The best layed plans......

Ah yes, as I wrote the other day, grandpa was supposed to have the other knee replaced on Monday. Things have changed. He went for his pre-op physical today and told Dr Brahmer that he had noticed some soreness in his shoulder on Sunday and there was some redness there this morning. She thought he should try to see Dr. Taylor but he is in Haiti so that didn't work. They called Dr. Goetz who is doing the knee surgery and he said come over and they would work him in. To make a long story shorter, he decided that we should put the surgery off and we learned that Dr. Taylor will be back in the office on Tuesday, so we have an appointment then. Goetz put him on Antibiotics and drained some fluid and had some blood work done. We will hear from that on Friday. Dr. Goetz thought Taylor may have to go in and clean it our again. We are disappointed because the shoulder had not shown any redness or problem since the surgery in the fall. We were really hoping to get the knee replaced so he could get around easier, but that will have to wait.
Hope everyone is doing ok. We had sunshine today and that is GOOD! Might get to 80 degrees tomorrow.

Any News from the rest of you?

I heard Grandpa is having surgery on his other knee in a week or so. Would love more details...

Any other news from the Tuttle clan?

Florida Pics

It's showing the pictures in the reverse order, but I suppose it doesn't matter.
Here's titles for the pics (again, in reverse order) Dolphin, View from house, Jellyfish, Ocean, Shells, Mad Ocean, Ocean, Bella sleeping on the middle console - weird dog...

Florida

Greetings to all--

We are having a lovely time on vacation.
Well, the long drive down wasn't lovely but for the most part, all 5 of us were pretty good troupers. Four fairly patient people--two w/ fairly short legs--and a fairly calm puppy--we all survived.

Erin arrived Thurs PM later than scheduled due to airline issues. She saw ALOT more of the Memphis airport than planned or desired. But after crabcakes, she was much happier!

Gulf, seashells, sun, white sand instead of snow--it's all good.

Erin, Matt and Lindsay left for home today so Dave, Bella and I are one our own for a few days.
Hopefully, Erin will be able to add some pictures.

Love, Becky

It's hard to believe that Lillian is a three y.o.!!

3 years old!

Kids are so precious. Today is Lily's third birthday--hard to believe!! And Jack is 7 months today, as well.

This morning when Lily woke up, she said, "is my birthday here?" She thought that her "birthday" meant that there'd be a party. She was expecting to see balloons, cake, etc. this morning. Bummer for her. But we did convince her to have pancakes for breakfast. Just having "cake" in their name helped :)

Then we asked what she wanted to have for supper--mac and cheese, of course, was the answer. We also suggested pizza. Then she said, "mmm, yeah, pizza." I asked her what kind she wanted, and of course it was "pepperoni." But then, "Can we get the pizza with frosting, too?" We've been to the Pizza Ranch in Waverly several times, and their cactus bread/dessert pizza is wonderful...and has frosting, of course :) So she decided that's where we're going for supper tonight.

Jack and Dan will go home, then, and Lily and I are going to go to our school's variety show. The Junior High puts this on every year; last year I wasn't able to go, but Lily and I are going to have a 'girls night out' which should be fun.

She's growing up. It's pretty neat to see. As for Jack, he's growing too. He had his 6 month appt. last week--20.5 lbs, and 28 in. long. He's in the 80th percentile somewhere for weight and length, but his head is 99th :) Lots of smarts in that head, right?!

Well, gotta get back to work. I've been in classrooms all day today, so needed a quick break to catch up. Have a super weekend; hoping for not much snow here :(

sarah

"Hatching"

Glad to hear there are some signs of spring up north, too! Last night we were looking at the opened flowers and Andrew told me there were some "almost ready to hatch" (budded out...) it was so cute! I just dropped him off at a friends' house for the morning and their tulips are coming up! Wahoo!

In other news, I start teaching a class at Webster University tomorrow night. It's an 8-week Music Appreciation class that I'm excited about. It's a fun challenge to introduce people with an interest in music to genres and styles they likely don't know. The big challenge is that it is a night class--Thursday nights from 6-9:50 p.m.!?!?! I'm going to be tired of hearing myself talk! Thankfully it is a small class (9 students), so it can and will be very interactive. And thank goodness for Youtube--there are so many great historic performances available online to help show and teach without hearing me blabber...

Daffodils are OPEN!

Yep, they were almost open yesterday and this morning they were! Wahoo! Our crocus are already gone, even. Hope the FL travelers are enjoying nice weather!

Spring Bird Sitings...

Since I don't see many birds in the city, I live off of mom's bird updates... Thought it would be fun to have everyone involved and sharing their bird sitings this spring :)
I heard a Cardinal walking to the train this week - but I couldn't figure out where he was at. I know, we have cardinals in the winter, but they don't sing in the winter like they do in the spring & summer.
Mom said she saw a bluebird fly by when she was on her way home one day this past week.

Cardinal
Bluebird

Christmas Pics?

It's been a couple months and we have all gotten back into the normal routine... Has anyone had a chance to download their pics from Christmas? I still don't have a picture of all of us cousins and the little kids. Would love to get a copy from someone!

Warming Temps!

It's supposed to get up to 61 in Chicago tomorrow.... Honestly, I'm hoping that we drop back down to cooler temps, I really don't want the midwest to have flooding like we have had in the past. Let's warm up slowly!
G'ma - your comment about water standing in places you have never seen it before... Yea, that makes me nervous! Let's drop the temps back to the 30's and let the rivers and ground catch up.

March 13-April 4

Hi All--

I want to let everyone know that Dave, Bella and I are leaving Friday for Florida in the pickup. We've rented a house on St George Island. It's off the panhandle so it prob won't be in the 80's but there won't be any snow!

Matt and Lindsay are going down w/us. Erin will fly down the following Thurs. All 3 of them will fly out Sun 3/22.
Then Erika and Adam will arrive the following Thurs; Matt, Colette, Seamie and Esme on Sat; Scott, Amy and Norah on Sun.
Hopefully, Erin will be back down for part of that week also--we're hoping for cheaper, last-minute flights.
We leave for home on Sat 4/3.

We've been planning and working towards this for several months as we have several things to celebrate this year. It was a bit of a challenge to work around various schedules/spring breaks but it seems like everyone is going to be able to make it at one time or another.

I think our US Cellular coverage is questionable but I assume there is a land-line phone in the house. I'm working on coming up w/ a phone #.

Love, Becky

Kitty Dentist???

Erin,
Just wondering if Bailey is going to need kitty dentures? I'm sure in Chicago you can find an expert kitty dentist!!!
Seriously, I'm glad she is doing so well.

Cheryl

So the latest news in my house is that Bailey had dental surgery on Tuesday and had 7 teeth removed. For some reason she has bad teeth - 6 were already gone.
She is doing really well with the recovery - I'm extremely impressed with her! She's eating food (dry food!), drinking water, no vomiting, no drooling, and taking her meds with no issues. The perfect patient!

I got a bit of a scare when the vet told me she was concerned about Bailey's potassium level during our call after the surgery. It immediately calmed my nerves when I saw the results and could tell she did not have the same type of numbers that Spencer had when she was sick. I didn't realize it, but I had really worked myself up prior to picking up Bailey worrying about kidney failure possibilities.
In addition, after getting home and settled, I was able to review the bloodwork results in more detail with Mom. It's so nice to be able to discuss these things with her and actually find out what is going on and what to be concerned about.

Sunshine!

Yes, Grandma, it does make anything better when the sun is shining! Glad to hear you had a sunny birthday. Sarah called last night and said it was so nice in NE IA that we must be sun-bathing in STL. :) Not quite that warm but the weekend and next week are supposed to be in the mid-50s! I hear the tennis court calling.

Things are getting back into a routine at our house. Andrew must check to see if the rules are the same as when he left for Keokuk (yep, sorry buddy, they are!). I keep reminding myself that Grandparents houses are places to be spoiled. The transition to a big-boy bed is going well. His favorite part is that he can get out of bed by himself. Mike had an early meeting this morning; when I was in the shower, the door suddenly flew open with cheery "Hi Mommy!" Geesh, scared me half to death! Thankfully he only exercises this new-found freedom at the appropriate times.

I'm sitting in the sunshine at a coffeeshop with a good cup of joe and a chapter to revise, so I best get to it. Enjoy watching the snow melt!
Heather

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

I hope you are having a great day!

"Welcome home, friends"

Those were the sweet, sweet words of my little boy today. We had just gotten home Bowling Green, MO where the precious cargo named Andrew was transferred back to me. He had dozed off on the drive home, but still needed some more nap. As he pulled his favorite stuffed animals and blanket out of his bag, he uttered those sweet words of welcome.

We were planning to meet Marv & Phyllis part-way on Saturday, but they called on Friday and said they were holding him ransom until today. I guess there were just too many 'adventures' left in Keokuk! They also made a trip to Cedar Falls to visit Mike's grandmother and aunt. So, it was a good 9-day(!!!) trip, I think.

Mike & I enjoyed the freedom to go out much more than usual (I think Butterscotch thought we'd abandoned him!) and I finished a chapter revision. But my goodness, I am glad to have my little boy home!

We took his crib down and set up his big-boy mattress on the floor, clad with brand-new Lightning McQueen sheets. He crawled right in and I didn't hear much until just a minute ago...gotta go!