One year pictures!

Ok – just to let you know upfront.  Call it “full disclosure”.  There will be no long post this time.  Nothing wordy.  Not a lot of mumbo jumbo.  Today, we are going to get straight to the point.  No beating around the bush.  We are going to say it using as few words as possible.

…or maybe it’s already to late for that…

At any rate – We have our 12 month pictures back!  We’ve had them for a little while now – but I’ve had trouble getting the pictures and the computer in the same room (or the same state…).

So – without further ado – here are some pictures for you to peruse!  And if you want to see more – just click HERE and you can see them all!

 

“Baby needs a new pair of shoes”

It’s been a little while since there has been a “club feet” update.  Mostly, because there has been nothing to update you on.  It’s been a few months since we’ve seen the orthopedic surgeon – and it’s still another couple of months before our next appointment.

But we HAVE been putting off on task.  Mike has been wearing the same shoes for several months now.  So long, in fact, that his toes were sticking out over the end of the shoe (yes - they are open-toed shoes!) and the straps were hanging on by a thread (literally!). 

We were hoping that Mike would start walking and we could ditch the shoes (and the brace) altogether.  And while he has no problems standing up (as long as his hand is touching something that at least appears stable) he still hasn’t taken those first “solo” steps yet.  That’s not to say that he doesn’t walk.  No sir!  he will walk behind anything that he can stand behind and push around the room.  Chairs.  Walkers.  Cardboard boxes.  You name it.

But that’s not enough for our orthopedic friends!  Nope – they want him to be fully walking with no assistance before they will consider dumping the brace.

So it was off to our favorite orthotics place.  The folks at Hanger’s really are fantastic.  The will bend over backwards and do whatever it takes to make the orthotic device fit as good and comfortable as possible – which is certainly important for clubbed feet kids (remember those pressure points?  We sure do…) but it’s just as important for people with artificial limbs – or any other type of orthotics device.

So – we walked in the door and handed them the shoes and brace.  A quick look resulted in a “Wow!  These have been around the block a few times”.  A quick measurement of Mike’s foot – a quick trip to the back – and viola!  New shoes mounted on the brace.

So – how long have we waited for these new shoes?  Let me put it this way.  His original shoes were a size 00.  The shoes we just replaced were a size 0.  His new shoes are a size 3!  And boy – they sure do go on his feet easier!

Fare well Queen City – we have left the building…

It was a wonderful ride.  Filled with a bunch of fabulous folks who helped us out (and in the famous words of Julius:  by “us” – I mean “me”).  And while I may not have ever found WKRP or Johnny Fever, I did find a great job with a great group of people – even if it was only for a temporary “contract”.

And while I’m not much on your weather – especially the winter weather – I did enjoy following your beloved Reds and beleaguered Bengals.  You provided safe harbor for a stranger and shelter from the storm.  You took me in and treated me as if I was one of your own.

But not everything is permanent – especially in these current times.  I hope that everything continues to go well for you all!  And I’m sure we will be back for a visit (to stock up at Jungle Jim’s if for no other reason!)

In the meantime, we’ve already loaded up the U-Haul and vacated the “Cincinnati Vacation Home”.  And that was quite an ordeal!  It sure would have been easier to carry all of that stuff out if there wasn’t all of that snow in the way (did I mention the winter weather yet?).  But it’s done – and our possessions are now consolidated into two locations (even if they are in two different states!).

And the weekend was not all “packing and loading”.  There was some fun involved too!  There always is when Mike is around!

One of the best times was after running the vacuum in the bedroom.  Mike crawled over to the vacuum and started pushing it around the room making a “WRRRRRR” sound.  I can’t wait to get a toy lawn mower so he can follow me around the yard!  Heck – I might even skip the toy lawn mower and just let him push the real thing around!  After all – he didn’t need a “toy vacuum” to push around…

And while he was there, “the dad” was giving him tips on cell phone testing.  He spent several hours comparing the Blackberry with the DroidX – including the “infant toss test”.  In the end – I think he preferred the Blackberry – but only because it had more buttons!  He wasn’t too impressed with the Droid’s touchscreen…

 

“This blackberry has a BUNCH of buttons I can press!  The droid only has eight tiny ones – what fun is that?”

The (not so) secret big news!

Not that it was every really a secret – but we had some big news happen recently.  Many of you already know the news – but there are plenty of folks that we don’t get to talk to on a regular basis and I’m sure that you don’t yet know.

“The Dad” has a new job!  This time it’s a permanent position (no more contract work – yea!) and it’s with a nice, stable company (have you ever heard of Verizon Wireless?).  And the job is in “The Dad’s” hometown – Evansville Indiana!

In some ways – it’s really exciting.  Mike will be closer to family.  He’ll be able to visit a LOT more with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  And we still have friends in the area.  So it’s certainly not like starting over in a brand new city.

In some ways – it’s a bummer.  Lot’s of friends in Knoxville, “The Mom’s” job is in Knoxville.  Our house is in Knoxville.  But we stay focused on the positives!

But the absolute best part?  We’ll be together – living in the same house – in the same city – as a family!  This road as proven to be a long hard detour – and there are still a lot of things to get done before everything is worked out.  But we are hoping that soon the wind will soon be at our back and the sailing will finally be smooth…

Finally! A few Christmas pics!

Should I be excited that I’m only one month behind?  As hectic as things seem to be right now – I suppose that I should be happy that I have a few minutes to post anything!  But the alternative is to be taking a quiz for my class.  Blogging is WAY more fun than that!

Our Christmas was very different this year.  “The Mom” had finished teaching the fall semester and decided to bring Mike up to Cincinnati to visit with “The Dad”!  While it was strange to be spending Christmas in a temporary apartment in a temporary city – it was fabulous being able to spend it as a family!  We even went to the effort of decorating a Christmas tree!  After all – what kind of an example would we be setting for Mike if we didn’t have a tree…

We woke up Christmas morning and opened up our presents.  Mike is at the age where he will tear the paper off – but then he is more interested in playing with the paper than he is with what’s in the box!  We had a lot of fun watching him…

After Christmas, we spent a couple of days visiting “The Mom’s” family – then a couple of days visiting “The Dad’s” family.  Perhaps it is the holidays, or perhaps it’s that we don’t get to spend much time together as a family, or perhaps its celebrating Christmas with Mike – but this year seemed to be extra enjoyable.  We had an absolutely wonderful time visiting everyone!

It was also great to be spending a couple of weeks together rather than the usual weekend.  All in all, we couldn’t have asked for anything more…

And without further ado – here are some pictures from Christmas day!

“I can’t wait to get the paper off of this box!”

 

Tickle-me Elmo was a big hit.  “La la” is one of Mike’s favorites!

The “Pillow Pet” was another favorite.  He loves to crawl over and lay on it!

Mike tried putting on some of his new clothes…

…he may need some more practice at it!

“I hope you all had a merry Christmas and happy new year!”

I know…

I know I know I know.  Excuses excuses.  We said  that we would keep you updated and we have failed miserably!

And there were so many things that we wanted to share with you, but most of them seem so long ago.  And I know that we should have already had a Christmas post with lots of pictures – but I can’t do that either.  A small technicality.  The camera (with the pictures on it) is some 300 miles from the computer.  Hopefully, they’ll be reunited this weekend and we’ll have something posted next week!

In the meantime, I’ll share a story about a Christmas party.  This happened a couple of weeks before Christmas.  We had it all planned out.  “The Nan” was going to come down and watch Mike while “the Mom” and “the Dad” went out to the party.  An adult night out!  And not just any Christmas party either.  This was our church’s Christmas party.

Now many of you might be wondering – “church Christmas party?” and immediately be filled with thoughts of fried chicken and green bean casserole in the church basement while Christmas carols play on an vintage 1945 radio in the corner.  However, while our church does indeed have some events like this – the annual Christmas party is not one of them.

And many of you might still be questing.  But you need to remember – the pastor of our church is an Irish priest who loves to dance.  So instead of thinking of it as a church Christmas party – think of it as a party that your old Irish buddy planned for 600 of his closest friends.

There was much eating and drinking and merriment.  And dancing (of course) until the wee hours of the morning.  Every year we watch in amazement as Father Michael dances with everyone he can coax out on the dance floor.  He’ll whirl and twirl the girls until they are panting.  Then he’ll let them sit back down and rest while he finds another partner.  He truly is an amazing little fellow – and his dancing ability is just on of the smaller reasons why we like him so much…

So – until next year!  Perhaps we should start looking for a baby sitter now…

It’s been a while!

Howdy folks!  It’s certainly been a while since you’ve heard from us!  We’ll try and get you all caught up.  There has been so much that has happened since the last post that it will certainly take a few posts to get all caught up.  But have no fear – we will get you all up to date!

Remember that last post?  If not, it was about Thanksgiving.  A whopping six weeks ago!  And it’s here that we will begin our journey from the past to the present.

Shortly after Thanksgiving, Mike had his one year checkup.  There were the usual questions, poking, prodding – and the shots.  For this visit, Mike’s “awareness” of the shots changed.  He now recognizes what is going to happen as soon as the nurse walks in the room with the needle.  And he will let you know that he’s not happy about it!  The interesting part is that he was crying before the shot – but once it was over he looked around with an expression like “that was no big deal” and the crying immediately stopped!  That’s much better than him wailing for 5 minutes after the shot is over!

His checkup was fine.  He’s in the 45th percentile for both his weight and head circumference and a little lower percentile on the height scale.  The doctor paid extra attention to his ears since he’s had a history of ear infections.  Again – it was great news!  All clear on the ears!  No signs of any residual infection or fluid build up.  Yippee!  So all the news was good and all was right with the world and we packed up our bags and headed home.

Then came the weekend…

A few short days later (the following Friday night), Mike woke up several times crying.  Uh oh.  We have learned that this is one of his “ear infection signs”.  So Saturday morning, we load up and head back to the doctor’s office.  A quick look in to his left ear and we got a “yep – this one’s got it”.  The other ear was clear, but that gave us little comfort.  Just more proof that it only takes a few days of just slight congestion before the fluid builds up in the inner ear and gets infected.  We are still hoping that he won’t need tubes.  And at least the ear infections are getter fewer and farther between.

And remember that every cloud has a silver lining!  And this one does too.  Our pediatrician (and I’m sure that most other’s are this way too) has kids books in the exam room so that you can keep your little tike somewhat entertained while you are waiting.  On this particular “ear infection” trip – Mike had only a passing interest in the kids books.  Only the Sesame Street book (Elmo is his favorite) held his attention – and that was only for a few seconds.  But what happens when you give him one of the info packets in the room that is meant for the parents to read?  Why he will sit on the exam table like a good little boy and read it himself!  Interestingly enough – he paid the most attention to the diagram of the ear…

“I like this ‘grown-up’ reading material.  It’s much more interesting…”

The update (Part 3)

Hmmm.  At the rate we are going, this “three part update” might turn out to be a continuing series!

If you recall from the last post, we had left off with Mike’s birthday – which was three weeks ago now!  And we are back to that old cliché – time fly’s when you’re having fun (or is it time’s fun when you’re having flies – I never can remember…).  The next day was Thanksgiving…

Thanksgiving certainly was special this year.  The holiday’s are time for celebrating with family.  Sure – technically this was Mike’s 2nd Thanksgiving.  But last year, we had just brought him home from the hospital.  As “brand new parents” (ahhh – those were the days), we were having trouble keeping up with AM and PM – we certainly had no idea what day of the week it was.

And with our current job “situation”, any time that we get to spend together as a family means so much to us!  And being able to spend five whole days together – it was the first time we were able to spend five days in a row for over 7 months – it really was something to cherish.

Mike’s “Nan” had come in the day before.  And we had one more visitor joining us.  After some successful visits to the “eye doctor”, Mike’s “Grandpa Lee” was cleared to make the trip to K-town!  So he hoped in the car Thursday morning and headed our way.

We had a wonderful time with some fabulous food.  A really wonderful “long” weekend and a great way to officially kick off the holiday season!  And have no worries if you weren’t able to make it to our house this year.  We plan on having Thanksgiving dinner at our house again next year!  It’ll be a “double party” since Mike’s birthday will be on Thanksgiving next year.  Come and join us!!!

Mike and Nan checking out the “Black Friday” adds.  Mike is already picking out toys!

We fixed so much food – there’s not an inch of counter space to spare!

Mike and Grandpa discus their dinner plans

Is this stuff done yet?

 

 

Mike is suited up and ready to eat!

 

 

Everybody’s happy after a full belly!!!

The Update (part 2)

Part 2 of our “catch up” series takes us back to this past Wednesday.  Wednesday, November 24th.  It certainly was a big day!  It was Mike’s FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

To coin a phrase, what a long strange trip it’s been (I don’t think Jerry would mind…)

From a parents point of view – it has all gone by so very fast.  We’ve always taken the time to enjoy each of Mike’s “stages”, but it seems like they are here today and gone tomorrow.  It’s just so incredibly hard to comprehend that a year ago, we were sitting in the hospital holding our newborn son.

From Mike’s point of view – I would say that the trip has been even longer and stranger!  Going from a nice comfy cocoon to a bright world full of casts and surgery and braces.  Baths and diapers and changing clothes.  Bottles and food.  Cutting teeth and recovering from colds.  Going from completely stationary to fully mobile.  Talking, sign language, books and toys.  Thanksgiving, Christmas (who’s the dude in the red suit?) to Halloween (why am I dressed like a dog?) and all the crazy holiday’s in between.  Snuggling on laps and taking naps.  Mom and Dad and grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, even dogs for “sisters”.  Don’t forget the magic ceiling fans.  And he takes it all in – studies every little detail – and always has a smile to give you.  Even with all of that craziness…

And how would you celebrate surviving a full year of all that?  With presents, cake and home made ice cream, of course!

It took just a second for Mike to get the hang of ripping the wrapping paper.  Then it became a game!  Not to get the presents open, but to see how many pieces he could tear the paper in to!

 

“Check this out!”

“Whoa!  The paper comes off!”

After the presents, we gave him some home made ice cream.  At first he wasn’t too sure of it – he’s not much on sweet foods.  But the cold felt good on his gums (we think he’s cutting about 37 teeth since he’s puts out around 24 gallons of drool per day).

Then came the grand finale.  His very own birthday cake.  A yummy carrot cake with home made cream cheese icing!  Again – he’s not much on sweets.  but he loves squishing things through his tiny little fingers!  Perhaps the best part was after he had made a grand mess – he decided he didn’t really need the plate and dumped the whole thing.  The dogs ended up eating more of the cake than Mike did!

“What in the heck is this?”

 

“It sure is squishy!”

 

“Did someone say they needed a plate?”

“Maybe I’ll try eating a bite…”

 

 

“Ummm – guys?  Have you seen how dirty and sticky my hands are?”

“Dang!  Cake and ice cream aren’t so bad after all!”

 

One year.  A whole year.  It’s such a cliché to say that it feels like yesterday.  But it is so true.  The cool part?  It’s just the first step down the path of a long, beautiful journey…

 

Once upon a time…

…I was such a…

…beautiful little baby.

 

Now, I’m turning…

 

…into a…

 

 

…beautiful little boy!

The update (part 1)

Obviously, the Thanksgiving holiday has kept us pretty busy and the blog posts have suffered a bit.  But never fear – we are going to get you all caught up and back on track!

And this is “part one” of our installment.  This will take us back to the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  For the whole weekend, Mike had been sleeping a little more than usual and eating a little less than usual.  He was due for another “growth spurt” where he grows “up” instead of “out” and we had decided that the time had come.  We really had no reason to think otherwise…

“The Dad” was just getting ready to leave and head back to Cincinnati.  Mike was just finishing up his supper.  And then it started.  Just a little cough.  That turned into a bigger cough.  Then bigger.  And bigger.  Then some gagging.  And a little more.  And some more.  And then the whole digestive system went into reverse.  He had primarily eaten peas and yogurt.  You can imagine what THAT looked like after it all came back up!

By the next (Monday) morning, it had stopped coming out of that end – but it all started coming out of the other.  Oh joy!  Eight outfits before lunch.  After calls to the doctors office and about a hundred gallons of Pedialyte, it had started to slow a little.  By Tuesday, he still had a touch of diarrhea, but we had definitely crossed over to the recovery side of “the event”.

By Wednesday, Mike was nearly 100%.  And not a moment too soon!  Because Wednesday was Mike’s first birthday!

But for the details on that, you’ll have to wait until part 2…

The results are in…

We woke up this morning with a little bit of apprehension.  Today was the day of “THE BIG DOCTORS APPOINTMENT”.  It’s been the same with every appointment with Mike’s orthopedic doctor.  The same ol’ questions / feelings / concerns / nervousness – and throw in a dash of hope.  It can all be summed up into a common theme.  “I hope everything is ok”…

We loaded up and headed out.  Walked in to the doctors office and signed in.  We waited a short time before the nurse called us back to “the examination room”.  Oh – the memories.  Memories of being in this room while they put casts on our 16 day old baby.  Memories of being back a week later to cut them back off with a Stryker saw and put on the next set of casts.  After his series of casts – which all went from the top of his hips to the tip of his toes – I can’t believe that he didn’t get even one nick from the saw.

The memories of getting the first brace.  Meeting with the orthotics specialists.  Pressure spots developing on Mike’s feet.  Lots and lots of crying (mostly by Mike, but some by mom and dad too…).  Sitting in this very examination room and discussing the tenotomy surgery on a 9 week old baby.  General anesthesia?  On a 9 week old?  A timely message from a fellow blogger who has a child with clubbed feet (Thank you JoAnne!  You’ll never know how much that little message about the tenotomy set our minds at ease…).

Checking in to Children’s Hospital.  Watching them roll our son – our little 9 week old baby – through the double door with the bright red letters “SURGERY”.  Waiting and waiting and waiting in that little waiting room…

More casts.  More Stryker saw (I can’t believe he still has all 10 toes!).  Then more of the dreaded brace.

No – I can’t say my memories of this room are especially fond ones.  But with each visit, the news kept getting progressively better and better.  Perhaps today, that trend would continue.

In comes Dr. Crawford.  A quick examination of his feet.  It all goes much quicker when all you have to take off is his socks!  The usual bending, twisting, turning.  Then the prognosis…

Dr. Crawford looked up and smiled (did he just smile?  He never smiles…  Is this a good?  Is he smiling because he is getting ready to give us bad news?  Trying to soften the blow?  Is he trying to…)

“Mike’s feet are absolutely excellent!”  (WHEW!) 

He went on to say that Mike had more maneuverability and flexibility in his feet than some non-clubbed foot kids.  Things were CERTAINLY looking up!

We still have to wear the brace at night until he starts walking.  Given that Mike is already pulling himself up with no problems and has begun a little “furniture surfing”, Dr. Crawford’s estimates (both as a dad and an orthopedic surgeon) – he (Mike – not Dr. Crawford) should be toddling around in about a month.  Once that starts – we can stop using the brace altogether!

And that is what we call “GOOD NEWS”!  And while that was certainly the bulk of the good news – we also received another little tidbit of good news.  Dr. Crawford told us that the chance of Mike’s feet regressing are “essentially zero”.  We now only have to see Dr. Crawford for “routine checkups” – when Mike turns 18mo, then yearly until he turns 5 just to make double sure that there is no regression. 

Really?  I’ve only got to sit in the little examination room 5 more times?  Really?  Seriously?  AND there’s a chance that he could be out of the brace by Christmas?  Now THAT’S what I call a successful visit to the orthopedic doctor!

Two more days…

Two more days.  Two short little days until it is Thursday.  Thursday, November 18th.

And what is it about Thursday, November 18th?  We have an appointment that day.  And by “we”, I really mean “Mike”.  And it’s not just any appointment.  It’s a doctor’s appointment.  “But”, you say, “Mike has doctor’s appointments all the time.”

True, my friend.  Very true.

But this one is with Doctor Crawford – Mike’s orthopedic doctor.  It’s been month’s since we’ve seen him.  The last appointment was stellar.  Mike’s feet were doing fantastic.

But there is always that little bit of dread that starts creeping in.  After all, bilateral clubbed feet can certainly become a lifelong struggle.  Sure – Mike responded extremely well to the serial casting.  And after a short struggle with his brace, we had the tenotomy procedure done.  After that, Mike responded very well to the brace which holds his feet in position.  So well in fact, that for the last 3 months, he has only had to wear the brace at night when he’s sleeping.

And his feet have had no relapse.  They are still fully corrected.  They still have plenty of pronation.  When he stands on them, he stands flat footed and not on the outside edges.  To the untrained eye – they look perfectly normal.  If we didn’t tell you that he was born with bilateral clubbed feet, you would never even suspect it.

But the key phrase is “to the untrained eye”.  Sure, we might know a little more about bilateral clubbed feet than your ordinary average Joe – but we are still very far from the “expert” range.  The “expert” in our case is Dr. Crawford.  His is the final word.

So, we will cross our fingers, say our prayers, kiss the Blarney stone, rub the Buddha belly, and whatever else we can think of that might bring us “luck”.  

Our little helper…

Mike has reached the age where he is beginning to understand “helping”.  Things like he will “help” you with his bottle – or he will “help” you get the spoon up to his mouth.  He will help you put his arms through his shirt sleeves or put his arms through the straps on the car seat.  When it’s time to get out of the car seat, he will help be sitting up and making it easier to grab him.  There are a ton of other examples, but here is his most recent attempt at “helping”.

We were trying to get some of his clothes folded and put away.  He decided it looked like fun and wanted to help.  He reached in the laundry basket and pulled out some clothes and threw them on the floor.  Then reached in again and pulled out some more.  Then some more.  And some more.  And more.  He had a blast – and thought it was hilarious when we would put the clothes back in the basket.  I have to admit – it was a lot of fun!  More fun than laundry has ever been before.  Now – if we could only get him to fold the clothes instead of throwing them on the floor…

“Look at me ‘folding’ the laundry!”

No no!

I’m sure all parents have stories about when they started trying to teach “right and wrong” to their children.  A couple of examples would be things like – “it’s wrong to eat the dog’s food” or “it’s wrong to try and remove the ‘childproof’ cap from the electrical socket so you can stick your finger in it”.

Of course, you can’t use long winded sentences like that to a 11 month old – so you say the traditional “no no”.  Perhaps you even waggle a finger at them as a signal for “don’t do it –or else”.

I know that we certainly do!  And it seems to be working.  The events that occurred at daycare today seem to be proof!

Mike and Harper were sitting at a table.  The teacher in the room had apparently just finished changing a diaper and was on her way to put the wipes away when a group of parents showed up to pick up their children.  The teacher sat the wipes (securely sealed in a rubber maid container) down on the table where Mike and Harper were sitting.  Shortly afterwards, some of the parents starting laughing.  The teacher turned around and saw that Harper had managed to get the lid off and pull all of the wipes out.  She was wiping her face, the table, the floor.  And there sat Mike – looking over at Harper and saying “No no.  No no.  No no.” all while wagging his finger at her!

That’s my boy!

Mike the teacher…

Yesterday morning we were dropping Mike off at his “school” when we ran in to Harper’s mom.  Apparently, Mike has been teaching Harper some sign language! 

Remember back a few months ago, we took an infant sign language class.  It turned out to be really good – especially with how to teach sign language to an infant.  We’ve been working with Mike – especially with the signs that are “most useful” (like hungry, eat, more, please, mom, and dad – and a few “non-standard”  ones like “go vols”!).  And he’s getting pretty good at them too!

So good, in fact, that when he is getting fed at “school” (he eats with Harper, of course), he’s been showing Harper things like hungry, eat, and more.  It turns out that Mike must be a pretty good teacher because (believe it or not), she has started using them!  Just imagine to 11 month old babies “goo goo” and “gaa gaa” back and forth while signing “more please hungry”.  How cute is that!It’s too bad the teachers aren’t allowed to take pictures of the kids (it’s horrible that we live in a world where something like that is considered a “security risk”) – I would LOVE to see it in action

So yesterday morning, we gave harper’s mom the quick rundown – “this is eat – this is hungry – this is more – this is please…”.  Oh, and if she raises her hands over her head giving the “touchdown” signal – that’s “go Vols”!!!!