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

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!

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.

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!)

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!

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

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.

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?

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.