Life Settles...

at least a little. We haven't had the crazy amount of running that had been happening the last few weeks. There are certainly things still on the calendar but not to the extreme that it has been. Now I can start catching up on house projects. My first project is to get Igor's bedroom in order. I was browsing around on Craig's List and found him a new captain's bed. Currently it's on the front porch in need of a mattress and space clearing in his bedroom to put it. I wasn't really intending to purchase a bed that day but when looking at Craig's List you gotta jump when you see what you want.

Igor is doing very well with his cast. The doctor visit last week showed a remarkable improvement in the alignment of the bone and a couple of evil looking pins that will be removed in a couple of weeks (I'm not looking forward to that adventure, Igor is happily ignorant) The new short cast has made life easier for all. He can now crawl around the house and he is easier to carry and can fit in a grocery cart. Still several more weeks of cast yet to go.

I've been battling a nasty chest cold. Last week on Thursday was the worst and I felt as if I was hit by a truck. Darling hubby worked from home and I crawled in bed for the day. The cold is still lingering but I'm functional.

Sonny Boy got his report card. He is doing very well in most aspects of school, academically great. He did get dinged on things like completing work on time, socializing and those kind of things. EVERYONE of his low marks were easily attributable to ADHD. I can't imagine what they would if he were not medicated. I don't know if he's just goosing around more than he should or if he's really not in control of his actions. It's so hard to know when your not right there to judge for yourself. It might be time to adjust his meds. I will say he's come a long way though, while he's still quite a handful off his meds, he does try to listen and generally isn't the out of control pre-schooler he once was.

Hubby is busy with work. His boss declared Friday 'work from home day' since gas prices started climbing. That's nice because even though he stuffs himself in the office room he's around and can keep an eye on Igor while I run to the store, or pick up Sonny Boy from school and he's around for lunch or the quick odd question that crops up during the day. The downside is that he will be gone for a long stint of training in March. I'm not thrilled with that. He's going to the "big D" and quite frankly I've been there, done that and don't care to do it again. Although I will say March there is more like late May here and we'll still be getting snow.

Hubby has declared himself the "bringer of huge snows" this winter. He was stuck in the giant snowstorm that collapsed the Metro dome in Minneapolis, he was in Arkansas for a recent ice/snow event that shortened his training by a day, and a huge snow storm is expected in the next two days here where we live. He is NOT responsible however for the mess that has occurred on the east coast. While he was on the east coast in October he has not been back since, though I'm guessing he must have left some of his "snowfall dust" behind when I watch NYC digging out.

Well speaking of snowstorms I better make my way to the grocery. While I don't expect to be totally snowed in I don't really want to have to get out in it if I can help it.

All's well

Yesterday was a marathon of stress. Igor's surgery wasn't scheduled till 3:00 pm, but we were scheduled to arrive at 1:30. We spent the morning getting a bath (as I guessed we wouldn't have a nifty waterproof cast anymore) and preparing to spend the night at the hospital since the doc had approved it with insurance and wasn't real sure how in depth the procedure would have to go to do things.

We showed up a little early and the sugery center staff was glad as the doc was running early and they rushed us on through. Yay, can't imagine why we needed to be there so stinking long before anyway. They gave Igor some goofy juice and he was off without a care in the world. 45 minutes later the doc plopped down next to me in the waiting room (I hadn't seen him come in, I was reading) told me he did fine. They did insert a couple of small pins but things went well. Come back and see him in his office in a week. A little while later I was called back to the recovery room and the nurse was just putting his glasses back on. He was calm, collected and a little loopy but not freaked out or scared which was my biggest worry. We hung out in there a little then we were moved to another place for observation for a bit. Since the surgery wasn't as involved as it could have been the doc gave clearance for Igor to leave. Igor was mad about this as he really wanted to spend the night! Well I guess it wasn't a horrible experience for him since he wanted to stay. Either way we were back home and on the couch by 6:30.

The good news is he has a much shorter cast, below the knee. The bad news of course no weight can be put on it AND it's not waterproof like the giant purple one. Bathing won't be as easy now but I've got some ideas, I just don't think I can stand the idea of sponge baths for 6 weeks.

Today my stress overload kicked in and I've not been worth shooting, had a migraine, have a giant zit break-out on my face and have been a knot on a log. Hopefully tomorrow I will be more productive. Igor however has been good, a little sore but not too bad and I've had to enforce couch sitting today as he wanted to be scooting around on the floor. I didn't think that was a good idea just yet as I figured 24-48 hours should be given before he's moving around.

As you know I have no pictures, I'll get pics up of his new Razorback Red short cast up soon.

Mi Vida Loca

Well last week's waiting is over and another's has begun. I realize now I should have entittled last week's post "Running".

My new Kindle came in. It's great! It's logged a lot of time and miles already.

The heated floor mat for the kitchen came in. It's ugly, as expected but Oh so nice when lingering in the same spot to cook or clean.

Went to Igor's second opinion ortho appointment. Not the best news, the doc wasn't thrilled with the alignment and taking into consideration Igor's pronation problems to begin with he thought it needed surgery. Yay (again do you hear the sarcasm?) the doc wanted to do the surgery on Friday, however with Hubby out of town I declared it impossible so we scheduled it for Tuesday. At least 6 more weeks in a cast, thrilling. The impending surgery also required that Igor get a pre-op clearance from his pediatrician. Pediatrician thought Igor's heart murmur -that has always been there- should be further looked into. With some schedule juggling I managed to get Igor into the cardiologist at children's on Friday morning. The cardiologist took a listen and decided he needed an ultrasound thingy. Turns out he has a Bicuspid Aortic Valve. Not an issue at this time but will need monitoring, long term stuff on that is not great news but hopefully we won't be dealing with any of it for many years.

Both kids went to the dentist and I'm thanking the medical bill gods that no issues were discovered there. Igor's X-rays do foretell a fortune to be spent on orthodontics though.

A quiet weekend here, before the storm so to speak. Hubby is currently rounding up all his ice fishing stuff and taking Sonny Boy. I lobbied for him to take Igor along, but couldn't convince him that a peg leg pre-schooler would be fun. So Igor and I are here, not likely to go anywhere unless there is little choice (like the house is on fire) doing mountains of laundry and hoping my fairy godmother of cleaning will show up for a few hours.

Waiting....

Waiting on Hubby to come home from a training trip. He just left today, it will be a long week.

Waiting on my new Kindle to get here. Finally just ordered the thing. Merry Christmas to me. Happy about it too as the library shelves are quite picked over in winter.

Waiting on my new heated floor mat to come in. Where the bulk of the kitchen standing occurs is crazily cold on the floor. I put a thermometer there and while counter height was 68 it was 45 on the floor. I've insulated the floor from underneath in the basement and searched for cracks etc. The only conculusion we have drawn is that this corner is as far away from the radiator as you can be, on an exterior wall and covered by cabinets that of course we keep closed so when you stand there that chilled air seeps out and onto your feet. I found an industrial rubber warehouse mat that is heated. It won't be pretty but it's so miserable to cook due to cold feet I don't really care. I really don't think I should have to cook in snow boots in an otherwise comfortably heated house. I hope it works.

Waiting on a second opinion on Igor's leg. We are going to go see a pediatric orthopedist from Children's hospital on Tuesday.

Waiting on Dentist, both boys go on Thursday. I'm worried as Sonny Boy is now 7 1/2 and hasn't lost even one baby tooth. I wonder what is going on behind the scenes. Between Igor's crazy high arched palette and Sonny Boy not getting adult teeth I fear the dental bills we might be facing soon.

Otherwise life is crazy busy. Appointments, Cub Scouts, school, wrestling, Igor's impaired mobility (which unfortunately keeps him from preschool) and the usual business of life are moving along. January's calendar is rather full and sure to fill in some more.

Lots of pictures

I've been told I don't post enough pictures and that I gab and get wordy a lot. Well this is my lots of pictures post.

This is today, just before the doctor appointment. I was hoping we'd loose that really big cast in favor of a smaller one, however it wasn't to be. Also note the Razorback jersey - a requirement today since the Hogs are in the Sugar bowl tonight. Woo Pig.

This is the X-ray taken today of Igors foot. I don't think you need a medical degree to see the break. The doc swears it will heal fine due his young age. I'm a little skeptical and have some feelers out about what others in the medical field think. If you happen to have a little knowledge in this area leave a comment.

The church did an original production based from the Chronicles of Narnia. I thought the woman looked like the Snow Maiden so I had the kids pose with her. Her mean charachter explains her lack of smile.

This is Hubby cooking our Christmas dinner. We decided to eat some steaks we had purchased at a discount warehouse food place. Mistake. Horrible. Wish we'd eaten chicken nuggets.

Christmas morning Chaos ensues.....

After Christmas we went north to visit the in-laws. A highlight of the trip was a day spent ice fishing in Father-in-Law's fish house. Igor caught a little perch. He was thrilled, can't you tell?

Sonny Boy caught a little Northern Pike. He's squeezing it a little hard here.

We'd had a trip to a ski hill planned to go inner tubing, however mother nature let her rip and dumped several inches of snow on the area thwarting our plans. Even with the snow it was pretty warm (for northern MN) and everyone went out and played in the snow except Igor.

The adults were busy making a huge snowman after seeing a 13 foot tall one in the paper. This one didn't reach those porportions but he was rather tall - over 5 feet.

The whole snowballed crew minus the little ones who were either bored or lame.

The holidays were nice and included some adventures but things are settling back down. On for the long haul of winter.