Happy Birthday, Grandpa

In honour of my beloved Grandpa's birthday, I've decided to dedicate a blog entry to his memory.



My Grandpa could moo JUST like a cow. He did so willingly and was always met with squeals of laughter from grandchildren - until we got old enough to roll our eyes on the outside, and squeal with laughter on the inside.

My Grandpa could (and did!) pop his bottom false teeth out to lighten any situation.

My Grandpa could make you feel like you were the only person in a crowded room. He had this beautiful way of focusing on you and listening when you were talking.

My Grandpa could sing "Paper Rosie" like he was actually in Calvin County. He loved Classic Country music.

My Grandpa loved to sing. You could hear his voice clearly when he sang in church. It wasn't overwhelming or obnoxious, it was unique and comforting. It was strong, and made you feel like he believed the words of the hymns he was singing.

My Grandpa was completely biased when it came to me. There wasn't a smarter, cuter, or harder working young woman in the entire world as far as he was concerned.

My Grandpa insisted that I was "Grandpa's Sweetheart" no matter what boy or man I introduced him to. Even as he danced with me at my wedding he called me Grandpa's Girl and Grandpa's Sweetheart.

My Grandpa loved my Grandma completely. He showed it by playing at driving her crazy and always letting her know how much he needed her. As she goes out on her own conquering a Scotland trip, and independent bus trips, he's somewhere saying "Way to go, Bet".

My Grandpa loved to listen to, and tell, stories about all of his grandkids. We all loved sitting around the table at dinner and afterwards telling the same "kid" stories over and over again.

My Grandpa had a way of teaching lessons without preaching. A simple "Well I have a new little sweetheart on the way" will stick with my brother his entire life and remind him that every 'sweetheart' was someone's little girl.

My Grandpa would have been such a wonderful Great Grandfather, and during his hospital stay after his heart surgery told every nurse that helped him that he had to get better because he was going to be a Great Grandpa.

My Grandpa was silly, he was sweet, he was loving, and he was gentle. Not having him around is such a great, great loss, but I am so incredibly thankful for the nearly 23 years of memories that he has left me with.

Today and always, I love you Grandpa.

Yay! A Sale!

I'm going to take the attention away from Lia Marie for one day only in order to say....


"YAY! MY FIRST NON-LOCAL SALE!!!!!"

I sold 2 tutus... (try saying that ten times fast!) to a woman in Nevada today! I'm VERY excited. Who knew that my first sale would be a double sale! Wooo!

In other news, Lem sassed me for the first time today.

She was getting into some papers that I didn't want her to get into and I said "NO!"

She shot me a defiant look and said "NO" right back.

Take care,
El

Article on Ponseti

Check out this link on Ponseti

Best Foot Forward

As most of my readers will know, Lia Marie was born with bilateral clubfoot. She started treatment 2 weeks after she was born at Welland Hospital. She was casted incorrectly by a orthopaedic surgeon there. The surgeon gave me a lot of information that just wasn't true, and discussed a treatment method that we now know would have made her feet worse.

An important thing for every parent of a child with clubfoot to remember is that it is more important to have a good cast than a fast cast. My midwife was absolutely amazing and wonderful but she let me to believe that it was an emergency for Lemmie to get casts put on RIGHT AWAY and this was simply not the case.

Within a week Lia Marie had kicked out of her casts. Luckily we were moving near Kingston, ON. Ryan sent off an email to the hospital asking if there was anyone there that we could see for Lemmie's feet. He got a really prompt response from the head of orthopedics as well as from Dr. Lindsay Davidson.

Well were we ever lucky in finding Dr. Davidson! It turns out that she is one of four Dr's in Canada that is certified in the Ponseti method of non-surgical correction for clubfoot. The Dr. in Welland said that surgery would probably be imminent for Lia, but Dr. Davidson is fairly confident that we won't have to go that route.

We started out with serial casting. Every week we would go to Kingston and they would remove her casts and replace them. We have been treated so wonderful at Hotel Dieu Hospital. They truly have shown that they care about Lia. After I think about 6 casts, Lia was required to have a tenotomy. That means that they sliced the tendons in the back of her feet so that the foot can come up. This is done with a local anesthetic. She then wore casts for 3 weeks before being moved into her braces. (Perhaps I will write more about the transition from casts to braces at another time - it was rough).

We've been to one appointment since Lia Marie has gotten her braces on. Dr. Davidson was surprised by the progress her feet have made and how well she is adjusting. We don't need to go back to the hospital for one month.

So that's been her treatment for the clubfoot from birth until now.

I've put together a list of things that I would want to tell someone that has a child with clubfoot.

1. Do not let any health care professionals push you around - do your research and get the treatment that is right for your child.

2. Make sure that your doctor is familiar with the Ponseti method. It's best for them to be Ponseti certified, but if that's not possible, then at least make sure that they know about what it's all about - some people practice the method and just haven't bothered to get certified.

3. Ask probing questions about how often the person treating your child treats clubfoot and what their surgery rates are - if you can avoid needless surgery for your child then you're saving you and them a huge inconvenience as well as the risk that anesthetic for a small child carries.

4. Check out this website - the person who created this site has some amazing information.

Anyway that's my little "tutorial" on clubfoot treatment as well as Lemmie's treatment so far for her clubfoot.

Take care,
El