Monday, March 31, 2008

Oops! I Did It Again...

Seriously. I fell while jogging this morning. That's the second time in four months. Could I be any more clumsy? I tripped on the uneven sidewalk....again. And again, my dog sped up and I couldn't regain my balance before eating sidewalk.

Only last time, it was during pants season. That means two things...One, I was wearing pants when I fell and they somewhat protected my legs. Two, I could wear pants during the day to cover my embarrassing scabs. This time it's shorts weather. That means two things...One, I was wearing shorts...the same shorts that were once pants but I cut them off because I fell in them and ripped holes in the knees four months ago. My scabs are worse this time. And two, I wear shorts during the day and my nasty scabs are exposed.

Jeff always posts pictures of his injuries so I'm following suit. Only he always bloodies himself up by doing something cool like long boarding. I wish my bloody knees came from long boarding. That would make me the coolest mom on the block. Does that not make me look like I'm six again?

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Introducing...



***Flashback Fridays***


Catchy huh? I considered Monday Memories, but I tend to have a lot of other things to blog about on Mondays.

What inspired this? Several things. One, I've been enjoying Autumns trips down memory lane on her blog. Two, I've always wanted to scan in all my old pictures. I treasure my pictures and have a huge fear of losing them. I feel a little safer having them permanently on the world wide web. Three, Spencer wanted to see one of my childhood pictures earlier this week because he doesn't think Reid looks like me. And asking me to get out pictures is always a mistake. After an hour or so of reminiscing, Spence made me stop for dinner. As I was flipping through albums and digging through photos, I kept thinking to myself, "I have to post this one." My pile of 'have to post' pictures included almost all of them. I could devote an entire blog to old pictures. I love them. So as to not bore those of you who aren't into flashbacks, I'll try to limit them to Friday's.

If you know me and you read this blog (or even if you don't), you can almost bet there will be a flashback that includes you at some point. And there's a good chance it will be embarrassing. Although I don't have pictures of everyone. I'm surprised at some of the friends I have little to no pictures of. And how many events and photo ops I must not have brought my camera to.

I'm trying to start a fad. I love old pictures of anybody. You're all welcome to join me with your own Flashback Fridays. I won't be irritated that you're stealing my idea. Or, if you have pictures or memories with me and you want to see them featured on one of my Flashback Fridays, let me know or send me the pictures.

So for my very first Flashback Friday I'm featuring....drum roll...a good friend from my high school days, Kim.
Kim and I are now re-acquainted thanks to the wonderful world of blogging. Of all the people I lost touch with in my life, Kim was the one I was most sad about. When I was packing to move to Texas, I found an old girls camp journal. I wrote about how glad I was that she had moved into the ward and what a great friend she was and how much fun we had together. If I knew where that journal was now, I'd scan it in. I'm sure it would include stories about crazy dances with Heidi and Jennifer when we were supposed to be learning constellations and giggling until someone peed their pants. Most of my LDS friends were not in my ward. I was so glad when she moved in during high school and I was so sad we didn't stay in contact. I have no idea how she found my blog, but I am very grateful.

So here you go Kim...a few embarrassing pictures to welcome you to the blogosphere.

This is at girl's camp. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at this picture and I never noticed we're sitting on someone, but there's a third set of legs in there. Do you have any idea who we're sitting on? One of your sisters maybe?

Kim, Kelly, Me and Jeanine at EFY

Some young women activity that we were no doubt trying to skip out on.

Dress up for no reason at all. It must have been shortly after EFY because we still have our bracelets on.

Girls only bonfire at the beach.

Why do we always think pyramids are a good idea? And why is Pennie on the bottom? And how is she doing that with one hand?



Girls night out at Disneyland Hotel.

Christmas breakfast with the girls.

I know I have pictures from when I was your campaign manager when you ran for ASB treasurer. And I have a favorite from that night at Disneyland hotel. I had it framed in my dorm room my freshman year of college. Now I have no idea where it is. I guess you lucked out. Once again...it's good to catch up with you.

New House Rule

I've been having a hard time getting Gray on an eating schedule. He enjoys his rice cereal, but I just can't seem to be consistent about feeding him. My mom thought that was funny...funny that I was having a hard time with this.

Yesterday I was feeding Gray...completely preoccupied at the high chair. I let the boys have popsicles. We have a tile entry way and for some reason, the boys think it's fun to eat their popsicles on it. We don't let them eat on the carpet, but it's just tile so that's fine. After Gray's all cleaned up, I went to check on the crazies. This is what I find:



Now that's why I have a hard time feeding Grayden. I can't leave the other two unsupervised for even a moment. Those were bomb pops all over our white, flat-finish walls. The blue and white hardly even show up in the pictures. It was awful. Not easy to clean up. But I put the crazies right to work.


Yes, That's Park licking the wall.



No, I don't make Parker dress like a slave when he cleans the house. We've been watching Enchanted this week. Parker surprisingly loves it. And of all the characters, the weasely little Nathaniel is his favorite. Park thinks he's funny. He's been pretending to be Nathaniel. He's been digging through the costume box and came up with this 'Nathaniel' costume all on his own. This is what he looked like earlier that day:



New house rule: No food in the entry way.

In fact, the rest of the popsicles are MINE!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Scrapy

I have never really got into the whole scrapbooking thing. It's way too overwhelming of a task to undertake. Plus with the awesome and easy photo books you can put together on your computer and have delivered to your door...who needs scrapbooks? But I love the papers and colors and ribbons and embellishments. I LOVE it. But one little task here and there is all I ever get around to. Never a full scrapbook.

When Parker was born, my Aunt Debbie made me this:


Then when Reid was born, Mom made me this:


And Grayden couldn't be left out. So last week when mom was visiting, I made this (with her opinions, encouragement, and purchase of supplies...thanks mom):


I love making them. The pictures don't do them justice. They're cuter up close and in person. If you click on the picture you get a little better idea of what they look like. Are those fun or what?

Monday, March 24, 2008

One Foot Wonder

It seems the 23rd was a significant day for many of my blogging friends. Several birthdays, an engagement, and of course, Easter. For us, it is the one year mark of Reid's amputation. Last year on March 23rd, he began the day with two feet and ended the day with one.



I remembered watching a sitcom shortly before this event. Although what they were talking about was completely unrelated to a real amputation, the guy had said something like..."if you knew your leg was going to get cut off tomorrow, would you sit around and feel sorry for yourself or spend the day running, jumping and doing awesome kicks?" So we spent the day before the surgery running, jumping and doing awesome kicks. Actually, Reid could hardly walk. But we spent the day in Cincinnati and went to the aquarium and all kinds of fun kid stuff.



We were hoping Reid wouldn't learn to walk before the amputation so he wouldn't know what he was missing and so he wouldn't have to re-learn to walk later. As luck would have it, he took his first steps just five days before the big event. He was almost 14 months old and had been cruising for quite sometime, but with his leg length discrepancy, his balance was a little off.



We all dealt with the amputation surprisingly well. There were a lot of prayers said in our behalf. I'm sure our strength was a direct result of prayers. I kept waiting to have a breakdown. The week of, the day of, the trip to the hospital, sending him off to surgery, when I saw him afterwards. No breakdown. I held together well. I was surprised at how laid back I was when I sent him off with the surgeon. As I should have been because all went smoothly. It helped that he'd gone under before...remember, Halloween - swallowing the straight pin. The whole staff at the children's hospital was fantastic. I didn't take any pictures. I meant to, but seeing a little one year old in a hospital gown and a HUGE cast all drugged up was kind of a sad sight. I thought I wouldn't really want to remember that part of it. But now I wish I had a picture.

Reid was recovering at lightening speed. The surgery was Friday. He came home Saturday. We took him to church on Sunday. Then there was Monday...

Spencer was working at the university and going to school at night. He had with him our only car. I wasn't planning on going anywhere. I took the boys on a wagon ride. We were playing in the back yard. I was chatting with neighbors over the fence...a picture perfect evening. It was time to go in and clean up for bed. I scooped Reid up and his cast fell off...with no foot or ankle to keep it on, it could easily slip. I freaked out. I was dealing well, but I certainly wasn't ready to see the stump...swollen and covered with black stitches and dried blood from the surgery. Reid's stump was barely held together with millions of stitches trying to make skin stick together where it just wasn't natural. It was horribly gruesome.

I was alone. Spencer had the car and I couldn't get a hold of him. I spent hours on the phone trying to get a doctor to tell me what to do. I luckily had some gauze and tape and ace bandages in my cabinet. Not much, but enough to get Reid through the night. And so I had to re-bandage my screaming kid alone. He was in so much pain and didn't want to hold still. And wrapping it made him cry harder. I hated that. I could hardly stomach looking at it...plus I hate hurting my kid. It was miserable. The lowest point of the whole event. I had to re-bandage it at least once a day for the next four weeks. It got easier...especially as the stitches started falling out and his stump started to heal. He was in a lot less pain.

He got his first prosthetic just a couple months later and learned to walk in record time. He was running around by July.

Now it's such a normal part of life. Who knew phrases like, "where's your leg?", "go get your foot", or "no stumps on the dinner table" would regularly fill our home.

I think the hardest part of the whole ordeal (besides the cast falling off) was actually hearing the news. When Reid was born, Spencer noticed right away that he was missing a toe, but he otherwise looked normal. As we inspected his leg and foot the next few days in the hospital, We could see some slight differences, but it was hard to tell on such a tiny little thing (if you call 9 lbs 11 oz tiny). The doctors at the hospital gave us a false sense of security. They told us he was just missing a toe. One leg looks smaller...but it must have been cramped in the womb...it will catch up. They referred us to a pediatric orthopedist anyway.

At about 5 days old, we had a visit with the orthopedist who informed us Reid had fibular hemimelia and that amputation would almost certainly be in his future. That was it...the hardest part of the whole affair. As parents, the worst case scenarios kept racing through our heads and keeping us up at night. How hard would it be to have your child's foot amputated? How awful would it be when he got made fun of by kids at school? Would he ever "make the team?" He had no fibula. His foot was unable to stabilize on his leg. His foot was small and missing a toe as well as the whole ray of bones associated with that toe. His leg was shorter and would become even more significantly shorter as time went on.

Reid also got to visit a geneticist. I loved that. I remember the genetics chapter in junior high biology. I am sure I said aloud..."when will I ever need this?" That was the time. I actually used my junior high knowledge of genetics. I found the genetic aspects completely fascinating.

We had a couple more visits with the orthopedist that year. Spencer and I did a lot of reading up on it throughout the year and decided to amputate sooner rather than later. It was a weird decision to make as a parent. The doctor was surprised at our eagerness to amputate. Most parents can't get past it and make that decision. Some parents wait until their child's teenage years so they can make their own decision. Those kids tend to have a harder time adapting to the amputation. The sooner the better. I will never regret amputating so young. Reid has no memory of having two feet. Although he recognizes he is different...he doesn't know life any other way. He has had a fear of doctors ever since.

He is a well adjusted and very happy kid. This spring is the first time I've seen any disappointment in him with regards to his leg. He feels a little left out when we all leave the house in flip flops and he can't wear them. He gets over it quickly.

Of all the problems and scenarios you ever dream up having to experience as a parent with your children, this is one that never would have crossed my mind. I never expected to have a child that wears a prosthetic leg. I was completely shocked and unprepared. I also have never thought much about what the parents go through when dealing with this kind of situation...my thoughts tend to go towards the child. I have learned more about prosthetic legs then I ever thought I would. I do find it fascinating.


I am so grateful for modern science and knowledgeable doctors. I look forward to a time when Reid will run again on his own two feet.

Easter Festivities

Two holidays in one week? Could life be any better?



The boys got really into egg dying this year. Poor Spence. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but he is a big time egg dyer. He comes up with all kinds of fancy ways to dye Easter eggs and the boys just wouldn't let him.

Anyone recognize these Easter clothes? If you have little boys, they were probably wearing the same thing. I searched the world over for Easter clothes for my crazies. Why is it so hard to find church clothes for little boys? I saw these at Children's Place a few weeks ago, but wasn't crazy about them so I kept on searching. When I finally caved because I couldn't find anything else, I went back to Children's Place on Friday to make a purchase. Big mistake. They were so picked over. There were all kinds of combinations to mix and match, but there was very little left in my kids sizes. The only choice of pants for Gray were white. Not only do they look like temple pants, but they don't hold up well to a blowout.





Believe it or not, this is what Reid looked like before church. Although he was dressed and hair was fixed 20 minutes before this picture, it only takes Reid 30 seconds to turn into this. He's all the cuter for it.









Parker came up with this pose on his own. Love it!


Gray was NOT happy before church. We had to retake his pictures afterwards.

Spencer is included in our family...and even got some new Easter duds...but refused to let me post his pictures on the World Wide Web.

I got a new Easter dress this year. I can't remember the last time I got an Easter dress...or any kind of dress. I love dresses but it's hard to find one that works. Darn modesty issues. I also purchased a very safe, very typical, skirt and top and another very regular, very over priced dress. I tried them on at home repeatedly before I decided to go for the fashion risk (at a great price might I add). I'm very happy I did. It was a cocktail dress turned jumper by the addition of a shirt. It worked. Who knew?



Spence got a little tired of taking my picture after about three unflattering pictures. I tried to take one of myself, but couldn't get my dress in the pic.

The kids enjoyed all the Easter festivities. We really missed having the Edwards over for Easter dinner...It had been a tradition for like five years running. It was kind of a lonely dinner all by ourselves. Spencer had no one to laugh at him when he complained about his rolls. And there was no one to finish off our twice baked potatoes and deviled eggs. And no one to pretend they like asparagus. We miss you guys! The good news was that I only had one primary kid there on Sunday. I had girded up my loins for some over stimulated, over sugared four year olds. But one wasn't so bad. I didn't come home too frantic to cook a delicious meal.

All in all, another holiday success.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

It's Always Fun When Grandma Comes

My mom flew home on Thursday morning. A visit from Grandma always breaks up the monotony of life for a week. She showed up with a suitcase full of gifts for the boys. Took me to get a pedicure. Babysat several times so Spence and I could get our of our crazy house. Of course made a trek to the awesomest playground ever. Participated in our crazy St. Patrick's Day shenanigans. Took us to the zoo. Took us out to dinner. Took lots of pictures. Made dinner. Did the dishes. You name it. We love visits from grandma.












But what I really want to write about is her new blog. How cool is that? How many of your mom's have blogs? Not many. My mom is the greatest.

Thanks for the fun week!