I am alive and well...and cast-free!!

I know that all of you avid readers are very disappointed that my mom has not updated our blog...but I am here to let you know that life with a cast is over! It was quite an adventure...as you will see.

This is me the day after I got my cast on. The drugs were amazing!

I had to focus on other things...so I got creative with my hair and figured out it could fit in a ponytail right on top of my head!

Thank goodness the hospital sent me home with so many pillows because I had to use them all the time. I was situated neither sitting up nor laying down... but I got used to it.

My friend Eden could not let me have all of the pink cast fun...so she burned her hand on the fireplace and joined the pink cast fan club. (I don't recommend it.)

The hospital also gave me this ghetto fabulous car seat because my legs were casted too wide to fit into any normal car seat. I loved this because my mom had to take me out to get anything done...like grocery shopping. She would either carry me, or lay me in the bottom of the cart to gnaw on anything that got within reach.

Bedtime! You see? More pillows always do the trick...and why is my mom taking pictures of me in bed? It is like she wanted to remember every single thing...weird!
This was the bath routine. On the counter in mom's bathroom as many times a day as possible. Did I mention that my diapers leaked alot inside my cast. Yep. I smelled pretty darn nasty by week two...and I was only less than half way done. I waited until half way into week three to get poop on the inside of my cast. I thought mom was going to lose it.
But the day finally came to get my cast off...and we were all kind of attached. Check out my mom holding me by my bar. I think she thought that was pretty convenient.
And here is my handsome dad bidding farewell to my pink legs. Did I mention I also had an ear infection this day? Lovely!!

Me on the car ride up to primary Children's Hospital thinking..."Such a shame I have to give this car seat back...it matches my eyes so nicely."
No one told me the saw would be so loud...I kind of grew fond of my cast and did not want it to leave. I would no longer have that hot pink accent to go with every outfit.
Inside my cast. Yes that yellow cotton used to be white...and I got the back of my cast a whole lot better than that...thank you very much.
Chicken legs...I did not even know they were my own, and I certainly did not know how to use them. I am starting to figure it out now. I can scoot around again...but am still working on my crawl on all fours. Sitting up was a little challenge...but I have it down pat now.This is me on my first Sunday cast less...and I have had a full and complete bath. I was real happy I did not grow out of these shoes...I might have that hot pink accent with every outfit after all.
Oh, and I forgot to tell you...Happy St. Patty's Day! I celebrated in true style!
Thanks for loving me and praying for me. I love you all too! I better go--I think my mom is waking up from her nap. Can you believe she needs one of those every day?

Step by Step...

So, we've had a few very eventful few days, and thought we'd fill you all in. On Sunday we were getting ready to go to Whit's parent's house to watch the Super Bowl. Whitney was downstairs and I was coming down the stairs with Nina in my arms when I slipped and we both fell down a few steps. Nina seemed alright at first, and we gently moved all of her joints to make sure she was fine. She cried but didn't flinch so we strapped her in her car seat and headed off to the Wheadons to watch the game. She was calm the whole way, but once we got there and took her out she was acting a little strange. She was crying a lot and not moving, which is very strange if you know her personality. So, we decided to take her into the emergency room only 5 minutes after arriving.

Once we were at the ER, Whitney decided to feel Nina's joints once more. We noticed that every time that we touched Nina's left leg, her entire body would jump. The doctor came in, expressed concern with the leg, and ordered an X-ray. We gently brought her over to get examined, and the X-ray technician took over. Once the first image was taken, the technician came out and asked us what happened. We told her the story and she said "Oh, that makes sense." She told us that she normally likes to take images from 2 angles, but she didn't want to move Nina. We asked her is she was seeing anything, and her eyes grew very large as she slowly shook her head yes. That didn't make us feel too comfortable, and so I asked if her femur was broken. She told me shook her head yes, but told me that she wasn't allowed to diagnose anything. She told me and Whitney to come over to see the image on the monitor, and this is what we saw...

As you can see, Nina's femur is completely severed. The technician at the ER put on a splint and an ace bandage which was meant to immobilize her leg. The sent us home with Lortab and the splint, with instructions to call an orthopedic surgeon to schedule an appointment for a cast. As you can see from the picture below, the splint did not do too much to relieve Nina from her pain. (I HATE this picture because she looks so sad...)

We had Nina sleep in our room on Sunday night, and she woke up more than a few times due to the pain. She has always flinched in her sleep, which was causing her tons of pain since the splint was not really immobilizing her leg. We didn't really feel like letting the leg sit in the splint for 3 days was a good idea, so we called up to Primary Children's Hospital. They told us they wanted to see her that afternoon, so we packed her in the car and drove up to Salt Lake. Nina had a great experience there... they even put her in a wagon instead of a hospital bed!

Here Nina is off with the Anaesthesiologist. They put her under so they could more easily fit her with her cast. The fitted her with a Spica cast, and of course Whitney insisted that she got a bright pink cast. As you can see from the pictures below, a Spica cast goes from the mid stomach all the way down both legs, and it has a bar in between the legs to completely immobilize her lower body.

And here Nina is with her brand new cast. She still is a little under the anaesthesia...

waking up...

There is a hole in the bottom of the cast for a diaper, and the nurses were nice enough to put moleskin on all of the edges to save Nina's bum from any cuts or rashes.

After a long day at the hospital, no one was more ready to go home than Nina. Look at her face... you can almost hear her saying "Seriously... did that REALLY just happen? Am I REALLY wearing a pink cast on my entire lower body??"

My favorite part about this next picture is the hospital tag that the doctor put on the crossbar.

The doctor is going to bring Nina back in early next week to ensure that the bone is still correctly set. He's saying the cast could be on for 4-6 weeks, but that she will be completely fine. Thank heavens for good doctors. As you all can probably imagine, we were complete wrecks when they told us what happened. Although she won't be able to continue crawling and scooting around the house, we're so grateful that she is going to be OK. The moment we got her home last night she started being herself again, and her happy personality started to come back. Today she has been so happy and even playful even with her big cast. It's probably mainly from the drugs, but hey... with a broken femur we'll take the happy moments however they come.

So, that's what has been going on the past few days in our world. I know the pink cast looks stylish, but PLEASE... be careful with your kids on the stairs. The emotional pain you feel is NOT worth it. We're just so relieved that she is going to be just fine, and even with a Spica cast... isn't she cute?

And this little piggy...

So it has been a really long time since I (Bill) posted anything on the old family blog, so I thought now would be a great time. To start off, I thought I'd throw in a little video clip of Nina playing with her new toy that Grandma De Groot gave her for christmas... she really loves this thing! (I'm not sure why the quality of this movie is so bad, or why it is posting an image of the video below the video...)

A lot has happened around here lately, and time just seems to fly by faster and faster. It seems like yesterday that I was shocked how it was starting to get cold and that Halloween was just around the corner. Now it is the end of January and hopefully things will start to warm up a little more. I am able to see our entire driveway as of just the other day, so that's a step in the right direction, right? One of the main changes around here is that our beloved Groven (our 1993 Honda Accord) has passed on to another owner. In December we took it in for the safety and emissions inspections. The emissions inspection passed with flying colors, but the safety inspection... not so much. The repairs (including the labor cost) were more than I was willing to spend on a car with over 200k miles, so we posted it on KSL Classifieds (fully disclosing the repairs needed), and it was gone the next afternoon. Grovester was a great car for us. It was our first car as a married couple and it got us through college, and then some. Farewell Groven... and thanks for the ride!

A few weeks ago we took Nina to Cabela's to check out the animals, and judging by her expression below, I think she liked it. Nothing like a free outing to Cabela's for fun! I'm just glad that big old polar bear didn't get to her or whit....

Now that Nina is crawling around and becoming more responsive, we decided to start the baby signing time DVDs. We have 2 different DVDs, both of which teach kids basic sign language words so they can communicate what they want before they can talk. They have really catchy songs to teach the kids, and regrettably, Whit and I can sing the words to almost every song. As you can see below, Nina is completely content with just sitting on the floor and learning her signs.

Peas Please!

The very full aftermath! Great food leads to a fairly good nights sleep. (Fairly being the key word. It looks like I could use a good nights sleep in this picture.)

The Holidays are Here!

My New friend Jordan and I went to the Twilight Premiere. That's right! These two moms out at midnight...and dads in charge of 2am feedings. Love that! And Check out the cool Tees we made! (I did not know billy had my face in this picture.)Billy hanging Christmas lights...He was a little nervous on the low roof...

...So I went up to the high one. It was quite fun. I was striking this pose to show just how fun it was!

And the Finished Product...Happy Holidays!
Nina in her cute new Sunday dress.

More cute Nina before her four month check-up.
And Thanksgiving Nina. I never tire of these adorable gigantic flowers!

Nina and Lia at Grandma's house on Thanksgiving.
The stuffed Turkeys
Holiday pedicures for all!
And last but not least...me in my PJ's watching "The Biggest Loser." Yes we are addicted and this week they did make-overs and revealed them at the Tyra Banks Show. Well it showed the studio audience...and there was my gorgeous friend Rachael! Doesn't she look like a movie star?! I should have known that only Rachael would be seen at a Tyra Banks show! Love that gal! Billy thinks the camera man choose to film her because of her pregnancy glow. I choose to think that is was because of her association with me! :) Ha!

Spit-tastic!

Sod, Trees and Halloween!!

Trick or Treat!!

I think this is the greatest picture ever...but lets not get out of order...here is our last month:

Billy and Nina on our lawn...

...or at least the corner we got installed by ourselves.
Nina and I looking ahead at all the work to be done the next morningNina on her grass throne.

And here comes all of the help the next morning...

Michael and Tricia,Janelle,

Noah (what would we have done without our orange eater),

Mom and Dad De Groot...and that is not all...I didn't get pictures of Mom Wheadon, Maddie (the babysitters), Keri and Lia, Jake and Mandy, Ava....Thank you all! You made the work go so fast!

Billy fussing over the sod in our backyard that seems to go on forever.
And then if we didn't have enough projects going we decided to plant trees!

This was about a 3 day project...but it will pay off in the long run!
Nina especially loved planting trees in the cold. I love this starfish/teletubie jumpsuit!
And now...HALLOWEEN!!!
Presenting our Parrot...and pirate family!

Billy and Nina won the costume contest at work for the "cuteset costume." Don't you love this face?