Trips Visit

Julie and the triplets got here last Wednesday and stayed through Sunday. Patrick, very kindly, babysat so that Juls and I could go to dinner on Wednesday night. This is something that I am not sure we've done since the babies have been around... and even long before given both of our bedrests during pregnancy. We had a wonderful meal at York Street. Delicious!! Friday night we took the babies to the TCU/SMU tailgate. Lots of fun, but crazy! Charlie and I had to leave early because all of the triplets where going into the bounce house. No bounce house for Charlie these days.

The highlight for the babies was the Airplane Museum on Saturday morning. We've never been, but it was SO fun that we will definitely be back!

And look how well Charlie is getting around these days:

Go SMU

We took Charlie to his first-ever football game a couple of weekends ago. He LOVED it.... even if it was 100 degrees. At baseball games now, he will act like he is throwing out a pitch as the pitcher throws and will act like he is hitting the ball as the hitter does it. Pretty cute. At the football game, he just sat in Patrick's lap and took it all in.

Julie and the triplets were in town this past weekend. We took the kids to the SMU vs TCU tailgate. It was pretty cute. The trips were in their red and white gingham and Charlie was in his purple gingham. We missed the opportunity for a cool cousin pic... but, they were all pretty frat-tastic looking!

Learning to Walk

Here's how the first couple of days went on the walking front.

Not there yet:

Getting closer...

We made it!!

Activities

During the first 2 days after Charlie's injury, he wouldn't walk on it. Wouldn't even attempt it. So, I had to become creative as to what would entertain my non-mobile toddler. Here's what we came up with:

Movie watching (thanks to Caroline and Ben for letting us borrow some DVDs!)

Fun with cookies and balloons! (Thanks to LHCCEC)
Colors! (Thank you to the Hamiltons)
We found a new love for stickers
And playing with bowls

Big Haircut Time

The week that Charlie broke his leg (which is 2 weeks from today... half way there!), I decided that I hadn't put him through enough misery for one week, so I took him to get his 2nd haircut. It pretty much went down like this:

Let's just say, he's not a fan.

Diagnosis Confirmed... Sort Of

We were in and out at the specialists' office yesterday. He confirmed that Charlie does, in fact, have a fractured tibia. He called it a "buckle" in the bone. However, it is in a different location than originally thought. It is actually right where the splint ended (right under his knee cap). So, we came to the doctors office wearing this:
And left wearing this:
Charlie has to wear his little cast for 4 weeks. At that point they will do another x-ray to make sure everything is healing nicely. More than likely, Charlie's leg will grow normally. The doctor did say that, it's rare, but he "could" be a little bow-legged for a few years. Time will tell. At least Charlie has been pretty happy through all of this. We have been practicing crawling and walking on our own. Charlie has got the crawl down, but still needs help slinging the cast around to walk. We'll get there.

First Injury

After our Kindermusik class yesterday, I took Charlie to the playground behing our house. (Music is also at that church... convenient!) This is a playground that we regularly play at, but haven't quite mastered all of the elements, apparently. Last week I was shocked to see that Charlie could climb up these round steps they have to the tall platform to go down the slide. (This platform is taller than I am, so pretty tall for such a little guy.) Yesterday I was standing there, but wasn't "spotting" as much as I should have been because he had done it fine last week and twice yesterday before said injury. He went up fine, put one foot on the landing and missed with the other foot. He fell face down onto the soft wood chips with his legs in a "hurky" position. I was more concerned with a head/neck injury more than anything due to his bloody lip. I immediately carried him home where it was obvious that he was not disoriented, but wouldn't put pressure on his left leg. The fall occurred at 11 am and I let him nap (on top of me to make sure no vommitting began) from 11:30-1:30 in hopes that he would wake up walking just fine. Not so much. He kept grabbing his leg and saying, "Uh-oh, hurts." I called our pediatrician's office who said they would have the nurse call back. By the time she did, we were already at Primacare and she said to just stay there. We were at Primacare for 1.5 hrs. just to be told that they couldn't help us and to go to the E.R. Another call to our pediatrician directed us to Medical City since they have a Pediatric E.R. We entered the hospital at 4:00pm and left at 10:30pm. During that time it was determined that Charlie "probably" has a fractured tibia and that we need to follow-up with a Pediactric Bone Specialist today to confirm. So, here is what we have now:

Our appointment is at 2pm today. Charlie still will not even attempt to put pressure on his leg. More to come soon.

Crab and Corn Salad

My new obsession!! I make enough to munch on the whole week through. It is so good, light, fresh and would be good to experiment with.

Recipe:

4 corn on the cobs

1 lg. red bell pepper (or 2 small), diced
3-4 sticks of celery, diced
1/2 bunch of cliantro, diced
2-3 limes (depending on how much lime juice you want)
2 tbsp. olive oil
2-3 tbsp. mayonaise
red pepper flakes to taste
12 ounces crab meat, cubed

Roast the corn in a pan with some olive oil. Flip periodically to get a slight charred look on each side. Chop up all veggies into a bowl. Break apart crab with your fingers. After the corn has cooled, cut it off the cob into the veggies. Add the rest and stir. It's ready to serve! Really good over lettuce as a salad. Also good with tortilla chips.

Variations: Add shrimp instead of crab. Add jalepeno, red onion, and/or avacodo. Enjoy!

Labor Day

My Labor Day was fantastic! I got to spend a long weekend with 10 of my closest girlfriends from high school in Watercolor, FL! Some of our friendships range back 27 years and the most recent of our friendships began 18 years ago. We are truly blessed to still be able to call one another "best" friends.
Thank you to our husbands who continuely encourage/let us go on this much-needed trip every year. Thank you to our parents and in-laws who very kindly help us out with baby duty. Thank you to our friend, Misty, who found us a free place to stay this year. And, thank you to the drivers, cooks, cleaners, and friends who made this trip such a fun one!

Until next year!