Halloween

Halloween was a little crazy this year! Piper and I each had doctor's appts. We packed up all the kids, and headed out for my appt first. Bud stayed in the car with the kids, and watched a movie while I saw Dr. Agneshwar. He just wanted to check on my incision. It has healed up pretty well, except for a small "pucker" spot in the center where it had opened back up a few weeks ago. Oh well, so much for a clean scar! We did talk about some of the research I have done about clubfoot, and told him that about half of all cases find out about the clubfoot from an ultrasound during the pregnancy. I also told him that I never really considered the possibility of one of my kids having clubfoot, so I never specifically asked the ultrasound tech to look for it. I told him too that most of the pictures that I have found, and people that I have talked to on the Yahoo! nosurgery4clubfoot group who have found out via ultrasound - it was 3D. So, he said that he is going to look back thru all my ultrasound pictures to see if he can see anything. Hindsight is 20/20. It would not have made a huge difference to find out beforehand, but I could have at least have done all this research in the months before she was born. We would have known to not start treatment locally, and we could have headed to Syracuse right off the bat.

After I finished up at my appt (still have to go back to him one more time in 6 weeks), we headed up to Greek Peak. Bud wanted to apply for a snow-grooming position up there. He has an interview on 11/13. Wish him luck!

Then, we headed back home. Piper's appt with Dr. Gehring was too close to when Hailey was going to be getting off the bus, so I took Piper to her appt by myself. We were a few minutes late, since I fed her right before we left, and she was daudling a little bit. His regular assistance was there, but she was not the one who took us back for our appt. It was a new girl, one who I had never seen before (and I've been going to this office for 5 years). She was very rushed. She barely made any eye contact the whole time, and just keep plugging away at her laptop. As I was answering questions, Piper spit up (not something she usually does, but I guess the rushed feeding, and driving 60 miles an hour, followed by Twist Run, did not pose well for her belly!). The new girl did not seem too thrilled about our time delay, while I cleaned her up. Dr. Gehring came in, and he was great, as always. Asked lots of questions, including how I was doing. The reason I like him - he truly cares. He asked about Syracuse, and how things were going, and he agreed that is what he would have done if it were his kid (geez, he has 7, so I trust him completely). He asked how Dr. McClure took the news - I said I hoped he was not too bent out of shape for us choosing to go to Syracuse. He said that doctors need to know when it is out of their realm (not his words exactly, but paraphrased). I just wish that doctors would tell you it was out of their realm, and not continue to treat patients when they are not totally familiar with that particular treatment! Piper got her first shot in the Hep B series. She barely cried! Whimpered for literally 5 seconds, and then stopped. She was awake and alert the entire appt, and Dr. Gehring said she looks great! She weighed 11lbs 3oz, but that obviously is skewed with the casts on. The new girl did not measure her, either. He wants to see her again in 1 month.

After the appt, we rushed home. Beth and James were due at out house at 430pm, and I was going to be cutting it close! The kids were excited about trick or treating, and were pretty riled up by the time I got home. Bud made dinner, and we got the kids fed. Then we were able to get them in their costumes.

Since there are only a few houses on our street, we decided to head "into town" to trick or treat down there.

Macie decided to be a bunny again this year. She loves that bunny costume, and had been wearing it around the house all week! We had a hard time getting her to agree to the mask, but she wore it for a couple of houses!

Sam was a lumberjack. Of course, he did not want to wear his hard hat. He also wore it for a few houses, but that was it.

Hailey got to have 2 costumes this year. She had to dress up for school - but, she had to be a character from a book. So, she chose to be Junie B. Jones (her favorite book series). Since it was not a super involved costume, she dressed up as a ladybug for trick or treating.

Piper was a pumpkin - it was the same costume that Macie wore for her first Halloween. Piper did pretty well while we were out, and just about the time we decided to head back to Grammy's house, she started up!

James did not last too long either. He was not super happy about being in his stroller, but it was necessary at one point!

After we finished up, we headed back to Grammy's for a bit - mainly to feed Piper before we headed home.

This year was not as lucrative has years passed. There were crazy amounts of people, and the kids literally had to wait in line at some houses because of the volume of kids down there!! It was unreal! I guess the good thing about it is that I will not be snacking on chocolate for 3 months like I would have been any other year!