The timing on the events of our life this past month have been remarkable, both in positive and challenging ways. We started the past month by finishing the last two items on our to do list before Violet was born. Our bees arrived...
...and the weather was finally right for inoculating the mushroom spores Will got me for Christmas into an oak log.
Hours after the bees were successfully installed and our mushrooms were "planted" I went into labor with Violet. It was great timing. In fact, everything about Violet's arrival was great timing. And for the first six days of Violet's life, we had nothing but blissful relaxation, bonding and sweet memory making. Here we are below with Violet, enjoying her first visit to the local cider mill that was having a special spring cider pressing the week she was born.
And then, as I was healing splendidly and really enjoying life not being pregnant and having to pee every 10 minutes and endure awful heartburn and swollen feet - I fell down the stairs. The scary part was that I was holding Violet when I fell, and Emma ended up going down the stairs with us too. Fortunately, I was able to hold onto Violet and keep her safe and Emma popped back up no problem. After my adrenaline was reassured that both of my babies were okay, I became aware of severe pain in my bum-bee as the girls would call it. A visit to the doctor confirmed what WebMD helped me self-diagnose - a fractured tailbone. The timing on this was horrible in my opinion. I spent the first week after my injury laying on the couch, unable to sit, and barely able to stand or walk. Below was my view for most of the month of May - Violet laying next to me on the couch, the girls playing/fighting in the living room and the buds on the tree outside the living room window growing into their summer leaves. In the bottom picture Lucy was laying on the other couch, bathed in sunlight, trying to "make her hair golden."
Meanwhile, I was trying to think golden thoughts and remind myself that it could have been worse. At least the girls were okay. At least I wasn't pregnant when I fell. At least Will was able to take some extra time off work. Once I was able to get off the couch, I alternated between the couch and my bed with Violet as my faithful sidekick. Lucy has since learned the word "crap", as every time I had to change positions it was all I could do not to yell horrible profanities against the pain. Crap was my compromise. Here Lucy and Emma are below, showing me that they promise not to fight anymore and can they please earn their movie back?
One of the most challenging parts of my injury was that the girls knew that I had no ability to follow through on any request or threat and I also couldn't yell as Violet was usually laying next to me. As a result, Lucy and Emma rolled around like a pack of wild animals for most of my recovery. Fortunately I had a lot of help. Below are some of my helpers. In the top right hand picture a friend of mine brought her daughter and played with the girls as well as ran many grocery trips for me. The bottom right hand picture shows Emma finally able to put her shoes on by herself, the bottom middle picture is of Will vacuuming Lucy's hair to get debris out of it, and finally in the bottom left hand picture, Will is painting the girls toenails since I couldn't effectively do it in a reclined position and they wouldn't stop hounding me for it. "You promised when it was sandal weather that you would paint our toenails!"
Going through the first couple of weeks after my fall was depressing and I felt hopelessly unable to care for my three girls. It seemed so unfair that the blissful honeymoon phase with Violet came to such an abrupt end when she was only six days old. Time went by so slowly as I tried to keep the older two entertained and peaceful from my reclined position and maintain hope that the pain would eventually go away enough to sit and walk again. I am happy to say that I am sitting as I type this - although the Boppy pillow I am using to cushion my behind will never be the same again. As the below pictures show, I had plenty of distractions from my girls to keep my mind from going too far into the downward spiral of self-pity.
We bought Lucy a butterfly house for her birthday and five baby caterpillars to watch grow into beautiful butterflies. Here Lucy is below taking care of each stage of the butterflies' life - from caterpillar to chrysalis to finally, butterflies. Our hope was to let the butterflies go in our garden.
We learned many things with this butterfly experiment. First, we will buy more than five caterpillars as only four caterpillars turned into a chrysalis. We learned that once the caterpillars were hanging in their chrysalis that they are very fragile and should not be touched. We lost one chrysalis as a result of it being smushed. Next, we learned that once the chrysalis hatches the new butterfly wings should not be pet. One butterfly then had deformed wings. Several days later we learned that if you wait too long to release the butterflies into the great outdoors, they will die in the butterfly house. We now had only two butterflies left - one with deformed wings, and one, perfect butterfly. Lucy was sad to let them go and so we made a little ceremony out of it. Right before Lucy opened the door to their house, she told the butterflies how much she loved them, and how she hopes that they fly free and find pretty flowers to pollinate. Finally, with my urging that releasing them was the best thing for them, Lucy opened the lid to the butterfly house and the one healthy butterfly flew free for a sweet second when Charlie pounced from out of nowhere and caught the butterfly in his mouth. We shouted "CHARLIE" in horror while Lucy tried to save the butterfly. Charlie thought this was a fun game and dropped the butterfly from his mouth and started batting it back and forth between his paws until Lucy swatted him away and gingerly picked up her dying butterfly. I tried to comfort Lucy with the fact that at least her butterfly died free. Yes, we learned many things about raising butterflies, with the last lesson being make sure your cat is locked in the garage before releasing the butterflies! Here Charlie is below, hiding out in a tree, in our asparagus bed, and resting on our fence.
Charlie got into even more trouble this past month when a feral cat attacked him. We ended up having to take him to an emergency vet over Memorial Day weekend as we thought we were going to lose him. He had several puncture wounds above his tail and was no longer eating or drinking. We were very glad we took him to the vet, that is until I took the girls to use the bathroom while the doctors were checking him over and realized that the bathroom at this upscale emergency vet was nicer than our bathroom at home! I quickly ushered the girls out of the aroma therapy scented bathroom complete with Ansel Adams artwork and Bath and Body Works soaps and lotions to tell Will that I didn't think we could afford this place. It was too late however, and we ended up leaving with our cat in a cone of shame with an embarrassingly shaved spot on his back and our receipt in a boutique-like gift bag. Will contemplated administering some of the cat pain meds to himself to get over the bill. When I asked him later why he agreed to treat Charlie despite the cost, he told me what was he going to do with four sets of girls petting and cooing over poor Charlie. Yes, Will is now including Violet in scenarios where the cards are stacked against him. The top and bottom right hand pictures show that Charlie was recovered in days, as the huntee became the hunter once more and trapped a baby woodpecker in our garage. Will rescued the baby bird and we are happy to say it was able to fly away, unlike the butterfly from earlier in the month.
Despite the pain I was in, I did make it out to several outings after my fall including the Farmers Market, dance class for the girls, the chiropractor, the doctor, and Kohl's for new sheets as I noticed the ones I was laying on day and night were covered in holes.
The girls were trapped in the house more than I would prefer this past month as there was no place comfortable for me to lay down outside. When Will came home from work he took the girls outside and helped them burn off their pent up energy.
Lucy brought many flower bouquets to the couch for me and has been enjoying all of the blooms in our yard. Her favorite thing to play is Flower Shop and she does a great job arranging the flowers into beautiful bouquets.
We also had many visitors come over to meet Violet which helped get me out of my funk and put a smile on my face.
Mother's Day and my birthday also were very nice holidays to keep my spirits up. Mother's Day was the very next day after my fall so all I really remember about that was the two mini chocolate bumpy cakes the girls and Will surprised me with (they had it hid in the vegetable drawer of the fridge - perfect hiding spot if you ever want to surprise me with something). My birthday was much better, as I was finally able to sit in small durations and they got me a bigger chocolate bumpy cake. I spent most of the day with the girls who stopped fighting each time I reminded them it was my birthday. This made for an unusually pleasant day with my kids and I was just super grateful to be semi-functioning! The day after my birthday I was even functioning enough to make myself my own favorite dessert - strawberry rhubarb cobbler with the rhubarb fresh from my garden. You know things are looking up when I am in the kitchen baking again! It was also the first baked good I was able to make since Violet was born.
One of the best gifts I received on my birthday - besides the worm bin, necklace from Etsy, campfire cookware, embroidery kits and fermenting equipment - was the ability to go for a walk! I really couldn't have asked for more, and was just super happy and grateful to have an ordinary day!
Every day I continue to get better and perhaps the silver lining of all of this is that once my tailbone is completely healed it will make parenting these three little beauties seem like a cake walk!
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