Bye-Bye Big Maple

The biggest event at our house last week was the removal of our giant maple tree. It was scheduled to be removed in the next few weeks but that all changed on Wednesday evening. When we arrived home Wednesday the wind was really blowing and we lost power. I stepped out onto the front porch to check to see if any other branches had fallen out of the tree. As I stood there a branch fell out and landed on our propane tank! Have mercy! I called the “tree guy” and told him that the tree needed to come down ASAP and I agreed to send him a fax first thing the next morning with my approval to start the work.
The following morning as Lin-Ley’s school bus left my cell phone rang. The tree company had a cancellation and could remove my tree that very morning. Wonderful!



BEFORE


AFTER















And a few in between:






They estimated the tree to be 150 years old.

The tap dancing began immediately!


As usual Tru only had one agenda. This new walking thing never gets old for him!

Friday was Family Day at Lin-Ley's school. They sang song, presented gifts, read from their journals, and recreated parts of their school days for us. To Lin-Ley the most important event were the snacks afterward! The powdered doughnuts were a huge hit with her and she kept a close eye on me to make sure I did not eat hers!

Lin-Ley and her teacher.











Lin-Ley’s Kindergarten class.



Time for some rest so we can get this 3-day weekend started.
Yes, the knot is still changing colors daily!












Some of our weekend activities were canceled due to the Memorial Day holiday. So other than gymnastics and swim class on Saturday we were free. What a treat! By the way Tru no longer hates swim class. He actually wants me to put him on the side of the pool so that he can jump (or scoot) in. Progress!

We spoke with Dallas a few times this weekend. He is doing well but said the heat is unreal. I think they had some down time this weekend and took the time to do some shopping and relax.

Lin-Ley did all of the shopping for Dallas’ Father’s Day gifts on Saturday. There were some interesting choices but she was proud of her purchases. Saturday and Sunday afternoon were lazily spent at home. So nice to have some down time with no scheduled activities planned!

For the first time in I can’t remember how long I did not have to set my alarm clock on Sunday night. Ahhhhh! But someone decided that 5:50AM was a good time to get the day started. Tru and I came downstairs for some cheerios and juice. Lin-Ley came down about an hour later. We were out-and-about by 9AM to run some errands. By 11:30 we were done and headed to Olive Garden – what a treat!
I ordered the kids both a bowl of spaghetti (their favorite) and soup and salad for myself. Tru kept pointing to the salad bowl and pulling on my arm. I gave him a crouton – no, tomato – no, olive, no. So finally I offered him a piece of lettuce. That was it. Who knew… Tru loves salad (or lettuce anyway). He literally ate half of the salad. He kept his hand on my wrist for the whole meal squeezing it when he wanted another bite of my salad.

After nap/rest time we went outside. I had been thinking about buying the kids a sand and water table. I knew Tru would love it and although Lin-Ley is almost six years old I thought she would as well. It was a big hit.







It was just a matter of time…

Dallas said this photo looks like Tru is crying. Far from it - he is just super excited!

It’s back to reality tomorrow.
Happy Memorial Day to you all!

New Knee = New Knot

Yes, a new knot on the forehead. And it’s a doozy!

We had a pleasant weekend with no incidents until last night right before bed. Tru was walking around upstairs and while walking out of our bedroom his new knee gave way. Unfortunately most of the transition strips in our house are wide and sometimes elevated. They have been a challenge for Tru but he has gotten the hang of it and is always careful to hold onto the door facings when entering or exiting a room. As he gets faster with his walking he is also getting more confident. I guess last night he was a little too confident.
He only cried for less than 30 seconds afterward. The ice pack that I forced onto his head seemed to be much more traumatic than the fall.

Then this morning within one hour of arriving at school his teacher called to tell me that he had fallen again. This time he scraped his right cheek. Poor little guy!

Other than the falls here and there Tru is doing well. But he still is not using his knee. He was so accustomed to the stiff leg that he has no interest in the knee. It seems to be more of a nuisance to him. There will be more physical therapy this week and hopefully we can introduce the knee. We shall see.

After a quick dinner tonight we went out for a little walk to enjoy the spring weather. Our yard is not what it would be if Dallas were here but we are thankful for what we have. Before he left Dallas requested a quote from a local landscaping company to mow our lawn this summer. To our total surprise the company not only agreed to keep up the lawn but insisted that they would do it for free. How incredibly nice!

Lin-Ley posing in front of our giant Maple tree. We love this tree but it will be gone in about two weeks. It is in bad shape and branches have begun falling to the ground. It is right next to the house and Lin-Ley’s bedroom. It has to go. A branch fell onto the power line a few weeks ago and a large branch fell to the ground last week. That was it. I called the tree contractor and they came out the next day to give me an estimate. My checkbook says, “Ouch!”
Our house was built in 1879 (129 years ago). I would love to know how old this tree is.

I had to include this shot of Airborne. She is still hanging in at 16 years old.

Happy Spring!

The New Knee

As you know if you have read this blog in the past six months, Tru has been hospitalized twice for wheezing. He had started it again along with a congested cough that would not seem to go away so I took him to the pediatrician last Monday (not his usual doctor). She instantly heard the wheezing and just by looking at the rise and fall of his chest she could tell his lungs were working overtime. After discussing his history with wheezing and the hospital visits I told her that I had self-diagnosed Tru as having asthma. She quickly confirm my diagnosis and was disturbed that no other doctor had done so earlier and started him on the appropriate medications. Finally! So Tru left with an oral steroid as a quick start to recovery as well as an inhaler he will need to take twice a day for the next year. He is sounding much better now but is still congested. Little by little...

Last Thursday Tru had his follow-up at the Limb Deficiency Clinic at Kennedy Krieger Institute. That was the clinic is which Tru was seen (in January) and it was decided that it was in his best interest to have an amputation. This team of doctors includes the orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist, occupational therapist and prosthesis just to name a few. It is a really great concept to have all of these medical professionals in the room together. It just makes sense! This visit was a follow-up to see how Tru was progressing. It did not take long to see that he was doing wonderfully. He was walking, sitting down and standing up without assistance, chattering away, pushing around a shopping cart throughout the nurses' station, etc. Basically everyone just stood around and watched him with a smile on their face. What else could we do?!

Here are some of the doctors that Tru saw at the Limb Deficiency Clinic. There were many toys there for Tru to play with so they could see him move around in a normal, play-like situation. After he discovered the electric, lighted drums he was not looking at the camera. So the doctors said "cheese" instead.

Also in attendance was Tru's pal, Jonathan. Jonathan is the photo journalist I spoke about previously. With his visit to the Limb Deficiency Clinic he has wrapped up the photo portion of his project. He is now writing the story.

The first time we met Jonathan he allowed Tru to push the button on his camera. From that point forward Tru and Jonathan were friends. Every time Tru made eye contact with Jonathan he would tell him "Hi!"

Another busy weekend. Saturday the kids had gymnastics and then after a breakfast snack we tackled a new adventure - swimming lessons. Lin-Ley was at one end of the pool with her class while Tru and I were at the deep end with the other parents and young children. Tru loves the water but once I put his face in the water the first time - he was done. He popped his head out of the water, screamed, wiped his face, looked around, and started yelling, "Bye-Bye!" Unfortunately there was still 26 minutes left of the 30 minute class.

Later that evening flowers were delivered to our house. The card read, "Happy Mother's Day! Love, Tru and Lin-Ley". Obviously the kids had some help with this surprise. Dallas later told me that Tru had given him a call earlier in the week to ask his dad to spot him some cash so they could buy me some flowers.On Sunday morning Dallas called and he and Lin-Ley spoke for a long while. Dallas asked Lin-Ley how I liked the flowers that she and Tru had given me. She told him, "We did not give Mommy those flowers. Some lady came here in a van and knocked on the door and she gave Mommy the flowers!"

My Mother's Day gifts.

Somebody is moody!

Tru received his new (totally functioning) knee yesterday. Up until this point Tru's prosthesis had a knee component that was locked. He has had a totally stiff leg. Obviously he has adapted very well so I was (and still am) anxious about challenging him with yet another change. It only took about 15 minutes for them to change the locked knee component for the functioning knee. Afterward, when Tru took the leg for a test walk the knee was not bending. I looked at Angie, the Prosthesis, and she said that he was so used to walking with a stiff leg that he was still swinging his leg out to the side rather than walking with his leg underneath his body. Eventually he will get the hang of it and he will become accustomed to the way his body movement will make the knee bend. The first time his knee bent was in the parking lot as we were leaving. Thank goodness I was holding his hand because he went down fast. I took him to school from there. Before I left his classroom he had wiped out again and had a busted lip. Poor little guy - he had the hang of it and we changed the game on him again!

With the new knee it was time to go back to physical therapy today. Tru is not into that scene anymore since he has become so independent with his walking. He does not want the therapist to try to help him in any way. Eventually Lisa was able to make an adjustment to Tru's knee so that it had more resistance.

"Enough with this physical therapy non-sense. I'm out of here!"

The best news is that other than normal check-ups and prosthesis maintenance Tru is done. He is there - he is walking. Walking was our goal and after nine months - it has finally happened. Seeing his never-ending smile is the ultimate reward. (Seeing that little red leg flying by gives me the never-ending smiles too!)

The Unit

Some cast members of the television show "The Unit" visited Kuwait.
Of course there are photos....

Farm Animals and The Reptile

Last Saturday was a busy day. Tru began gymnastics class! I was able to schedule Lin-Ley and Tru's classes at the same time. Tru's class is a parent-and-child class so I was there to modify some of the activities. However, since he learned to walk independently last week he only has one agenda... walking! So it was a little hard to keep his attention on the instructor. But it was his first week so we will see how it goes. He did, however, learn to love the forward roll. Once he tried that move it was soon his new passion. He wanted to keep rolling and rolling.
Lin-Ley has been in gymnastics for two years now but this was the first week at the new gym. She now has a male instructor. Previously she had young girls (teenagers) as instructors. I think
this change will be a good one for her. She was much more active in this class and said she enjoyed it.
Change is good...

After gymnastics we hung out for a while and then met Lin-Ley's friend, Jordyn, at the petting farm. While Tru had been there once before he was in a stroller and could not move around freely. This time he was walking everywhere. And when I say he was walking... he showed little interest in the animals. He only wanted to walk. Walk anywhere - everywhere - with anybody - toward anything - and he was all smiles all of the time!


Tru was absolutely fascinated with the fact that food came out of this little contraption. He watched Lin-Ley and Jordyn get the food and feed the goats. He tried and tried to figure out where the food came from. At one point I tried to show him that you had to put a quarter in the machine and turn the handle. That was beside the point and pushed the quarter away. He just wanted the goat food!

You would think he was laughing at the goat. No, he's just laughing because he is happy... because he is walking!
















Lin-Ley had enough of the sticky goat food and went for the grass and flowers. The goats loved it. They are goats after all and will eat anything!
Lin-Ley would have stayed with this one goat for hours but we finally convinced her to move on to the other animals.





















Other animals? Apparently the only animals that interested our kids were the goats. But look at these babies! Can you blame them?
















Love this photo!





















Happy Girl!























Tru had his first horse ride. He really did not know what I was doing when I put him on top of this huge animal. But he enjoyed the bumpy ride!













Cinderella and her Prince.





















Two weekends ago I literally ran into this surprise. We were leaving the house and I had slid open both doors on our van by the remote control. Lin-Ley ran to the van, got in and closed her door. I was holding Tru and went around to his side of the van. As I approached the door I stopped just shy of stepping on this snake's head. His body was under the van and if I would have walked all the way to the open van door I would have stepped on his head! I froze immediately and then ran back to the other side of the van, closed his door with the remote and got into the driver's seat while still holding Tru. Lin-Ley looked at me like I was crazy and and asked what I was doing. After I backed up the van (over the snake) and put Tru in his seat, I slid open the door to show Lin-Ley the snake. She said, "Oh wow Mom! Take a picture! I wish Daddy was here to see it! I wish he wasn't still in Texas."
I still can not convince her that he is not in Texas.

Walking!

Tru's smiles say it all. (Two weeks after receiving his prosthesis!)