Kirland

"I broke my toe bones"

As a mom, you are always worrying about the next tragedy. Or maybe, as a paranoid mom like me you are. I drive down the street and someone cuts me off and I think "See! There! We could have just been in an accident! My kids could have been hurt!" Or one of the kids gets sick and I start thinking that this could be the one rare illness that debilitates or kills my child and no one will be able to do anything about it. You may be surprised to hear that I think these things, but I do. I never did think though that one afternoon my son would accidentally pull the glass top of a kitchen table onto his foot causing the foot to break in three places and the table top to completely shatter all over the floor. Yeah, of all things that could go wrong, this was not one that I considered. That's because I hadn't considered that  we would have put a table cloth on the table for the first time so that we wouldn't have to clean it every 5 minutes and that then we'd be having the windows washed at my parents house and in order to get to one window they would nudge the table just a bit (not realizing that it was a glass top because the tablecloth was on it) thus completely destabilizing the table so that when a certain sweet 3 1/2 year old reached out and leaned on the table to grab his play dough it would slide down and break his foot. 

Oh my gosh. Seriously. Did this really happen? Yes, yes it did. I knew right away it was broken. I can tell the hysterical crying-just-to-cry crying and the real this-really-hurts crying and he was doing the latter. And then even as he was trying to get himself together he'd just melt down saying "Ouchie! Ouchie! Ouchie!" Within 15 minutes of it happening we were on the road to our trusty Alamo Heights Minor Emergency Clinic (We've been there several times before and love them. It's run by two former ER docs who both have young kids and they are always great). By the time we got there, Grayson had calmed down and we started talking about getting to see a picture of his foot and how cool it would be to look at his bones. Although the week of strep led us to watch more TV than I'd like, I'm grateful for Sid the Science Kid and his bones investigation. By the time we got in there I actually had him excited to get an x-ray! He was great but so was the staff. He was so good in fact, that everyone was surprised his foot was actually broken, much less in three places. He told me he wanted to get one of those cameras (the x-ray) to have at home. They splinted him up and gave him some lollipops and a script for tylenol with codeine and sent us on our way with instructions to follow up with a pediatric orthopedist when we get home. We were told he'll have to be carried until he is allowed to bear weight - so at least until he sees the orthopedist and gets the real cast (and I'm assuming longer). And then he'll have to be in the hard cast for 4-6 weeks. The one bright spot is that they do make covers so that he should be able to swim in a couple of weeks. 

It was a rough night. He wouldn't take the tylenol with codeine (not a surprise) so we just did tylenol every four hours. He slept in my room in hour long spurts. It was no fun to have my sweet baby boy wake up in pain that I really could do little about. He watched a lot of TV - thank goodness for all night kids programming (which I'm pretty sure we don't have in Dallas).

Today was much, much better. Went out for both lunch and dinner with the Acostas (Annie always puts a smile on his face). Daddy gets in tomorrow and we'll be well on the road to recovery.

I have to say that in all of this I just find myself thankful. That nothing worse happened even though it really could have. That I have so many great family and friends to help out. That we have great health insurance and medical care. That my little man has tolerated everything so well.

Yes, we'll miss out on little sluggers and quite a bit of swimming and sprinkler parks and play with friends, but it's a pretty brief period of time and if I do it right, it'll just mean we have more time for libraries and books and art projects and play at home.

Yes, I could use a 48 hour nap or so. But really, couldn't I always?    

(Oh, and if you expected a call from me today but didn't get it? Tomorrow! I promise!)

Picture Night at The Beach

 

The trip was winding down and we headed into Seaside for pictures on the beach and dinner at Pickles. Last year's family picture was so great there was no way to top it, but I think we got a couple of cute ones.

Meanwhile, back at the beach

While we were on our date night, Mary Helen and Mike and Paul and Alta braved taking the kids to the sprinkler fountain and then to the Sugar Shack for some pre-bedtime hyperactivity (fine with me as I wasn't putting them to bed!). From all accounts they had a great time. Both boys enjoyed the sprinklers which bodes well for a summer at the sprinkler parks at home. Foster thought it was awesome, of course. Thanks, Mike, for the great pictures. (The last pic I stuck in just for fun - it's G - same place, 2 years ago)

   

Where Bare Feet and Sandy Floors Rule

This is all going to be posted a little out of order, but I'm waiting on some pictures from Mike.
Wednesday night was our date night - woo hoo! We did a decent amount of research and decided to go with Cafe Tango. It got the best reviews for the restaurants on 30-A on tripadvisor hands down. We weren't quite sure what to expect as we read it only had 8 tables. It was adorable and YUMMY. By far the best meal we've had out here in any year. And the service was excellent.

Next we headed into Seaside and walked on the beach, got some yogurt at Dawson's and listened to a concert on the lawn. It was a gorgeous evening and felt a little Austiny (which I always appreciate) with the country/rock bad and the laid back atmosphere. I bought yet another Seaside shirt - I couldn't help myself. This one said "Where bare feet and sandy floors rule." :)

We ended up at The Red Bar for a drink and then headed home. While Keith had talked up staying out late, the sun and sand and food and drink made for a happily tired couple.

Dog Sitting

The great benefit of having 3 families on vacation together for a week is that, among other things, every couple gets a date night. Tonight Paul and Alta and Mary Helen and Mike went out while Keith and I babysat all of the kids. We decided to take them into Watercolor to see the children's theater group do another production - this time it was Go Dog Go. It went so well I almost think I could handle having 4 kids! Almost being the operative word.

Keith was a great babysitter. Here is the pre-play reading of Go Dog Go.

 

My little Pilot did great holding all four kiddos. I will resist the mini van forever! Incidentally, Annie is holding her nose because my car "smells like stinky boys!" Yep. It does.

The kids were enthralled. No misbehaving whatsoever.

Watercolor was a pretty little community

More Watercolor

The "Do you like my hat?" dog.  Annie got up to talk to her and froze. Pretty cute.

Post-play Go Dog Go reading. Nighty night.

Beach-a-licious

Spent the morning at the beach. Big surprise, I know! Saw dolphins like last year - my favorite part of the whole trip.

Lazy Does It

Yesterday the girls, Fozzie and I took a walk into Rosemary Beach to get coffee only to find our precious Starbucks's had CLOSED (gasp!). So we wandered into Alys beach (the newest community and hence the place to be these days) and found a nice little coffee shop that did the trick. The guys took the boys to the pool and by the time we were back from our coffee and walk everyone was ready for lunch. Everyone (including me!) took a nice afternoon nap and I made my Japanese Curry for dinner.

We headed into Seaside for the evening and the local children's theater group had just started a little play. Good timing that happens with no planning only occurs while on vacation :).  The kids were engrossed by the play and afterward the little lights Mike had the forethought to bring provided tons of entertainment. Nice lazy beachy day.

      

Beachy-Keen

By last night the kids hadn't slept a wink since 6am or so and had swum in the ocean and the pool and played all day long (incidentally, Grayson jumped in the pool with his noodle and purposefully dunked his head all the way under and over and over) . They were exhausted but still fairly happy so we walked to the concert on the lawn (about a minute from our back porch). Notice the glazed over look in the last picture.

Floridaaaaahhhhhh

This is  third  year we've come to Florida for our annual summer vacation. I can't tell you how eagerly I await this trip every year. It's my recharge. The past two years we've met Paul, Alta and Joe here (Keith and Paul went to ASIJ together) and this year Mary Helen, Mike and Annie have joined us as well. Our kids get along so well it is amazing. They have ridiculously similar personality types and so we rarely have to mediate anything. In fact, last night after they had played around for quite a while, we heard Annie and Joe getting after Grayson to go to sleep telling him he'd be tired in the morning. It is so great that Keith doesn't even mind that half the reason Grayson is so occupied is that Annie brought My Little Ponies (!). 

Last night we were exhausted but had a great pizza dinner and the restaurant had hula hoops to entertain the kids (worked like a charm!).

 Today we went to the beach and Foster was instantly a fan. That was not a surprise. The surprise was that Grayson swam in the ocean! With just a noodle! No one held him! He said that the waves were his "big helpers". He's been so fearful of the waves in previous years, so this was fantastic.

Plan to post more while we're here so check back.

 

 

2009-06-06T15:13:49Z