Carl's Broken Foot and The 4th of July

On Monday, July 2nd, Carl was running around in the backyard and hurt his foot. It was very painful and quickly became swollen, but since all of the urgent care facilities were closing, he took some pain medicine and decided to wait until the next day to get it checked out. On Tuesday morning, Carl's foot was less swollen and felt better, but he went to the urgent care center just to make sure it was o.k. Unfortunately, he called me and said he was coming home because his foot was broken AND sprained. The doctor at the urgent care center gave him a boot to keep it from moving. Carl made an appointment with a specialist to get more information and additional treatment, but since it was a holiday week, the earliest appointment we could get was on Friday. In the meantime, we decided to get a scooter to help Carl get around and to continue with our plans to celebrate the 4th of July with our friends.

Wednesday was the 4th of July and we started off the day by swimming with Susan, Carl and Clara at our pool. The pool was super crowded, but it was lots of fun. There was music, games, snow cones, etc. I stayed with Preston who mostly slept, but he did take a dip in the pool with me for a few minutes. Carl, Susan, Evan, Carl and Clara spent most of the time swimming. Later in the afternoon, we came back to the house and Travis, Ashley, Trevor, Ashlynn, Aunt Rachel, Uncle Teddy, Caroline, Grandpa and Bonnie Mom joined us for our celebration. We decorated the kids' bikes and headed up to participate int the parade. The kids' had lots of fun, despite the heat and being told that there would be no fireworks due to the extreme heat and lack of rain. To make things fun, after the parade we came back home and played with water balloons and bubbles. The kids also had fun playing on the play house and Evan FINALLY decided that he really could swing all by himself! Grammy and Granddaddy joined us later in the evening and brought some sparklers, which were lots of fun.

On Friday, we went to see the specialist about Carl's foot. Carl had done a lot of research and found out that there were lots of treatment possibilities. Treatments ranged from a walking cast/boot to surgery. We were hoping that Carl could get the walking cast/boot! Unfortunately, the doctor said that Carl would heal best with a cast. He was told no walking, driving, swimming, etc. for at least four weeks. What a disappointment! This meant that things would be challenging for us all and that we could not go on vacation. BUMMER!

We are currently adjusting to life with a broken foot. We have changed lots of things around the house so that Carl can be as independent as possible and help when he can. We have also decided to go to Key West during Thanksgiving week. We are all also trying to work together and to keep a positive attitude!

Preston had fun relaxing at the pool.

Evan enjoyed his first snow cone.

Preston got dressed up for his first 4th of July. (Evan wore the same onesie. I was excited that they both could wear the same outfit!)

The kids had fun decorating their bikes for the parade.

Evan was proud of his bike!

The parade was lots of fun! Evan, Carl, Clara and Trevor enjoyed riding their bikes.

Carl was a good sport and decorated his scooter for the parade!

Carl and I enjoyed the 4th of July festivities.

Water balloons were fun for hours.

Carl and the bog boys enjoyed making really big water balloons! (Carl got very wet after he landed on this giant water balloon!)

Evan liked the sparklers. (He was not at all afraid of them, which doesn't surprise me. He is not afraid of much!)

Granddaddy had lots of fun helping Evan with the sparklers. (Evan was happy to get to see Granddaddy, who had been doing mission work in Belize for 2 weeks.)

Here is Carl today (7/10/12). He gets around pretty well with the scooter and his crutches. (He evens goes on walks with his crutches!)