So Many Faces

Surgery Update

Karl had surgery to repair his ruptured achilles tendon on Tuesday. All went well and after an overnight stay in the hospital, he was able to come home. They gave him a regional nerve block which is a small pump behind his knee that delivers medication just to the leg in addition to the general anesthesia for surgery. He was able to keep the nerve block in until Friday to help with the pain. The surgery took a little longer than expected because the tendon had rolled up into his calf muscle so he will have a nice long scar up the back of his leg to show off. He is in a hard cast up to his knee for now and cannot put any weight on it at all. He gets around pretty well using a rolling walker (complete with tennis balls) but he is hoping to exchange the cast for a walking boot at his appointment with the surgeon on Wednesday. Karl spends a lot of time moving between the couch and the recliner but as the pain improves, he is able to move around more. He won't be able to do much with Ally other than hold her for a while yet but so far his recovery is going well. It will be a long road but hopefully he will be walking around soon.

Injured Reserve

Bad news: Karl is officially on the injured reserve list. He was finishing up his last day of paternity leave and getting ready to head back to work on Thursday when he ruptured his left achilles playing basketball Wednesday night. He didn't get hit or land on it wrong, he went to make a cut to get open and it popped. I was too far away to hear it pop but he knew right away exactly what happened. We were in Mackey Arena and because of the construction, his only way out was to go up the stairs to the car. His parents came to help get him to the emergency room and it was a good thing because Ally and I got kicked out before we even got in the door. The flu pandemic is so crazy that no one under 18 can even be in the hospital! He had to wait for some of the swelling to go down and was able to meet with the surgeon this morning. He will have surgery to repair the tendon on Tuesday and will be out of commission for a few weeks. Yes he was not happy about going back to work, but this certainly wasn't the best way to get to stay home with us longer! We aren't sure on all of the recovery details yet but he will need some serious rehab and about 6 months time before he will hopefully be back to normal. He is doing well with his leg in a splint for now and can get around our house without much of a problem. Stay tuned for more on this story but we hope to only have positive progress to share.

Surprise from Grandma

I have the most crafty grandma and this is a giant quilt that she made for me. One side of the quilt was made from several of my old t-shirts from my youth and includes basketball team shirts, volleyball team shirts, softball team shirts, high school spirit shirts, shirts from my job as a youth baseball coach, and tons of shirts from the dance studio. I cant believe my dad knew where all these were! Some have just fronts, some are just backs and some have both and it easily fits over our queen sized bed. I had no idea that she was making this so it was an awesome surprise. Now that I have this one, I gave her all of my old Purdue band/Golden Girl shirts to make another one. This is a great way to save all of the things you want to keep but don't want them taking up space and aren't sure what to do with... now we just need a house with more beds so I can keep it out all year. I keep telling grandma to go into busness or start selling on ebay because she can make anything and everything. Thank you!

6 Weeks

Allyson is six weeks old and seems like she has grown so much. She now makes lots of faces and started making some new noises this week. She still eats about every 2-3 hours during the day but has been sleeping great at night. Lately she has been eating around 10, falling asleep between 11 and midnight and sleeping in her crib until 5 or 6am. We can really tell she is growing because she has almost grown out of all her newborn size clothes. She has big round cheeks to match her big round belly. We have been given so may cute outfits in the 0-3 month size so I can't wait for her to finally get to wear them! She still has a ton of hair and its starting to get more curly, especially when its wet. Ally likes to be on the move and to look around at everything- especially ceiling fans and people. Ella is becoming more fond of her now too, she likes to give kisses on her hand and doesn't hide in the guest room all of the time anymore. Here she is sporting one of her many cute outfits.

First Flight

Last weekend Ally took her first trip on an airplane when we went to Tampa for my friend Andrea's beach wedding. We decided right before Ally was born that we would do our best to make the trip with her since its a direct and short flight from Indy to Tampa and we would only be able to stay for 2 days. We were nervous about everything- packing, security, flight, hotel but Ally surprised us and did really great. We ended up traveling during her normal nap times so she fell asleep right before we boarded the plane and slept the whole ride both times. We didn't have a lot of time to do much while we were there but the wedding was beautiful and Ally seemed to enjoy the warm weather and sun for the short time we were there. I think she enjoyed not having to wear socks, pants, a winter hat and blankets outside. This was a good test run for us and the Indianapolis airport is very family friendly so that helps. They have separate lines for families so you don't have to feel like you are "those people" holding everyone up with the car seats, stroller, 10 bags and a screaming child. Granted, Ally wasn't screaming and barely even cried at all in either airport but its hard to ignore the stares from other people that say "I better not be sitting by that kid on the flight". As long as she rides in our laps she is free to travel and strollers and car seats are free to check so that was nice, especially now that everyone charges for bags. We hope that this was just one of many trips we will get to take as a family.

Best Friends

Here is Alexis Conner at 10 weeks with Allyson at 5 weeks. We tried to get a picture of both girls when they were awake and content so this was our best effort. As you can see, pink and brown is very in for babies this fall. Katie and Nick brought the girls up for a visit the other night so it was quite entertaining to have 3 little ones in the house. I don't think Ella enjoyed it very much considering that we had all three crying at one point. Paige is still afraid of Karl but he gave her the monster movie (Monsters Inc) to borrow for the ride home so he might now be her new best friend. We can't wait to see how these little girls grow up! Purdue class of 2032?

Happy Halloween

Allyson enjoyed her first holiday in Oshkosh. The weather was so cold and windy that we stayed inside along with most of the other kids in town. Ally was a glow in the dark skeleton by day and a sleepy pumpkin by night.

1 Month

Ally celebrated her one month birthday on Friday while we were visiting family and friends in Oshkosh. It has been a big adjustment for our family over the past month but it has gone by quickly. She is growing and changing every day, she now makes lots of faces and can focus on people and objects. Eating and sleeping is starting to become more routine and as of this week she has been sleeping in two three or four hour stretches at night which is great. We aren't so afraid to take her out in public and she has done pretty well with all of the places she has been. Karl and I are getting good at holding her with one hand and eating with the other. While in Oshkosh she met a lot of new people and spent a lot of time outside of the house. She did great on the drive and slept the whole way there and almost the whole way back. Ally loves her grandmas and was able to spend most of her time being rocked or held by someone. We even got sent away for dinner two of the nights so Ally could spend some more time with grandma and grandpa. Karl and Dew went to the purdue-wisconsin game on Saturday and the girls stayed home and visited with more friends and family. The game was so disappointing but at least we got to have grandmas delicious chili! Ally slept well in the pack and play while we were there and she didn't seem to mind all of the new surroundings and people. Thanks to everyone that stopped by to visit, especially Aunt Judy, Josh& Stef and Sara & Kevin for making the trip from Madison. We weren't sure how Ally would handle being away from home and the long drive, but the trip went very well and we are looking forward to her first airplane ride this weekend!

Places Ally went: Grandma Julie's house, Grandpa Joel's house, Great Grandma Sandy's house, the outlet mall, Robbins for bunch

People Ally met: Great Grandma Sandy, Great Grandpa Paul, Great Aunt Judy, Great Uncle Luke, Patty, Andrea, Robbie, Laura, Josh, Stefanie, Sara, Kevin, Shelli, Cathie.

Here are some of my favorites from our first month with Allyson:

Bath Time

Every family needs the commemorative first bath photos! Ally's umbilical cord stump came off when she turned 3 weeks so that meant it was time for a real bath. She usually really likes getting her hair washed but she wasn't so thrilled about being totally naked and wet this time. Another work in progress but at least she is clean....