Quick update

John Henry is home from the hospital and doing well. His knee surgery went great and he is not suffering from too much pain. All four kids are at his mother's for the weekend. When they left yesterday, they were all very excited to be spending time with her, especially Daisy. When I talked with them earlier today, the boys were playing chess, Rosie was drawing and Daisy was riding the tricycle.

First pumpkin of the season

And so you can see for yourself that she is doing much better! We went on her first field trip today to the pumpkin patch. She had to keep a hat on because it was very hot and we didn't want her incisions to get a sunburn!

Same song, second verse

Or third verse - depending on which way you look at it!

John Henry is scheduled for surgery on his knee on Friday morning. He has completely torn the lateral ligament away from the bone. As the doctor described it: "It's sort of just hanging there, flapping around." He will also have some repairs made to his meniscus. He will be staying overnight at the hospital on Friday night and hopefully home on Saturday. He will have staples and stitches for ten days (he and Rosie will be a pair!) It could be anywhere from three to six weeks before the doctor releases him to drive.

To update you on Rosie: She went to school yesterday and had a good day. She goes this morning for her five year old check up. The incisions look good and appear to be healing well.

With some sleep ...

She is much better today! I've received phone calls and e-mails asking how Rosie is and am very thankful for the love and concern. She finally kept some liquid down late yesterday and by this morning she was ready to eat! She isn't complaining of any pain and the incisions look really good.

Before and after

This morning we were at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. She was the first patient of the morning.



She weighs 50 pounds and is 50 inches tall. She was very brave and never cried.


The surgery lasted for an hour. The doctor removed three precancerous moles from her scalp. She has roughly twenty stitches.


The main problem now is going to be keeping her hydrated. So far she hasn't been able to keep anything in her stomach.

Preparing

So, tomorrow is the big day for Rosie. We have to be at the hospital at 6:00 a.m. It is a school day for the boys. It isn't a school day for Daisy.

Do you see where I'm going with this yet?

Today I am spending time preparing.

After I took Daisy to school this morning, I went in search of a shirt for Rosie to wear tomorrow. I realized last night (when I couldn't sleep) that since she will have stitches in three areas of her scalp, she will need shirts with v-neck styling. I also picked up a few coloring books and new crayons. These will be for Daisy to use in the waiting room and Rosie to enjoy tomorrow after the surgery. Coloring is her favorite thing to do.

I still have several things to do before the day is over. I have to pack a bag for the boys. They are spending the night with a dear friend and she will make sure they are at school on time in the morning. She and her husband have four children of their own. Yes, they are very dear. And very brave!

We have a tour of the hospital scheduled for this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. So, after I pick everyone up from school (Daisy at
1:15, Rosie at 2:30 and the boys at 2:40 - remember that everyone is at a different school this year?) and we take a quick snack break, we are off to the hospital for our tour. Oh, the hospital is 30 - 40 minutes away, depending on traffic. Rosie is thinking about what she would like for dinner tonight. I told her that she needs to choose something that will fill her tummy up since she won't be eating breakfast in the morning. She is the child that wakes up hungry, too.

After dinner and the boys have completed their homework they will go to our friends house. After the girls are bathed they will get to watch Barbie's version of the Nutcracker. Since the boys will be away, Rosie thought this would be a good choice.

Rosie said we should take the camera just in case we want to get a picture of her in her hospital clothes. If all goes well, I'll post tomorrow with an update.

It's all fun until someone gets hurt

Since John Henry has been traveling with his job, he has made an incredible effort to spend quality time with his family when he is at home. If you'll recall, we've been teaching the children how to play disc golf. The boys are really good at it and the girls are showing improvement each time we play. Last year John Henry broke his leg and had a plate with 5 screws placed in his leg from an injury he received while playing disc golf.

Fast forward to this weekend:

On Saturday we asked the kids what they would like to do for the day. Lake said he would like to play disc golf. The others said they would like to go to a 'cool' park. So, we loaded everyone into the van and went to Spring Park. It's about 45 minutes from our house. The city it's located in has a nice downtown area in which we stopped for lunch. We then walked to the park.


The roller coaster has been added over the last year to the park. The boys loved it and road it four times.

Waiting to board the train.


The park also has a nice playground.

After we left the park, we went in search of a new disc golf course. We've played several in Alabama and Tennessee but we ventured into Mississippi on this afternoon. We stopped a few times on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Once we found the state park we were excited to find out they had two disc golf courses. It was late afternoon so we only had time to play one course. This park is on our list to go back and play again!

We had a few hours in between church on Sunday and decided to go play disc golf at the course about 15 minutes from our house. On the third basket I noticed John Henry on the ground. I thought he was rolling around in laughter over something that Daisy had said - she is becoming quite the comedian. However, is wasn't laughter causing the rolling on the ground: it was knee pain. We spent the following 4 or 5 hours in the emergency room only to find out that nothing was broken. An MRI is scheduled for this afternoon to find out if anything is torn.

Dancing at twilight

Rosie began her third year of dance last night. The class actually started last week but due to an illness she had to miss class.




I was in a rush to get her to class (the story of my life!) and so I missed taking the picture before class. I remembered when we got home so I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures of her.

She finally gets to dance!

She has wanted to dance for two years, well ever since Rosie started dance class. When I told her that today was the day she got to start dance class, she squealed with delight.


All ready to go. She put her tights on by herself and made sure that she had her bag packed with ballet and tap shoes. I still have to help Rosie with her tights. Well, she could probably put them on herself but we may not get out the door in time for the class!

The littlest is off to school

Daisy starts school today - she is very excited!