Summer

It's been about 13 weeks now since Haiyan had her foot surgery. She did really great and was able to get her cast off after 3 weeks. Even though she got around well with her cast, she was able to move much more freely with it off. She still uses her walker to get around when we're out, but mostly she just crawls around the house because it's faster. Or she hops on one foot. She's getting REALLY good at hopping on one foot; I've never seen anyone do it better! She hardly had any swelling, so she was able to get molded and measured for her prosthesis a couple weeks after having her cast removed. She was healing pretty quickly at first, so we thought she might be able to start wearing it 8-10 weeks after her surgery.

The doctors told us that she could take baths and go swimming, so we did a lot of that for a few weeks. We visited Indiana for the 4th of July, and I stayed the week, so that Haiyan and Joshua could meet all their Tanner cousins, who were all visiting Gary & Shelley that week. The girls had so much fun in the pool, and Haiyan really liked swimming. She wasn't at all scared the first time she went. They had fun playing at the Tanner's during the day and staying at my parents' at night.

The prosthetist had Haiyan's foot made in a couple weeks and we went to pick it up and try it on. We had talked to her a lot about seeing her new foot, so when the time came to see it, we could tell that she was really excited. But she sometimes withdrawals when she's really happy, and she kind of did that for awhile when she tried it on for the first time. She walked around a little, holding onto bars and people's hands. It was awkward though, because she hadn't put any weight on that leg for a long time. She wasn't really excited to put it on again right away, because she thought she could get around faster without it. So, we took it home, but she was not supposed to wear it regularly until her leg is fully healed.

So, now it's been 13 weeks, and she still has a small area that is not fully healed yet. It's getting smaller and smaller, but going VERY slowly. We stopped letting her sit in the bath or go swimming, because we thought that soaking in the water was setting it back. So, it's been really hard to have to stay away from the beach and pool for the past few weeks! She's been trying her foot on once in awhile and we let her walk around to get used to it. She loves wearing it now, because she knows that she can do so much more with it on! It's so hard not to let her wear it all the time though. One day this week, she put it on when she got dressed, and I felt so bad that I had to make her take it off.

So, we're praying that she will fully heal quickly so she can be more mobile. Lesley, the kids, and I went back to Indiana about a month ago to see my cousin Kim and her son Micah. They live in California, so it was so nice to be able to spend some time with them! And this week we went to the beach, I couldn't stay away any longer! I wrapped up Haiyan's leg, and it seemed to be okay. Also, there is a picture of Joshua eating cereal for the first time. Of course Elizabeth and Haiyan had to help feed him!