Our neighbors hate us...

I try really hard to be very considerate of the fact that people live below us (we live in a third floor apartment). I make sure the boys don't run around until after 9am and then they are in bed by 7pm so they aren't up late making noise or anything. During the day I am cautious of them running or jumping around too much and attempt to limit it to an extent, but let's face it...they are kids, they are boys, they like to run around and make noise and jump and be loud! Oh and in case you were wondering...a one year old toddler is typically a loud walker as they are just learning to walk and be steady etc., they're not very graceful...add on a prosthetic leg...there is a lot of "thumping" around. So yes, our neighbors hate us, as in called in complaints and bang on their ceiling (our floor) kind of hate us. Oh well, we try, we really do. Hopefully we will be out of this apartment soon. :)

ANYWAY...Dylan figured out how to jump the other day while we were waiting in line at the post office for 45 minutes. Like BOTH feet of the ground jumping all by himself!! SO awesome and we are SO proud of him!! So when we got home, I let them jump...and jump...and jump....because it was so fun seeing Dylan getting those feet off the ground and looking so proud of himself and Kaden was having so much fun being able to freely jump without me constantly telling him to stop. I'm sure the neighbors LOVED our jump session, but this was one time when I just didn't care!

Check out these mid jump shots! Their faces kill me!

 

 

 

 

And then I got some fun continuous shots of Kaden jumping over and over.

And of course I had to include some videos of Dylan jumping so you can see the action for real! Look how good he's doing!

So proud of this little man! That's a big accomplishment for any one year old, let alone for one with a fake leg!

Rash :(

Yesterday morning, while the boys were playing around, Dylan kept pulling on his liner and I noticed what looked like a bright red rash on Dylan's leg under the liner. So I hurry and took Dylan's leg off and sure enough, he had a nice little rash all over his leg. Luckily it's not TOO bad. I think what happened was some miscommunication between Bryson and I in regards to cleaning his liner and he ended up in a liner that hadn't been cleaned after it's prior wear, causing some irritation. Lesson learned! I washed both liners really well (which we typically do every night, but it got missed somehow) and sanitized them with some rubbing alcohol just to make sure they were extra clean for his sensitive leg. I kept his leg off all day and ran to the store to buy some cream and slathered the rash with the cream throughout the day and it was looking much better by the end of the day. Today he wore his leg all day. There is still a little rash, but it looks MUCH better! Sorry little man!

Sad boy. :(

This is what it looked like when I first noticed it. So bright red on his knee and toward the bottom of his stump.

This is what it looked like later in the day, not quite as bad, but still very there.

 

A little rash doesn't keep this boy from still smiling though! :)

It's Magic!

Part of our nightly routine now involves hand washing Dylan's liner and then I also try to wipe down his foot each night, as it gets really dirty really quick. A few times I have noticed these weird lines on the bottom of his prosthetic foot and I could not figure out where they were from. They wiped off fairly easily, so they weren't scratches or anything. It was very strange. Then today while we were coloring, Dylan walked across one of the coloring books and it struck me...maybe his foot is like silly putty. You know how you can place silly putty on a newspaper or comic or coloring book, etc. and it leaves an image from the newspaper, etc. on the silly putty. So I took his leg off real fast, wiped his foot clean, and gave it a shot. Sure enough...his little foot is magic!! :)

{Before}

{"Walking" across}

{After}

Gait Lab Take 2

We went to the Gait Lab again last week. Dylan did awesome and wasn't scared at all this time. He let them put the reflective balls on his feet, weigh him, and then walked up and down the red runway like a champ. I think he likes the Gait Lab because everyone is SO nice, plus he gets a new toy every time. :) Today he chose a stuffed spider (of all things!) and Kaden got to choose a new Hot Wheels (which he is obsessed with!). Here are some videos and pictures from our visit at the Gait Lab. We look forward to getting the newest report on his gait. They are so interesting to read!

We read online today that the hospital we go to is in the top 10 in the nation for orthopedics. We feel very blessed to be getting Dylan's care there!

Still amazing us...

First of all...welcome new friends! :) I am once again blown away by the kindness, generosity, and love and support that we have received from strangers across the world. It means more to us than we can express in words. Your words of support and love have touched our hearts deeply. Your generosity in donations back in January and again over the past couple days, have made it possible for us to not have to worry about Dylan's medical bills at all this year and will carry into next year as well. We are beyond grateful for that. That was a huge worry for us and that worry has been lifted and carried by each of you. Thank you from every corner of our hearts.  I'm so grateful for my dear friend, Ashley at Make It and Love It. I am incredibly lucky to call her my friend. My life has been blessed by her and her friendship ever since we met 12 years ago. 

Thank you, thank you...each and every one of you!!

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When Dylan got his newest leg, Jason (our prosthetist) said that Dylan would probably be putting it on by himself in no time. Not that I doubted that Dylan would figure it out, but I thought this one would take longer for him to figure out. Once again, he has proved me wrong. When will I learn that he continues to exceed even my highest expectations of him? :) A little over a week after getting this new leg and he is doing almost all of it by himself. We have to help him get the liner positioned right on his leg, but then he rolls it on by himself and snaps his leg in place. Proud mommy moment! :) I finally got a video yesterday morning.

Last night while getting the boys ready for bed, Dylan didn't have his leg on, but kept trying to walk on his stump. This is the most he's ever tried walking on his stump before. He's been putting more weight on his stump lately when his leg is off, but nothing like this. We were pretty impressed! 

Our Hero

"Being disabled doesn't have to be a disadvantage."- Oscar Pistorius

While he may have not won a medal in the Olympics (yet...he still has his relay coming up), Oscar Pistorius has won the hearts and respect of every amputee and their family and probably everyone else around the world. I can't express the amount of admiration, respect, and love we have for this man whom we have never met. He has shown the WORLD what is possible for ANYONE. He is truly an inspiration to so many. He has proven to us what we always believed with Dylan, that he could and WILL do great things with no limitations.

Some videos to check out:

Oscar's journey to the Olympics: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/track-and-field/oscar-pistorius-on-today.html

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/track-and-field/oscar-pistorius-unique-inspiring-journey-to-london.html

The science behind his running blades: http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/track-and-field/science-of-olympics-how-oscar-pistorius-blades-work.html

Go Oscar Pistorius!!!

This morning we got to watch Oscar Pistorius run the 400m in the OLYMPICS!! He did AMAZING, coming in 2nd place and qualifying for the semi-finals! We can't wait to watch the semi-finals tomorrow and cheer him on again.

We recorded the race and watched it all together and explained to the boys that he has special legs just like Dylan has a special leg. We told them that one day maybe Dylan could have super cool legs like Oscar. Kaden thought that was pretty awesome. The boys loved watching him run and afterwards, Kaden ran all around the house "SO fast!". I asked him if he was going to be in the Olympics and he said yes. I think he was inspired. :)

It gave me chills watching Oscar run and seeing him do so well. I've watched the race over and over throughout the day. He truly is an inspiration to many!! GO OSCAR!!

Kaden getting ready to watch the race. According to Kaden, Oscar is a dinosaur, "Oscar Pisauraus". hahaha. :) Maybe that's how he runs so fast! :)

Dylan watching Oscar race. "Go, Oscar!!"

Dylan watching his/our hero/inspiration! :) He was pretty enthralled with him.

New Leg - Leg #2

Dylan got his second leg today! 7 months post surgery and we are already on leg number two!! He's a growing boy!

This picture of Dylan is to die for!! He kept walking around all morning saying, "New leg, new leg!". He was pretty excited!

It was a basic, try the new leg on, make some slight adjustments, let him walk around for a bit to see how he walks and how his stump looks after walking, etc. He did great! No tears. He was too excited about his "new leg"!! This new suspension is a silicone liner with a pin at the bottom of the liner that snaps into the leg socket and then it has a button that you press to release the pin when you need to take the leg. So this should mean no more leg randomly falling off! We learned how to get the liner on and how to get the leg snapped on and off. Hopefully we'll get the hang of it quickly. I'm sure Dylan will have it down in no time. :)

Some pictures and videos from the appointment. 

 

At one point while he was walking the halls, that guy that is walking around in the background of the first video walked out of his office and Dylan was right there. Dylan looked up at him, lifted his new leg to show the guy and said, "New leg!" He is so proud of his new leg. It's so cute!

Kaden keeping entertained at the appointment. :)

The foot looks much more realistic than the last one (with actual little toes/toenails), although the color is clearly still way off from Dylan's skin color. That will probably be something we can mess with as he gets older and there are more options to get one that better matches his skin tone. This foot is also more flexible than the last foot, which is great! That little white circle is the release button.

Checking out his new leg and foot at home. And a cute video of him cruising (please excuse the whiny 3 year old...he didn't want to take a nap, even though he clearly needed one. haha) :)

And some cute pictures we took with our phones of him showing off his new leg. Such a happy boy!