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Typical conversations lately, in the in our household:

“Papa, where is the moon?”

“It’s not out tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because it is in the Earth’s shadow.”

“Why?…Papa I have to ask ‘why’ because I don’t know stuff!”

If you have not figured it out yet, we are in the “why” stage. Argh! Sometimes I feel like I am going to go crazy! Any advice on how to deal with it, without hurting his feelings or driving me crazy?

I always have the intention to update this frequently but I can never get to it often enough. Working, being a mommy, trying to stay sane and all the other life stuff (yes including my addictions to FarmVille and CafeWorld) just take up so much of my time that well the blog takes the back seat to it all.  But I figured today I will dedicate my lunch hour to do a simple update on what’s been going on.

Daddy and Ethan before we hit the slopes.

If you have not already read about this or heard about it, on our last ski trip of the season this year–or let’s say if it was not the last trip it turned out to be one–my 3 year old son broke his leg on the very last run of the day. That day of skiing was a challenging one because one of the friends that joined us was having a difficult time with her rental equipment–Texans had invaded Santa Fe that week for their spring break and rented out the whole resort! Ethan was being a bit of whiner that day too, so it did not make it too enjoyable. But by the afternoon things got better and despite the fact that Ethan was falling a sleep every time we got on the lift, he insisted on going up anyway. So around 3pm I said “one last run and that is it.” As he was making his way through the ski trail with my husband and I playing tag team,  with a wave to daddy, out of the joy of doing so well, he, WHAM, went down. We thought his crying was mainly due to his fatigue, but playing it safe we decided to go to first aid and then eventually to the pediatric ER in Albuquerque. So it turned out that he had two fractures in his left tibia and a cast was to be put on, a couple of days later.

In the pediatric ER waiting for Xray results. Ethan very bust as always playing Arithmaroo.

Now imagine mine and my husband’s state of minds. The amount of guilt we had accumulated in those few moments of finding out, could not be described by all the blogs out there in the world. To make things even worse we had no idea how we were going to deal with a “no walking cast.” He was not going to be given crutches, nor was he allowed to really move around especially the first week. We had Ethan out of the stroller, because we encouraged walking, since he was about 16 months old. I did not even have my strollers anymore! And to make things even worse Ethan and I had a trip planned to visit a friend and some family in Cleveland, OH two weeks later! ARGH! I was panicking, freaking, and blaming myself for everything.

Ethan gets his cast a few days after the accident. Ethan initially chose a bright pink cast which I vetoed.

Giving myself a few days, I calmed down and realized that this was an opportunity for me to start spending more time with my son. With all the work and school, I had become accustomed to leaving my husband to do all the entertaining. But with school on hold this semester, I began to realize that I had enough “me” time and it was time to become a more involved fun mommy rather than just the mommy who does just enough to take care of her child. I began make an effort to do more fun activities with my son–he still got more tv time than usual though.

AS far as the trip, well, we went on it anyway. Man, I got a ton of sympathy from the public; at the airport, the parks, etc. It definitely made the travel easier. And my wonderful friend that I was staying with was an immense amount of help. Let me tell you, it is not easy to take care of 42lbs disabled toddler who is still being potty trained.

Visiting the farm park in Ohio. We got to pet all the little sheep and goats running around us.

Visiting Niagara Falls, NY

While we were in Ohio, we visited some of my most favorite relatives. We also go to go to a real farm that was turned into a park for public. My son had never had so much fun learning about animals. We also go to drive up to New York to Niagara Falls. I had never been there and so for us it was an incredible experience. The overall trip was a huge success despite the cast! Check out he picture album from our adventures and do not forget to check out the mentioned spots on Mom Maps linked below.

Ethan very happy despite still being immobile, to get his cast off

Ethan’s cast was removed on April 12th. My parents came out to visit for California just for the occasion. The process to full rehabilitation has required some patience, since Ethan did not have muscle function after getting the cast off. But since then he has started walking and is getting into running again. The overall experience was not without its challenges but I think it was a good learning experience, and most of all it has taught me to be even more patient than ever.

The next challenge: getting Ethan interested in gardening which right now looks not so promising. But more on that next time.

Check out Mom Maps spots I mentioned above

• Lake Metroparks Farmpark, Ohio
• Niagara Falls, NY

Mom Maps recently posted a blog featuring mommy travel bloggers and they included me! Please check out their blog post and their website. Feel free to contribute and review locations. Moms like us depend on it. If you have an iPhone download their app (for free) and see how much you can explore whether you have kids or not!

Also check out the Mom Maps blog post on momwithapps.com

TV free activities for toddlers http://bit.ly/c7zZcz

Apperantly espresso machines have the capability of exploding, I mean really exploding! Good thing I was standing right in front of it  and Heather was standing right next to me, when it happened! For all you folks concerend, I suffered a minor burn on my left hand and Heather and I mostly freaked out!

The aftermath of the espresso machine explosion. The other half of the nice hot coffee ended up on my hand and stomach.

via New Mexico Tech News http://bit.ly/9KnB5J

Yesterday we went on our 4th ski trip of the season to Santa Fe ski resort. As always we invited a few friends to join us. My officemate Heather and our really good friend Lee joined on us for the quick ride up there. Joe’s boss and his son also met with us and joined us in the fun on the mountain. We also ran into one of my and Heather’s co-workers.

Ethan really improved yesterday. We took him on his first ski lift ride and he totally excelled. It was Heather’s first time skiing ever but she did really good! I stuck around on the bunny slopes most of the day with them and took some great pictures and videos. My husband was nice enough to do some editing on the video. I posted the video on youtube but you can also see it from the video page and below.

We had an incredible time and thanks to everyone for coming. We hope to go again at least one more time this season.

is it wrong for a 27 yr old to be skipping up & down the office hallway? Probably, but I can’t help it! I solved a problem Ive had for 3 wks

Tomorrow we are going skiing with the whole family and some friends that are going to be visiting. I am really looking forward to it. It will be Ethan’s third time on skis. I will post pics and videos as soon as we get back. In the mean time check out the old ski pics from the previous two trips and a video. Oh and I added the resort we are going to on MomMaps. So check it out!