Road Trip!

Maybe you've never stayed home with a newborn. Although the second go-round has been quite a bit easier and less stressful, it is still not at all what I'd call a vacation. They eat every 2 hours (or less if they're having a "growth spurt"), they poop a lot, they cry (a lot), and they certainly can't get up and go. So, needless to say, Mommy is a bit frazzled at the ends by 9 weeks. At any rate, I decided I was going to get out and go this weekend.  First option was Raleigh to see my old roomie Anna and let Don do some bike riding.  That fell through when her husband had to have emergency gall bladder surgery - get well Peter!  Then Don and I decided to take a family road trip to see Ceasar's Head and Table Rock, with a little relaxation in downtown Greenville, which is, by the way, a really beautiful and happening place to be. I had a good weekend.  Really,  I did. In spite of the events described in this post.


It started off great. I mean, Play Dough in (Daddy's) car!? Daddy rules!

A picnic in the Wendy's parking lot? "This is a fun day!" She says.

 

 Then we arrive at the top of Caeser's Head and get this view! Ah yes, that's what we came for!

 

Mason got a ride with Mama.

 

 Kate got a ride with Daddy... Ah... if she only knew.

And here is where things took a turn for the worse.  It was very rocky and very wet - as you can see in this photo:

 

Then I heard Don slip and a smack (which I was praying wasn't someone's head), then a Kate scream and then quiet (A sound you never want to hear with a little kid - screaming is always good).   And then I find a bloody Don who had dislocated his bad knee and a very distraught Kate who wouldn't stand on her right foot.  The knee went back in, but he was scraped up pretty bad.  This is the point where I could give my husband a hard time for breaking my daughter's foot, but I won't because had he not sacrificed his own body, it would have been much, much worse.

 We didn't realize at the time how badly she was hurt and we calmed her down with her binky, a very large lollipop, a bag of colorful rocks and a book about trees.  She was in good spirits by the time we left, and the plan was to stay the night in Greenville and have her checked at the ER on Sunday if it wasn't better.  That all changed a couple of hours later when we were in the hotel and she was screaming and still not standing.


Nothing like a trip to the ER with two kiddos.  A very long trip to the ER.  Both of them were super well behaved. Kate even showed Mason how to work her iPad.

And a better 2 1/2 year-old patient you couldn't have.  She was friendly and giggly and happy the entire time.  My favorite moment was when she told the sweet black lady who was assisting with her leg splint: "your hands are kind of brown." She asked What, Why, and How about everything. "What do you have? What are you going to do with it? Why?" Other than taking 4 hours, it was at least entertaining. No bone fractures, but she was diagnosed with a Type I Salter-Harris fracture of the growth plate.

And here she is - back at the hotel watching Madeline.  We walked through downtown and then had a hotel picnic - Pad Thai and spring rolls for me and Don, Mac and Cheese for Kate, and cupcakes for all!! (We deserved it) Here she is wearing her "magic boot" and handling everything like a champ. 

 We finished off our trip with a Waffle House breakfast before heading back to Columbia.  She's still not walking on her foot... but is starting to move it around more and is banging it on everything. Tomorrow we visit the pediatric orthopedic doc, so please say a little prayer for Kate. We're hoping she won't be in a cast for the next 6 weeks, but of course we'll find a way to take it all in stride if she is.  I'm really ready for a 2-year-old who can walk again. It will be good for everyone's sanity.