I mentioned in my last post that Melanie (izzy’s teacher) has been working with Isabelle for a few days to determine what AR books to check out and then take tests for AR points.  Last week Iz (using her hands) answered all 25 questions in the time given missing three.

Yesterday they checked out a book and Melanie read the book to Izzy.  She then pulled up the AR test on the computer and began reading the questions.  Izzy started “talking” and all their answers were wrong.  Soon Melanie realized she had pulled up the wrong test and Izzy was trying to let her know about it!  They pulled up the right test and Izzy made a 100%!  She’s such a little smartie .

We are working to get her heel well, using foot bath and betadine.  It is looking a little better but we are still being very careful.

Camilla is working on getting her legs straightened out again after cast.  She is doing well relaxing and straightening.  We are hopeful that it will all come together soon (straight legs, well heel etc.) and she will be able to get up standing.

Looks like I am going to go to Seattle in November! Yay!  So excited and nervous too…  I can’t wait to meet Sue and Tiffany!

Bailey is busy with drama, they are working on their one act.  Choctaw High School drama dept. has won state almost every year on the one act so they are pretty intense.  I am glad that he enjoys it so much.

Emelia is football manager/water girl for the 7th grade boys.  She stays after school everyday helping out.

Amanda is getting adjusted to new job on OU campus, new classes, and new home.  She hasn’t been home since she moved in.  We miss her!  She is so busy!  She has several girls recruited this year and is a chi alpha leader.  I know she is having a good time and working so hard.  She mentioned that medical vocabulary was really hard.  She had done five of fifty questions and it took 2 hours!  Lots of studying!

I visited her last Friday … we had lunch at Victoria’s… love that place!

I am excited that after only four days of school Izzy is having day after day of good days!  Seeing her sitting so nicely in her chair and without pain makes this Summer seem worth it.  I am so optimistic about the things to come this year.

She had her first pt day with Camilla… and was able to be ranged/stretched with no discomfort.  I am excited to see her standing and riding her bike at school.

Melanie was excited about a timed test she took.  The first time she answered 11 of 25 questions in the given time and in the afternoon answered all 25.  I asked Melanie how accurate her answers were and she said she missed three.  She was using her hands to choose the answer.  This test will determine the level of AR books to check out at the library that she will bring home… we’ll read them to her and then she can do AR tests at school for points! Yay!  She is so smart.

Wow! What a Summer!  It is crazy to look back at the last few months … all the good and bad days we’ve had and just to know we made it out alive is amazing! Ha.  The true ending seemed to happen when Dr. Herndon said the hips looked great, done, amazing, etc.  While Izzy is still having times of discomfort and soreness, her hips are fixed and her feet are flat.

The second goodbye to Summer was beginning a new school year.  Bailey and Emelia started school on Tuesday, and are doing great so far.  Izzy started school Thursday and had a good first day.  She made it through the entire day without tears.  She actually was very happy when I took her into her class and squealed joyfully throughout the day.  Izzy is funny in that she can’t sleep when she is very excited.  The night before surgery she was awake all night, also the night before cast removal… and then Wednesday night, before her first day of second grade she was awake most of the night.

Emelia is working hard after school as the football manager/water girl.  She comes home exhausted but I think it’s good for her.  We initially wanted to transfer her to the middle school by Izzy’s school, but they were full so that didn’t happen.  She was so disappointed, but got it together and has made the best of NPMS.  Bailey is throwing himself into drama.  They are already preparing auditions for the first one act play.  It’s a big deal because Choctaw has won big awards for years.  He sat reviewing the script for hours last night.

Amanda is in Norman, in her house with her friends.  She’s been helping Freshmen move in this week with her Chi Alpha group.  She is tired too, she texted me a picture of her blistered foot last night.  Ouch!  Class will start next week for her and she got a job on campus so she’s all set!

Some of the mothers of children who have had near drowning accidents like Isabelle are planning a mother’s getaway in November… in Seattle… without children!  Abbie’s mom from Hawaii will be there, she talked me through so much of this hip surgery because they had been through it a year before us.  Sue is Luke’s mom and is doing most of the coordinating of the retreat.  She and I have been in contact through email and facebook for years.  I would love to meet these fellow moms face to face and spend some time with them.   I haven’t exactly figured out if I can go yet… there are a lot issues, the biggest being I am the sole feeder of Iz.  I’m praying there will be a way to make it work.  Sue has planned it so that the main expenses are only airfare and a day trip to Seattle.  I think it would be amazing to go!

I haven’t updated in a while!  My bff from junior high and high school (hi Darla.) left a message on my birthday… she has moved to another state and I didn’t really have her number to call her on her birthday.  For some reason June 18 is always going to be Darla’s birthday … anyway, it was sweet to hear her message and I can’t wait to catch up with her and her family.  She said she had caught up with me on the blog and I realized it’s been a while since I wrote anything.  Although I am sure she had a couple of years of intriguing posts to read.  ha!     My birthday was a pretty ordinary day which happens when you pass ten I think, but it sure was nice to read the happy birthday messages on facebook and texts.  I love modern technology!

The girls (Amanda and Isabelle) also had a birthday at the end of July.  Izzy wasn’t feeling great on her birthday, but we had fun dressing up in glitter and having cake.

Amanda’s birthday was fun too!  We went to the tea room and then to the pyop place to make pottery.  She made a ring holder and Emelia made a scentsy type pot to match her room.  We had so much fun!

Izzy is still a little sore especially when moved, but she is getting better and is excited for school to start!  Won’t be long now.  We have had a lot of “together” time this Summer, and she is as spoiled as ever!  I would be concerned about school if we didn’t have such a great group of people working with her.  They are so great and we’ve both missed them.

Amanda is getting ready to move back to Norman.  She is sharing a house with a couple of girls who go to OU too.  She will be moving in today and tomorrow.  Sad ….

It will be nice to get back into a routine.  It’s been hard to keep up with working out etc. this summer, but I’m happy I did at least semi keep up.

The next week is going to be full of school supplies, last minute shopping, schedule arranging, and more bday lunches.

So…  the title pretty much says it all.  This Summer has not been one I will remember fondly…  From surgery to the huge honker cast… from broken dishwasher, cars, phones, modems etc.  to new needs for remodels that I’m not ready for to sending Amanda back to Norman and trying to figure out all the necessities and logistics not to mention the crying and screaming post cast when I move Iz.  Good times.

I can’t complain, don’t want to grumble… refuse to wallow… but so ready to move on!!!

Getting ready for Isabelle’s eighth birthday next Tuesday, the 26th and Amanda’s TWENTIETH birthday the 28th.  Yikes.  I won’t mention my upcoming age marker.  Blah .  Trying to decide how exactly to celebrate.  Isabelle is so aware of life around her so I do want to have  a celebration for her, as her life is so very special and she is such a special little girl… and then of course sweet Amanda makes us so proud with her character, goals and the way she lives life.

It’s been HOT.  Like humid hot!  Our garden has been hanging on and I feel like my daily waterings are like life support.

The gym is hot and my fitness plan is a flop.  Ha.  I am doing a weight tracker/food tracker app on my phone and saw today I am 1.4 pounds up.  Oh well, it could be worse.  Muscles are heavy right?  I think I’ve used that excuse already.

I saw an old Zig Zigler video someone posted on FB and was reminded that there are always more positives than negatives if you start making a list…  Some positives I can list are:

We are finished with the cast.

We passed the two week point yesterday so Izzy should start feeling better.

The kids are ALL healthy & happy!

God loves me

Okay…. I’m off to the gym to gain some more weight. Ha!

This after cast thing has been a challenge.  And that is a huge understatement.  I was concerned initially about seeing all of the actual incision sites on Isabelle after removing the cast, but that has taken a back seat to dealing with her pain issues.  I can’t say I wasn’t warned. And warned again… but you just can’t imagine until it actually happens.  She screams and cries with any movement.  Changing is a huge issue.  Eating has been a lying down event since Wednesday which is hard and getting old for us both.  My first objective post cast was a bath.  She had the cast two days shy of 7 weeks.  The girl was due for a soak!  But after getting her home Wednesday we realized she was on her pallet to stay.  I did move her to bed and then back to the pallet and back to bed etc.  But that’s been the majority of the moving because of the crying.  I have to interject here that Iz is a trooper like no other.  She just doesn’t cry for any reason.  It takes some major discomfort to bring out the crocodile tears which lets me know that she is in major pain when moved.  But today I bit the bullet and put her in the bath.  I lowered her bath chair and filled the big tub up to the top adding the mr. bubbles brought by Melanie.  She cried while being transported (in my arms) to the tub, but once the warm water covered her legs and hips she relaxed.  I was so relieved to get her clean!  It’s the little things…  She cried again when I took her to bed, but has been okay since so I think it was a success. Yay.

My dishwasher stopped working today.  (pause for moment of silence.)

I’m leaving you with a pic of the bath girls…

Seems like yesterday we were preparing to go to Children’s Hospital to have Izzy’s surgery and now, almost 7 weeks later we are seeing what has been beneath those casts for so long.  Whew… what a day!   We should have expected the craziness of the appointments this morning.  We were supposed to get the cast off in the orthotics dept. but they sent us to the surgeon’s office along with an email to someone’s manager about the whole thing. Ha.  Not sure what the confusion was but it took forever to get the cast off and x-rays taken.  They left her in the bottom half of the cast for about two hours while we did x-rays and then visited with Dr. Herndon and finally the orthotist. 

So happy that her splints we had made several months ago were good, so no more casts!   The orthotist said the cast was the cleanest he had ever seen and that she handled the removal better than anyone ever.  Sadly the day went down from there…

The drive home was not fun.  Izzy had to bend places that had not bent in so long that she cried and cried.  When we got home and in she cried and cried for hours and hours!  I am dying to get her in the bathtub but I haven’t been able to move her at all without screaming.  I have decided to wait to see what tomorrow brings.  I even fed her lying down because when I tried to sit her up to eat her lunch she cried so hard we had to give up.  She is such a trooper I know that for her to react the way she is it hurts really bad.

Melanie was so sweet to drop off a party in a bag for her while we were at the dr. office.  She included balloons and streamers that nini and amanda decorated the den with.  She had party poppers and mr. bubble for that bath we are waiting for. . . the cutest rings and a sweet little bag perfect for storing all her bracelets.  So much cuteness.

I know izzy is ready to have that cast off!  We are all ready to say goodbye to the huge orange cast.  We go to have it taken off in one week.  Hopefully the splints that the orthotist made in Dec 09 will be the right fit and we won’t have to have her feet recasted to wait for new splints to be made.  Either way it will be fine.  I am really anxious to get her in the bath and scrub her … I can see the scars/incision areas in her inner thighs now and at first it really kinda freaked me out.  I had a text conversation with Camilla about it and she reminded me that instead of being upset about all the scars/incisions that it is just a reminder of how strong Isabelle is and how great a healer God is.  (paraphrased…I’m sure she said it better, but I would have to go back about a weeks worth of texts to find it which would take forever…).  Anyway, I was thankful for her words of wisdom. 

Mom came this morning and read with Izzy while I went to the gym.  It was a quiet evening with Amanda and Bailey both working and Emelia helping with VBS.  

I picked tomatoes, eggplant and summer squash today from our garden.  I added the eggplant and squash into tonight’s stir fry along with some green peppers and zucchini from dad’s garden.  It was tasty . 

I need a vacation .  Seriously.

We passed the two week point yesterday!  Isabelle will have had her cast for five weeks tomorrow.  What a way to spend the Summer, right?  She has spent the five weeks inside, keeping her as cool as possible.  Thank goodness for disney channel and books. 

Yesterday Melanie came to visit.  I had Izzy propped up to eat when she arrived and after a while of visiting noticed she was getting uncomfortable so let her lie down again.  I was sitting beside her and she was fussy, I pretty much knew she wanted Melanie sitting beside her to talk to her.  Isabelle listened to her closely while she told her about having a cast when she was little and about the turtle in her yard.   ….  Melanie brought Izzy a huge orange flower that is “stunning!”  I think orange is growing on me.

I think we are officially passing the half way mark to cast off day (July 7).  I keep telling Isabelle how big she is being about the cast and now am telling her she has made it half way! 

She is still really liking the books… mom has been reading to her at least an hour a day, and Emelia reads to her too.  Mom fixed her pajama bottoms from the pjs we bought for the hospital with velcro so she can have pants on   … although she isn’t really going “out,” it’s nice to have pants, right?

Tonight I’m going to see Jewel in concert with dad for Father’s Day.  He really likes Jewel, so it should be fun!  Our anniversary (21st) is Thursday.  Busy month!

Yesterday there were flash floods all around.  This pic is in choctaw, the roads were all closed.  We wound around the back way to get to the store.

(facing 23rd street by Mazzios exit.)