Memorial Weekend

Another exciting weekend in our household. Friday dad had a sales manager meeting at Fenway Park in Boston. Mom was stuck home. Friday night after the meeting dad got to watch the Redsox beat Tampa Bay. Mom was stuck at home. However, Kelly came over to keep her company but she was not feeling well. Dad ended up getting in pretty late (after midnight). Mom and Charlotte were sleeping.

Saturday was a beautiful day. Dad took mom to Target to do a little shopping. Mom got to practice driving the electric carts again. She needs more practice. She was looking for sunglasses....had to back up...beep beep beep...and crashed into a display.

After shopping mom and dad took Charlotte to Greeley Park in Nashua for her first picnic. Charlotte loved it!! We played together on the blanket and ate hot dogs from the hot dog guy. It was so beautiful out. Then we went to the Big 1 Ice Cream and got a couple of cones for the ride home. Such a perfect day. Of course mom and dad were in bed early as usual. Charlotte even slept great Saturday night. She got up only once!



Sunday dad did some work around the house before heading to Ryan and Lisa's house for a cookout. Charlotte's FIRST cookout! Dad headed downstairs to Ryans bar and got a little break for about an hour. Mom started to not feel so great so he came back up and gave her a hand. Ryan and Lisa have a little plastic pool that Charlotte was eyeing. So we decided to take the kids for a little swim. Charlotte borrowed a pair of swimmy diapers and off she went. She loved sitting in the pool and was busy splashing around. We have a feeling she will be swimming by the end of the summer...Especially since she loves water.




Sunday night mom got sick. Monday morning mom got sick. Monday afternoon mom got sick. And you guessed it Monday night mom is sick. She seemed to catch whatever Kelly had and is not enjoying it at all. She feels horrible and seems to have some painful stomach flu thing. Not good. Dad so far has not caught it. He did his best to help out while doing work in the yard and around the house. Let's hope she wakes up and feels good. Otherwise it's going to be a very long week.





Charlotte started eating cereal on Sunday. It was hard to tell if she enjoyed it. We will try again tomorrow to see how she does. We can not believe this little baby is growing up infront of our eyes. Dad got the pleasure of getting Charlotte this morning at 5am to feed her. He took her downstairs cause mom was still sick and fed her in bed. Her hands and feet were cold from the a/c in her room. He held her tight against his chest. The next thing you know they were both sound asleep. When they both woke up they just looked at each other and smiled. Dad is a very lucky man.

Bed Hog

I thought Shelby was bad. God help her husband one day. Oh and those sleep positioners work really well as you can see.

Soon to be 31

Mom's birthday is tomorrow May 25th. Soon to be 31. Only 4 more hours before she gets one year older! Dad is planning a huge extravaganza! Have you ever seen the Sweet 16 show on MTV? Dad is going to throw a sweet 31 party for mom! There is going to be a grand entrance with Mom coming into the party riding a camel. Then she is going to be carried in by half naked buff men carrying her on their shoulders. She will of course be wearing a super expensive white dress and white fur coat. Just like P Diddy. There will be balloons and searchlights and a guest musician. Dad is going to have Katherine McPhee from American Idol come sing since she is going to get voted off tonight (she will need a job). Its going to be great. At the end of the party dad will get on the microphone and announce the new car of her dreams that she is getting for her birthday. Its not going to be like on the show with a Mercedes or Hummer...Mom will get the minivan she has always wanted! If you are reading this and you haven't received your invitation I am sorry. I had to be very selective with who was invited since this is only for the coolest people. Don't worry the paparazzi will be there taking lots of pictures.

In reality mom will be at home with Charlotte. Dad will be at work. There might be a card and a present and if she is lucky some cake and icecream. Maybe even a streamer or two. Lets face it 31 just is not as exciting as we all wish it would be. Abigail and Oliver are going to the groomer on her birthday so that is sort of like a present in itself. Im sure Charlotte will give to mom her usual gifts of dirty diapers and spit up. So lets all wish Mom a happy 31st birthday tomorrow.

Electric Carts and Target

Friday afternoon Jackie headed back to VT after moms doctors appointment. Mom got the gigantic splint removed and got a regular cast put on. Dad is going to miss the mother of all casts. That thing was HUGE. The good news is now there is room to sleep in the same bed with mom. So 5 more weeks and mom will trade the new fancy blue cast in for a walking cast! We wonder how ugly that thing is going to be?


Friday night was uneventful as usual. We we have neglected to tell everyone about was that Charlotte is now rolling on her own. Sounds great....but in the end it just means she is even more squirmy and wormy. She also loves to now throw her head back. Dad is doing his best to hang onto her and is ever paranoid that he is going to drop her. Mom still cant carry her so we don't have to worry about her.

Saturday morning the Mom< Dad, and Charlie went for a shopping spree at Target. Ha ha ha. They have these lovely electric carts there for old people etc that mom got to cruise around in. It was pretty funny mom trying to drive an electric cart around target. What was even more funny was when mom got stuck and had to back up....suddenly all you could hear was BEEP BEEP BEEP! Dad and mom almost peed themselves it was so funny. Charlotte did.

So our adventure at Target was fun. It was nice to see mom having some fun again.

The rest of the day mom and Charlotte played in the living room together. Dad was busy doing work around the house....mostly trying to fix the driveway. After 8 wheelbarrows full of dirt and sand he was exhausted and only half done. He will finish the rest during the week. At least he got the lawn mowed.

Sunday dad tried to celebrate mothers day for mom again. This time he made breakfast and a gourmet dinner for her. He was also called into the living room by mom to check Charlotte out. She was sitting up on her own!!!

Soon after she took a nap in her swing. Sideways. Not sure how she didn't fall out but she managed to say in the seat.

After dinner dad also gave Charlotte a bath. This is the 2nd time he gave her a bath on his own. She really loves to drink the dirty soapy water. This is the expression on her face after.

More help has arrived

We forgot to tell you that the beloved Nanny has left the building. We couldn't have managed without her. Thank you Nanny and Grampa of course for letting her stay. She left us on Friday but her adventures didn't end there. On Friday she flew home to NC and then on Sunday had another flight to Long Island to visit Liam. And guess what? She had her debut on TV you may have seen her. Tiff got her tickets to Live with Regis and Kelly and she was in the audience on Tuesday. They tapes two shows so Mom and I watched Tuesday and Wednesday for their faces. They made their appearance on Tuesday. Yes if you had watched every moment of the show you would have seen them for a split second. Nanny was wearing her cool glasses and a black sweater. Did YOU see my Nanny?
Jaci arriced last night. She is mom's cousin..I guess she would be my cousin too. She came to town around 8:40pm with my Uncle Bill, he left though, I guess he didn't want to have to take care of me. No..he has to work mom says. Jaci is going to help mom out with the household duties and to take care of me a bit. Thank you Jaci! And thank you Aunt Becky and Uncle Bill for helping us out and offering to have Jaci come, we appreciate it.

It's still very wet outside but we are still dry inside. Dad must have made a very good dam on the street because it worked. Yeah Dad!

Flood of 2006

Thursday May 11th Rain.
Friday May 12th Rain.
Saturday May 13th Heavier Rain.
Sunday May 14th More Rain.
Monday May 15th Rain.
Tuesday May 16th (TBD but it looks like rain)








Dad spent 8 hours on Saturday hooking up cable in the livingroom/crippled bedroom. It was not easy. Plaster walls, tin ceiling, etc. etc. Mom was pissed. To make a long involved story short he finally hooked it up but mom is still mad. Saturday night dad went to Lowes to buy another sump pump. His other one burned out from running non stop due to the rain.

Sunday MOTHERS DAY!! Mom had such a great day. No breakfast ready for her, no special treatment, just dad working outside trying to prevent the house from flooding by building a dam with the neighbor. We called the police and closed our road. Seems the stream down the street that usually drains was clogged due to another neighbor plowing snow and sand into it all winter. Now the stream was coming down the street to our driveway, the dumping down the driveway into the backyard. Not good. It ended up washing a 3ft deep gulley in the driveway and turned our backyard into a pond until the dam was built. It got so bad the town called in a backhoe to open up the drain...unfortunately it fell low on the priority list and it never made it.

The river near our house is almost over the banks. Dad was up every two hours on Sunday night to watch it to make sure it was not overflowing. Mom and Dad had an evacuation plan in place to go to Paul and Jena's house in Bedford until we found out the road there no longer exists...it was washed away. Oh and all the roads but one into and out of town are closed too. So much fun.

The Mother of all Casts

Today was surgery day. We all arrived at the hospital on time at 10:30. Charlotte, Dad, Mom, and Nanny. 5 bottles of breastmilk were stored away frozen in the diaper bag. We had toys for Charlotte. We had diapers. We had blankets and everything and anything else we could or would need. Surgery was scheduled for 12:45. Two hours later the doctor would be done, an hour after that we would be leaving the hospital heading home....if all goes well we would be home by 4:30. At least that what we thought.

The hospital was a madhouse. The "surgery waiting room" was packed. After Shelby was prepped we found out the woman next to her was being operated on by the same doctor. Her surgery was scheduled for 11:45 am. By now it was 12:45. Needless to say a hospital is exactly like an airport. One delay just bumps everyone else. The hospital was like Logan Airport during a snowstorm....at Thanksgiving. Nurses running around looking for spots to stick patients, waiting for patients to come out of the OR and doing their best to shuffle around each other. Around 3pm they were finally ready for Shelby. Charlotte at this point had already had a bottle, had taken one nap, and had done an amazing job being confined to her stroller for four and a half hours. Not to mention we think she was the highlight of all of the nurses in the prep area. I would imagine they don't see too many 5 month olds there.

Nanny was busy trying to put Charlotte to sleep by giving her a joy ride in her stroller around the halls when they came to take Shelby to surgery. Her IV was in, Johnny was on, and she was ready to go. They came out to talk to us about the surgery and suddenly Shelby said..."Did you just give me something in my IV?" They said yes. It was valium or some other drug that hit mom like a ton of bricks. She started laughing and smiling and telling the doctors how she was "ready to go to the party with this shit". They told her "oh yes, you are going to a party all right" and that was the last I heard or saw of my wife until the surgery was over. At least she left smiling. :)

Dad and Nanny took Charlotte down to the cafeteria to finally grab some lunch. Unfortunately they found out it was Hospital week which must be a big deal at the hospital since the cafeteria was closed. Figures, it was suposed to be open from 7am to 7pm and we picked the one day it was closed. However we were told to come back at 4pm for a free meal. Yeah. Instead Dad at lunch at Dunkin Donuts the only place open.

Nanny, Charlotte, and Dad decided to hit the Spa at the hospital while mom was in surgery. It sounded like a great idea, Nanny could get her haircut, dad could get a massage. Unfortunately the haircut person was not in so we scrapped that idea. Good thing since Charlotte was waking up from her nap and was not too happy.

We headed back to the waiting room. It was now almost 4pm time for Nanny to watch Dr. Phil. There was a 10 year old kid in there with his family and he had the television remote and the channel was set to some stupid cowboy show. Nanny and dad were not happy. He wasn't even watching it. Just as Nanny was about to go rip the remote out of his hands the family was called out of the room. Nanny grabbed the remote and finally took control of the television. She had a VERY big smile on her face, she now got to watch her show.

Charlotte this whole time was awesome. She had some fussy moments, but in general she was looking around at all the people gooing over her. And there were a LOT of people who were gooing over her.

After Dr. Phil was over Nanny started looking for outdated magazines to "borrow". I think she ended up with a People magazine from January 2004. And a few torn out pictures from one of the Gardening magazines. Dad, Nanny, and Charlotte then went down to the cafeteria to celebrate Hospital Week by having a free meal. Everyone else in the hospital wanted a free meal too. We didnt wait in line for too long but soon after getting in line dad realized he could not hold Charlotte and carry a meal tray. He had to put Charlotte back in her stroller and strap her in. One of the cafeteria workers tried to push past him nearly knocking Charlotte out of his arms as he was trying to strap her in. He swore a little at her and decided it wasn't worth making a big scene. Regardless she was an impatient bitch.

As soon as dad got his food the doctor called his cell phone and mom's surgery was done!!! Dad met with the doc and he showed him the pictures of the screws in her foot. He was quick to point out there were only two and he had to use washers with them (not sure why but he did). He said he could have used three but that two was going to stabilize her foot just fine. In 4 months or so he will take the screws out and once the incision heals she will be back to normal!

After another hour or so mom was out of recovery and Charlotte was able to finally see her. Her face lit up seeing mom. She was also amazed with the size of mom's cast on her foot. The doc had warned her it would be huge. It sure was.

The way we like it.

Nice Shot of Mom's fashion cast...black.


Uneventful. Just the way we like it. Saturday we spent the day doing things around the house. Dad moved the bed from downstairs onto the first floor for mom's upcoming "vacation at home". We figure after surgery mom is not going to want to try and make it up the stairs. So dad installed some blinds and got the room ready. Charlotte will be camping out in her pack-and-play in the dining room to be close by. Surgery is scheduled for Thursday so we still have a few more days to prep the house. Not only will it be baby friendly but crutches friendly as well. We should have bought a one floor ranch.

Sunday morning Paul and Jena came over and we all went to the Fireman's Breakfast. We love the breakfast. $6 for all you can eat. Plus its only a 30 second walk for us....ok, today it took a little longer becuase of the one foot wonder but it is still close. The rest of the day dad finished installing the blinds, mowed the lawn, fertizled the lawn, put lime on the lawn, went to the grocery store, helped bathe Charlotte, and just did more stuff around the house. Nanny and Shelby were busy keeping Charlotte occupied. Thank God we have the help...Dad and Mom could not do it alone. That much is for sure. It's going to be sad to see her go and it's going to be a long hard road to recovery.



Dad Chillin out with Ollie

Do you really want to know?

Mom and dad went to the appointment today and the news isn't good. Yes Shelby needs surgery. According to the doc it is a textbook case of a Lisfank fracture. He was pretty excited about it. We were not so excited. He gets to teach his assistant all about it. I guess if your job is to deal with feet all day, seeing something like this is much better than dealing with bunions and smelly feet.

So the surgery will last two hours. Mom will get three screws in her foot. She hopefully will be able to go home the same day. He is also hoping to do a minimally invasive surgery (not have to slice her foot open). But it all depends on how it goes.

After the surgery Mom has to keep off her feet at least 6 weeks. After that they will put her in a walking cast for who knows how long. 6 -8 months later she will go through it all again when they take the screws out. Its back into surgery, back to a cast, back to a walking cast...then she is done. It's going to be a long year.

Mom goes in this Thursday for the surgery. Dad is going to tie ribbons and a note around the foot to make sure the docs work on the right one. He already questioned the doctor with how many of these surgeries he has done and he said one a month. Lets hope it all goes well. Now that mom will be getting screws put into her...when she does something loopy Dad can really say Shelby you have some Screws loose!!

Haaaa...not funny.





See below:
Ty Law had this injury if you know who he is.
The Lisfranc injury is an injury to one of the small joints of the midfoot. The injury occurs when there is a dislocation or fracture and dislocation between the forefoot and midfoot joints.

Today.....

Mom has a doctors appointment today at 3pm with the Orthopedic surgeon to read her CT scan. We will find out her fate. We are hoping they just take off her cast and she walks out of the office with a bone bruise. Our fears are that it could be torn ligaments or the lisfranc fracture. Keep your fingers crossed for the bone bruise as she will then have a speedy recovery.
Check back tomorrow for the results...and please keep your fingers crossed.

The good, the bad, the ugly

So Mom went to the Orthopedist today....what kind of news do you want to here? Good, bad, ugly?

The good news is it isn't broken.

The bad news is she may need surgery, she will find out more after her CT scan which will take place hopefully by Thursday. Ever heard of a Lisfranc injury? that is what she might have. She is going to need screws in her foot if the CT scan isn't PERFECT the doctor said.
If the CT scan is perfect then she will just have to let it heal and it shouldn't take too long......hopefully.

The ugly news..well there really isn't any ugly news. I guess mom would say that the ugly news is that dad thinks I am going to daycare if mom has to have surgery. I refuse to go and I know mom will as well.

As far as I go I cut my first tooth today! I guess that is why I have been a bit more grumpy than usual. You can hardly see it but I can feel it. It's a very small hard dot of white coming through my gum. When it really shows I will have mom or dad take a picture because I am sure I will look very cute with teeth. I don't think mom is looking forward to teeth :( can you say ouch?

tata for now

I will keep you posted when we know more about mom.

The Savior

Nanny arrived today around 3pm to help out mom. By the time dad got home the dishes were put away and the kitchen was cleaned. Mom was resting comfortably on her duff, foot elevated and iced. Charlotte was ready for bed. Oliver and Abigail had worn themselves out. Dad even had enough "free time" to update the blog. Thank you Nanny. Thank you.

Mom needs to see the orthopedist tomorrow....Doctor Wang. It's the same doc that fixed her finger...which turned out pretty damn good considering the mess it was in. We can't wait to see what he can do with her foot! We are also taking wagers to see what body part is next for mom. I have a feeling it will be her elbow. Twenty bucks...any takers?

Nanny goes back on Friday. Mom won't be walking by Friday. If anyone wants to come help out next week please let us know. We will need it. Dad was even thinking about finding a day-care for a couple of days to make life a little easier. We know he is dreaming.