Update on the boys

Well, since that includes me, I'll make it brief on my end... I'm graduating/walking for my graduation on Thursday and Friday :-D. Masters in Computer Science, wahoo!

Camden...

Has some new favorite toys...

He rides his tricycle everywhere and loves to build train tracks with his train set from IKEA. Thomas and McQueen are still his top two favorite toys though.

The doctor said it was time, so it was time - Camden has gone binky-less. We cut the rubber end of all his pacifiers and told him they were broken. He was pretty heartbroken. He stopped asking for them almost immediately though (success!), but without a binky to help him fall asleep for naps or when he'd wake up at night it was a rough week of transition.

Xan...

After wearing a cast for 3 weeks following his surgery Xan graduated from casts and was fitted for the "dobbs" bar and boots system. We took pictures of all the casts (minus at least 3 we weren't able to grab) as a memento.

So, as you can tell, Xan is ok with his boots at various points in the day, and can be his normal happy self. Unfortunately, it's really hard to see him in pain - which he is very obviously in pain for much of the day. Here's why... Fresh out of the cast, his incision from the surgery still wasn't quite healed:

The boots have to be put on tight (very tight), otherwise in all the baby's movements, he'll get blisters. We followed orders to the T even though it meant a lot of hard work and enduring the crying and struggling each time we put the boots on. Sadly the result was still a blood blister (likely due to the amount of pressure put onto the heel) right around the incision:

Which eventually opened up:

And after opening up and draining out, rather than healing, things got a bit worse. Over the weekend the blister area started to discolor and form puss. We thought the blister had become infected despite the neosporin we faithfully applied.

However, when Alene took him in to the doctor today it was diagnosed as a pressure ulcer. Unfortunately an ulcer like this is not treatable by antibiotics - which would have been tame compared to the treatment he will likely have to go through.... debridement. Debridement is where they'll scrape off the dieing tissue and clean the wound. Not fun.

We've been referred to the wound clinic at Primary Children's to get that done after getting a second look at the wound by our Surgeon Dr. Stotts. For the meantime, Dr. Stotts is letting us keep Xan out of the braces to relieve the pressure. We're just hoping we don't lose too much progress and that Xan's wound will heal swiftly.

Our poor little Xan... It's tough to see him have so much pain as such a little guy. A sweet, happy little guy - like he is - doesn't deserve this kind of trial. Probably for that very reason, he is able to endure it so well.

Kelv loves Leo.

Oh wait... I might have stated the direction of that affection backwards...

Can you spot the cat? How did he get up there?

He's also been spotted sitting on top of our closet doors!

That cat has some serious hops!

Keep your eye out for a couple posts to come... Camden's Tumbling Tots and Xan's New Braces!(The later future post has resulted in an incredibly difficult week. Hence why it's not up yet.)

Leo

I am not a cat person.

Well, I guess I could be if have to be :-P

I knew we'd get one eventually, but it all came sooner and faster than I ever expected it to. Alene's been talking about wanting one for quite sometime now. The event that really pushed the initial domino over happened on a rainy Wednesday night.

Alene and I were home, the boys were in bed and we were getting ready to watch a movie. Before we picked out the movie, we heard a crying sound outside. Opening the door, only a crack, I could see the inevitable fate of owning a cat even more imminent, real, and knocking at my door.

With a bit of investigation, we found the owners of this tag-less feline (in our ward) and I gladly returned him to his owner. Alene enjoyed the hour of cat we had that night. I thought I'd have some time before a mischievous cat joined our family, but, alas, the dominoes had begun to fall...

I thought our tight finances would save me from having to give in to the pleas of my wife. However, a few days later, we mapped out the costs of getting and owning a cat. A bit of up front cost - but fairly manageable with some of the options we found online (cats that had vaccinations already completed, etc). Monthly costs would be very do-able (less than $10/month).

In the process, Alene found a cat, a litter box, and a bed on ksl.com all for incredible deals. We set out on Friday last week to round up all the supplies and the kitty himself. Seeing "1 year old cat" on the description made us think we'd get a small, fun little kitten. However, getting there, we immediately realized he must be on the latter end of 1 year old. He's a loooong and skinny kitty. A beautiful cat with a kind and loving personality.

Without further ado: Leo!

At the shelter, Camden was much more excited about all the puppies, but fortunately did share some of his excitement with Leo ("Jingles" at the time).

Leo was a bit skiddish from the get go...

He was even more skiddish and terrified of Camden when we got home. He literally spent about 98% of his first 24 hours in our home hiding under either our bathroom vanity or bed.

Screeching, squealing and screaming aside, Camden did very well with Leo, he was very soft and sweet to the new kitty (he's using the brush to pet him in this one).

Although Leo hasn't warmed up to an over-excited Camden yet (he hides and sleeps while our kids are awake), he has definitely grown to like Alene and I - and has begun to show more of his playful nature :-D. He spent most of last night running around exploring the house and jumping on the bed to nuzzle our faces as we slept.

Saturday night when he finally ventured out from his refuge (our bed) of his own accord, we were so pleased with the new development that we took the following video (shortened for your convenience):

Surgery

So Xan had his surgery today at Primary Children's. They clipped his Achilles Tendon again (tendonotomy) and also opened up his ankle joint capsule to try and get his foot up to a normal position vertically. My mom was so wonderful and came up to Primary's with me since Kelv had to work. It was so nice to have her support especially recognizing the sacrifice of time she was making! (She works for an accountant and we're thick in tax season!)

The surgery went REALLY well except for the fact that they couldn't pull the skin closed around his incision because of how vertically they pulled the foot. They stitched the incision closed as close as they could and and then we'll go back in next week and try and suture it all the way closed after giving the skin a week to stretch and heel. We unfortunately (and fortunately for the pain aspect) have to put him under again for the procedure which means the whole surgery process again. I'm just hopeful that since it will be a much faster procedure, recovery will also be much faster.

Xan had a pretty hard time recovering from the surgery. No one likes what anesthesia does to your body. It took about an hour of snuggle time before Xan was ready to try and eat, but he held it down great once we were able to get going.

He's had a rough day, but the liquid lortab, Baby Einsteins, and Mommy near by has seemed to help. We so appreciate all your prayers, thoughts, and fasts for Xan. Thank you!

And overall, we are so happy with how things are turning out and love our little boy so much! Here's a picture of Camden showing how happy we are!

And just as a quick side note and excuse to post this adorable picture...we also bought ANOTHER stroller this week (we now have 6!) We realized that we can't fit any of our current double strollers in our trunk if we need to also take luggage (aka. trips to Boise) so we got a compact unbrella stroller. This will be great for the trips!

Vote for Xan!

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Pics & Surgery Update

Camden turned 2 on February 18th. Much to Alene's chagrin, she planned a spectacular birthday for him - which still turned out to be awesome for him - but, unfortunately, Camden acted very age appropriate on that day (if you catch my drift...). Camden got a pre-celebration on Sunday with the Duersch family, hence the cool cupcakes. Then, on Friday, we had a surprise celebration with the marshmallow fondant cake fully equipped with Lightening McQueen, Doc and Willey's Butte.

Xan is a way cute kiddo and puts up with his older brother quite well. He's an amazingly chill baby - such a blessing! Casting has been pronounced insufficient for correcting Xan's extremely resistant club foot yet again by our second doctor, Dr. Stotts. The surgery is scheduled for Wednesday (3/9). During the surgery, he'll be completely sedated, his Achilles tendon will be severed and the ankle joint will be opened up to allow maximum stretching and movement towards the slightly over-corrected position the doctor will be aiming for. Afterward, it will be one 3-week cast, 2-3 months of 23/7 boots-on-a-bar, and then 2-3 year of nap/night time boots-on-a-bar. If all goes well, his foot should be fully functional and capable for nearly anything Xan can set his sights on. The only slight side effects, should only include things like smaller muscle development on the left leg, and the entire left foot being at least a shoe size or two smaller than the right foot. We're hopeful things will turn out just fine, but things have been slower and more complicated than originally thought, so any prayers and thoughts (especially this Fast Sunday with the surgery coming on Wednesday) would be appreciated.

Thanks all!

Happy Valentine's Day!