Leg cast: Day 20

The countdown is now in the single didgets! Yah! We are getting more anxious than ever and hope this next week goes by fast. It's going to be very busy, so that may help. On a side note, Landon's Auntie Jo Jo fell on Sunday. She broke her humerus (upper arm) into three pieces. She will find out on Thursday wether she needs to have surgery or not. We are going to know the LaCrosse Orthopedic Department far to well....

Who's that little boy in the mirror?

Getting ready to start our day, Landon thought he needed to check himself out in the mirror as well. He wasn't quite sure who was starring back at him?

Leg cast: Day 16

As the days get closer, they seem to be taking longer. Landon's cast is set to come off on July 8th, which still seems like an eternity away. I continue to be amazed how well Landon has adapted to all of these changes. Landon is such a happy little boy and does not get frustrated or upset when he can not do something. I think of how excited he is going to be when everything returns back to normal! We are so fortunate that everything will return to normal!

On Tuesday, Landon started walking. When Landon learned to walk several months ago, he just woke up and started walking. The same happened on Tuesday. Landon woke up and decided he was going to walk. He can now walk fairly well and does not need to hang on to anything. It is really amazing to see. Landon walking makes me and Bernice very nervous, but he is doing so well! I will try to post a video of him walking!

Happy Father's Day!

Yesterday was Father's Day and it was such a nice day. Jer had to share this day with me as it was also our 6th wedding anniversary. We both slept in on Sunday morning because Landon spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Sabelka's. How nice it was to sleep past 5:00 am! Jer spent most of the day relaxing, and we went to my brother and sister-in-laws for supper in the evening. Happy Father's Day to some wonderful Father's!

Signing of the cast...

Making new friends

On Friday evening my friends Mindy and Becky along with their children Hunter, Chase and Lillian came over for pizza. Landon had fun making new friends and especially liked baby Lil. It was hard to get all the kids to look at the camera at the same time!

My sweet Elkeroo

Four years ago today we brought home Ms. Elke. Elke is a purebred German Shepherd who we got from a breeder by Des Moines. We didn't know at the time, but Elke is a long haired German Shepherd. I love her crazy hair! Honestly we couldn't ask for a better dog, our family wouldn't be the same without her. Sometimes she gets a little crazy obsessive about her rope/frisbee/ball, but it's a great form of exercise for her! We love you Elke!

This is one of my favorite pictures. Jon is Jeremy's cousin, and Rosco is his dog. Rosco is about 2 months older than Elke, and they are BEST buds. This was their first time meeting each other!
Elke turned 4 on April 15th.

Leg cast: Day 4

Landon is doing well with his leg cast. In fact, he rarely gets frustrated and is getting around much easier than a week ago. When I was not in the room last evening, Jer said that Landon was able to stand up by himself in the middle of the room. This afternoon, I put his walking boot on over his cast and a shoe on his other foot and Landon was even practicing walking around furniture. After a few minutes Landon was becoming frustrated so we took everything back off. Landon is eating much better now that he can sit in his high chair. That is a relief for me. I have been worried about him losing weight, but he finally seems to be getting his apetite back.

Landon loves to watch the birds at the bird feeder.

Landon found his rain golashes. They are too big for him, but he thought he needed to wear them. Notice how dirty his cast is getting already. Ugh...
Just checking his email!!

18 months old

Landon is 18 months old today. This is Landon's best attempt at saying "cheese." He is at that age where I can not get a decent picture because he makes a funny face and says, "cheeeese." Since Landon is sporting a cast, I thought his tee shirt was some what appropriate for his 18 month pictures. It has a picture of boxing gloves and says, "knockout kid," on it. Gotta love vintage depot tee shirts!

Leg cast update...

As you can see, goodbye spica cast, hello leg cast. It was a tough day, but Landon did an amazing job! I am so proud of Landon and how well he is handling all of these changes. He is such a big boy! The good news is that everything is healing very good. Looking at the xrays, there is a lot of new bone growth. The bad news, the cast will have to be on for 4 weeks instead of 3. Dr. Wintersteen said she felt more comfortable with the cast being on a little longer. She would hate for the cast to come off and the bone not be ready. If Landon were to take a tumble or hurt his leg in anyway, we could be in worse shape than when we started. I also feel so lucky to have gotten by so easy. She said most femur breaks the child ends up in the hospital for 3 weeks for traction and then they wear a spica cast for 6 weeks. I think we can handle what we got with no troubles. They even sent a walking boot home. So far Landon does not seem interested, so we'll try putting it on in again in a couple days. Landon was really wore out this afternoon and slept for 3 1/2 hours, he has spent this evening figuring out how to move around. I'm sure it won't take long! We do not have any further appointments until the cast removal on July 8.

Spica cast: Day 21

After another roouugghh night, Landon managed to wake up in a great mood this morning. Here is a fun video of him laughing. Oh, how it makes me laugh! I hope the rest of the day goes well!

Spica cast: Day 20

I think the ticker on the right is a little off, but it is close. It's reassuring to know that in about 24 hours, Landon will have a little more freedom. On Wednesday, Jeremy and I will be taking Landon to LaCrosse to have his Spica cast taken off and a leg cast put on. This is going to be a difficult day, and I will be glad when the process is over. Landon is currently working on his eye teeth and the last couple days/evenings have been difficult. Landon is waking up at night and can pull himself up. Unfortunately, he is not able to lower himself down and this means Mom and Dad have to go in his room. Landon is becoming increasingly frustrated because he is not able to be mobile. I too hope that changes when they change his leg cast. Wednesday will also mark the half way point. Three weeks in a cast and three weeks left in a cast. I would like to say it has gone by quickly, but it really seems to be dragging...Looking forward to tomorrow!

Landon does not like me dressing him in the mornings, and thinks that he should do it himself. Here are a few pictures of Landon trying to dress himself yesterday morning. He ended up getting a little helf from Mom!

Flood 2008

This past weekend marked the one year anniversary of the major flooding that occured throughout much of Iowa. As you know, the beautiful Turkey river flows through our back yard. It rose very quickly that Sunday and rose higher than we ever imagined it could get. We ended up sandbaging our basement patio door that Sunday evening, luckily the water never touched the sandbags. The Saturday evening before we were sitting in our living room, unaware of what was about to happen. Elke started barking and wanted outside. We saw a HUGE snapping turtle walking across the driveway. When I say huge, it was HUGE, and it was old. I know now that turtle knew what was coming and was seeking higher ground. If I ever see a turtle in my front driveway and they say heavy rains are coming, I know what's about to come. Here are just a few pictures of our backyard that Sunday and Monday. We got by pretty lucky compared to so many other people.

Spica cast: Day 14

What an interesting day....The cast that goes to Landon's knee on his unbroken leg is cracked and has been loose at his hip for several days. I contribute this to Landon moving around more in the last week or so. It was so loose that I wanted to double check with Landon's Dr. to make sure it was ok. After calling LaCrosse and speaking with the nurse a couple times, she informed me that Dr. Wintersteen wanted to double check it right away. It was 9:30 am, and they wanted us there by 11 am, or as soon as possible. Jeremy was really busy at work, but luckily Grandma Merrill was gracious enough to come along. Landon was not excited about this trip to the Dr. and began crying as soon as we got in the elevator at the clinic. Poor thing! I was hoping they would maybe change the cast today instead of next week, but instead they cut the cast off at the hip of the unbroken leg. He was so funny after we left the Dr., he kept moving is leg around, enjoying his new freedom. Since we've been home, he is already trying to walk around furniture and climb on the couch... I would have thought he learned his lesson...We'll be back next week.

Spica cast: Day 12

Landon continues to do so well. He is getting a little frustrated because he is feeling well and wants to be moving around. He gets on his hands and toes and tries to stand up. He also tries to crawl, but gets frustrated when he can't bend his knee. We've still got a long ways to go, but am so excited to get rid of the spica cast and on to the leg cast. That will mark the half way point, and the second half should be easier than the first half. Here is a picture of Landon napping and of his cute little toes!