Ugh.

Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that my 7 month old son recently fractured his femur. Daddy was moving him from the floor to his pack and play, and he planted his feet on his chest and arched his back and launched downward. He caught him by his leg, because it was the only part of him that he could catch. The doctors told us (once they saw the x-ray showed no proof of abuse, *facepalm*, but that is an entirely different traumatic situation separate from poor Riddick's leg) that had he not caught him, the situation would be much worse and we should be thankful that he was caught.

Thankful wasn't so easy to remember, though, when Riddick had virus 2 days out of the hospital, in a spica cast, and we could not contain his diapering at all. First we were told to use a cut Poise pad inside a size 3 diaper. That didn't work--his cast was wet before we were even allowed to start changing his diaper. We gave it a shot for a few days after coming home, because they're doctors and it's what they told us to do, and then moved on to a full size pad inside a regular sized diaper. This seems to be working a lot better, but he lost a lot of lining from the diapers leaking and his cast is pretty gross.

Keep in mind we change him every hour. His position is rotated every two fours during the day and every four hours at night. We watch him like a hawk, and he never spends more than a nanosecond crying before we are there, scooping him up and babying him just as we did seven months ago when he was born. It's devastating. He's even using a pacifier now. It brings him comfort, which he most certainly deserves given the circumstances, but it still kills me to see it.

He had just started crawling (on all fours!) and trying to pull himself up on things. He was sitting without support. And now he is helpless, and he knows it. Pardon my language, but I am 100% positive that he is mostly pissed off. He's learning how to scoot in circles, and I am very thankful for that.

I am also thankful for the beanbag chair my sister in law loaned me, because it molds perfectly in any shape we need it to to support his cast. A group on Facebook ran by a minister in Danville found me a bicycle stroller that converts to a wagon and is wide enough to actually put the beanbag chair in and make it so that I can take him outside and on walks.

Mostly, I am thankful that Jack and Ember are forming an amazing sibling relationship through all of this. I have not heard any complaints about time not spent working on crafts or playing outside. When they come to ask me for something, if I am taking care of Ro, Jack will take Ember back to his room and they will play until I come to see what they needed. He is taking care of his little sister, and in many ways they are both taking care of their little brother. It's amazing to see.

And obviously, I am thankful that it is just a broken leg instead of a fractured skull. I hope to find time to update every day, because it gives me time to think of how thankful we are.