Home Improvements – What A Mess!!

It has been a busy (and have I mentioned messy) couple of weeks around the Herpin household. Our house is now 128 years old and believe it or not has never been insulated. Under our rather new vinyl siding is the original clapboard exterior of the house. No insulation. How can that be we wonder? Regardless – it was time to insulate for two reasons: 1. The amount of money we spend every winter on heating oil is unreal 2. As much money as we spend to heat the house we still freeze!

We have actually put off the insulation because we knew that it would destroy our interior walls. They would need to drill holes throughout the house and blow in the insulation. But then we found out they could insulate from the exterior of the house. Now that’s a whole different ballgame. Let’s do it!

Pa-Pa Bill arrived on Father’s Day to help supervise the home improvements, run errands, and help out with the kids so I could run errands. He arrived on Sunday and the first project (insulation) began on Tuesday. Lin-Ley was home with Pa-Pa that day so she was to help supervise. Somehow she talked Pa-Pa into letting her lay on the couch in front of the TV. But she did call me at work soon after the work began to tell me, “Mom! Come home quick! Those men are pulling the skin off of our house!!”

There was one man who went around the house pulling off strips of siding.

The second man came along and drilled holes along the wall.

The third man blew in the insulation and patched the holes. Then the first man came back behind them and replaced the siding.

Simple right? Well, yes, but here comes the messy part….

I came home for lunch because I wanted to see how things were going and I was curious to see how the process worked. When I walked into the kitchen my contact lenses instantly clouded up. It was very odd and I could not figure out what had happened. Then a ray of sunlight came through the kitchen window and I saw that the whole room was one big dust cloud. Oh… I can’t even tell you!!!

Have you ever watched the television show “Dirty Jobs”? I had my own version of that show at our house that day. I walked into our bedroom which has painted wooden floors and it was coated with dust. Everything in our house was coated. I just stood and looked around and was overwhelmed. The floors were so slippery that once we were home that evening Tru kept slipping. I had to sit him down until I could get a couple of rooms’ floors vacuumed and mopped before he could even walk around. I guess this just shows just how drafty the house really was. I had to keep telling myself that it was all worth it because we would at least be warm next winter. We better be VERY warm!

So the only thing to do (after I got past the mental breakdown) was to play the Glad Game. Have you seen “Pollyana” (classic Disney movie)? If not – rent it! According to Pollyana in every situation you can find something to be glad about. So I’m glad that:
1. The house is finally insulated.
2. Everything in my house has had a good dusting, mopping, and/or thorough cleaning (whether I liked it or not!)
3. It’s over!


Next on the agenda – new windows throughout the house. The house still had the original windows which was part of the appeal when Dallas and I first saw it. They were wooden framed and still had the original and functioning pulleys and weights. Loved them! However they were super drafty (even with storm windows covering them) as well and it would not have made much sense to insulate the house and not replace the windows. Luckily this project did not prove to be very messy. The men sent to perform the work with very experienced and have done a great job. It really put me at ease the first day they were here to see how precise they were and how careful they were. It was very sad to see the old wooden windows go and especially sad to hear the weights fall into the walls when they cut the ropes and pulled out the old pulleys. But I must admit that the new windows look fantastic.

Getting started on the first window.

Check out Supervisor / Pa-Pa Bill in the background.

No Window

New Window

Before

After

Time for a bubble break!

There’s Pa-Pa Bill supervising again.

And of course our Model/Princess/Barker Beauty had to show off one of the new windows in her room.

I have kept Dallas up to date on these messy adventures. He said that he was awarding me the Good HouseKeeping Seal of Approval.

Well I’m worn out just reliving these events!

Our 6 Year Old 1st Grader

Lin-Ley informed us that on June 11th (her last day of Kindergarten) she was officially a 1st Grader. Today (although we have been celebrating since Friday) she turned 6 years old. How time flies!

The birthday festivities began on Friday at the local dinner theatre for a production of "All Shook Up". It was a musical loosely based on the life of Elvis Presley and his music. It was great and Lin-Ley enjoyed it as well. Aunt Diane and Uncle Ted joined us and luckily they brought along their gift to Lin-Ley (art supplies) so she was well occupied between dinner and the show. There were many people there celebrating birthdays. Lin-Ley's name was the second one called. Before the host could finish her name Lin-Ley had her hand in the air waving it around so that everyone in the theatre would be sure to see her. That gave us all a chuckle and Lin-Ley was just very pleased that all of those people had come there to help celebrate her birthday.

Saturday was party time at Chuck E. Cheese. Lin-Ley had told me over three months ago that she wanted to have her next birthday party there. I assumed she would change her mind a few times but she stuck to it.

The birthday girl and 12 of her preschool, kindergarten, chinese school and church friends ran wild and had a blast.

It was all about Mariposa Barbie this birthday. There was no Mariposa birthday cake so a Ballerina Barbie cake was chosen.

Unfortunately Barbie was supposed to stand and spin on the little purple stage but it did not work. So Barbie had to be stuck right into the cake. To make matters worse... all of the cake top decorations, which Lin-Ley wanted to bring home, were left on the table at the restaurant. Oh the drama!

Chuck E. Cheese came out to sing a birthday song, led a parade around the restaurant and then joined the party for birthday cake.

I could never get all of the kids in one photo but here are most of them.


For the third year Lin-Ley has asked her birthday guests to bring gifts for her chosen charity rather than for herself. This year she collected dog toys, treats, etc. for "Soldier Dogs". These are military dogs serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other military locations. She gets a big kick out of the fact that there are dogs that are soldiers like her Daddy.
If you have any interest in learning more about this program (K-9 Support) look for their link in our "Charitable Organizations To Consider" section at the right hand side of our blog.


Of course every child deserves to open gifts at her birthday party. So Mommy and Daddy delivered. Lin-Ley had only asked for two things:
Mariposa Barbie and her friend Willa. Done!









It was a real party weekend. Saturday was Lin-Ley's party and Sunday was Amilee's party. Lin-Ley and Amilee met at chinese school and have the exact same birthday. Amilee had a gymnastics party and Lin-Ley enjoyed her second party in as many days.


After nap time it was time to head outside to try out the new bubble machine.
Lin-Ley and Tru enjoyed marching through the bubbles although in the beginning Tru was quite hesitant.
Lin-Ley of course was wearing her weekend/playtime uniform. Granny Howard (Diane's mother) gave Lin-Ley this Barbie gown about three years ago. She has consistently worn it as often as possible since then.

Today was Lin-Ley's first day of summer camp. By this afternoon she already had a new best friend name Lilly. They are already planning play dates at each other's homes. Before we could leave the park the two of them had to hug six times. It was so cute!

Since it was officially her birthday we went out for a quick dinner at a local diner. The meal of choice.... spaghetti.

Tru continues to surprise me with his love of lettuce. I have never seen anything like it. Two lettuce leaves were under my sandwich. He reached right over, slid the lettuce off of my plate, and proceed to eat it. Apparently it was better than his spaghetti.

Not to be out done by her brother Lin-Ley strikes her own silly pose.

It was home to more birthday presents, bath and bed.

Happy Birthday Big Girl!

Miscellaneous:

For the first time I was finally able to get some photos of Tru getting his hair cut. This was his 5th hair cut and the first time he sat alone in the chair. He absolutely hates it but did very well this time.

Look at that face!

Lin-Ley's last day of Kindergarten with her bus driver (and pal) Ms. Gibson.

The Countdown

Big news! Dallas has found out that his deployment will be ending about 60 days earlier than expected. So our blog counter has been adjusted. 99 days and counting...

Photo Essay About Tru

Jonathan Hanson is the photo-journalist that has been following Tru’s progress between his amputation and receiving his prosthesis and walking. While he is still working on the story for the newspaper publication he has created a picture package / essay on his website about Tru. These are not necessarily the photos that will be used in the article. Actually Jonathan told me that he has taken over 2,000 photos of Tru.
(Just for the record – the photo of me sitting on top of Tru is my attempt to brush his teeth. Yes, this method is quite necessary!)

To see Jonathan’s photos click on this link:

http://www.jonathanhansonphotography.com/main.php

Then click "porfolios"
Then click "essays/picture packages"
Then click "Tru"

Rethinking The Knee

It is all up in the air now. Is Tru ready for a fully functioning knee or is it too soon? As is obvious from my last two posts Tru's knee has been giving him some problems and as a result some major bumps and bruises.

The knee component in Tru's prosthesis is meant to bend and spring back into place for his next step just like a natural knee. In order for it to work Tru has to walk with his leg under him and hit the ball of his foot just right to trigger the knee component. He does sometimes trigger it by accident which usually results in a tumble.

Well when Tru began walking with his prosthesis the knee component was locked and he had to swing his leg out to the side slightly in order take the next step. He adapted to that method very quickly. To him that method still works so why change things now? All he knows is that from time to time and without reason (to him) his knee now bends and he falls down and hurts himself.

His physical therapist, Lisa, was able to tighten the knee so that it is much more resistant. At the therapy session she loosens the knee is order to help Tru practice. And there lies another problem. In Tru's mind he can walk. Period. Therefore, he does not want Lisa to try to help him. When she tries to hold his leg/knee/hip to help him walk properly (to trigger the knee) he become very agitated and does all he can to get away from her. Perhaps another sign he is not ready for the knee.

Here are the problems:

He does not understand what triggers the knee.

Our explanations and attempts to demonstrate the knee result in frustration.

Not knowing what triggers the knee causes many falls. (Luckily he is getting better at catching himself rather than landing on his noggin!)


Tru has surpassed everyone expectations with his adapting to the prosthesis and walking. Because he adapted so quickly it was decided he was ready for the knee only 1.5 weeks after first receiving the prosthesis which is unheard of. [A side story - Lisa worked at a children's hospital in New York for 11 years. In that time she worked with many amputees. She told me that Tru is the youngest amputee patient she has worked with and by far the quickest to adapt to a prosthesis.]

Tru's physical therapist, orthopedic surgeon and prosthetist are a little stumped on what to do. Actually come to find out this topic (for children Tru's age) is up in the air throughout the medical field. Until recently the standard was to keep children's prosthetic knees locked until around age seven. Just recently they have changed the "rules" to add the knee whenever the child was ready.

Hmmmmm......

I have thought about it and thought about it some more. I do not want to take away any chance Tru has to progress. He is doing better with the falling and has learned when to slow down so that there is less of a chance of triggering the knee. I have also observed that lately there have been a few times when he unknowingly triggered the knee and he was able to right himself without falling. Progress!

We shall see what the medical professionals have to say...

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!)