Broken Bone, Tired Mommy

I've been too tired from the events of yesterday to write...but wanted to record what happened at least so I have it for memory's sake. Evan fell off the couch while I was at Bible study and was crying more than seemed normal. I took him home and was tempted to do my normal routine of "waiting to see if it gets worse" (i.e. hopefully putting off going to the doctor and avoiding the costs involved). I purposefully gave him a big glass of water with lunch and watched as he tried to drink it with one hand. He couldn't climb up onto the couch like normal and was just kind of acting like a zombie. So, I took him to the pediatrician (after first calling 6 friends to find someone to watch Sam), and the doctor sent us to get x-rays. While waiting for the x-rays, all the people in the waiting room fell in love with him and then had to listen as he screamed because I couldn't hold him due to being pregnant. When we emerged from the x-ray room, the waiting room cheered for him. We went back to the pediatrician who diagnosed his injury as a buckle fracture--she described it as a dent in a tin can...if he fell on it again it would definitely break, so he needed a cast. We had to go back to get a copy of the x-ray and when we went back into the office, the lady who had to hold Evan during the x-ray said, "Oh, I'm still crying about little Evan. I just knew it was broken!" They got us into an orthopedic doctor who did the cast before offices closed at the end of the day. I know it is socially unacceptable to be on the phone at the doctor's office, but I was on mine a lot--trying to alleviate the fears of the worried babysitter, getting ahold of Jeremy (who was planning to go mountain biking and I said he could still go and then regretted it when I needed him later! oh well!), and trying to figure out how I would get Sam's Cubbies vest and get him to his AWANA awards ceremony. We got out of the office with a bright green cast (maybe inspired by the incredible hulk toy that was in my purse the whole time) and I, feeling sorry for Evan, foolishly promised him ice cream, which he screamed about the whole way out of the office...poor little guy was so tired and confused! We managed to get Sam, run home and get his vest, keep Evan awake until we sped through the Burger King drive-thru for shakes, made it to church just as they were doing the opening prayer, and when I was about to breath a sigh of relief, Samuel tripped and fell and dropped most of his shake and started screaming his head off (church doors are all open, of course). I held it together okay then, but later when I was trying to keep them quiet BY MYSELF (this is when I kicked myself for the earlier mountain biking permission), Sam spilled the shake I was making Evan share with him all over the chairs that we were sitting on and when I got up to get a napkin to clean it, I tripped over Evan and knocked him down--youth pastor's screaming children in church now 2 for 2. I stepped out into the hallway to swallow my tears and pull it together and thankfully saw my friend Elisa go sit next to Sam and clean up the shake mess. Jeremy did arrive soon after and all was well...except that I was still hearing reports that the babysitter was doing worse than I was about the whole situation. Someone asked to sign Evan's cast because they thought it was so cute, and I heard that kids were talking about the little guy with the green cast who was cute but made them feel kind of sad because he was so little to have a broken arm. Jeremy and I are sure that this will not be the last broken bone we deal with on this little guy (see previous blog post for more on that!). Sam required a little extra TLC after all the drama with Evan, so I took him to a gymnastics play time with MOPS this morning and Evan stayed home with Jeremy. I told my friends that Evan had slept through the night just fine and then came home to find out that he had not, but Jeremy took care of him all night...so that DEFINITELY makes up for his mountain bike trip during my moment of need. The kids have once again splashed a lake onto the floor of the bathroom as I write this, so I've gotta go deal with that. Check out the side column for some recent Samuel quotes!