OUCH #2

On March 6, Jason had foot surgery. During 2007, he trained for his first half marathon. In January 2008, he ran his first half marathon and loved it! However, throughout the training, he developed plantar facisitis. He did rehab 3 different times. In the fall, the doctor discovered a big, yucky heel spur. So this January, the doctor decided that he was in the 20% of people that rehab is not their cure. Jason decided to wait until we were back at our house, so his surgery was done on March 6th.

Here is teh lovely Sharpie on his foot to make sure the doctor opened up the right foot! And for all of you who love gross things, here are his stitches. They were removed on March 23.
So what does heel spur surgery recovery require? Laying in bed...LOTS... with lots of good books and movies. Jacob and Rylan loved crawling up on our bed to hear stories. I don't know why Rylan wanted to wear the winter hat. It was in the upper 70's outside! Jason read 2 VInce Fylnn books and 3 Michael Connelly books over the last 3 weeks. He also put watched lots of TV show DVDs and some new movies.
The other part of his recovery was the ice! Thanks to the cold therapy machine, this was very mangable and not messy at all!
He was solely on crutches for 2 1/2 weeks and is now in a walking boot with some help from the crutches. Thanks be to God for His healing! And thanks to all our friends for helping with the boys, bringing delicious food and mostly, your prayers!

OUCH!

I read somewhere that the hour of 5-6pm is the hardest part of a mom's day. This is a perfect example of that crazy hour for our family...

One Wednesday night before church, I was in the kitchen mashing potatoes, Jason was sitting at the table working on his computer, Rylan was playing trains and Jacob was preaching. When Jacob was about 18 months old, he started saying, "I preach." He loves to try and get on the stage at church. And he loves our preacher, RB. One Sunday, Jason was serving the Lord's Supper and Jacob leaned over in awe and said, "Daddy is near the STAGE!!!" When Jacob preaches, he too gets on stage. His stage while living with Mom and Dad was an upside-down wooden crate. The kind that is about 8 inches tall and 4 inches wide.

SO back to that crazy Wednesday night. Wednesdays are hard... I tutor until about 5:15. Then start cooking dinner so that we can be done eating by 6:25 so that we can all get changed and leave the house by 6:45 for church services. That fateful Wednesday night as I was mashing the potatoes, all seemed well in the den. Jacob was preaching up a storm and was quite exuberant with his point. Then all of a sudden I hear a blood-curdling scream. I run into the den and see Jason holding Jacob. Jacob is screaming, "MOMMA, MOMMA, MOMMA!!!!!" So I grab him from Jason and as I grab him, Jason says almost in a whisper, "Oh nooooooo. He's bleeding." And this is what we saw...
So I walk over near the lamp, wailing child in my arms, trying to keep Rylan off my legs so that we can inspect Jacob's head injury better. There was so much blood flowing...photos do not do it justice. Mom brought me a paper towel...then another one...and another one. I said, "How bad is it? Do we need to go to the hospital?" Jason says,"I can't tell. There's so much blood." SO I say, "Dad, call Daesha and ask her how big a cut for stitches." Dad begins calling Daesha(who is not only a dear friend, but also a PA)....their conversation was a bit jumbled, but in a nutshell, she and sweet Jeremy stopped fixing their dinner and drove like madmen over to Mom's house in check out Jacob's head and determine if we needed to go to the ER.

By the time they got there (about 4 minutes) the bleeding was more under control and this is what we saw through his too long hair. I'm holding a quarter.

So Daesha put back on her doctor's coat for a few minutes and inspected Jacob's head.

Turns out that heads bleed a LOT! No stitches needed! Just some Neosporin for a few days - not even a band-aid! So what is the moral of the story??? Have a bigger stage when preaching. Be blessed to have good friends who know medical stuff and will come at a moment's notice when there is blood involved. Be thankful for a 1/2 inch gash and not one that is bigger. AND thank God for healing!

What did all that head damage you ask? This toy here... And even though it caused drama that night, both boys still love it and play with it all the time! :)

March 2 - A Red and White Morning!

Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday! And since the first grade teacher in me will never die, we celebrated in red adn white style with some of our friends from church. Welcome to the party! I got out all my old bulletin board stuff and decorated the house Seuss-style. What fun!!!

The first thing we did was make Seuss hats, of course!

After making our hats, the kids sat on the couch for story time... The Cat in the Hat.

They were mesmerized!!! :)

Then we played a few cat-y games. Since the Cat balanced several things on him, we tried balancing things too. First we balanced books... Kamri was a pro!

Then we balanced pillows. They were a little easier than the books. Jacob like this part!

Last we balanced blocks! Rylan was an expert at the block balance.

Then it was craft time! Since the kids were ages 4 and under, we did a simple craft. Blaine named it "Sticker Spinners." The kids stuck Seuss stickers to a red and silver pinwheel.

Each pinwheel had a big Seuss sticker in the middle and a Hat tag - a bulletin board accent piece from the Teacher Store!
Look at those pinwheels spin!!!

After the craft, we watched a short movie of Green Eggs and Ham.

Let the cooking begin!!! Jacob cracked and used a whisk on his own egg. What a good chef!

Rylan loved to use the whisk. He added 10 drops of green to the eggs. They turned out REALLY green!

Daesha had already cooked and cubed the ham, so while I cooked the eggs, the kids decorated thier own placemat. My plan is to glue some photos from the morning on the placemats and laminate them for each kid. They liked coloring and it kept them busy while the eggs were cooking.

Here is the green egg goo... I think it looks like green snot. Sorry for the gross reference, but it is true!!!

Jacob hard at work coloring his placemat.

Let the eating begin!!! Not many of the kids ate the green eggs. Kamri and Katya liked them. Rylan and Jacob would not even try them! But all the kids gobbled up the ham and muffins.

Daesha and Kaci... two sweet girls!

After the eating the kids played and played and played. It was so fun to hear all the laughter and happy voices... in OUR house! Yes, we are back home!!! I'll post all those details soon! :)