Donkey Derby Days, More casts, and Swimming

James and I have both lived here most of our lives and have never made it to Donkey Derby Days in Cripple Creek.  It was so much fun!  Tons of kids activities for Syd and the parade was great.  Alex loved every single vehicle that went by, what a boy!

We saw Alex's ortho dr today and he's scheduled for his tenotomy in 3 weeks.  So casting until surgery, 3 more weeks of casts and then we'll see what will be next.  The dr is hoping his heels will drop enough after surgery but said to be prepared for a second tenotomy. 
Instead of putting his casts back on today, his dr said that he'll be fine for a day, go do something fun-like swimming!  So we head over to Oma's house and jumped in!  Well, James and the kids did, someone had to man the cameras.  Syd loved it of course and Alex took a little while to figure out that it was fun.

One More Week????

We have an appointment with Alex's ortho dr on Tuesday to check on his progress after 11 sets of of casts.  His feet have progressed wonderfully so we're really hoping that the surgery won't have to be done and he can start in braces next week. He had a rough time with casting this week, he really fought and screamed and then cried for the rest of the day.  He's back to his old self today though, thank goodness.  He's really pitiful when he's not his normal happy self.  I realized that I haven't taken any pictures of him without his casts except for his feet so here's a few.  He really loves his feet!

Happy Fathers Day!  Dada got breakfast in bed, a gold medal, a new baseball glove and a steak dinner!  Oh, and a bike ride to Baskin Robbins, Yum!!

Small Reunion

Today was CCAI's annual Open House and we met up with the Henry's.  It was great to see them again in a much more relaxed environment :-)  Unfortunately no one from our first travel group was there.  

At first Ty and Alex were not thrilled with seeing each other again.

 But soon they were in their old routine of "Hey, that's mine!"

 

Both boys are doing great with enormous appetites!  Alex looks short, but remember, he does have 2 full length leg casts on :-)  I throw some of James' old sock over his casts so he can crawl around outside without tearing either the casts or his toes up.

Mountain Biking

Syd went to a mountain bike clinic and had a blast! 

The kids got hints on how to ride in certain terrains

and a little about bike maintenance.  Learned how 

to test her brakes by making skid marks,

what more could a girl ask for?

 

Happy 2nd Grader and Sick of Casts!

Syd finally finished school!  Gotta love being the last district in town to get out of school.  She is super excited to be a second grader now and she is acting the part of being older and wiser, mixed in with the little girl who still needs babying.  I personally prefer the babying and cuddling part of the new second grader!  I've signed her up for short classes throughout the summer instead of summer camp, so we're pretty busy already.  Hopefully having things spread out will curb the boredom that is inevitable. 

Alex is doing well.  He was the hit at Syd's end of the year party, the kids love him and he loves the attention!  As far as his feet are progressing, the left foot is still not dropping so they want to give it 1-2 more weeks before deciding to send him back to ortho to discuss the minor surgery needed to help his heel drop.  I'm getting a little frustrated with the added weeks of casting but I understand why they want to wait.  I'd rather not have to do the surgery and keep him in casts for 3 additional weeks, but I really want to get things moving.  He's on his seventh set of casts and it's summer!  Poor kid should be able to play outside in the water or even just play in the grass.  His casts or his little toes get so torn up when he plays outside that we don't take him out much.  I guess we need to find some old knee hi socks to cover everything up, make him a little hotter that he already is.  On the good side, he is really working on walking, spends most of his time standing and looking like a bowlegged cowboy!  He's climbing stairs by himself (still working on the down part!)  and he just wants to go, go, go!  Gotta love the energy of my kiddos :-)  And I can't stay down when I see the first rainbow of the summer!

3 months

It's hard to believe that we first held our little guy 3 months ago today!  Alex was quiet, easy going, observant and not able to crawl 3 months ago.  Today he never stops babbling, laughing or watching everything that goes on around him.  He crawls really fast now but mostly stands and walks along furniture or his big Tonka truck.  He can't even move his legs and he still does all of this.  He is such an inspiration for not giving up and living life to the fullest no matter the circumstances! 
3 months ago, big sister was pissed at the world because this little person suddenly appeared and took all of mom and dads attention.  Syd felt like she didn't exist and everything was only done for Alex.  Now she loves playing and reading to him, explaining the world of a first (almost second) grader to a 15 month old.  It's a wonderful thing to see!