The Turning Wheels of the Stockton Family

OUR BLOG HAS MOVED!!  If you were one of the few who slipped through the cracks and didn’t receive an email with the new information, please email me at:  Num1Mom07@gmail.com  and I will send you the log in information.

We hope you all will continue to keep up with the blog and keep checking in on the family.  We love you all.

The past several weeks have been packed.  Between family visits, potty training, fevers, and upset tummies we have hardly had time to breathe.  Things have slowly gotten back to normal for the boys and me, but Andrew has a rough week ahead of him.  Please pray that he will do well on his finals and projects for this final semester.  If we can just survive these next 7 days, the past 15 months will pay off, and he will graduate May 11th!  I must work extra hard this week to keep the boys out of the living room to give Daddy the study time he needs.  Mitchell seems to understand, but Jacob just wants to be close to his Daddy, so it’s hard to explain to him that he needs to leave the room.  He’s such a sweetheart.  He held his own playing with the older cousins when they came to visit a few weeks ago.  He’s definitely a “Bruiser”!  He came down with a fever last week, but I think he was cutting a tooth (rather than catching what big brother had).  Mitchell had the fever first, followed by the trots, then a few days of normal, then another fever came on Saturday.  I must say, the joys of motherhood peak at potty training with loose stools.  Woohoo!  The poor little guy did remarkable, though!  He made it to the potty every time.  I think it is safe to say that Mitchell is potty trained.  He went all day today (including church and nap time) in undies.  I’ll take him to the store to pick out some “cool” undies later this week.  The boys are also particularly excited these days, because Uncle Eric has moved in.  This is our second week with him here and going smooth so far.  My sister, Amy, (his wife) will move in next week.  They will both stay with us until their house in Chesterfield, VA sells.  Eric started his new job last week, but Amy is still searching for one in the area.  Let me know if you know of anything open for an Ag-Econ degree.  We have taken advantage of the beautiful weather and worked in our yard, laying rock and starting flower beds.  We also went for the first bike ride of the season Sunday evening, riding 13 miles around Mooresville Village.  The boys had so much fun in their pull behind trailer and were such good riders, they got ice cream for dinner.  (Seriously!)  (I gave them grill cheese sandwiches and veggies before bed - don’t panic, Moby!)

Another reason I haven’t updated in a while is because our laptop is dying a slow and painful death.  I purchased a new one, but now I’m going through the pains of learning a Mac operating system (or should I say the pains of trying to transfer PC stuff to a Mac).  Eventually, our website address will change to a .mac web address, but I’ll make a posting before then to give everyone the new site.   Bear with me during the transition. . . I know it will be worth it.

Well, we have finally recovered from Spring Break and Easter! The boys had so much fun visiting with family and playing with their cousins! We started the week off up in Nashville with another leg exam at Vanderbilt. . . Good news!! Mitchell’s leg is healing. . . there is a considerable amount of new bone growth!! One side of the bone has fused together and the other side is almost there. . . now we just have to wait for it all to fill in the middle! Dr. Mencio commented that even HE was surprised at how well things were looking. They took Mitchell out of his cast and put him in a light-weight clamshell brace (like he had before). Now, that little boy is FAST!!

We ended the week in Albany, GA visiting Andrew’s family. We all had a lot of fun. Andrew hung a chandelier for his mom and helped his dad work on his boat. I was even able to get in a fun shopping trip with my sister-in-law, Katy. Mitchell and Jacob were in play heaven. They both had a blast playing with their four cousins - they were all inseparable! We attended Easter service at Sherwood Baptist Church, where Mark (Katy’s husband) is music minister. Katy sang a beautiful solo, and we were able to see a lot of the people who have been praying for our precious Mitchell. We were even privileged enough to see a sneak peak of Sherwood’s new movie (you’ve done a great job on it, Mark!). After two weeks of explaining to the boys that the tan minivan across the street is NOT Aunt Katy’s and they won’t get to play with their cousins for another week, we have finally recovered from our travels.

We have stayed shut in a little bit since arriving home, but not because of something being wrong. Just the opposite actually. . . Mitchell apparently decided that he was ready to be a full time potty user (thanks John Mark and Rebekah), so we’ve been sticking close to home to keep him interested in potty training. He’s doing so well!!

To see more pictures from Easter and our trip, please go to the following link (copy it and paste it in your browser address bar): http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q95/Stockton_Family/Easter%202008/        (I suggest you take a look. . . we got some pretty cute pics.)

Of course, it wasn’t as much as the weatherman predicted, nor did it last very long, but it did indeed snow yesterday!!  We bundled up the boys and let them go play. . . they only lasted 30 minutes outside before meltdowns began (and I don’t mean the snow).  However, during that 30 minutes, they had fun!  Here are some pictures.

Jacob didn’t quite know what to think about the snow.  It made it hard to walk and it froze his fingers when he tripped and fell.  I ended up carrying him most of the time.  Mitchell, however, loved the snow!  He and Andrew built a sorry excuse for a snowman in the snow on the back deck.  When Jacob saw it, he pointed and said “Baby!”  I think the funniest part of the adventure was getting Mitchell ready to go outside.  I wish I had taken a picture of it. . . we had to wrap his cast so it wouldn’t get wet, so picture a 2 year old squirming with anticipation while mommy and daddy put a bread bag over his cast, then one of daddy’s socks, then his little cast boot.  The straps on the boot hardly met to fasten.  That’s not to mention that both boys had on 2 pair of pants and 2 shirts under jackets.  (Jacob could hardly move!)  After it was all said and done, it seemed like a lot of work for only 30 minutes outside. . . oh well.  Lesson learned! But I’m sure we’ll do it again this time next year with the excitement of our annual snowfall.

For everyone who tried to get in contact with us over the past few days, my apologies. . . we were out of town. My grandmother passed away Feb. 28. She lived to be an amazing 102 (and a half as she would say) years old. We were blessed with many, many years with her, so we are all doing okay with our loss. We gathered together Monday, March 3rd, to celebrate her life. Thank you to everyone who sent condolences, thoughts, and prayers.

On a lighter note. . . Jacob had his 15 month well check yesterday. He received a glowing report. He is 90th percentile for weight and height coming in at 27 lbs. 8 oz. and 32 3/4 inches! We just grow big babies, what can I say. For all of you who have commented on his vocabulary these days, you will be glad to know that he ranked in the 24 month old skills in that area! We are quite proud.

Mitchell has been running around like a wild man! His knee and thigh muscles must be feeling better, because there’s hardly any stopping him these days. He still limps a little bit when he gets tired, but overall he is doing great! Both boys really enjoyed themselves while hanging out with Grandmother, Doc, Aunt Maggie, Aunt Amy, and Uncle Eric. The following link will hopefully take you to a slide show of some pictures we took while out of town.

http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q95/Stockton_Family/Funeral%20Week/?action=view&current=c8d75b31.pbw

Mitchell returned to Vanderbilt today for his six week post-op exam. The surgeon, Dr. Mencio, was there and gave us very good news. Mitchell’s x-rays show healing!! And a lot of it!! There was a significant amount of bone growth around the graft! He was measured for a leg brace (clam shell, like what he had before) and was put in a short leg cast for the next 4 weeks. The cast still cups around the front part of his knee to control some rotation, but he still has movement of his knee again. Since his leg has basically been immobile (even though he hasn’t) for 6 weeks, his knee and leg are weak. Once he gets rested, he’ll have to learn to walk regularly again. But I have no doubt that that won’t take long, and he’ll be faster than ever!

At 14-months old, Jacob is walking! He’s still wobbly, but every day he gets better and better. He thinks it’s the funnest game ever!! Here’s a link for a quick video:

http://s134.photobucket.com/albums/q95/Stockton_Family/Fall%20Winter%202007/Winter%2008/

Want more??  Try the other two videos on the same page.

Wednesday morning, bright and early, we went back to Vanderbilt for Mitchell’s 3 week post-op visit.  The doctors said everything looked good.  The bone has remained aligned the way they placed it and his incisions were healing nicely.  We were very encouraged and relieved to hear that the bone was already showing signs of healing!!  (The hardest part will come when it tries to connect in the middle to bridge the gap.)  They are continuing to proceed with caution and treat it as worst case scenario (i.e. the bone will not heal itself); however, the pathology reports from surgery came back leaning more towards Osteofibrous Dysplasia (the condition that WILL heal itself)!!  Mitchell received another full leg cast, which has yet to slow him down any.  He is walking with less of a limp in a full leg cast than he did before the surgery.  He is no longer on any medication and is back to his old ways.  He will occasionally complain about his leg hurting, but through many hours of observation and many rounds of 20 questions, we have deduced that the complaints come from his leg ITCHING rather than hurting.

Wednesday after his appointment, Andrew and I took Mitchell to Pancake Pantry to celebrate the good news of healing, where he proceeded to eat an entire plate of pancakes, some bacon, and some sausage!  Thursday morning he got another treat when our friend, Chris, stopped by in full uniform and let Mitchell “drive” the woo woo!  Instant ear to ear grin!!

He’s walking, ladies and gentlemen!  Against doctors’ wishes (and parents’ pleas), Mitchell began walking around the house 2 days ago.  It’s amazing how fast little kids can adapt!  Needless to say, his leg feels better.  He still complains about it every now and then, to which we reply:  “Stop walking on it!!”  But what can we do. . . he’s a 2 year old little boy. . . scold him, duct tape him to a chair, take him off his Tylenol??!!  Actually, that’s what we did. . . the Tylenol that is, not the other.  Yesterday, Mitchell tried a “special” blend of medicine (strawberry syrup and water), and it didn’t phase him one bit!!  He ran around just as much yesterday as he did the day before.  We believe his leg still hurts and aches, but we pray it’s nothing like it was before the surgery.  When he starts complaining about pain, we tell him to go sit in his chair with it propped up for a little while to help it feel better.  For the time being, he is content to do this (as long as Tom & Jerry or Mickey Mouse is on the tube).  Next week, it’s going to be Operation:  Wean Mitchell Off of TV!

As those of you who have come to visit over the past 2 days have seen, Mitchell is pretty much back to his usual self!!  My days of being “referee” have returned.  Jacob’s three teeth have almost cut thru, and he is experimenting more with walking.  He still won’t do it on his own, but he has discovered the push walk toy, so now I spend my not-referee-ing time helping him get the “walk-it” unstuck.  Both boys received haircuts this week when my mom came to stay.  I didn’t realize how shaggy-headed they had become (but when did I have time to cut hair, mom?).

Speaking of refereeing, I think my services are needed in the other room.  I will update again next week.  (The picture is Mitchell’s new bath time routine, since he can’t get in the tub with his full leg cast.  He’s not too happy about it, since he doesn’t get to play with all of the new bath toys he received for Christmas.  But the kitchen sink will have to do for now.)

Isn’t it amazing the difference a week can make!  Here’s Mitchell last Friday. . .

And here’s what Mitchell felt like doing today. . .

His leg still hurts (and it starting itching today under the cast), but he took plain Tylenol all day today!!  No prescription pain meds!!  This is helping his appetite return, thank goodness.  And his attitude is slowly adjusting back to normal too.  Thankfully, wonderful friends have kept us fed this week and loving family have helped us survive.  Andrew and I are going it alone this weekend, but maybe we’ll do okay since everyone’s feeling better.  (Except Jacob, who, I just noticed today, is cutting 2, maybe 3, upper teeth!)