February. The month where we are trying to embrace all things winter but we also are REALLY looking forward to fresh air and signs of spring!
This right here though melts my mama's heart. The perfect afternoon of curled up with a good book, snow falling outside, cozy under a blanket and the world seems blanketed with calm and quiet.
Elle had asked to donate to kids who were sick in the hospital as one of her Christmas gifts. Sweet and thoughtful, human. So we printed out the wish list from Troy Beaumont and went shopping! We dropped off her donations to the head RN at Beaumont and was then featured in the monthly Beaumont staff newsletter! You go, Elle!!
All of the calm, quiet and extra time to donate...We know never lasts forever. That's why we cherish it when we have it!! That Thursday off to the slopes we went. Ben and I took the day off work and our kids were finishing their last "hybrid" week on their last virtual day of school before starting fulltime 5 days a week in person. It seemed like the perfect day to enjoy a family ski day! It was Luke and Elle's 2nd day time skiing and Drew's first! Papa Uitti even met us there to enjoy the day and so we were running man-on-man defense. They were all doing great!! I was with Luke. Ben was with Drew and Papa did great with Elle! Up and down the bunny hill we went. We were all smiles. The slopes weren't busy at all and we had the entire day in front of us.
At around 11:30, we were all getting hungry and were ready to go back to the van for lunch (the ski resort was closed due to Covid). Ben and Luke were going to try the next hill up. This hill used a tow rope. The tow rope. The tow rope that none of us saw coming. Stan and I were at the bottom of the bunny hill as we watched Ben go up. Then. Luke. As Luke was about halfway up the hill I noticed he started to stumble. I thought, yup he will probably fall. No big deal, though. The tow rope stopped moving to let Luke catch his grounding and the next thing I noticed was an older man starting to pull himself up the rope from behind Luke. Watching from the bottom of the bunny hill I was like, " What is this guy doing?" He got all the way behind Luke and then PASSED him on the tow rope. Who does that?! Welp. That's when Luke fell. It was a slow fall. We all expected him to get up but he didn't. I started to worry and asked to Stan to go up and check. Ben noticed too and started to come down the hill. I was still with Elle and Drew watching from the bottom. The next thing I know the ski patrol is skiing down and marking off the area. They brought down the toboggan looking thing and lifted him onto the toboggan board. OMG. I knew it was a bad. The rest was a blur. The EMS was called. Luke was brought into the ski patrol but only Ben was allowed in due to Covid. I collected all of our rental gear. I fed Drew and Elle as I was getting updates on Luke in the ski office using our family walkies. The EMS came and I couldn't believe I was seeing my baby put into the back of an ambulance. They gave him pain meds through his nostrils. Ben sat up front with the driver. I drove behind in the van. We drove to Ann Arbor Mott's Children's Hospital. We went through the Covid protocols. Only one of us could stay in the Emergency Room. I wanted to stay. Ben took Elle and Drew. And there we were.
Luke was in so much pain. They got the ski boot off. Sure enough he broke his leg. His bone snapped right where the ski boot hits your shin. When he fell, his rental bindings didn't snap off his skis and so his leg had no other option but to snap. The x-rays although necessary were so painful for Luke. We reminded him to breathe (so he wouldn't pass out!) as his red face screamed. This poor guy...I would have done anything to go back in time and prevent this from happening.
The hospital staff was beyond amazing.
After 2 sets of x-rays, the longest cast ever was finally on. We had a third round of x-rays after the leg was casted just to make sure nothing had shifted during the casting and we were cleared to go!
Nothing feels safer than being home in your own bed. Our sweet, Luke. What a trooper.
We decided to make a love chain for Luke. We had 6 weeks of for sure a cast so we each made enough chains for Luke to read and tear one off each day.
SO many things we love about Luke...
Luke even wanted to write some of the love chain! Well, OF COURSE, you can say loving words to yourself!
Luke stayed home that 1st week. Thank goodness that Ben was working from home and so that made it easy to keep him home. By the end of the week though, we were ready to get him back so we were able to get him a wheelchair. That way he could stay in the wheelchair all day and feel confident that nothing was going to cause his leg pain.
We needed to get some fresh air, sunshine, and time out and about!
Mr. K., Luke's AMAZING 5th grade teacher, surprised us all that Saturday night! He brought over this poster with notes from each of his classmates. They all brought tears to this mama's eyes. You are so loved, sweet Luke!
Playing catch with Dad...Makes everything right in the world.
With such a heavy post, we will end with this...A clip of sweet Drew singing " You are my sunshine." He had no idea I was recoding and he was just singing his little heart out.
