Ugghhh!!

I will eat most of my baby foods, (and I try to eat everything else within arm's reach-edible or not), but there's one thing I really don't like-anything green. I've also had peas and have the same reaction. I don't like them. Obviously mom was having alot more fun with the camera than I was with eating.

Who wants it more?

When it comes to food, Cocoa, Abby, and I are right there!!

It's story time!

I love books and being read to! I especially like turning the pages and trying to chew the corners of them!

Thanks Grandma!

Thanks Grandma Driscoll for the new hat that matches my sweater I got from you and Grandpa for Christmas! I love it!

Pat Update

Pat had his 2nd appt with the orthopedic surgeon on Monday. He cleared him to start PT this coming Monday for the next 4 to 6 weeks. His wound is now healed shut and the surgeon is having him use his boot now. He can walk around a little more with that and just use one crutch. He got his wound vac off last week and last Frid was our last day for our home nurse that had to come in every other day to change the dressing. He still has the picc line in and I give him IV antibiotics just once a day. He meets with the infectious disease Dr this Friday and we're hoping that he will be done with the picc line and just go to oral antibiotics. Things are starting to look up! We're praying that with the PT he can get enough strength back on his own that we won't have to have any more surgeries. We'll keep you all updated on his progress!

Not to rub it in, but.....

It's about 60 degrees here today, January 18th, with absolutely no breeze (& it feels like 80 with the hight altitude). We're all sitting outside enjoying the nice day!

Many of my recent Firsts

My first taste of any "real" food was chocolate. Here I am after Dad let me lick a chocolate ball at his office.

And Mom's just as guilty as Dad is-she let me try licorice before having baby food for the 1st time.

My first baby food! I loved the carrots!

My first doll given to me by Grandma and Grandpa Driscoll for Christmas.

A few days after I rolled over-now I have it mastered!

I'm 5 months old!!

I'm a little late posting this, but I was 5 months on the 4th! I've gone through even more changes. I laugh more now. When the dogs came back from our friends after Christmas, all I could do was laugh at them. Something was funny-not sure what! I am even more observant of people, especially mom and dad. I love to follow things with my eyes. I'm playing more with my toys, which is good because I got so many for Christmas that they keep busy all day long. I still continue to love Baby Einstein. I sometimes watch it for hours. Mom said now she knows what to take away from me when I'm older and get in trouble-the TV. I have even started to watch Sponge Bob alot. The other day when I was watching it, mom was taking some Christmas decorations off the top of the entertainment center and blocked my view a little. I screamed until she got out of my way. I can now touch my feet and am still trying to get them in my mouth. And speaking of putting things in my mouth, I started eating baby food (and a few other foods...for a later post). I had carrots the first time and loved them! Peaches and bananas are good too. I hate peas though. I think mom kept feeding them to me so she could see the funny faces I was making with them! I was sleeping through the night before we went to SD for the holidays, but I think being gone messed me up, so we're kind of back to the beginning with me getting up once or twice to be fed. Won't be long that I'll be 6 months old!!

New Year's Eve

This is where mom and dad spent their New Year's Eve. They were just happy that they were together. Uncle Dan snuck mom in a bottle of wine and from what I hear it didn't take her long to drink it. I got to celebrate it back in Algona with all my cousins! What fun!

Future Biker Babe??

It's becoming a tradition with Uncle Justin that he puts the new niece or nephew in his saddle bags for a photo op. I think he needs a little side car to give us a ride in!!

My First Christmas

Well, I'm gonna be doing alot of catch up here. Mom has been real busy lately to help me post some pictures. For my first Christmas, we flew into Sioux Falls X-Mas Day and were met by Grandma and Grandpa Driscoll and Uncle Dan. We celebrated Christmas the 26th at Uncle Justin's. I got so many things from everybody-I got very spoiled! I got a new doll, lots of books, toys, clothes, pj's, an ornament, and lots more. It was so much fun to be with family and my cousins. On Sunday, my dad had to go to the ER and then was admitted to the hospital because he got a bad infection in his leg. I was sad to see him go. Grandma and Grandpa Froehlich drove over that night to see us. On Monday I got to go to Algona with Aunt Michaela and Grandpa Froehlich to spend the week while Dad got better in the hospital and Mom could stay with him every night. I went back to Sioux Falls on Wednesday with Joe, Jayna, Molly, Bill, and Megan for a few hours because my mom and dad missed me so much and needed some hugs and kisses from me (and I missed them too!). I had alot of fun in Algona and got to meet some aunts and uncles, lots of cousins, and my Great Grandma Froehlich for the first time. I even got alot more presents-more clothes, toys, and books! My dad got out of the hospital on Friday, just as I was getting to SF. The Froehlich Christmas was on Saturday so we had to miss that-we all were bummed. I wasn't feeling good either so mom and Grandma took me into urgent care in SF and turns out I had an ear infection. That's all we needed. On Monday we headed back to Alb and made the long haul. Thanks again to Jerry and Nadine! I was exceptionally good, especially with not feeling good. I think mom and dad had enough to worry about, so I made sure I behaved very well and only cried once over the two days.

Just click on the arrow to see more pages of the scrapbook.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Good News!! The latest update on Pat..

To start things off, the ride home went pretty well. Jerry and Nadine, our saving graces, got to Sioux Falls on Sunday. Pat had an appt Mon morning at McKennan Hospital to get his wound dressing changed (this has to be done every 2-3 days), and it was looking really good. Once we were done there, we hit the road. Pat, Olivia, and I had all come down with bad colds over the weekend, and we had Olivia in the Dr on Sunday-turns out she had an ear infection-so I'm sure it was a longer drive for our friends than it was for us. We made it back to Albuquerque on Tuesday night, facing a longer road ahead of us than the one just traveled. Today we had Pat's first appt at New Mexico Ortohopedics. We were quite pleased with our "second opinion" here. This surgeon advised that we should skip the whole plastic surgery procedure involving the free flap/skin graft. He thought this was just an extra step we could definitely avoid. He does mostly trauma cases and very rarely has needed to get a plastic surgeon involved for this type of procedure. He thought the wound was healing very nicely as is and having the wound vac was helping avoid the whole thing. He of course gave us the option of going through the plastic surgery if we wanted to, but we opted not to. As far as replacing the tendon, he said that the wound will take a couple more weeks to heal with the wound vac and this should produce enough scar tissue to function as a tendon. Pat will then go through some intense physical therapy to see how much function he has on his own. He may have to have small incisions made to help stretch the scar tissue. If that doesn't work or isn't enough, then a cadaver tendon may be used. With this route, Pat is looking at about a 4 month recovery versus a 6 to 9 month recovery, so we are crossing our fingers and praying that this procedure will work. He also thought that Pat should have about 80% usage back when it's all done with. We really liked the surgeon today and are confident in him that this is the best decision for us. We are so thrilled with the news and has taken alot of stress off the both of us! I will keep everyone updated on further progress. For now, I will turn the blog back over to Olivia...she has alot of catching up to do on herself!!

Update on Pat

Just an update on our status here. As some may know, Pat got a serious infection in his leg where he had his achilles tendon repaired. We went to the McKennan ER on Frid Dec 26 in Sioux Falls-he was gushing out blood and clotty substances from his suture. They sent us home with a couple oral antibiotics. By Sunday it was much worse with swelling, oozing, and more coloring, so back to the ER we go. This time the orthopedic surgeon came to look at it and without hesitating said that surgery was imminent. The infection was so bad that had he waited another day or two he would have lost his leg. He reopened the wound and found nothing but infection which basically "ate" his achilles and he no longer has one. He has a wound vac on his leg now that is sucking out all the bad stuff and will have that for about another week. Pat also had another surgery Tues to go into his open wound cleaning out more of the infection. We did get good news then that the infection looks so much better than it did and from the wound culture results learned that it was a garden variety staph infection-I guess that's the good kind of them. We get of the hospital tomorrow. Olivia has been with Pat's family in Iowa and gets back tomorrow. We appreciate the help so much and miss her like crazy. We were supposed to fly out Sun back to Alb but Pat needs his foot elevated, and besides will be having his wound vac attached, along with a picc line that I have to administer antibiotics every 8 hrs for the next two weeks, and having lots of luggage, Olivia, and her stroller. So, our great friends Jerry and Nadine Beck in Alb offered to drive our expedition up to Sioux Falls and drive us home. We can't thank them enough for their generosity. Once we get back Pat has to have plastic surgery done. He no longer has his achilles so before anything can be done, a plastic surgeon has to either put on a free flap-a graft taken from his calf or stomach to put over his open wound, or a tissue expander. Once that is done and healed then he will go back to an orthopedic surgeon, have it reopened and have an achilles put in. I guess he's looking at 3 to 4 more surgeries and months of recovery. I will keep you posted on any upcoming news, results, etc.