Teaching not to panic.

Yesterday was mom's 65th birthday.  Happy birthday, Mom!  We made dinner and kept shooing mom from the table, not allowing her to fuss with anything.  My sister scooted out to get her kids home.  My brother and I were wrapping up a few things.  I was carrying my cake container to the car.  The girls (K and M) were coming through the front room.  K was to the left, M was to the right.  M's foot bent up under her or her feet have grown so much that her body hasn't caught up.  She went down.  I was feet away.  I saw her go down.  I saw her bounce.  I saw blood.  K got out of the way.  Mom yelled.  I yelled that she was okay, but blood kept coming.  I couldn't decide to put her in the chair or lay her on the floor, but decided for the chair.  I grabbed a towel, wet it a little and put it on her forehead.  I swore that it would be a band aid thing.

Oh, it wasn't.

I pulled the towel away and saw that there was about 1/2" gap, a big gash and I was seeing skull.

K said that she heard me gasp, saw me put the towel back on, scoop M up and told my brother we had to go.  He wanted to see.  I wouldn't let him.  I knew he would pass out.

Y'all, I saw what I shouldn't have been seeing.

Mom called the ambulance.  My brother was panicking.  Her mom was working and was in route from about 1/2 hour away.  I was on the sidewalk with M in my lap, rolled up and hugging her tight while holding the towel to her forehead.  I was rocking her back and forth.  There was nothing else I could do.

I knew that they wouldn't transport, but they came, gave her the once over.  Confirmed what I knew-- go for stitches.  The neighbor is an EMT, but we didn't even think of him.  My dad wanted to see her forehead.  The neighbor said no.

It could have been way worse.  Still.  That memory is well etched into my brain.

Because the ambulance was called, they called ahead and told them that we were coming.  I drove my brother and niece and was thankful that they valet at the ER.  Who knew?  Free valet.  My first valet experience.  I wished it were classier.

In the end, what I saw was the membrane covering the skull.  :shutter:  She got 4 stitches inside and 14 outside.  She has a line down her face.  From where she hit the corner of the antique desk, she bruised her cheek, went through her eyebrow and missed her hairline by probably an inch.  The suture tech was great and took great care in making sure that her 5 year old face will have as little scaring as possible.

We taught K a valuable lesson.  It's important not to panic.  Oh, I cried on the way home from the hospital.  Still, someone needed to grab her up to get her all pulled around.

Gack.  M will be okay.  Wow.  Happy birthday, Mom!  :S

Quadratus Lumborum, thou art a heartless muscle.

The quadratus lumborum muscle resides deep in your lower back. It stabilizes your pelvis and lower back, and assists in sideways flexion of your spine and lower back rotation, according to ExRX.net.

I bent down this morning to fix K's skirt hem and darned near was stuck.  It's my springtime QL fit.  It's not completely out, but going that way.  When it goes out, or has a horrible fit as would probably be more proper to say, it ends up feeling as if I have someone beating me in the back with Bert's chimney sweep brush.  

Image from Wikipedia, though I wished that he had his brush!

Good times.  

I took two Advil and hauled off to school.  PTA meetings wait for no man.  (Or woman.)  I saw the gym teacher and asked to stretch my back on his floor.  "Has anyone puked on this floor recently?"  "None at all that I know of."  I pulled, I rolled.  I rocked.  I stretched.  K saw me and said, "You know that kids have sweated on that floor?"  "I don't care.  I'll take sweat over puke."

The principal pulled me into his office for a quick chat and I was standing like I was ready to play football.  I had explained to him my back issue and as I was struggling to find a reasonable way to stand, he just chuckled.  He suffers from back issues, too.  

My friend, Kay, tried to come to my rescue.  She picked me up in a giant bear hug, cracked a few upper things in my back and dropped me onto my feet.

"You just dropped me!"

She said that she meant to.  

She had me climb up on the desk and she'd try to pull it out.  Erin, our incoming president, came in and stopped.  "Um, okay."  She was laughing at Kay's Poor Man's Chiropractic Clinic.  (Kay and her family have a chiropractor and use him frequently.)  

"Your right hip is out!"  

"I know.  It's been killing me for a while." 

It makes me think, the hip has been jacked for about a good week if not longer.  It gives periodic fits, and I'm convinced that it is the first part I will have replaced.  That probably threw the QL all out of whack.

Kay pushed, pulled and tugged.  She tried.  I think it helped a little.  

In any event, if it isn't the pollen, it's the QL.  The buckets of rain have rinsed the pollen out of the air, but I don't think that the dampness have helped the back.  

I'm a hot mess.  

Crunch, munch, a trip to the ortho and all is well.

I am not full of grace.  Well, God's grace is what I try to be full of, but physical grace is something that can allude me.  Take this summer for instance.

My left leg was swollen under the knee, and where the graft for my ACL hamstring endobutton reconstruction had gone on.  It was suspiciously close to where the staples are and I had a concern about hardware rejection.  (Mom had that, so it was of concern.)  A coworker who is also a massage therapist yelled at me for the way I was sitting (leg up under me) and after I stopped that, the leg gradually got better.

Then came September.

I had a want for ice cream and only in a fashion that I could manage, I got my leg closed in the freezer door at the grocery-- at the exact same place I had been having problems.  It swelled.  It bruised.  It hurt like no tomorrow.  I was convinced I made it angry.  It agreed when we went to Washington DC and my leg hurt so bad that I felt like it was going to explode.  I came home and made an appointment to go to the orthopedic surgeon.  Then like a car with a noise, my leg started feeling better.

Wouldn't it figure?

I still had a knot.  A goose egg-like knot where the freezer door shut.  Lumps and me don't get along.  They are a mystery that freak me out.

This past Thursday I went to the ortho guy.  He was delightful.  I was there for 2 hours and after all of that, I find that the freezer door closed right on the area of my bone that had been drilled for the graft to feed through.  I may have also nicked the corner of one of those staples.

No surgery needed!  Hooray!  I do have a lump.  A good sized lump that will be with me for a while.  He told me, "Well, I could go in if you want and remove it."

"If you aren't chomping at the bit to go digging around in my knee and tell me I'm fine, I'm good with it."

A $30 copay and an intensive bruising that will go away with time.  Yup.  Takes talent for sure.  :S

Save the lashing with a wet noodle. I learned my lesson.

I will have a different relationship with Q-Tips from now on.

Do you remember the incident that I mentioned where I tried to tickle my brain with a Q-Tip?  Well, the last few days have left me with big ear pain.  You know the kind.  The pain that wakes you from a dead sleep in the middle of the night?

Yup.

Since the Q-Tip incident was on New Year's, I thought I was in the clear.

Apparently not.

I've been dragging on with the remnants of what everyone else has, had some chest congestion, pain to go with that, and a hurting ear.  I thought that the ear was sinus drainage.  I went to see Dr. W this morning, he checked out the breathing and all that.  My lungs sound great!  My left ear looks fantastic!  My right ear drum looks great!

This is where there should be a "but."

"But, you've irritated the CRAP out of your ear canal!"  You know where this is going. "Don't put Q-Tips in your ear again!  It is going to cause real damage someday."

"But what do I do if my ears feel squishy?"

"50/50 white vinegar and rubbing alcohol.  A couple of drops.  That'll take you where you need to go."

I didn't mention that I had swabbed dried blood from my ear canal this morning.  My guess is that he could see that.

I have ear drops.  Prescription kind.  With antibiotics AND steroids for good fun.

I have to say good bye to Q-Tips and how they made my ears feel soooo good, because right now, my ear doesn't feel real good at all.

Lesson learned.  No more Q-Tips.  They are like an addiction, though.  I'm probably going to be the first member of Q-Tips Anonymous.

"Hi, my name is Amy and I haven't used a Q-Tip for ___ hours."

I love my Q-Tips.  :(  Crafting projects.  Eyeliner clean-up.  I've gotcha.

So sad.  So glad that I can hear, didn't puncture my ear drum and it is fixable.  There are those not quite as lucky.

ETA:  I have bought baby Q-Tips.  Rome wasn't built in a day, you know.  I told Rachael that I am almost in need of Q-Tip detox.  I told her that I've created a monster and should probably take K- to Q-Tip detox, too.  Good news to share is that one dose of the ear drops have taken the pain away!  I am actually going to sleep tonight without waking with stabbing ear pain!

I know, I did it to myself.  :S

Pow! Right in the kisser!

The snow is melting and K and her friend were playing in it for a little while after school.  Michelle and I were hashing over some PTA stuff as K came up to me with a "snow" ball.  She raised it up and I said, "K, don't--" She threw it anyway.  It was an ice ball and smacked me in the side of the nose and mouth.

I was not happy.

I yelled at her.

"But Mom, I didn't mean to!"

I told her that I knew she didn't, but I told her not to and she did anyway.

That was 2 hours ago and my face still hurts.

I didn't lose any teeth and when I came in, the phone was ringing.  It was the neighbors across the street.

"Did you see me get bailed into the face with an ice ball?"

"Glenn told me to call.  He swore you got hit in the eye."

I told him I didn't get hit in the eye, but the nose and mouth.  K was in time out for about a half hour.  They asked if I had a bruise.  I don't think I do, but by golly it hurt.

Can't wait for soft snow to fall again.

I tried to tickle my brain with a Q-Tip.

Yes, yes.  I know.  Q-Tips are technically for make-up use and craft projects.  I get it.  I'll preface before I even tell you my story.  I know that you shouldn't put them in your ear, but I do and I will again.

New Year's Day, I was in the bathroom and K- had called for me to come look at something.  I was being a busy, multi-tasking mom and decided that I'd grab up a Q-Tip, stick it gently in my ear, grab the flosser that I wanted, plunk it in my mouth and I'd be off and on my way.  It all worked and before I started hoofing it down the hall, I went to grab hold of the Q-Tip and ended up jamming it into my head instead.

Dang that hurt.  Tears didn't come to my eyes, but it was close.  I walk into the kitchen with the flosser still hanging out of my mouth while clutching my right ear.  At that same time, Hubs hobbled up the steps ouching about how he just banged his baby toe into the step.

We were quite the pair.  All the while, K- is sitting there, rubbing my arm and telling Hubs how sorry she was that he tried to rip a toe off.  Poor kid.

My ear pained.  There was no blood, so I was hopeful.  My hearing wasn't compromised, so that was promising.  I really didn't look forward to visiting my doctor to inform him that I was trying to tickle my brain, but instead tried to stab it with a Q-Tip.

Not good.

A couple of days and several Advil later, my ear feels like an ear again.  I promise not to multi-task with a Q-Tip sticking out of my ear.  I refuse to give up that good time feeling of a Q-Tip ridding me of squishy feeling ears after a bath.

No way.  No how.

Have a great night!

PS  I'm laughing because I do want y'all to realize that I knew that my brain wasn't right there.  :)  One heck of a sore eardrum was the stabbing recipient.  :S

Have I ever mentioned my lack of grace?

No, I didn't break anything. I will, however, tell you that being short is not a plus in some circumstances. 

I was at work, busting out a Halloween display (my absolute least favorite display that I have to do since Halloween isn't my gig), I decided to stand on a not-a-step-ladder and since it wasn't heavy enough in the middle to hold my sheer girth, I punched through the middle, fell back, my feet were stuck in this thing that was now like a trash can, I finally got my feet loose, but couldn't get my balance and kept stumbling backwards until I bounced into a shelving unit and had tripped over an August sale bin-- all the while this is sounding like a herd of elephants to my coworker downstairs.  Julia, one who generally rolls with things and doesn't bother to check, opens the door and says, "Amy, are you okay?" 

"The good news is that I didn't break any merchandise and I do believe that I didn't even chip my wrist, though I do believe that I will have a heck of a bruise, though." 

"You need to not rush and push!" 

She's right.  I was trying to speed through the very end of a display and ended up leaving a mess for them to clean up upstairs and downstairs. 

More good news is that the blasted Halloween display is up.  I struggle with it because I just don't like scary, creepy Halloween and I work extra hard on it since I don't want it to reflect my general dislike.  The display is pretty decent, if I do say so myself!

Smiles in my day:
-  I didn't break a bone! 
-  K- is actually starting to feel better from her virus.  (Not strep, thank you God!)  The doctor said that she was on the backside and was pulling out of it.  Tonight is the first time in a week that she has expressed interest in playing outside or doing anything other than laying in bed and sleeping.  That is not my child.  She would come straight home, put her pajamas on and go straight to bed.  Eek!
-  I tagged butterflies at work with some of my coworkers and they thought it was the neatest thing!
-  The computer is briefly cooperating.  After the neighbor goes on vacation and returns, he and his computer geek friends are going to take our computer and give it some computer geek love.  I'm hoping that they can resuscitate the box.  We are trying hard to save money for a truck for Hubs and I would really love to have the savings continue to accumulate for that.  They are pretty good with saving the unsaveable, so I trust their judgment.  Have I mentioned that they work for free?  :)  Being that they are all single men, I'll cook them a good dinner and all will be well. 

Have a great night!

Why yes. Thank you for asking. I do have the air of Ben Gay about my person.

Y'all, my sister and I have been gifted the crap back that my mother has.  Now, I've had a spit-spot of trouble every now and then, but nothing like what hit me yesterday.  I was in a big box.  I was looking for some potting soil to use to start patching the grass in the yard.  I found it in Big Box that is being reconstructed.  Big Box had it on a shelf, at about high rib cage high on me.  (Remember, I'm 5'1", so that's not that high to the average human.)  I picked up the first back and thought, "Hmm."  I walked a few paces and opted to get another.  That's when it happened.  It felt like someone was standing behind me and beating me with a very stiff, wire brush in about a 12" band across the mid to lower back.  At this point, I knew that I had to lump it and carry on.  I cashed out and heave-hoed the offending bags of soil into my vehicle. 

I couldn't sit comfortably at all, but knew that I was in close enough proximity to the thrift that I wasn't going to waste the trip to have to run back out with gas prices hovering around $3.99.  I did score on a boat load of bed sheets that were immediately laundered when I got home.  K- got home and we had to run up to another section of town to pick up a remaining Easter basket item for Hubs.  While that direction, we hit the craft store for a t-shirt K- requires for the 2nd grade tie dying project.  We hit the local discounter to look for grass seed, but cashed in on lots of lovely produce and some food items.

It is at this point that my back still felt like it was going to fall apart and I, of course, opted to not take a cart.  K- suggested.  K- nearly insisted.  "Nah.  We won't need it."  I'm just thankful that the cantaloupe that she dropped did bounce and not break.  Yes, we did buy the one she bounced. 

We made it through rush hour traffic and I was still having sitting issues.  Truth be told, I was having mid-section movement issues.  I hobbled out of the car.  I hobbled into the house.  I got dinner prepared (homemade safe pizza, pasta salad and steamed broccoli) and after dinner, I was out.  I was down for the count. 

I was in bed at 6:45 PM. 

I tried heating it out and I wasn't certain of the success.  In the middle of the night, I decided to snuggle up with an ice pack.  Hubs had apparently tried to come to bed, thought the better of it and shuttled off to the couch.  I think that he just felt so bad for me that he was afraid that any movement might hurt.  The ice pack that I could find at 3 AM without waking Hubs was one of those hard gel filled numbers.  I wrapped it in a towel, and wedged it under my back with one of Hubs' abandoned pillows. 

It may have helped but I can't tell you for sure.

This AM, I woke up and was mighty stiff.  Dr. W- was definitely on my list of things to schedule in for the day.  I got up, made K-'s lunch, got her to the bus stop and came home.  I decided that I would try to roll myself up into a ball and I rocked back and forth all over the bed.  The success was that my hip popped.  I know that sounds odd to consider that success, but I seriously thought that perhaps my back would crack next.  While that has yet to happen, I've been able to stretch things back out and while I am still not pain free by any stretch, I can now tie my shoes, wear pants other than the yoga pants that I had to wear today and (TMI) bathrooming is much, much easier.  I'll just say that when all you can do is to sit and stand straight, any side twisting movement is killer.  I was able to carry on with my day and I skipped a trip to Dr. W-.  (He's a D.O., so he is pretty proficient in manipulation.  I figured he could give me a chiropractic-like adjustment if needed.  He did it right after K- and I were in the accident that totaled the previous RAV.)

Mom told me to go buy Icy Hot.  I was thrilled to see the Icy Hot (deodorant-like) stick and right underneath it was Epsom Salts.  Can't hurt!  Hubs came in, "What stinks?"  "Oh, that would be me.  It is my new geriatric perfume." 

Now if you'll pardon me, I've been out of the tub for long enough to now slather myself up again with my new scent. 

Have a great night!

Tales from the Trenches: Just remember how well I told you that I HAD been doing.

It was 2 AM Monday morning when I woke up hot, sweaty, uncomfortable and in an absolute panic attack.  My ankle felt like someone was continually rubbing an emery board against it and my leg felt as if it was wrapped in a wet blood pressure cuff that was continually tightening.  I envisioned a sore that was developing beneath the cast.  No care or air could get to it.  Most certainly, it would get gangrenous.  My leg wasn't swelling, but it felt as if the cast was shrinking.  I had fallen asleep watching the 9/11 88th Floor program, remembered hearing people screaming in my dreams and I woke up absolutely losing it. 

I had to wake my husband up to come talk to me. 

A pair of scissors weren't far from me.  I had seriously considered trying to cut my cast off. 

The more I tried to NOT think about my discomfort, the more I thought about it.  The more I thought about it, the more it drove me absolutely mad.  To say that all my marbles were nearly gone from my mental state is definitely not a lie.  I had made the decision that the cast had to come off.  Hubs said that they wouldn't take it off, but would probably give me drugs instead.

I got myself sufficiently worked up to think that I was going to have to go doctor shopping to get the purple rhinestoned cast cut off of my leg.  My friend Kay offered her assistance.  "We have tools!"  The dremel tool in my studio was looking mighty fine.  Rest assured, I was getting the cast cut off today no matter what. 

I hobbled down to K-'s bus stop with her.  As we waited for the bus to arrive, I phoned the doctor's office.  Dr. W- was on a few days of vacation, but she asked me, "How about Dr. R-?"  I told her that he would be great.  He cared for Hubs when he had rotavirus and seemed like a truly understanding and caring soul. 

Dr. R- walked in.  "What can I do for you today?"  I explained my rubbing discomfort, then I launched into my bigger complaint.  "Dr., I suffer from pretty severe claustrophobia.  Never did I ever think that would effect my having a cast on, but it has.  I have had panic attacks and have been brought to tears.  Is there anyway that you can take this cast off?  Is there any other option for me other than the cast?" 

"Did you break your ankle?" 

"No."

"What did you break and do I have films?"  (No, he wasn't being lazy.  He had truly just walked in the room and I had never come to see him before.  Obviously, he checked out the records after he figured out that I was a part of the practice and had received care there/at the attached hospital.)

I told him that the films were done just down the hall and that I broke my 5th metatarsal near the base.

"Oh!  We can put you in a cam boot for a 5th metatarsal break.  I'll take the cast off."  Then he shared a story with us about his daughter.  It seems as though she suffered from the rubbing problems that I was suffering from.  He said that he changed her cast every 2-3 days because of her discomfort. 

We changed rooms and he set to task.  He cut and cut and cut.  Then he asked, "Who put this cast on?" 

"Dr. W-."

"Sean?" 

"Yes.  He really did do a very good job.  It isn't his fault.  I had no idea that I wouldn't be able to stand having a cast on."

He went on to say about how very thorough Dr. W- was, as he had bound my foot with layers and layers of casting material to be certain that it was kept immobilized and would heal well. 

Changing to the cam boot has taken me from a 4 week recovery to a probable 6 week recovery, but I told him that my mental well-being was quite fine with that. 

When we went to leave, Dr. R- said, "You know, I've never broken anything, but I don't think that I could do a cast, either." 

I told him to make sure that he doesn't break anything, then he doesn't have to find out. 

Rachael got many e-mails from me.  Bless her dear soul.  At one point, I told her that I thought that they were going to put me in a beautiful white coat that allowed me to give myself a psychiatric hug.  She worked hard at not only listening to me losing it, but also praying that I didn't lose the rest of my rapidly fraying mental status.  A friend offered the vodka in her freezer or the fine chocolate flavored wine that she had.  It's been probably 9 years since I've had anything with any alcohol in it (family history of alcohol/substance abuse), but I did seriously consider her offer just as a calming effect.  Hubs offered melatonin and had me sleep in bed with him, even though sleep wasn't something that he knew that I would actually be able to do.  Kay offered to help me cut the cast off.  Mom kept calling in a very serious tone to see if I had taken the dremel out yet. 

My claustrophobia is no light matter.  Hubs made me promise, as I was soaking in a hot tub while giving BOTH legs a shave, that I would never ever be put in any type of cast that I couldn't exit from on my own ever again. 

Poor man.  Poor child.  They were both very supportive as I cried and panicked and apologized for my irrational behavior. 

"Honey, you need to distract yourself.  Don't you have PTA things that you could do?"  I ended up working on PTA things for 2 hours in the AM and 4 hours in the PM.  At least my attempt at distraction did accomplish things. 

:deep breath:

Claustrophobia is a bad thing.  A very bad thing.  Who knew that a cast would cause me to flip a lid?  My lid is now turned back upright and properly screwed back on. 

Praise God!

Smiles in my day:
-  I'm free!

A thankfulness post: If you've got it, be happy and accessorize it.

Okay, obviously I didn't get a professional pedicure.  Just pardon the excess glitter top coat polish lopped over the sides.  If someone is looking that closely at my foot (y'all fall under the exception here), they deserve to see some over polish. 

K- and E- had a good time treating the cast as a canvas.  K- helped me to glue rhinestones to the top.  I was going to go overboard, but the neighbor mentioned that when they run films again to make certain it has healed, they will reflect on the film.  Oops.  The lower ones won't cause a problem. 

Hubs and I had a discussion earlier about my foot, his habit of injury and the fact that no one else has the odd issues that our match provides.  I told him, "People might not understand when I say this, but I hope that you do.  I'm glad that I broke my foot."  Being the husband he is and knowing how my mind works he said, "Tendons and ligaments would have probably ended up in surgery."  "Exactly.  And, I hear that a severe sprain is worse to get over than a break."  Truly, I am very thankful.  It hurt when I first did it, but nothing that brought me to tears.  The lump that instantly appeared on my foot paired with the loud crack upon landing pretty much sold me to the thought that I broke it, but it really could have been much worse.  All the bones lined up.  No setting or surgery were required.  I could wait until the next day for medical intervention.  I have insurance.  Let me repeat that.  I have insurance.  So many other people don't.  I have a doctor who could handle my care in office.  I have wonderful people at work that have e-mailed to say not to sweat it, they'll find desk work for me to do.  I had worried.  I had worried that I couldn't find the "permission slip to work" from the doctor and that Tuesday, they would turn me around and send me home.  They are happy to have me come to hang out.  My mom kept calling to see what she could bring.  My aunt came over on her mobility scooter to drop off 3 giant dark chocolate bars, because she couldn't think of anything else to do.  (She felt a little useless.) The neighbor drove me several places for hours while my foot was casted, I retrieved crutches and tried to find the illusive cast boot.  (I finally did find it later on my own.)  My PTA mama friend, Kay, helped me to start cleaning the PTA room at school.  (We're in a swing space and our room is not a closet anymore, but the previous teacher's lounge and it is gross.)  My in-law's had us over last night for dinner, even though they were supposed to come to our house.  My daughter has kicked in and really helped and is currently in training to become a laundress like her mama.  (No Cinderella here, but it doesn't hurt for the child to learn how to do some basic laundry helping.)  Hubs is always a big help around the house and he's also picking up my slack.  He's out shopping at Sam's right now.  (And has called me twice already.)  My SIL and BIL in the Chicagoland area are calling in pick up for us at a local Italian restaurant tonight.  And again I reiterate, I can drive.  That I worried about, as well.

It's all good.  It'll be a short month and sooner than I know it, I'll be shaving two legs at the same bath time again. 

We can't run it with just plainness!

You can note that we have added artwork and my toes are now glittery.  I would have painted them last night, but I didn't know if they needed to see the true color of  my toes before casting. 

You'd be glad to know that K- and E- had a fantastic time decorating my cast.  I have some rhinestones that K- and I are going to hot glue on in a bit.  I mean, if I have to rock a cast, why not be obnoxious about it, right? 

As the day has worn on, my high tolerance to pain couldn't mask the fact that my foot is still broken and in the midst of being in fracture fits.  My toes were sausaging and the bruising up at the top is a bit more purple than before. 

I'm happy to report that I can drive!  Because they were kind enough to leave my toes exposed, I can press the gas with my big toe (thank goodness it isn't winter!) and press the brake with my left foot.  It took a one-time run to get the more gentle nature needed, as I was a bit herky-jerky and felt as if I was going to give myself whip lash.  I did finally find a cast boot, after going three places and spending a few hours on trying to track it down, but I do need to remove it to drive. 

This is my second post for the day.  Read on!

Smiles in my day:
-  As I admit that my underpits (as K- calls them) are aching in a way that I cannot describe, my foot is relatively pain free.  I really am quite lucky in that I only broke a bone (fully, but just one), nothing needed to be set and everything was well in place.  I have a great doctor who could deal with all of it in office.  He casted it himself and truly did a very nice job.  The office laughed at my story and different ones were asking me what color I got when I left.  See, I am quite the advocate for conservation and monarch migration.  I'm a poster child of, "Hey!  Ask me what I did!"  Sure.  That was my intention.  Uh, huh.  :S
-  Hubs just caught an American Copper, which is a rare butterfly for us.  Yet another confirmation that we're doing something right on our little rectangle of earth here. 

I'm going to go hang my leg out of the tub and get myself bathed.  It was in the mid 90's today and between the heat and the crutches and working up a sweat for a variety of reasons, I need a bit of a soak. 

Have a great weekend!

The latest in migratory tagging footwear.

Who would have thought that the simple act of catching butterflies would land me in a permanent purple leg for a month?

BUSTED!

My 5th metatarsal was the one that made that loud crack sound last night.  Pardon me as I continue icing, per instructions from the doctor, so that I can go in tomorrow, get a non-waterproof cast in a color of my choice with some lovely crutches to boot.

Have I failed to mention my lack of athleticism?

I am not the picture of grace.

I did not excel in sports, except volleyball.  I wailed on the ball. 

This evening, I told Hubs and K- that I was going to go out to the back yard for one last look for monarchs.  "You know, I believe I'll join you," Hubs says.  Quickly, K- was in tow. 

I had a monarch in my sights.  It fluttered to the other side of the fence, and I decided that would be the side to pursue on.  K- followed me, but hung back where I told her, so as not to scare the monarch.

I stalked the monarch.  I was quiet and stealth-like.  I made the leap.   I made the swoop.  I caught it! 

Then I landed.  On an incline.  In Birkenstock's. 

With a crack. 

Audibly. 

It was so loud that Hubs heard it from probably about 10 feet away.  "Honey, WHAT did you just do?"

I got myself turned around while keeping the monarch in the confines of the butterfly net.  I told him that he needed to come help me.  I thought that I potentially broke my foot. 

I instantly took my shoe off.  Best to remove than to cut or pry my shoe off.  Hubs bent down and started caring for my foot.  All I could think of was the butterfly. 

"Get the butterfly."

"Amy, I need to see what you did."

"No, seriously.  You need to get the butterfly."  He and K- complied with my request.  They sexed, tagged and released. 

I got up, started to hobble down Mike's driveway (which has cameras and Hubs is pretty certain that I should blog my catch or put it on You Tube), then I hear my aunt.  "AMY!  AMY!"  She was very sing-songy. 

I did not feel so sing-songy. 

I told K- to go get her and I told Hubs, "Oh, I just can't do it tonight."  She was on a ride about and as it turns out, she was okay.  I talked to her a bit, mulled over the potential of taking a trip to the ER, but neighbors and my mom weren't around.  K- starts school in the AM, I didn't want to keep her up late by taking her to someone elses house and I didn't want her all stressed out about me.

So where am I at tonight?  I'm sitting on the computer chair with my foot, not aching, but swollen and showing slight bruising.  My plan is to get K- onto the bus in the AM, drive out (of course it is my right foot) to retrieve the RAV from the body shop and onward to my doctor's office.  (More on the RAV in a later post.  Not crashed but damaged by the belt on the windshield repair guy.)  My doctor's office is in one of the local hospitals, so if my foot requires a scanning of some sort, which I believe I've won the lottery for, they'll be able to do it on site. 

My toes bend.  The whole row.  I can flex them back and forth.  My ankle flexes back and forth.  I can walk on the inside of my foot.  The outside of my foot has a swelling that doesn't belong there, a slight haze of purple and I can't walk on it. 

Good times, right? 

Yes, I'll keep you up to date on my orthopedic health.

In the meantime, just remember that I caught and got that butterfly tagged.  Oh, I just can't wait for the doctor to ask what I did. 

At least each week is themed right now, right?

Oh my.  I think that we have an ear infection.  K- hasn't had one of those since she was probably 2, maybe earlier.  I really can't complain.  Where she has picked up everything else under the sun, it seems as though her ears have been kind.

Not now. 

She has a painful outer ear and it appears as though that pain is traveling inward.  We have an appointment with the doctor for tomorrow right after school.  They didn't have anything any earlier.  It's okay.  I've been watching and waiting on this all week.  We'll be okay for another day. 

Let's hope that it's a minor blip of a thing.  Bless her heart.  I hate an ear ache.

Smiles in my day:
-  My father-in-law had his ICD replaced today and had no complications.  The leads were good, so they didn't need to be replaced.  He is at home, resting in front of a game on TV, I'm sure.
-  Watching K- go all the way across the monkey bars.  She had a real fear, but she has tackled it.
-  Hubs thought he lost his cell, but I found it in his coat pocket.  He was 2 minutes from calling the hospital about it.  I'm sure that a big hospital would be very concerned about his little tiny cell phone.
-  Did I mention that K- got a 100% on her vocabulary quiz?  25/25.  We're working hard on getting the math scores that good.  The teacher doesn't want them using fingers, which is certainly completely understandable, so it is like memorizing sight words.  It takes time.  (Not that she's failing math, but I'd like to see it more automatic eventually.)
-  My new hair cut is doable.  I can do the triangle until I get it cut in December.  I just have such fiercely thick hair that it just needs thinned in a massive way to not give a full puff out on the bottom. 

Have a great day!

Tales from the Trenches: A PSA

Use a pot holder or risk being branded by the toaster oven. Class dismissed.

Argh:
I think that it is safe to say that Hubs has fallen ill with H1N1. He called me today at work to tell me that he had a fever. His fever was 99.8 F, but he still had a fever and he has a very busy week. He called off for Tuesday to lay low and get well. He started feeling bad on Saturday night, but reported that he was feeling a bit better this AM. Hopefully this passes by him quickly and passes by me completely. Unfortunately, I have an incredibly busy two weeks at work.

Smiles in my day:
- I wore my hair down today and many people commented how much they liked it. I usually have it pulled back in some way because it gets girl curl crazy. Grant you, I had to pull it back in a loose pony tail later due to nearness to ceiling halogens (burnt hair smells nasty and I do it every year), but compliments were lovely. Makes me re-think pulling my hair back all the time.
- K-'s babysitter is getting married and was able to finalize the church and hall this past weekend. She was kind of sweating that. Now everything else can fall into place.
- K- has no school on Tuesday, so she'll be spending the day with Grandma. K- and Grandma haven't had a full day together in a while.
- I bought the game Gnip Gnop for Hubs tonight. I remember the game as a kid, called Hubs and asked him if he remembered it. He didn't, but told me to buy it for a sick present for him. Now, I don't know if you are familiar, but it's another game that I'm certain that my cousins had. We pronounced it Ga-nip Ga-nop. I know that the 'g' should be silent, but even if it is supposed to be (g)nip (g)nop, I'm still going to pronounce it Ga-nip Ga-nop. Hee, hee! I found the Gnip Gnop commercial on YouTube and I do pronounce it right! (Ping pong spelled backwards.) Look!

Have a great day!

A Yug Kind of Weekend.

It got no better. On Saturday, I made an additional $1.25. The weekend grand total comes to $2.25. And yes, Janeen, other than swinging by Children's Orchard to see what they will take, the Goodwill drop up the street will be the recipients of my stuff. It is far too much work. Yowza. I'm tired.

I woke up this AM with a migraine in my eyeball. It felt as if someone stabbed me in the eye with a knife and was twirling it around. We didn't do AM church, but I had a Leadership Meeting this evening, K- begged to go with me and we went to that. Of course, she was tired and hungry so she did the drop and flop in the hallway. Nice. Hubs suggested that she have no evening activities scheduled other than being at home and decompressing before bed. For whatever it is worth, I checked in on her at 8:15 PM and she was sound asleep. Exhaustion makes her a complete and utter pile. She's going to be bummin' because Festival Choir practice is due to start up on 9/13 and baby girl is going to be left home with her dad. So sorry Charlie!

K- has been a bit of a pill today anyhow. I swear that if I hear the word NO one more time that I'm going to spit. She's lost TV, Barbies, because I keep finding Polly parts strewn throughout the house, she must work to earn them back. I'm talking labor here. She must realize that Mommy and Daddy (Santa, too) pay a freakin' lot for those Pollys, they don't grow on trees and she needs to take good care of them.

In the afternoon, Hubs and K- dropped me off to see my grandmother (because with K- being a pistol, I wouldn't take her into the nursing home) and though I never text, I did text Hubs to tell him to come back in a half hour. Grandma was okay, but not altogether with it so a half hour was good.

While out, Hubs and K- were checking out swingset parts and whatnot at the Lowe's down the street. When they came back, Hubs reported that his figures showed that it would be cheaper to build a kit. Fine with me. This is his baby and as long as it will support my butt on the swing, I don't mind how he goes about it. For the record, I think that he has decided on (surprise, surprise) the Amish built swingset that is actually cut and bundled down in Holmes County, Ohio. Again, all good. The Hedstrom set that we paid $100.00 for has seen its last day. It needs to go.

So, because K- pulled herself around and we were driving past our favorite homemade ice cream stand, I decided to swing in. Mind you, it was 61 F, but that's okay. The ice cream was wonderful. On our way back to the car, we cut through the tall grass thingies (I have no idea what they are called.) They were spaced pretty well apart, so we didn't fell like we were totally destroying anything, though Hubs was joking about the "KEEP OFF THE GRASS!" signs we always see when we are out walking. Without thought, I brushed my hand and got jabbed by something. The something? A bee still on my hand. So, I flicked it off, told Hubs who asked what got me. I pointed and he told me it was a Yellow Jacket. Glad that I didn't have to remove a stinger, I went to the ice cream window and they fixed me up with ice. K- was concerned. "Mommy, are you okay? Does it hurt?" Yes to both. I didn't lie, but I absolutely told her that it hurt. I did tell her, "Did I jump around?" No. "Did I scream?" No. "Did I roll around on the ground?" No. "See, it wasn't that bad." For about 10 minutes, it did hurt, then swelled a little, but right now you can only see the entry point. That's good since my grandfather died of multiple bee stings/being diabetic and having been dumb and signed himself out of the hospital. I had been previously stung by honey bees and wasps. I was concerned about the Yellow Jacket, but apparently they are okay, too. What surprised me most? Hubs said, "If it makes you feel any better, I killed it." Why? "So it wouldn't sting anyone else." Hubs is a conservationist through and through. Okay, when Smudge ended up infested with fleas and our front door casing was being eaten away by carpenter ants, we didn't take the invasive critters, but he doesn't kill anything ever. Even K- will take spiders out. I was just shocked. The bee was in his creature home. I told K- that it only stung me because I made it mad. My sister's house had Yellow Jackets all over. They kept landing on me and didn't sting me once. I go to get ice cream, innocently walk past some tall grass and WHAM! Pow in the handie. Ouch.

I'm sorry. It's a rambling kind of day.

So tomorrow starts us back on the week of school. K- will be getting the school lunch, so no packing to be done. I did find that the Fiber One Toaster Pastry (AKA Poop Tarts in our house) were a little too fibrous for young K-. She was needing to leave class to take care of business and when such a duty is handled, K- is involved for quite sometime. I told her that she can have a poop tart MWF. The other days, we must choose something else for breakfast.

Something funny. I told K- on Friday night that, "Good news! Since you don't have school tomorrow, we can sleep in! Hooray!" So, Saturday morning at 6:57 AM, I have two green eyeballs staring at me, "Mommy! Get up!" Huh? I had to work my tail off to get her out of bed and moving this week. The day she doesn't have to get up and get going, she is up and out early. Later I asked why? "Because I could watch my kid shows!" She gets no TV on the AM of school. To do so would only cause her more issues with getting out the door. Apparently, I won't need to set the alarm on Saturday morning at all.

Smiles in my weekend:
- The $132.00 check from our mortgage holder for the overage in Escrow. Unfortunately, there is probably an overage because the tax base was set for our home before the value dropped because of the recession. However, Hubs just bought a new DVD/VCR recordable thingy combo and the check paid for most of it.
- While making next to nothing at the garage sale, I was able to make a bunch of bracelets that I can sell at the gallery for something. A consignment check of $40.00 - 60.00 each month helps.
- The M & M ice cream was great.

Have a wonderful week! I'm hoping to be back on track for my M-F posting now.

After you, Miss Grace

Have I ever mentioned that the Lord forgot to give me gracefulness? I mean, for some reason I can stand at the top of a ladder and be fine, but I can't walk across the floor without bruising myself. Oh, do let me share some highlights. Well, and I'll share with you some stories of just bad luck, too. How's that sound?

In the presence of critters:
- I slid off the side of a horse that my cousin and I were trying to ride bare back. When I slid off, I smacked my head on a rusty hay trailer and earned 8 lovely stitches across the back of my head.
- My neighbor's Great Dane bit me twice while we were attending the Little League parade. It bit me once in the chest (thank goodness for the coat I had on) and in the hand. Though the hand wasn't stitchable, it did require medical attention. Because of that, I was required (by law, I was told) to file a police report. Since it had been the second time that someone had been bit by the dog (and they required medical attention like me), unfortunately the dog needed to be destroyed. At least it bit me and not one of the children that had been climbing all over it a half hour before.
- The same neighbor's Doberman bit me in the thigh when I went to drop something off at their house.
- The same neighbor's goat decided to ram me in the back of the knee while I was getting things out of my car.
- The same neighbors had a rooster that chased everyone and tried to peck us to death.
(Don't worry. After the Great Dane incident, they put the house up for sale and moved.)
- A German Shepherd on-the-loose bit me when I was a kid. I didn't tell mom, but I was afraid that I was going to die of rabies, so I didn't sleep all night long.

In the studio:
- I was helping someone make a piece in glassblowing, they flashed the piece into the glory hole farther than they usually would, failed to tell me and when I grabbed the pipe (middle and back are standard, unless told otherwise by your partner), my skin sizzled and I let loose of the middle of the pipe. (A glory hole is 2200 degrees F.) My partner yelled, as she had worked on the piece for an hour and didn't want to lose it, I grabbed the pipe and proceeded to help her until she was done. I didn't know that the prof was watching. She insisted that I get medical help and initially I declined. The intense pain encouraged me to change my decision and in the end, I was wrapped in a burn mitt that needed to be changed at the Student Health Center everyday for a week. Don't worry. My hand healed beautifully. You can't really tell.
- I had come back from a week-long buyer's trip at the Philadelphia Buyer's Market and Baltimore ACC show, got back earlier than I thought and went ahead and went to my stained glass class. I was tired, snapped glass up and into my thumb, rather than down and away from me. I ended up cutting half way through a tendon in my thumb, had to have it repaired and had hitch-hiker thumb (either in a soft cast or a splint) for two months.

While attempting to be a good "sport:"
- The first time I skied, I hit a patch of ice, flew through the air and when I landed, I did so on top of my ski. The binder clip things jammed into the back of my leg, leaving a fantastically huge bruise.
- The second time I skied (both at Peek N Peak in New York), I hit an unpacked section of snow towards the end of Friar Tuck, over-corrected and ended up skiing down the hill backwards with my skis crossed. I leaned completely over, my knee let loose, then the binding let loose. I blew my ACL and broke the side of my knee.
- I got a fish hook jammed into my foot.
- I got smacked in the back really hard with a fishing pole that a friend was fishing with. He thought he cleared me and by the feel of the pole, he was trying to cast to the other side of Lake Erie. It literally hurt for a month.
- I walked in front of my sister while she was swinging and ended up with two big black eyes.
- I threw a baton up in the air, missed catching it with my hands and ended up catching it right between the eyes instead. I think I broke my nose.
- I swam right into the swimming pool ladder. Again, I think I broke my nose.
- My cousin and I were riding a three wheeler while we were at the annual 4th of July party, she told me to put my legs out and just as I did, my foot caught up in a bush, yanked me off and she ran over me. I was fine, though. A little bruised, but I was fine.

While just trying to function normally:
- I broke a toe when I jumped over a laundry basket.
- I was wearing my first pair of heels, lost control while going down the church sidewalk, wiped out flowers, killed a pair of hose and botched up my knee.
- I broke a toe while climbing the step stool to put my "major award" up that I won from the Foster Parent dinner.
- I locked my right middle finger into my car door. I had to dig into my right pocket with my left hand and unlock the door so that I could get my hand back out.
- Two weeks later, I slammed the same finger into the garbage chute of our apartment building. I went to the Student Health Center (I had catastrophic university insurance at the time) and though I didn't break the finger, the doctor informed me that I was "going to lose that nail." Um, you think?
- I ripped a muscle in my thumb while trying to put K- into her carseat.
- A month before Hubs and I were to be married, I fell on black ice at the university and broke my left thumb. Well, I know that I broke it even though I didn't have it x-rayed. I wouldn't have it checked because I was certain that they would put me in a cast and my wedding dress wouldn't fit with a cast on.
- While trying to iron clothes on the mini ironing board we had at our first apartment, I burned my knee. I burned it really bad. It's still scarred.
- I was on the house phone during a thunderstorm when the line was struck by lightning. It threw me across the room and into the stove. I will never talk on a corded phone during a storm ever again.

While attempting to roll down the road:
- My vehicle was rear ended on my 21st birthday. It was totaled. I had a fantastic case of whip lash.
- My old RAV was rear ended and totaled. I ended up with whip lash to my shoulder, much preferred to the whip lash of the neck.
- I was distracted by a rather lovely looking gentleman and lightly rear ended an older gentleman. (I was in college and not dating Hubs.) I didn't get a ticket.

Hubs is thankful that we have a ranch home. He insists that I will be in a mobility scooter by the time I'm 50.

Edited to add:
While trying to be handy:
- While painting the house, the ladder shifted, the foot of the ladder caught into some weird hole, it went down with me on it. Funny thing was that I was on a "ladder buddy" so that I could stand on the ladder backwards. When I was going down, I knew it and figured that my behind would be the safest surface for me to fall on. In the end, I smacked my head against the house and left a skid mark all the way down with my head. I fell hard on a huge rock that we had holding down cardboard to protect the foundation from paint. I had an enormous bruise on my upper left cheek, a ladder buddy scrape all the way up my back, my arm was bruised, my head was bruised, but I wasn't broken. A half hour later, sore, I got up and kept going.
- While trying to help hubs with the soffits, he lost control of a chunk of channel and it came down and smacked me in the face. Instant bruise. I was done helping, too.

Zoo-fully Wonderful

We visited the zoo on Wednesday afternoon for K-'s end of the year preschool blow-out. Well, it wasn't a blow-out, but we almost got rained on. That's okay. The rain held off until later.
K- and her friend, A-. A- is the recipient of almost all of K-'s hand-me-downs. (Like having a little sister, but not in the house.) The shirt she has on was one of K-'s favorite thrift store duds. They had a climbing wall at the exhibit of the jelly fish. K- climbed all the way to the top, then didn't quite have a visual of a foothold and got a little concerned. I held her fanny (she was much too high for me and it was a little high to suggest jumping down) and guided her foot to the foothold. We got her back down in one piece. There is a baby duckling on the mama's back. We loved it! (Rachael, I thought of you!) The girls playing in the fountain. We didn't want them to get all wet since it was only in the early 60's of Fahrenheit. We let them tickle the water, though. Since my friend Kim is on Facebook, I decided that it would be fine to post her face on my blog. K- took this picture of us and I thought she did a great job! A- was taking a picture too. Kim is hilarious and she is who she is. She'll be honest with you and knows bits about everything. The girl is a walking source of Google all on her own. Our kids love to hang together. In fact, Kim's house was where we were headed when this happened. When you have to call your friend and say, "We're okay, but you need to come pick up K-. The RAV was just totalled." Not only does she come, but she came running out of her car, then took K- to hang out with her husband and kids, came back up with camera in hand, took photos and kept me company-- that's good stuff. When Hubs came, they towed the RAV's lifeless body onto the flatbed (the axle was broken among tons of other smooshed things), she had us come back, fed us and even offered me a glass of wine. (I didn't take it, but the offer was kind!)

When we left, the girls wanted to take their picture with the zoo sign. K- was going to get herself hiked up to walk to the top of the big rock, hadn't gotten there yet and fell off the curb in her Croc's and skinned the top of her foot/bottom of her leg. I got her straightened around, bandaged up and dry eyed. We discussed not wearing Croc's except for swimming and she agreed. I know y'all love them out there, but K- keeps falling in them. She has fallen several times, injuring herself. She doesn't fall in anything else. The Croc's give a sloppy fit and her feet are just far too narrow. I'm not a fan of foam shoes anyhow. Strapping foam to your feet and not expecting to fall when it is rainy out just doesn't make sense to me, but I do have some crocesque Mary Jane's that I bought last year at Toys R Us. (They were on clearance for 2.00.) They are a skinnier fit with a velcro strap and fit much better. We'll just stick with that. K- likes the feel of Croc's. She says that they are "compy" but she's tired of skinning herself up, too. Ugh.

But! We had a nice day at the zoo!

--My sister is still housing Baby Pine Cone. With any luck, Baby Pine Cone will make an appearance this weekend. On Wednesday night, I was busy reading labor inducing accupressure tips from the internet to my sister over the phone. Nothing has worked. We're convinced that this child is hanging on tight and doesn't want to leave!

Miscellaneous Monday

K- decided after all of our running on Thursday that she wanted to take a nap. She wanted to take it in the backyard. She wanted the hammock. How could I say no to a child that wanted to nap in nature?

On Friday, we had to take a trip to the thrift store. I had a coupon ($5.00 off $10.00) You see, I tried little girl's shorts on her and almost all of them didn't fit! Never fear! The thrift store provided! And all of this was only $7.35! (Land's End, Ralph Lauren and a couple of Gymboree things are in there, too!)We visited with my grandmother, then shuttled on over to church to work on some Vacation Bible School stuff. I needed to put a donation board up, so I tracked down the director, found the list of needs out from her, made some grab tags for the board and put it all up.

Saturday was a mish-mosh of stuff. Hubs had to be up and out early, as he was going on a work trip to Magee Marsh for the annual Migratory Bird Festival. It was Lowe's Day for us. We scooped my brother and nephew up and hauled them with us. We built a little planter and they gave the kids pansies and dirt to fill them up. We ran back by my brother's house to drop them off, then trotted off to church for the All Daughter's Lunch. My friend, Kim, was in charge of the lunch and everything was wonderful. We had pasta, salad and her pastry chef friend made cheesecake. YUM! Kim saved us a spot at her table and I soon found out why. She ran past me and said, "Oh yeah, I have you reading a poem." Pardon? "Yeah, I have you reading a poem. It's at your place." Crap. I can talk in front of crowds, but to read in front of a crowd of people is a different thing. I don't know. My eyes get a little crossed and eek! I feel like I'm in first grade and learning to read! I'm happy to say that it all turned out okay. K- even sang our P for Patience song to the ladies. I hooked her by letting her sing into the microphone! :)

After the lunch, we went on home. I had laundered some clothes in the AM and with the wind we were having, I figured that it would be a great drier. (We were under a high wind warning.) K- went out the front door, checked the mail and there wasn't any. She had cruised through and was in the kitchen when I heard a "wham!" Ugh. The front door flew open and was slamming against the house. Once K- told me that Smudge (the cat) was downstairs, I pulled the screen door closed. It wouldn't stay shut, though. I looked down and found out that the door closer thing had pulled out of the frame of the door, ripping the wood out with it. How the heck did that happen? We have a wind chain. Ah, yes. We USED to have a wind chain. The wind was so high that it sucked the door open with such a force that it broke the wind chain and slammed the door against our outside light. The outside light? It swings in the wind now. (Hubs picked them out. I really didn't like them that much anyhow, so I'm okay with buying a new one for the front. Now I'm extra picky and have gone to 5 stores shopping to look. I'm still on the hunt.) Sunday brought us a lovely morning. We decided to go to church and skip Sunday School. K- did have a bit of an attitude when she found out that her class was delayed so that some of the kids could sing for church. She was a miffy little miss, but she wore through that after about 15 minutes. But do you want to know what my pastor decided to preach on? We've been going through the Sermon on the Mount and today was a sermon on adul*try, prov*ocative dress with a touch of castra*tion. The sermon was entitled, "Gouged Eye, Severed Hand." What a beautiful topic for Mother's Day. I'm writing this Sunday night and admit that he is next on my list to e-mail. Oh, it was inappropriate. Yikes.
However, after the funky sermon (ick), we went home for some lunch, then off to Mill Creek Park in Youngstown to enjoy Fellows Riverside Gardens. We saw all kinds of flowers in bloom and my girl was running through doing the Little Fairy on the House run.After visiting the park, we cruised to see both grandmothers. We had dessert with my mom and dinner with Hubs' mom-- in that order! :) When we came home, guess what we found? We had babies! Two of them, actually! Okay, so this second photo is blurry, but I had to put the second baby in there. Don't worry. Mama Bird was close by watching. She knows us and knows that we aren't going to harm her babies. We had a nice weekend. We hope that you did, too!