Our Lives Adventures

busy :)

2012-02-13T07:54:00.000-05:00

We finally went looking at cabinets and counter tops :)

what our new counter will look like! (laminate)

The profile of our new cabinets :)

the color of cabinets we are looking at, along with the countertops

our new sink that we bought already

Grampy and Danny decorated at work just before the superbowl!

Mock up of our cabinets :)

Dan had to have surgery to remove some skin cancer, it ended up being more involved than we thought! he had to have a skin graft :( You can see how puffy his face is getting

the next morning

wow look at that fluid!

the girls took off to have tinsel extensions put in their hair!!
cousin Cole was first :)

Victoria was not too sure!

Gerri was last.

We had a nice lunch at 99, the tinsel was fun, not worth the money. Luckily we had a groupon. We would not pay full price and now we know how to do it! The girls and I went over to visit Nana and see her place again.
Ms V went outside to hang with Uncle Mike :)

Uncle was burning scrap wood and wittling, pulled up a chair and they talked and talked :)

Auntie was glue washing her new bookcases

Poor Dan by Saturday afternoon! He could hardly get his glasses on his face.

Ms V was his nurse, she was pooped out!

Finally able to take a shower!! :)
The kids were totally grossed out!

Doing valentines :)

Since the weather is still nice I canceled our train tickets and Gerri and I head down to Philly today.
Her appt is tomorrow after lunch, then we will hit the road home. Praying we are done turning!! she is SO over it all!

Philly Trip! and GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2012-02-05T14:32:00.000-05:00

Sorry it has taken so long to update-it has been busy!

Hanging at RMH while I unpack before dinner

The xray on the right was taken 1 year ago at our evaluation appt and the xray on the left was taken today!
How amazing is that! It really shows how far she has come in one year with the best Dr!! Her legs are SO much straighter!

Playing on her Ipod while we wait for Dr vB.
She was NOT happy with his news!

Turns out we got good news and bad news, good news is she grows good bone!! bad news is that we don't want it growing in between the cut yet so instead of being done with the turns we have actually increased the number of turns to 6 1/4 turns, so 1 1/2 mm of length a day. The Dr wants us to get some space between the bones asap. But he is very happy with how straight her legs are. Hopefully when we go back in 2 weeks he will tell us we are finally done! I was worried about her not walking much anymore since her knee and leg ache and he said not to worry, we will have her do PT as needed!
We were on the road by 9:30 and driving home. Luckily the weather has been unseasonably warm so the drive has been great. Our next visit will be 2/14 so we are going to take the train, I figure sooner or later it may actually turn into winter here in MA :)

The girls were very excited about their new leotards!!
Here they are dancing with Dora.
Thankfully Gerri does not let the fixator slow her down one bit!

Victoria sitting down and "reading" while waiting for Danny and Gerri to get home :)

We are waiting for everyone to come over so we can have a superbowl party!!!!
Go Pats!!!!!!!!!!!

Some snow!

2012-01-25T19:46:00.000-05:00

What is this stuff???

Wow!! this is fun!

Ginger decided to check out the pool cover :)

Playing in the snow!

Then they came in to warm up with cocoa :)

Then it was time for yoga :) :) how cute are they!!!????!!

Danny and Grampy walk the dogs before the Pat's game!

Victoria would run in each time we yelled at the game to tell us to be quiet as she and Gerri were practicing their routines

Game was not pretty, but the cake is!!! and we are on to the SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!!!!

I found this on the girl's bedroom door, self portraits! AAAWWWWW :)

snow is now gone and it is in the 50's :)

Hard to believe it is Philly time tomorrow. Gerri and I head out tomorrow to drive to Philly for her appt first thing Friday am. We are SO hoping we are done with the lengthening part. The last couple of days have been hard for her as we are stretching muscles and skin and she is very uncomfortable.

Happy Birthday Katie!!

2012-01-18T10:41:00.000-05:00

We went over to Auntie Denise's for her daughter Katie's 21st Birthday!

Grampy sitting with his girls :) munching!

Katie opening her cards from the kids :)

Woo Hoo!! Nana gave her a bottle of Dom! :)

so cool!

Her mom gave her a fairy in a bottle :)

Ms V eating her dessert - raw cookie dough!! :)
thank you Auntie!

Playing with play dough! They made a snake that went around the whole table! It was a group effort :)

We had a great dessert and the next day Katie went back to school :)

Can't believe she is 21 already!! wow! the time has flown!!
Hope you had a great day at school sweetie!!

Moving day for Nana!

2012-01-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

Her pod was dropped off at 9:30 and we quickly got organized!

the guys manhandling the washer/dryer. they were all set to hook it up when they realized there was no dyer vent hookup :(

Nana looking at all her boxes and not knowing where to start :)

Uncle Mike made Victoria a new chair :)

Denise and I got her bed all set up :)

Victoria helped Nana unpack!!

Uncle Mike telling Nana she has to toss stuff :) :)

Dan and Mike putting up one set of blinds so she has privacy

Good Auntie making chocolate chip cookies, with help!!

We had the whole pod empty by 11:30!! LOTS of stuff went into the storage area under the addition.
Dan ran and picked up Danny and Gerri after school so we could ALL help :)
Danny was all excited thinking he would get to stay over with Nana now that she has room again :)
We got a lot done, Nana will be busy reorganizing :)
We ended the night be eating at Chili's :)

Philly and Home and School!!

2012-01-12T14:18:00.000-05:00

Cheerleaders playing at RMH

They always find someone to play with :)

After and Before!! If you look at her lower leg on the right xray you will see how knock kneed she was! for the previous 2 weeks we were turning a different screw to move the knee around. If you look at the left xray you will see that the 4 pins are now parallel!! The only thing is that by moving the knee and lower leg around (it hurt her!!) but her knee is very sore while walking since she is walking completely different. The other problem is that it forced the femur bones to overlap, So we now have 2 more weeks of turning the leg lengthening screws at 2x's the previous amount to make it up and get the length we need. She is close but we need the bones separated. but her hip looks great!

The girls playing with Madeline, their buddy :)

all of us at lunch!! 4 UA beauties!! LOVE getting together with other AMC families :)

Gerri and Fuxia having a conversation :)

Gerri was very happy to have the lift on her shoe completely shaved off!!! Yah! she can wear her sneaks again and can now wear any pair of sneaks!!

The moon rising over the MA Pike on our way home.
We left Philly right after lunch, around 1 and made it home at 6:00! fastest trip ever!!

Gerri's release to go back to school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday after school we all helped Daddy with the newly split fire wood
If you look close you will see Gerri sporting brand new sneaks!!

WOW!! and we have to buy another pair of brackets to build another log holder

YAH!! we are going to school tomorrow!!!

Gerri has her meet and greet with the kids new pediatrician on base. She was SO nice!
She has never treated a child with AMC and was looking forward to being part of her treatment. She was very impressed we go all the way to Philly for treatment :)

This is how we found Victoria after bed last night - right inside their bedroom door

This morning waiting for the school buses!!
and Yes, that is snow!!
Gerri was SO excited about going back to school she was awake at 6 and I could hear her singing in the bathroom getting ready :) :)

Philly bound!

2012-01-08T10:05:00.001-05:00

New Years, Happy Birthday and back to school!!!!!

2012-01-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

Uncle brought out their bearded lizard :)

yes, both girls touched, you notice - no Danny in the picture! :) As soon as the lizard canme out of the cage he booked it outta there!!

what a yummy chocolate whoopie pie cake!!!

Auntie Denise opening her birthday cards from the kids :)

They each read what they said on them!

Thankfully school started again on Tuesday!! Danny REALLY needs his routine and structure and we were all going a bit stir crazy!! He has settled right back down since going back.

this morning, all lined up and happily taking their morning pills :)

Daddy reading to ms V this am

Then everyone was off to school while Gerri and I did our morning routine.
Then I noticed this face:

It took her quite a while to be able to tell me she was very sad and why.
She finally got around to saying she was sad that Danny and Victoria went off to school and she was missing her friends.
This is SO big for her to be able to say what she really feels!!
We hugged and I told her I understand completely and that hopefully on Monday when we see Dr vB he will say we are done turning the screw and just waiting on bone to grow and give us an idea when she can go back to school!!

So, yes, we will be on the road again Sunday! Our appointment is Monday afternoon, but we are going in early to hope to get in sooner so we can hit the road home before the evening traffic.
But we are also going in early so we can see everyone!! There will be 3 other RR families with their UA cuties!! SO So Excited!! 2 of which were my families and 1 that I have never met!! :) :)

Catch up!!!!!!!!

2011-12-30T20:50:00.000-05:00

Look at me!! I can weight bear, it feels SO good to be upright!

so happy to see Grampy for the family Christmas Eve celebration at our house!!

The girls all together with our girls!!
stepmom, sister Carla with her daughter, me with Victoria and Gerri, mom, Sister Denise with her daughter Katie!

The kids had so much fun playing! we are SO happy to be back with family!

then it was time to open gifts!!

We had SO much fun with everyone. then it was Christmas night and the kids went to bed!!

the tree was ready - yes I color code the gifts :)

Santa is on a diet, so he only nibbled the cookies

they got up at 7:30! what the he**
They love their presents and new clothes!!

new clothes and new hearttoheart girls :)

then it was so amazing!! it started to flurry outside!! on our first Christmas back in MA!!

trying to catch the flurries on their tongues

After a leisurely day at lunch time we turn from Christmas to Gerri's special day - her 8th birthday!!

OMG!! a Barbie Camper!!!!!!!!!!

Very happy 8 yr old!

wow!! more presents!!

On the day after Christmas we had a little family pizza lunch for Gerri's birthday!
It was her first time having her whole family around for her birthday :)

she helped put the candles on the cup cakes, thank you auntie Carla!

needed lots of tries to blow them all out!

looking over all her presents!!

Victoria had to help, it was killing her!
Here Gerri is opening up her dress up trunk! Thank you Auntie Denise!

All dressed up in her new ballerina leotard!

Chillin out after all the holidays!!

still chillin!!

We have had a long week, it is always hard when we are out of routine and schedule. But luckily school starts again on Tuesday! Gerri has been having her in home tutor 3-4 hours per week. She and Danny have been doing their on line school work every day.
The weather has been unusually warm and then bam! cold!
I got my Christmas present yesterday - remote start for my car!! woo hoo!!
Next weekend Geri and I head back to Philly for her next visit.
The Dr was very happy with her last time. She does not like the new 1/4 turn we do to straighten her lower leg, she says it hurts :( but we have the ice pack ready for her.
She is starting to try to balance on her feet again. When we see the Dr on 1/9 he will measure her legs and we hope that we are done turning the screw! (which means her legs are even lengths) Then we just have to wait till her bone fills in (consolidates), which could be a couple of months. After she gets measured we get to bring her shoe with the lift to O&P to have the lift shaved off!!! I can't wait to see her face as she SEES the difference. She can't wear her sneakers now because the lift throws her completely off balance.
Hope everyone has a safe, happy, healthy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!

2011-12-25T16:42:00.001-05:00

2011-12-23T09:53:00.001-05:00

On the road, dr is very happy!! We will be back 1/9/12!

Back in Philly!

2011-12-22T21:19:00.000-05:00

Early morning, girl time

two peas in a pod, they so love each other!

Danny gives hugs early in the am

We have been doing stretches to get ready for Dr vB

mommy is a tough pt!

she was clicking her heels

The others got into it to help Gerri

mom, they aren't listening to me!

Danny and Victoria helping Gerri stretch

We decided Danny would go on this quick Philly trip, he was VERY excited. Victoria was VERY sad. But while we hung at rmh, they went out to dinner with Uncle Adam and cousin Cole. :)

Happy to be out of the car (after 6 hrs) and playing!

After an awesome dinner we hung around because a therapy dog was coming!!

Stella (Mrs CLaus) opening up her present!

finding cheerios that were hidden (yes she changes clothes)

They put a cheerio under Gerri's leg and as Stella dug it out she would tickly Gerri :)

Getting a kiss goodnight!!!

Tomorrow am we will be up early and head over to Shriners.
Gerri will have xrays first, her hip and her leg. We are SO hoping dr vB will say her hip is heeled enough for her to start weight bearing, she wants to be upright and walking again.
We are also hoping he will measure and give us an idea of how long we will have to be turning the screw on her fixator.
So prayers for lots of healing!!!!!!!!!

2011-12-22T15:59:00.001-05:00

Just reached Philly!!

Early Holidays with family :)

2011-12-17T19:23:00.001-05:00

Dan, his son DJ, our granddaughter Casey and grandson Adam :)

OMG! we have presents!!!

Let me at it!!!!!!

Wow! Toy Story Operation Game!

Adam opening up his birthday and christmas cards :)

Casey opening her christmas card, the kids made all the cards

hugging from Nancy :)

We had so much fun getting together today! watched some Bruins, ate some pizza topped it all off with some pnut butter blossom cookies!! the kids LOVED getting some presents early :)

getting a routine :)

2011-12-15T21:08:00.000-05:00

we have moved from wheelchair to couch to floor

It is very tiring keeping Gerri busy!

Doing her Xtramath and I-Ready reading and math every day

we finally got tummy time! she was happy to be off her behind!

this am, tummy time and school work! and the ice pack from her sore leg

Every day we have a routine going. Gerri is able to do most of her transferring herself. We have even got her up on her right leg to keep weight on in. She is so used to turning her right foot out to compensate for her shorter left leg that it is hard for her not to. I know how hard it is since I had the same problem with my new hip. It is hard to retrain yourself. We are also starting to work on using her leg muscles and not her stomach muscles to move her legs. Dr vB wants her to start stretching the muscles on the outside of her left leg to keep the muscle from getting too tight.
We started doing the 1/4 turns 2 x's per day on her fixator on Sunday and she was saying how cool it is, now we are stretching her bone, muscles and skin and it is a bit painful. We have to do pin care 2 x's a day as well and I am getting used to it. Now that she can take a bath she gets lots off herself. It is SO hard to see those big metal pins going into her leg :(
Her in home tutor starts tomorrow am and she is so excited!!

settling in

2011-12-08T21:08:00.000-05:00

my christmas present has arrived!! my Canvas on Demand is on my wall!!
I got it on Groupon and LOVE it! This picture was one I took when I was doing xmas photos

tonight relaxing on the floor (her behind was getting sore sitting all the time)
Danny was so happy to sit with her

Ms V is obsessed with Spy Mouse :)

We are settling in to our new normal. Gerri has gotten stronger and felt better every day. Her appetite is starting to come back. She has done lots of coloring, watching tv, playing her ipod, doing her math and reading on the computer, writing and relaxing. I have to ask her if she has to go potty, or is cold, or is hungry. Even after all this time she still has a hard time asking for help in any way. I have to keep a very keen eye on her for meds or ice pack. She had her first "shower" in the tub with the hand held shower and she was in heaven!! We had start pin maintenance, which means cleaning all 4 pins 2 times per day, keeping them clean and the skin from going up the pin. It is pretty yucky and it hurts a bit, but I make sure she has had pain med before hand and a treat after. Her fixator is finally stopping weeping so she is more comfortable and not making a mess everywhere she sits. She has taken this all with an amazing grace, she is SO strong. She is afraid for anyone to touch her but me. But she let Daddy help her get into her wheelchair today, but only because I was nearby. I have done potty duty, but Daddy will have to learn soon :)
I have had several ask about me and I am totally wiped! a week in Philly with very little sleep, driving home and then jumping into everything at home has been hard. My back and hip are sore. I forgot to take any pain meds last night and woke up last night hurting and not able to go back to sleep.I used my cane a lot in Philly knowing how tired I was, but since home have not used it. The lift in my left shoe is not quite high enough and I am still getting used my new gait. I have tried to slow down now that we are settling in, trying to remember my pain meds, and take care of myself.
Gerri tells everyone that mommy had one hip done and she had the other!! :)
I have parent teacher meeting tomorrow at school so Dan will be home alone with the kids!! :)
I have to work on getting her home bound services, today the asst principal told me I needed a Dr's note to excuse her from school. I never thought of it and now have to work on it. I wanted to just have him take a look at her, but I guess that doesn't work!

Friends and home!!

2011-12-06T18:59:00.000-05:00

We got to play with Brooky and Ms Sophie!!

dessert was cake pops!

I put Rudolph on my computer and Sophie, Ben, Victoria and Gerri chilled out and watched after dinner

While the kids watched the movie and Tammy watched them I ran and packed everything up and put it in the car ready to go!

The girls snoozing!!

I took this at 4:45 am this morning!

sound asleep :)

sound asleep!

We got home at 10:30 am :) SO happy to be home!! I had to unload 8 bags of stuff, we only had 3 bags going to Philly!! I made the girls wait till we got home to open their gifts from Ms Becky.

Gifts from Ms Becky!!! thank you!!!!

removed the tape and the pain med pump (it was empty)
Ouch! it looks like it hurts!

so tired from the busy day!!

When damny got home he gave Gerri an envelope full of get well cards from school!!
so so excited!

2011-12-06T05:11:00.001-05:00

We are on our way home!!!

We are out!!

2011-12-04T17:03:00.000-05:00

The 3 girls in their matching shirts!!

By the time we got her scripts and packed up the car we had to book to pick up the crew at rmh and run to the train. Ms V was very cranky. She was sad to see Cole and auntie go.
We went back to rmh, dropped ALL our bags in the room and then went down to the kitchen to grab a bagel and some pnut butter and then relax. Victoria told Gerri that she was scared she would hurt her :( and Gerri told her not to worry, she will let her know if she does :)
So they ran off to play :)

in the play kitchen

they were laughing SO hard!

Then it was time for a potty break so we went up to the room. I figured Gerri would be tired from playing.

chillin out with their ipods (victoria is sitting in the wheelchair)

mommy - I missed you!!

mommy - look at me! She is already moving around more!!

They were giving each other presents :)

be still my heart!!! loving sisters!!

We will be back on schedule tonight, both kids in bed by 8:00 asleep while I read :)
Tomorrow is a down day, quiet, hanging around. Dr asked us to hang for at least a day before heading home. :)

Discharge day!!

2011-12-04T09:58:00.001-05:00

This is how I found her this am, sleeping with her new stingray on her chest :)

We washed her hair and put CLOTHES on!!!!

The PT helped her transfer herself to the chair!!

We are packed and ready to go, just waiting on our scripts.

Then we will head to rmh to pick up the crew to bring Auntie Carla and Nicole to the train.

Then we will head back to rmh to chill out and settle in.

Gerri had a very good nights sleep, ate well this am, was SO happy to have her hair really washed and put clothes on.

As of this am they want me to use adhesive remover and try to do the onQ and tegaderm myself and if it is too much for her we will go to clinic on Tuesday.

They have her on tylenol with codeine and keflex, that is it. She takes the tylenol before bed and then goes till waking up with no pills. :) amazing!

Carla just sent me this pic of the girls in their matching shirts!! soon all 3 will be together in their matching clothes!!
thanks Autnie! :)

Company!! and a good night and day :)

2011-12-03T22:10:00.000-05:00

Hey! I have company coming today!!

My sister and her daughter came down by train to bring Ms V to us :) Gerri was SO excited about seeing Victoria and Victoria was totally blown away by how Gerri is :( Victoria was afraid to go near her, wouldn't kiss her or touch her :(

We went up to the 6th floor play room and saw a helicopter land at the hospital next to us

PT had helped me do a 2 person transfer to get her into the loaner reclining wheelchair. She was petrified of moving and being touched. Crying before we even touched her :( but then once we were out of the room she was so happy!!

She was SO scared about getting moved into the wheelchair, but perked up quite a bit being out of her room

she loved watching the girls play

at the kids bank, Cole found the secret door :)

victoria found an old computer to play on

We played, hung around and then I got Gerri settled into her bed, told the nurse I had to check them into rmh and would eat dinner and be back once Ms V was settled. Gerri was fine, talking up a storm with our new neighbors :) I drove the girls over to rmh, showed them our room, relaxed a bit. Ms V was dying to show Cousin Cole the dress up area :) Victoria didn't have much to say about the train ride. Carla said they both did great and got many compliments on how well behaved they were :)
We had a nice dinner then I had to hug and kiss Ms V goodnight and head back to the hospital to stay with Gerri (so hard for this momma's heart to be split, thank heavens she was so happy to be with the big girls)
Gerri had a great night last night, slept through most of it. I had a "discussion" with the night nurse about her IV's, realized I wasn't going to win and had to let it go.

after a great nights sleep, playing her ipod and feeling pretty good

Dr vB did rounds early this morning, it was so strange to see him in a sweater!! He was very happy with her progress. He wants her IVs out (which is what I said but the nurse said no!), all meds by mouth, me to learn how to do trh transfers with the wheelchair, then we can be discharged to rmh for 1-2 days and then home!! He originally wanted to see us back in 3 weeks but that is the day before christmas eve and the train is booked, so he reluctantly agreed to let us come back in 2 1/2 weeks for a check.
As soon as he finished with us I kissed Gerri bye, left her with our friends and headed back to rmh to see the crew. I stopped for coffee and got there just as breakfast was being served :) I spent a bit of time with them and then ran up to take a shower and change my clothes. Then Carla dropped me back at the hospital while they had a great time at the aquarium!

Once PT came by to show me a 1 person transfer we went to play with the volunteers in the lounge!

VERY serious UNO player!!

Then she got to do stickers!!

Her projects!!

Auntie sent some pictures from the aquarium!! cute seahorses

the girls LOVED the hippos!

they got to pet and feed the stingrays!!

After a very long day they popped in to say hi to Gerri. They were happy to see she was feeling better!! (she managed to move her bowels and she was feeling SO much better!!)

They had picked out a pink stingray for her and she was delighted!!

Ms V was a bit tired, cranky and out of sorts.

We settled Gerri in with the tv, the nurse checking on her and then I went back with the crew to rmh for dinner and some Ms V time. She settled down once we had some amazing home made pizza and lasagna and cookies!! Hugs and kisses, picked up clean undies and then headed back to Shriners and Gerri. The nurse is working on her meds and scripts so that come morning we can get ourselves checked out early in the day. We will head over to rmh and pick up the crew to head to the train station. Carla and Cole are heading home while we wait at rmh till our ckout appt on Tuesday at clinic. Victoria will be so sad to see them leave, it has been a godsend having them here to entertain her while I am here with Gerri. Each day Gerri looks better and feels better. But I know tomorrow leaving here and being in the car and the wheelchair and then the room will be very hard on her. I cannot even think how much it will hurt to have the onQ system taken off since they used tegaderm to hold the small tubing onto her leg. Just taking the small pieces of tegaderm off her hands and IV just about killed her. And the tegaderm is all over her left leg and will have to be pulled off to get the wires off :(

:( That leg is pretty swollen too and we had ice on it tonight. hopefully by Tuesday it will be a bit less sensitive and swollen.

tomorrow will be tough, I really hope that once Ms V spends some time with her at rmh and Gerri is feeling better they will start playing together and be ok :)

I am tired and feeling very old. I hate seeing her in pain, even knowing it is for the best in the long run. It is so hard to take away her hard won mobility. She won't be able to shower for 1 week, no baths for 2 weeks, no weight bearing till we see him and he says her hip is ok. Her leg needs to stay straight till we see him too, so another 2 weeks. He is pretty sure she will have to use the loaner wheelchair for the next month, sit on her bottom that long too :(

Should be interesting just getting her dressed in the morning :)

good night!

2011-12-02T09:45:00.000-05:00

smiling at 6:30 am :) drinking water - her throat is still sore from the tube

my "comfy" bed :)

very happy after mommy's sponge bath and hair "wash"

so happy that Ms V and cousin Cole are on the train and on their way here with Auntie Carla!!

First food in 2 days!!!!!!!!!!!

Saw the Dr this am and he is very happy with her progress!! Today they will start switching her to oral meds so we can lose the iv's. Then pull the catheter. PT will be here to get her a bit more upright and start getting her moving. She slept pretty good last night, the nurse only woke me every 2 hrs, then proceeded to talk to Gerri each time!! ARGH! We moved her a bit around 4 am to put a pillow under her butte, she did not like it, but it helps her bottom.
hopefully she will be discharged by Sunday then we will hang at the rmh till probably Tuesday so she will be comfortable for the car ride at least as comfortable as possible.

Its all good!!

2011-12-01T21:44:00.000-05:00

Back in our room and sleeping!!

Thankfully the Dr did not have to do the big surgery, he took out the hardware, took xrays, put dye in her socket, put the hardware back in and determined all is ok. She did not need the pin to hold it in place. As a matter of fact the dr was able to see her hip rotate around and he cleaned out a bunch of old pooled blood, so she is much more comfortable. He says we will get discharged as soon as she can eat and pee. PT will be here tomorrow to get her upright and then we just wait for her loaner wheelchair. Hopefully we will head home next week and then we come back the week before christmas. I hope she sleeps well tonight, she is so tired, but still smiling :)
thanks for all the prayers!!

Back in the OR

2011-12-01T17:28:00.001-05:00

I just left Gerri at the hospital, they were taking her back into the OR to tweak her surgery from yesterday. I took the time to run to RMH to do some laundry, will eat a good meal, pack some clean undies and then head back before she gets out. The deformed head of her femur slipped after surgery and is sitting against the growth plate, so it has to be pinned into place. Hopefully the Dr can do a quick surgery and slip a pin into the new hardware and it will hold. Otherwise he has to take out the new hardware and redo it all. He said he would have put her into a cast except she has the fixator so she will have a wedge strapped between her legs, will not be allowed to sit all the way up till she heals, and will have her legs wide apart. He doesn't want her traveling while she heals so once we go home we will stay there for a couple of weeks before we come back to get checked out. I will still start turning the screw on her fixator on Wednesday, we just need her hip to heal before she can get mobile.
She was in a great mood all day, even knowing she was going into surgery again, but by 4 when they took us down she was very sad, very tired and hungry! :(
Please pray the quick surgery is a success and she will feel better in a couple of days!!!!

Smiling !!

2011-12-01T06:35:00.001-05:00

Still sleeping :)

2011-12-01T06:15:00.001-05:00

Back in the room!

2011-11-30T15:44:00.001-05:00

yah!!

2011-11-30T13:56:00.001-05:00

just called down and they are closing up!!! all went well!! we should be able to see her in about 1/2 hour!

2011-11-30T11:18:00.001-05:00

Just checked on her, the fixator is on and the dr is working on her hip. First taking out the old hardware and then fixing the femur head. They said she is doing great!!

2011-11-30T07:53:00.001-05:00

We are heading down now, they switched cases so gerri is first , pray!!!

on our way to Philly!

2011-11-29T11:58:00.002-05:00

The start of our trip!! only 5 hours to go!

We had to drive to work to pick up Nana, but we got to say hi to both Auntie's and grampy!

Hugs and kisses Grampy! Miss you!

We stopped in Devon, CT for lunch and to switch drivers

So far so good, weather is nice and mom is taking over the driving now, time to close my eyes :)

been busy :)

2011-11-26T16:56:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we went to a small circus at the high school that benefited the education fund :)

Bucky was the ringmaster and used to work for Ringling bros

Slav was so much fun to watch, hurt to watch

Liu Lu was so pretty

Bucky balanced this spinning ball on a very tall pole

The BMX guys were amazing!

this is called being Spiderman!

so amazing!

the girls had so much fun

Slav went up SO high! with NO net!

Just riveted!

6 chairs high!!! wow!

One guy jumping over another one!!

We had so much fun!

paper project for each girl

made a muppet car for Nana :)

Grammy learned all about spy mouse after dinner last weekend

while grampy rested his eyes :)

for the first time ever we had to rake leaves and the kids got to help.
(leaves don't fall off the trees in FL) Victoria was trying to stick the leaves back on the tree in the background!

Thanksgiving was at our house :) so much fun having 16 of us for dinner!!

the oven was chock full!

Nana was cooking

Football was on!

The boys were playing their ds games

Cousin Katie was so nice to bring glow in the dark nail polish!!! the girls were so excited to do it right after dinner!

Auntie Carla had a craft project!! very messy and SO much fun!!!

Uncle Mikewas nice enough to cut up the turkey remaining on the 22 pound bird, Nana was giving pointers and Maggie was just hoping he would trip and fall and drop a handful :)

snooze time after all that eating!!

We went to check on Nana's new in-law apartment at auntie Denise's

then we headed over to Auntie Carla's to drop off the table and chairs and it was SO beautiful out!!

The girls played outside!

Did lots of bouncing!

Uncle Adam's prize deer head! He pawned off some meat to Dan :)

I go back to my Dr on Monday for my 6 week followup - get to see an xray of my new metal hip. I still have an open spot on my incision that I am battling with, my hip and thigh are still aching and my right (new hip) leg is still noticeably longer which makes walking painful. I am hoping he says this is all normal and in a couple of weeks it will be better, but he also told me that at 6 weeks post op I would be so happy I did this and I am not there yet. I have not had a good nights sleep in 6 weeks and it is getting really old, I just cannot get comfortable at night.
Hopefully there is nothing wrong since Tuesday Gerri, my mom and I head out to Philly for her surgery on Wednesday. I asked my mom to help with the driving because I know I just cannot drive for 5 hours, I have only driven locally around town. I am planning on taking some pain meds since I figure I will be very stiff and sore by the time we get there.
Gerri has been getting noticeably more nervous as we get closer. Up to now it has been way in the future for her, after thanksgiving. As soon as thanksgiving was over and I started taking down the decorations she looked at me and said "thanksgiving is over? then it is almost time for philly??" Smart cookie!! We have not talked specifics to her, but she does know what is going to happen.
Please pray for her surgery, her Dr and her healing!! It will be so hard for her to not be mobile for a bit. Monday I have to run to school to get her walker and it is hard to believe she will not be back at school for a month or 2 :( She loves school. We will be having a tutor once we are home, but it is not the same. It will be as hard for Danny as Gerri, they love seeing each other at school. The teachers say they will walk hand in hand down the hall :) :)
Gerri and I will be heading to Philly weekly during the "distraction" phase which is while we are turning the screws to spread the bones apart. This should take about 4-5 weeks. Then we hit the consolidation phase where her new bone grows in to fill in the gap, hopefully quickly!
December will a tough month for her, but if her hip heals well she will be up and walking in her walker prety quickly.
Thank heavens we picked a house that has all the living area on one floor!!! It will make it much easier for her, just as it has for me the last 6 weeks.
Victoria will take the train down with Auntie Carla and her daughter Nicole next Friday to join us in Philly. I do not know when Gerri will be discharged, but she will be happy to see Victoria and Cole :) :) Auntie and Cole will stay for the weekend and then take the train back home while we stay there till Gerri has her follow up appt and we can come home.
So holidays here we come!!! I plan on doing the decorating tomorrow so it will be done before we travel.

tree time and first concert!

2011-11-18T15:24:00.001-05:00

I have started driving around just locally and it feels SO good!! I have only been using hte cane when I am outside the house just in case I loose my footing. I am feeling so much better, I just wish I could sleep well!!!

I just missed saying Timber!!!

Dan and our neighbor brought it down, cut it up and didn't draw any blood!

you can see how rotted out the tree trunk was

yup, I stood around and watched :) :)

Dan had to take down part of the fence so it would not get ruined when the tree came down. So he took it down the day before. The dogs never even realized the fence was down :) They walked all around the backyard and never once even attempted to go through the poles. But once they saw the gate open-out! so so funny :)
The sellers had done so much planting but hardly any trimming so we have spent a lot of time cleaning up the property. There are lots more trees that need attention.
Danny had his third grade thanksgiving concert this morning. We were really worried since last years was such a disaster (Danny had stage fright and cried and sobbed the whole time).
He did great today and it was a much bigger crowd!!

the whole 3rd grade

that is Danny right in the middle talking to the girl next to him

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=fb420643bf373a832cc441&skin_id=701&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

I had a meeting with his IEP group yesterday and Danny was tested for speech and language. In FL they had dismissed that part of his IEP saying he did not qualify anymore. Here he tested as severly delayed in both. He is getting speech and language 3 x's per week :)

Another one bites the dust!!

2011-11-14T09:24:00.002-05:00

Look mommy!!

2 teeth gone!!!

I can't believe she has lost 2 teeth already, she just turned 5! Danny didn't lose his first tooth till he was 7.

Happy Veterans day!!

2011-11-13T12:42:00.012-05:00

Playing on Thursday (no school for teacher day)

If you look at this picture while enlarged you will see a whole gaggle of turkeys just strutting up our street!

The girls got all dressed up for Veteran's day for daddy :)

We made him a cake :) (yes it is a leftover halloween cake I never got around to making)

Grammy and Grampy came over for dinner last night, Grampy is recovering from shoulder surgery so we could commiserate together :)

Grammy played doll house and trucks with Danny

Then grammy got all jewelry'd up :)

Danny stepped in to do her hair

After dinner it was puzzle time!

then Grammy and Grampy had to learn IPOD touch games :)

MUCH sisterly love!!

they were both laughing so hard - I should have taped it :)

Thankfully they are all back to school tomorrow as routine is best for Danny!!
I hit 4 weeks post-op on Friday and am felling a bit better, I just wish I could get a really good nights sleep :( I still have a spot on my incision that is weeping fluid, mom has been good about coming by to tend to it. I will be SO glad to not have to wear my TED stocking anymore, I spend most of my time pulling the darn thing up. (It is an anti-embolism stocking that goes hip to toes) I am rubbing vitamin E oil on my scar to help it. I am able to got around quite a bit without my cane, just need it when first getting up and when I am tired. The PT exercises really help alot. I will be SO happy when I feel better enough to drive again!! :)

Colors

2011-11-10T10:09:00.001-05:00

Love the colors today !!

First time!

2011-11-07T12:47:00.000-05:00

For the first time ever I had to sort through the kids clothes and pack away their summer stuff.

We never had to do that in FL :) The kids did not understand why they couldn't wear everything in their dressers, so I packed it all away!

Yesterday we had a joint Grampy and Auntie Carla birthday party!

"The Kids" all watching Pirates "On Stranger Tides"

The girls watched some, played some, giggled some

The women's corner :)

The Men watching football!

We had LOTS of food, chili, portuguese soup and chicken noodle soup, along with our homemade rolls

We also had clam chowder!

not just 1 dessert, but 4 desserts!!
angel food cake, strawberry cheesecake, whoopie pies, and pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes :)

I did too much yesterday, didn't sleep well and tired today :(
But I did get the clothes taken care of and changed all the sheets on the kids beds :)

Halloween finally!!

2011-11-05T19:37:00.000-04:00

The town had Halloween yesterday!!

The elementary school had a costume parade,

They were walking too fast and we almost missed them!

Just caught Gerri, she turned around to wave

Danny was so happy!! sorry it is blurry!

The kids were so excited about going trick or treating!! And it was COLD!! Dan put them in his truck and they did our whole street (which we were told has not done much the last couple of years) but almost everyone was ready and so excited to see them!! I stayed home to give out candy and we actually had about 15 kids! The kids wanted to go down more streets, but Dan was cold :)

Back with candy and happy!!

We let them each have one piece of candy and they were OFF THE WALLS!!!
They were so excited to answer the door and hand out candy to other kids. Gerri had a girl from her class stop over :)
Today we took down all the halloween stuff and put up the thanksgiving stuff :)

Progressing!!

2011-11-02T20:27:00.003-04:00

this has been my buddy!

The Dr said I could start using this - so much harder!! my back is sore :(

How we all felt when we had no power, just the fireplace

This is SO huge!! Danny is usually not very nice to the dogs :)

Auntie Denise reading with Gerri :)

We had a busy day on Monday, no school, I had my 2 week fu appt with my Dr, who is very happy!! He took me off the Coumadin and put me on 2 aspirin's a day. He said the swelling, soreness, bruising and leg length difference will all be better by the 6 week mark. He asked if I was happy yet that I had the surgery and I said "not yet" and he said let's see what you say at 6 weeks!! Man I can't wait for 6 weeks! I just want to be able to sleep well again!
Ms V had her 5 yr checkup with the Dr. and since the kids were all home, we all went! The kids all got their flu mists too. The tech wrote her weight/height numbers wrong and the Dr went on and on about ms V having a high bmi and how we need to keep an eye on her weight and what she eats. I didn't notice till I got home and was putting the info into her growth charts that the tech wrote it wrong. So when I put her info in she is just over 50% for both height and weight!! So all that lecture and it was totally unnecessary! Luckily it is not her pediatrician, just the Dr on today.

She was very tired from the whole experience!

We ended up being out most of the day, first time for me in almost 3 weeks!! I was so tired!
Monday afternoon we got the town phone call saying Halloween was cancelled till Friday night because it was not safe. The kids were very unhappy!!
Tuesday am the schools start were delayed by 2 hours and Ms V did not have school again.

karate chopping with daddy!

tickle time!!

Wednesday finally had all 3 back to school!!!

Ms V and Gerri reading together!!!!!

We still have snow on the ground :)

SNOW day!!!

2011-10-31T08:12:00.000-04:00

look ma!!!

this is saturday night

sunday morning

fell on our roof

our only heat and light - no power!

daddy got to use his snow blower!

fl dogs - what is this !#$&&(*^

not so bad!!

ready to play

making a snowman!

decorated with tree boughs

auntie took them to see puss in boots on Sunday - we still had no power!
she brought costumes!!!

so excited!!

We got the call Sunday night saying 75% of our city had no power, including the schools so the kids have their first snow day!!!!!
Our power finally came back on at 3 am this morning!!

SNOW!!

2011-10-28T14:01:00.000-04:00

Last night the weatherperson said snow - say what?!? it is only October!!!

The kids made us promise that if it was snowing when we went to bed we were to wake them so they could see it

at 8:30 Dan said "snow" WHAT?!?

as you can see they are VERY happy to be woken up to see the snow!!!

random snow pictures - I was so excited!! nothing better than the first snow of the year!

snow on the pumpkin :)

The kids were very excited when I woke them up this am to see the snow!!

none of them remember seeing it last night, so I had to show the picture I took of them :)

Danny was dying to shovel! Gerri was SOSOSOSO excited about walking in the snow!

Gerri has NEVER touched the snow!! how could that be? because in Ukraine she was not mobile, so she was never out in the snow unless she was traveling somewhere, but NEVER allowed to touch it or play in it!!

Gerri held onto Danny going down the ramp and walking around - it was a bit slippery

they walked to the bus stop, playing, singing and sliding :)

our first delivery of firewood!!

We are supposed to get more snow tomorrow too!! We are definately not in FL anymore :)

Dancing and playing!

2011-10-25T09:41:00.000-04:00

Sunday was dressup day :) The girls love to pick dresses out of their dress up box!

Dancing together :) so sweet!

coloring break!

Gerri has been a bit under the weather, it is SO obvious

hanging out with me while Danny and Victoria played together

she did not wear this to school :) she changed once home

Grampy and Grammy came over for dinner and dessert on Sunday. Nana brought over decorate your own cookies!!

They each picked butterflies to decorate

he couldn't wait to eat it!

very happy to eat!

so proud!

My mom came over sat and sun to change the dressing on my leg. By sunday night the muscle cramps were horrible, so I kept stretching, walking around and icing my thigh.
Monday am my PT came over to stretch and check my leg. The swelling has gone down 4 cm since last Thurs, so she thinks that is why I am having muscle cramps too. The regular visiting nurse came next to look at the rash, check my blood and take vitals. The Pt told her that the rash looked bad and I think made the nurse nervous about it, so she called my Dr to let them know about it.
The Dr's office called back to ask me to come in so they could see it. So I got to go for a car ride!! First time I saw the Dr since my surgery! He was actually very happy with how mobile I was. He cleaned up the incision, took off some old yucky steri-strips, put some new ones on to close a small opening in the incision, and wiped down the rash. He is pretty sure that it is just an allergic reaction to the tegaderm bandages they used in the hospital. The anitbiotic that the nurse put on my leg on Thursday just aggravated it. He told me to go ahead and take a shower(!!!!) and let the warm soapy water wash over my leg, then dry it completely and keep it uncovered. And he let me take my TED stocking off my left leg! So all in all it was good to see him. He did not want to give me anything for the muscle cramps :( So hopefully they get better each day.

Victoria took this picture of Dan and the PA, Heather

I just can't get very comfortable at night, so I toss and turn all night trying to get comfortable and finally get out of bed around 4 or 5 and move onto the couch where I can sit up.
The kids have been so great about helping do things.
Dan has stepped up and done everything, not the way I would do and it has been hard to just sit back and be greatful :) but I am trying!
I took a shower this am and it felt SO good!! All 3 kids were standing outside the bathroom when I got out, saying how exciting it was I could take a shower. I guess 10 days without a shower was enough for them :)

just hanging around

2011-10-22T10:27:00.000-04:00

trying to catch up on emails :)

ok, ms V, give me my iphone!

She got off one more picture of her baby "pink"

The it was time to keep me company :)

I am sore and tired. My right knee and calf are sore as I try to learn to walk without twisting. I can sleep for a bit,but then get so uncomfortable i have to shift around. I get up each morning around 4 and move into the couch to sit up and fall asleep again. I get up and "walk" a lap every hour to stretch.

yup, my poor skin - allergic to the tape from my bandage.
It is SO itchy! The yellow is left over bruise.

The girls playind dress up and dancing to Strawberry this am :)

I am waiting on mom to come help me with my skin, the kids are being really good. Dan took some much needed "me" time to go to the range with my brother in law.
I am not at the "happy I did the surgery" feeling yet :)
Maybe next week!

home and updating :)

2011-10-19T20:57:00.000-04:00

finally in my room friday night, swollen and so not happy or feeling good.
You can't see my hand holding the pain medication button.

nana and Danny putting pillows under my feet cause my heels were SO sore from being in one spot on the bed

my blown iv on Sunday, no one was happy that the anesthesia student put it inside my elbow, every time I moved my arm it set off the darn alarm. An iv nurse had no problem getting me a good iv in my wrist :)

this is the whole incision! I can't believe how small it is!
darn it though, no more bikinis :) The stitches are dissolvable so I don't have to have them taken out.

turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes and rice pilaf - yum!
and if I didn't call down for a meal I would get a call asking me if I wanted any food :)

Dan and Victoria came to visit Monday after preschool when we thought I was being discharged. Then my blood pressure took a dive again and I got transfused 2 units and it took almost 10 hours!! It was exhausting!

the first bag - see the sun out :)

I was SO happy to be home yesterday. I was so happy to be in my clothes! and in my house. The nurse was great about getting me to take a pain pill before I left the hospital knowing I would overdue it. I was in bed last night at 8:00 but kept waking up. My nurse did not bring me my tylenol early this morning (he was snoring!) so I got out of bed at 5:30, took some tylenol and sat up in the sofa.
My PT visiting nurse came by to meet me, check out the house, watch me walk and take vitals. She was really nice and Victoria was totally showing off :)
She wants me up and walking every hour. She was very happy with my range of motion. My right thigh is swollen and is 6 inches bigger around than my left thigh. The skin is tight and sore. I don't even think I have any real bone pain, I am not sure. My blood pressure is low again and she wants me to monitor it. She also told me to not be a martyr and take the pain meds as needed since it is only 6 days out of surgery. My gait is off since my right leg feels longer, but she says as the swelling goes down it will get better. She also said I am turning my leg out, which is just how I was used to walking for so long because of the pain.
She is coming back tomorrow to check on me again and the visiting nurse will also be out to do a blood draw.
I can't imagine how stir crazy I am going to get after weeks at home!!
I am off to bed (and I am taking a pain pill before bed!)
Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes!!

I am home!!!

2011-10-18T19:21:00.002-04:00

I am home and exhausted!! Everyone is happy:)
I cannot wait to sleep in my bed, in my pjs, in my undies and NO one to wake me all night for vital signs!

Not going home :(

2011-10-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

I am so sad that I am not going home today. My bloodwork is still low and just walking around the room makes me dizzy. I will have a blood transfusion this afternoon and blood taken tomorrow am to see if I can go home.

Sorry about the previous post!

2011-10-15T18:06:00.000-04:00

The dr called Dan around 12:30 to say he could visit
With me in my room by 1. When he got to the hospital at 2:30 I was still waiting on my room
I finally got Moved at 4:30. I was on Iv medication and not feeling
Much pain.
I was only allowed clear liquids. Since I got to my room so late there no PT's available to help me up. I had lots of company, but don't remember most of it. Everyone left so I could really sleeP even being waked up every 2 hours. I was able to get up this am to potty. It when I tried to walk or sit I got very dizzy. My bp was very low so they had me sit on the bed for awhile. The girls came in to see me and were Pretty scared by me. I tried to sit in the chair but had to move back to the bed again. The nurse told me that I lost a lot of blood yesterday so I need to keep drinking fluids. I feel Pretty rough still :(

2011-10-14T21:53:00.003-04:00

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2011-10-14T21:53:00.001-04:00

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I am ready! I think! prayers!

2011-10-13T20:13:00.000-04:00

We have been getting the house ready for me when I get released home next week:

Our new higher toilet and grab bar in the master bath

this will go on top of our new toilet

Uncle built an awesome ramp for me and Gerri

Our new fireplace insert was installed and the house is so much warmer!

We planted Tulips all around the front of the house

They "helped"

Our pumpkins are soft and the squirrels kept trying to eat them so we thew them in the side yard and they are very happy!!

I have to report to the hospital at 5:45 am tomorrow! My dad has volunteered to be here early so Dan can take me up and we don't have to wake the kids. Since I am the first case (7:30 start) they said he would not be able to stay with me long, just long enough to take my belongings. Since the surgery is 5-6 hours they told him to just wait at home. He will not be able to see me in recovery, not till I am put in my room on the floor. The nurse said I will be up standing by dinner time and feeling pretty good. I would beg to differ, but we will see.
My dad is bringing coffee for him and Dan and since I can't drink it I will just smell it :)
I won't say I am not scared or worried cause I am, but I can't stop and think about it too much or I might cry :(
I have put this off for years and now that it is here I can't believe it. Danny is going with Grampy and Grammy for the weekend and the girls are going to have a wonderful sleep over at aunties tomorrow night.
When I had my pre-ops on Monday each person asked my age and physically I feel very old!! (this being off the anti-inflammatories for a week before surgery s*cks) Then the nurse told me I should stop my herbal I take for hot flashes! man-just shoot me now! But the pain makes me realize that I HAVE to do this, I HAVE to have my hip replaced.
I hope the surgeon is right that once I get over the surgery pain I will be SO happy to be pain free.
I drove lots this week, knowing I won't be able to drive for 4-6 weeks :(
I just kissed the kids, tucked them in and we all yelled loobie loo (russian for love you), they don't realize that I will be at the hospital when they wake up. I managed to not cry in front of them :)
Please, dear god, let nothing happen!! Our kids and family are our lives.
If you have a spare minute tomorrow, please say a quick prayer:
for the kids hearts
for Dan's patience :)
for my surgeon (no parties tonight!)
for my quick healing
For me to be back home on Monday!

thanks to all of you!!!

Corn maze fun!!

2011-10-10T09:53:00.000-04:00

so cool!

sweet!

fun in the spider web

Then the cousins arrived and even more fun!!!

cool air pillow - or corn popper :)

Gerri had a hard time standing on it, so her brother and cousin helped!

dan was dying for fried dough - ms v said it was ok :)

Gerri thought it was yummy!!

The corn maze! It was much bigger than we thought! We got lost many times, sweated a lot, and had lots of fun :)

Then it was time for the hay ride

tired, hot and sweaty trying to listen to the guy talk about the farm

kind of listening :)

you used the apple/potato cannons to shoot the targets :)

We had SO much fun! It was an unusually warm day :)
After having fun we went and had seafood for lunch - yummy!! and then had ice cream to top it all off!!

busy and boo boo

2011-10-05T07:21:00.014-04:00

BIG chipper!!

So So cool and lots of mulch

Then it was time to pick up V, in grey on the slide

she didn't even see me sitting right next to the playground

line up to collect some acorns and then pack up

So I am sitting in the car reading the paper when the teaching asst knocks on my window to ask me to please come quick, ms V got stung just as they were going back into the building :(

Since it was her first sting ever she was sitting in the nurse's office being watched and sobbing. The nurse was able to get the stinger out and she had pumpkin ice cubes to put on top of it :)

crying the whole way home :(

She calmed down in time to arrive home and see daddy, then it started all over again :(
I had her lay on the couch with her ice and a milk and in 5 minutes she was sound asleep!
When she woke up an hour later she was fine and couldn't wait to tell her brother and sister about it.

Happy Birthday Sweet Princessa!

2011-10-03T20:59:00.000-04:00

We had a family bbq on Sunday for MS V's birthday. We had to schedule it around the Pat's game!:)

wow! princess and pink!!

birthday princess medal

Time for an activity!!

wow! pumpkins!! my kids have never done them!!

getting their hands right into the guts!!

the finished results!

then it was time to eat bbq!!!

wow! pink and princess cupcakes!

Such a big girl!!! 5!!!

Danny made her a special card and wrapped some of his treasures :)

wow! rapunzel hair!

I can decorate her!?!!??!

a kitty cat keyboard! with microphone!!

pink princess pj's!!

pink tutu skirt!!

lots of cool books!!

OMG!! mommy and daddy's big present!!!!

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!

so sweet!

All ready for bed!! :)
with her hello kitty pocket book and princess jewelry box!

Going to school for her birthday!

Knee and elbow pads and gloves!

Danny got UNO and Gerri got sparkly hairbands

Gerri had a bit of a meltdown just before everyone came over, She was SO jealous of it being Victoria's special day. I let her think in time out for a bit then we sat down and talked about why she was so sad and sobbing. She was able to tell me she was sad and that she wanted to know how many presents Victoria was going to get. I asked her if she would like it if ms V was sad and crying on her birthday? and she said no. I asked her if she and V shared all their toys? and she said yes. I asked if she was jealous? and she looked at me and said yes. I told her that was normal, but that everyone deserves to be special most of all on their birthdays. I asked her if she was ready to enjoy ms v's day and she said she needed a bit of time. I went back in a little bit later and she said she was better and I asked if she wanted to say anything to ms v. She went out and hugged her and said she was sorry about being jealous and wanted s v to have a good birthday!! :) so cute!

Philly Trip!

2011-09-29T21:16:00.000-04:00

I was up at 5:30 am, loaded the car and Gerri and headed off to the airport.
We checked in at 6:30 and then sat at our gate since our flight did not board till 8 am.
We boarded the flight at 8 am and at 8:30 when we were supposed to be taxi-ing the pilot came on the overhead to say that Philly had just closed the airport because of fog but he hoped we would be able to take off around oh 10:00!! So much for being really early for out 11:15 appt at Shriners!!
After last week not making it I was starting to think we were just not supposed to be going!!
I called home to let them know we were going to be late, then called Shriners to let them know we would be late.

napping on the plane :)

We did finally take off at 10:15, landing in Philly at 11:15. We got the rental car and then headed directly to Shriners. We ended up being an hour late but they were ok since we had called. When we got upstairs it was pretty quiet and we got called back at 12:45 because 2 other families were not there when their names were called :) They put a sticky note on our file to let them know we had a 6pm flight home and had to be out by 4!

One of the fellows gave Gerri a job of clicking the mouse every couple of minutes to keep the computer from going to sleep :)

We ran up and grabbed lunch while we waited for Dr vB. By 2 I was getting worried we were not going to make our return flight home at 6. I knew we had to go to O&P and PT still :(

At 2:30 Dr vB came in and gave Gerri a huge hug! She gave him a card she had made him too. He was SO happy with her walking and her feet. We talked a bit about her hip surgery the end of November to get an idea of how much time she would be out of school. He thinks she will be in the hospital about 3 nights, then get discharged to me at the ronald mcdonald house.

If you are squeamish, skip this paragraph :
She will be having the head of her femur cut and repositioned (her surgery in UA put the head in the wrong position, 90 degrees and it should be 45 degrees) he will remove all the Ukrainian hardware and then he will cut her femur bone about half way down her thigh and insert 4 rods, 2 above the cut and 2 below. (this is her fixator) A week after surgery we will go back to see Dr vB who will show me how to manipulate the fixator. I will turn the screws to gain 1 mm of "space" every day. He thinks she needs to gain about 40mm to even out her leg length difference. She will gain a bit from having her hip fixed, but he also wants to overcorrect a bit too. She has to heal a bit from her hip surgery before I can learn how to do the fixator so that is why we have to wait a week after surgery, then since he only has clinic on Monday and Friday we will have to hang around Philly till the Friday after, so we will be in Philly about 11 days total. Then we will have to fly back to Philly every week for follow up appts so they can check her hip healing and her fixator. Once we get the bone "space" he wants I will stop turning the screw and we wait while new bone fills in the "space". That could take anywhere from 4-6 months. When she gets out of surgery she will have to be in a wheelchair that allows her feet to be straight out in front of her while her hip heals. The wheelchair we have does not allow that so she had to get measured for a rental one from Shriners. Dr vB says she can get up as soon as she is comfortable. Since we know she will not tell us when she is in pain, I am going to try to stay ahead of the pain as much as possible. Since we will be in Philly for 11 days Ms V is going with us, it should help them both as they love to be together. Gerri is more worried about being in the hospital than anything else. She keeps remembering being in Kiev in the hospital by herself :(
The only think she asked was to make sure she was not going to be in a body cast again, like in Ukraine. Dr vB assured her she would not be in any kind of cast at all. So amazing!!
Since she needs to heal from the hip and fixator surgery the current plan is to not even think about her going back to school till after the first of the year. She will not be happy about it, but we have to protect her hip and femur. Gerri does not understand the fixator part or what it will do or look like. At this point we have not told her much since she is SO worried about the hip surgery part. She has seen kids with fixator's on but has not said much. When we go for our weekly visits during the "turning the screw" phase Shriners will also be shaving off the lift on her left shoe. That should help her see that her leg is getting longer :) I told her that when we are done with all this she will be able to wear any shoes just like any other kid!!
Dr vB says that by spring she will have a totally different gait. With her hip fixed and her legs the same length it will be amazing! He also said when he fixes the hip her knock knee will be much better too.

We left to head over to O&P (orthotics and prostetics) to have her AFO's adjusted to try to be able to wear her shoes again. Dr vB marked her splints and they trimmed them down in no time flat!!
We even had time to run up to PT to get measure for the wheelchair!

We were able to return the rental car early and get to the airport early!!

look at me in sneakers again!!!!!

We were actually able to get an earlier flight home, the last 2 seats!!
We did not tell anyone that we were coming home early and boy were they excited to see us and see Gerri with her sneakers on!! Victoria just about knocked Gerri off her feet!

Just the thought of what she will be going through breaks my heart! The pain, being uncomfortable, having to learn to walk again, it is SO much! I just SO hope this does not set her back too much. I think staying in Philly for the extra days will allow her to heal and relax, be entertained by Ms V. I hope to be able to really focus on keeping her pain under control too. Sometimes it seems like she has spent SO much of her 1 1/2 years with us having something done TO her. I am an adult, I understand the big picture, but she just doesn't :(
I actually brought out pictures from last summer which was before she had anything done to her feet so she could remember how she could not walk, could not stand, could not do SO much.
Pray for her heart :)

To top it off I am having my hip surgery in two weeks. I have to have a total hip replacement, I have put it off for years and just can't anymore. I told my Dr I had to have it done and over with so I could be with Gerri in Philly for her surgery. I told him if he could not do it in time for me to go to Philly then I would hold off till she was better since it is SOSOSOSO hard to get surgery scheduled with Dr vB. I am really worried that seeing me go through what I have to go through will scare the dickens out of her. I will be in the hospital for 4 long days, have to use a walker and graduate to a cane. Hopefully doing ok by the time we have to go to Philly. My Dr is pretty sure I will heal and then tell him I feel so much better I should have done this a long time ago! (I can't see it right now :) )
The kids are more worried about me being in the hospital for the 4 days, not because I will be in pain, but they are worried Daddy won't take good care of them!! :) :)

So lots of prayers for us here! It is a very very busy next couple of months!!

We will try it again!

2011-09-25T20:58:00.000-04:00

The chimney guys finally came back and fixed 2 of 3 flues!
The fireplace flue needs to be totally replaced, so we are just buying an insert!

Dan and Uncle cut down lots of trees!

eveyone pitched in

Gerri's self portrait!!

This past week was open house at school, got to see Danny and Gerri's classrooms :)
Also had 2 hours of IEP meetings to get their FL IEP converted to MA. It is so amazing that they are willing to actually provide services informally without having an IEP in place and provide services that they have not had evaluations for yet, but they know they need it!! both teachers had great things to say about each one. Danny is shy and his teacher is helping him meet some new kids. Gerri definately is NOT shy, matter of fact she talks to everyone!!
Turns out they have recess at the same time and they were playing together instead of other kids.
I sat with both kids after the meeting and we talked about them both having a goal of playing with 1 new kid each week, including learning their names!! Gerri and I also talked about what a stranger is, not talking to everyone she sees and trying to focus and not interrupt. It is going to be very hard for both of them. Both played with new kids on Thursday and happily told me their names :)

Waiting for the bus on Friday! Danny played hooky and went sailing :)
This is our neighbors dog, loving the attention!

Uncle has been VERY busy around our house! This little pool house turned into a big problem.
The right side had lots of carpenter ants and the left side had termites!! And birds nests and lots of dead birds :(

Uncle took away LOTS of wood

The new flue caps, the middle one is the chimney waiting on the new fireplace insert.

Today was football day, Grampy played with the girls

then it was swimming time!!!!!
Victoria is pushing Grampy in!

Maggie SO wanted to join them!! but 70 degrees was too cold for her :)

Tonight was my nephew's 16th birthday!!

yes!! 16!!

The kids making their own pizzas!!
Katie and Dan helped make them beautiful!

So proud of her pizza!!
And if you look very closely - you will see a gap in her smile!!
Victoria lost her first tooth today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And the title is explained by Gerri and I taking a PLANE to Philly tomorrow for her follow up and preop appts. We are taking it easy tomorrow :) :)

Hard to believe it!!

2011-09-22T15:25:00.000-04:00

22 years today!!

love you honey!!!
(yes, I was a child bride!)

the best laid plans :(

2011-09-19T21:38:00.000-04:00

I had a hard time sleeping because I was afraid I would oversleep and not hear my cell phone ring.

At 3:00 am I was loading my car and wrapping Gerri in her blanket and sneaking out the front door.

I didn't take any coffee so I wouldn't have to stop :)

40 minutes into our 5 hour drive to Philly I heard a funny noise and lights started lighting up on my dashboard :( I pulled over, dug out a flashlight and had to walk around to see what was going on.

A flat tire! at 3:45 am!!

Luckily I have AAA (thanks dad!!)

Turns out that they had to call the MA state police since I was on a toll road.

An hour later!! a tow truck goes flying by so fast he could not stop and back up to get me so I had to wait till he went up to the next exit to turn around come back the other direction and then turn around to get back to me!! So at 4:45 am I finally saw this through my front windshield

He loaded us into his cab and then loaded my car onto the flatbed

Gerri was SO excited!! (me not so much!!)

We had to get towed to Honday since I have special run flat tires (which did work :) )
He dropped us off at 5:00 am and we had to wait till 7:00 am till they opened up so I could get help.
Gerri and I spent the 2 hours sleeping in the car in front of the dealership :)

Poor tire!!

I called my dad around 6:15 since I knew he was awake and on his way to work :)
He swung by at 7:15 to pick us up and get me coffee!! :) :) I then drove him back to work and then drove home with Gerri. We managed to pull into our street 10 minutes before Gerri's bus arrived!
The kids were SO excited to see us :)
Gerri told them that we had gone to Philly but had to come home cause of a flat. I told her we never made it out of MA and she said of course we did, we got up very early and drove a long time! :)

Luckily the dealership called to say it was just a nail in the tire and they were able to plug it!! :)
So needless to say we were both very tired today!
She was sound asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow and I am heading there now!
We will head back to Philly next Monday, but we will fly :)

Lots of work, demo and diggin goin on!

2011-09-18T21:10:00.000-04:00

We had some masons over to do some chimney work

They were supposed to be here 1 day, I left and they were busy

I came back to this, and we haven't seen them since!
Turns out all 3 flues are damaged and we are trying to decide what to do :(

Grampy playing with some new leg weights :)

My sister is having an addition done on her house so the kids and I went over on Saturday to watch some demo and some digging!!

they found this big rock - doesn't look big does it!?!?

how about now?? that is Danny standing there.

We then headed over to my other sisters to "help" uncle empty their pool!

It was a very big production

water fight!!

They were ALL SOAKED! But they emptied the pool one cup at a time :)

Today we went back to check the progress at my other sister's :)

BIG hole!

Little hole in their dining room :( with daylight showing

the girls loved to watcht the machines!

Nana was trying to find the ferret graveyard to move it, but no luck :(

Gotta play on the big rocks and the dirt!

It took all day and 2 trucks to get the big rock out of the way

has enough of the machines, let's play with leaves

one of the crew standing in the big hole, on the big rock trying to jiggle it into place

Tomorrow am, very early, Gerri and I head out to Philly for her followup and preop appts. It will be about a 5 hour drive each way :( My sister was nice enough to lend me an audiobook for the trip.

We also get to hug and love on Ms Carolyn and Madeline!! :)

Farmers Market and a FIRST!!

2011-09-14T19:43:00.000-04:00

To celebrate a great first week at school Danny went off for the weekend with Grampy and Grammy to Cuttyhunk :)
He has become quite proficient as a dinghy driver!!

He and Grampy did lots of walking!

Just hanging around! :)
(he talked and talked about this toilet)

On Sunday while the boys were busy, the girls went to So Boston and a really cool farmers market!

LOTS of food and things to buy and sample!

grilled cheese food truck was packed!!

people selling everything!

vintage jewelry

taking a break to eat hot dogs and fries :)

shopping is SO tiring!!

Ms V started PreSchool on Monday and was not wanting to go at all! she wanted to stay home with us. But once there she had a ball. She is one of the oldest in the class and the teacher has her help. Now she is loving it and can't wait to go!! She goes every morning for 3 hours and it is at the high school :) I forgot to take a pictiure on Monday but it was the same first day outfit from Danny and Gerri's first day at school last week.

But the coolest thing of all is that I got a call from the school nurse yesterday and she said she had received a fax from Dr vB (from Philly) and he cleared Gerri as having NO physical limitations!!! So that meant this morning FOR THE FIRST TIME Gerri and Danny rode the regular bus together!!!!

Victoria was sad to see them go, but next year they will ALL ride together!!!

Danny was SO excited to show Gerri the ropes on HIS bus :) He forgot to help her up the stairs but kept a seat for her next to him :) On the way home Gerri told Danny she wanted to ride with Ella who is in her class :) But he DID remember to help her up and down the stairs. (and she only needs help to get up and down quickly since the steps are so big and I don't want her putting her hands on the steps)
SO SO cool!! So proud of them!

First Days of School!!

2011-09-12T10:13:00.000-04:00

We made our school bus cookies :)

First day!! So VERY excited!! Danny and Gerri were up at 6 :)

Yes, it is pouring!! Danny getting on his bus

Luckily the neighbor was able to show him the ropes :) The bus driver let them sit together (they sit by grade on the bus)

Gerri's bus!

They both had great first days, mostly just learning the routine and how to get from point a to point b.

Day 2!! Love Gerri in pigtails!!

Victoria had orientation for PreK

Wow! they let us use markers and stickers!!

very proud of her frog!
They go up on the front door and as each child comes in they take their frog off the door and put it in a basket. So the teachers know who is not in class by whose frogs are still on the door :)

did a little mopping

sat in the reading chairs

played a little

loved matching the jewels :)

her cubbie!

if only this worked!! :) :)
She is sitting in the front seat because my van would not start and we had to wait for daddy to come jump it!

I got a call from the school nurse (who I met on Tuesday) she wanted to know if it was ok for Gerri to be twirling on the monkey bars. I asked her if the kids were allowed to do it and she said, I need to know if it is safe for Gerri to do it. I once again told her that Gerri has NO physical limitations. When Gerri got home from school I asked her how her day was and she said she wanted to walk around without her walker and the teacher would not let her. I also asked Gerri about twirling on the monkey bars and she said she did it, so I asked her if she thought that was a safe thing to be showing the other kids, and she thought about it and decided it was not, since some of the other kids can't do it :)
I called the school nurse to find out what was going on and was told "since you send her to school with a walker she has to use it". WHAT?? I had told her that the walker was only sent to school for her teacher's convenience. That since Gerri cannot walk as fast as everyone else it is just to help her go faster so the class is not held up. I understand CYA, but come on!

Day 3 - finally stopped raining!!

And if you notice - no walker in the picture!!! :) Took care of that problem, we kept it home. Gerri said she felt fine not taking it. Her bus thought it was cool too.
Once we go to Philly next week for her followup we will get her AFO's adjusted and she will be able to wear her shoes again and ride the regular bus with Danny and our neighbor. They are SO excited!! Dr vB was great about doing a quick letter saying Gerri has NO physical limitations!!!

finally have the flag pole in place and flew our BIG flag yesterday to mark 9/11.
We shall never forget!!

Dancing around!!

2011-09-08T08:00:00.006-04:00

dancing

and dancing

snack and juice break

stop for a hug and kiss

then more dancing!!

The beds are here!

2011-09-05T11:46:00.002-04:00

Watching Daddy :)

staining the deck :)

I then had to see my new primary to get a referral for ortho for my hip. And yes, Jodi, they weighed me :( :( But I made sure I had just gone potty and did not eat or drink that morning :) :)
I read my record upside down and she wrote,"very pleasant, educated, well nourished female"!! I guess that is PC for overweight :)

The Dr was very nice, gave me the authorization for a referral and then sent me over to get a script filled for Ibuprofen 800 mg to take till I have surgery. So cool have everything in the same place.
Then I met my sister for some salon time!! :)
We both had our hair colored and cut and styled. Then had lunch together :) so much fun!!

Here is what it looked like right after (and never will again :) )

I had a brainstorm for a desk for the kids to do homework, a countertop and 2 file cabinets. So we hit Lowe's and bought a countertop and 2 cabinet bases. We did not think about how high countertops are on top of the bases, so our quick desk took much longer as we measured and cut the two bases.

The kids keep fighting over who gets to do home work!

It works out really well. Danny and Gerri both have a place for their paper, pencils and stuff.

Then the real excitement came on Saturday am!!

Bob's delivering the girl's princess beds!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They watched every move!!

They helped carry out the empty boxes!

The bases are almost done!

Danny SO wanted one!!

Almost done!!!

The princess room with their bedding!

Thankfully the room is huge so the 2 beds fit :)

Over their dressers, the picture says "happily ever after"

I LOVE these lamps :)

The girls could not wait to go to sleep Saturday night :)
Sunday we had all the cousins over to swim and BBQ and I did not take any pictures :) It was nice and hot and most of us swam, cannon balled, and there was even some synchronized swimming :)

We ALL helped dig a hole for the flagpole

how much fun is it to watch cement set up?!?!?

What we have been up to :)

2011-08-30T20:15:00.000-04:00

Dan and I have unpacked ALL the boxes!! The kids are all signed up for school! Our insurance is switched over and we made it through a hurricane with NO damage at all!!

The kids have been swimming every day!

Ginger finally realized she could go in (both dogs used to swim in FL all the time)

Ginger got a kiss for being a good girl :)
This is the same child that used to be SO mean to the dogs!!

Maggie got in, barked at everyone, drank the water and then got out!

We have trainer her well!!! :) :)

Gerri is SO happy to be able to help!
Hard to believe last summer she could only scoot on her butte, now she walks confidently barefoot!!!

The kids had to all swim with the dogs.

all this swimming is exhausting!!

We have been having some growing pains! All 3 kids have been nudgie (is that a word???) Not making good choices, Not acting their ages, Not playing nice, Not cleaning up, Not listening, etc.
We know there have been lots of changes and all 3 are nervous about school starting NEXT week(!!!) so we have been letting them get their energy out with swimming as much as possible.

Danny got to be the first to meet their new pediatrician at the base, what a cool room and table!

a little nervous!

what great murals!

Danny has grown 2 inches and gained 7 pounds this summer!!!!!!! wow!!!
He really liked his Dr and she agreed to continue on with his meds as is. She had copies of his IEP and psych report put into his record. They still have not gotten the kids records from our ped in FL who sent them a week ago and charged me $75!!! I will have to call to follow up :(

The kids had lunch and played Little pet shop by the pool :)

Can't resist the water!

The girls got dressed, slapped on their backpacks and headed on out to girl land!! :)

I see my new Dr on Friday to get a referral to an ortho Dr up here. I think it is time to get the hip done, so not looking forward to it though :(
hopefully they won't weigh me :)

Happy Anniversary!! and Irene WHO????

2011-08-26T12:41:00.000-04:00

Dan's daughter Tracy brought us a very tasty triple chocolate cake!

We bbq'd and swam :)

And dove in and jumped in (and barked)

Then Tuesday was my sister's 25th wedding anniversary :)

woo hoo!! congrats!

all the grandkids together :) :)

food is out!

believe it or not the kitchen is big :)

the kids had their own area outside and it was also decorated

Nana baked and baked!! we had ziti, chicken and pork parm and chicken fricassee :) :) yummy!!

her cake - chocolate whoopie pie :)

his cake - boston creme pie!!

the kids played outside with their glow sticks

the happy couple :) :)

younger sister acting up as usual :)

yesterday was new student orientation, the asst principal took us all around the whole school!!

this is what we found this am when we woke up :)
she said Gerri was snoring too loud!

And just to make Dan absolutely crazy!!!!! Here comes Irene!!

As all who know us (and Dan) he is in what I like to affectionately call "chicken little" mode. We have taken in all of our outside furniture. He just got sand bags at the DPW. The generator has been fueled up and we have 4 gas cans full. We just got water and milk. We are all set :) :)