Ten Little Things, vol.1

So, as Bennet would say, I’m “really into” this blog I stumbled across last week – E Tells Tales.  I love this girl – her writing style, her stories, her craftiness – I feel like we’d be besties in real life.  (I know that’s creepy, but I promise I’ve only ever felt this way about one other gal in the entire blogosphere – Wendy from Wendonlina.”)

I’ve been looking for a Project-365-esque way to share things from our week – so I was pumped to see the “Ten Little Things” link-up on Elizabeth’s blog!

SO…here goes nothing -- ten little snippets from our week…

1.  The bulk of my week has been spent being sick.  All that taking care of my sick kids finally caught up to me, and I’ve been coughing like a chain smoker!  Kennedy and I made a trip to the CVS Minute Clinic while Bennet was at school on Wednesday, and I left with a bronchitis diagnosis and lots of fantastic drugs.

Have you ever seen a grosser table?  CVS had it in the pharmacy area for kids to play at while waiting for prescriptions.  I was sick, we had a 20-minute wait for my prescriptions, and Kennedy was having a ball – so I just rolled with it and ignored the nastiness.

2.  Sunday was NOT a happy football-watching day in our house.  We may live in Baltimore, but we are under no circumstances fans of the Ravens, and we would have loved to see them lose!

The only team we dislike as much as we dislike Baltimore is New England, but since we don’t have to live near New England fans, we’re “Team Brady” this coming weekend!  Go Pats!

3.  Another Sunday occurrence was that our church launched their first Sunday broadcasting their services live on the internet.  Check out Pastor Dan on our TV!

This was fabulous timing, as I was a few days into my sickness, and we had planned to skip church.  Truth be told, I’m slightly tempted to watch church from home in my PJ’s with a Bloody Mary in hand from here on out.

4.  Bennet’s head-wound is healing nicely!  I’m anxious for the glue to come off so I can start putting Mederma on it to help with the scarring.  It’s still hanging in there, though!

For those of you who don’t know – B tripped over K when they were playing in the living room a few weeks ago and split his forehead open/needed a trip to the urgent care clinic to have it glued back together!

5.  I wanted an activity table for the beebs for the upstairs, but didn’t want one of the big, plastic “Step 2” looking tables in my living room.  We found this gorgeous, espresso-colored table on the Target website 75% off – and jumped on it!

Both wee ones are loving the new addition, and have been breaking it in with much coloring, Lego-building and puzzle-assembling.

6.  Do your kids have blankets they sleep with/tote everywhere?

Kennedy and Bennet both have blankets named “Sheet,” that are silky and snuggly and get lots of love!  No one naps or goes to bed without them around here, and Kennedy often sneaks her “Sheet Sheet” on car rides, too.

7.  An epic happening in the Peters home this week was that I finally moved the majority of kid toys to the basement.  We’ve been using the basement as a pseudo-playroom for the kids since we moved in, but Kennedy has not really been old enough to play down there independently until now.  It’s amazing “mommy time” when they disappear to the basement every afternoon to play and watch DVDs!

They DID move all play food from the play kitchen into the bathroom to “make a grocery store in the bathroom,” but I was willing to let it go for the hour or so of peace it bought me.

8.  I’ve really been into beer this week.  I’m a wine-girl by nature, so why my sickness has made me crave beer, I do not know.

Perry enjoyed the cardboard box.  I do so love having kitties in the house.

9.  A bean.  In a basket.  With “Sheet Sheet.”

Cuteness.  Also – see the pretty basket she is sitting in?  I have reduced all colorful plastic and obnoxious child toys in the living room to whatever fits in three of those baskets.  Everything else is in the basement or in their rooms.  So nice.  So non-cluttered.

10.  One of the many updates to our home as I am de-cluttering.  Our friend, Rose, passed this beautiful, walnut coffee table on to me – and I just love it!

I wanted a runner to tie in some of our living room colors, but couldn’t find one the right size, so I sewed two kitchen towels from Target together to make my own!

What little things has your family been up to this week?

project 365: week 102

March 9, 2011:  This kid and his boo-boos!  On a play date at one of our local malls, Bennet fell off of a stool in the Lego Store with a Lego in his hand.  Somehow, it cut his lip, causing blood to spurt all over the place.  Such drama.  Thankfully, he recovered quickly and I bought him a smoothie to ease his pain.

March 10, 2011:  For Bennet’s first birthday, a friend got him a Little Einsteins cup and plate.  He wasn’t really into the show then, and we have so many plastic cups and plates that it got pushed to the back of the cabinet.  Recently, he is VERY into Little Einsteins, so when I came across the set in the cabinet, he was so excited!  We’ve been using his “Little Eim-Stimes” cup and plate constantly ever since!

March 11, 2011:  Andrew made us an amazing dinner – Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas and Ricotta.  It was so yummy.  I can’t wait to have it again.

March 12, 2011:  One of my sweet friends, Shelley, is pregnant with her first baby – a little girl!  I had the honor of going to her baby shower, and I took her a bucket filled with some of my favorite “bedtime” baby items. 

March 13, 2011:  Sophie’s current best friend in the house is Kennedy.  She hangs out at the base of Kennedy’s high chair all the time, waiting for the handouts that Kennedy willingly gives!

March 14, 2011:  Andrew and I both try to get out of cleaning Beanie off after dinner each night.  Who can blame us? 

March 15, 2011:  Kennedy has been sick, teething and grumpy for what seems like the entire winter.  I can’t wait for spring to roll around and clear out all of the germs!

Mommy’s not as broken.

After spending two whole days on the couch snuggling with Bennet, watching TV and napping off the Vicodin, I woke up this morning feeling a lot better.

I was even able to walk around without much of a limp this morning, which had me feeling pretty optimistic!  We were lucky to get an appointment at the orthopedic doctor early this morning, so Andrew and the kids dropped me off and went to run errands while I got checked out.

I’m thankful for all of the prayers and love that have been sent our way – and for the great report I got from the doctor.  As it turns out, the “fracture” that Patient First saw on my kneecap isn’t a fracture at all.  My knee, and the bone, are just badly bruised – and it will take some time for all of the fluid and bruising to go away.  My foot and ankle are severely bruised, and other than a bad ankle sprain, there’s nothing going on there either! 

This means I’m on the mend!  The doctor even said I can go back to exercising whenever I want – as long as I do low-impact things and take it easy!  He looks for me to be able to run in 3 or 4 weeks, so hopefully I’ll still be up for training for the 10K I was going to run this summer.  They sent me home with a splint for my ankle, and told me to keep icing both injuries and elevating my legs when possible.  Other than that, I should be back to “Mommy Duty” tomorrow when Andrew returns to work!

Bennet has been very concerned about me, and even snuck into the medicine cabinet this morning and covered his feet in Band-Aids, saying, “I have a boo-boo like you, Mommy.”  When I told him I wasn’t “broken” anymore – he was very relieved!

While I had a nice weekend of pampering, rest, and narcotic-induced naps, I’m definitely feeling like my old, on-the-move self again!  Thanks again to everyone who has offered help, checked in on me, and sent up prayers for my healing!  God is good, and this could have been much worse – I’m so thankful for His hand of protection on me!

joy of love days seventeen, eighteen and nineteen

17: staying in

When Bennet and I spend time at the house together, I just like to be near him – snuggling, playing, reading books – whatever we do when we “stay in” ends up being special.  We’ve had some amazingly nice weather this week, and we found ourselves on our back porch, snuggling on our porch swing quite often.

18: going out

We’ve been so blessed to get out for lots of date nights lately.  I love getting to go out with Andrew and have some kid-free time together!  Even when the night ends with some broken bones like this one did, I still love getting to go out on the town with my sweetie!

19: when they’re gone

My aforementioned broken bones have made Andrew have to play the Mr. Mom role around the house.  When I took this photo, he was “gone” upstairs – giving both kids baths and putting them to bed.  I’m so blessed to have such a helpful, loving, wonderful husband to take care of me and the kiddos.

mommy’s broken.

Last night, we went out on our second date night this month!  It was our good friend, Ashley’s, birthday, and we went to dinner with a group of her friends to celebrate.  We had a great time, until we were walking back to the car at the end of the night!  In the parking lot, there was a set of two steps, which I did not see.  I stepped forward, thinking there would be sidewalk there, but there wasn’t.  I fell onto the concrete below and immediately, I knew something wasn’t right.  In the short amount of time it took to drive home, I had already developed lots of swelling and bruising on my right knee and shin, and my left ankle was throbbing and swollen.  I iced everything down, took ibuprofen, and headed to bed, hoping for the best.  When I woke up this morning, my right leg looked like this…

My left ankle was even more swollen, and was hurting even more than when I had gone to bed.  After limping around the house for a while, I asked Andrew to drive me to Patient First to have everything checked out.  I’m thankful that I decided to go in because, as I feared, I had really done a number on myself!

First off, I fractured my knee cap.  I don’t know many people who break their knee cap.  In fact, I don’t know anyone who has ever broken their knee cap.  Amazing.

This is my knee cap, zoomed in.  In the red circle, you can see the tiny crack in my patella.  Pretty impressive, don’t you think?

Second is the damage I did to my left foot.  We still don’t know the extent of it because the contusion I have there is so severe that they couldn’t see the bones in the x-ray.

That white circle area – that’s where my ankle is bruised and swollen.  The doctor said she believes there is a hairline fracture there, but she can’t be completely sure until the swelling goes down and it can be x-rayed again.

Ouch.  Ouch.  Ouch.  This is definitely the craziest injury I’ve ever had.  I had everyone at Patient First – doctors, nurses, x-ray techs – cracking up about my story of my date night at Bertucci’s and how it went horribly wrong! 

The doctor sent me home with a temporary cast on my foot and an ace bandage on my knee.  I have crutches and a vicodin prescription and I’ve spent the day elevating my legs and sleeping (the vicodin makes me very tired!)  First thing Monday morning, I have to start trying to get an appointment with an orthopedic doctor.  At that appointment, we’ll get a better assessment of the extent of my injuries!

In the meantime, I’m enjoying being spoiled by my wonderful husband, who has waited on me hand and foot and handled the kids beautifully all day.  He’s a very good nurse, and I am very blessed!

Bennet is very concerned about Momma.  We told him that Momma's broken, and that he needs to ask Daddy for whatever he needs for a few days.  He now keeps saying, “I broken, too, Momma,” and asking “Your medicine will make your boo boo better, Momma?”  Such a sweet little boy!

I’m trying to see the positive in all of this – I get to get caught up on some blogging, I get to rest on the couch and be waited on by my sweetie, and I can feed my recent addiction to watching “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” on Netflix Watch It Now. 

And so, here I sit.  Resting, trying to keep busy and not think about the pain, watching lots of TV.  Thanks to everyone who has offered help and checked in on me – we love our friends oh-so-much!  Ashley and Greg even brought me a chicken pot pie and some beautiful flowers this afternoon – a girl could get used to this!