The moment my heart melted.....

It's summer. And you know what that means. Camp. Lots of camp. We've got various camps scheduled for the summer.....aside from our home based cooking camp.....we have a few "off campus" sporting camps, art camps, and such. You know, where they leave the safe confined space of their mother's loving arms......or to be more exact, the camps I hate.

The eldest signed up for Auburn University football camp again this year. And ironically, the sweet baby girl is also away at the University of Alabama gymnastics camp, but only as a day camper, thank goodness. My pacemaker can only take so much departure from the children at a time.

I'm sure they are both enjoying themselves greatly......me, not so much. Call me a mother hen, but I like to have all my little brood together. In one place. Under my wing, preferably. But, it just doesn't always work out that way. However, I have found a good way to make it happen, break all their femur bones.....

So, as you may remember, and if you don't, I'm sorry, I'd love to have your read the post from last summer of our first experience dropping off a child at camp, and leaving him. You know, out from under my wing. But, alas, that piece of literature would be lost somewhere in cyberspace with the rest of the whole first two years of my blogging adventure. My tech savvy self accidentally deleted our first blog. But just suffice it to say, that adventure was hard on the mama. And hard on whoever had to endure the mama's crying.

No, I won't rehash it all here again....just know that I think I may have been the one who gave the Lord those words to use in the bible......"weeping and gnashing of teeth".

Because that could certainly have described this mama when we drove away after depositing my baby on a college campus, to stay day and night, without me, at the tender age of 11.

I think it's also the main reason the father decided to do it by himself this year. Without all the mama drama. Hmph.

But luckily, and against my better judgement, we sent him away with one of his Dad's cell phones. We have stood firm against getting a child a cell phone when they are so young, because really, who are they gonna call? But that's a whole other post, for another day. He was informed that he could call us, anytime when he had a break, and especially at night, once he arrived back in his dorm room.

Well, tonight he called his mama......first. We chatted for a bit, and then a hot pizza delivery and a mean game of ping pong in the activity room were calling his name, so I let him go. But it was hard. Almost as hard as driving away last summer.

I didn't cry. I did what any sane person would do, with the proper phone plan......I texted him. Just to see if he'd text me back. And guess what.....he did. It was just 4 little words, which consisted of a total of 10 letters and 1 number.

But it was more than enough to make my heart melt, right then and there.

"night loveu2"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A tale of good lovin' during recovery

The patient was thrilled to have a small little visitor come spend a couple hours with him earlier last week. A visitor who was just his speed....as AK isn't mobile, yet.

And the small little visitor was equally excited to "give him love", as we all call it. Isn't that just the sweetest?

Here she is giving him more love and kisses....

And even MORE love and kisses.....

Until she had finally had enough....."oohh, you don't taste so good, afterall."

However, I still love you all the same, broken leg and all.

SATURDAY SHOWCASE......it's a Walt Update.

Because I have lots to say, here’s a list for your reading pleasure:

• Walt is having a field day with the DVR. Funniest thing is, he uses it mainly to rewind COMMERCIALS. Normally, people use it to skip forward to avoid those! Ha. He cracks me up.

• Upon arriving home, I couldn't find a bell for him to ring for me . So instead, I made the rookie mistake of improvising with his sister's plastic, yellow flute. I've been in the kitchen on several occasions and have heard it's varying non-melodious sounds. I have since hidden the flute. He can yell if he needs me....it's a broke leg, not a voicebox.

• He’s doing better with getting up for restroom and lunch breaks. While usually for breakfast and sometimes supper, I serve him in bed, I make him come to the table in his wheelchair for lunch . And then we usually stay at the table to play a round of CLUE or look at Family Fun magazine for ideas for the summer.

• It's been a week since his surgery, 8 days since his accident, and 9 days since he shampooed his hair. I am happy to report, that hair predicament has been rectified. We did another round in the tub using the stools....and this time we turned the water on. Works better that way, with the water on. You can actually do things, like, shampoo. :)

• Had school still been in session, his surgeon had orders that he was not to attend PE for 3 months. Wow. 3 months. That’s a long time with no recess, folks. It looks as though he will still have to miss the first month of PE once school resumes. This road to recovery appears to be several miles long. We are in hopes that he will be walking fairly well by the time the first day of school rolls around in August.

• However, that’s a few doctors appointments and therapy visits away. So, for now, he is still confined, for the most part, to the bed. But each day we are adding in more time up in the wheelchair. The problem is finding enough things to occupy his time. He has DVR’d all the episodes of “Unwrapped” from Food Network, and he has several new books, plenty of new art supplies, and other various toys, games, etc. that we keep in a basket close by. However, we are open to any fun ideas you can give us.

• We did take him outside one day to get some fresh air. His siblings thought it would be fun to draw off a hopscotch board with sidewalk chalk. Yep it was fun alright. Right up until they remembered he couldn’t play. And he couldn’t sit on the driveway to draw art with the chalk either…..

• Normal summer activities are not so normal anymore. As soon as my brain kicks back in, I’m going to tell it to start thinking outside the proverbial summer activity box. But just in case that takes too long…..I thought I’d solicit (or beg) a few ideas from you fine folks.

• And while you’re at it…..go ahead and send in suggestions for this other current dilemma as well: a picky eater with a broken femur who has already lost 4 pounds since his accident. And he did not even have 4 ounces to lose from his skinny frame.

I hope you enjoy a good Pinot Grigio.

How many times have I heard this phrase in the last 5 days?

• "Mmmmoooooommmmm......she's TOUCHING my wheelchair".

The first person to guess correctly wins a prize. I'm just not sure what it is yet....but it could possibly be a very large bottle of wine, to be shared with ME. ;)

I could really use a large fry right now...

A few weeks back, or it could have been months, with the way my memory is fashioned, 10 years seems like a blink of an eye, so who knows.

But anyway, TB and I were in the car driving home from gymnastics. We passed a very popular, I guess you could say the MOST popular, fast food restaurant known globally. And I'm sure you know it well yourself.

Especially if you've ever had small munchkins strapped in carseats who want a happy meal and then DEMAND they receive the proper toy. Not for the wonderful nutrition (HA) the meal provides but for the satisfaction of receiving some really cheap "prize".

You know that great, wonderful, plastic piece of junk that provides about 42 whole seconds of sheer exhilaration.....and then it gets lost somewhere in the car, along with a handful of fries and a half eaten mcnugget.

That little rant has nothing to do with this story, it was just in my head, and happened to escape out while I typed. So, back to present time. I said to TB,

• "You know what those are... those are called the "golden arches".

TB: "Why? We just call it McDonald's."

• "I know, but it's just a saying that is common all over the world, if you say golden arches, people automatically know what you are talking about. See, look at the "M" in the sky, the curved shapes are like arches and golden just refers to the color. Do you get it?"

TB: "Yea, I get it but...............it's just that, well, it looks like yellow backbends to me."

When the going gets tough...

...the tough hitch a ride to PawPaw's.

The time we almost didn't get the balloons loaded.....

Yea...try shoving all that in the back and closing the gate real fast. It ain't easy, but I think we had better gas mileage with the extra flotation. Plus, we can entertain Walt with squeaky voices for about a month with all that helium!! :)

And here's my little man departing Children's Hospital. He was glad to get home. A little scared of what lies ahead, but home is still home. And nothing, I mean nothing, beats it.

We were actually released on Saturday, and made it home shortly after lunch. Temple, Walt and myself were all exhausted.....and ever thankful for real beds. Our beds.

He's had lots of visitors and calls. And has made lots of requests, most of which have been granted by various family members and family friends. He's taken quite a liking to the whole, "ask and ye shall receive" policy that came with a broken femur. I'll have to post photos of all that entails later.

Sorry it has taken me a while to post even just this.....I've been a tad bit busy earning my RN and PT degree here at home. :)

Walt is still doing remarkably well, I think, for someone who had surgery just a few days ago. Today has probably been his worst day yet. The movement, for getting up for the bathroom or to be moved to his wheelchair and then back to the bed, is painful. And his little body is just wore out.

Tonight, we had planned to give him a shower, as the surgeon had instructed we could. But, we didn't make it that far. We were able to sit him in the tub on some stools Aunt Karisa purchased for him. (Thanks.) But, he was just too upset and very nervous when we removed his immobolizer brace and surgical wrap.

So, we opted to just wash him down as best we could, forget shampooing his head, and call it a night. I have been telling everyone his surgical site looked like --"two small holes on either side of his knee, he won't have any big incisions". Although, I had yet to see the site, as we weren't to unwrap it until today. But still, I thought that was how the surgical resident had explained it to me. Apparently, I wasn't listening well or I shouldn't have listened to what the resident said anyway! :)

I was wrong. There are no small holes. However, there are two incision sites on either side of his leg right above his knee area. With stitches. I was not prepared for those cuts to be on my sweet boy's legs. And I don't think he was either, thus we shortened the bath time regime.

• Hey, there's always tomorrow. Baby steps. It's a long road to recovery, and nobody said he had to have clean hair to get there! :)

The last 48 hours in pictures.....

Ambulance ride #1......

Ambulance ride #2....arriving at Children's

And that my friends is a a broken leg, some shorts that had to be cut off....and one brave little boy!

Ouch!! Starting physical therapy....four hours after surgery (more on that later).

Seriously?.....can he get any cuter?

Update on Walt

Good Evening to all. Just wanted to send out a quick message to any reading that our sweet Walt is doing well.

The surgery took about an hour and 15 minutes and recovery added another hour. The Dr. said everything went well and looked good. They placed two flexible rods into the two pieces of the femur bone. They are located inside where the bone marrow is, and that is what is stabilizing his leg. Walt is in an immobolizer brace (the big foam velcro strap things), but in a few days will get that off, and will have NOTHING on his leg. No body cast, no brace, no leg cast, nothing.

Hello medical advancements.

Just a few hours after surgery was completed, the physical therapist came by to already get him up on his leg. He is only allowed slight touch, weight bearing, for now. He will go home in a wheelchair, but practiced walking on his crutches down the hallway...and is doing fantastic.

He is still keeping a great attitude. He is amazing. That's about all I can say.

I appreciate all of your thoughts, concerns and prayers. I appreciate all of your calls, texts, e-mails, comments and visits. They have meant the world to me, especially since my "world" for the last 30 something hours have been in a confined hospital room.

We really didn't sleep much last night, lots going on, and the thoughts of surgery were never far from anyone's mind. I don't think I slept. I'm sure I didn't. But I think I can tonight, despite the hard chair/bed. :)

We of course have some sweet, tenderhearted and humorous Walt stories to tell. Sometime. When I can catch my breath. But for now, I just wanted you to know your prayers were answered....and we are grateful.

Please say a little prayer for Walt...

Hey there. I'm in the hospital room with my little blonde-headed cutie.....who has a broken leg.

Today, at 3 pm, was to begin "summer break" for the kids. Today, at 2 pm, Walt started it off with a real bang...and an actual "break". He was on the playground at school playing. While they were all playing and running, Walt fell, and another child fell on his leg. A simple accident that could have happened at anytime. I just happened to be at the school, as I was going to stop in to say good bye to their teachers and check them out early to go on home.

He was transported by ambulance to the hospital. I thought from the way he was acting, his hip was probably dislocated. In fact, the first text message I sent to family and friends said exactly that. I was wrong. X-rays confirmed that he had broken his femur bone. Snapped it right into. The femur bone. You know, the LONGEST, LARGEST, STRONGEST bone in your body. Yep, that's the one.

He was transported by ambulance again to a children's hospital so that we could have a pediatric orthopedic specialist perform his surgery. Which will begin in just a couple of hours. They will be placing two rods in his sweet little leg.

I would like to ask you to pray for my little man. My little man who has been the bravest soul I have ever seen. He has winced at the pain he feels every time they tug at his leg, move him from bed to bed, pull on his leg for x-rays and more x-rays, etc. etc. etc. He still hasn't cried with the exception at the very first moment of the accident. He has a broken femur bone. I would be screaming until they KNOCKED me out.

He has asked us lots of questions about the surgery. Obviously, he's pretty scared. So am I. I want to take his place. Because that's what moms do....they make the hurting stop. And I'm struggling with not being able to make the hurting stop right now.

He's keeping a great attitude. His doctors have all commented on how tough he must be. One called him very "stoic"---defined as...firmly restraining response to pain or distress.

I hope I grow up to be just like Walt someday.....stoic.

For now, I just pray his surgery goes smoothly. I pray for wisdom for the doctors, nurses and staff in the surgery room. I pray for his anesthesiologist and the measures they will have to take in preparation for the surgery. I pray for Temple and I to make the best decisions concerning his care and recovery.

But most importantly, I thank the Great Physician who is in charge of this all. Who was not caught sleeping while Walt played outside today. No, HE knew all along this would be part of HIS plan. Therefore, I am confident in knowing that HE will carry us through this phase of the plan.

But I still need you to pray. Now would be good. And thanks in advance....from the bottom of this mother's heart.

I cannot take credit for the math award or the peeling paint on the kitchen ceiling.

For the last few months, I am certain, you've had a nagging question. Just itching your brain every week, if not daily. You've been wondering what a "Most Outstanding Student" would look like.....well, wonder no more. I aim to answer this pressing question and any others you may throw my way (to the best of my very limited abilities).

• Now, you have a picture to show your brain: Most Outstanding Student=

She also received awards for the following:

• All A Honor Roll
• Highest Academic Average in Language Arts
• Highest Academic Average in Math -- which she obviously acquired from her father's genes.

I was so proud. She has some fierce competition in her grade. One of whom is her best little guy friend. I just assumed he would be making a dent in her awards recognition today.

I was wrong to assume.

She swept up a whole load of her own.....including Most Outstanding Student. Did I mention that? :)

And what about procrasination child....have you been wondering if he could pull his act together and bring in an award as well?

Of course he did.

• Duke University Participant In the Pursuit of Excellence
• Highest Academic Average in Reading
• All A-B Honor Roll

Why "A-B"? So glad you asked. For someone who scores in the 99th percentile in the nation on the SAT's, you would assume they could make all A's for the year.

You would be wrong to assume.

That would require you to do all your classwork and homework. You know, the dreaded spelling words, written 3 x's each, and the spelling sentences, and the science journals and what have you. He sees no point in those trivial matters when he makes a 102 (including the bonus word) on the weekly spelling tests.

Oh, glory....my boys are so different from my little girl....in lots of ways.

She longs to do ALL of her work, effeciently, with extra care and special touches. To go above and beyond what is asked of her. They, on the other hand, do not. If neglected, they scratch by with the bare minimum. And thus wind up on the A-B Honor roll.

Example: For "fun" last week in the car, on the travel ride to gymnastics, she wrote all her multiplication tables up to 32. It was over 300 problems she had written. For "fun".

Because it was "fun" to her. Because she couldn't wait to show her teacher, and her Daddy, and anyone else who would take a gander. It was not assigned. She received no grade for those 4 pages, front and back, handwritten, of math. She did it because, one more time, repeat it with me.....she said it was just "fun".

My boys have other extreme ideas to do for "fun". Of which, none include writing out math problems just for kicks.

Example: One evening earlier this week they decided to run a tub of bath water. In an upstairs bathroom. And then got in and made "tsunamis". For fun.

Which resulted in water dripping (to the main level below) onto my kitchen floor and countertops. From the recessed lighting. In the ceiling. Which is directly below the floor of the upstairs bath. Where the "tsunamis" had occurred. For fun.

See what I mean. Even after awards day is said and done....I'm often still fighting a losing battle. But I shall win the war. And I'm going to stock up on pencils, paper, calculators and towels for the summer break. To prepare myself for all the "fun".

Cooking Camp.....Almond Chess Squares

Oh I can't even begin to tell you the worth of these.....they're almost as rich as Oprah.

The boys had the kitchen all to themselves this week......which only seems fair, as TB has been cooking a lot lately, alone. They had tons of fun making these yummy delights.

Someone, who shall remain nameless, greatly enjoyed getting to use the big pink polka-dot oven mitt. Even if it was just to retrieve a cup of melted butter from the microwave.....


Yes. I make them wash their stinky, dirty, boy hands.
Not once, but twice. Because I plan on eating a square or two.



And here's where this cooking camp session went all willy-nilly on me.

• A box of powdered sugar +
• a heavy duty mixer +
• two eager boys ready to run up the ol' mixer engine =
• a big ol' white mess. On the counter. On the canisters. On the wall. And big smiles all around.
  

Because, really, who cares about a little clean up when you know what's waiting for you as soon as that oven timer goes off. Some scrumptious almond chess squares with caramel drizzle and cool whip on top. Head on over HERE for the recipe.

Why Uncle Temple is AK's favorite.......

Hey AK.....what do you think about this nifty green bottle?? Wanna try it?

Yep...give me a taste.
Oh, I love this stuff, and if you don't mind, I'll just hold it myself.


"Oh, sweet baby Anna....what's the matter? Tell me what's wrong."

"Daddy just called and said I couldn't have any more Sundrop, and he told Uncle Temple that he hoped he enjoyed my very first, and last trip to your house."

"Anna, sweet girl, listen to me.....you can come to our house anytime. And I'll always have sundrop waiting for you."

Seriously....you mean we don't have to listen to Daddy?

Cool. I love Uncle Temple. He's the best. Ever.
Now, what did he do with that sundrop bottle?

We had a special visitor on Memorial Day.....Baby Anna!!

Oh....and Nana and Aunt Jackie came along as well. But basically, the kids played with Anna Kate all day long. Like really, all. day. long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

• ANNA: "Who are all these little people who keep staring at me, and talking to me, and fighting over who gets to hold me next?"
  

• ANNA: "Nah, I'm just kiddin'....I know who they are....my cousins!!"

• See this little girl, well, I like to pull her pigtails. It's loads of fun.

• And this guy....I love to pinch his cheeks. Why not? Everyone loves mine.

• Oh and I love to gnaw on a finger. Especially Uncle Temple's.

• And that big boy.....he's cool. Really cool.
  
  

Totally.

Sigh......."couldn't you just look at her for hours?"

More Favorites of ANNA

"Aw, Mom, do we HAVE to leave?"