Happy Turkey Day!!

We were lucky enough to get to spend Thanksgiving with both of our families again this year.
We had dinner with the Sharpe's (below) on Thanksgiving Day, and spent the afternoon with the Smith's (above) the following Saturday. As always, we ate too much--but had an awesome time with our families. We have so much to be thankful for.

Tummy Time

Hayden knew that Erica was having her cast taken off Tuesday, and when Jon dropped him off that morning at Preschool he ran around telling everyone "Do you know what today is? It's a BIG day....Erica get's her cast off today!" Unfortunately, when Hayden got home from school, Erica was still napping, and this made him very sad. He kept asking to go into her room, and just take a "quick peek" of her without her cast. It was pretty cute to see his excitement.

After Erica woke up, I laid out a blanket on the living room floor for her to roll around and play on. Hayden got out a bunch of toys, positioned them around Erica, and then laid down right next to her on the floor to play. It was the sweetest thing.

Here he is giving her hugs and snuggling....

Erica's Big Day!!

We had been looking forward to cast removal day since we learned of Erica's need for this major hip surgery back in July of this year. We knew that another 6 weeks in a Spica cast was going to be hard on all of us. Fortunately, we were quite prepared for what to expect and for how to care for her in the cast--being that this was her 4th Spica cast and all. Not to mention that we had a SWEET Spica chair to accommodate her (Thanks Daddy!). Never the less, after surgery on October 8th, the countdown began for cast removal on the 20th of November. We tried to not wish the time away, but let me tell you--that is much easier said than done!

Here we are at Gillette Children's Hospital for the big unveiling:

Before (Obviously) :)

During:
Our first glimpse of Erica's legs after the top half of her cast was lifted!

After:
Relieved, happy, and on our way to x-ray!

Here we are in Radiology getting ready to have x-rays done of her pelvis & hips.
Below are her x-rays following cast removal, which is 6 weeks following her bony reconstructive surgery (aka.. pelvic and femoral Osteotomy)



It's a little hard to see the dysplasia in her left hip if you aren't used to seeing x-rays of the pelvis, but I mainly posted her x-ray for you to see the hardware (plate and screws) holding her L hip and femur in proper position (the light area in the middle of her pelvis is just shielding that they put over her ovaries to prevent radiation exposure). As I mentioned on her Caring Bridge page, her surgeon was very pleased with these follow up x-rays, and feels that her L hip is much improved, and the areas of bone grafting are healing well.

While waiting to see Dr Novacheck in an exam room, Erica remembers how to roll over from her tummy to back, and back to tummy-- so exciting!!

Next we head to Rehab for a whirlpool bath, and a Physical Therapy Evaluation.



Here is sweet E enjoying her first tubby time in 6 weeks!! You should've seen her splashing!!



Erica enjoying some Play therapy, where we were finally able to assess how much range of motion and mobility she has coming out of her cast. As you can see--she surprised us all, and is dong quite well, however quite wobbly and she really guards that left hip in sitting, rolling and standing. This is probably due to joint stiffness, some residual pain, and muscle atrophy.



She stands alone!! Our proudest moment all day!



And finally around 3:00 pm we head home from our long, eventful day at Gillette (cast removal was at 9:50 am). Erica hadn't napped all day, so here she is sleeping soundly in the back seat. In a normal car seat, I might add!!!

WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!!

3 Days and Counting...........

Hello my fellow bloggers, sorry for the long delay since my last entry. Life has been busy, but we haven't been taking too many photos lately, so I apologize for the lack of good photo footage with this entry. As most of you know, we are finally in the home stretch until Erica's cast removal on Tuesday, the 20th--so I guess I am saving up my camera batteries until the big day and weeks following when she takes off again! We are dying to see her roll, crawl, walk, and climb again! Heck, we are just dying to see her legs, put normal diapers on her, cuddle her, and give her a bath in the tub again. It's really the small things that you miss most when your baby is stuck in a body cast.

Here are a few photos from our trip to Como Zoo last weekend. It was a beautiful fall day, and we hadn't been to Como in a really long time, so we packed up a picnic lunch, and headed out for the zoo and conservatory. It was a really fun day--despite a lot of the outdoor exhibits being shut down for the winter.

Two of our favorite zoo animal sightings............

Last night the four of us attended the opening of "Frog and Toad" at the Children's Theater. It was magnificent! The acting and singing were superb, and the scenes and sets changed frequently enough that it kept both Hayden and Erica's attention for two hours. We didn't get home until close to 10pm, so H & E actually slept until almost 8am this morning. Yea Haw!!

We got Hayden's Preschool photos back this week, so thought I'd share.....he's such a big boy, and learning so quickly. We love the stories he tells, and all of the hilarious things he says. Just as an example....the other night I was taking him on a date to see the Bee movie at the Southdale theater. When I took his winter hat off, his hair was sticking up all over, so I did the typical mom--lick my hand and try and get his hair to lay down with a little spit. He pulls away from me and says "Ah mom, you just put lick in my hair....lick off your tongue." Yep, yep I did....I started laughing so hard, I had to call Jon and tell him what had happened. Oh the things you do as a parent......it's a little embarrassing, really. What's even worse is that now Hayden is old enough to call me on it!

And finally I will leave you with a photo of Erica's cute little legs--just in case you forgot what she looked like without a Spica Cast on.....I know we have!

Happy Halloween!!

Jon, Hayden, Erica & I spent the evening at Nana and Papa Sharpe's home in Edina. Marilyn made us a beautiful, healthy dinner before we went out and filled our bellies with candy and junk food!! We then got the kids all dressed up in their costumes, and headed out to trick or treat around their neighborhood.

Above are the pumpkins we carved this year...I carved the wolf on the left, and Jonathan carved the bat on the right. I want you to know, though, that I carved mine the old fashioned way--with a little carving knife and lots of sweat. Jon used an air saw hooked up to his air compressor in the garage --I was sure to tell him that this is CHEATING! He disagrees, of course, and feeds me the line about "anything that can be done, can be done better with a motor." Yep, that's my husband for ya! :)

Here is Hayden, the little monkey--or Curious George. Either way, it fits his personality, and I have been calling him a "stinky monkey" for some time now as a nickname, so it really seemed appropriate this year!!

Next we have E.Rae, who has always been our little pumpkin--amongst many other weird nicknames (like stinky monkey), so she wore the pumpkin costume this year. Why, you ask? Well, because Hayden wore it at two, so why not get another wear out of it? May as well get your money's worth, right!? I did have to rip the seams out of the crotch and sew in Velcro this year, though, to fit over her cast. All in the name of love, I tell ya!

And finally, a photo of the two of them--sharing a Halloween hug
(although it looks a little one sided)!

Pine Tree Apple Orchard

We started the tradition a few years back of going to the Apple Orchard in the fall with some of our friends and their kiddo's. This was our second year at the Pine Tree Apple Orchard in White Bear Lake, and it really is a beautiful place.

Here are all of the kids from L to R: Hayden, Paige, Erica (above), Natalie, Josie, and Breanna. Yes, Hayden is still the only boy of the group--but he doesn't seem to mind a bit!!

Here we all are getting ready to go on our hayride. I wonder why they still insist on calling it a "hayride" even without the hay??

The requisite photo of Hayden "driving" the tractor!
A quick snuggle for Hayden and Jonathan beside the lake.
......and finally Erica munching on popcorn and looking so stylish in her new, pink hat.

A Zoorific Day!

I heard a statistic the other day, which was something like 17 out of the first 19 days of October have been either overcast or raining. Nice. This is why when the sun came out on Saturday morning, we (Hayden) decided it was a zoo day, for sure.

We started out on the Northern Trail outside, and it was so beautiful. The trees were at their peak color change, and ranged from yellow to bright red. It was so warm outside, we were wishing we hadn't worn sweaters, although we tried not to complain too much after all the cold and rain as of late.

Here are some cute, little Prairie Dogs from the Northern trail. We always love to sit and watch these guys.

Next we headed inside to do the Minnesota Trail and the Tropics Trail. The highlight of our entire day was a beaver sighting. In all the years that we have been members at the MN zoo, we have yet to actually see a beaver out of their den. Yesterday, to our surprise, this big guy (or gal) was just posing for a photo op, right out of our reach. I had to take a picture, as I figured it would probably be another 4 years before we saw another!! :)

Here are Hayden, Jon, and Erica looking under the beaver dam--but there was no action here, as usual!

This gorgeous flower was from inside the Tropics Trail, and matched Erica's outfit so well. I would've picked it, but thought that may be frowned upon.....so instead I just took a picture.

Below we are checking out the smelly warthogs--aka "Pumba!"

And finally--after a long, fun-filled day at the zoo, Hayden and Erica enjoyed some ZZzzz's, and mom and dad enjoyed some silence!!