My 33rd Birthday

I had a very good 33rd birthday. Tonight John took me out to this amazing Italian restaurant. I ate a ceaser salad that tasted like a real ceaser salad. That might sound weird to you but you would be surprised how many ceaser salads I have tried in Asia and they just don't taste good at all. Asia really doesn't do salads. Anyways, the dinner was amazing and we had a nice time. He bought me a Tiramasu cake as well! It was a nice surprise. Last night the ladies in my new community here took me out for dinner as well. It was so fun. I feel blessed to be a part of this new community and to have the opportunity to really get to know these women on a deeper level.

 

 

 

18 Months Old

My little precious one is 18 months old and in to EVERYTHING. I have to keep one eye on her at all times. I'm not kidding. If she is quiet that is bad, really bad. It most likely means she is into something she shouldn't be messing with. I often find her playing in the toliet, throwing things that aren't trash in the trash, and climbing on tables. I think it is safe to say she is mischevious! With all that comes SO much personality and she is so fun. She loves to cuddle. So glad God included Layla as part of our family. I couldn't imagine life without her.

 

Getting out of the house

We figured out that if we lay our double stroller seat in a super reclining position Zeb can fit in it without sliding out!!! This is huge folks because that means we can go outside some. Getting out is a bit tricky though. I go downstairs with Layla and open up the double stroller and buckle her in. Then I go back up get everything I need, pick Zeb up and carry him down with me. Let's just say I don't get out of the house very fast. The girls are dying to get out and are tired of being indoors so this is good for them and me. I thought Zeb would enjoy it but he usually gets bored or frustrated pretty quickly. It is hard for him to see laid back that far and well he is just sad he can't get up and run around like the others. Plus, since it is still super hot here he sweats a ton since that cast is so hot. But I'm still thankful we can get out and little Zeb can breathe some fresh air!

 

 

 

Figuring things out as we go....

Zeb and John made it home on Sunday night. I was so very glad to have them home again and to see my little boy. He was in really good spirits despite the fact that he is in a full body cast. We have had lots of visitors to come by and see Zeb. His sweet friends are so kind to play games with him that he is able to do lying down. He mostly lays on an air matress in the living room. It seems to be the most comfortable for him. We are supposed to rotate him as often as possible from tummy to side to back in order to prevent sores on his body. He is not a big fan of "tummy time" but seems to be able to bear it if we lay him on the air mattress and give him some cars to play with on the floor. We are still trying to figure out all the kinks but God is good. He continues to sustain us through this.

They were able to ride in Business class on the way home so Zeb could recline in the seat as much as possible.

 

Who says you can't be a pirate even in a cast??

 

Update on Zeb

I talked with John this morning and to my surprise the doctor doesn't want to do surgery. He says that since Zeb is so young his leg will heal on it's own and surgery is not needed. Instead the doctor decided to put Zeb in a cast. However, this is not just any cast, since any movement in his hips could cause his femur to shift they have to put him in a body cast! Yes, a cast from under his arms all the way to his toes! His left leg ( the broken one) will be casted but his right leg will be free. It took me a while to process all this. I had tons of questions like...how will I take him to the bathroom? So this morning they put Zeb to sleep, reset his leg and then used an x-ray to make sure it was reset correctly. After that they put him in a cast. When Zeb woke up he looked like this.....

 

John and Zeb hope to return on Sunday if Zeb is doing well in his new cast. In the meantime, the girls and I will be spending lots of time at the pool and playing outside since that will not be happening once Zeb returns. I also will be processing the whole idea that the next 6 weeks Zeb will be in a body cast which means that he can't sit up and we have to rotate him multiple times a day to keep him from getting sores on his body. How will I feed him? Take him to the bathroom? Give him a bath? Ever leave my house? There are lots of things to process before they come home.

 

Things can change in a matter of minutes....

Yesterday was just a normal day or so I thought. The kids had asked if we could have a picnic at the park and I agreed. I should mention that we call this park "concrete park". It has no grass whatsoever but it has a huge wide open space for my kids to ride their bikes with no fear of any cars hitting them. I called my friend Shannon and asked if she would like to join us with her kids at the park. She said sure! So off we headed. After the kids had eaten their lunch they went off to play. A friend that was walking through the park stopped to talk to me and Shannon. I had my back to the kids when all of a sudden I heard Zeb scream. It wasn't really his normal I just fell down and have a scratch scream. It was a different kind of scream. When I turned around he was lying on the ground holding his leg. I tried to get him up but he said that his knee was hurting and he couldn't move. I then realized that he had hurt himself badly. My first guess was that he had dislocated his knee cap. I immediately called John and told him that he needed to come right away to the park to pick us up. Zeb had fallen and something was really wrong. I asked Zeb what happened and he said that he and Laura Cate ( Shannon's daughter) were spinning around and he just fell. That is all I had to go by. I was so thankful that Shannon was there because she was able to take the girls home with her so I could go to the doctor with Zeb. We are blessed to have a Global Doctor in our city so we went straight there. Of course we didn't want to move Zeb so we carried him like a baby on his side which seemed to be the most comfortable to him. I will never forget John's face when I was looking through the window in the x-ray room as I held Zeb down. John was on the other side with the doctor looking at the x-ray. John just looked at me and said it isn't good, it's really bad. The doctor proceeded to tell us that Zeb had a spiral fracture of his femur. That he would most likely need surgery and we needed to get him evacuated to either Hong Kong or Thailand. So we got on the phone with our emergency medical health care and they started the process of figuring out how to evacuate us. In the mean time the doctors put a splint on Zeb's leg to try and hold it in place. It was very painful for me to watch Zeb go through this. I desperately wanted to help him feel better and I was helpless.

We found out that they could not evacuate Zeb until the next day. Since he would need to be lying down in a stretcher they either needed to get us a private plane or a commercial flight that was equipped to hold a stretcher. That meant I would need to spend the night in a local hospital with Zeb until the next day when they could pick him up. Although, his circulation seemed fine at the moment, it needed to be monitored. If his bone were to shift and cut off circulation to his toes it could get serious so we needed to be in a hospital. In someways last night was the longest night of my life. In the local hospital Zeb and I were sharing a room with 3 other men. When I asked for pain killers for Zeb they brought me infant's Motrin. Not even children's Motrin! I was very frustrated because I felt like I could manage his pain much easier at home but I needed to stay there because of the circulation issue. He would try and move in his sleep and wake up in serious pain because it hurt so bad. I was just there holding him and trying to calm him down. I have never been more glad to see those SOS doctors walk in this afternoon. They were able to get him on a commercial flight to Hong Kong. I decided to stay with the girls and John went with Zeb to Hong Kong. They are on their way now and will probably not get to the hospital until late into the night. I hope to get a call from John tomorrow morning after he talks with the doctor to find out what they will do for Zeb's leg. I am assuming at this point surgery. Below are some pictures of him in the ambulance and getting on the airplane.

In the local hospital.

On the stretcher getting ready to get in the abulance to go to the airport.