Season Wrap-up

Too cute for words. Gee, can you pick out Jeffrey?

A little fun before the season ends? Why not?!!
Coach Pete set up a fun "practice" before our last game. Check it out:

Hitting water balloons off the tee

Coach Jamie getting hit with water balloons by the team

Jack enjoyed the fun too!

 Jeffrey's 1st tee ball season officially ended on June 4th. He had a blast the whole season long and was, I think, a great teammate. Besides having his physical handicap, if you will, he was the youngest one on the team. Did that stop my big boy from giving it his all?...nope!
He was so genuinely excited to get a trophy. He did this...

He abandoned the snack he was currently eating, ran to sit on homeplate and just stared at his trophy.

In the car on the way home we hear a voice from the back seat, "We won the championship!" "Uh, wow! What makes you think that, buddy?" "Well, we got the trophy!" Okay, Jeffrey you win. Even though in tee ball there is no keeping score because everyone bats/hits and then you switch sides to play a total of 2 innings...sure, you won the championship kiddo!!! :)

Deja vu!

So...it's almost as if I said, "Hey Jack, I have nothing to blog about. Isn't that a shame?" And then he responds with this...

Jack e. in May

Jeffrey in February

 OWWWWWWWW!!!!!! NO, MOMMY!
Jack begins to wail on Monday about his big tootsie-toe, "IT HURTS!!"
Last weekend, I noticed Jack had the top half of his toe nail missing and it looked irritated. The day after that it had a little blood around it. Okay, he stubbed it, bit it, picked it, banged it...something. I don't know. Walking around he complains a little, but tubbies, WOAH tubbies!!! He gets so mad at me when I have to wash it or take the bandaid off.
With all this fussiness, and my gut, I decided to finally take him to the doctor's today. Good thing I did.
Our little Jack e. boy has cellulitis. That's right! You heard me. He's competing with Jeffrey and his big toe. What's up with these kids?
So...we started washing with antibacterial soap (Jeffrey's left over Dial), taking oral antibiotics (just like Jeff), but Jack gets to soak in iodine, then peroxide and get lathered with Bacitracin. 
And if that doesn't work over this holiday weekend, you might ask,...podiatrist visit for a possible in-grown toe nail and draining. Awesome! Let's hope this regimen knocks out whatever infection Jack has festering in his toe.
Fingers crossed, enjoy your holiday with healthy toes :)

Lookin' Solid

Jeffrey couldn't get enough eggs

Jack liked to chuck them into the cups...crack!

Jeff loungin' with PopPop

Easter Baskets

Galoshes...aka fire boots. Yes, Kristen he slept in the t-shirt/smock :)

Hello and Happy belated Easter. We've been super busy, what with a whole week off from school and all. Woohoo!
We've gardened, cleaned, gone to the Philadelphia Zoo, visited all sorts of family, took a nature walk, and um...what was that other thing... oh yea, played baseball!

We even made time on Thursday to go to our appointment with Dr. Standard. I'll skip right to the medical stuff and our visit to Baltimore.
Thursday morning the whole fam headed south around 10am and returned to our home around 8:15pm.
L   O   N   G    Day! But, of course well worth it!
With Jack and Jeffrey in tow we parked, ate lunch at the hospital cafe and went down to see Ms. Kym. That's Jeffrey's physical therapist in Baltimore. Therapy was at 1:00. We took the STAIRS down to the basement. That's right, I said "stairs." Jeff had never climbed up or down those stairs. We were always in a wheelchair/stroller in the elevator. Kym said Jeff's range of motion and strength were great, especially for his age and this point--post fixator. The only slight concern, surprise, surprise...his weak ankle. She watched him stand on one foot and run up and down the hallway. Honestly, that was the best he's ever done both. Showoff! haha

We discussed the possibility of having an orthotic, ankle brace, to help stabilize his leg, but after consulting a few other therapists and the good Doc himself, all agreed we should let him just be a kid. The brace could limit his activity and why would we want to do that if it is not causing him any pain right now? If at some point his knee becomes so far bent in that it is over the inside of his foot, then we would pursue that option.
Physical therapy is lined up at home for the next 7 weeks, once a week. Dr. Standard and Kym said that his own play therapy (swimming, biking, playing baseball) was enough! YES! No more therapy! Don't get me wrong, it was great, but it's nice not to have to worry about rushing to drive to TWP .
After therapy, we went to the 2nd floor for our clinic visit. The appointment time was 2:00, what time were we seen??? 4:45/5:00ish. We are used to the wait, but the boys had a tough time trying to occupy themselves.

Waited with lollies

Even spied on Dr. Standard as he went to other rooms and waved and yelled hi like "We're here!"

When the good doctor walked in the boys were excited and tired. It's tough trying to listen to the doctor and keep 2 restless boys in check. Jamie is so good at that!
We looked at the xrays.

Dr. Standard was showing Jeffrey the rod that's in his leg to keep his femur strong and free from breakage. He had a hard time finding the original point of the osteotomy (bone cut) since it has healed and filled in so well :)

Cool. You can see how the femur is now longer than the other side and his knees are uneven.

The doctor pulled up the original x-ray from April 1, 2010 (our initial consult) and put it side by side with the current one April 28, 2011. Craziness!

Current x-ray                                                Original x-ray from last year

Well, good news all around. Glad to be through this phase. Still keeping an eye on that ankle.
I took this pic with my phone the other day when he was bare foot and I really noticed the appearance of the ankle.

Thanks for your continued support of reading the blog, coming out to cheer on our bball player at his tee ball games, asking how the family is doing, and just building us up.

Quote of the Season

Jeffrey: "It was a good hit, but I hit the pitcher right in the penis."
To which dad replies, "SHE'll be okay".
hehe

Opening Day for EGLL

PLAY BALL!!

Opening day began with a windy, cool, muddy walk...or should I say hike, to the field by 9am. The parking lots and fields were packed. Jeffrey and Assistant Coach Jamie joined up with the team and waited their turn to walk onto the big kid field for the presentation of all the teams. There were lots of teams!!!

Check out those ears :)

Jeff's team royal blue, "Absolute Landscaping" was dressed and ready to go...only...their game wasn't until 1:30. Hmmm...what to do?? Hang out? Eat? Leave and get warm? play on the blow up slide? So many choices and so much time.

Jeffrey's Man-stance

Jack occupied himself

"CHEEEEEEEEESE!!!"

Jeff occupying his time by rolling around on the ground...just because

wrestling

What could Jeff possibly request to do? "Can we hit balls, daddy?" That's right, he wanted to practice! Since their wasn't enough room, the boys had a catch. Jeff and Jack got to shoot some hoops.

Jeffrey and Darren "Take one!" JAAAACK!

"Take two!" Cute!

We even ran into our favorite neighbors, the Slimbocks!! Darren had his uniform on for opening day too. Jack and Jeff were so excited to see familiar faces. We joined Darren in line for cotton candy,
then headed home for some warmth, lunch and a potty break.

Back to the fields for the game around 1:15 where we met Grandma already waiting to cheer on her little man. We get all settled to watch. I was about to take out, what else...my camera when I suddenly realized that I left it on the wet bar during our little lunch break. CRAP! MAN!!!
I was so mad at myself. Since when do I go anywhere without my camera? "Fine, suck it up," I tell myself.
Just use the stinky camera on your phone. It's better than no pictures. I really was disappointed in myself.
As we are getting ready for the second inning Aunt JenJen joins us, bigger fan club!
Watching the game is cute and funny. Tee ball is such a beginner's sport. They only play 2 innings. In our case, they squeezed in a third since there was time. Jeff got to play pitcher 2 times. Now, when I say pitcher it just means he stands in that spot. He puts on a cute little "heart guard" to protect his chest. I think he looks like he should be on the swat team. Cute, nonetheless. Jeffrey loves running after the ball in the field. He even ran without the ball and tagged a runner heading to third base. Atta boy, Jeff :)

First at bat

On first base

cheering on team mates

Good Game, Good Game, Good Game...

Go TEAM!

So, with the game over and Jeff having his team snack of blueberry mini muffins and water he sits with the fam to enjoy a little picnic. Jack was of course chowing on Grandmom and Aunt JenJen's french fries. He asked for more food so I remembered I put the last piece of his left over pretzel in the front compartment of my backpack before we left home. I unzip the bag to get the pretzel and what else was staring me in the face? Wait for it...wait for it...MY FREAKIN' CAMERA!!! That's right! The guilt I'd been feeling the whole game for snapping pictures with my stinky pixeled camera now turned into frustration that I had the stinkin' thing the whole time. GGGrrrr!!!
Well, let's focus on the importance of the day. Jeff rocked the tee ball field! The team did great and so did the coaches! So proud of them all! Can't wait 'til game 2, Thursday night!