Plates and Pins and Screws, oh my!

Took my mom to see the Orthopaedist today. Why is it spelled that way??
Anyway, the surgeon reiterated that her break (actually 3 breaks, as it turns out) is far from typical. She will have surgery on Monday. For sure will have a plate with six screws hold one bone together, two more screws to hold another bone together. If all goes well and that hardware is enough to secure her ankle, she will get a regular cast for two weeks, then a walking cast for four more weeks. The other possibility, and one they won't know the answer to until they do surgery, is putting two more screws in to secure the two major bones together. In this case, she will be in a permanent cast for THREE MONTHS, then will be allowed to start weight bearing activities 40 lbs at at time. Obviously she is hoping for the former situation!

My wonderful husband is coming to get the boys tomorrow - we are all sick of Brody and need a break. He is just being two, but it's too much right now. He leaves toys laying all around or spits water out on the floor - all bad hazards for a woman on crutches. He hits, he slams doors, in general, he is a lot to keep up with, without having to worry about a lady with a broken ankle and her vomiting cats. :)


My original plans have changed, and I anticipate being in MN until next Wednesday, a week from today.

Change O'Plans

Little change of plans...

Instead of San Francisco and Napa Valley, I am in Minnesota this week. Kelly called me mid-afternoon on Sunday, and told me my mom had been out for a walk with Matt when she slipped on ice and broke her ankle. My first thought was for my mom, how she loves to walk, and how miserable a broken ankle will make her. My second thought was of our upcoming trip, and how she was supposed to watch the boys for us. Double bummer!

It's a very serious break, her ankle will have to be rebuilt with pins and plates, etc. She will likely have surgery next Monday after the swelling has gone down and the Orthopedist is able to get a better idea of what to do for repair work. Until then, the boys and I are here, helping take care of her, the cats and the household stuff. It's her right ankle, which will make her life challenging to say the last for the next 6 - 8 weeks. If it had been her left, she could have at least driven herself to work.

Will do my best to give updates when I can. Her house is not as child-proofed as ours, and the boys are finding lots of naughty stuff to do here! Between my mom, the boys, the cats, etc., I'm keeping busy!

Bye, bye crib

Big day...Brody's crib is down and in it's place, a toddler bed. You know what this means -- FREEDOM!! We both stated as recently as a week ago that we'd like to keep Brody in a crib for as long as possible, but my freshly repaired bladder was complaining about lifting Brody up so much. So, he gets freedom.

He was very happy to help Brian assemble the bed

Both boys jumped right on the bed to test it out!

Brody loved it!

Here he is, ready for bed.

The first night he gave us no problem. Brian told him "Stay in bed" as he put him to bed. I told him later that he shouldn't have said that, he's giving Brody ideas!! :)

The next day for nap was exactly what I expected. He got out of bed several times and was running around, going into the other bedrooms, so I put the gate up in his doorway. I could hear Brody talking to himself upstairs, but didn't chec on him until ten minutes later. This is what I discovered:

All bed linens in a pile on the floor, over the gate & outside the doorway.

An entire container of baby wipes, pulled out, one by one.

A bottle of sweet smelling baby lotion, ground into the carpet.

All books on the shelf, scattered on the floor.

Alarm clock softly playing sounds of a babbling brook.

Rocking chair cushions, ripped off and askew.

One 2-year old with a goofy, I'm so proud of me grin.

I was a little sad at the thought of the crib going away...possibly forever. We aren't exactly on the same page (YET) about having just one more baby. I want one. Brian claims to be unsure, though I'm sure I have him convinced and he doesn't want to say it out loud yet. During the crib removal process I asked if he didn't want to keep track of which bolts go where, and his response was "We'll figure it out when the time comes." The time for what honey?? :)

Snowboarding already?

Yesterday, Brian and Dylan went sledding with some of our neighborhood friends. One of the kids had a snowboard, and Dylan gave it a try. According to Brian, Dylan was very brave, and though he kept falling down again and again, he kept trying and really enjoyed it.

Of course, being the indulgent mother I am (no sarcasm intended...I know I have issues), I ran to Target to buy my little sports star (okay...sarcasm intended) a snowboard. They were on clearance! We came home and Dylan gave it a try on the snow we have left in the yard.

I didn't anticipate my son old would start snowboarding at 3.9 years of age! He really seems to enjoy it, and loves being out in the snow. Seeing him, his form, how hard he was trying, made me want to take him out on a ski hill! Next winter for sure we will do that.

Brody is 2!

Brody awoke fever free! Finally, he seemed to be feeling better. Just in time for his 2nd birthday.

After breakfast we dressed Brody in his birthday t-shirt, and had him sit in the little chair to open his cards and gifts.

He especially enjoyed the Tag Jr. reading system by Leap Frog. Great-Great Aunt Nancy had given him several of the books for Christmas, but we didn't have the special 'reader' that reads the books, or says words. We decided that would be a great birthday gift for him. Brody feels pretty special about having his own electronic device that Dylan isn't allowed to play with freely. It's a little hand held figure, and it either reads the text or gives a description of what is on the page. Brody has five books, and each book has over 150+ words.

Aside from gifts, it was an up and down day for Brodes. He goes from happy to angry to sad in a flash. He spent at least 50% of the day angry or in tears. He must not be feeling well still, because he seemed harder to console than usual. He was also pretty physical yesterday, sneaking up behind Dylan and smacking a toy over his head, scratching my face, etc. I hope he grows out of this phase soon!

We had a nice quiet morning to ourselves, while Brian took Dylan sledding with some neighborhood kids. We played with his new books and he watched Cars. It was his special day, and the first time he was able to choose the movie without big brother insisting on another choice.

After lunch, we sang to Brody, and ate cake and ice cream. Brody loved the treats!

Brody took a great nap. I think he was making up for about a week of missed sleep and poor naps. When he woke up, we had to deliver two dinners to friends who just had babies, then we went to Red Robin for dinner.

How's this for an "I'm 2!" look?!

All in all, it was a good birthday Brody (I think), but a somewhat frustrating day for Brian and me. Brody's mood swings, our inability to soothe him, his violent streaks...whew...

Club

Day 16/365 (We'll see how long I can keep this up!)

The boys are relaxing in their "club" after they made it comfortable. We offered to put up their tent, but they declined the offer. They were playing well together, and it was SO nice for Brian and I to just hang out in the kitchen and chat while they played.

15/365

Sick day today. Brody still has a fever, but no other symptoms to speak of except he's irritable. We started the morning with play-doh and moved on to the window crayons.

14/365

I'm going to try to keep up the photo of the day!

Here is one for today. Brody woke up from his nap with a 103 fever. Even after ibuprofen and one hour, his fever only came down to 101. He was restless, couldn't get comfortable, but just laid on the couch or the living room floor for the afternoon. Poor sweetie.

We decided to cancel his birthday party that was scheduled for Saturday. Aside from Brody not feeling well, and needing to run errands to get groceries tomorrow, I'd hate for people to come over and get sick! Of course we'll still do something special for his birthday, but we'll do the party together with Dylan's later in February.

He had a warm bath this evening and seemed to perk up a bit. When it was time for bed he walked over to his crib and said "time for bed." Very abnormal for Brodes - he usually begs to read more and more books before bed. I hope he's feeling better tomorrow.

Week 3/52

24 short hours after my last post, the boys both came down with a rapid but intense virus. They both vomited 4 or 5 times each, within an hour. At least this is what I hear. I was out for my monthly scrapbooking day...tee hee hee. Of course I'm not glad that Brian had to deal with that, but when I arrived home, after it was all over, I could tell how proud he was for having dealt with it on his own. I think he may have earned himself the title Official Vomit Cleaner Upper in this house. :). I've invited him to write a guest blog about his experience. We'll see if he can find the time in the next few days. Suffice it to say, a rug doctor was needed. It was baaaaaad. And rather funny the way he tells the story too.

We spent the better part of Sunday cleaning, disinfecting and washing load after load of laundry. By evening, I was tapped of all energy, abnormaly so. I ended up coming home from work early on Monday, and experienced what the boys had, only on a more adult time frame. My virus was quick too, about six hours and rather intense. Whew...talk about a rapid weight loss plan. By Tuesday morning I was feeling much better, and now we're airing out the house to eradicate this virus!

We are preparing for little B's second birthday. Though his actual birthday is on Sunday, we're having a small celebration on Saturday. We invited only grandparents and great-grandparents (and a few other special guests).

Today, when we talked in the door after a long, slow day at work (for me) and a busy and apparently messy day (by the sight of their clothes) at daycare for the boys, Dylan asked me "Mom, did dinner make itself?"  Haha...funny one son...nope! We enjoyed a quick dinner of quesadillas and salad before heading off to Dylan's school conference. Thankfully this conference went 100% better than the last one. We know Dylan is enjoying this school, because he looks forward to going instead of me having to convince him it's time to go. He brings home cute projects nearly every school day, and he talks about it a lot more than he did his first school. The good news...Dylan is working up to his potential. He has not been in one time out, and the teacher does not see how that would have ever been necessary. He is a pretty typical three (almost 4!) year old little guy. He has learned to share well with others, he enjoys singing in class, and he uses his project materials appropriately. Huh?! Whatever that means, it's good news he's doing the right thing! Glad to hear all the positive news, but not surprised. Dylan is turning in to quite a good boy. For the most part he listens well and is pleasant to be around.

During one of the long, slow hours at the funeral home today, I read a few scrapbooking blogs, and saw that some people are doing a 365 day challenge. They take a picture of something during their day and will eventually put them all in a scrapbook. They may not be great pictures, or from a special event, but they tell the story of your life as a family. I think that's kind of a fun idea! With that in mind, I took a few pictures this evening of seemingly random moments.

Dylan, making a yogurt and water concoction at dinner. He is usually making some kind of a science project while we eat dinner.

Brody, after he dropped his milk. What a sweet, sad, little face. Can't believe he's going to be two!! Notice the mouth jam packed full of food. This is a Brody trait. He packs as much food in to his mouth as he can, chews on it for a while, takes a sip of milk to help wash a bit of it down, chews on it some more until he gags, spits it all out on his plate and repeats.

The boys heading out the door to conferences. It looks like they were racing each other to get out the door first. Though I told Dylan he would play briefly while I had a meeting, he still thought it best to wear his backpack to school; you know, just in case.

Brian worked tonight, but luckily (and smartly!) Dylan's school provided childcare in the form of the Teacher's Aide for the kids while I met with the teacher in a room next door. Brody was so excited to get to play with the toys in Dylan's classroom. My fear for tomorrow morning is he'll think he gets to play in the classroom all the time!

Clue

The scene: I am in the kitchen making lunch. The boys are in the living room, playing with toys. Okay, okay, they were watching tv, but at least it was PBS. Dylan is sitting on the floor with his back against the ottoman, Brody is playing with his space ship, sitting on the ottoman.

Suddenly, I hear a plastic sounding clunk, then a wail of pain, the infrequent but piercing sound of genuine pain. Dylan is holding his head, standing up in front of the ottoman, shooting hateful looks at Brody, who is non chalantly still on the ottoman, holding his space ship.

My guess: Brody did it, in the living room, with the rocket ship.

The victim, nursing his wounds:

(By the way, he dressed himself. I take no responsibility for that ensemble)

The weapon, abandoned in plain sight

The criminal, behind bars:

Ages and Stages

I look at Brody these days and think about Dylan being that age when he became a big brother. I realize how much I expected of Dylan, how mature I expected him to behave. Partly because he was just always "mature" for his age, but also probably because I had new demands and needed him to behave in a certain way. Brody, I certainly don't expect much from him. I deal with Brody and nearly every day am thankful that I am not also dealing with a newborn. Almost every single time we get in the car, Brody bucks and arches against having his straps buckled. It drives me nuts, this screaming, arching little fireball of a child two inches away from my face. So many times I have desperately wanted to just slap him. Shock him into silence. Alas, I've been able to resiste the temptation. But, I must admit, I often slam the door and take a few deep breaths as I walk around the other side to buckle in Dylan.

Dylan took his first solo shower tonight! He's taken some with Daddy, but he usually takes a bath to get clean. I trimmed his hair a bit tonight, and aftewards he was itching a lot. I let him hop into the shower for a few minutes. Woulnd't you know it...he wanted to just stand there and enjoy the water. He announced that he was going to be in there a long time, just like Daddy!

Time goes so fast and the kids change so quickly. I'm so thankful to be aware of that. I just want to hug and squeeze them all the time and enjoy the age and stage they are in right now.

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year! We spent yesterday evening with our friends Janine, Joe and their kids Abby and Joey. Janine and I revealed to the guys that the four of us are all going to Las Vegas over Valentine's Day weekend. We'll be staying at the MGM Grand. Brian already knew bits and pieces, but Joe knew nothing about it. He was very surprised, and throughout the night at random moments, one of us would announce "We're going to Vegas!!" We are all looking forward to it very much!

While the kids played, the adults enjoyed baked brie, proscuitto wrapped parmesan stuffed black olives, crudite (err...veggie tray), stuffed mushrooms and crab cakes. Whew, who has room for dinner?

The kids always have a good time together - last night they were all being silly with the googly glasses.

Brody joined in the kids countdown at 9 p.m.

Dylan and the other kids enjoyed some sparkling apple juice. Yum!

Brian and Dylan share a "cheers!"

After the kids were in bed, the adults got down to the business of enjoying a wonderful dinner. We started with Portofine Salad with Thyme Vinaigrette, followed by twice baked potatoes, crab legs and a prime rib smothered in Wild Mushroom & Brandy Cream Sauce. For dessert (that was barely touched), we had a Snowball Cake.

What a way to ring in 2010!

 

Brian and I both agreed that we were happy to say "So Long!" to 2009. We are starting 2010 with exciting travel plans. In January we will be going to Napa for a long weekend with my sister. In February, we are going to Las Vegas. In March, my friend Angie, her husband and their girls will be coming to see us from Springfield, Missouri. April, we'll be heading to Minnesota for Easter. May, I'm planning to go to Seattle to join Sheryl and Beth in seeing the Sex and the City movie. My annual girls weekend with Angie and Jean is scheduled for June in Boston. And that's just the first half of the year!

 

As per the norm lately, Brian's job is an uncertainy for us in the upcoming year. As I'm spouting off these plans, in the back of my mind is Plan B. We'll see where 2010 takes us.