Wild Dunes

We just got back from a wonderful vacation, made possible by my mom's wonderful friend. She owns a condo in SC with 4 other couples, so they each get 10 weeks per year. Dee couldn't go last week, so she graciously offered the use of the condo to our family. We spent a glorious week in Isle of Palms in Mt. Pleasant, SC. My parents, the kids and I headed down on Sunday the 14th. Wes had to work Monday so he joined us Monday night. The condo was directly across from the pool, which the kids loved immediately. The adults ended up lovin' it too! 

We were within short walking distance of the beach, but also had the luxurious option of using the condo's golf cart to drive to a beach access point with cart parking. This is what we did since it was a bit far for O to walk and we had tons of gear to schlep to the beach.

I walked in the morning all but one day that we were there. Once with my mom, once with Wes and the other times alone. Such a beautiful place to walk! A beautiful place to escape too, and that is saying something because I find the place I call home to be quite beautiful. Still, an escape. We still worked, but we played a whole lot more. We were together. We were having such fun! 

Now that we are back, my goal is to continue to look for that escape when I can, take life less seriously (easier said than done for me), and have more fun, especially with my kids. This was not supposed to be a post about how fast they are growing up, but growing up they are!

Wes and I went on a date and had drinks one night. We all went out for dinner on our last night there. Ashley was able to join us on Friday evening for the remainder of the trip, when we left on Sunday the 21st.

All in all it was a great trip, and much needed by all. I will write another post with pictures very soon.

Super O's Team Walk for Wishes

As many of you know, O is a Wish Kid. That means he was granted a Wish by the Make-a-Wish Foundation. It was a life changing experience for all of us. We walked in the Walk for Wishes last year to help raise money and awareness so that other kids waiting in our area might have their Wish granted. The Walk was great. I quickly learned that just like O is a Wish Kid for life, I am a Wish Mom for life. Yup, we are walking as Team Super O again this year. Click on the link below to join us at the walk. Can't be at the walk? Consider making a donation to our team! Thank you, from me and from the kids!

Super O's Team Page for FY14 Walk For Wishes Charlotte

Orthopedic Check-up

This morning Owen had a check up with Dr. Casey after four weeks. He has been getting around very well with his walker so I was very confident. Still, because of the number of times that I have been no-so-pleasantly surprised during an appointment, I couldn't help but be a touch nervous. Luckily everything looked wonderful and the doctor was thrilled with his progress. There was a great deal of increased healing. The bone that was already looking good a month ago had calcified even more. The few parts that hadn't shown much calcification yet looked quite a bit better. As she has said before, the doctor referred to Owen as a "super healer". He has graduated from physical therapy, which was perhaps the biggest surprise to me. He is now WBAT, or weight bearing as tolerated. As is the case with most almost-five-year-old boys, Owen is certainly pushing the envelope. His leg doesn't hurt him anymore, and he is certainly on the move! He is certainly pushing it with his new weight-bearing rules. Dr. Casey obviously has a plan for this. We have told Owen one set of rules, and when he pushes a bit I let him push a certain amount and pretend not to notice. He can walk a bit without his walker, but I certainly don't cheer him on. That would cause him to push further. She feels that when we go back in another four weeks it will be sans walker. I predict that it will happen within two weeks. 

I am so thrilled that Owen is doing so well, and I am beyond proud of my little man and how hard he has worked to get to this point.

Such a happy day!

Back from my Hiatis

If you are a regular reader here at the Hive, you've noticed that I have been absent lately. Things have been crazy here for the past several months. This is a long story short type of situation. Owen had surgery on November 29 to begin the lengthening of his right femur. In case you forgot, he was born with a leg length discrepancy. Specifically, a congenital short femur. The orthopedist performed an osteotomy and placed an external fixation device for the purpose of lengthening. There was a tool that looked a lot like an allen wrench, which I had to use to turn a part on the device four times each day. Each turn lengthened his femur by 1/4 mm. That means by the end of the day, his femur had been lengthened by 1 mm. This went on for 42 days, and we gained 4.2 cm of length. Unfortunately, about 3 weeks before she had planned to remove the fixation device, Owen got a bone infection. It had to be removed early. During that surgery, once the device was removed his femur broke. This was not an anticipated complication, but his hip flexor muscle was so tight that it slammed down and broke the bone. About four days after surgery when we went for his post-op appointment, the x-ray showed that the fracture of his femur had been seriously displaced. Emergency surgery was scheduled for a few days later. The surgeon fixed that break, set it and place a femoral plate and interlocking screws. Again, a few days later something was clearly wrong. Owen, who is such a tough guy and has hardly complained at all through everything, became very uncomfortable and experienced pain each time I moved him. As it turned out, his leg broke again above the existing plate. Another emergency surgery. This time the bone was harder to set and she had to sacrifice a centimeter of the length that we had gotten. She had to put in a much larger plate and 12 interlocking screws for internal fixation. She also released several of his tendons to relieve some of the tightness. He was then outfitted with a half-Spica cast, which he sported for 6 weeks. After those four surgeries and the time in the cast, he made a lot of progress and there was a lot of bone growth. After not having been able to walk since before Easter, he finally graduated back to his walker on June 14. He is doing GREAT! He gets around amazingly well on his walker. His spirit is truly amazing and he is such a trooper! He has taught me so much, and made me so much stronger in the process.

We see the orthopedist tomorrow, which will be the six week mark since the cast came off. I am both excited and anxious to see the x-rays and hear what the next steps will be. I am so proud of my sweet little man and how well he has weathered this storm.

We Want Babies!

Before I begin, I know the title of this post may be misleading. No, I am not pregnant. And by "We", I do not mean Wes and me.

Now, a cute and funny story.

The boys woke me up today with quite an interesting request. It isn't the first time I've received this request, but this was probably the most interesting variation. It literally started before my eyes were even open. They had clearly talked about this and came at me with an adorable ambush.

It went something like this.

O: Mama, for my next birthday I want a regular baby. (I think he might have meant real baby.) And for hist next birthday, Carter wants a girl baby.
C: (sort of whispering to Owen, making it pretty clear that he had talked his little brother into doing the dirty work or making this request for the both of them.) No, a baby sister.
O to C: A baby sister IS a girl baby.
O: So we want different babies.
C: I want a cute baby sister.
O: (a bit indignantly) Hey, I'm cute!
C: Yeah, but you're not a baby and you are a brother not a sister.

I haven't said anything at this point, because it was really stinkin' cute and I was trying not to laugh.
O: So, can you have babies for us?
C: (After me still not answering)  Well, are you going to answer us?

Like I said, this is not the first time I have received this request. Several times from Carter, and I think only once before from Owen. I gave the same answer I have given in the past: We aren't going to be having any more babies. Mama's belly was only meant to hold two babies. This is pretty much the truth. We are not having any more babies. Obviously my belly can technically "hold more babies", but it is not advisable for several reasons.

Carter, of course challenged this answer for the first time.
C: I don't think that is true mom. We know a lot of people who have more than two kids. Those ladies had more than one baby in their bellies. And some people have twins or triplets. Sometimes even more. (He then began naming both family friends and his friends whose families include more than two children. He is clearly now too smart for my lame answer.)

As I scrambled to think or a more plausable answer for my curious boy, Owen saved the day with an inspired answer.

O: Carter, I think God decides how many babies to give each lady.
This boy continues to amaze me. He is wise beyond his years, and just has so much to say about God.

Like I said, it was totally cute and really funny. Also, quite nerve wracking on my part!

Then and Now

I couldn't write this post yesterday. In fact, I am having trouble writing it now. But writing it is better than having it bounce around in my head. Ok, that won't totally stop.

Then:       Four years ago, yesterday Owen was 5 weeks old. It was the first of a string of terrible days, but ultimately the worst day of my life. He was not eating well and doing a heck of a lot of spitting up. We were on our second acid reflux medicine, about to switch to the third. I was letting the doctor make these changes even thought I knew it wasn't acid reflux because, well he was the doctor. (I've obviously learned my lesson too follow my guy and question anything that doesn't seem right). The morning of October 4, 2008, Wes fed Owen some formula. We were supplementing the milk he was getting from me. I couldn't do it. I couldn't feed him the formula for a lot of reasons that I know now were pretty ridiculous. I'm thankful that I have an understanding husband who fed him the formula without saying anything to me, and dealt with a bit of crazy coming from his postpartum wife. Owen spit up, and when I can downstairs Wes told me that he had fallen asleep and was in he pack n play. Something made me go check on him. He wasn't asleep. He lay there with his eyes wide open. I turned on the light and saw that my baby was a very frightening shade of grey and non-responsive. Off to the hospital, then critical care life transported to a hospital downtown where he took up temporary residence in the PICU. If you know us, you know that this was merely the beginning of a very long road. We have not reached the end of the road, but feel blessed that the life threatening stuff is over. We feel especially blessed to have this brave little boy in our lives. He makes us laugh every day and has taught us things that we certainly didn't ask to learn, but we are better people for it.

 
Now:       Owen celebrated his 4th birthday at the end of August. He is healthy and thriving. He is loving his new school and doing so well. When I meet new people and something comes up about Owen's birth defects, the most common reaction is shocked. (This has happened a lot recently when I talk about our Walk for Wishes team. I'll be blogging about that very soon.) Yup, he looks just like any other 4 year old boy, unless of course you notice his leg length discrepancy. Speaking of his leg, he has recently been telling Wes that his leg gets tired (the short one). We have an appointment with his orthopedist on October 29. I hate this, I don't want to do it. Yes, I know I have to do it. Yes, I know that even though the leg surgeries are going to be awful and difficult, we will get through this too. Wes thinks it may be time for a lift in his shoe since he has grown. I am terrified that she will want to do the surgery now or soon. I really can't think about it or I could actually drive myself crazy.
Now for the good news. We had Owen's annual urology appointment on September 13. I dread it every year. Any mother whose child has had a serious or life-threatening illness knows the feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. Maybe the reflux is back. Maybe his kidneys won't look the way they should on the ultrasound. To add to the normal worry, Dr. Gazak is now retired and this was our first time seeing the new urologist. Frankly, I was very upset. I wanted Dr. Gazak. I have put so much trust into him. He literally became like a member or our family. Well, that wasn't an option so I did what was best for Owen. I sucked it up and took him to see the new doctor. He's good. He's nice. I felt like he talked down to me a bit, but he doesn't know how knowledgeable I became about Owen's bladder defect. And maybe I was looking for a flaw because I felt like I was cheating on Dr. Gazak. Most importantly, the visit couldn't have gone better. His labs looked great, all of the levels in his blood were on the low end of normal. I already knew that going in because I know what all the numbers are supposed to be. This means he STILL has normal kidney function. No way should that be the case, but it is and I am thankful beyond words. Even better, his ultrasound looked great. The other shoe did not drop. A huge weight has been lifted off of our shoulders, and he doesn't have to go back until next year. Thank God!

Anniversary in Asheville

On September 18, Wes and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary. It is hard to believe it has been that long since I walked down the aisle and vowed to love and cherish my best friend for the rest of my life. I love him even more now than I did then.

Wes found a great deal on 2 nights in a brand new hotel in Asheville, as they were still offering their Grand Opening rates. We decided to take a short trip to celebrate and enjoy some time together. It was wonderful. We enjoyed good food and drink, visited the Biltmore Estate, and before leaving to come home to our boys on Wednesday we had lunch on the Sunset Terrace at the Grove Park Inn.

Our favorite restaurant was a relatively small place called Tupelo Honey. The food was great, and it didn't hurt that the place was crawling with bumble bee decor. We had a delicious dinner there on Monday, the night we arrived, and an equally wonderful lunch there on Tuesday before heading to the Biltmore. After arriving at the Biltmore and paying the outrageous amount we knew we would pay for tickets, we hopped on a shuttle which took us to the front of the Estate.

It was simply beautiful inside.

For sure worth the ticket price to see it once. It was amazing to think that a vacation home like the Biltmore was built and so well appointed in the late 19th century. For example, the home has 43 bathrooms when most people during that time period did not have even one. Wes and I are not the audio tour type. We grabbed a pamphlet containing facts about each part of the Estate and were on our way. We did A LOT of walking and were ready for some R&R back at the hotel. That night we ate at The Lobster Trap, which was also delicious. Can you tell that we love to eat on vacation? We really had a wonderful time and enjoyed our time away together. It was our first time visiting Asheville and it was just beautiful.