Chickadee had her follow-up appointment with the orthopedist this morning, where she received some strengthening exercises to do with a resistance band and she got to see this adorable elephant sculpture!
Chickadee Thursday
broken ankle
Chickadee Thursday
Chickadee wasn’t up to our annual trek around Cahokia Mounds because of her broken ankle, but we did visit the St. Louis Art Museum yesterday…we thought it was funny to recreate the pose of Degas’ “Little Dancer” with her boot!
Chickadee Thursday
On Saturday, we took our annual autumn walk around Creve Coeur Lake…the weather beautiful, and there was some good color!
As it turns out, it’s a good thing we went on that walk when we did, because Chickadee broke her ankle two days later and is now in a walking boot and not really up to such a long trek!
Broken Ankles, Seven Years Apart
On November 3, 2018, I broke my left ankle. On the stairs. A few days later they put me in a CAM boot. On November 3, 2025, Chickadee broke her right ankle. On the stairs. One day later they put her in a CAM boot. I absolutely cannot believe we broke our ankles doing the same thing on the same date. I’m going to be side-eyeing November 3 every year from now on!
A Year Later
Just over a year ago, I broke my ankle. While at the time it seemed like my recovery would be interminable, it actually went pretty quickly, and my life was pretty much back to normal before I knew it.
There was one big test of my ankle left, though, and it was just as much psychological as physical. Every year as Thanksgiving approaches (well, except last year, due to the aforementioned ankle), we visit Cahokia Mounds to take a long walk, which includes climbing the 154 steps to the top of Monks Mound. I always love this outing, because we see lots of beautiful fall foliage and encounter wildlife we don’t see a lot (mainly turkeys and deer), but I was dreading it a bit this year. Not because I didn’t think my ankle could handle it (although it does still get sore sometimes, especially in the cold), but because I still have a mental pause every time I go down a flight of stairs, and the staircase at Monks Mound is way more than a single flight! I didn’t know how I’d react when it was time to descend the mound, and that scared me.
I try not to let my hangups get in the way of doing fun things, though, so off we went in the brisk weather today. Our walk was amazing as always (we saw tons of deer!), and it was a beautiful morning. And I made it up (and back down!) Monks Mounds without re-breaking my ankle or having a panic attack. We also went over to Woodhenge, something we don’t always do, and enjoyed the views there, as well.
I have a feeling that stairs will always make me a bit uncomfortable, because now I know how easy it is for something to go wrong really quickly, but I’m determined not to let that get in the way of doing things I enjoy!
Six Months Later…
Today marks the sixth month anniversary of that dark day when I broke my ankle. At the time, six months might as well have been an eternity, but to be honest, it now seems like a lifetime ago that it happened!
So, how have the last sixth months been? The first two weeks were the worst pain of my life, and that includes the recovery period from each of the FIVE c-sections I’ve had. I truly wondered if it would ever feel better, if I would ever be able to stand up without dealing with ridiculous amounts of burning pain ever again, would ever be able to walk like I used to again. Not to mention, would my foot/ankle/leg ever look normal again?!? Seriously, it was gruesome:
Fortunately, all of that is a distant memory. It was really like a flip switched after the first two weeks, and my recovery went pretty quickly after that, and I was even able to think about fashion again! I was out of the CAM boot just before Christmas, started my physical therapy, which thankfully I was able to do at home, and was done with the ankle brace about a month after that. It became clear to me pretty quickly that I was able to walk the long distances I was used to, in about the same amount of time that I previously did, that I could climb things to take photographs, and that I could do my normal housework without any limitations or difficulties.
Today, most of the lingering issues I have are all in my head. I have a moment of terror every time I start walking down a flight of stairs, remembering how my ankle twisted under me and snapped that day six months ago. I am super careful about each step I take, each placement of my feet, especially the left one. I also get a little paranoid every time something touches the left ankle, because I still expect it hurt, even after all this time. I will admit, that I do still have some pain, especially when rain is approaching (which has been pretty much a constant in the St. Louis area this spring), and I wonder sometimes if that’s permanent. If I spend a lot of time on my feet, I still have some residual swelling, too, which I am told is normal. But I was also told when I initially broke the ankle that it could take up to a year for it to return to normal, so hopefully it’s still too soon to tell if any of these inconveniences are my new normal.
It’s funny how traumatic this was when it happened, and how long ago and unimportant it seems now. But, as I look back on the days when I was burdened, first with crutches, then with the knee scooter (there’s no way I would have survived our Christmas trip to Chicago without it!), and CAM boot, I am satisfied with how much I got done, in spite of the pain and the fact that I was moving slow, and how I was able to keep going…and I’m also thankful for the help I had along the way!
Sartorial Saturday–CAM Boot Style
It’s been almost two weeks since the doctor said I could stop wearing the CAM boot, so here’s a look back at how I styled the accessory I never wanted to have:
And a bonus look at how I’m currently styling my ankle brace, which I should only have to wear regularly for a few more weeks, and then whenever I need it after that.
I’m so thankful for Pinup Girl Clothing…I felt more like myself in my pretty skirts and dresses even though I was slowly hobbling around in a clunky boot, not really getting stuff done to my satisfaction!
A Markel Family Christmas–2018 Edition
This whole Christmas season has been a bit more challenging than usual, because of my injured ankle. My CAM boot came off exactly a week before Christmas, and I was determined to have our usual, festive, three-day Christmas event, while relearning how to walk normally, starting with our favorite Christmas Eve breakfast of Christmas Crunch:
As we have for the last few years, we had our “pick out dinner” for lunch, before heading into the city for church. This year, we had our standard crackers and various cheeses, summer sausage, buffalo Chex mix, and jalapeño popper and rotel dips (with festive red and green tortilla chips!). We also enjoyed deviled eggs, shrimp, pizza bagels, mozzarella sticks, sausage squares, cranberry brie bites (a new recipe that was so good!), and cheese squares.
We then went to church, where “The Bigs” and Ryan were singing in the Christmas Eve service. I was very happy to wear only an ankle brace on my left leg with my standard Christmas Eve dress!
There’s always one piece of music that really stands out to me…this year, it was “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt”:
I took a picture of the Fab Five after church…in the church basement, where the service was held because the sanctuary is undergoing extensive renovations!
On the way home, we drove through the Way of Lights at Our Lady of the Snows:
At home, I took more pictures, of course:
For the first time ever, the children received completely matching Christmas jammies, and they even were in keeping with this year’s Harry Potter theme:
And then time for Jesus’ birthday cake. Doesn’t it look pretty? It’s a good thing I took this picture the day before, right after I finished decorating it, because apparently there’s too much humidity in our refrigerator for the cookie icing to set up properly, and it ran everywhere. I’m told the cake still tasted good, though…I, however, was too upset to try it.
I kind of had a meltdown at that point. I was so tired, and my ankle was bothering me, and I was just done for the day. Oh, and did I mention that at that point, we were on day four with no hot water, as we were waiting on a part and a repair on our water heater? Just done. So Ryan and I didn’t play Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries like we usually do on Christmas Eve, and we didn’t watch the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker. I did get the stockings filled and the tree prepared before I went to bed, though:
Things looked better in the morning (even though I didn’t sleep much because my ankle was still bothering me). We had fun opening stockings (although the boys continued to elude me in my early-morning photography):
And enjoyed our Christmas Day coffee cake:
I have really enjoyed wearing this Pinup Girl Clothing dress all throughout the season, and I was especially excited to wear it on Christmas Day without the CAM boot as an accessory!
We then drove back into the city for the Christmas Day Divine Service, where Ryan, Turkey, Bunny, and Ladybug were singing in the choir:
Another picture in the basement, this time of the whole family:
After lunch, we opened presents. Bunny found the pickle ornament on the tree this year, so she got to hand out the gifts.
The rest of the day was spent snacking, relaxing, and preparing for the big Christmas feast, which we had yesterday. The star of the meal was a smoked ham from Beast Craft BBQ. We also had mashed potatoes and gravy, roast carrots, butternut squash gratin, croissants, and our favorite cherry Jell-O “salad.” You may notice a lack of festive table photos…that’s because I didn’t use the china (other than serving pieces) or set the table with our linens. My ankle might be healed, but I’m still kind of slow and still tire easily after being on my feet all day, so that was something I let go of this time.
I made a trio of Christmas desserts…an apple-cranberry bread pudding, a gingerbread-eggnog trifle, and a Buche de Noel. They were all delicious…I especially liked the bread pudding, which was a new recipe.
So that was Christmas 2018. More things went wrong than I would have liked, but most things went right. What really matters, though, is that we were all together, and we had plenty of opportunities to celebrate our Savior’s birth!
Christmas Traditions 2018
Today we made our annual trek west to St. Charles, MO, for the Christmas Traditions festival. (This is not to be confused with the trek north we made a few weeks ago to St. Charles, IL, also for Christmas-related reasons!)
The day was as beautiful as the picture looks, although it was a bit warm for our tastes. But the spring-like temperatures brought our larger crowds than we’ve ever encountered before…it was a good thing they finally decided to close Main Street to vehicular traffic, because I don’t know how all of the pedestrians would have fit on the sidewalks!
St. Charles is never more charming than it is at Christmastime:
One of the best parts of going to Christmas Traditions is seeing all of our favorite characters. We’ll call this year’s attempt a “successful failure.” We saw the number one character we wanted to see (Jack Frost), and a really cool new character (Ded Moroz), but there was no Frontier Santa this year, and we didn’t see the Master of Revels, and a number of the other characters we enjoy seeing every year. In the end, we collected 31 out of 41 numbered character cards, plus one of the bonus cards, which is really not bad!
Bunny had an especially good visit with Jack Frost, the “Bob Ross of Frost” this year. He even embellished his character card with a bit of his artwork for her!
This was a challenging visit to St. Charles for me, since I’m still wearing the CAM boot. The uneven brick streets made walking more difficult than I would care to admit, and our parking space, which was practically on the other side of the Missouri River, made our walk extra long. But I was determined to have fun today, and do the things we usually do, because I hate to miss out on anything. So, even though climbing the brick steps up to the gazebo wasn’t the easiest thing ever, I even got my annual picture of the Fab Five, and I think it might be the best one yet!
And just like that, another year’s visit to Christmas Traditions is over. Even though things were a bit different this year (we were too late to see the parade, and we missed the gingerbread houses), we had a great time! I’m already looking forward to seeing what changes they might make next year…but not as much as I’m looking forward to not having to navigate the event with a broken ankle!
Sartorial Saturday–Christmas Wrapping
I have really been wanting to pair my ornament print Bella skirt from Pinup Girl Clothing with a bright pink top. Unfortunately, the only top I have that fits the bill is a sleeveless wrap top, also from PUG. But fortunately for me, the weather in St. Louis can been unpredictable in December, and wearing a sleeveless top is not always out of the question. I really love the way the pink looks against the green!
The accessories I chose to go with it really pop, too:
I still hope that eventually, I will find a long sleeve top in a similar color (my dream is a PUG Sabrina top, which is my current favorite for cool weather!). For now, though, I’m glad I have at least one bright pink option to go with this skirt!