Get them stitches out!

**Semi-Graphic Pics included of my stitched foot. View with caution.**

Today I got to get my stitches out. WOOHOO. I've been LONGING for this day because I could take that stupid cast off. It was so heavy and hot. And the medications were no longer working anyway, so it made it that much more uncomfortable. So I arrange that my sister (who had the day off) come and pick me up. We find a spot, miraculously, in the parking garage at the Kaiser hospital and I hop on my scooter and she loads up my almost 6 month old niece in the baby backpack thing. Naturally, we end up coming out of the garage at the top of a hill. Take a minute to soak that in. Lady with one good leg, on a scooter, having to go down a hill. And my assistant? A 100 pound woman carrying a baby on the front of her in a pack. Imagine the possibilities...

So, as carefully as possible, I use the brake to start descending down the hill. Then I notice a little walkway area that goes down behind some potted plants and it looks closer and less steep. **LIGHT BULB** I suggest we cut through, and wrangle my scooter through the plants. Seemed like a great idea, honestly. And the hill itself wasn't so bad. The whole while, my sister, who has been witness to many BAD IDEAS of similar situations, suggests that I be very careful so we don't have another, what we refer to it as, "Wagon Incident" (I'll detail that incident at the end of this blog, just in case you want to laugh at me more).

I assure her that I have everything under control. I begin to coast down the hill, its maybe 10-20 feet. I didn't use the brake properly, unfortunately. So I may or may not have raced down the hill on my scooter. I didn't fall or anything, but once I applied the break fully, I came to a full stop. My natural instinct was to plant my feet down on the ground to steady myself. Big mistake. My cast foot landed flat on the ground and I felt my calf muscle tighten and a weird sensation run through my foot. My sister's eyes are HUGE and I turn and tell her, "Well, that probably wasn't the best idea!" But it didn't hurt too bad. I assumed I was fine and in the clear. No one saw but us. Phew.

So I get inside, and Nurse Rana greets me and gets me prepped and begins cutting off the cast. Just then, a friend from HS, who is also a nurse, Jeni-Bean (HS nickname), comes in to say hi. So the 5 of us (2 nurses, my sister, my niece and I) are all laughing and watching the cast come off. Just then, Dr. Soulier comes in. In case I haven't mentioned before, he's SUPER nice and reminds me of Ricky Schroeder. I say, "This is the party room, WOOT, WOOT!"

Without missing a beat, he says, "Yeah, I saw your little party outside!" My heart sank in my chest! How did he see that?! He then tells me how he watched the whole scene outside because apparently, I came roaring down the hill, right towards his office. Of course I did. LOL. How was I supposed to know that was his office? We were all laughing so hard. Well, he was nervous laughing and was ready to take me to the ER if warranted. So, he cleans me, takes out stitches, sends me for x-rays and I get a new boot. Still no weight for about 2 more weeks.  Pictures below.

Nurse Rana removing the cast

Right before trying to clean me up

My mummy wrap

New boot. Way more comfy than the cast!!!      

The Wagon Incident

We, my siblings and I, used to always walk the March of Dimes 5K marathon in Downtown Sacramento. I borrowed a wagon from my cousin because my youngest was too old for a stroller, but I knew he'd struggle to make it the full 3 miles. 

We got to the underpass of the bridge between Downtown and Old Town and I remembered that, when we were children, we would ride my metal red Radio Flyer Wagon down our driveway and I would use the handle to steer us. I would take my sisters and brothers on rides down the driveway. We would have hours of fun. And I wanted to recreate that fun for my youngest (who was maybe 4 years old at the time).

The hill is steep but no one was around. What could possibly go wrong? So, my sister Sarah, my brother-in-law Ethan, my daughter and her BFF, went ahead of us and my son, Raul, and I got in the wagon. I sat in front to steer, as I always had as a child. I don't know why, but he stood behind me in the wagon (look, I never said I was a good mom. Obviously this was about as irresponsible as one could be!) Nonetheless, we start sailing down the hill. I was having a blast. Then I felt like we were going too fast, and instead of dragging my feet, I planted them square on the ground. Raul and I both went flying through the air.

I landed on my hands and knees directly in front of the wagon. Raul flew over the top of me, kicked me in the head, and started rolling. He didn't have a scratch on him, but turns to me and yells, "This is all your fault!". Both my knees were torn out of my capri pants, my knees and hands were skinned and bloody. It smarted. It smarted BADLY. But I couldn't let anyone else know how badly it hurt. They all came rushing at us. They were all laughing hysterically. Then my daughter's BFF says, "Poor Raul! He looked like a hot dog rolling away!" To this day, I still don't understand that part. I think my brother-in-law laughed the hardest. At least my sister tried to see if I was OK, and attempted to stifle her laugh. LOL. 

We walked down the street to Starbucks where I went to the bathroom and washed up my knees. Boy did they hurt. And they scabbed so badly that I couldn't even lean on my knees for over a month without a LOT of pain. 4-5 years later, I still have scars. But at least we all have a hilarious story. I can laugh now. And clearly, when it comes to me and free rolling objects, we don't mix!!!

Being an auntie...

...it's pretty much exactly like being a parent, except that you don't keep them. And usually they get away with a wee bit more than your own kids. Well, that's true for me anyway. At any given time, on any given day, we can have anywhere from 1-6 extra children coming and going from our house. Since I'm the "bread winner", Uncle gets the brunt of the duties after the kids get off school. He has to do all the lame stuff like homework. Yawn!

But then I have my babies on the weekends. This weekend, I had four extra babies total. Aden (7) & Abby (5) (my bff/cousin's kids) spent the night so they could have a date night. Believe me, it was must deserved. A&A get along with my kids so well. It's not even like having extra children, honestly! They disappear into the bedroom and play so nicely together. It's very little work on my part. You never realize how amazing having a best friend is, until your kids are also best friends!

So I'm prepping some lunch for Abby after church and I show her the Tupperware cup and earrings I bought her mother as a birthday present. She takes one look at the earrings and says, "My mom actually doesn't wear earrings, so she won't want these." I laughed internally. Her attitude is second to none. So I tell her that her mom actually told me she wanted those specific earrings. To that she replied, "Um...she's probably not going to wear them." hahaha! She is too funny.

Then, the kids and husband are all on video games in the back rooms playing together so I think I'm going to sneak away to the living room and watch Netflix on my laptop. I just stared watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, from the beginning. So shoot me, I loved that show! Anyway, Abby comes in about half way through one episode, and sweet, talkative, inquisitive Abby sits down next to me, promising that vampires don't scare her.  Then the non-stop questions begin: "Why does her face look that way?" "Is that a vampire?" "I can't see her teeth." "I almost have vampire teeth....SEE?" "OOOOOH, I saw her teeth!" "What is she asking him about?" "She can't kiss him or she'll turn into a vampire!" "She kissed a vampire?"... I can't even be mad...first of all, she's a girl after my own heart, and second of all, she's interested in MY shows. One more bonding experience we got to have!

 

Then she goes home, Aden stays to entertain Raul and my two little nephews come over. Maxxamillion, who is almost 2, with no desire to speak whatsoever, is literally an extension of my own children. He spent most of his life coming over on weekends while his parents (my brother and his fiance) were working. I bought special baby equipment and chairs for him so he could be comfortable. So having him over is so natural. But now he has a baby brother, who is 3 months old.

Baby Gunnar is so adorable, but man, is he a cranky pants. Poor guy has tummy issues already and is very gassy (my middle son was the SAME way, so I have understanding and patience that my brother lacked in the beginning). Unfortunately, Gunnar was not ready for mommy to go back to work. He refused to take a bottle for a few days. I ended up buying him a $10 bottle that he found suitable to his specifications I guess. Now that he's eating and accepted that mommy works, he tends to be much happier! Unfortunately, when daddy dropped him off last night, he was asleep, and then Uncle laughed too loudly at the TV, and he woke up on the WRONG side of the car seat! Poor guy.

All the while, Maxx is trying to give me the bottles of breast milk. What a helpful brother. Except, baby didn't want food. He just wanted to yell and tell me how upset he was that he was woken up prematurely. So, Maxx decides to be a curious little monkey and I see him walk past with a 2 foot screw driver. And, if you know anything about children, you don't panic in these situations. So I calmly said, "What are you doing with that?" And he smiled his ornery smile. Raul is in love with his cousin, and very patient as well. He calmly took it away and continued on playing. Kids are too funny and random with the things they want to play with!

Out of my 4 siblings, I have: Hunter (would have been 12), Leighna (10), Ella (8), Grayson (6), RyLeigh (almost 5), Brawn (3 1/2), Maxxamillion (almost 2), Paloma (4 months) & Gunnar (3 months). My brother-in-laws blessed me with: Eileena (14), Selena (13), Lokelani (6) & Ailani (almost 6). This does not include my cousins' kids who I'm honored to be autie of, those names and ages are too numerous to count (today anyway).

Who ever knew that so many heart strings could exist for these little people who you get to watch be born, swaddle as infants, help up as toddlers, encourage as preschoolers, enthralled as they are school aged, laugh at the ridiculousness of teenagers, and yet you love them at every stage in life. And you want to hold and hug them all the time, at the same time. And some of them will let you and some will be too cool, and eventually they will outgrow your lap, but they are each pieces of me. I just hope they always lean on me as they continue to grow and experience new things in life! I don't want to miss one minute!