Transient Synovitis

On Sunday morning, we got Charlie out of his crib and set him down on the floor. He started to take a step…and promptly fell over. He got up and did it again. At first we didn't realize what was going on…and we thought he was just being extra cranky and wanted to be held. But pretty soon, we realized there was something wrong with his right leg - every time he tried to step on it, he would fall down and start crying! It was so sad to watch. Well, we thought it was getting better, so we put him down for his nap around 11:00. When he woke up, it happened again. And again. And again! Charlie was so frustrated! He kept trying to walk and just falling down. It was the most pitiful thing! I called the doctor, and they said to take him in to Urgent Care…so off we went. The doctor came in and watched Charlie limp around and bent his legs into funny shapes and took his temp and told us it was probably something called "Transient Synovitis" - some sort of inflammation in his little hip joint, or at least she hoped that is what it was. There were a couple other things it could have been, so to rule anything worse out, they needed some blood. Shawn and I were prepared for the worst! How do you get blood out of a baby - a strong, 36 1/2 pound baby, at that?!?!?! So, we decided Shawn would hold him in his lap and I would do the necessary comforting and/or restraining. The lab ladies got all the needles and vials ready, put the tourniquet on his arm, and got out the "butterfly" needle. Then they proceeded to take 3 vials of blood out. And what did Charlie do the entire time? He sat there and watched them. He watched them stick the needle into his arm, and he watched his blood as it poured out of the tube and into the vials. NOT. ONE. PEEP. He just sat and very calmly watched what they were doing. The lab ladies said they have NEVER seen a child get blood drawn without crying and/or screaming and/or throwing a huge fit. I couldn’t even believe it - it was truly amazing to watch. We were pretty proud parents at that moment. What a tough little man he is!

Now it's Monday night and his blood work came out just fine and he's already walking better - just a little limp. Phew! Thank goodness for Transient Synovitis - and we thank God for our (relatively) healthy little boy. We know it could have been worse news (bone infection, or even leukemia) and so we are thankful for a little hip joint inflammation.

Well, not much else to say - but I'll share some cute videos from the past few days:

The following bath ones are from his bath tonight, just a couple hours ago...

"Hmmm, I think I'll set these little guys up here and then feed them all some dinner."

The Feeding, Part One

The Feeding, Part Two (Pretty much Shawn's favorite video of Charlie EVER!)

After a couple of the guys accidentally fell on the floor, the game quickly changed from "feed them all dinner" to "knock them all onto the floor"...

Helping daddy dig up the ground.

Charlie's favorite games right now are "make-believe" ones...usually involving baby dolls or little people. Here he has set up a baby in the toy high chair and he's feeding her. But then he realizes that her mouth is actually quite creepy looking...and he gets very concerned about it...

What do you think? Creepy or not creepy? I say creepy.

Putting baby to bed...or maybe throwing a plate at her.

Awww...buddies. This moment calls for a hug.

"Okay, now get off me, man!"

The boys getting into Ellie's play make-up...yes, those are pink cleats on Charlie's feet. What can I say? They are comfortable with their masculinity...and it's waaaay fun to get into Ellie's things when she's not home...

"Pass the mascara, man."

"What do you think, flat iron or should I just go natural today?"

Trying out some new words.

Eating, and spilling, some applesauce.


We went shopping and got Shawn some fancy new clothes for work...here he is, giving his best "dapper" look...

Okay, I just looked up "dapper" on dictionary.com (because, yes, I am a nerd that way) and it said, I kid you not, "dap-per -adjective 1. neat; trim; smart: He looked very dapper in his new suit." HA!!!

See ya later!

The Man I Married

The Man I Married:
bought us a 1986 Volvo last year (after I totalled our "new car"...), to save us money.

Well, the headliner recently started disintegrating. There were little orange crumbs of "ceiling" all over the car and all over our heads. Constantly. Like alien-orange-crumbly-dandruff in our hair and on our shoulders...all the time.

Sooooo... The Man I Married decided he would fix this problem and rip out the headliner himself:



Rather than bother with locating the ever-elusive pair of goggles (to avoid getting the orange dandruff in his eyes), The Man I Married decided that Saran Wrap works just as well:

The Man I Married spent an entire afternoon scraping and chiseling the orangey-crumbly-dandruff-stuff from the surface of the headliner:

The Man I Married then proceeded to open a can of "Prairie" (tan) colored interior house paint and paint the headliner to match the "Prairie" (tan) colored leather interior of our 1986 Volvo - to save us money. His wife (that would be ME) was not pleased upon hearing this "paint the inside of our 1986 Volvo" idea...but you know what? It looks pretty darn good! And after a few days, the paint smell kind of faded a little, too. And really, who looks up when they get into a car, anyways? (Not me. I have developed a fear of orange dandruff falling into my eyes.)

3 days after Project Headliner was complete (saving us $120), The Man I Married discovered that our 1986 Volvo would need a new wiring harness. And it would cost $800 to get a new one installed.

So... The Man I Married ordered his own darn wiring harness, spent 8 hours perched inside the engine of our 1986 Volvo, and installed the wiring harness himself:

Saving us $400.

It was a success! The car runs great! The Man I Married is a genius!

Now, keep in mind that this whole time, during Project Headliner and Project Wiring Harness, I was thinking that this would be the car that I would be driving me and Charlie around town in every day, with it's painted ceiling and ripped leather seats and cracked dashboard and general 1986-ish feel. And I was okay with that. Really. I was. I was actually starting to think it would be kind of cool to drive around this cool "vintage" car that my dear husband had spent so many hours fixing up just for little ole' me.

BUT THEN...The Man I Married tells me that HE is going to drive the 1986 Volvo to work every day. And he wants ME to drive our brand new (to us) 2002 Ford Focus with pretty leather interior, remote keyless entry, cruise control, power everything, and a nice headliner that does not leave orange deposits in my hair OR smell like fresh paint. And that, to me, is even cooler than driving our 1986 Volvo. Really, it is.

Gee, I love that man. :) Isn't he great?

Wow, that is possibly the most I've written that is NOT about Charlie. So, gotta get my Charlie fix in now.

Here he is with some of his favorite things in the whole world right now, rocks, or "gocks". Every time we go outside, he has to get "two gocks" and take them along wherever we are going. And then take them into the house with us when we get back. Now we are finding these "gocks" EVERYWHERE. In the couch cushions, in the crayon bucket, in the toy bins, in his crib, in the drink holder on his high chair tray, inside the trunk of a toy car, under the dining room table, in our shoes, etc, etc, etc...

Charlie on a "gock"collecting adventure:

Eyes in dere and a Cheerio knee

The other morning, I was sitting with Charlie while he ate his oatmeal. When I got up to go put my contacts in, I said, "I'll be right back, I gotta go put my eyes in." I didn't even think he was listening...
When I walked back into the kitchen a few minutes later, Charlie looks up at me very seriously, squints his little eyes up really tight, and says, "Mommy. Eyes in dere. Eyes in dere." At first, I didn't get what he was saying. He wasn't asking a question, he was making a statement. And a very serious one. "Eyes in dere." Then I realized what he was saying, "Eyes in there." He was telling me that I now had my eyes in. Wonder what he thinks that's all about...?

And here he is eating Cheerios off of his knee, thinking he's pretty funny!

Eagle Crest!

We're home!

Here's a shot of the Eagle Crest house.



Here is everyone on a trip to Sisters. (I was the one taking the pic...)

Here we are outside of the Sisters Public Library.
Why did we go to the library when there were so many other fun things to be done, you ask?
Well, Shawn was desperate to find a computer with an internet connection to feed his Fantasy Baseball Addiction.
(As you can see from the little green Starbucks straw peeking out from the cupholder, though, I had to feed my addiction, too, so I can't give him too much gripe...) :)

The awesome play structure - you can see Charlie and Shawn over on the left, and Mike and Ellie and Blake on the slides.

"Let's go, daddy!"



Another trip to Sisters. This time, we went to see Uncle John's awesome ranch. 25 acres, 3 horses, a donkey, 2 dogs, 6 cats, and TONS of deer!

Charlie kept "moo-ing" at the horses. I think we need to work on the animal sounds a little more...



Charlie especially liked the deer.



"Mo deer, mo deer. Bye-bye, deer."



Video clip of the deer.

On the way back from Sisters, a rare occurrence. Charlie actually FELL ASLEEP in the car!

We spent lots of time playing on the back porch!

Charlie, Ellie, and Jasmine playing "Hide Uncle Shawn Under the Blankie".

Charlie and daddy.

Jasmine and Ellie - pretty in pink.

Charlie, Shawn, and "Gompa" at the park.



Sneaking in a hug before running off to play with the cousins.



Chillin' on the couch, watching some sports.




Jasmine feeding Charlie his oatmeal - this became a morning ritual.

A cute little video clip of the daily oatmeal feed. :)



"Hey, who wants to play Tetris?!"



"We do!"

"Maybe we should just stick to 'Ring Around the Rosey'!"

Another favorite hang-out: the garage.

The pink Barbie scooters were a big hit.
Charlie's noggin is too big for the kid helmets, so he had to use an adult one.

Post-bath (and pre-clothes) chicken nuggets.



The next few shots are for you, Bryan (and anyone else who might happen to be obsessed with cool ponds...)
The pond in the front yard.

The pond has 3 waterfalls. You can see the first one on the left.

Here are the other 2 on the right.

This is a shot from above, this little "mini-creek" runs along the top of the pond and then flows down to the 2 waterfalls.



Back to our favorite subject...Charlie. :)
Coloring, or rather "colowing", with Jasmine

"Hi, mommy!"

Ellie and Jasmine being nutty on the stairs.

These gals are so silly!

Charlie was such a help with the puzzle.

Ellie, Blake, and Christine - look at those smiles!

Charlie dippin' his feet in the pool.

Couldn't get Charlie to look at me here, he was too busy plotting ways to steal that other kid's fun toys.

We found the boys getting into trouble in the closet.

Another morning, another oatmeal feeding.

"Open wide, like this!"

Still working on that puzzle...we eventually just gave up.

Playing with a golf ball holder-thingy. This provided hours of cheap entertainment.

Charlie, Blake, and Eli eating dinner.

Being goofy with Jasmine.

We went on lots of bike rides!

Back home for some popcorn and movies. :)

And a little goofing off, too!
(Can you tell they are a little excited to be back home???)