Broken Ewan

Well, we have had a couple of stressful days. Yesterday, Erik was working on putting in a pantry in our kitchen and I was exercising. I asked him to halt his work and watch Carson and Ewan for me while I showered. He stopped working and I stepped into the shower. I got out and was toweling off when I heard Erik yell, "Angela, Angela, I need you." It was one of those yells that you know something is wrong. I hurried out of the bathroom still in my towel and Erik said in distress, "I broke his leg." I looked at him, astonished, and he repeated what he said. Erik had lain Ewan on the floor by the couch and slid off the couch to sit next to him and play with him. He slid off and sat right on Ewan's leg. He heard a pop and Ewan started screaming. He thought he broke Ewan's ankle. I touched his foot and it swung sideways. I said, "His ankle's broken. We need to take him to the hospital." I called the doctor and sure enough, to the Emergency Room we went.

We waited for what seemed forever for them to take x-rays of Ewan's leg and the doctor told us the results. Ewan has a spiral fracture on his leg and what seems like a previous spiral fracture on the top part of his leg which is healing. The doctor said these are the types of breaks you see in child abuse or from having a disease that your bones break easier. Ewan had to have more x-rays. Thankfully, there were no other breaks. After four hours and a phone call to mom to tell her we would not be taking her to lunch for her birthday like we presupposed (we did see her though as she came to the hospital...what a way to spend your birthday), they splinted Ewan's leg and told us to set up an appointment with his pediatrician. The whole time Erik is freaking out that he will be arrested, the kids will be taken away, and he will be fired. How stressful. We get out of the hospital and check our messages. Calista is sick and the school is upset they can't get hold of us. Erik called the school and Calista is back in class. All night Ewan is fussy and has to be on Tylenol every 4 hours. He pulls his bandage off twice and cries from the pain.

The next day, today, we take him to the doctor. He needs a hard cast put on, from his foot to mid-thigh. After 3 more hours at the doctor, a poop explosion with inadequate resources, a bored Carson, and repeating the story many more times to everyone who walks in and wonders how a 4-month-old can break his leg (you can just bet how excited Erik is to tell everyone he sat on his kid and broke his leg), Ewan is befitted with a black cast of which Carson chose the color. He has an appointment in a week for another x-ray and the hard cast will probably come off in a month. You can see pictures of both casts above. We had to go buy some sweat pants so he could have clothes that fit. Thank goodness for sales at Old Navy where their sweat pants don't have tight cuffs at the bottom. Consequentially, Erik feels he is not the best dad ever but I still think he is.


Oh, Jeff got Carson a stuffed sheep and she loves it, running around making sheep noises, his name is Funny Sheep. Jeff was able to see a play at Hale Centre Theater today and yesterday he interviewed more people for his History Project. Calista wants to start a band, The Pickles 3, with her two other friends. I guess they all want to sing. Well, I am exhausted and have a fussy child to attend to so I will write again some other time.

The Best Dad Ever

I wasn't going to post a blog today but something interesting happened. If you didn't know, Carson is completely potty trained now. For over a week she hasn't had an accident or worn diapers. Now we are working on getting her to go to the bathroom by herself. As this picture conveys, she loves to carry around little animals. Along with the bunnies, her favorite toy is an inch and a half tall dog named Grommit that Erik had when he was a kid from the show Wallace and Grommit. Today Carson took Grommit into the bathroom with her and as she climbed off the toilet she dropped him in. She didn't know what to do so she flushed. She came into the room where I was and started crying and told me what happened. She cried, "He was my favorite toy!" That is the first time she has ever said something like that. Erik and I felt so sad. Erik checked the toilet and sure enough, Grommit was gone. Carson kept asking me where Grommit is. Erik told her he was floating around in water but he may come back. I looked at him in dismay as he walked over to the computer. He promptly bid on the same Grommit being sold on Ebay. Hurray! He won. So, Grommit will be resurrected as soon as Erik pays the $3 and $5 in shipping and the people mail us Grommit. (What people do for their kids, huh.) To our luck she is also getting the sheep, robot dog and his owner, and a replicate of Wallace, the penguin, and the wrong trousers (which we will hide just in case there is another unhappy mishap with other members of the gang). Anyway, this and so many other reasons are why I say Erik is the best dad ever.

Ewan

This picture is done especially for you, Jared Smith, because when we were in Port Angeles I SO admired all your flannel shirts and I would like nothing else but for my son to emulate you (that last part wasn't sarcastic).

Jeff

Poor Jeff is always surrounded by just girls. I think he thought when Ewan was born that he wouldn't be the only boy but Ewan is so young that nothing has really changed.

Carson

Carson is crazy for bunnies. This one is schizophrenic as sometimes he is Peter Rabbit, sometimes Velveteen Rabbit, and currently he is Snuggle Bunny. If anyone has a tiny stuffed bunny they would be willing to part with would you send it to us because Erik wants to take it with him on cop calls and take pictures of it in various places.

Calista

This is Calista right after she set up her science experiment at school. She was a finalist and won a ribbon for her amazing work.

Hop on the Bandwagon

Well, everyone else seems to have a blog so I figured I would hop on the bandwagon and make one myself. I also thought I would start one because I never write down the cute and quirky things my family does. For example, today I was out eating with the two babies (though Carson isn't much of a baby anymore, we call the kids the older kids and the babies) and Erik and out of nowhere Carson grabbed a piece of lettuce off my plate, tore it in half, dipped it into ranch, stuck it in her mouth, looked at me, and said, "What?" while laughing. She is definitely the jester of our family.

Jeff asked me who the jester is and I said probably Carson because she not only laughs at others but she loves people to laugh at her. Jeff wanted to be the jester but admitted that he doesn't like it when people laugh at him. If you all didn't get the email, he is working on an history project. If his emailing annoys anyone tell me and I will tell him to stop. Jeff finally found two good friends. One is a boy and they have the same book, Vampirates, that they set reading goals so they can discuss it together at school. He decided to do the same thing with his dad so he bought his dad The Black Tatoo so they could read it together.

Calista has decided to be a vegetarian and is doing quite well since last Friday. Jeff, consequentially, is taunting her with phrases such as, "MMMM. Chicken is so good, don't you think?" He really is turning out to be an older brother. Calista decided she may want to be a veterinarian and a playwrite when she grows up. Erik and I told her to be a playwrite now. She writes plays for her spelling homework and they always have animals in them.

Erik is leaving on the 5th of March to Port Angeles to do a test and an oral interview for the police department there. I hope things go well. This plan seems the wisest for our family right now. I really think every day how lucky I am to have him in my life. He is an amazing person. He would like to go to law school and become a lawyer. I think this is a great idea because he thinks so well and is able to reason things out while I am a bit more impulsive. Erik just keeps on arresting people, some we even have heard of. If nothing else, his job is never boring. Right now he called me and he is helping out with an explosion that happened at an apartment complex.

He did an amazing thing for me for Valentine's day (even though as a Jew I technically don't celebrate this day). He bought me a guitar and I am trying really hard to learn it. This is pretty difficult as I have no hand/eye coordination along with the fact that I have never played an instrument and it is all completely foreign to me. For example, the book teaches two E7 cords and then in the song you are supposed to play it doesn't designate which E7 version you are supposed to use. It's very confusing. Besides this I have been becoming more interested in photography and I think I will make a book for Carson and hopefully Ewan. Every day I am surprised as to how little time I have to myself to do any sort of hobby. With the kids, the guitar, and trying to exercise, by the evening I am exhausted. It doesn't help that Ewan has been feeling kind of sick.

Ewan had his 4-month-old check up two days ago and he got 4 shots, 2 in each leg. He hadn't gone poo in 4 days or so. Today Erik and I had to prod him to go to the bathroom and I had to take in a stool sample to the doctor. She thought he might have blood in his stool since it still comes out like brand-new babies. It turns out he doesn't but now we have to put him on adult laxatives too, just like Carson. There are certainly some days I feel my whole life revolves around poop and puke.

Overall, things are great. I love my family and they are all so unique that nothing is ever boring. At night, when we have dinner together we play 2 truths and 1 lie and the kids love using an appropriate time to lie (though they aren't very good at it thank goodness) and I always find out great information about their days. Right now I am into a green kick. My clothes were all old and I decided to stop wearing baby tees as I won't be bothered with pulling them down all the time. So, with the tax return we finally bought me levis that fit and a bunch of tee-shirts. Most are green and black because they are from the bands Dropkick Murphy and Flogging Molly who I love right now. I also want to know if anyone has any music from the Moldy Peaches or any folk music or Irish punk music. I am always looking for music recommendations.

Well, I just need to say I am lucky to have a family as great as you guys.