New Year's Adventures

We decided to leave the boys at my parents house and head to North Jersey to celebrate New Years. We stayed at Lou's parents house New Year's Eve. We had an AMAZING seafood pasta for dinner then played pool and guitar hero until the ball dropped. I am looking forward to the next time Lou makes his seafood pasta! It really was that amazing!

New Years Day we headed to NYC because we had tickets to see Blue Man Group. The show was not what I expected but it was definitely 2 hours of my life that I enjoyed! We then went to McSorley's Old Ale House which is the oldest running pub in NYC, where women were not allowed in the place until 1970! We were waiting outside to get in the pub and were brought in rather quickly. The barkeep actually kicked the people sitting at the table out so we could sit down! We were sitting there and no one really wanted to order beer but it wasn't an option when the guy came with 2 beers for each of us and sat them on the table!

I think the man was surprised when we settled the bill after the first round.

After we headed to Little Italy to get a bite to eat before heading home. It turned out to be a wonderful holiday.

Photo Journal

I first have to share these pictures. This is how my kids entertained themselves when we went to Washington DC over the holiday break!


Why do boys have to be so gross?

While in DC Chris decided he wanted to make a photo journal of our trip. (Thank you Junie B. Jones) It has turned into more of a scrap book though. He is so excited to take it to school on his special day and share the pictures of the mummy with his class. I figured I would share some of the pictures he is going to use.

We went to the zoo and each person got to pick one animal they wanted to see. Chris picked the zebras, Ryan picked the elephants, I picked the panda bears and Ken picked the monkeys.

We saw the zebras briefly because they didn't want to be outside in the cold weather. Unfortunately the elephants were not on display. The person at the information desk said that they were going to remove all elephants from circuses and zoos and the National Zoo will be the only place to see elephants on display. Therefore, they are creating a suitable habitat for the elephants. Ken settled on the gorilla display instead of the monkeys and I was insistent we see the panda bears since they will be returning to China this year.

We then headed to the Natural History Museum. Chris really wanted to see the mummy and Ryan wanted to see the statue of the elephant they had outside. We must have stayed in the mummy area reading everything we could for about an hour and a half.

After the museum we headed towards the White House. We saw the tree in front and got this neat picture.

The next day was our day to see the monuments. We wanted to make sure we saw the Koren War Memorial since the boy's grandfather died in the war. It was really a neat memorial. On the wall they put every job possible someone could have had in the military during the time. They even had a picture of a working dog!

Another interesting fact is that they wanted to place 32 soldiers in the memorial to represent the 32nd parallel that divides North and South Korea. However their wasn't enough room so they divided the number in half and placed 16 soldiers in the memorial.

We then headed to the Lincoln Memorial. We could have spent hours there. However, the boys and I were tired and wanted to head home.

We walked through the Vietnam War Memorial. Ken would have liked to spend more time there however, we had both been there before so we kept moving.

We left DC about an hour after that and both decided that we needed more time there. We are talking about returning over Chris' spring break.

Surgery

Ken is having surgery tomorrow. He has an abscess on his leg and it needs to be removed. He went to sick call today and they made an appointment for him, which we thought is when he would have it removed. Unfortunately, the doctor did not have the time, so he scheduled Ken to have the surgery tomorrow. They are putting him completely to sleep!

While worrying about getting Ken to his appointment, because it happened all so fast I did not have the time to think about the surgery. However, as the night grows on I am getting nervous.

Wow, was it just two weeks ago that he told me that it was time for me to have surgery again? He informed me that about every two years since we have met that I have had some sort of surgery. However, I guess this time he is going to give me a break and go under the knife.

The Next Adventure in Toe Walking

I took Chris back to see the Neurologist Wednesday morning. It was nice that Ken was able to watch Ryan this time. The doctor performed what I felt was a more thorough exam. I noticed that he spent a lot of time checking Chris's left leg, which is also the tendon that is more tight. He decided to run more tests. Again, I feel like these tests are to cover his butt. However, why not rule them out to prevent any future problems?

So Chris had blood drawn today to rule out muscular dystrophy and congenital myopathy. However, briefly looking up what these diseases are I would be floored if it came back that Chris had one. In my eyes he doesn't have any symptoms of either. So I am pretty sure the doctor just wants to be safe.

The doctor also wrote a prescription for different braces. He wants Chris to have braces that are flexible rather then keeping his foot in one specific position. I talked to Chris's physical therapist and she does not believe that Chris needs braces at all. She said that she would rather see him in night splits. She also asked for me to bring a list of providers that take our insurance so she can help me make a decision to best fit Chris's needs. I trust her more then the doctor because she has been working with Chris since August. She knows Chris way better then the doctor that we have seen one other time 3 months ago.

The doctor also scheduled a MRI to rule out Cerebral Palsy. I also told the physical therapist this and she immediately said that it was a possibility and tried to make me feel better about the situation. However, if it comes back that he does have Cerebral Palsy it doesn't change anything. Chris will still be the same kid. He will still go to school and learn, he will still play soccer this spring, he will still constantly be on the move, he will still play with his friends and he will still be Chris. However, I don't think that he has Cerebral Palsy.

After all these tests are done I think the diagnosis is going to be idiopathic toe walking. I am just keeping my fingers crossed that this toe walking is something that he can overcome because if he chooses to play sports when he is older I don't want him to have any serious heal cord injuries.