificed time away from husbands to come. We had such a great time and my kids loved every minute. And so did I.

They left early Friday morning, April 6th. Grandma got her traditional picture with all the grandkids. Everyone was happy- that is a miracle!

A baptism, an accident, and Easter

I have a few other things to post ahead of this, but I will post out of order for the time being. This past Friday we headed out of town for the weekend to Tri Cities. Our niece Stella was getting baptized and we were excited to be there to support her. Chloe gets baptized at the end of this year, so we were anxious for her to witness her first baptism.

Tri Cities recently got a Cost Vida, so we headed there Friday evening with Ben's parents and sister's family. I've been there once with my sisters and mom in Utah years ago and remember it being yummy. It did not disappoint.

Saturday was a gorgeous day- sunny skies with temps in the high 60's/low 70's. Perfect weather for an Easter egg hunt. Here are all the Andros grand kids (minus baby Preston) with their baskets on their heads, ready for the big egg hunt.

Off they go!

10 kids in all searching for candy filled eggs.

One of the last pictures of Leah running (details to follow)...

Everyone gathered around at the end to empty out their eggs and eat their findings.

Cousin Sammy helps Leah look through her basket.

After going through all the eggs, the kids happily ate candy and played in the back yard. Leah has always been more clingy, but has been going through a stage where she has been especially attached to me. But on Saturday, she was being very independent and was off running around and playing so happily with everyone. Around 1:00, Ben's sister Bethany brought over a crying Leah to me, saying she had fallen down on the trampoline and had gotten hurt. She hadn't fallen off, but had taken a double bounce from Mitchell. She was crying, hard, and I could tell she was hurt, but it was past her naptime and she was also exhausted, so we decided to just take her home and put her to bed. I did notice that she refused to walk, which is not normal.

She fell right to sleep at home, but awoke within 45 minutes or so, still crying out in pain and still refusing to walk or bear any weight on her hurt leg. She definitely wasn't making this injury up, nor was she feeling any better after her short nap. We were worried now and decided to head to an urgent care.

Poor Leah. She was absolutely miserable. She was in so much pain and kept switching back and forth between whimpering or crying. She kept announcing in a pitiful voice, "I can't walk!" and "My leg hurts!" It was tricky to find ways to hold her that were comfortable for her.

The doctor checked her out and wasn't convinced that there was anything seriously wrong. I didn't think so either. There was nothing protruding and now that it had been a few hours, there was no swelling.

She sent us down the hallway to get some X-rays. Leah was not thrilled about that, but we kept her distracted by playing Angry Birds on Ben's iphone.

She especially didn't like it when they made her roll over on her knee. That is where it hurt the most. Poor, poor baby.

The X-rays came back and they looked fine- nothing looked broken. The doc said it must just be sprained and that she'd probably be up and running again in 24-48 hours. We rushed home and barely made it in time for Stella's baptism. I was so glad that we didn't miss it.

Stella and her siblings and my kids, minus Leah

Stella and Chloe

It was such a nice evening and we are so proud of Stella for the choice she made to be baptized. We spent the evening back at the Williams' house having dessert and visiting. Leah spent the entire evening on my lap. She did not move the entire evening.

Luckily, she slept through the night, so things could be worse, but she was still feeling horrible the next morning and still in lots of pain. As soon as she woke up she wanted to be held and was still refusing to walk or put weight on her hurt (right) leg. I ended up carrying her around the entire rest of the day with only a few minute break.

A picture of all of us before we went down to look at our Easter baskets

It really was so sad that Leah couldn't run down the stairs with the other kids. Like she told me again, "I can't walk. I can't walk."

Leah sitting here on the floor without me or Ben was the first time she has sat alone since the accident. She didn't move a muscle, though. It hurt too much. The eggs filled with candy were a good distraction from the pain.

I asked for a smile and I got one. I was so happy to see that smile after so many tears.

I asked her to show me where her leg hurt. This is where she pointed.

Right on her knee.

It had been less than 24 hours, but she was already getting tired of not being able to run around, so she asked for a bandaid. My kids are obsessed with bandaids and think that they will fix anything, so I really think she thought it would literally take away her pain and make it so she could walk. I was hoping it would help her feel motivated to try walking a little bit. So Nana found an Ace bandage and wrapped her knee up.

She bravely stood up and took a very painful step and collapsed. "I can't walk!" she told us. My poor baby. She's broken!

I love that Easter is always on Sunday. And I especially love when Easter is on a beautiful, sunny day. After getting everyone in their Easter outfits, we went outside for some quick pictures before church.

Lexi looked cute in front of Nana's flowers.

The bright sun made Chloe look extra pretty!

I was hoping to get one of just the kids as well, but with Leah unable to stand I knew that wasn't going to happen. We were just lucky she wasn't crying in any of these because she didn't feel well at all. She was a trooper as I awkwardly held her as to not disturb her leg.

Happy Easter!

After church, we had a delicious Easter dinner- ham, creamed potatoes with peas, green beans, baked beans, homemade rolls, strawberry spinach salad- so, so good. And then homemade carrot cake for dessert. Best Easter dinner I have ever had, hands down.

The kids had cupcakes for their dessert.

Leah finally got off my lap for a few minutes to eat a cupcake. I felt so bad for her- I know she was in lots of pain, but it was exhausting holding her and carrying her around for 24 hours straight. It was like having a 25 pound colicky newborn. She was either whiney or crying almost all the time and anytime I had to give her to someone else so I could use the restroom or have a break, she would cry and scream.

We got home Sunday evening and her leg was no better Monday morning. I called our pediatrician first thing this morning and got in right away. He felt her leg and could tell that when he squeezed/felt her knee that she was in considerable pain.

He ordered her some X-rays. Her second set of X-rays in 3 days. She was much calmer for these X-rays.

It did not take long for the results to come back from these- broken! The tibia was broken, right below her knee and was broken into her grow plate. The doctor said that toddler fractures can be harder to detect, but that this break was fairly obvious, so we're not sure how the urgent care clinic in tri cities missed it. They did not have a radiologist look at it there, so that must have been the difference. We just received a call from the clinic tonight saying a radiologist had just looked at the X-ray and they found a fracture (there had not been one on call on Saturday).

Our pediatrician sent us over to Seattle Children's pediatric orthopedics right away to get her leg casted. Luckily, Ben was able to meet me for the casting part.

Lexi and Mitchell patiently and quietly waited in the chairs while Leah got her cast on.

They first put on the sock- I knew it was going to be a long process when Leah screamed during that part.

She kept saying "He's scaring me!"

They have to bend the leg/knee up to cast it in that position and with her break right at the knee, it was painful for her and she said "He's hurting me." Poor baby. It was heartbreaking. Ben tried distracting her with his phone, but it didn't work very well.

She was hysterical.

All done, just waiting for the cast to dry. Leah got to pick her cast color, kind of. Her favorite color is orange and she requested that color first. They didn't have orange, she I talked her into getting purple, the same color as her baby doll Tina, who has been by her side all day.

It took her a long time to calm down.

She was very glad to be able to sit up after the cast was dry. As you can see, it goes all the way from her toes to her diaper. She has to be in it for 4 weeks, which is actually fast. Kids heal so quickly. This same break for an adult would take 6-8 weeks to heal.

A group shot before we left.

What a rough 48 hours for this little girl. They gave her this little shoes to strap on the bottom of the cast. The doctor said that she can start walking as soon as she feels up to it and the shoe will help so she doesn't slip. I think it could take days before she feels comfortable enough to walk- she is pretty freaked out right now, and she's in lots of pain. The doctor said the cast will actually make her feel better. I sure hope so.

As soon as we got home, I gave the kids some ice cream, as requested by Leah. During all her screaming during the casting process I asked her what treat she wanted when she was done and she picked ice cream.

This little girl gets whatever she wants right now!

She's having a hard to adjusting to the cast today. I can tell her knee feels better already- with a cast on, there is less jarring and it's more stable, but it's heavy on her small, skinny leg and she is tired of not being able to walk. She is totally dependent on me to transport her wherever she goes and is having a hard time adjusting to sleeping with a big ol' hard brick of a leg in bed. I'm sure she'll get used to it more as the days go on, but she's so young and she just doesn't understand. Poor, poor baby. No 2 and a half year old should have to be this miserable.

In spite of our family's first broken bone (besides me at age 15), we had a lovely weekend with family. Happy Easter, and happy healing!