Doing great in Philly

We are on the third casting change for Ryan. So far he has done really well. Yesterday's cast gave him a little bit of a hard time - I think they are giving him a pretty strong stretch - but he is handling it like a champ! His feet have made such good progress that Dr. Van Bosse had to double check the last measurements because he was surprised how well Ryan's feet have adjusted.

To date, Ryan had serial casting previously for 7 weeks starting from the time when he was 2 weeks old, followed by an achilles tendon release surgery at 2 months of age, 2 years of dennis brown shoes and bar for sleeping, ankle foot orthotics daily, 2 1/2 years of physical therapy and now another week of serial casting...see the progress for yourself - pretty amazing.
Here's a comparison from birth:





Ryan got a surprise package yesterday....it was the perfect day for a treat, as he was not too happy with the latest round of casts...



And over the weekend he fulfilled every little boy's dream:


Hopefully this week we will get to visit more friends and family. So far we have seen Ryan's Jersey grandparents - Mor-mor & Papa, Aunt Janelle & Uncle Adam, 2nd cousins Grace and Sophia and my cousin Katie, Aunt Peggy and Uncle Roy, Michele (Noni to the kids), Jake and Abby....it's been nice to visit everyone and get out of the house! Ryan has made a lot of friends and has warmed the hearts of everyone! What a kid!

Thanks for all the well wishes! It's great to know our support system is so awesome!
xoxo
k

back in Philly!

Ryan and I woke up a little before 4am on 10-10-10 to head out for our philly trip. It's going to be a long 3 weeks away from our family, but have no fear - we have "CATER-PICKLE", Ryan's trusty made-in-china plastic caterpillar. We've been setting up shots like this one to send to Devin and Lily each day..."The Adventures of Cater-pickle"...maybe I'll write a book ;)



Anyway, Ryan was awesome on the plane rides - we had a stop in Denver, but not a peep out of him....except for singing his preschool Halloween songs at the top of his lungs while we boarded, earning laughs and smiles from all the ladies around us. We arrived at the Ronald McDonald House in Camden, NJ around 7pm Sunday night, ate our pizza I picked up on the way out of the airport and went to bed for some much needed sleep.

Monday's appointment went well. We met the most adorable little 5 year old with blond curly hair and a personality that reminded me so much of Lily! Her and Ryan hit it off pretty well, once Ryan got rid of his grumpy face. We also met AJ, a little boy from NJ who was about to have his casts removed. Here's a pic of the three, though blurry, it was the best I could get...



We also met Juan, a little 19 month old who flew in from Columbia! Juan and his mom are also staying at the RMDH, so the boys got to play cars and stuff, even though they don't understand what each other is saying. Kids are cool like that.

As far as casting went....Ryan didn't cry, so there's that, but he did growl the whole time Dr. Van Bosse was rolling out the plaster casts to his legs. As soon as they were finished, Ryan turned to me and said "Ok, mommy, now we take them off". Sorry kid. I have a feeling he is going to be more than a little unhappy when we saw these casts off and then put new ones right back on. Most of the evening Ryan did pretty well in the casts. He can still crawl around in them, which is great, but they are big and cumbersome and heavy. He slept pretty well, waking up at around 7:30, just enough to wake me up and then he fell back asleep.



For those who aren't familiar with NJ, Camden, the city I am staying in, is not the nicest. From wikipedia "In 2009, Camden had the highest crime rate in the U.S. with 2,333 violent crimes per 100,000 people while the national average was 455 per 100,000"
THE HIGHEST IN THE US!!! YIKES! So, we are not going out for evening strolls of finding a local playground...but the RMDH is nice and is gated, and I feel pretty safe. Last night, as I was resting in bed, there were flashing blue lights out our window. I thought to myself, ugh - police action right outside the house! A few minutes passed and I noticed the flashing was sporadic.....so I got up to see just how many cop cars were flashing their lights.....only to realize we were having a lightning storm! Haha! Guess I'm a little paranoid ;)

xo
k