I know so many of you are probably wondering if we’ve got ourselves a rink. Well, keep wondering

Let me tell you, this has been one interesting exercise in patience. I can’t tell you how many hours (and I mean days) David has been outside in the yard messing with that rink. It’s been crazy. Adding more support, putting in more water, watching it freeze a bit, and then adding more support because the ice pushed the boards out. Then waiting, and waiting some more for three consecutive days of below thirty degrees. We literally have been cheering this cold weather on. Sick, I know.

We’ve had a few setbacks…three snowstorms (the most with seven inches) and as I write again, we have a Winter Storm Warning for 7-9 inches more. That puts a serious cramp in skating. Then we had the ice that was freezing, start to push the boards out–which means we needed more support. (The guys at Home Depot know David by name). Then, we had that crazy below zero weather, which meant, no skating.

We have been out there, in our street shoes, and David has skated–and I’ve never seen the look of excitement on his face. Its one of those genuine smiles of sheer delight and discovery. A truely rare combination. It was pure satisfaction that he was successful in this feat, and exhiliration that he wasn’t falling through the ice. Plus, how cool are we for having a rink in the backyard!! I mean seriously!!!

Now, we just have to get this next snowstorm out of the way, and the kids should be able to skate this weekend. Who needs the Super Bowl, we’ve got the ice rink

You know the cornfield, you know the baseball diamond. Well, we’ve built our own “field of dreams” of sorts. But it isn’t working like in the movies. First, we don’t have Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux walking out of the woods behind our house and on to our ice rink. Second, we don’t have ice.  It was 70 degrees yesterday. We have a very very large bird bath in the backyard.

We made real progress on the rink this week, the tarp is now in place, and as I type, the water is still running from the hose. I think we’ve had the hose going for three or four hours now. We can’t believe our luck at this small stretch of unseasonably warm weather. Didn’t we have below zero temperatures just a few weeks ago?

A few things stand in our way for skating (besides the weather). First, our yard is extremely unlevel. David is working diligently to prop up various sections of the perimeter, as all our water is piling up in the far corner. We also had quite a strong wind last night. The tarp blew like crazy last night, and leaves blew in to what little water that had collected from rain. So, David rolled up his pants (literally) and started to dig out the leaves. What a sight in December, to be wading in water!

Honestly, from what I read about backyard rinks, I thought this would be easy. Every day for the last week, David has been out tinkering in the backyard. It’s reminding me an awful lot of his tinkering with the Camaro. Every day, a different adjustment, a refinement to make it better.

David did make it out on the ice today (just not in our backyard.) He played hockey for the first time since his shoulder separation. We’re happy to report, that he is back in fine form, and should be ready to come off the Injured Reserves in January.

Caitlyn and Tyler are busy playing with all their Christmas goodies. In retrospect, light sabers were not a good idea for each of them to have. I have several gashes in my wall already. Now, those are offically an outside toy. 

Addison is about to turn four months old. She enjoyed her first Christmas (I could tell) and we look forward to her learning to sit up on her own. She practices often in her Bumbo seat.

And I am busy making my long list of resolutions for 2009. Perhaps this will be the year I learn a new language? Probably not.

The whole idea of a backyard ice rink was one that I’ve thrown out several times over the last few years. It was easy to say “wouldn’t it be fun,” when our yard was too small to really have a rink. Not this year. My notion of “wouldn’t it be fun,” quickly turned in to sketches on dimensions, discussions on the varying thickness ratings for tarps and scouring websites for how to instructions. Next year I think I’ll say, “remember how much work a rink is!”

A play-by-play on the rink: we’ve not yet sold the naming rights for the rink

Step One: David drew a rectangular picture, with numbers…they kept getting bigger, until we landed at 40′x60′ (that’s right 40 feet by 60 feet!)

Step Two: David priced the lumber, and bought it, a lot of it. Then he brought it home. (I watched from the deck, thinking that is a lot of lumber.)

Step Three: David and Caitlyn worked in the backyard, laying all the wood out. (I watched from the deck thinking that is much bigger than I thought it would be.)

Step Four: It was a race against nightfall as David and a friend worked to screw all the wood together. It was beginning to take shape. Our neighbor at this point wondered what we were building. An ark, what does it look like?

Step Five: That’s the step we’re on now. Waiting for the White Tarp to arrive from a boat store in Newark, DE. UPS says it will deliver it today. David keeps checking to see if the truck has rumbled down the street yet. It hasn’t. The box is apparently 58 pounds. That’s a big tarp. Hopefully we’ll get it out tonight, while it is -14 degrees.

We may still get to skate on Christmas Day, we’re hoping for more cold weather!

Okay, so the whole keeping up with the blog thing? Not my strongest skill. I’ve gotta make sure we all have clean undies, so this was low on my list of things to do in the last two weeks.

Let’s play catch up. So Caitlyn, pretty much since the end of last year has wanted to lose a tooth. And in her class, it is a huge deal if you lose a tooth. So when Caitlyn said she had a wiggly tooth, well honestly, I didn’t believe her. I thought it was wishful thinking. But when I got home from work, she pushed her lower tooth with her tongue and I knew it was the real deal. I’m not too comfortable with the tooth wiggling, falling out business. First, its gross; second, it means she’s getting older. She just turned six for crying out loud! She is very much still a kid though, as she believed me when I told her that the tooth fairy had GPS and could find her once I emailed our address to their website. Don’t you just love technology!

Shortly after Caitlyn’s visit from the tooth fairy, we took the kids to see a Jackets game. Tyler’s first one. He loved it, except for intermission. He wanted to know where hockey went, and was not satisfied by the Zamboni. Caitlyn really got in to the game for the first time. She used to think going to the Jackets games were not as fun as when we went to watch David. Now the kids are psyched for hockey, because David has grand plans of building a hockey rink–in the backyard. Stay tuned for updates on that

Oh, deer. Ha! I love the deer that live in our backyard. Most of the time. Not when I’m in the bathroom however. I was in our front bath this morning, when I was startled by something outside the window. I peeked out the slat in the blinds, and was shocked to see a deer, eating berries off the tree. I immediately called David and whispered, “there is a deer outside the window.” His reply, “why are you whispering?” I don’t know why I was whispering, fear of it coming in the house I guess? It stayed still long enough for me to get a picture–which I often try to get of the deer, before running away.

And now for the injury report: David is still on the disabled list, though he hopes to be back in the game for January’s new session. I will admit that I miss him going to hockey–that’s when I get caught up on Jon and Kate! And Tyler hasstarted walking more consistently. He does limp, and is very slow, but it is progress . His most exciting accomplishment however, is that he can now open not only the refrigerator door, but the door to the pantry. We caught him with his hand in the cookie jar, literally! He laughed and said “I did it!”

Hope everyone is staying warm, we should begin building the rink this weekend, when we get the 49 degree heat wave. I’ll make sure to take some pictures of the build, it should be a good time.

Alright, so its almost not Thanksgiving anymore, and you’ll likely read this after you’ve put on your stretchy pants, but its the first chance I’ve had to log on in quite a while.

We’re awfully busy here this week, with holiday fun, school activities and birthday cakes! It’s not likely to stop for quite a while. Don’t you love the hustle and bustle of the holidays?

Caitlyn is officially 6 today, and was psyched to receive all her cards (which she loved to read). She’s been hard at work sticking glow in the dark hearts to her wall  

Tyler has taken a few solo steps over the last few days. He enjoyed the marching bands on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and danced gingerly to the music. He is having trouble with balance, and prefers to keep the weight off his leg, but it is real progress. His sore is much better, the skin is still a different color, but we’re confident it’ll be back to normal soon.

Addie is smiling much more frequently, and coos throughout the day. She seems to have a very easy going nature, and is rarely upset. As long as she’s fed and dry, we’re good!

David is still experiencing a good deal of pain. We’re about two weeks from his follow up appointment, and he’s still having trouble sleeping. We did receive a funny e-mail from his team, which captured the moment of greatness with a photograph. The puck is in the goal, I think the injury was totally worth the image Seriously though, keep him in your prayers.

Not much new on my end, just taking one day at a time. I’m pretty busy that’s for sure. Hope you all enjoy your Holiday weekend, I’ll be up bright and early for Black Friday. (It’s one of the things I’m thankful for!)

Yesterday was our official cast off day. Of course the cast came off two weeks ago, but yesterday was supposed to be our all clear day. I think I was most nervous, David was extremely confident that Tyler would be fine–I just didn’t want to get my hopes up.

The x-ray was terrifying for Tyler, as usual–he screamed the whole time. He kept saying his leg hurt, and it trembled while he was on the x-ray table. This made me nervous, thinking, we’re not finished with this. But my fears were just that, and the doctor came in and said he’d see us in a year. No physical therapy, we just need to stay away from swing sets, mall play areas and no jumping off the furniture!

He is not walking, he will need to learn how again. We will just wait for him to do this on his schedule–he’ll get it. He has pulled himself up using the furniture, and he can climb up on the chair in the dining room. He doesn’t like to put pressure on his leg.

His leg sore is tremendously better. Just a bit of purple shading on the skin, and it is significantly smaller. The doctor has advised us to stop using the cream, and no more dressings. We have lots of gauze in the closet upstairs if anyone needs any

David met with his orthopedic specialist yesterday as well, and in about 4 weeks he should be back to normal. If not, then he may have to do a cortisone shot. He has little stretching exercises to do, and David says his range of motion is slightly better than it was on Saturday. This doctor believes his shoulder separation is between one and two degrees, so I guess one and a half? David is most bummed about missing the rest of the season and playoffs.

It seems as if we might be getting back to normal. Tyler got a hair cut, we put the wagon in the basement, the bean bags in the kids room, and got our car back. These little steps make it feel like we’re moving in the right direction. We’ll get the rest of “Tyler world” out of the dining room as soon as David’s shoulder is healed. Hopefully before Christmas we’ll find our regular routine again.

We thank the Lord that Tyler has had a complete recovery, and pray for His continued protection over our family. Without our faith in Him we would not have been able to endure these last seven weeks. We also want to thank our family and friends who have stuck with us on this blog, and who have sent various well wishes and gifts to us. Each meal cooked, card sent, comment left on the site or gift we received meant a lot to us, and we appreciate the support everyone provided.

I will continue to keep you posted on Tyler’s (and our family’s) progress on the blog. Pretty soon we’ll probably blog about Addie’s quest to roll over!

Canada came to Columbus today. And my husband wanted to play. His hockey team invited a real Canadian beer league hockey team to Columbus. They paid for them to come down and scrimmage in two games with them. Since David was born and raised here in Columbus, he’s not as (how do I say this nicely in case he reads it?) hockey inclined as if perhaps he were born in Canada. It’s not like he’s been on the pond since he was 2 years old a la Rick Nash. He was excited about the prospect of skating with a team he’s not faced, and that wouldn’t necessarily follow the Adult Hockey League no check rules.

I was surprised to see him this afternoon standing in the barber shop where Tyler and he get their hair cut. He was supposed to be playing. With the Canadians. He lasted three minutes.

He scored the only goal for NetJets (his team) about three minutes in. But then he slammed in to the boards, hard. He sat on the bench the remainder of the period before deciding to call it quits and make it to his hair cut on time. Score when David left: Canadians 6, NetJets 1.

David is not one to seek out medical attention, so when he told me we were going to Urgent Care–I knew he was in pain. X-rays show, his shoulder has separated from the collar bone. He has a first degree shoulder separation. Should be healed in about 6-8 weeks. He’s going to have a sling for probably 3 weeks–no lifting the kids, and we need to follow up with an Ortho doctor next week.

Click to see David’s X-rays, they will open in a Word Doc. david-x-rays

Caitlyn is not quite 6, but boy she sure is opinionated. This evening, we had a lengthy discussion over what her login should be to noggin.com. Too bad ABC123 was already taken.She explained the logins she had at school, and the various letters or numbers she desired in her particular login. Once we finally settled on an appropriate login that didn’t divulge too much detail, and that ultimately she could remember, the battle became what the password should be. Thank goodness we didn’t have to worry about capital letters and special characters, or we’d be debating the password until Christmas!

Tyler broke his splint behind his knee. Must have been too active with it. So tomorrow we’ll head back down to his doctor to get a new one. Granted, it will only be for another 6 days, but they want him to have one that supports his leg. Hopefully he’ll be nicer to this one. Wouldn’t it be nice if they did an X-ray and gave him an early all clear? I am not looking forward to getting all three kids up and out the door by 7a tomorrow. That could be interesting. I should probably start tonight.

Today marks six weeks since Tyler’s accident. Honestly, the last few weeks have gone by fast, and we now only have one week to go. We’re all getting excited, especially with all the events coming up in our house. Caitlyn’s about to turn 6 (on Thanksgiving) and she’s having her first boy girl party this weekend. They’re all going ice skating. But of course, she didn’t want a figure skating cake–she wants a hockey cake. And then there are holiday parties, more birthdays, tree lightings, and shopping! It’s the most busiest time of the year  

And this morning, both Tyler and Caitlyn woke up excited to see snow on the ground! Granted, it only covered the flower beds, cars and the deck, but we’ve got it. Tyler said “Snow! Christmas!” He really wants his new firetruck. Meanwhile, I was thinking, snow, slush, ice. Yuck!

Tyler’s been excercising his new mobility. He has gotten off the couch several times, and the bed we have set up downstairs for him. Last night, he splashed around in the bath for a good fifteen minutes. We called it quits when the water started pouring over the tub. (He’s definitely getting his groove back!)

We are still very cautious with his leg, but the doctor says he won’t move if it hurts him. I have to trust that this means his leg has healed. He still isn’t putting any pressure down, which makes me calmer. It’s funny, I feel like Tyler is more fragile than Addison. Silly, I know.

All in all, we’re feeling good that we’re almost to the end. We are looking forward to getting back to our usual routines, and activities that we enjoy doing as a family. With Tyler out of the cast, three normal kids should be easy. Right?

The kids enjoyed Trick or Treat over the weekend. Caitlyn enjoyed running (literally) from house to house. She finished our whole neighborhood in just over 1hour. Tyler stayed behind and handed out candy. His favorite neighborhood girl got quite a haul, as he kept telling her “just one more” while dropping Kit Kats in her bucket.

Tyler gains a little bit more spunk each day, and David and I are realizing just how subdued he really was while in the spica cast. He may have seemed like it didn’t bother him, but he’s much more vocal now, especially when he shouts “I NEED CANDY!” which really sounds like “I NEED CANNY!”

We’re battling a really bad case of the itchies (on both legs), and tonight at dinner, he used his fork to scratch at his leg. That was the end of the meatloaf for him. His wound appears better, not as deep scarlet as it was, much more pink now. It still hurts him terribly, but he was able to sit in the bathtub for nearly 5 minutes–a big improvement.

The nicest thing we’ve seen since Tyler has switched in to the splint is how Caitlyn is now with him. They constantly are cuddling together. They like to lay together on the couch and in our big bed to watch Sponge Bob. They are enjoying giving each other hugs again. It makes me realize Caitlyn was avoiding being near him in the evenings. She enjoys having her brother back, at least for now.

And Addie, well, she still eats, sleeps and does things in her diaper each day. She doesn’t realize anything has happened, and is enjoying smiling at Caitlyn when she shakes the Winnie the Pooh rattle at her.

I am glad that Tyler is out of the spica cast, but frightened at the same time–worried that his bone isn’t quite ready to be loose, and worried that as we are taking the ace bandages on and off each day that we could twist his leg and start all over again. We’re looking forward to the day when his skin is completely healed, and we get the all clear on the healing of his femur.

Tyler slept the whole night through, allowing his Tylenol with Codeine to wear off around 1:30am. David is staying home one more day, and we were able to tag team Addison through the night, so we both got to catch up on some sleep. Apparently you don’t really need a whole lot to function through the day, as we’re running on just a few hours through the past 2-3 days.

Caitlyn told us that she told her friends at school about Tyler, and that it was “sad and scary.” Not sure yet what she’ll need out of all of this, but she was definitely frightened by it, as was our little neighbor boy, who was out in the backyard with us at the same time. In speaking with him mom, he wouldn’t stop talking about Tyler getting hurt.

David and I have no idea how he fell, we just saw him on top of the football. Mandy and  (her) David didn’t see him fall either, but luckily stayed with Caitlyn and Addison when we went to the Urgent Care. When Tyler was feeling a bit better last night, he asked David if he could go outside and play football–that probably won’t happen for a long time. But at least he feels good enough to think he can do that.

He is bored, and frustrated that he can’t do things normally. He couldn’t even color his Thomas book last night. We need to figure out some sort of table/tray contraption that will go over his wide legs. He is enjoying his visitors, and will surely enjoy being the center of attention on Saturday during our cookout.

Our doctors think it will keep his (and our) spirits up, so we’re going to keep getting ready for the party–the house just may be a bit more cluttered. We hope to see you then!

It’s time to get Caitlyn on the bus, and then to get Tyler transported downstairs. Time to start our new routine!

Well, we’ve made it through another day. How many to go until Thanksgiving? (58, in case you were wondering.) Thanksgiving is our light at the end of the tunnel. Not only will it be Caitlyn’s sixth birthday, but Tyler should be cast free by then. That doesn’t mean we’re done though. From all the information we’ve been reading–we’re going to be dealing with this for a long time. It takes kids up to a month after getting out of the spica cast to walk again. And we’ll have rounds of physical therapy to contend with as well.

Today, we got the schedule up. We’ve broken the day in to two hour increments (at least while David is at work), and four hour chunks when he is home. If we can look at just getting through 2 hours, we’re going to do just fine. We are praying for help during the two hour increments, and we’re blessed that we’ve already had some offers of assistance.

We had several fun moments today, drying Tyler out was one of them. We’re told that the bottom gets rather sweaty in the cast and two diapers. So we aired the boy out today for about 20 minutes. And of course, we had to get a picture. One day he’s going to be married–and we’ll need some embarrassing photos to show his future wife.

He is enjoying the camera at the moment. He likes us to film him, load it on the computer, and then he watches himself on the computer. He thinks this is the funniest thing, and he finds “computer Tyler” to be a funny character. It’s nice that he can laugh at himself.

We ventured out of the house this evening for a pizza party down the street. Luckily it was chilly, or we would not have been able to go outside due to Tyler possibly overheating in the cast. I am thrilled that this happened now, instead of in the heat of summer or in the icy winter. He had trouble laying in the wagon while everyone else was playing kickball, so David ran home for a lawn chair, and we set him up to watch everyone. He asked to play ball several times, and doesn’t quite know why he can’t play. He did enjoy a cupcake and the way he devoured it was fun for him and us to watch.

Tyler understands that he has limitations. Its funny…when he wants something he removes his blanket, points in the general direction of what he wants, acts as if he is trying to get up and he says “I can’t get it.” But he won’t tell us what he wants straight out, he prefers this little guessing game, when we go through 10-20 things before he says “car.” This game wears on our patience.

Tomorrow, David goes back to work–so that should be a new challenge for me. There will be moments, to be sure, where we may question the challenge we have been given. But these 58 days will go by quickly, and I hear that there are some parents who can do the double diapering in the middle of the night, in the dark, so we’ll sharpen our skills pretty quickly it seems. And Tyler too will hone his skills in his spica cast–who knows, maybe you’ll see a YouTube video of Tyler doing a spica spin (watch the video–it’s a good laugh!)

A video from this morning with Tyler and Addie. He calls her “my Addie” and this was the first time he held her in his cast. He keeps moving her head, because he thinks I am taking their picture and he wants her to look at the camera.

Tyler is a creature of habit–more so than Caitlyn ever was. Caitlyn would just do whatever, as I never really structured the day. I had a fly by the seat of my pants attitude with just one child. With Tyler, we were dictated by Caitlyn’s school schedule, and I worked more hours–so we got in to a routine together.

We have a wake up routine. I walk in, and Tyler always greets me with “Good night sleep?” He is asking how I slept when he does this. I always answer yes, and ask him the same. Then he goes through the list of family, asking and telling me where everyone is. “Where Mandy? Work. Where Daddy. Work. Where Lisa. School. Where Daniel. Ball.” (He thinks Daniel’s a professional ball player–soccer and volleyball.) This goes on for a while, as there are lots of people in the family to talk about. This morning, when David and I went to wake him, he asked “Good night sleep?” This is the first time since Sunday that he’s said this to us. A small step in the right direction. He did not go through the list of where everyone was–but that’ll probably return soon.

But the routine is also proving to be frustrating for him–since he was used to going out to the bus stop to see Caitlyn off first thing. He asked to get his shoes on this morning to go outside with Caitlyn. He folded his arms and whined when I told him no. We also tended to leave right after Caitlyn got on the bus (and this has only been since I’ve been on leave) to go to story time, or the mall or park to play. Right now he plays with a toy for 15-20 minutes, gets bored and frustrated and throws his toys to the floor. We’ve got to figure out how to keep him entertained. I can’t handle watching the same episode of Thomas 40 times a day. I feel badly that he’s missing out on time at the park, and at story time, and at the zoo (our favorite thing to do).

He finally has returned to some regularity (if you know what I mean) today. We’ve been waiting for that, wondering what that would be like in the cast. Today, not that bad. But he’s been having trouble the last few days, and the medicine he’s on isn’t helping the matter–so we’re praying to stay regular.

Frustration for Tyler is the hardest part (for David and I.) We’re trying to remind him that he can do things, and that he doesn’t have to cry when a car falls between his legs and he can’t reach it. We are trying to pull out something new every day, it’s like 58 days of Christmas for Tyler–so he doesn’t grow too bored. We went to the “zoo” tonight on Animal Planet. We all watched a documentary on Tigers, and Tyler pointed out all the animals he knew. Caitlyn got in to discussion on the difference between jaguars and leopards–too much Go Diego Go for her. It kept him entertained for at least 45 minutes–we’ll have to put that on the DVR for later.

Tomorrow is another day, and we’re hoping it goes like today. We see small improvements physically (less swelling today) and know that we have a long road to go. Our concerns now are the skin breaking down due to pressure from the cast and rashes. We’re also being more careful about insuring that crackers stay out of the cast.

We have a follow up appointment on Monday with his ortho specialist. We’ll get to take x-rays and from what I’ve heard–it could be painful. It’s at 10:45am, so we’re asking for lots of prayers then for Tyler to stay calm and pain free.

We’ve had a big day in our house. Caitlyn calls it “my best day ever!” Caitlyn’s been trying to lose her training wheels for a while, and tonight David pulled out a wrench (I think) and walked to Caitlyn announcing, “you’re going to ride with no training wheels tonight.” I’m thinking, great, we’re going to get a frequent buyer card at Children’s, and Tyler was lying in his wagon enjoying the cool weather.

But, she took right off, without David running behind. We were all very excited, and it was quite a celebration at our house. We had to announce it to the whole world right away, so here we are! It is very exciting to celebrate Caitlyn, when we’ve only focused on Tyler this whole week. She’s managed so well, this far, and tonight, she got to be the center of attention. She’ll provide demonstrations all day tomorrow, starting at 2

She was a little bummed that not a single friend was outside, to show off too, so I am sure we’ll be waking with the sun to look outside to see who comes outside first. (Her YouTube video will have to come tomorrow, as it was too dark to get good video. She wants to see herself on the computer though, so look for it soon.)

Tyler’s showing us that he can still get his groove on, even with no leg use. Thanks to Aunt Mandy’s mad DJ skills, he got moving this afternoon. Enjoy the show!

I had a woe is me moment last night. After the party (which was fun, and enjoyable for all of us,) Caitlyn’s face started to swell up. She was having an allergic reaction to something–we’re not sure what. It was a bit more than I could handle at that exact moment, and I looked at David and said “why is this happening to us?” He looked at me, and basically told me to snap out of it, that this was not a big deal. (She’s fine this afternoon by the way.)

And he’s right. Today, I needed to run out and get regular Tylenol (since we’re off the Coedine.) In front of the grocery store was a husband and wife, holding a cardboard sign saying that their family needed food, and they needed help. It made me realize that we’re fine–we have food on the table and a roof over our heads, and the ability to get the care that Tyler needs to heal his leg.

Then I got home, and there was a catalog on the desk that I was preparing to look at. I was at a craft show with my neighbor, and she was telling me about a party they were at for Thirty-one, they sell all sorts of gifts. Then we saw their booth, at the show, and she encouraged me to pick up the catalog, which I did. As I was looking at the catalog, the thirty-one kept sticking out at me. I wondered what the company background was, so I googled them. I thought there might be a link to Proverbs 31 (there is.) I’ve honestly never read Proverbs 31 before, but have heard the radio ads for Proverbs 31 Ministries. In my googling that site also came up, and I happened to click on their daily devotions link.

My devotion for the day: “But He knows the way I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” Job 23:10 (NIV) 

The first appointment went very well. The x-rays frightened Tyler, but they didn’t seem to cause him any pain. The specialist says that the bones are healing the way they are supposed too, and no adjustments need to be made at the moment. We will go back next Monday, and if all goes well the doctor will see us 4 weeks later to remove the cast. So we might see Tyler’s legs again November 10th.

Thank you for all the prayers and get well wishes for him.

Tyler is officially over this whole cast thing. It is definitely irritating him. He is bored, most of the time, and frustrated with his limits. The doctor said that Tyler could crawl, if he can figure it out–but we’re not sure that he will figure it out.

We’re trying to figure out ways to keep him from getting bored, but his limitations are causing our options to be limited. When he goes outside now he wants to walk, run and jump, and he’s not able. David did manage to get him up for some “super baby” tonight. He must have some strong arms. Tyler kept saying again–poor David

We’re trying to figure out which pumpkin farm will be most accommodating for Tyler, so that we can still do some of our traditional activities. We’re not quite sure what he’ll be dressing up as for Trick or Treat. We’re open to suggestions!

Caitlyn finally got her video taken today, and wanted everyone to see her ride her bike. Her new freedom is exciting to her, and she loves to take off with all the kids around the street. If she didn’t have a four house rule, she’d be driving circles around the neighborhood.

I wish I would have started a tick sheet with how many times we’ve watched Thomas (I think we’d be up to 3,000 by now.) If I am going stir crazy, poor Tyler’s got to be bored stiff. He’s been playing cars still, and coloring–luckily those seem to keep him entertained. He is still enjoying having visitors, though the novelty of showing off the cast seems to be wearing thin. He prefers to keep it covered under one of his many blankets.

It’s funny the things that he is looking forward to each day. He loves when Caitlyn comes home from school. And she usually has a book in her arms that she “reads” to him. Which is good practice for her, and very kind of her too. Then Tyler loves when the garage door goes up. A great big “Hi Dad!” from wherever it is that he’s resting. When David comes home, Tyler has much more freedom than during the day. David ventures outside with him, and will hold him and watch Disney movies. Tyler loves to sit on David in the evenings.

I gave Tyler another bath yesterday, and found some food that he must be storing for winter He had NutriGrain bar crumbs, Goldfish, and Peanut Butter Crackers tucked in his cast. In the evening, Mom found four pretzels stuck to the back of his cast. Poor kid. No wonder the doctor laughed at me when I asked what color would show the least dirt in 6 weeks. Luckily we don’t have any funny smells, though we’ve been told to tuck dryer sheets inside to keep him smelling…flowery.

We have another follow-up appointment on Monday. At 10:55, so please offer up a prayer for Tyler that the x-ray doesn’t frighten him, and that he’s progressing as he should be.

It’s hot. I know I’m not a huge fan of eighty degree weather, but I’m even less of a fan right now. As our thermometer notches higher and higher, I wonder if the itchiness will start. We tried to keep Tyler inside this weekend, but its not easy when Caitlyn gets to go outside to play, and when Daddy goes out to wash the Camaro.

We decided against the pumpkin patch because of how hot it got, but then at the last minute decided to take the kids to the Zoo. We love the zoo, and there was a car show today.  The zoo and cars, Tyler’s favorite things. Important items when your kid is in a wagon face up towards the sky: a hat or sunglasses–we had neither. So, Tyler got a new pair of penguin sunglasses.

Caitlyn is not fan of car shows….not one bit, so this was a bit of a drag for her. And by the time we finally made it in to zoo to look at animals, it was 85, and there was only so much Capri Sun to go around. Tyler fell asleep by the time we got to the fish, and we knew it was time to go. It was a quick trip, and as Caitlyn said “the most boring trip to the zoo ever.” We are definitely not ready to venture out like that yet. And, honestly, it felt like lots of people were staring. We heard lots of people talking about Tyler, and “the broken leg.” Lots of finger pointing. It wasn’t very fun. Luckily, not one itch.

We kept our adventurous attitude going, and decided to try eating out tonight. We did it, but it was a tad rough at times. He kept sliding down in the booth. We were able to fit him in though. And eating is difficult, since he doesn’t exactly sit upright. And of course, I thought Buca would be fun. Yeah, spaghetti in the cast! Seriously. But we did have fun, and it was better than sitting in a lawn chair at the dinner table.

The fun continued when we got home, and our neighbors Boo’d us. You know, ring the doorbell, leave a treat, and run. Caitlyn did it yesterday, and today we got it back. They brought stickers, and puzzles and craft things. Enough to keep us busy tomorrow. Tyler loved a sticker sheet with Frankenstein’s all over. He stuck them all over his cast. He made quite a mess, and had the stickers confiscated.

He seemed to have a fun day today, which was good since we’ve had some rather boring ones all in a row. I think we’re not going to be able to do some of our regular fall activities, which is a bit sad–especially since this is Addison’s first fall.

We continue to count our blessings for the generosity of our family, friends and neighbors, as they help us out; and send prayers and good wishes our way. We appreciate everyone very much.

Any hopes of seeing Tyler’s leg on November 10th were dashed today. His x-rays showed good progress, new bone is growing. We were able to see the progression from completely broken until today, and we could see the bone is almost back together. (He hated the x-rays just as much as last week, I could hear him crying from down the hall.) The doctor said that Tyler could get his cast off in four weeks…but oh, wait, the doctor will be on vacation. How does November 17th sound? Clearly, I am frustrated by this. David believes that it will be good for Tyler to have another week–that way the bone gets nice and sticky, but I am not happy about an extra week, just for kicks.

The doctor also informed us that getting the cast off can be traumatizing. He won’t be in pain, but it could be really scary for him. And he’ll be gross from dead skin cells. But at least he’ll have that thing off. So, the new countdown can begin: 35 days to go until the cast off appointment.

Tyler learned to crawl this afternoon. I was cleaning in the kitchen, and had left him on the floor in the dining room to play cars. The next thing I knew I heard cars scratching at the wood floors. He’s pretty pleased with his new found independence. He couldn’t wait to show Caitlyn his new trick!

Okay, we’re now on day 18 of this adventure. Addie is 6 weeks old today, and life is beginning to resume to normal. At least the new normal  Tyler is enjoying his new freedom and I laugh when I hear him say “Mom, where you at?” Then I hear the clunk clunk clunk of his cast hitting the floor. He does seem to have some break down of the skin, which we don’t want. It is near the back of his diaper, the most common area to have break down. We’re going to have to air him out more, as we do not want this to happen, especially with another 4 1/2 weeks in the cast. I am now allowed, officially, to move him, which is good. That will allow more flexibility for him during the day.

Caitlyn’s not enjoying Tyler’s limitations one bit. David was giving her a shower last night, and this morning he told me that she’s very disappointed that we’re not going to the pumpkin patch and Boo at the Zoo. They were having a conversation together, and they talked about it. (Caitlyn also asked David at what grade are you allowed to start kissing! Oh boy!) So we are going to try again for the pumpkin patch on Saturday morning. Hopefully we can have light crowds. I worry about him being jostled about. Finally the weather has broken, and we’ve got cooler weather, so we don’t have to worry about him sweating too much. 

 

Caitlyn’s also getting frustrated that her picture isn’t posted as much as Tyler’s. She told me that I needed to put her online too. So, I am posting a picture of her holding Addison, her favorite thing to do. Addie’s smiling more and more, and Caitlyn enjoys making funny faces at her.

You know those weekends which are just jam packed with stuff to do? We had one of those this weekend. Hardly had a moment to stop and catch our breath. We visited the Pumpkin Patch, went to a neighborhood Halloween Party, cheered on the Buckeyes, celebrated Mom’s birthday, took in the Columbus Marathon to cheer Daniel on, and tried to get some things done around the house. Whew!

The kids enjoyed the pumpkin patch. We managed to get Tyler on the haywagon, and he enjoyed his first ride. He (and Caitlyn) also enjoyed seeing the tractors on the farm. Tyler wanted to be up and out of his wagon the whole time, which was difficult since he gets so heavy so quickly. Luckily there were plenty of us to keep passing him around. Caitlyn, David, Dad (yep, even though he is less than 6 months from his bypass) and David (yes, both David’s) each got to do a zipline, which was a highlight of the day. Tyler enjoyed seeing everyone fly through the air.

We got to dress up the kids in the afternoon, and enter a costume parade. Tyler was able to dress up as Thomas, as the costume just draped over him. He won “Most Wonderful” and Caitlyn won “Most Sweetest” costume. They had fun parading around to “Monster Mash.” Tyler wanted to participate in all the games that were being played, and when he couldn’t do it, he got frustrated. It was sad that he had to miss out on the fun.

We celebrated Mom’s birthday Saturday night even though it isn’t until Tuesday. I won’t (50) say (50) how old (50) she is. Tyler loved the ice cream, and singing happy birthday.

David and I got to go cheer on Daniel (his brother) in the Marathon on Sunday morning. We enjoyed watching for him, and cheering him on as he ran 26.2 miles! We also enjoyed having some time away from the house by ourselves. We don’t get too many offers to watch 3 kids, especially with a one month old and a boy in a body cast!

We don’t have a follow up appointment this week, just our cast off day on November 17th. Four weeks to go until we see his legs again.

What a crazy weekend…I’m another year older, quite a bit colder, very tired of hospitals, and love sticky noodles. My birthday weekend (and yes, I celebrate my birthday for days–just ask my family) started out cloudy, and rainy. And then it was very rainy. We did get to go to Applebee’s (shout out to Jess for travelling so far to be with us) and we all managed to fit in the booth. Tyler and Caitlyn enjoyed eating cake, and singing Happy Birthday Cha Cha Cha!

On Saturday, Tyler enjoyed watching football all day, clutching the pigskin the whole time. It reminds me of how David likes to watch football. I think it’d be funny if he chooses to play football over hockey. Of course he won’t be playing any sport for quite a while. He’s got 21 more days to go, we’ve crossed the halfway point, and tonight, I feel as if I see the light at the end of the tunnel.

David had planned to take me to Jeffersonville Sunday to wrap up my birthday weekend. I delayed him, because I wanted to check my e-mail before we left. I have a small addiction to the Internet. It’s a good thing I checked, because we were alerted that there was a farm accident in Kentucky that caused harm to our family.

As you’ve all prayed for us for so long now, I ask that you lift up my Great Uncle, Virgil Cole. He has had surgery today, which resulted in the amputation of his leg. He is blessed to be alive, and is currently here in Columbus, at Riverside, receiving care. Pray for peace for his family and comfort for those who witnessed the accident.

Continue to keep Tyler on your prayer lists, as he is frequently telling us that his leg hurts. He is bending his toes on his leg, and that doesn’t seem to cause him pain, but he does tell us daily that he has pain in his leg. I’m not sure what he truly feels, and we grow frustrated when we try to understand what is causing him pain. It’s tough that he can’t put in to words where it hurts. He enjoyed dinner tonight–flinging noodles around through the whole night. It was an afterthought, to throw some spaghetti on the stove. No sauce, just noodles–sticky noodles. He’d grab one, fling it around (like a tether-ball string) his finger, and then say “I eat it!” He’d drop them on the floor, and tuck them right above his cast–oh, noodles…

I’m back to work now, you probably guessed, as the blogs have slowed. I will still post our progress, and hope you’ve enjoyed reading about our journey.

This morning when Tyler woke up, I changed his diaper. There was blood all over the left side, where it tucks in to the cast. And there was blood on his bed. When I look down in the cast, it seems like the lining has gotten stuck to his skin and is ripping the skin away. It’s very hard to tell where the blood is coming from.

They are paging Tyler’s doctor, but he’s in surgery right now, so Tyler’s just sitting on towels until we find out what to do next. With as much blood as there is inside the cast, I doubt he will be in it until the 17th. It already smells, and this certainly can’t be sanitary.

Pray that this doesn’t mean steps backwards. Pray that if we need x-rays that the bones have healed, and if Tyler’s cast needs to come off, that the process is an easy one.

I will update as soon as we know more.

We’re heading down to Children’s. He is to be seen at 2:15. He will have an X-Ray to see how his bone is healing. If his bone is fused enough, then we may not have to stay in the cast. I don’t know what the plan is if his leg hasn’t healed properly.

We are seeing a different doctor than we’ve seen before. Our doctor is in surgery today. Please pray for Tyler, as he is still fearful of the x-ray machine. 

I’ll update when we’re home.

We’re back, and Tyler is currently out of the cast. He has a large sore on the front and back of his left knee. It is larger than my had. It sounds like it blistered, and this morning, the blood that was coming out was due to the blister rupturing. His skin is very sore, and it looks just awful.

He is now in a splint from the bottom of his foot all the way up to his bottom. He will stay in the splint this evening. We have a doctor’s appointment at 8a, and our doctor will be seeing Tyler then. We may end up back in a cast tomorrow, we have to wait and see.

He has tried twice to get off the couch, but he is not allowed to do this. We’re trying to keep him still, but after 30 days in the cast, he’s ready to use some of his new freedom.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

All the major highways in Columbus. I was on them all today. More than once. More than twice even. It seems that Cortic-Aid is a difficult skin paste to find. It also seems that CVS thinks Cortaid is the same thing. They’re not. Trust me.

Tyler’s appointment today brought me frustration. Lots of it. His appointment went fine, the doctors and staff are great. He does not need to keep his cast on at this point. It is now off, and he has a splint. He will stay this way until November 17th. Twice each day we will take the splint off and change the dressing over his knee. His leg looked a bit better than yesterday. Still, very raw, and very gross. I will spare you any further details–since some I know are squeamish. *You know who you are*

He only seems to be in pain when touching around the area (obviously) and when his leg is out of the splint. He still needs to be pretty still, but he’s able to take a bath now–Praise the Lord! If you saw how dirty he was under the cast, you’d feel the same way. When they removed the cast yesterday there were leftover Pringles stuck to his back. (Not full size, just crumbs.)

After the appointment, came the chore of going to multiple pharmacies. I was in need of 10 ace bandages and 30 containers of some sort of special gauze, in addition to the Cortic-aid. CVS, didn’t work (learned valuable lesson of memorizing what I’m prescribed, so as not to get the wrong thing.) I was told to go to a special medical equipment pharmacy. So down High Street I went. Special pharmacy, even more special prices. Do Ace bandages really cost $11 each? All of Tyler’s medical supplies could buy two nice Coach bags. Sigh. We’re waiting, patiently mind you, to find out what the insurance will cover–however it sounds like it may not be covered since it is a wound. I thought wounds were medical issues–guess not. This pharmacy also wanted to give me Balmex (yes the diaper rash cream) in place of Cortic-aid, thinking that’d do the trick. Nope!

Back to Children’s Hospital, where I had the lovely tour of the basement to find the Medical Supply Distribution hole in the wall. Finally got the cream I needed. 5 hours later, home I was headed.