Alisea is walking!

It's official. She is walking. Still not very far, but I think we can definitely say she is walking. Yippee, and Oh Noooo!! It's funny how much you look forward to these little milestones, and then wish you could still look forward to them at the same time! She is growing up too fast.

Alisea gets her ears pierced and Ethan outsmarts dad

We decided to go ahead and get Ali's ears pierced. I think if she had any hair, we'd have waited awhile, but the poor kid still doesn't even have enough for a little bow. She only cried for a second (okay, maybe more like 4 minutes) but she seems to be no worse off for it. Anyway, they look so cute and pretty. Now, if she's not wearing pink ruffles, maybe admirers will guess she's a girl. She's still not really walking. She teases us with 2-3 steps, but then goes right back to crawling. I think it's a patience thing, which we are discovering she doesn't have. Wobbling steps just take too long.

Kids are so funny. Ethan has a way of getting the best of his daddy. Today, we had a little picnic at the park and Ethan wasn't eating his sandwich. He wanted the chocolate teddy grahams instead. So, Casey says to him after much argument.. "Ethan, I will give you the world, but first you have to eat your sandwich." Referring to the food we had around, And Ethan replies, as serious as can be, "but I don't want to eat the world." We got a good laugh over that one.

Hope everyone had a pleasant Memorial Day, and had a chance to reflect on what the many men and women service members over the years have sacrificed so that we can enjoy our wonderful freedoms.

Caitlyn gets glasses

Caitlyn is now a fellow "four eyes". She's needed glasses for awhile now, and we finally got her some. Wal-mart was super quick. We were told 7-10 working days, and she had them in 3! I think she looks very grown up and Italian now, and as beautiful as ever. She's in awe at the clarity and detail she can finally see.

I can't help but think about my first pair of glasses. My mom really liked this red-rimmed pair that were HUGE. I had a second pair that were just as big and Owl like. Casey still laughs at just the mention of those things. Caitlyn's are so petite!

Caitlyn goes Dancing

I can't believe my little baby is 12 and going to dances! The church had a youth dance Saturday night, and Caitlyn wanted to go. She rolled her pants and put her hair in the side ponytail to go out and boogie to the 80's music of my day! She commented that lots of dances have 80's themes, and I agreed since we had the best music and "coolest" dress styles then (you all know I'm kidding, right?) She just rolled her eyes at me. It went pretty much as I expected for her. Everyone just stood around talking, and since she didn't know anyone much, she ended up calling for us to come pick her up. Yeah for her new cell-phone (NOT). I wonder if anyone ever uses the phones in the building anymore??? So, Casey picked her up and took her on a date instead to see Caspian. Don't know how many more dates Casey will get with her before she's too "old" for that kinda thing.

Happy Mother's Day and Lellow Bear

Mother's Day is always so nice. It's way better than my birthday, mostly because I don't have to add another year to my already rapidly increasing age, but also because somehow, my family is extra, extra good to me. I must say, though, that I've been waited on hand and foot for 10 days now, so it's been like Mother's Day over and over, but there was definitely more chipperness!!! I am truly blessed.

I have to tell you how funny Ethan has been lately. A couple of days ago, he asked me if I'd use an extra ace wrap I had to wrap his "broken" leg, so I did. A few minutes later, he comes hobbling in with a pillow and asked me if he could sit by me and prop up his leg like me. It was so precious. Then yesterday, his favorite bear, lello Bear (very inventive name for his Yellow Bear, I know) had a broken leg. We put one of Alisea's socks on it, and he made a bed for him in the corner out of his special blanket and propped his leg up too. It is so darn cute.

On another note. I think Alisea will be walking any day. She's taken a step or two forward and then sits down, so it's definitely going to be soon. We got some cute video of her and Ethan in the pool Saturday. Now - how to put it on here.?? If it's on here somewhere later, that means I figured it out.

Come here Ali, Come on!!!

It has been an interesting morning. Caitlyn and Casey are taking a cpr course together (I had planned to do it, but the knee, you know, so Casey took my place so we wouldn't lose the money) which is five hours long plus travel time. As a result, I am holding down (or up) the fort with Ethan and Ali ALONE. Whew! It took me almost an hour to get them both fed, and settled in for a movie. Ali got into Ethan's cereal bowl and that was another 2o minute clean up. I had to coax Ali up near her bed so I could lift her up and in for her nap. She may think twice next time I call her. I must look like quite a sight, scooting along on my rear along the floor in order to get from place to place while carrying anything. I never want to do this crutch thing again! So far so good, though, only 3 more hours and my big helpers get home!!!

Right now, I'm listening to Ethan sing along and interact with Diego. What a precious sound. Those spanish words will come in handy in Del Rio!

Had the stitches removed yesterday and my second Physical Therapy session. Looks good so far. I can fully extend it, which is really important, and have about 85 degrees of flexion so far. Each day gets a little better. I'm amazed at how hard 10 leg lifts are though. Problem is that my legs were both puny and underexercized before this, so now it's coming back to bite me! Dr. emphasized that I should not put any weight on it for the 6 weeks though, and showed me the pictures they took during the surgery. Amazing! I saw the stitches in the meniscus, which were many, and it was a very large tear, so that's the reason for the non weight bearing. I was glad he could repair it, instead of just cutting it away (will be grateful for that in ten years, I'm sure). I now have screws in both knees, holding my new and hopefully improved ACL's in place. Wonder how many metal detectors I can set off!

Darla has surgery!

It's been a little while, mainly because we have hit and miss internet access (we are actually "borrowing" the wireless signal from somewhere around here - I know - that's terrible, but it's only because we are only here a few months, and would have to buy a new modem and a bunch of stuff we already have in our shipment. It's a very bad signal anyway, and only works about 1 in 5 tries. Everyone else has secured networks which is good (but not for us at the moment) The apartment has internet in a little business center we would use, but I'm a gimp and can't get to it at the moment.)

So...

As I mentioned in an earlier post - I had a fall/buckled knee at the airport on our trip from Italy on the 6th. The MRI was sone on the 26th and I saw the Orthopedic doc on Wed. the 30th. Up until then, I had tried to regain normal use of my knee, as I had been able to in the past, but it was not improving. I could not get it fully extended and it still hurt terribly. Anyway, the MRI showed a complete tear of the ACL and a large bucket-handle tear of the medial meniscus. The meniscus was the main problem, since it had flipped up and was keeping my leg from extending. The doc says to wait while he checks with the surgeon for best course of action, and not five minutes later, he walks in with Dr. Brown who tells me he has a cancellation for tomorrow (May 1) and would I be able to fill it? Timing is everything, since normally, it would be more like 4 weeks out, assuming they can get me in at all. I have to check with Casey, of course, but it all works out and I'm back that afternoon doing all the pre-op stuff. By 9:00 the next morning, I'm in the operating room. Recovery has been hard. I had to ween Alisea cold turkey - which was it's own kind of pain, and it's been hard on the family - esp. Caitlyn who is having to do so much to help with the little ones. She's been a sport about it though. The nerve block I had was supposed to work for up to 24 hours to keep me pain free (or at least comfortable) before needing pain meds. Mine started wearing off during the surgery, so they had to knock me out a little deeper and redo it right after the surgery to give me some relief. That didn't last long either. The anesthesiologist said my liver metabolized it too fast - so I'm an unlucky one. Needless to say, the Percocet wears off pretty quick too, and started making me itch, so I stopped taking it and am dealing with just ibuprophen. Thankfully, the pain is mostly subsiding, and the swelling continues to improve.

So there you have it. I'll give updates when I have one.