Labor Day Parade

Grand Marshal--US Gymnastics Team Silver Medalist Bridget Sloan

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Ankle Update

I'm sure you were sitting at home all weekend, biting your nails and anxiously waiting for me to come back from Tennessee and tell you all about my ankle. All in all, I did okay. I was a slow walker, but Steve walked slowly too so I didn't look like a loner. I tried wearing flip flops down to breakfast, but I didn't realize how much thought goes into your toes gripping the flip flops, and I couldn't do that with trying to keep my ankle steady. So, I wore tennis shoes. I forgot to pack socks (I think it's unconstitutional to wear socks in summertime) so now I have killer blisters on my pinky toes. We walked A LOT yesterday to and from the track, and when I woke up this morning, my foot was bruised. This is the first of the bruising. It's still swollen and it still hurts when I bend it, so I'll be making a call to the doctor tomorrow. It doesn't hurt to walk, and I can flex it and bend it, but something just doesn't feel right when I do that.

For you visual learners, here is what my ankle/foot looks like right now.

Mishaps

This week has been an accident-prone week for us here at the Crowe residence. Well, just Eli and I. Yesterday, Eli pulled himself up to the chair and was standing there, beating his hands on the seat. Oh yeah, Eli started crawling and pulling himself up on 8/8/08. It was his own little Olympic ceremony. :) Anyway, he was standing there, and Sophie decided that it would be funny if she came up behind Eli, grabbed his ankles, and pulled his feet out from underneath him. Eli's face slid down the recliner, then smacked right into the floor. He cried for a minute, then went on his merry way. Little did I know the mess that was about to ensue. About five minutes later, I hear Sophie saying, "Eli is bleeding." I ran over to see him chewing on a toy, the toy covered in blood, Eli's face covered in blood, and blood all over his shirt. Miraculously, he did not get any blood anywhere else. Turns out he slightly tore the piece of skin that connects his top lip to his gums. It would not stop bleeding! I wrapped an ice cube in a washcloth and tried to apply it to his mouth. Boy, he wasn't having any of that. I eventually had to hold him down and restrain his arms because he was fighting me. By the time it finally stopped bleeding, I had blood all over my shirt too. Thankfully, Eli was fine and was only screaming and crying because he didn't like a cold ice cube being forced in his mouth!

Steve and I leave tomorrow for Tennessee to watch the Nascar race at Bristol. I was in laundry/packing mode and was going down the basement steps with the laundry basket. Sophie wanted to come down with me, and I told her to stay at the top of the stairs. Somehow, I missed a step and went tumbling down the stairs. My right foot turned inward and upside down 90 degrees, and when I landed, the top of my foot was touching the floor. The laundry basket went flying and I was laying there in a crumpled heap. Of course, I screamed and immediately started crying because of the sheer pain that went shooting through my foot. Sophie watched it all happen and immediately started freaking out. Steve heard both of us crying and sprinted through the house and down the stairs to see what happened. He helped me up the stairs, to a chair, and got ice for my foot. He even went out and got me an ankle wrap. I have been able to slowly walk on it, and although it doesn't hurt to put pressure on it from stepping, it feels like pressure is building and that my foot is barely hanging on. It's nice and swollen and I'm currently sitting here with ice on it again. The ice and ibuprofen are somewhat doing their jobs, but man oh man I haven't felt that amount of sheer pain (aside from childbirth and my gall stones) since I was a kid and broke my ankle. Now I'm worried that I'm going to be hobbling all weekend while we're in Tennessee. Hopefully Steve won't leave me behind!

And, because they're so stinking cute, I had to end this post with pictures of Sophie and Eli.

Here is Eli sitting in Soph's room after his bath. I gave him a mini-mohawk.


Sophie was being a superhero, but after I took the picture, I realized that it looks like she is practicing her streaking skills.

What Goes On When Kids Think Parents Aren't Looking

Family Vacation

We spent this last week in southern Indiana, specifically Holiday World. It was hotter than Hades the two days we were at the park, but managed to have a good time regardless. Steve's parents went with us, which enabled Steve and I to sneak off and ride the roller coasters while they took care of the kids. Sophie had an absolute blast. She rode all of the kiddie rides, and was even tall enough to ride the Raging River with us. She got the wettest out of the three of us, but laughed and wanted to do it again. Eli was such a trooper. He was too young to do anything but sit in his stroller. We spent the majority of Tuesday at Splashin' Safari, and Eli was able to sit in the kiddie pool with me. He also got to wear his floater suit and float in the baby pool at the hotel. He giggled while floating, even though he managed to flip himself over a few times. On Wednesday night, we were able to have dinner with college friends of mine, Gwen, her husband Brady, and their son Cohen; Audra, her husband Eric, and their sons Noah and Aidan. Our table was much bigger than the last time we were together, as between the three of us, we've added husbands and children to the mix. We had a good time catching up. We had Thursday brunch with another college friend of mine, Krista and her husband Tim, and their daughters Sydney and Addison. Krista and I were both education majors and had many classes together. She says that I'm the one that got her through classes (because of my quick wit and humor, of course:)) but in reality she was the one the got me through them. I was so happy that we were all able to get together before we left and headed back home.

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