Drum Roll Please.....

I know I'm over a week behind posting this, but "The Big Reveal" was on May 11! One day shy of 8 weeks, and the casts came off!

Let's all remember the before:



We again made the day trip to Baltimore, and arrived perfectly for our 1:30 appt. Trace was super excited to get the casts off, but very anxious and afraid as well. Definitely some mixed emotions for all of us!

In the waiting room!



We went back to the cast room, where Trace looked at the cast tech, raised his finger to his cheek and said "Let me think about it for a minute....no, I'll just keep the casts". After they were off he whispered "Mommy, it doesn't tickle like they said, it hurts." His legs were actually not AS gross as I expected, but his feet most definitely were. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. I kinda threw up in my mouth a little as I rubbed lotion on them. He didn't want his legs touched, so I didn't push the issue.

We went over for xray and then back to the casting room, where Dr. Ain came in and said that the xrays looked good and he'd see us in 2-3 months, unless we needed to come sooner. Trace really didn't move his legs at all until we were in the car well on the way back home.

On the way out of the hospital:



Once we got on the road, Trace started moving his feet and toes, then the next thing I knew, he had his leg straight in the air picking the skin off his feet. Super duper gross. Seriously. I gave him a garbage bag for the "droppings" and threw up in my mouth again when I saw the skin all over the car seat. Ick.

When we got to Hagerstown we hit the Olive Garden for dinner, where I wanted to put "real pants" on Trace, but he was nervous so only agreed to putting on shoes and socks, and continuing to wear his "cast-friendly" shorts. After we ate, he looked at me and said "I think I wanna walk out of here". So, we tried. I held all his body weight and he moved one foot then the other (kinda like those wind-up toys that have the semi-connected feet) pretty much all the way out of the restaurant. I was like "Wow, he's gonna be walking before we know it!", but he hasn't really wanted to walk much at all, and when he does he puts his butt out and keeps his legs behind him and refuses to bend his knees. Dr. Ain said he didn't need PT, but I'm heading for the pediatrician office for a prescription if it doesn't get better in the coming week.

I know I've been making you wait, but here you go, the big reveal!!!!



Look how straight! And I think his legs must be about an inch longer as well, although I haven't measured him!

Trace using the walker that my good friend loaned us (and I'm thinking he is either allergic to cats or horses, which is why his eyes are so red and puffy - everyone pray it's cats because the horses are not going away):



We all know Trace's love of anything motorized, and my husband is, in my opinion, too big of a proponent of motorized things. The week before the casts came off, the boys were in town and happened by the Suzuki dealership....the day AFTER the casts came off, this is what came home...



Yeah, a real gasoline powered 4 wheeler. Trace and Taylor LOVE it - me, not so much. John has the throttle turned way down and really keeps after them, but it still scares me!