We Went Camping. I Took Pictures.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Part One of Two of our vacation. A weekend camping... Pictures of part two to come at a later date. Enjoy!

Back

We're back from vacation. A vacation that should have included two nights of camping in a tent and four nights in a condo with family, but instead included one night in a hotel, one night in a tent, and four nights in a condo. Upon arriving at our campsite, the skies looked clear and beautiful, but the weather forecast posted at the office stated severe thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. Right, no thank you... so I called multiple hotels/motels and booked us for one night.

Anyway... we're back now. Our first night home included severe thunderstorms - lost power, loud thunder, and bright lightening. It also included a Liam who couldn't fall asleep or stay asleep. So today, I've been walking around in a daze doing laundry and basically sleep walking.

Vacation was awesome and I can't wait to share some pictures.

But not right now. I'm tired.

The doctor didn't like it either.

So, we had Quinn's check up with the foot doctor/surgeon. He didn't like what he saw in the left foot either. When Quinn has no shoes on his left foot rolls inward, similar to what was happening before the surgery. The doctor had some xrays taken and was glad to see that everything on the inside actually looks a lot better than before surgery. So, the doctor believes that Quinn is a little sore on his left foot and rolls it to a comfortable position when standing. This was even demonstrated once Quinn had his shoes on and began walking for the doctor, he was clearly favoring his left foot. The solution for now is to give Quinn Motrin to help with any inflammation (though the therapist hasn't noticed any swelling) and to help reduce any pain or discomfort he might be feeling.

I suppose the good news is that the xrays of the left foot looked really good - even I could tell the difference with where some of the bones were at. Also, when he's wearing his shoes with inserts he's very well supported and his foot is where it's supposed to be. Of course, we're hoping to get to a point where Quinn will be able to stand barefoot and not have his bones rolling wherever it is they want to go.

We've got a vacation coming up - at a water park... the doctor advised us to allow Quinn to take it easy, offer him horseback rides while standing in lines for the bigger water rides, and to try and keep him in his sandals/stroller/shoes with support as much as possible. Basically, watch out for the amount of walking around barefoot we let him do.

Before and After...

Since Quinn's been able to hold his weight and stand - I've managed to get a few shots of the after-effect of the surgery. So... here's the before:





And here's the after:




The doctor did tell us pre-surgery that his left foot may need an additional surgery in a few years because it was so messed up. Well, he didn't exactly use those words, but you know...

Anyway, it's hard to tell just how successful this surgery has been, because even in these after pictures he's not putting all his weight on his feet and he's still sort of walking funny. I suppose we just have to wait and see. Another doctor's appointment Wednesday.... we'll see how he feels about the results.

Awesome.

And yes, we're going out tonight to celebrate. =)

What He's Taught Me

Things I've learned from Liam that I never learned from Quinn:

• How to unlock all the bedroom doors from the outside.
• Leave a coin outside the bathroom door so you can easily unlock it
• When going outside for any amount of time and leaving the kids inside - always bring your house keys.
• Make sure you also have a key for the screen door.
• When going into the basement for any amount of time bring this guy with you so that he doesn't lock the latch on the basement door while you are down there.
• How to set up the child-lock feature on my car.

I don't know what it is with this guy, but boy oh boy, does he get into everything. Today he decided he wanted to pee standing up - so he took the middle part of his little toilet seat, put it into the middle of the bathroom, and went for it. And in the process made a total mess of the bathroom and himself. I thought I knew what to expect with this end of the toddler/beginning of the preschool stage, but I can promise that this guy is the total opposite of his big brother. This guy keeps me on my toes... and I'm loving every minute of it.

Summer Reading Program

Thanks to the library's summer reading program I am able to tell my boys to go look at books for 15 minutes. AND - they are able to actually look at books nicely for 15 minutes. Liam has quite a few that he's memorized and can "read" during those 15 minutes. Quinn is able to read quite a few words and has many books that he can actually read. Of course - sometimes, they just look at the pictures and make up stories.

Either way - I'm able to get the laundry folded, the dishes put away, or just straighten up a bit for 15 minutes without my boys just vegging in front of the television.

It's a total win-win.

(Each 15 minutes we read or look at books the boys add a sticker to their own charts. For each 3 hours we read or look at books we get to go to the library and pick out prizes.)

*Oh - and just so you know, we always spend time reading books in this house, it's just that the summer reading program has really helped my boys understand just how long 15 minutes is... And it also encourages me to encourage them more often.

Fireworks!

Yesterday I asked my facebook friends for help taking pictures of fireworks and Jennifer came through with this link! So - our first night of celebrating the Fourth of July (also known as Mike's birthday weekend)! Of course, there are pictures...

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

The only down side to taking photos of fireworks - is that it takes some set up and then you sort of need to leave your camera there and ready - so I wasn't able to capture pictures of the pre-fireworks activity (mostly the kids playing around). Luckily, my friend takes just as many pictures as I do - so she took care of that part of the night for us! (Also - I have to give credit - Mike took all of the fireworks pictures. I just did the research.)