Cousins

On Saturday, Jared's brother Richard was in town with his boys. They had just hiked the Wonderland Trail (93 miles!) on Mt. Rainier. On their way back to Utah, we got together at Brennan's to have a BBQ. Here's a picture of Katie with the men in her life:



L-R: Jason, Brendon, Dallin, Austin, Steven, Devin, Cameron.

The best part was that after this picture, Jared rushes in from stage right, plows into Devin, and knocks them all over like dominoes. Only Cameron and Katie emerged unscathed.

A little monkey-girl

I blame this on Jared.

Katie pulled herself to standing today! The first time she did it, we were in Othello visiting Dad. She was sitting on his wheelchair, with the transfer board on end, leaning up against the back of the wheelchair. (She was sitting in front of it.) Katie grabbed onto the top handle and the edge of the board and pulled herself up! She was facing the back of the wheelchair, holding on to the transfer board. Then, my little monkey put her foot on the lower handle and climbed it like a ladder! She grabbed on to the IV pole attached to the back of the wheelchair and pulled herself up on that! Then she grabbed a handful of curtain and was going to haul herself up even further, when I rescued her.

I'm not ready for this.

A tree trunk

That's the size of the cast on Dad's leg. The bone graft went very well. They took 120 ccs of bone from the top of his tibia, mixed it with cadaver bone and created a framework at his ankle for more bone to grow on. So, you know, the cast has to be big enough for two.

He has the green light to put weight on the other leg, but the cast is so unwieldy that I think he's going to wait. He has another appointment at Harborview on the 29th to remove the cast and the sutures. Hopefully at that time he'll get the go ahead to put weight on both legs, and away we go!

A Real American Hero

G.I. Joe, get it? Because, ladies and gentlemen, we have an Army crawler! This morning Katie started scooting around on her tummy, elbows and knees. Sometimes, we can even see daylight under that tummy. She still prefers rolling; it's faster. But I imagine she'll soon learn the benefits of being able to see where she's going.

And no, Katie doesn't like playing with her own, brand new, shiny, colorful toys. She would rather play with the dog's leash, lick her daddy's flip flops, or pull books off the bookshelf.

In other news: Dad has his bone graft surgery on Thursday. The beginning of the end...

Eye candy?

My dad has a problem. It's tough being the sexiest guy in the nursing home.

We have teeth!

Well, actually, we have tooth. One of Katie's bottom front teeth is poking through the gums! Today she is seven months old, and the proud owner of a new tooth. Time to get brushing! I'll try to get a picture later; wish me luck.

A bone graft

Dad had an appointment at Harborview yesterday. He first met with the Orthopaedic team who did his surgeries. They are pleased with the healing that has occurred, and with the range of motion he has in his knees and ankles. The broken ankle, though, is going to need a bone graft. There just isn't enough of Dad's own bone left to make a good framework for the new bone to grow. He has an appointment for that procedure on July 17. After that, it sounds like they are going to keep him of it for two weeks, check it again, and then they might let him start putting weight on it. Yay! I know Dad is more than ready to ditch the wheelchair.