Movin', movin', movin'

Ev is very happy to be out of the cast. I know that should go without saying, but when she basically did not sleep for the first 36 hours of being cast-free, I was more than a little concerned! She seemed really, really sore and was just plain cranky.

However, after a great night of sleep last night, she is infinitely happier and has seemed to have greater range of motion and ability to use her hips & knees today. She is starting to bend her knees and put weight on her legs to try to crawl or move her body. It is so fun to see her really use her legs. 

She is also really happy to be back in her high chair. Meals are way easier now!

Every minute gets better ...

We went to the pool - Ev loved it. She kicked like crazy. Sweet girl is having so much fun.

You may remember that before Ev got her cast on, she loved playing with her toes. Check out her giggle when she figures out how to get them back.

It felt so good ...

to look at the remnants of the cast in the trash can at the doctor's office! I was considering keeping part of it, but then there was just so. much. nastiness. inside. It'd be a health hazard anywhere but in the trash.

Getting the cast off was a pretty simple process, and Ev was great for it. She didn't seem bothered by the cast-cutter at all. She had Mr. Monkey to keep her company, and everything's better when he (and dad) are around. As soon as the cast was actually off, she stretched out her legs and was obviously excited by the prospect of moving her legs again. She clapped a lot during all of this. Pretty cute.

We were thrilled to see that her thighs still have their trademark rolls, and that her skin, besides being incredibly flaky and nasty (it so, so, so gross), doesn't have any major irritation. And she is moving her legs a lot. She scooted around on the floor when we got home, kicked water in the bathtub, and has definitely loosened up her joints up in her crib, where she is supposed to be sleeping.

All in all, a great day so far. We will go to the pool later and I'm sure Ev will be thrilled with it!

Also, I took a video of the whole cast removal process as well as a couple once we were home. You can find them on my youtube channel.

Bye bye cast!

It's the last time you'll see this ...

AH. (the penultimate day)

This week. Two days. The day after tomorrow. It's really happening!

I cannot believe it.

I also cannot believe this: I'm nervous! Don't get me wrong. I am excited - beyond excited - for her to be cast-free. I am beside myself with anticipation of taking her in the pool and giving her baths (stockholders in Target & Amazon can thank me for my hefty contributions over the last couple weeks ...) and dressing her in normal clothes and watching her crawl. Totally totally thrilled that this is happening. But I'm nervous about whether or not she will be in pain as her joints loosen up, and how long that will last ... and how she will sleep when she has the freedom to move all over the place ... and what sort of trouble she will get herself into as she gets more mobile. I have just gotten so used to life in the cast, I think it will be pretty strange to change a normal diaper and put her into her highchair. And her carseat. And her clothes. But it will be so wonderful!

Ev is happy too.

Thank you for traveling with us along this journey. A few people have asked if we will still keep the blog once she gets her cast off, and we will. I think there are a few parents & grandparents out there who are still reading ;) And actually, the one thing lacking in the blogs I have read about kids in the spica cast is how the recovery out of the cast has been! So to make up for the lack of posts in the last month, we will be sharing a lot about how Evie does as she comes out of the cast. Stay tuned! We'll be back Wednesday with a cast-free update!

(And before then, I will post a video of how much she is scooting around on the floor, even in the cast!)

Happy Fourth of July!

As I start this, I have one minute left to officially wish you all "Happy Independence Day. "And now it's July 5th. We had a good, full day today. We did not except it to be very eventful (all we had planned was community group tonight) - but it was!

We started with a family trip to the mall - we got a handsome, big umbrella for the back deck. Very fun!

Then we spent most of the afternoon (besides setting this up) preparing for a somewhat last minute grill-out with our community group. Steve made the most delish hamburgers I've ever had, and I whipped up 3 desserts (well, to be fair - I did start the popsicles yesterday).

First up was my standard raspberry buttermilk-but-I-substitute-yogurt cake - recipe from smitten kitchen.  It is my go-to summer cake (translate: it is one of the only cakes I ever make, but I only make it in the summer). I wanted to do blueberries in the middle in the shape of a star like this:

But as it turns out - since that's a tart it looks all nice and perfect on there. On a cake it's not so ... perfect. In fact my star looks awful and un-starlike. But it was tasty tasty! And just so you don't think I'm a complete buffoon - strawberries were actually covering the whole rest of the top, but they sink into the cake when it cooks (one of the reasons it is so amazing).

I had better luck with the presentation of my filled strawberries. I finally got a pastry bag with good tips so piping in the cream cheese filling was super fun on these ....

And also super tasty were the fresh fruit, lemonade, & honey popsicles. To anyone interested in making these: Since it's not 4th of July any more - and even if it were, it's more purple than blue anyway - skip the blueberry layer. Blueberries just don't puree smoothly enough to make this layer excellent. And the other two layers are excellent. I had extra strawberry puree so I made two that were strawberry on both ends with no blueberry layer. If I make these again I will do it like that, for sure.

Yum.

And after sharing this deliciousness with some dear friends, we sat outside and watched fireworks someone set off in our neighborhood, played with some sparklers thanks to our neighbors, and (are you ready for this?) watched the Boston Pops fireworks show in their backyard on a HUGE tarp/screen with a projector and awesome sound system that he set up. My Dad would have loved it.

Lastly, because no post would be complete with a picture of my sweet girl, so here she is in her red, white, and blue!

Happy 4th!