11 days early and....

the cast if off!  She was carved out of the beast this morning.... and for the record, I will not miss that thing one bit!  I'm thankful for her dislocated hip because that "booboo" made it possible for her to be our daughter but I will not miss that cast! At all!  So, remember my genius idea to convince the doctor to take that thing off??  Well, it wasn't quite as eloquent as planned.  Derek and I had our talking points mapped out and he was even going to join me at this appointment. Change of plans when Rollins woke up with a terrible stomach bug in the night..... Derek stayed home with him and I went on to the doctor totally wiped out from the night.  As we waited to see the doctor, MS resumed eating her imaginary food buried in my shirt.... and when the doctor walked in I just blubbered..... "I had a master speech planned to tell you why we need this thing off, but now I'm too tired.... plus you are the expert.... but I'm just really really tired of the cast."  He simply looked at the chart and x-ray and replied "yep, let's get her out of it!"  It was as if music were suddenly blasting and I wanted to dance and sing "This is the best day of my life!!!!" and then the music came to a screeching halt when he followed it with "and then we will fit her in her harness."  Huh?  I somehow missed the memo on that one.  So to sum up the morning her cast is off (it was terrifying for her, poor thing).... I will spare you a description of the odor and the skin underneath.... and now she is in a soft harness 24/7.  I am still very thankful and it is much better than the cast but let's just say I had no idea about this thing, so it put a bit of a damper on the excitement.  She seems more fragile in it.  She weighs much less and is easier to hold but I have to be more careful, especially when changing her diaper.  And here is the clincher...... he said to not let her crawl or move around much until we see him in 4 weeks!!  Let me remind you, that this is the child who in a body cast can now climb up and down stairs, onto chairs and walk around the room holding onto things and jump up and down crazily to make tooting noises.... this is the child that needs to now sit still?  I just hope she heard the doctor say that and will obey me when I tell her not to move!  She is actually really sore and doesn't want to move right this minute but I know that will change.  We go back in 4 weeks at which time, I'm hoping the harness will be moved to just bedtime..... I've got to embrace the harness because it will be here for a "good long while" according to the doc.  Love the harness.... deep breath.... love the harness.  As we left the doctor I had one of those fun moments where I thought he was as excited as I was and was moving in for a congratulatory hug.... and while he was excited, when I moved in for the hug I realized perhaps he meant it to be more of a pat on the back.... good thing I didn't move in for a kiss, right?  So one awkward moment later, we head out the door.  As we walk back into the house from rounding up my kids at various places.... I'm carrying MS carefully inside.... Rollins collapses at the threshold of the door, exhausted from the aftermath of this bug.... and Henry promptly sprays bug spray in his eye.... ahhhh.... a day in the life.

(And just to let you know.... by the time I finished typing this, I got MS up from nap.... placed her on the floor where she immediately flipped over and crawled across the room!!  Oh dear.  That happened a little faster than I expected!!  And let me just say she is excessively giddy now.... it is so so obvious that she feels amazingly better and that helps ease my initial reaction to the harness....) 

a few photos from the excitement of the day--

Last photo wearing her body cast!

Let the cutting begin

To say it terrified her is an understatement

Worn out & she kept rubbing skin off while saying "uh oh."

I snapped these 2 photos in hopes that this was her last night asleep and last breakfast in the cast!  And yes, she has a lot of blankets in her bed!

A look at the new gadget

I gave MS a twinkie to celebrate which made her go wild with giggles.  I realize these are blurry but they are too cute to not share..... and Rollins will be glad to see that she earned her squinty eyes :)

Totally unrelated but saw this craft idea on a friend's blog and it was so easy, time-consuming and the kids LOVED it.... even MS was able to participate by holding the hair dryer.  She also clapped with delight as the colors ran.  The finished product was so cool that I'm hanging it in the boys' room.