1 week down, 7 to go!!

Mom and Dad are VERY thankful for all the support and prayers that they have been getting from everyone. Madison is doing better Everyday and we are all VERY thankful to have the amazing friends and family that we have! THANK YOU!!

An update... Madi is starting to play with me a little bit but she gets SASSY easily. She doesn't like to sit by herself and wants to be held when she's not sleeping. She sleeps a lot though! Mom said that she needs sleep to heal so she must really have some healing to do! She has had some trouble sleeping for long stretches though. Every night gets better. Her appetite was slow to come back too but it is slowly getting better every day.

I miss her going to school with me every day but I guess she needs to get used to her cast and be in less pain before we try to bring her back to school. What I am most concerned about is her not being able to take a bath. She loves baths. I told my Mom that she should just tell the doctor that gave Madison the surgery how much she likes baths and maybe he would say it is okay. Mommy doesn't think that will help but I don't think that it would hurt to ask. That is what I miss the most. I want her to be able to take a bath again. She loves baths.

Here is a picture of her taking a "snoozer" in her bean bag chair. She sure does sleep a lot!

I'm at school today but I am told that Baby girl is acting a lot more like herself. Mommy and Daddy were given the okay to take her home. She actually took a few bites of food so that was great. I am going to play with her when I get home. Daddy said that she didn't get much sleep last night. She is probably having litle muscle spasms and her muscles were messed with durin surgery. She is definately happier and has smiled, laughed and waved today which were all firsts since the surgery.

We were having some trouble managing her pain today. She didn't want to be moved AT ALL. After lunch though (and she actually ate a half a yogurt) she managed to be moved 2 times. Once to go for a little ride around the unit and then once to sit on Daddy's lap or a little bit. Mom and Dad feel A LOT better having had her moved a little bit. She was fearful at first and clutches to whomever is holding her it is better each time. Looks like we will be going home early tomorrow.

Grams brought me up to see Madison today. She sure is SLEEPY! She stayed in bed the whole time and hardly woke up! Mom says that she is "sassy" too. I don't know what that means but she sure does get crancky when I try to hug/kiss her or show her toys. She doesn't want anyone to touch her. She had breakfast that they brought to her in bed and even though it was her favorite (pancakes and banana) she didn't touch it! Mom and Dad said that they aren't worried about it. I ate the pancakes.

Mommy wanted me to tell you about Madison's night. She slept well. The people at the hospital came to visit every hour or so but Madison went right back to sleep when they bugged her. Mom doesn't look so hot but thats okay. Daddy is sending her home to shower and rest in a little bit.

Madison's Big Day

My mommy and daddy wanted me to to tell you all what happened to my baby sister today. I havent been able to see her but my mom tells me that her arms aren't in the cast so she will still be able to hug me when I do...This is what they are saying...

Madison's surgery went well. The "3-4 hour" surgery lasted about 5.5 but the surgeon called it "successful." Mom and Dad and Madi got to the hospital at 7 this morning with Madison going in at 8:30. For those of you that have asked for the details, here they are... The surgeon started by lengthening the tendons and ligiments through an incision in her groin and this was done without issue. The next step was to attempt to put her hip back in. He did this and found that it fit too tight and was prone to pop out easily or even potentially cut off blood supply to the bone down the road so he decided to cut/break her femur and shorten it by a centimeter or so. He placed a plate to help it grow back together. The next step was to "clean out" her hip socket as it was too shallow to case the ball. He did this and also made a cut over this joint and added bone from earlier reduction to build a cup type casing to better contain the hip ball in its joint. The other thing that he had to do was make smaller the casing that surrounds this hip/joint as Madison's had been stretched by having her hip out of joint for so long. This was done without issue. So, she ended up with 3 insisions and a major hip surgery but a good outcome and good outlook for recovery.

Mom said that Baby girl will be in a lot of pain because of all the work that they had to so she is staying at least 1 night in the hospital to ensure that they can manage this pain and likely 2 nights for monitoring.

In case you are worried about me, I'm doing just fine. Grams took me out to dinner tonight and I get to go see Madi girl in the morning. I also found out that Gram's and Grandma Joan are taking turns living with us for a while cuz Mom said that we need help. I sure am excited for that!

Halloween!!

Halloween was SO much fun! I walked around the neighborhood with my friends and people gave me different colored things to put in my pumpkin basket! All of my friends were dressed up in funny costumes so I finally agreed to let mommy and daddy put mine on. Up until this day I thought that they were just trying to ruin my "game" so I never would try it on... Sorry Mommy and Daddy, now I understand!! I got to have my friends Caroline, Klaus, Henry and Kate over and it was GREAT!!

Pumpkins at school.

We had a MAGIC Pumpkin Patch at school and while me and my friends were taking our naps all sorts of pumpkins grew on our playground! I got to pick one and bring it home. We had fun!

Pumpkins pumpkin pumpkins...

Mom and Daddy brought me to this really cool place a few weeks ago. There were pumpkins EVERYWHERE! For those of you that don't know (it took me a while,) pumkins look like giant apples but they are orange. My mom is a genious you know, and she told me this... Anyways, the greatest thing about this place were these carts that I got to push around. I guess there were hay rides and games, and cider and all kinds of stuff there but I let the other kids do all that stuff so that I could just push the carts around! Good times...

Watching Daddy

I like to watch Daddy when he mows the lawn. He keeps telling me that someday this will be my job so I am trying to watch carefully. Today Mommy and Daddy said that I am sick so I had to stay inside. I was sad but I found out that I can watch him from inside too! I watched at each window and as soon as I couldn't see him anymore I would search all the windows 'till I found him! There was one time that I couldn't find a window to see him but then I heard the mower from Mom and Dad's bathroom and I finally found him!

Playing in the pool in Florida

We swam in the pool everyday while we were in Florida. I had to show Kate and Henry how the "big" kids play in the pool. I like not being the baby! Klaus and Caroline were fun to watch. Maybe someday I'll be able to swim like they do!

Boat ride in Florida

We went on a boat ride and dolphins swam along side of us for a long time! I was a little scared at first because everyone seemed so excited but after a few minutes it was really cool!

Trip to Florida!

Mommy, Daddy, our friends the Diem's and our cousins the Koehlers all went to Florida over Labor Day weekend. We stayed at Gram's and Papa's house but the strange thing was that I never saw them! Mommy and Daddy said that they were in Ohio. It was nice that they let us stay at their house!

Grandpa D and Grandma Suz

Grandpa D and Grandma Suz came to spend the weekend with me and I had SO MUCH FUN!

Raod trip

We went to Michigan a few weeks ago to see all of my family there... It was a long drive but when we stopped now and then Mom and Daddy would let me hang out with Bodie! I don't know why he doesn't have to get strapped to the seat like I do!? Mom and Dad didn't take many pictures while we were there *pout* but I sure had fun!!

My favorite toys

I still LOVE my firetruck. I am getting good at driving but still haven't mastered steering yet. I love reading books too! Mommy says that you can see the "naughty" in me in this picture of me on my horse. I don't know what she is talking about. I'm NEVER naughty. *giggle*