The month of February has come and gone and life is just as crazy as usual. We recently made several trips up to The Children's Hospital and Research Center of Oakland. We were taking Caden up there to meet with several doctors and therapists who specialize in spasticity, (the tightness that Caden has in his lower legs). After meeting with more than 10 specialists in the field, they recommended a spinal surgery known as SDR, or Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy. Basically, the surgery consists of making an incision in his lower back and finding the nerves that are responsible for movement of his lower legs. They then stimulate the nerves using electrical impulses to figure out which nerves are not firing correctly. Once they identify these nerves they cut them leaving only the nerves which are functioning correctly. We were really hoping to have the surgery done before the new baby comes and before we move, but the doctors want to give him another year to grow and mature before they do the surgery. They're not sure he could handle the extensive therapy that follows the surgery at this time. The therapy includes a 4-8 week hospital stay where he would receive physical therapy 7 days a week for 3-4 hours a day. Over the next year while we wait for the surgery they might cast and botox his legs to keep them from getting worse. As of now, we're looking at next summer (2011) for the surgery to take place, we'll see what happens in the mean time. Luckily, he's not in any pain, he just falls a lot and has trouble getting around. Even through it all though, he always has a huge smile on his face.
Our little Téa is coming up on her 2nd birthday in less than 2 months. I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. She is becoming such a big girl. She is quite the little chatter box and everyday is striving for more and more independence. She has also recently taken to coloring. Not just coloring on paper but on anything in sight. This includes herself, Caden, the doors and walls, and even our poor dogs. There's no escaping our little artist. After coloring on the door one too many times though, mean old mommy handed her the rag and made her clean the walls that she had so beautifully decorated. We haven't had any murals on the walls or doors since then. Here's some moments from our crazy life throughout the month of February.
Téa's tattoo sleeve
Poor Caden got tagged, too!
One of Téa's many murals on my doors
Mommy making her clean up her mess
Téa wearing Daddy's hat
Silly girl
Caden and his goofy face
Téa putting Elmo "night night" to bed
The kids playing the drums on one of Mommy's pots
They were being so silly, they even thought it was funny to switch hats with each other (Caden's hat is the blue one with stripes and Téa's hat is the red one. Hence why the red one looks so silly on Caden's head)
Téa tackling, I mean "hugging" her brother
Handsome boy
No more pictures mommy
More of Caden's goofy face
We bought Téa some new clothes and she decided to put them all on at once
She's wearing 3 skirts and 2 shirts
The munchkins hiding in the end tables
Silly girl
Téa "helping" give Caden a bath
Double rainbow outside our front door
The treasure I found at the end of the rainbow!
The kids pretending to sleep
Téa wants to be just like her big brother
Running laps around the house with a Tupperware container on their heads
Caden's turn
Our snoozing pups
Best buddies
We're still plugging away at the house. Luckily, our projects list is getting smaller and smaller and things are finally starting to take shape. The shed is almost finished. All that is left is to put up the paneling on the outside, put shingles on the roof and put the floor in for the loft. The inside house projects are also coming to an end. I finally finished the master bathroom (that ended up being a lot more work than I had anticipated). The smaller bathroom and the laundry room are also finished. The last remaining room is the kitchen. I'm hoping to finish that up on our next trip down there. I'm definitely getting tired of making these trips back and forth. Luckily in less than 3 months we will be making our final trip down to our new house to stay for good. We can't wait!
More of the same
Don digging the trench for our water and electrical lines
There's nothing like digging in Suey Creek's "soil" aka pure rock
After the rains we've been having we got to see where the low points were on the pad. Here's my dad and Don dumping some fill into those areas.
I had to re-plaster this wall in the master bathroom
Goodbye ugly teal wall
And goodbye ugly wallpaper
What a mess!
And after (the spots were on the lens of my camera, they're not on the wall )
Téa trying out her new tub
