Charlotte in October 2013 With her Cast

Charlotte couldnt walk on her cast and was in some discomfort the first 1 1/2 weeks. I gave her ibuprophen the first few days, esp at night when I think she was less distracted and the bone pain would set in and she was having a hard time sleeping. She was crawling with her cast in our living room after a few days. I was carrying her a lot since she could not put any weight on her foot even with the cast on for the first couple of weeks. I also took the adapter off our double stroller which meant that I could not connect Natalie's baby carrier to the double stroller. With the full leg cast I couldn't sit Charlotte in the stroller without taking off the adapter/snack tray that goes across it. So, many times I was carrying Charlotte and the baby everywhere! I seriously lost about 5lbs just carrying the two of them and having to lug my double stoller everywhere and in and out of the car at least 4 times a day just by having to take Ava to and from school. Luckily, my Mom was able to help me the majority of the time by taking Ava to school in the mornings. She has been a God send. Thanks Mom! After week 3 Charlotte was gaining her balance standing and walking with her cast around the house. But, it's not a walking cast so it doesnt have any sort of padding for her to walk around outside or anything. The new leg brace has worked out better for her to practice walking and allows her skin to breathe better and regain more of her muscle tone.

Our improvised Lego table. I moved the water table indoors to help Charlotte move and walk around the table and play. It helped Natalie with her balancing too.

                       Walking at Grandma Evelyn's.  She was so excited and proud of herself.

                                   Painting some beautiful fall leaves to decorate our front door.

                                                             Making my jack-o-lantern.

                      "This is a picture of Daddy" by Charlotte. Notice the beard and red hair.

Natalie at 10 mo Old

Natalie at 10 mo Old

                                           Yes, Mommy, says I look a ton like Daddy when I smile! hehe

                                 I love strawberries, raspberries, juicy pears, and slivers of grapes.

                                            I enjoy pushing big trains and cars across the floor.

                                        Drinking my yogurt smoothie through a straw. Yum!

I entertain myself by climbing onto my bouncy seat backwards and bouncing myself as if it were a pony.

I can drink out of a sippy cup, but I can still be a little messy. And I like juice, but having a hard time enjoying the taste of whole cow's milk. During this picture at 10 mo old I wasn't quite drinking cow's milk yet. I mostly just have water or juice right now. My mom plans on nursing me till I am 12 mo old.

Minor Detour

It's not too often that just Ava and I go out for a walk just by ourselves. We took the elevator and went for a short 10min walk to drop off some caramel popcorn balls to our neighbors down a ways. Ava was having a good time on the elevator and we had a good chat. She was so happy she was skipping!

Charlotte's Pink Cast

So, Charlotte had the misfortune of having to have fallen off the bunk bed ladder and getting hurt. She was about 20minutes into her two hour nap when she had climbed the ladder to the top bunk where Ava naps. Only, Ava saw Charlotte fall from the ladder and couldn't explain exactly what happened but did try. Ava mostly was able to describe how she landed, but not exactly why she fell. Charlotte was carrying to medium-large size stuffed animals; an alligator and a yellow duck, under each arm while climbing the ladder. We think she may have gotten her left ankle caught in the ladder or the side rail on Ava's bunk and didn't quite make it onto the actual bed. She fell to the bottom floor with her two stuffed animals under her. She did cry, but she didn't cry so hard that we suspected right away that she had broken her leg. She actually cried and then fell asleep in my arms. She fell asleep from 4PM-7PM. This all happened on Sept 28-29th on a Sunday night and Monday morning. She woke up from her nap complaining that her leg hurt but couldn't exactly point to where or say much else to describe her discomfort. She didn't have any bruising or scratchs and had very slight swelling around the ankle bone. We gave her some Motrin and iced and stabilized her leg and had her in our bed that night to see how she felt the next couple of hours. She slept well that night and the next morning we went in right away to see her pediatrician who then referred us to a different office for x-rays, and then to a pediatric orthopedist. Charlotte had fractured her lower tibia and fibula on her left leg. I think that because she had landed on top of her stuffed animals that they protected her upper chest and face from the ground or from hitting the steps of the ladder. Charlotte got her pink cast on Sept 29th and had a full leg cast till November 1st. As of November 1st they took new x-rays and her leg is healing nicely. She is now wearing a black brace that she must wear 100% of the time except she has the advantage of it being half the size and being able to take it off at bedtime and for bath time. She will go in for her follow up x-rays and hopefully get the news from the doctor that she is also well enough to stop using the leg brace.

 

November 1st. Charlotte did excellent getting her cast taken off. We tried to prepare her by explaining what was going to happen a few days beforehand and showing her some YouTube videos that weren't scary of other kids getting their casts off. They use a special saw. The generator in the room is quite loud and it was extremely helpful that they offer the children headsets to quite the noise. We got to keep her cast as a souvenir. After the cast was taken off Ryan went with Charlotte into the x-ray room where we got to see the progress of her bones healing well. Then the three of us went to a different medical office where Charolotte was fitted for a small leg brace. 

                                     Healing very nicely. You can barely see the area that was broken.

Family Birthday Party at Zoomars

My cousin's little boy turned 1 and invited us to his birthday party at Zoomars in San Juan Capistrano in mid-September. The kids always love going to Zoomars because they get to ride a pony, choo choo train and pet bunnies.

Charlotte 2yrs 11mo Old

Snap Shots of Charlotte at 2 years and 11 mo old:

A few candid shots of Charlotte prior to her breaking her leg in September. She was just very smiley one morning while Ava was at school. In the other pictures she is helping me make a coconut oil and salt body scrub.

                                         At our friend Liam's birthday party. Pirate Charlotte!

Wakey, wakey...

                                                               Rise and shine sleepy heads.