Lilo update

Just a quick note to let you all know that Lilo is doing well. She got her cast off on Thursday. Not that the cast slowed her down much but now she's running and climbing everywhere. She has a couple of boo-boos from the incisions from the surgery but they are healing well so they aren't bothering her.
She will have to go back in a year to see how the toe is doing but otherwise that's it for now.

Lilo’s toe update

Well the time has come and Lilo will be going in for surgery on her big toe. We went to Sick Kids a couple of time and met with an orpadetic surgeon and a plastic surgeon. They took x-rays of her foot and reviewed what they need to do.
I guess it’s not as simple as we were previously leaded to believe. There are a few places in the foot that the toe is getting information to grow. There are growth plates at the ends of the bones, there are also growth plates on the joints and there are the nerves telling the tissue to grow (at least this is how I understand it). They don’t want to touch the joints as that would limit her mobility in her toe. As for the skin, tissue – they don’t want to do any removal or debulking now. So what they’re going to do is go in and try and stop the growth on the bones. They should be able to stop or slow down the length growth of the toe but not the width. After looking at the x-rays of both her feet they’ve determined that the 2 bones in her big toe are the only bones that seem to be affected.

Since the toes have already reached normal adult size - Lilo had surgery on February 15, 2008 to try to stop the growth. The surgeons made small incisions at a couple of spots on the side of her foot. Then, with what has been described as similar to a dentist's drill, they went in and tried to grind off the ends of the bone - where the growth plates are. They have mixed success with the operation apparently - but if it worked, the toes will stop growing and the rest of her foot will catch up over time. If it doesn't work, then she'll likely have a few more surgeries, including some "debulking" of the soft tissue. In absolute worst case scenarios they would amputate the toe - but we're far way from that. Her surgery was at Sick Kids Hospital here in Toronto, which really is a pretty amazing facility. It has some truly awesome play rooms all throughout the hospital, and as we progressed through the ‘pre-op’ process from the pre-anesthetic clinic, to the OR waiting room, the toys seems to be getting better and better. In fact, before she was put under for a couple of hours, and then woke up with a cast on her leg, Lilo was having one of her most fun days, ever. Everything about the hospital and the people who work there, is intended to make kids feel comfortable, and they really do their job well.
As Lilo's Orthopedic Surgeon says, it might be a little weird, but if a big toe is the worst thing she suffers in life, she'll be doing pretty well. It might be a pain to have to buy 2 sets of shoes until her foot catches up, but in the context of some of the other cases we see at Sick Kids Hospital during visits with Lilo, we feel pretty lucky.

Our kids

Last weekend was the HBC kids holiday party. It was a lot of fun again this year.

Lilo had a great time; jumping in the flatable castle, playing in the duck pond and dancing away. She also had a visit with Santa - I can't believe how big she is. Look at her last year.

And here are some pictures of kid ver. 2.0. We had an ultrasound at the end of November and the tech even got us a picture using the 3D machine. It's pretty neat to see him or her - nope we didn't find out, Rob thinks he knows but we'll find out for sure in April.

I'm just over 5 months along now and feel good. The little one is moving around like crazy - just like Lilo did. I guess I'm getting another active one.

Boomer and The Jet

Yesterday we picked up these two 4-month old brothers. We've named them (from left to right) Boomer and The Jet. Vone originally suggested calling him just Jet, but we decided that The Jet is much cooler.

Sure, they might be a little difficult to tell appart, but we've figured it out: Boomer has a wider head, longer tail, and is a little bit bigger. The Jet, is much more trusting and hyper-active so far. (And they're not bad luck, since one cancels out the other.)

Halloween

Sorry for the delay in posting pictures from Halloween.

Here's a photo of the West Rouge Bikers at our friend's Halloween party. Lilo had fun dressing up with everyone.

On Halloween Lilo and her friend Izzie went trick or treating. They both had fun and got the hang of it pretty fast.

Lilo's 2!!!!

Our little girl is all grown up - she's no longer a baby. We had a birthday party for her on Sunday. Her and her 2 friends had a blast running around in the balloon room, eating cupcakes and playing with Lilo's awesome new toys.

Lilo's going to be a big sister

So baby #2 is coming - it's due April 22nd, which means I'm just over 3 months along. We are all pretty excited and nervous :) Lilo doesn't understand yet and I'm sure she'll be suprized when we bring someone else into the house.

We haven't found out the sex of the baby and right now we have decided to keep it a secret. It was fun not knowing last time and it really doesn't matter what it is either way. I mean 2 girls would be a lot of fun and one of each is always good.