Free At Last

Today turned out to be the day. There were two sides of the argument.
Side One: He could really use the next two weeks in the cast to protect the leg and give him time to practice using it while building up the other leg.
Side Two: We have had trouble with diapering for the last two weeks therefore the cast was unlivable. With one hip casted and the other not it was nearly impossible to keep a diaper in the right position to do its job (OK, I have to admit I didn't try taping the diaper directly to him with duct tape).
Recasting at the point was a big production (hospital, anesthesia) for two weeks benefit. Taking the hip/tummy part off was not workable.
So M is free!!! He is hesitant to use the leg, but has already worked from yelling at the thought of having it touched to being picked up without whining. He will work into over the next couple of weeks. But for now it is so nice to see his little leg and foot and belly and his smile at showing off NO CAST to everyone.
Yippppppeeeeee!!!!!
love and hugs, B

Christmas Spirit

OK I am a bit lacking in Christmas spirit.....frankly I am obsessed with M's cast. I think mostly the fact that I have no control of this thing is driving me crazy. Anyway, this weekend we got into the Christmas thing full swing. The boys opened gifts from Nena and Pop on Saturday morning-- first gifts of the season.

Sunday morning, gifts again. Since we are going out of town for Christmas our elf apparently told Santa and he delivered the kids gifts early so they would have time to play before leaving their loot. They must have been good this year. E loved his book, LEGO, and silly putty the best.

G loved his light saber, silly putty, and LEGO. This pic has to be a true example of how the morning was.

M was completely taken with his toy ambulance, his rescue jeep, and his fire truck puzzle-- notice a theme here? His experience with emergency workers may have shaped his future.

Favorite picture of the morning is this one of D and G working so hard to put G's LEGO thing together. I have to say I worked on it with G later and LEGO today is almost not fun with the pressure to follow directions and do it "right". We had a much better time with the giant tub of LEGO in the playroom just creating what we wanted to.

Of course I didn't get a pic of D and E playing Monopoly-- not sure that was fun for either one. D was just intense and E liked it at first, but D is very serious about his Monopoly.

Surprise Christmas from Santa (this is the second year of an early visit) is a wonderful experience. Everyone sleeps well because no one knows which night he will show up. Eventually we will be at home for Christmas and have a 'scheduled' Santa visit which will give the kids the excitement of knowing he is coming and waiting up for him.

Still trying to get into the Christmas spirit.... don't know how to accomplish it. And it's not like everything is out of control. Everything is bought, packed, shipped, done. Oh well. Maybe it will hit later.

love and hugs, B

The Spin

Just had to brighten your day. The only benefit to a body cast is righteous breakdancing skills. Enjoy! B

Thank You Internet!!!

I never would have made it this far in body cast land without you. And now, nearly eight weeks in, you come through for me again with......dryer sheets. Did you know that when a cast starts to smell you can rub it with a dryer sheet and it helps cover the smell? You can ask the internet any question and it will usually come back with an answer. Nice. So much better than a set of paper encyclopedias. So many of the things I haved learned about body casts have come from the internet. I also found the tip (on a professional hockey team site) that you can tape odor eaters insoles to a cast--- we may be taking a trip to Target before we get on the plane next week.
Why they haven't invented a cast rinse system I don't know. I tried Febreezing the cast on Sunday, but it was bordering on wetting/gooping it up too much. I sprayed a bit and it got kind of gummy. I have kept it as clean as possible, but there is a limit. Imagine wearing the same pants for eight weeks.....gross. Poor M. Definite loser at hide and seek right now--- too big to hide and they can track him by his scent. The aroma of Tacoma will travel with us wherever we may go. It is probably not as noticable to others as it is to me; hypersensitive(that would be physical and emotionally right now).
We stopped by M's Moms Morning Out today. It was very sweet because you could tell the teachers have really missed him and he has missed them tremendously. Also an interesting reminder of how much goes on in his world that I am unaware of; he had a bunch of little friends run up to say HI and I knew not a single one of them. He also got to do a craft project while we were there. I love that program!!!
love and hugs and you should thank the internet once in a while, B

The Good Stuff

OK, last post was a downer so let me tell you what has brightened since then:
M can ride in his stroller. Taking the right leg off was enough so he fits. He also can sit in a chair at the kitchen table. He loved eating dinner with us last night. He also fits in the regular car seat, but I am not changing that out yet.

Playing with food is usually outlawed in our house, but I have to say that it made my morning when all three were sitting at the table for breakfast and held raspberries in front of their noses and sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer-- the whole thing. I don't know what I was more pleased about-- all three at the table, the funny noses, or the fact that 2 of 3 knew all the words and the third knew at least half the song.

G's Kindergarten class is learning about Christmas around the world so each day they "travel" to a new country. G is actually jet-lagged. Truly, can barely keep his eyes open by dinner and grouchy all the time. Luckily this only a one week unit.

M is experimenting more. This gets thumbs up and thumbs down. Good for him to try to do more. Bad when he is on the couch trying his acrobatics. I left him laying down on one side of the couch last night and when I looked up he was kneeling/standing on the other end.

Our pediatrician's office finally has enough vaccine to do swine flu boosters. And M can get his seasonal flu shot at the same time since he has a thigh out of the cast now. At least there is less chance of getting sick when we travel over Christmas. (Yes, Virginia, there will be Christmas travel. Can't wait to meet baby Charlie and see Baby Bump White and see everybody!)

I think I may have a way to speed up getting the rest of the cast off: each time I go in we are complimented on our cast care (so clean, doesn't smell, wow, etc). Well, perhaps if my cast care wasn't so meticulous, maybe even careless then they would take it off more quickly....... or it would be just my luck that they would leave it on even longer in a dirty, smelly, disgusting condition. OK, maybe its not a plan.

Today our high is going to be 35 degrees. Yes, sadly enough it is a bright spot. Highs the rest of the week have been 33, 28, and 30. By the weekend it should be 40!!!

love and hugs, B

Don't Count Your Chickens.....

I guess I was heard counting all my little chickens before they hatched on the cast thing.... only one third came off. The right leg is off to the waist. The stomach/hip piece and the full left leg are still there and shall be until after the holidays. I have no idea what this means yet since I came home, figured out how to arrange the diaper, parked him in front of a show, and then called a sister to cry for a while. And what is really sad is that M is so excited. All the way home he was moving his little leg side to side and saying "Look mommy my leg can wiggle!!!!!!" and I was just trying to hide my disappointment from him. I should count the blessing that he has part of his body back. Right now that is hard and I am being selfish and I want my life (and M's life) back the way they were 7 weeks ago and I want to yell lots of bad words that would have me grounded in my room for a week. But M just woke up from a short nap so I will go back to work and start figuring out how the next four weeks of our lives will work. We'll see what he can do. B

A Use for Those Nubs

Not a post every person will find useful, but a fun project for me and a good gift idea for little kids. I am talkin' crayon nubs. If you have kids of elementary age you know you have a bag or box of these hiding somewhere. The kids bring them home at the end of the school year. Or they get a new pack which cannot be mixed with older crayons. So the nubs are left there missing only a half inch from coloring and you hate to throw them away (OK I do). The kids helped peel the crayons this year and then I did the melting. Dutch oven filled with water and then put the crayons (sorted by color families) into cans(only fill can halfway). I poured them into candy molds, but when I ran out and still had crayons left to use I improvised with cupcake holders. Next year E could probably help with the melting and pouring part.

When they pop out they are so cute. And the kids do love to play with them. They are still talking about the first time I did this and made 'summer shapes' with a candy mold. This time I think they will go wild for the mixed up, crazy crayon cupcakes. Reuse those nubs!!!

Hoping for good things at the dr. tomorrow. Even half the cast off will be such an improvement. The things we have taken for granted before that now we will truly appreciate: M walking--anywhere, M riding in a shopping cart, using a regular car seat that stays in the car (since we use his car seat to sit him up to eat it has to move in and out of the car when he does-- huge time consumer), bath tub baths, M riding in a stroller, sitting at the table as a family for dinner, getting in and out of bed by himself, brushing his teeth at the sink, getting his own drink from the fridge, attempting potty training, the list could really go on and on forever. A few pics of M taking his "bath" this morning.

love and hugs, B

Get Well Nena!!!

The Joy of a New Friend

These are pictures taken by my new friend.... OK it's not really a friend, it's a camera; but I know we will spend many happy hours together.

Christmas tree, two full moon pictures, and ???? Can you guess? It is growing season here in Washington.... for fungus. That is the coolest thing I have ever seen above the water. Snorkeling this summer we saw some pretty amazing things growing, but this is in one of my flower beds.

Next M got a new friend in the mail. Here are some pics from their first meeting.

A big hug.

Chatting.

More hugs.

Showing off Fluffy bear.

Thanks Aunt T.

love and hugs, B