Kendra's "Trigger Thumbs"

Kendra had an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon today. She has "trigger thumbs" (her thumbs are "frozen" at a slight angle forward [about 15-20 degrees] and she can't straighten them) which we asked about at last regular check-up. I just noticed in probably the last six months or so and she's never complained of pain or anything. However, she has pretty large nodules at the base of her thumbs from constant irritation to the tendons.

She'll be having outpatient surgery next Thursday (August 19) morning where they will release the tendon so she'll have full range of motion. It will be quick, but she will have to be under general anesthesia. In adults they sometimes simply numb the area and perform the procedure in the office, but with kids, they're unable to hold still enough, so they don't take the chance of damaging surrounding blood vessels, nerves, etc. Kendra will be in a cast (sounds like her fingers will be free, but the cast will cover her thumb and most of her palm/hand) for about 10 days. She should be good as new in time to start preschool on Tuesday, September 7!

Success(es)!

Hopefully this won't jinx us, but we are on day two of potty training success!!! Kendra has been doing absolutely great in getting to the bathroom all by herself...making it her complete responsibility seems to have done the trick. Crossing my fingers, toes, eyes and everything else hoping it sticks! I was at the end of my rope...hanging on by just a thread.

In other news, I've been working on getting Angel Food Ministries going at our church. Today was our first distribution of food and it went very well! I pray this will be a successful outreach to our community. I believe it is something that could really be helpful to so many people right now. I'm excited to see how it grows in the future!

No Ice Skating

So, a little update from the previous ice skating post. Unfortunately, they don't have rental skates small enough for my teeny, tiny girl. She wears a regular shoe size 6 - 6 1/2 and the smallest rental they have is a size 8 boot. I've been looking around a bit to see if I can find smaller skates, but so far not much luck. Apparently 8 is a pretty standard starting point. I did find a place called "Baby Skates" that has some for really little kids, but I don't want to spend the $90+ they're asking. I don't even know if she'll like skating yet! Oh well...maybe we'll have to try again next year.

Anyway, instead of skating we went to Coldstone Creamery and stuffed ourselves with ice cream. I think that was okay with her. : ) She had strawberry with Oreos and I had the old standby - Germanchokolatekake - but with the new Brownie Fudge ice cream instead of plain old Chocolate. Mmmmmmm!

A Nice Weekend

It's been a great weekend thus far. Last night Joe and I had a little date night. We called our friend, Chris, to come "watch" the kids. They were already in bed, so he was pretty agreeable. We had supper at Red Lobster, then went to the cheap theater and saw "Couples Retreat." Good movie. It was funny (not just the parts shown on TV) and had a good story too. Then today I enjoyed a little retail therapy, even though I was shopping for Susan. : ) I also hung out at church tonight for a couple hours playing board games. Definitely need to do that again sometime.

Tomorrow I'm planning to take Kendra ice skating. They have a parent/toddler skating time on Sunday evenings, so we're going to attempt it. I haven't skated in years. We used to skate on the pond out in our pasture....good times. Looking forward to enjoying a little Mommy/Kendra date. Maybe it will help to get her a little more one on one time.