Planning

Fiona's cast comes off on July 6. We have been counting the days since ... well, since day 1! Anyway, we have just 9 days to go (including today)!

I've been spending some time planning what we'll do when the cast comes off. First "big" thing? Camping!

But before we even step into the campsite with our newly cast-free girl, I will be dressing her at the doctor's office. And I even have that planned out.

I knitted her a new diaper cover to celebrate being back in cloth diapers!

More pictures will follow, along with details (teaser, sorry! I'm doing that to make sure I actually share pictures later).

Also, in "getting by in the cast" news, we have found the best invention on earth. The CastCooler.

This strange-looking device wraps around the cast (torso or leg, or even foot & ankle), and attaches to the vacuum hose. It pulls fresh air through the cast. It is amazing! We ordered it after 10 days in the cast, and we have been so happy to have it. It helps to cool Fiona down, and keep the cast dry. It's been wonderful!

Things could be worse. There has been lots of unhappiness, that's for sure. Sometimes we've got an inconsolable girl on our hands. But we've also done so much reading with her, which has been a delight for everyone. And we've taken lots of walks. It helps that we live fairly close to our small city's downtown (a 30-minute walk, at least at a 4-year-old's pace). Yesterday we walked into town for ice cream. So, it could really be worse.

Lots of you have complimented me on my grace during this situation. Thank you for that. I assure you that I'm not always graceful under pressure, and there have been plenty of "bad" moments during this ordeal. But I also practice: I practice letting go (that's the big one), looking for positives, and being as graceful as I can be. It is not easy, and it's not some "lucky" thing about me in particular. It is something I have worked on, and will probably continue to work for the rest of my life. But thank you for your kind words, for noticing the hard work (and progress, although I know that most of you didn't know me 10 or 15 years ago, when I was much worse at this) I've accomplished in this area. Not so easy for a classic type A personality. :)

{Oh -- some of you wrote to me about a post that appeared and then disappeared last week. Lots of you have shared anecdotes and advice. The post you're wondering about was from last May. I'm not sure what made it reappear briefly, but I immediately took it down when I saw it, because it's actually an old post. (It's here.) I wrote it when I was just two months postpartum, when emotions were running high, and I was feeling sentimental and a little freaked out about my oldest being so far away from being a baby herself! Since then, I've realized that we were farther away from the "end of magic" than I thought, and also that this type of belief will gradually slip into something else. It's not so scary as it seemed almost 14 months ago.}