LEO'S FIESTA!

Leo turned TWO today, but he'll always be the baby of this group. Happy Birthday to one of the sweetest, cutest, most opinionated little guys I know!

Let me at that cactus cake!

Cora is always surrounded by boys...

Hugs for the birthday boy (happy as can be playing in the dirt, as usual)

His parents let him join the Biker Gang!

THE MOUNTAIN RANGES AND SECRET BONE FRAGMENT

 So, your bones are suppose to look like cue balls. There were multiple areas of Jay's ankle that did not. They instead looked like mountain ranges:

The other photo I found particularly interesting was of the bone fragment that the surgeon found inside his ankle joint, which she hadn't known was there prior to surgery. This thing is what was responsible for the clicking in Jay's ankle when he walked:

 (Obviously the bone fragment is the white elliptical thing. The other thing you see is the surgeons metal tool.)

FOLLOW-UP APPT AND THE SAFETY CONE LEG

Today was the day we were anxious about, but everything turned out just fine. Seems the surgery took so long because there really was just "quite a mess to clean up" in Jay's ankle. Not only did he have the osteochondral lesion (the hole in his talus bone) that required drilling into (which they couldn't get to from the front, hence the reason they flipped him over and had to intubate him) and the large ossified piece of loose bone floating above his Achilles that needed removing, but there was a second piece of loose bone stuck inside the front joint, as well as enough bone spurs in different places that the surgeon called the front of his ankle a "mountain range" of spurs. The pictures are quite interesting, I'll have to scan them in... Anyway, it took two incisions on the front of his ankle and two in the back, plus the hole for the scope to go in. If you are squeamish about pictures of wounds or bruising (or feet, for that matter), look no further. If you're as interested as we were, read on (and be grateful I left all the close-ups out of this post)!

First layers of the splint and gauze removed.

That's one sad, swollen ankle.

Lots of deep bruising, more swelling, and inflammation (of the scope incision).

Ouch, right?

Meditating through the pain/discomfort of the exam and cleanup.

Getting the stitches removed. More ouch.

Joking around now as the worst is over. Oh wait, you want me to flex my foot? Ouch again.

Watching the fiberglass cast get placed was cool (and super fast). Lots of gauze underneath for comfort.

Trimming the toe area. Jay requested extra room for his hobbit toes.

And there we have it. Jay all decked out in safety orange for visibility in the work hallways.

He goes back in 2 weeks to have the cast removed, at which point they'll do x-rays, manipulate the ankle more, and put him in a boot. He still won't be able to put pressure on his ankle (no walking or driving), but his doctor says there's a fine line with osteochondral lesions - they need to be immobilized to heal, but if left immobilized too long you can lose movement all together.

Stay tuned, we'll post pictures from the scope at a later date...

PROGRESS

Tomorrow Jay goes to the doc, gets the details on why his surgery took 3.5x longer than expected, and will have his cast put on. Hopefully the cast (after some initial new pain due to manipulation) will make his ankle feel better and he'll be less worried about the kids bumping into it.

Coming downstairs for bedtime stories, his sweet new ride parked close by, ankle propped on a comfy basket of freshly folded laundry (and a pillow for good measure):

(This photo is actually from last night. Today he was able to come downstairs when I got off work, and was sweet enough to watch the kids solo for 2 hours while I went to spin class. They didn't make it easy on him, but he says it wasn't too bad. Our friend Mary Beth brought us a delicious dinner of jambalaya, corn on the cob, and corn bread, so I was super grateful for the ability to go to class and know that Jay was well fed while I was out - and I had two huge helpings when I got home, delicious! Thank you Mary Beth!)

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: 2013

 (Note: "Daddy Doctor" means that he wants to be a doctor who takes care of daddies, like his new doctor, our family practitioner, who is male, and not a "baby doctor" like our old female pediatrician, though it also means he wants to be a daddy AND a doctor. He's complex at age 4.)

 Showing off their (self chosen) backpacks.

Oh yes, we are indeed in the age of superheroes and princesses...

 Heading into school.

Old pros by this point and no nerves from anyone, not even mom.

 Quick pictures in front of their classroom doors, and I'm out!

Have a great day kiddos, daddy and I love you so very much!!

SUNDAY SOCIALIZING

The kids and I scored an invitation to the Kennedy's house this afternoon for a play date, craft date, and dinner date. Oh my! Christina offered to help me provide Jay with a quiet house and the kids were more than happy to go play with their buddies Will and Lauren. Thank you guys so much for having us over (and grilling up a delicious dinner)!

Craft project, phase one - paint the canvas with glow in the dark paint:

Allow paint to dry while swimming and splashing the glow paint off their hands:

Craft project, phase two - add star stickers, then cover canvas in black paint:

Follow that up with some bike riding:

And a little more splashing (Al was such a good sport about letting James shoot the water gun at him):

Then clean clothes, dinner and desert, and fingers crossed for an early bedtime. It totally worked.

(P.S. The glowing star canvas was part success, part fail. James' creation worked, even though his stars, once the stickers were removed, were pretty ragged around the edges. They glow though. Cora and Will however had no such luck. Their stars peeled off straight down to the canvas, so no glow for them. I'm attempting to remedy the situation by stamping foam stars into the paint on top of the black paint, but we shall see. There is a reason I don't craft much... The kids had fun though, so what does it really matter, eh?)

WE ALMOST FORGOT PICTURES!

This week was so super busy (and hectic and chaotic and all that), and we spent so much time in the water (Geyser Falls on Saturday, the YMCA outdoor pool on Sunday, the splash park on Monday, and the YMCA indoor pool on Wednesday and Friday), and I lost my camera (under the seats in the van...), so we were terrible about taking photos (with our phones, when we remembered). To remedy the lack of pictures of the kids with their Grambot, we snapped some quick group shots today before leaving for the airport. And it was WAY TOO STINKING HOT to go pose for portraits outside...

MELTING AT THE PLAYGROUND

In Mississippi, the only way to survive the summer is to either stay indoors in the air conditioning, or make sure you are in a pool or splash pad when outside. Today I gave the kids multiple options for fun indoors activities after dropping Grambot off at the airport (boo, we wanted her to stay another week!), and they vetoed everything I suggested and asked for the "great, big, giant playground" instead. So we grabbed a picnic lunch (along with the cooler of drinks I'd packed from home, just in case) and attempted to survive two hours or so in the heat. It wasn't long before the kids found the fountains and abandoned the playgrounds to go cool off in the water (hope that was an allowable activity... there were no signs, and this playground is famous for their "no fun for you!" signs), but they braved another round of slides and climbing afterward. Note to kids: slides are hard to go down when your clothes are soaking wet (mama hadn't planned for a water park activity today, so swimsuits were not in my bag of tricks). They were wiped out on the drive home and slept the whole way (after eating half a bag of sour gummy worms...), and I crashed with Cora when we got to the house (after setting James up with ANOTHER viewing of Lego Batman The Movie). Good fun, and a good way to distract the kids when they're sad that Grambot is getting on an airplane. We miss you already mom!

Can I just say that it was AWESOME that they played TOGETHER the ENTIRE TIME?!

Just a wee bit sweaty...

Hey mommy, there's a splash pad fountain over there? Can we play?

Then back to the slides, soaking wet and crazy hair and all!