HOME CARE

How's this for quiet, peaceful recovery time following hip replacement surgery: One 8month old baby in "that" phase where he crys every time his mom leaves the room, his mom, a tired, tired woman who gets maybe 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night, their overly rambunctious, very needy boxer cross dog, extremely cold temperatures outside, all forced to be inside the warm house with the home's old, grumpy, incessantly barking, resident dog?  Well, that's what mom's recovery has been so far...lucky for her?!  Yep, Ryder, Scout and I came to provide "home care" for Mom. We are here for at least 10 days and we have brought mostly loud caos and a little bit of helpfulness thrown in!  Since we've been here Ryder has entered his "make strange" phase that involves him crying when I so much as leave the room, he's also teething which causes him to wake up a million times everynight looking for comfort (he does this in a very urgent, very LOUD way), Scout has become incredibly bored, begging everyone, all the time to play with her by shoving balls, and toys in their faces and then proceeding to wine until one is forced to aknowledge her just to make her shush! (It's been super cold to the point where even she doesn't want to be outside, frolicking in the wide open outdoor space!!)  Tucker (Mom's dog) has taken to doing whatever it takes to stay away from Ryder and Scout, hiding in various places, moulting his hair all over the house.  I have gone into task master overload on a mission to accomplish all chores, cleaning and mom maintenance while Ryder naps, IF he actually naps and Mom? Well, mom has been an incredible patient. She has not once complained about anything. Not about the caos and not about her hip.  She sits in her chair and watches the zoo the rest of us are. Sure, now and then she'll ask me to bring her something or help her with something, but most of the time, she takes care of herself.  I do the horse chores and feed the dogs and let them in and out of the house a million times a day, but mom is pretty self sufficient!  We've got a bit of a routine going, which helps keep the caos at bay most times: 

We wake up between 7 and 8. MOm has her daily shower, while I vacume up Tucker hair and Ryder plays.  Once the floors and Mom are clean, we put Ryder in his highchair and fill the tray with puffed wheat (he is just learning to get the cereal from the tray to his mouth and this challenge keeps him very distracted. Mom sits and smiles at him, while I sneak outside to feed the horses. When I come back in I fire up the coffee pot, make mom a breakfast shake, Ryder some kind of ceral mixture and myself a scone and we eat. We follow the meal with a few laps around the kitchen and living room. This is part of Mom's physio but Ryder loves to race her and Scout cannot miss the action. It's quite the sight the four of us, single file, walking circles through the house! After some play time, Ryder has a nap while I clean up breakfast, shower, or run quick errands. Then he wakes up and we "repeat" everything all over again!! 

Ryder and I playing in the living room.

Scout has taken over the best chair in the house. 

Gramma lets her on the furniture here. Lucky Scout.

Scout really is a great babysitter. Ryder adores her! 

Gramma has bridles in the house. Anything Ryder finds becomes a chew toy.  How much animal hair has this kid ingested???

Mom has crutches and a walker. We have a system all worked out now so she can get to around on each floor without me carrying the walker to the top of every stair case...independance!!

Doing "laps" with Gramma!

Nic came over to hang one evening.

Ryder is slowly warming up to Gramma...letting her cuddle him now and then...when he is really tired!

Gramma feeding him breakfast while I get ready to sneak out to do chores!!