2 Moments Forward, 1 Moment Back. Plus An Exciting Announcement!

After yesterday's recovery for both me and Christopher, I woke up ready to get things done. (I have a short story I wrote called "Today Was a Day She Was Going to Get Things Done" and I just love that title. It's the story of how I feel so much of my life. When Maria Semple, the author of one of my favorite books -- Where'd You Go Bernadette -- came out with her next book titled, Today Will Be Different, I knew I'd lost my future book to a real author. But it's not the same. Similar. But not the same. I still have hope.)

As we turned up the street, clouds covered the middle of Mt. Olympus, but the tip was visible. By the time I snapped a photo, it was almost covered. But you can just see it, barely. 

When Christopher woke up at 4:00 a.m., he had a really hard time falling back to sleep. I massaged his feet for a while and his legs. He couldn't get comfortable and it was making him upset. We tried rolling him over on his stomach for a few minutes but he couldn't stay like that because he couldn't roll back without help.  I suggested I sleep the rest of the night in his room on the couch. That way he could call for me to move his leg or roll him over if needed. He actually slept the rest of the night without needing me. But I think just knowing it was a possibility to have someone help him move helped settle him down.

I heard the garage open and close a few times. I heard the snowblower going more than once. I wondered if I should get up to turn off my alarm on my phone in my room so it didn't bother anyone. When I finally got up, it was already 8:30! Dan had gotten Nick breakfast and made his lunch and long since taken Nick to school. He had long ago turned off my alarm and he had snowblowed the driveway twice.

He was headed up skiing with a few friends to enjoy the fresh powder. And he would be back at lunch to take Marty to sushi with Greg Hoole to talk all about a mission in Japan.

I was refreshed and ready (to get things done). Still concerned about Chris' rough night, I said a prayer asking for inspiration to know how to care for him. Immediately I knew I needed to get him nourishment. Yesterday when he was feeling like he was going to pass out, I realized he was probably more light headed from not eating much than from the pain. I made a smoothie from our leftover fruit salad we froze (apples, oranges, grapes, pears bananas -- Michelle just threw them into quart sized bags when the party was over and put them directly in the freezer. Everything froze great and was so tasty as a smoothie and so easy since already portioned out. Genius, Michelle!) and made some oatmeal. Figured both of those things would be easy to digest, have carbs and calories, give a kick to his blood sugar and also sound comforting.

At 9:30 I opened his door (a trick I used to use when the kids were babies. If they weren't awake from naps but I wanted to start waking them up, I opened the door hoping that the house sounds would help them wake up easier than being woken by Mom). By 10:00 when I went in with food he was awake.  He still hates the shot. I swear it's getting worse. He says it burns like crazy. And he has no fat to shoot it into, so it makes us both nervous as heck. But we got that over with. He said he wasn't hungry, but I told him he needed to eat a few bites at least. And explained that I thought he was feeling dizzy and like passing out because he hasn't really eaten any food. So he agreed. Smoothie was a hit. And he ate most of the oatmeal. Food actually tasted better than he thought it would.

Later he also ate pasta and sauce for lunch -- good to be getting some carbs in him.

He's been watching Harry Potter and Marty went in and watched one of the shows with him. Later that evening both Dan and Marty watched a show with him. And by both Episode 7's we were all in there watching. Those are the fun times.

I was going to try to meet Catherine, our home designer, by 2:00 knowing Dan would be back from lunch by then and could be with Chris while I ran over there. Unfortunately, at 2:00, Chris tried an attempt at the bathroom. Standing to pee is easy (aside from he needs a nap after because its so exhausting--getting out of bed, down the hall, standing, and then back to bed and getting back in bed -- all on crutches, very slowly, of course). But, while #2 is welcome and generally long awaited for anyone who has had surgery, it next to kills Chris to sit (the stitches and the bending both hurt really bad). We bought a raised potty seat with handle bars on Brent's recommendation. But the seat is still hard and hurts. And bending at all is hard. So it's not fun for Chris.

So at 2:00 it was time for #2 and it didn't go well. He was hurting and mad and frustrated and humiliated that even going to the bathroom is such a strenuous chore. Dan decided to run by the designers on his own before running to the office. I had to cancel because I couldn't leave Chris. (But then she said come whenever I could. Yay!) I helped Chris back to bed and rubbed his feet again while he cried. (I'm really not trying to embarrass him by mentioning that he often cries. I think it's not only expected, but healthy at this point. I think anyone who's ever been injured -- physically or emotionally -- can understand. And that's pretty much all of us.) It breaks my heart to see him hurting -- physically and emotionally. When he's just getting back into bed sometimes I sit too close to his leg and he jumps and is angry because he's scared it will hurt.  Sometimes I sit too fast and it jiggles it too much and he hates it. But when he's comfortable and feels safe, he asks me to rub his feet and then he cries it all out.

He wonders why he didn't just flip. He wonders when it will ever stop hurting. He wonders if it will stop hurting. He wonders if he will always be afraid to do tricks from now on. He wonders if he'll ever be able to ski again. He wonders what if it hurts to jump on the trampoline again. He wonders if he'll be scared to try a trick on the trampoline again. He worries that worrying he might break his leg will make him scared the rest of his life. He's sad that when we go to Hawaii he won't be able to play in the waves. He's sad that he and Marty can't go to Momentum Rock Climbing together and it's their last time to have fun together before Marty's mission. He's sad Marty's leaving soon. He's sad that he can't be with his friends. He's lonely. He's worried his teachers will be mean and not let him make up his schoolwork. He thinks about 6 weeks on crutches and it sounds like forever. And that makes him sad.

Those are hard things to wonder and I don't really have answers. I have practical answers based on my experience. And that does help some. Uncle Brent just went through this a year or two ago. That helps. Uncle Matt repairs things like this all the time and he has a doctor's perspective. That helps. Chris found out that his friend in the ward broke his femur last year skiing. He found out he was in pain for two weeks and then it got lots better. That helps. Lots of little things help and he will get through this.

I made omelets (with ham -- how to get through all these leftovers?!) and fruit salad for dinner and we went up to Chris' room and ate all together sitting on the floor (Chris in bed). It was nice to all be together having dinner. (Breakfast for dinner.) And bonus... good practice for Marty to go to Japan -- don't they eat cross legged on the floor too?

So aside from our 2:00 losing it experience, the rest of the day went pretty well. No fever today. Lots of rest and good food. I got most of Christmas put away. Cleaned up, did laundry, put house back together, more laundry, threw out junk food (Some of the junk food. Not all of it. Not yet.) I texted all of Chris' teachers with info on the accident, unsure of when he'll be back and asked for homework. Coordinated with his counselor too.

And I didn't want to ignore the other kids. It's a special time to be with Marty before his mission too. (So glad we have Hawaii to look forward to all being together with no distractions. Yikes, can Chris do Hawaii? Will he be up for the travel?) So I knew I wanted to spend time with Marty too. Asked him if he wanted to spend some time packing. He did. We already bought everything last November before his mission photo and haircut. Glad we did! We sat together reading over the list and taking white shirts out of bags and cardboard and pins out of white shirts. Packed up his slacks, socks and ties. New shoes. Coat, gloves and hat. I taught him how to fold his white shirts.

And then he was bored and wanted to go hang out. We'll pack the casual clothes later.

Nick wanted to just be home that night so we cancelled swimming. And fortunately scouts and basketball were cancelled too. So the day ended well. All together. Dinner. Scriptures and prayer. The crappy shot, of course. Which neither of us like. At. All. But besides that, better than yesterday. Much better.

Now the exciting announcement! As I was busily getting Chris breakfast and cleaning and organizing and getting things done, I looked down at my phone and saw I had 36 texts! What?! I knew something must be happening with my sisters. I had a minute for a quick scroll trying to scan instead of really reading. Wait... What?! Why was my mom taking photos of engagement rings?!

Back to the beginning and still trying to comprehend if it was a joke or real. It's real! My mom and Dimitrios are engaged! Sooo awesome! We love Dimitrios so much! He already is so loving and treats us like his family. And we feel like he is ours. And his kids -- they're so great and easy and fun to be with that they felt like family the first time I met them. This announcement has just made all of us so happy!

And that night as I was rubbing Chris' feet before he fell asleep. He didn't cry at all. Instead he said, "I'm so happy Grandma and Dimitrios are getting married." Me too.