Hedger Adventures

Liz and Lisa hit New York City: Day 2

2010-06-25T22:18:00.014-05:00

Our second day in the city ended up being much more eventful than I'd expected. As I said, I did tons of research beforehand going to the city's website looking for local activities. I saw the Puerto Rican Parade listed, and just assumed it was a local parade that lasted - an hour or so.

Well, all of you New Yorkers reading this are chuckling quite loudly. I quickly learned that this parade is second only to the St. Pady's Day Parade. Essentially, it's a day-long party where most of the city's streets are closed and police are lined at every block prepared for flared tempers that tend to arise with millions of people packed in small spaces.

That morning, we walked to American Girl doll and as we were getting close to the store - we dodged onto a closed road walking where there was no traffic. Little did I know that they were keeping pedestrians away from this area too - and a Puerto Rican dignitary was being shielded by police and guards.

I was horrified when I realized they were blocking our way and wouldn't let us turn onto 5th Avenue - 4 blocks from American Girl. See, when you're on your own - it's no big deal to backtrack and walk a few extra blocks. But when you're with a little girl who was DYING to get to the store, adding an extra few blocks becomes VERY painful.

At my expression of horror, dignitary kindly let us through and asked a New York police officer to escort us the final four blocks to American Girl. Quite cute.

It's funny because I thought it was again odd that virtually NO ONE was at American Girl. Apparently, all of the other wise parents had decided NOT to go on Sunday because of the parade.

Well, courtesy of the parade, we had the place mostly to ourselves. Liz LOVED it, and this was her favorite thing about New York. She'd been wanting one for a long time and we made her wait until her 6th birthday.

She chose Elizabeth - one of the historic dolls. The whole experience was a lot of fun. She loved going up and down all of the levels at the store.

I took a picture of the tray of ho rs' derv es they brought us, because despite the outrageous prices for the dolls and the clothes, I was pretty impressed at how cheap the lunch was in Manhattan. For $24 a person, each person got a cinabon, and then shared a tray of veggies, soft pretzels, cheeses, etc.. Then, each person gets their own entree. I went with a chicken sandwich and fries and Liz had mini hot dogs, a mini hamburger and fries. Finally, each of us got THREE deserts - mousse, a cookie and a piece of cake. Seemed like a TON of food to me! And, I wasn't expecting the food to be very good. I was actually pleasantly surprised.

Another shot with the two Elizabeths. You can see the three sweets here. We ended up taking some of them back to the hotel room. They also sang happy birthday to her even though it was a few days early. It was sweet because they gave her a sticker that said: "it's my birthday." But every time someone wished her a happy birthday, she explained to them that it wasn't her actual birthday and that it was a few days early.

Gotta love the chocolate mousse. Yummy!

When we left American Girl - imagine my surprise that the parade was still going on. And yes, an hour later after we took a break and decided to head to the Central Park Zoo - it was in full force. Liz gets horribly scared by two things - loud noises and mascots - which are the most important aspects to all parades.

When we finished at the zoo, you guessed it - the parade was still in full-force. By this point, it was raining and there was no way you could catch a cab because traffic wasn't moving. Liz didn't want to walk past the parade because of the noise and fear of mascots. I decided at that point that our best solution was to walk and we ended walking about 25 blocks! She was quite the trooper. I didn't get any shots of the parade because the whole time we were near it, I had to be very vigilant watching Liz.

But she did have fun at the central Park Zoo. Here are a few photos:

At this point, music from the parade is quite loud and Liz's covering her ears!

After that L-O-N-G walk back to the hotel, we had dinner that night at the hotel. Liz chows down on some yummy bread. They also gave her cheesecake and sang happy birthday to her. Talk about lots of birthday celebration.

She slept very well that night - our 2nd night in the city.

Liz and Lisa hit the Big Apple part 1

2010-06-21T19:28:00.027-05:00

I've been going to New York for work about four times a year and I decided to take Liz with me for my June trip. We arrived on a Saturday and stayed until Wednesday. I worked that Monday and lined up a babysitter for her in the hotel and took the rest of the week off.

We spent a long time talking about what it would be like in New York - much larger and busier even then Chicago. I was initially worried about how she'd do in New York, but as you'll see she did quite well in the Big Apple. We had a blast and she just loved it!

Our start was a bit bumpy when our flight was delayed by 1 1/2 hours on due to a thunderstorm in Chicago.

See how quickly that grin turns into an annoyed frown after our flight continued to get delayed.

Here's the yucky weather we were dealing with in Chicago.

Finally in the air and Liz took a few shots from the window seat.

Here's Liz in the air playing with my watch.

When we landed, the first spot we went to was Central Park. Liz poses for all of us!

More time at Central Park.

Liz on the Carousal at Central Park.

Her favorite spot in our room was sitting on the window-sill behind the white curtain looking down onto the city. She wooed the hotel staff when we checked in and they gave us a nice corner room with an excellent view of the city.

Liz made such an impression on the hotel staff that they sent up complimentary milk and cookies - with a hand-written note! This was Liz's expression after she'd had a cookie...or two!

Our first night there we ate outdoors at a local restaurant chain where many locals bring their dogs. Liz loved petting dogs and of course eating New York pizza.

While we travel a lot with Liz, much of it is spending time with family. So, she doesn't get to spend a ton of time at hotels. I must say the hotel experience was something she really enjoyed. I pointed out a shoe-shine kit in the bathroom. I forgot to explain that only certain types of shoes need to be shined. Sure enough, in a matter of minutes, she was shining her pink sandals. This is funny and precious - all at once.

Sandals are all bright and shiny and that marks the end of our first day in New York.

Catching up in pictures

2010-06-06T19:51:00.029-05:00

It's been a busy few months here are some pictures from this spring.

Our local library has a neat program where kids can read to the dogs. About a month ago, Liz particpated and read to several dogs for a few hours. She loved it and had a blast.

We went to Hyde Park by University of Chicago for lunch and to walk around on Mother's Day and got some cute pictures of the kids.

And, I think we've gone too long without a picture of Liz and a diapered Chance.

Liz set up this picture and she was very proud of it!

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I can't even believe that Liz is already done with Kindergarten - absolutely amazing to me. Here she is on the last day!

I thought she looked really sweet in this one with her eyes closed.

The picture below was taken of Chance on June 1, and maybe it's just me, but I feel his hair has gotten really blonde in recent weeks. I can even tell a difference in the shade of blonde below compared to some of the picture above (taken a few weeks earlier).

Easter

2010-04-04T18:20:00.010-05:00

This may mark the first holiday I've ever posted pictures so quickly. It was a whirlwind weekend because Brian and I went down to Indianpolis to watch Michigan State. We didn't go to the game, but saw it at a local watering hole. We were sad to see State lose, but of course will be rooting hard for Butler on Monday.

We got back Sunday morning in time for all of the Easter festivities.

Here are a few fun Easter poses.

Liz is still in the hunt:

Here are Liz and Chance in their "Easter duds." Liz is actually in one of her favorite dresses that she wore at Christmas time - getting lots of use out of it. Chance is wearing an Adorable suit that my friend Sue sent to us. It's his spring suit. I guess every 7-month-old needs one. HA!

Liz has a bit of a crazy expression here. But still a good one of the two of them.

Here's a really cute one of both of them. Very sweet:

Awarding achondroplasia bloggers

2010-04-01T22:12:00.005-05:00

I'm happy to report that a number of bloggers have received an award for writing about our personal experiences with achondroplasia. I'm the first to say we don't really deserve this award, because we're such inconsistent (read: bad) posters, but I'm glad that many bloggers we follow daily have been awarded and recognized.

Here's the letter from Access DNA: http://www.accessdna.com/

Dears Brian and Lisa Hedger,

You have been identified as leaders in the Achondroplasia community. By sharing your personal, first-hand experiences with this disorder on your blog (Hedger Adventures), you have helped others. AccessDNA's mission is to help increase the awareness of both rare and common genetic disorders by creating accessible and reliable information on genetic conditions. We respect your efforts and are privileged to distinguish your blog with the following award:

Winter carnival

2010-03-14T19:07:00.015-05:00

We had great fun this weekend because Liz's school had the winter carnival. She got to play all sorts of games - and got her face painted and hair temporarily dyed.

Liz loved dunking the principal and an older student in the silly shower - kind of like a dunk-tank but used indoors. You should have seen the expression on this older kid when she came up. His friend had just unsuccessfully tried to dunk him and missed all three times. Liz nailed it the first time. She also dunked the principal too.

Here's a photo of her with her hair and face painted.

And, even closer-up of the wild hair!

Another great shot of the two missing front teeth.

Does this butterfly look familiar? Every time, we go to a carnival, Liz always gets a butterfly painted on her face. Also, notice the chocolate crumbs. Liz won the cake walk twice and ended up with four pieces of chocolate-iced cake and brownies. Thank goodness, they don't give full cakes away anymore.

Here are some fun brother and sister shots. Liz loves taking off part of Chance's outfit. She's playing dress-up and playing with baby Chance.

I think it's a fair assumption here that Chance is not having as much fun as Liz.

Yep, Liz is still having a blast - Chance is not so sure.

Afterward, Liz took the camera from me and took a few pictures - She was VERY proud of this potty training picture. I think she's getting Brian's sense of humor. Hee Hee.

What's missing here?

2010-03-05T21:31:00.018-06:00

Our biggest news is Liz is losing teeth at a rather rapid pace and it's hard for the Tooth Fairy to keep up.

Oddly enough, Liz doesn't pull out her teeth even when they're really loose. She lets them dangle and dangle. Her teacher even e-mailed us about it, and at one point the principal couldn't believe these teeth were still dangling there. Two teeth hung by an apparent thread for almost two weeks.

Finally, she lost these two, and then suddenly with no warning the second upper front tooth fell a day later. That's probably how it goes. Everyone keeps asking what the Tooth Fairy gives today and in the Hedger House, she is NOT keeping up with inflation. It's a handful of quarters and a few trinkets - kid jewlery and little things like that.

Our little baby is also growing. Chance is already looking like a mature baby at six months old. Yes, he turned six months last week. Hard to believe! He's doing great - rolling everywhere. He's not quite ready to sit up or crawl but we're sure it won't be long.

We're giving him some solids now and he enjoys that. Without further ado - here are a few pictures - at long last!

Here's Liz minus two teeth - the obvious one is the top left tooth.

It was Dr. Seuss week in recognition of his birthday and every day, there was another Seuss event. On this day, she dressed as Sally from Hat in the Cat.

Here's a couple of pictures of Chance. He's still quite wobbly when he tries to sit up and is content to lay around rolling here or there.

Now, here's the money shot - Liz missing BOTH top front teeth and the lower left. Looking at this picture, I can tell she now officially needs her bangs trimmed. It'll be the first haircut since her December trim.

I think she's surveying how she's going to gobble up those cherry tomatoes - minus so many teeth. Don't worry - she managed just fine.

Chance had just finished his yummy veggies - can you tell - complete with drool and orange goo all over his shirt. All in a good day for a 6-month old!

Star Student: Love Being Little

2010-01-17T15:53:00.006-06:00

Last week, We had a big assignment for Liz. She was Star Student. Each child gets to be Star Student for one week.

It's a big deal. That kid gets to bring in their favorite belongings, have their book read in class and bring snacks one day. They also need to make a poster listing their favorite things.

That was our project a week ago Saturday. I headed to New York on Sunday and knew we needed to do this poster and I also knew it was going to take awhile. Brian ended up doing the "Take a Mouse to the Movies" poster in December while I was in New York the last time. So, it wouldn't be fair to stick him with another poster.

These projects are really more family or "parent homework" because the instructions even say, "with Mom and Dads help." This poster took more than three hours to do. And, of course if you look at the finished product, it looks like it only took us 15 minutes. Ah, well. We're not that creative.

What I liked about it was she had to answer a series of questions for the poster. Her favorite food: Pizza, of course. Favorite activities: Swimming. Someone she admires: Her cousin Daniel.

When I asked: Favorite thing about yourself, she answered without a pause: Being little.

How cool, right? I was delightfully surprised and I hope that she continues to realize that she'll have a unique view of the world.

60 happy years

2010-01-05T21:45:00.021-06:00

It's a big day for my Grandma and Grandpa Shidler. They celebrate 60 years of marriage today. Sixty years. Four children, 9 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren (with 2 more arriving in months).

Recently, I was talking with someone who is getting married in the fall and she said she was asked in pre-marriage counseling to discuss her marriage idols. The couple whose marriage she admires the most.

For me, my marriage idols are unequivocally Grandma and Grandpa. Despite all of the changes that have occurred in their lives and especially a number of health problems they've faced in the last year, they have always remained an amazing team.

It's fun to think back to when they were first married 60 years ago. Their family grew fast - perhaps faster than they ever expected.

They welcomed my dad on Jan. 1, 1951 - just days before their first anniversary. Later that same year, they welcomed my Aunt Barb into the family. Yep, you did the math right. Grandma had two babies in a year's time.

And, if you ask her about it now, she'll throw her head back laughing still not sure how they survived that crazy time. As a mom now to two young children - five years apart - I can't imagine having two in the same year. Grandma always says, it was basically like having twins.

My Aunt Dee and Uncle Wayne came later (not in the same year). That family of six went all over the country on family trips. Their children still laugh about those trips that include sibling squabbles and adventures with wildlife - at least one bear.

When their kids grew they got to enjoy their grandchildren and more had freetime together as a couple golfing and traveling.

Now, they're celebrating birthdays and milestones with the great-grand babies. They're also spending more time at home and have faced health challenges in the last year.

For a short period of time last year, Grandpa needed to stay at a nearby center for medical treatment and Grandma was at home by herself for the first time in decades.

Even though they were no more than one city block away from each other, it was difficult for them both. For the first time in their marriage, they were physically living apart from each other even if just for a brief period of time.

For the first time in nearly 60 years, Grandpa had to endure food prepared by someone other than Grandma. And Grandma couldn't get used to sleeping in her bed without Grandpa beside her.

Over the years, they've had some neat anniversary celebrations. For their 25th wedding anniversary they went to Jamaica. I was actually born while they were away, and my first postcard was from them welcoming me to the family. Grandma often joked I was her Jamaican Baby because I was born while they were in Jamaica.

Today, they'll have a low-key celebration - content to be together.

Grandma will make a nice lunch or dinner. Grandpa will likely read the newspaper while Grandma reads a book and they'll probably both catch Wheel of Fortune in between calls from relatives. They might even squeeze in an afternoon nap at some point.

And, the most important thing is they'll be together just as they have been for 60 years.

Here's a couple of pictures my cousin Debbie posted. This is Grandpa in Germany in 1946.

Here's Grandma in 1948.

Their wedding picture taking 60 years ago today.

This is their 25th wedding photo.

Grandma and Grandpa on their 50th wedding anniversary.

This is a great picture of the two of them looking at pictures Christmas 2008.

The two of them together at Christmas time 2008.

It's all about the hair!

2009-12-28T21:55:00.010-06:00

Three days before Christmas, I finally understood why Liz so badly wanted a Barbie Repunzel this year. It was her No. 1 gift request and she mentioned it no fewer than about 20 times a day. She mentioned it in her letters to Santa and to every single person she saw - who she thought might have some ability to pursade the Big Man to give her a Barbie Repunzel.

Turns out, she's really in a hair phase. For those of you who don't know - Barbie Repunzel is a Barbie doll complete with an array of long hair, short hair, and even hair clippers to cut and trim Barbie's hair.

Again, I really should have known what was coming. But there it was, three days before Christmas and Liz walks into my room with this sheepish grin. Immediately from that grin I knew she had done something bad. I look carefully at her and see that a HUGE chunk of hair on her right side is missing. Yes, she cut her hair. In retrospect, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

But it still required an emergency hair-cut appointment two days before Christmas. And, oddly enough the mood at the salon was very tense. All of the stylists know Liz and chat and talk with her. Not this time. I had forewarned them of the major hair incident and the mood was eerily quiet.

We could have kept her hair long and used "short area" to frame the face, but she was ready to go short. So, the stylist cut about 5 inches off her length. I actually think it looks quite cute.

But it took a long time, as I expected - a full hour. At one point, Liz said: "It didn't take me this long to cut my hair."

At which point, both I and the stylist explained that it was quick for her because she's NOT a professional and didn't do it properly. Ah, another one of those teaching lessons.

I took a picture of her with my cell phone when she cut it, and Brian best describes it as a police mug shot. I texted it to my mom who promptly replied that she laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes. In other words, I think you'll get a kick out of it.

Here's that mug shot...errrr picture of her when she cut her hair. Look on the right side.

Here's the new do, complete with a similar grumpy expression and of course, a chocolate mustache. Priceless.

Ah, yes, Christmas morning wouldn't be complete without her Barbie. At first, I thought this was Barbie Repunzel, but this was her 2nd most-requested gift the Barbie Musketeer. I wanted to post this one because it shows how cute her hair looks - and yes, we get a smile. Don't worry - she did get a Barbie Repunzel and we chatted for a long time about how she should not cut her hair until she receives proper taining.

Catching up in pictures

2009-11-10T21:40:00.020-06:00

In celebration of my new laptop, which makes uploading pictures MUCH faster than the 6-year-old computer, I'll throw out some pictures from the last few months.

Here's a great photo of Liz and my dad when the three of us went camping this summer in Bremen, Ind.

Here are some really adorable pictures of Liz on her first day of Kindergarten.

Chance at about five weeks old.

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays and Brian is our expert carver.

Chance is snoozing during the pumpkin festivities.

Wait a minute... - He's awake...briefly...

On the Friday before Halloween, the Kindergartners got to dress up for school. I volunteered to help out with Liz's "Falloween" party. I kept trying to come up with a creative costume and ultimately gave up and decided to be a bag of leaves. She's a beautiful princess fairy.

Getting back to normal

2009-09-28T09:05:00.026-05:00

Hard to believe but young Chance Hedger is a month old now. The past month has been a whirlwind. We've been thrown back into the world of sleepless nights, poopy diapers and of course adorable baby coos.

Actually, after a brief period of having his days and nights completely turned around, he's doing much better now. Liz still has a mild case of Chance-itis (as we call it), but she too is adjusting as well.

Chance seems very mellow to us, but in recent days has shown that he too has Liz's firecracker personality. He just may not show it as often as her...give him time...

The five year age difference is good because Liz is able to communicate her anxieties about having another sibling better than a kid who might be only two or three and can't chat as well. Liz has asked us if we love her as much as we love him. We have spent extra time reassuring her of our love and have done some special things with her too.

I took Liz to the apple orchard, to lunch and the mall one Saturday for some munch-needed mommy & Liz time that also seemed to help.

She tries to "help" with her baby brother and is very proud of him, but if he's crying a lot, she won't hesitate to say: "Will someone please take care of this crying baby!"

School is going very well for her. Not surprisingly, her chatty behavior has caused a few problems at school but overall she's doing great. We were so worried about her meeting friends and so far that's not a problem at all. She's becoming good pals with another kindergartner across the street. Yesterday, two third-graders who live down the road came over and wanted to play with Liz. So, a bunch of kids played outside for quite some time, which was loads of fun for Liz. Then, she played inside with her friends from across the street.

Overall, this experience with Chance has been so different compared with Liz - mostly because we haven't been going to the doctor multiple times each week. The only medical concerns so far were his being jaundice (Liz never was), and his weight. Liz never had problems with her weight. Chance was below his birth weight for almost three weeks - which is longer than doctors want. They want children to be at birth-weight by two weeks old. At a month old, he's probably 9 pounds, which is great.

He was sleeping so much the first few weeks and I had to wake him up to feed him. Now, he's eating quite well.

Our big excitement during the delivery was Brian passing out. Right after Chance was born, Brian held the baby and suddenly began to feel very warm and hot. As soon as he said he wasn't feeling well, he handed the baby over to an intern, and I told him to put his head between his knees. In the span of 15 seconds, he was out cold. Luckily, he didn't hit his head on the floor. Whew!

When he came too, he even managed to crack a joke, saying he felt like Robin Williams in one of those bad movies (I think it was 9 Months). The medical team had him crawl out and called over the emergency team from nearby Northwestern Memorial. The nurses kept urging him to go to the hospital for more tests to make sure there were no major problems. Brian said he wanted to talk to me before making a decision. However, they wouldn't let him in the surgery room again (wise decision).

Keep in mind I'm still being operated on in the surgical room. All of a sudden, the anesthesiologist hands me his cell phone and says: "Your husband wants to talk to you." So, here I am completely cut open and now talking on the cell phone to Brian.

One of the doctors says in a surprised voice, "Lisa are you on a cell phone?" There's a curtain over me and the doctors couldn't see the cell phone, but could hear me talking.

That might have been one of the first times a patient who was undergoing surgery was talking on a cell phone. It was wild. I explained that the nurses wanted Brian to go to the ER for further testing. And it was funny because everyone in the surgical room all said that this happens all of the time and he should be fine. A turkey-sandwich seemed to be the only cure he needed.

Oddly enough, he hadn't seen any part of the surgery because of that big curtain. The issues contributing to the Great Pass Out - were a warm room, a warmer baby, plus the fact that he hadn't slept well the night before because he was nervous and he hadn't eaten anything.

He stayed out of the surgical room and was eating a turkey sandwich when Chance and I arrived in recovery!

Here are some pictures taken by a professional photographer at the hospital when he was two days old.

Here's some photos we've taken.

This was from the hospital:

He finally decided to keep those eyes open for a shot in the hospital...but only for a few minutes. Being a baby is obviously very hard work!

Here's big sis Liz holding her baby brother at home. She also did visit him at the hospital. He was three days old here.

The whole family

Here's a nice picture of Liz sleeping...just to show that Chance isn't the only one getting some mid-day naps!

Here's Chance at a month old:

Chance with Aunt Helen.

He's really alert now.

Chance Hedger arrives!

2009-08-24T14:20:00.013-05:00

It only took a couple of hours, and one passed out papa in the O.R., but Chance Curtis Hedger has officially joined our happy family. He was born at 9:11 a.m. Central, weighed 8 lbs, 1 oz., measured 20 inches long and has strawberry blonde hair -- which goes great with his Spartan green MSU hat.

Here are some pics from here at the hospital. I tried getting these up on Facebook, but alas it wouldn't let me post them. The O.R. nurses were kind enough to take a few shots of him in the O.R. for me, and didn't take any shots of me, laid out on the floor after the big passing out incident. Also, you will notice that it is rare to catch my son with his eyes open. He likes to sleep I think. He gets it from both of us.

Lisa is doing well in her recovery. Much more relaxed process than with Liz, but this one also wasn't an emergency C. Happy birthday, son. You're zero and counting, buddy.

Excitement

2009-08-23T18:53:00.003-05:00

Talk about excitement.

Last week, Liz had her first day of Kindergarten and tomorrow we welcome the newest member of the Hedger family.

My c-section is schedule for early Monday and we hope to get pictures out sometime on Monday of Chance Curtis Hedger. He seems to be doing quite well and we're eager to meet him.

We've been lucky to have a lot of friends pass on boys' baby clothes so we feel very fortunate!

Our other excitement of course was Liz starting Kindergarten. This, as every parent knows, is always harder for the parents! Liz has been great at school. We walked the first few days and then she took the bus on Friday.

I was a bit nervous about her taking the bus with the first step being so tall. The bus system didn't impress me early on because they weren't returning my calls and weren't being proactive in coming up with a safe plan. Luckily, her principal Mr. D. is a tremendous advocate and even called the day before school to ask about the bus system's plan. When I told him what they had created - which was essentially nothing - he said: "that's not acceptable" and we chose to walk the first few days.

It was good to walk her because then we got to go to the classroom. On Thursday, Mr. D., her teacher Mrs. M, and someone from the bus system had Liz get on the bus several times to see if she needed a stool or other assistance. Turns out she didn't even need a stool.

Friday she took the bus both ways and didn't have any problems at all.

The bus situation is kind of funny because neither Brian nor I were huge fans of the bus as children, but this was important to Liz. So, we wanted to make sure that Liz had the same opportunity to use the bus as all other kids. And, of course she was quite proud of it and excited to do it.

Mr. D. also bought the stools for her classroom. Getting stools can be trial and error and a few of them didn't work, but they've gotten additional ones that are much better. We feel quite lucky that this principal realizes that Liz needs to do the same things as all other students and is making the necessary changes to ensure that happens. Of course, I realize that the law requires that school systems accommodate for all children, but I also realize that not all school officials are as on the ball and as helpful as Mr. D.

Her teacher, Mrs. M is also great, and we've met her several times. She's also e-mailed us and that's been a huge help to stay in touch with Liz's Kindergarten activities.

Next time I post, we'll have lots of information about the newest Hedger.

Kindergarten here we come

2009-08-09T10:31:00.004-05:00

It is truly hard to believe that Liz will be starting Kindergarten on Aug. 19. The last weeks have remained crazy as we've tried to hurry and prepare the house for Baby Chance's arrival and prepare Liz for school.

She had registration last week and Brian took her and it went as well as can be expected with him describing it as a nightmare panic-inducing trip. As I said, it went as well as can be expected.

On Friday, we met with her principal and did the "walk-through" to discuss what types of adaptations we'd need for the school. This actually did go quite well. I know Liz is the first Little Person student to attend the elementary. So, I was worried about how they'd react, but the principal even had considered some issues I hadn't - such as a stool by the chalk board if the teacher has students write on the chalk board.

I'd gone to the LPA website beforehand and saw a check-list of accommodation issues and modified that list and gave it to the principal. I also wrote a one-page letter to the teacher which he said he'd pass around to all of her teachers (music, PE, etc..). And, finally I gave them a one-page fact-sheet that I'd modified from several achondroplasia fact sheets you can find on the web.

May seem like a lot of paperwork, but it's only 3 pages and I tried to make it very easy to read and focused on simple concepts.

Everything in the class can be accommodated quite easily with step stools. For now, she's fine letting her feet dangle from the chair, but I think that will likely change. When it does, we'll just get a stool for her feed. She can actually even reach a few of the drinking fountains in the hallway, which is great too!

Our only two issues are the cafeteria and the bus. The kids slide their trays along this long counter in the cafeteria to get food and it's way too high for Liz to reach. If we had a stool, it would have to be about 6-feet-long to reach the entire length of the cafeteria counter, plus very wide so that she could walk across it. So, for now we'll have someone in the cafeteria help her. I'd prefer her to be independent but for now, I think this will work.

Now, the bus is another issue too. I'm concerned about the HUGE first step on the bus. We're still debating and might walk her to school because it's only a few blocks. However, she does want to take the bus so I'd like to figure out a plan so she can take the bus. Brian or I can help her on the bus from our home, but then someone would need to help her off when she gets to school and help her on again at the end of the school day.

Liz is very excited about starting Kindergarten and our school did something new this year which was a HUGE help for incoming Kindergartners. They held a weekly summer program for 2 1/2 hours and split the children by age. So, Liz got to meet lots of other students as well as the teachers. She spent time in the school and got a great feel for the school. She's also quite comfortable with the school and by the second week, the principal knew her name.

The principal is very jovial and approachable to the students -giving them high-fives and joking with them a lot. He was also very candid in saying that we might have to make adjustments throughout the year and we agreed saying that could likely occur too.

Ideally, Baby Chance will wait until Aug. 24 so I can be there for Liz's first day of Kindergarten or if he decides to come early then we want it to be this week so I'll be back home for Kindergarten, but you just never know!

My doctor has essentially said that now since I'm 37 weeks pregnant, Baby can come any day. So, we'll see. As you can imagine, Liz is just so excited about being a big sister! I'm not sure what she's more excited about - Kindergarten or being a big sister - probably a close tie.

Summer of surgeries

2009-07-19T19:27:00.004-05:00

It's been a terribly busy summer and that's mostly to blame for my non-existent posting. Brian had oral surgery with a painful extraction of wisdom teeth that were removed three weeks ago. The teeth were essentially sideways and he had pain so the teeth had to go. The procedure was more painful because of the difficult extraction.

On Wednesday, Liz had her tonsils removed, her adenoids shaved and another set of tubes put in her ears. We couldn't have her adenoids completely removed because she has a split uvula and there was potential for speech problems.

Her tonsils are huge and seem to be to blame for her destructive sleep apnea as well as the adenoids. We didn't expect to notice much improvement for a few weeks because of the post-surgical recovery time but surprisingly we have seen her snoring and breathing is already more quiet than before.

The recovery for tonsils has been much more challenging than it is for tubes. She felt horrible for a few days and even had some post-bleeding on Thursday but today felt much better for the first time. Some people tell me it only takes two days to recover from tonsils and others say two weeks. For her, it's probably somewhere in between. She's four days out now and seems much more like herself.

I loaded the freezer with Popsicles, ice cream, sundaes, sherbet and pop ups and she really hasn't eaten hardly any of the cold stuff. I'm not sure why, but she's favoring soft solid foods like cupcakes and soft pasta. It's surprising and a little annoying because now I'm eating all of the cold treats!

We decided not to take her to summer camp for two weeks, but I have a feeling she's really going to be bored by the second week at home, and we're staying away from swimming too for the time being.

I'll be the last person in our family to have surgery and that will be the c-section to deliver Baby Chance on Aug. 24 - five weeks away - unless he surprises us and come early. At this point, we decided on a c-section because of the complications with Liz and some other issues. I'd prefer a natural birth, but the doctor believes this would be better for the baby.

Liz will start Kindergarten on Aug. 19 (isn't that early) and we'll be around to help her with school and then the following Monday Chance should arrive.

She turned five on June 17 and we had a big birthday bash for her, and she's quite excited about starting Kindergarten plus being a big sister. Quite the big summer for her!

One of these days, I'll actually post her birthday pictures (hopefully before Baby Chance arrives).

2009-06-09T19:03:00.005-05:00

Hey all,

After finding some new photos on rolls of film that we hadn't developed in literally ages, almost a decade in some instances, I took a trip down Memory Lane today while Lisa was at work and Liz was at summer pre-school camp.

Then, I started playing around with the Windows media function on my laptop to see what I could come up with. What became of it was a compilation of newer and older Liz photos that I set to one of my favorite artist's music.

I didn't even think about copyright stuff -- and I'm a writer! -- until Facebook took the video down because of "alleged copyright infringement."

So, after feeling like a moron, I decided to take this video down too -- at least until I hear back from the artist's people either granting me permission to use the song or telling me to buzz off and don't even think about it etc.

Sorry.

-- Bri

Preschool graduation

2009-05-30T14:48:00.023-05:00

It's hard to believe but Liz had her preschool graduation on Friday night and will be starting Kindergarten this fall.

We've finally found the fire-wire, instrumental for downloading our own pictures. So, without further ado, here's some Liz pics from recent weeks. We'll end with a couple from the preschool graduation. It was dark in there and the video turned out much better but the few pics we got were cute.

Here are some pictures from our camera of the carnival at University of Chicago in Mid May. Here's Liz with her aunt Helen and Cousin Stephen. Helen and Liz are showing off their orange wrist-bands, which allow them to go on one of the inflatables.

Here's another great shot of Liz's face painted with that adorable butterfly. I love that photo.

Brian and Liz enjoy a train ride at the carnival at University of Chicago.

A great picture of Liz and Brian at the carnival.

Liz wears her new Princess helmet and knee pads with her traditional tricycle for her Trike-A-thon a week ago. The proceeds went to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.

Daddy adjusts the Princess helmet to ensure it meets proper Trike-A-Thon regulations.

Now, she's trying on the brand new Princess bike at the trike-a-thon and taking it out for a spin.

Liz, our budding photographer took this photo of me. At the time I was 5 1/2 months pregnant.

Earlier this month, Brian and Liz practice softball and T-ball in the backyard.

She's practicing her batter's stance and looking at Daddy to see if she's got it right.

For Mother's Day we went to Goshen and spent some time with my family. Here's a shot of the ladies.

Liz and that smile.

Here's Liz and her preschool buddies, the Koalas. These pictures were dark but even though it may look like she's taking a pick here, I believe she was following the motions of the song. They performed a poem and sang several songs.

Here's our preschool graduate afterward quite proud. She then proceeded to munch on cookies and punch from cups that said, "09 grad."

Fabulous Carnival - except for the Bird Man

2009-05-26T19:00:00.010-05:00

The weekend before Memorial Day, my in-laws were in town and we spent all day Saturday and Sunday at University of Chicago - which was quite a blast. My nephew Stephen goes there and on that Saturday they had a carnival with free burgers, ice cream and all sorts of carnival food including fried Twinkies and cotton candy. They also had inflatable rides.

Liz had a blast and got her face painted, went on several rides, including an adorable train. It all went perfectly until University Of Chicago's mascot, The Phoenix, started strutting his stuff. Now, Liz understands it's a man in a costume, but that didn't matter. She was terrified, and I mean terrified into hysterical tears every time the Bird Man was near.

At one point my nephew Daniel was posing with the Phoenix showing off his tattoos (see below) and Liz was still terrified of the Bird Man crying and running away from him. Keep in mind she's seen her cousin Daniel in his military combat attire and didn't flinch. But this is a strange man in a strange outfit and it's all quite different. Let's just say if she saw Bird Man 50 feet out, she began crying.

As we were resting taking a well-needed break from all of the food we'd ingested in such a short period, I, the pregnant lady, decided to venture out for some more food - because there's really no such thing as eating too much food at a carnival. I left the group to wonder around, and I saw the Bird Man and heading right toward Liz.

I had to make an immediate choice. Do I just walk by him and hope that he doesn't head straight for Liz - causing her to crumble in tears - or do I dare try to communicate with a mascot whose code of ethics does not allow him to speak aloud.

That's right - I suddenly found myself speaking with a large human in a bird costume - who seemed to want to help but could do nothing but use his arms pointing the same way the person directing traffic points his arms to the left and right and by the end you're so confused you have no idea which way to go.

Finally, he kept pointing toward Liz and I kept shaking my head, saying NO NO - don't go in that direction. And, suddenly, I felt like the traffic guy pointing my arms high above my head trying to show him where he should go. In just a few minutes of this very-odd communication, Liz eventually saw me talking to the bird man and certainly became quite concerned. Fortunately, I did somehow quite clumsily manage to direct Bird Man into another direction.

I still don't understand why the "no speaking" is so important to mascots but Brian maintains that Bird Man is forbidden by all Mascot rules to speak to me and he couldn't make an exception - even if it meant saving a little girl from more trauma. By the end, she was probably traumatized just seeing her mommy so near the scary Bird Man.

Here are some pictures - courtesy of my sister-in-law Helen since we've still got some technical difficulties here. But you should be able to make out a pretty nice baby bump!

Here's a great one of Liz with her face painted. She really wanted the butterfly but the line at face-painting was probably about an hour-long. It didn't look that long with only about 7 people in front of us but with only 2 painters and some of the creations taking 15 minutes, the time ads up. I decided to wonder around while she waited with Brian and I found a face-painter with NO line. So, we dashed over there, and they did a most excellent job on the butterfly.

Here's Liz and I stuffing our faces - me more than her!

No, Liz wasn't swimming at the carnival. She was in swim classes at our local Y and here's a cute picture my sister-in-law got of her.

Here's a picture of Brian, my brother-in-law Curt, Liz and myself.

Here's the infamous Bird Man with my nephew Daniel. While this picture was being taken, Liz was sobbing hysterically running away from the Bird Man.

Caution: Dad on a Mission

2009-05-24T12:31:00.002-05:00

Below is one of the columns Brian just wrote on his new blog, postcards from the Hedge. He actually took a difficult situation for us and wrote a pretty hysterical column about it.

Once you get past the bleeps and rants about the quality of products made overseas, you'll find an incredibly heart-warming story of a dad who will go to any lengths for his daughter.

First, I'd like to apologize to the Chinese. Sort of.

In the midst of feverishly scrambling to assemble a small, pink princess bicycle in the parking lot of my daughter's pre-school recently, I might have said a few things about the Chinese that weren't exactly complimentary.

It didn't help that the tool kit I bought with the bike didn't include clamps, which would have come in handy considering the (bleeping) Chinese just had to use bolts that weren't made with any human measurement scale.

Once I figured out that the Chinese (bleepers) who assembled this pink piece of (bleep) designed the pedal bolts to tighten opposite of the "righty tighty" method, everything was fine.

That's when I realized that I may have slightly over-reacted, despite losing skin off my fingers hopelessly attempting to tighten those (bleeping) bolts with my bare freaking hands.

Thanks a lot, China!

Maybe next time I should just scrape off a few lead-based paint chips and eat them until the lead drives me stone cold crazy!

But I digress. Also, I should probably explain how I got to the point where I was frantically monkeying with a child's bike in a parking lot.

You see, Friday was "Trike-A-Thon" day at Liz's pre-school. She had been looking forward to it all week. The premise was to teach the kids about bike safety while also raising money for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

Liz was supposed to get people to pledge a certain amount of money per lap that she completed on her tri-cycle at the school's playground course. Fair enough. Her pledge-givers (we, her family) decided to pledge a set amount, and all was good until we got to school.

Liz and I walked in together. She carried the shiny, new "Dora The Explorer" helmet and knee pads that she and my wife, Lisa, had picked up the night before. Liz was so proud. One of her classmates even commented about how "cool" her new helmet was.

And then, after my pre-requisite hug goodbye, it was off to place her tri-cycle out where her class' bikes were to be stored until 11 a.m. – the time when her class, the "Koalas," hit the open road for the exciting, thrilling "Trike-A-Thon."

It was approximately 9:45 when I got to the "Koalas" trikes, which turned out to be actual bikes, complete with training wheels and horns and pom-pon stuff sticking out of the handles.

Liz's "bike" was an actual trike, like the kind two and three-year olds use.

It was approximately 9:46 when my heart broke.

At that point, Liz had the only tri-cycle in her class. She has a form of dwarfism, and her tiny legs could barely reach the pedals of her tri-cycle until last summer, when she turned 4. She stands about 35 inches tall, which pales in comparison to her friends.

We'd never thought of getting her an actual bike, even a really small one that she might be able to handle with training wheels. So, we let her use that trike and never thought twice.

Not until Friday, that is. The thought of Liz getting out there with the other kids, and noticing that she had the only "little kid's" bike just about ripped me apart. I called Lisa. We cried.

I said, "There is a practical way to handle this and an impractical way to handle this."

The practical solution was to hope for the best and see about getting her a bike later. The impractical way was for me to rush over to Meijer's and get her a bike, then assemble it – all before that 11 a.m. deadline.

Well, if you've read this far, you know which one I picked. Soon I was on my way to the store, tailgating an old lady who I swear hit her brakes about 315 times in one three-block stretch of downtown Crown Point.

Immediately I thought about the recent U.S. News & World Report study showing where the nation's worst drivers are. They ranked Indiana in the 20s among states, but they missed this lady – who easily could have ranked 10th all by herself.

It was almost 10 a.m. when I got to the store and started looking at bikes. All of the pre-assembled jobs were too huge for Liz, even the smallest ones. Dejected, I started to leave before noticing even smaller bikes in boxes.

On the boxes were notices stating three words that have made many dads cry and pee their pants upon reading them: "Some assembly required."

Those dads weren't the son of Lee Hedger, though, who was widely known around our part of Brighton, Mich., as the real life "Mr. Goodwrench."

In a flash, I did the math in my head. It was at least 15 minutes back to the pre-school parking lot, which would give me roughly 25 minutes to assemble that (bleeper) and roll it out to Lizzy and the Koalas (which Dave Barry would think is an excellent name for a rock band).

"If I'm going to do this, I need tools!" I thought, rushing off to the tool aisle.

There, I grabbed a gray box that touted its 144 piece tool set. Would you believe that none of those pieces included pliers?

Also, they must have been Norwegian tools, because not one of those 144 pieces ended up fitting correctly on any of the (bleeping) Chinese hardware that came with the bike. Of course, I didn't find that out until I'd thrown the focker into the trunk of my car and sped off toward the school.

Wouldn't you know it? More fogies puttering along at 20 mph or less! Damn! It was pushing 80 degrees outside. Inside my air-conditioned Sebring, I started to sweat.

"You people are going to break my little girl's heart," I muttered. "Oh, but at least you know where the brake pedal is. This has to be what it's like to live in Florida."

Somehow, I pulled into the lot around 10:25 (I really shaved some time off after tailgating an elderly couple so bad they pulled over to let me pass. Sorry, little girls take precedence people).

Before you could say "communism" I had that pink metallic Chinese handiwork out of the box and nearly slapped together. Front tire? On. Seat? On and secured. Handle bars? On, tightened and straight. Pom-pon thingys? Jammed into the handles.

All was ready to go except for that blasted left pedal, which I was fighting with when my wife pulled up shortly before 11.

"If I had a (bleeping) hammer, I'd just hammer this (bleeper) in there and be done with it," I snorted. "(Bleeping) Chinese. Everything's made in China … and it's made like crap!"

"Do you want me to go see if they have a hammer or something?" Lisa said.

"Yes. Yes. That would be good. A hammer," I gasped. "See if they have a hammer. I'll pound on it until it fits! Oh, and see about some pliers!"

She and our unborn son, Chance, headed off on their mission and returned with the hammer -- which I then began to use frantically, as if our very lives depended on me getting that pedal in there. It didn't work.

"Son of a (bleep)!" I snapped. "It's not working! Piece of (bleep)! This is all the Chinese's fault, you know. This is their way of sticking it to us … by making (bleepy) pieces of (bleep) like this pink (bleeper) right here. (Bleep) you, China."

In my head, I thought about last summer's Olympics in Beijing, China. I thought about all the high-tech laser wizardy, graceful movements and other glam from the opening and closing ceremonies.

"They can do all of that crap," I thought, "but they can't make a bolt fit into a hole for (bleep)!"

I squeezed my fat little fingers around the bolt and turned -- to no avail.

"If only this stupid tool set had come with pliers," I muttered.

"Oh, do you want me to go ask them if they have some pliers?" Lisa said.

"Didn't I say to ask them for some pliers before?" I snapped, clearly on the verge of defeat by the Chinese. "Yes, go see if they have some pliers or something for this (bleeping) Chinese (bleeper)."

And then, something magical happened. Just as Lisa returned with the pliers, I turned the bolt the opposite way. It went into place with ease. I could sense those Chinese bike makers shaking their heads and laughing at me, somewhat vindicated.

I didn't care.

The pedal crisis solved, I wheeled the bike over to the race course proudly. Liz was happily pedaling her trike around the track with a huge smile on her face, looking about as cute as anything I've ever seen – a little blur of helmet and knee pads. As it turned out, other Koalas kids had trikes, too.

I didn't care. I was a man who had conquered an impossible mission, and backward Chinese engineering, to save the day. I wanted badly to stick out my chest, grunt and scratch myself -- but refrained.

Liz pedaled closer to where I'd parked her new bike, and I told her it was hers.

"That's MY bike, Dad?" she said. "Really, Dad? It's all mine?"

"Yeah, baby … it's all yours."

Thanks, China.

A new funny blog

2009-05-21T08:38:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let you all know that my funny husband has launched his own blog. I think he'll be updating it every couple of days or so - probably more often than I do.

As most of you know, Brian is a pretty amazing writer and he's already posted some pretty funny columns that will bring a smile to your face. This won't be the same type of family-blog I write and he'll touch on all sorts of topics as you'll see.

Check it out. I'll put it on my blog scroll too....

http://www.postcardsfromhedge.blogspot.com/

Weight Gain

2009-05-19T19:37:00.006-05:00

Today, I had one of those unbelievable conversations. Brian always maintains that people say the most remarkable things to me, and this is the perfect example.

I was in the city today and I had an OBGYN appointment and afterward I went to a nearby juice bar for a turkey sandwich and mango smoothie. After I placed my order, and was quietly waiting for the smoothie, the college-aged young lady behind the counter said to me: "Is it true you get weight gain when you're on the pill?"

Huh? My immediate thought was she thinks my baby bump was created by eating a few too many donuts and the birth control pill. Oh No! Do I need to start wearing those cheesy shirts that say: "One in the Oven" and "Passenger on Board?"

Finally, after I was able to respond, she did seem to realize I was pregnant and apparently that's why she felt comfortable asking me the question. I guess she thought that as a pregnant woman I should know all about weight gain - on the pill - off the pill, etc.. Or, perhaps she thought that pregnant women are just experts in all types of female related-issues.

She's not the only one to make these types of comments. I'm now at the official part of pregnancy where these "fun" comments are just rolling in.

A few weeks ago, when I mentioned to another pregnant woman at a store that I was pregnant her response was: "Oh, I couldn't tell at all." Now, I don't really believe that because I certainly look like I have a bun in the oven - as the shirts say.

But then, the same day in the same shirt, our insurance saleswoman made the comment: "Wow, you've really popped" which is a polite way of saying: "You're GIGANTIC. You're just HUGE."

Now, I KNOW that I have to post pictures so you can all judge for yourselves. They're on the way...just as soon as I can find the fire wire to download the pictures.

It's official

2009-05-11T19:12:00.006-05:00

We thought the idea of keeping the baby's sex a secret and finding out on his/her birthday would be a delightful surprise, but then as we were looking at ultrasound on the large 20-inch flat-screen TV , we just had to know.

It's a boy. Chance Curtis Hedger is set to arrive around the end of August. We'll probably call him Chance, or maybe CC and as he gets older, he could always use the slightly more dignified, C. Curtis Hedger if he chooses. There's lots of options with the name, and Brian's family has a history of C.C. Hedger - dating back to Christopher Columbus Hedger - who was a great great uncle of Brian's.

Baby Chance was quite active during the last ultrasound and apparently will be another chatty Hedger. He spent most of one-and-a-half-hour ultrasound with his mouth open gabbing.

Everything looked great at the ultrasound. It was taken at 22 weeks. It's still a bit early to know much about bone length, but right now the doctor says everything is in the average range. We had Liz's last ultrasound at 24 weeks and she was still in average ranges. Basically, that means that babies grow a great deal in those final weeks of a pregnancy and achondroplasia is generally detected in the final trimester of a pregnancy. The doctor wants another ultrasound closer to the arrival date.

I told Liz that Chance can hear us talking now. And, everytime she talks he's getting used to her voice. She wanted to be sure he'll know her voice. Her approach is to yell at my stomach: "Hi Baby, I'm ELIZABETH HEDGER. I'm your big sister. You will clean up all of my toys." OK. Just kidding about the last part about the toys. But she does yell her name.

She's done this a dozen or more times, and now she's just starting to think that he may start to recognize her voice.

It's cute because every evening when Brian's reading to her, Baby Chance kicks quite a bit - picking up on Liz and Brian's voices and making sure we know he's part of the family.

Catching up

2009-04-19T11:46:00.005-05:00

The good news is Baby Hedge is actively moving and kicking now every day. I'm 21 weeks pregnant and Liz is amazed to see my belly get bigger and bigger.

It was funny to see Liz's reaction when I told her the baby was kicking me. She knows she's not supposed to kick and I could tell she didn't understand why it was OK for the Baby to kick and not OK for her to kick. So, once I explained that this is how the baby lets us know he/she is moving and healthy, she was thrilled to put her hand on baby and feel for kicks.

Brian took her for her hearing test last week and luckily her hearing is 100% back to normal from the tubes. Unfortunately, it looks like her ears are already rejecting the tubes, which really stinks. But we'll play it by ear (ha ha).

We also might need to have her adenoids and tonsils removed because of her loud snoring and problems breathing but we'll monitor that situation closely too.

Unfortunately, we've been hit by the brutal economy and Brian was laid off nearly two weeks ago. We weren't surprised given the economy and the state of journalism publications now days, but it's still a challenge.

Luckily, he's a pro at freelancing and he'll get a break from the long commutes to the city (2 hours one way). So, we're getting more family time together. Also, when Liz finishes preschool in May, she'll be able to stay home with Daddy.

And, as many of you know, (from Brian's guest-writing appearances on this blog) he's well known for his snarky, fun and sarcastic writing and I think he'll be starting up a blog too. I'll post his address once he officially unveils it.

And, before I get requests for it, I promise we'll post some prego pics. soon too!

Big News

2009-03-27T09:25:00.003-05:00

When we were in Virginia Beach last May, Liz surprised my friends and myself by announcing that she wanted two Mommys. Her explanation was quite simple - She wanted me as her main mommy to play with her, and the other mommy to take care of a baby if we had one.

Well, now we're having another baby, but no, we're not getting another mommy. I'm almost 18 weeks pregnant so well into the 4th month of pregnancy.

All has been going well. I've just been really tired, but everyone says that's normal for a second pregnancy. The docs are a bit more cautious with this pregnancy and we've had a few ultrasounds and Baby Hedge looks quite great. The baby is due at the end of August and likely will come right around when Liz starts Kindergarten. They'll be five years apart.

Liz is very excited to be a big sister. She's even said to me, "I can't wait for the baby to come to help me clean up my toys." She's going to have to wait for that for a long time.

As most of you know, it's very rare for an average-height couple to have two children with achondroplasia but with that said, we're still at a higher risk of having another baby with achondroplasia. Though, the percentages are low.

We'll probably do a couple more ultrasounds when Baby Hedge is bigger and we might even find out if it's a boy or girl!

Successful surgery

2009-03-13T15:43:00.007-05:00

We rose early this morning and headed to one of the Children's Memorial hospitals for the 7:45 a.m. surgery. Liz was excellent. We'd talked to her a lot about how they would put a mask on her to help her sleep and then she'd have the surgery so she could hear better.

There were plenty of toys for her to play with, but when the little boy's surgery before her ended up going longer, she got bored. She kept saying: "When am I going to have surgery?"

Her doctor reported that she had a great deal of thick fluid, which was obviously causing the hearing loss. This was her third surgery and she was a pro - though she had her first when she was less than a year old and her second when she was only two. So, this will probably be the first one she'll remember.

They had suggested giving her some drugs before the anesthesia, but since she's older and was prepared for it, we turned them down. Turns out she was excellent. I went back with her while they helped put her to sleep with the mask and she didn't even cry at all.

Seventeen minutes later when we went back to see her, she was happily sucking on a Popsicle. Of course, she did get some of the side effects of the anesthesia - the grumpiness. We're all a bit tired, but she's been fabulous.

She's still said, "I can't hear you," a few times. It just might take a day or two for all of her hearing to resume. But on the bright side, she did remark to me, "Mommy, things sound very different." I'm hopeful that means things are louder. There have been times I've spoken softly to her just to see if she can hear me, and I think she can.

Here's a picture of her before the surgery. She's getting a bit impatient waiting for it to happen. But still in pretty good spirits.

This was a photo from a few weeks ago after we had her hearing tests and appointment with her doctor. We always try to do something fun after medical appointments. She was eating a most delicious double-chocolate cupcake across from Children's Memorial's main hospital campus. This time, we had to take it easy on food - just in case she might get sick, but if she's feeling fine, we'll get something special for her tomorrow.

Mommy, I can't hear you!

2009-03-12T11:24:00.003-05:00

It became quite apparent to us in the last month that Liz simply can't hear us. At first, I thought it was "selective" hearing loss.

For instance, I might say, "Liz, I need you to clean up your room." Her response: "Mommy, I can't hear you."

Sure, you can't hear me, I thought. Of course you can hear me.

Well, it became very obvious that in fact she can't hear me because no matter what I say, she can't hear me most of the time. A lot of times, she doesn't even respond to me simply because she can't even hear me talking.

It also became clear at school. Often times, we'd be walking into her school and a friend behind us, would say hello. She wouldn't even respond because she couldn't hear them. Her teacher even commented about this to me.

So, we took her to Children's Memorial in Chicago two weeks ago to see her Ear Nose Throat doctor and got her hearing tested. It was confirmed that she has moderate hearing loss on the left side and severe loss on the right side. They also said that with her hearing loss it would be a huge safety issue in the summer because her hearing is so bad she won't be able to hear vehicles behind her.

The doctor believes the culprit is a huge amount of fluid in her ears from an ear infection in January. So, we're going to do the surgery for tubes early tomorrow morning and are anticipating her hearing should return to normal again.

I'm a bit worried because she has a cough and we all know how strict the doctors are about not doing surgery on kids if they even have a sniffle. However, her pediatrician is convinced the cough is being caused by the fluid and the cough won't go away until the ear fluid goes away.

She's had tubes before - and all has gone well - so we're hopeful that the same will be true this time.

And most importantly, I'm looking forward to her hearing again so we don't have to practically shout around the house.

First Trip to the Dentist

2009-02-16T16:13:00.008-06:00

I finally had a chance to breathe a bit today since I got President's Day off and spent the morning making a number of appointments for Liz.

We've been delaying the Dentist for some time and now that she's four, I feel horrible that she hasn't been yet. As luck would have it, there was a cancellation and we got the appointment today.

I actually wonder if the delay was actually a benefit because she's heard so much about going to the Dentist that she no longer cried and screamed at the thought. Of course, I figured we'd still have a nice meltdown at the office.

So to prepare, I let her play at McDonalds an hour before. While we were at the store earlier, I saw our neighborhood newspaper which had a picture of her dentist on the front. I mentioned it to her in this very positive way: "Hey, here's your dentist."

And as luck would have it, the guy behind, speaks loudly in horror about going to the dentist: "She has to go to the dentist. Poor kid. Everyone hates the dentist."

Luckily, Liz didn't hear most of what he said - as he proceeded to go on and on and on and on about how horrible his childhood dentist was and the torture he endured. Don't get me wrong. I wasn't a huge fan of my childhood dentist who was known for taking smoke breaks in between treatment.

But I really wanted Liz's attitude to be positive so that her experience might go well.

Despite the loudmouth at the grocery, things couldn't have been better! She had an excellent dental hygienist. She let them clean her teeth, take XRays and even do a fluoride treatment. They even took her on a tour of the office.

There are some concerns with kids with achondroplasia about teeth crowding, etc ... Right now, Xrays show that Liz's permanent teeth are precisely where they should be.

She also is cavity free - which we hope to maintain. She got her picture taken for the "cavity free" bulletin board.

Here are some pictures from the cell phone - so they're not perfect. You'll notice some tentative looks from her, but overall, she was quite amazing.

Check out those shades they gave her so the light wouldn't bother her eyes. Impressive.

The Inauguration

2009-01-25T11:45:00.045-06:00

Here's our photo essay of the inauguration. For those of you on Facebook, you'll notice many of the same pictures and captions from Brian's album. But for the rest of you - it'll be new!

After we stood in line to get our tickets on Monday, we strolled around the capital the day before the inauguration.

Here's Brian in front of the capital.

Here's a nice artistic shot of the Capital that Brian took on Monday.

A Monday look at the seating area for the big shots/celebs who gave a lot of cash to the Obama campaign. The bad news for us poor slobs who had to stand? They got seats. The good news? They could see about as much as we could.The Capital is a very large place. I don't think they could see the President any better than we could.

Here I am in front of the "Big Shots" area as Brian would say.

Now, Brian gets his turn to be a big shot! Notice, there's still fence between us and the big shots - even on the day before the inauguration.

This is the official jumbotron screen where we could see everyone up close.

As you can imagine, Brian - our MSU Graduate - was quite excited to see an entire Spartan bus in D.C. during the inauguration. There was tons of other college students as well.

Here's a shot of the Capital at about 5:30 to 6 a.m. on inauguration day. We stayed in Baltimore and left our friend's house at about 3:10 a.m. By the time we were close to the Metro Greenbelt stop at 3:45 a.m., it was already full. The station had opened at 3:30 a.m. We drove one stop up to College Park and found plenty of spots and even got seats on the Metro - surprisingly. Oddly enough, the 30 mile drive from Baltimore to the Metro stop was fine with no traffic problems.

Here's just some of the people we were standing nearby.

Dawn breaks on the Capital and as Brian pointed out, those "Big Shots" are still likely cozy warm in their beds.

This is the view looking behind us. You can see crowds of people lined up to Washington Monument. In fact, crowds were lined up all the way to the Lincoln Memorial.

Now, can see that some of those big shots have woken up and are getting seated. By the way, each time the announcer would say, "please be seated," the entire mall erupted in laughter since most of us 2 million were standing.

Does it seem like we're a bit closer all of a sudden? Well, we are. We're now right across from the reeflecting pool - close to those pictures on Monday. We had hoped to be right by the reflecting pool, but when we arrived at about 4:45 a.m., we learned that security wasn't letting anyone in that area, even though the map showed "silver section" tickets would be there. We must have been in the rowdy group because all of a sudden people in front of us, "bum-rushed" the plastic gates and suddenly we were in that coveted spot -right by the reflecting water.

More and more people.

A nice shot of the reflecting pool.

Another nice view. Obama stood right where the camera stand is located.

There's the new president of the United States - the "test run" of the oath. We couldn't quite see him with our eyes, but had a great view of the jumbotron.

Now, we're all heading out. We chose to walk about a mile away to an "out of the way" metro stop. As you can imagine, there was no isolated metro stop, but we did get seats all the way back. Surprisingly again, traffic was just fine as we headed back to Baltiimore. We had a bit of time to catch a nap before we caught our flight back to Detroit that night.

Inauguration celebration

2009-01-22T13:33:00.016-06:00

We were very lucky to score inauguration tickets just about 10 days before the event. We're not really political people, but we realized that this would be a historical moment - never to happen again - and couldn't turn down the chance to witness history.

We got the tickets the old fashioned way. Yes, we wrote our Congressman, and two senators and just waited and waited and waited.

We assumed there would be no way we could snag tickets. We were told "no" several times, but finally Senator Evan Bayh's office had tickets for us. What seemed to happen was if people couldn't go to the evvent, then the staff would go further down the list to the next people on the waiting list and ultimately it got far enough down for us that we got the tickets.

We stayed in Baltimore and were in the area from Saturday until Tuesday night. We walked miles and miles in the cold and were around thousands (actually millions) of people, and were always surprised by how cheerful and happy everyone was nearby.

I'll post the inauguration pictures soon enough. But for now - here are some of the shots from this weekend. We went to the whistle stop on Saturday in Baltimore, which was just a walk from our friend's house. On Sunday, we saw the "We are One" concert on the mall. I thought it was excellent - mostly because some of my favorite performers were there - Mellencamp, Sprinsteen, etc...

All of the TV broadcasters kept talking about how frigid cold the weather was, but to be honest, it wasn't that bad for us. It was probably 30 degrees cooler in D.C. than in the Midwest. You'll notice that it was much cooler on Saturday but did "warm up" a bit on Sunday to a balmy 30 degrees.

Here's a photo of Brian on Saturday while we were walking around Baltimore before the whistle-stop. You'll notice how cold he is at this point.

Here's a photo of me at the whistle-stop on Saturday. You'll notice you can hardly see my face, and Brian points out that my "Sarah Palin" specs are even fogging up.

Now, here's a photo of us after the, "We are one" concert on Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial. You'll notice it's quite a bit warmer. You can actually see our faces!

This gives you a good sense of how long the crowd was during the concert. The concert was at the Lincoln Memorial but you can see people standing all the way back to the Washington Monument. And, yes we were all standing that close together.

Here are some "tree people" staked out on the trees at the concert.

One of my all-time favorite singers.

Here's a photo of a very cool building, but we don't know which building it actually is - nonetheless cool.

Brian got a photo of me crashing in Baltimore after a busy day on Saturday. I think I was out snoozing about 2 minutes after he took this shot.

A love story

2009-01-05T21:14:00.020-06:00

Most love stories start with an attraction and usually lots of sweet anecdotes as the couple falls in love. Sometimes, the story is unconventional. Before they realize the attraction, she might throw something in his face - like a beverage.

But I'm going to start this love story at the best part. The part where the couple "lives happily ever after" which means they live and love each other.

My grandparents have been married 59 years today. There are some very sweet stories about how they met and the early days. For instance, Grandpa still has the receipts to their honeymoon locations.

But as I said, what has always meant the most to me is watching them as they live and love each other.

We often traveled to Michigan to see my aunt and uncle when I was younger and I remember us driving there in the motor home laughing and playing one of our favorite games - euchre.

Once we arrived, and settled down for the night - after more card games - I'll never forget hearing Grandma and Grandpa whispering, and talking in the motor home - almost like a pair of newlyweds. Of course, at this time they'd already been married about 40 years.

And, if they were reading this together, Grandpa would probably say to Grandma: "I bet you were doing all of the talking," as he would grin at her. And, Grandma would probably agree.

See, it's those kinds of daily interactions that show all of us how in love the two of them still are 59 years later.

It's really more about the little things and not necessarily grandiose gestures. She makes his favorite meal, a favorite desert such as minced meat pie. And, he's helped her move countless humming bird feeders in the backyard. Each of them know that these little things make the other person happy and that's why they do them without a complaint.

On more than one occasions, Grandma has commented to me about how cute Grandpa is - particularly in certain shirts or pants.

It's also so touching to see the two of them interact together as it was when our family got together over the holidays and the two of them set together holding hands.

While we were singing songs and the kids were running around - it struck me that this huge family with about 36 people wouldn't be possible without the two of them loving each other.

So, here's wishing a tremendously happy anniversary to Grandma and Grandpa Shidler.

Our couple:

Now, with their children:

See, how the family has expanded. Here are the grandchildren and their spouses.

Now, the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren.

Holiday Craze

2009-01-03T15:21:00.036-06:00

It's hard to believe I've been off work the last two weeks - because it's been such a whirlwind. In such a short span, I was in New York, then we headed to Goshen, Ind. for Christmas with my family. Back home for a few days and off to Michigan to spend time with Brian's family. Then, we spent the last week at home where I took Liz downtown and worked on lots of projects (translation: cleaning).

Here are some of our favorite photos from the holiday season.

In the middle of December, we went to our Pal Dylan's fourth birthday. This was probably the best birthday party Liz has gone to because it was held at a place called FunFlatables. So, the whole party consisted of kids jumping up and down on the enormous inflatable objects. A child's dream come true. Liz was so impressed that as we were driving home, she said to me: "Dylan's party was genius."
A big compliment - I'd say. You'll notice Mommy and Daddy had some fun at the party too.

The next day after the birthday party, I headed to New York for my staff meeting. I usually go to the city about three times a year but don't always take pictures. Here's a few fun ones from the city. I got one taken with Elmo for Liz. The weather was beautiful in New York at December. Amazing. You hardly needed a coat - but I still wore one and the hat - just for good measure.

After I got back from New York, we headed to Goshen the weekend before Christmas. We spent time with my family - both my dad's side and my mom's side.

When I was growing up, we used to take pictures of the nine cousins every Christmas by the tree.

Here are the cousins with our kids. Brian enjoyed taking these pictures. In the pictures that he was in, my Aunt Barb kept teasing him for "hiding from the camera." That evening, Liz opened a kids' camera from my mom and began taking pictures. She remembered that phrase and kept telling Brian to stop "hiding from the camera." We'll get to her pictures eventually...I promise...

Here's Liz opening a few gifts at my mom's house.

My mom and her two sisters are opening gifts together. Don't they look a lot alike!

Despite all the travel, we stayed home for Christmas eve, made cookies and opened our stockings. We also opened gifts on Christmas day and even had our own "feast."

After we opened our gifts on Christmas day and had lunch at home we headed to Michigan and stayed there until the Sunday after Christmas. We were stunned to travel there with good weather and home again too. Here's Liz with her "Don't Break the Ice Game" along with Aunt Marilyn and Mimi Hedger.

When we got back from Michigan, I took Liz downtown Chicago for our tradition of spending the day in the city together at Christmas time. We walk around and see Chicago's Christmas tree at Daley Plaza, look at the Macy's windows, watch the ice-skaters and play in Grant Park - if there's time. It was a beautiful day and we also met up with Brian and friends at Pizzaria Uno and had plenty of time at the park. We also stopped in and had hot chocolate (blended chocolate for Liz) at Ethel's at the front of Nordstrom's on Michigan Avenue. It's one of my favorite chocolate places in town.

She played at Grant Park for a few hours while my friend Jennifer and I chatted. It's one of our favorite parks in the city.

2008 Highlights

2008-12-31T15:09:00.002-06:00

So, I've read several blogs where people list their 2008 highlights and thought it'd be perfect to copy them....with our own highlights of course.

It was a year of significant changes and lots of travel for me.

January - I began working from home more often and we mostly hibernated. Brian was recovering from his knee surgery and I oversaw the snow-shoveling duties.

February - New York and Miami for work travel. Outside of work travel - more hibernation.

March - New York for work travel and we slowly started to get outside on a few nice days, but still lots of hibernation.

April - We celebrated Brian's birthday and I went to Boston for work travel

May - We went to my friend Sarah's wedding in Virgina and had our first family vacation.

June - Brian and I went to New York for a celebration at my work - saw a Yankees game, ect... We celebrated Liz's birthday with a party in Crown Point and one in Brighton, Michigan. We also went to see Jack Johnson in Michigan.

July - Brian went to LA for a story covering an Olympic athlete and Liz put a rock in her nose. She also took swimming lessons (a favorite blog moment). The lessons were filled with sheer terror on her part and finally some success.

August - On Memorial Day weekend, we went to the cottage in Michigan and had a blast.

September - Brian started a new job which meant he now works in the days for the first time in his 11-year career. It also meant sending Liz to a new school - weeks after we had settled into the first one.

October - Brian and I went to Scottsdale, Ariz. and later in the month we went to Washington, D.C. for my friend Michele's wedding.

November - Celebrated Thanksgiving with my family and Liz started to become obsessed with all sorts of gross things - like farts. She began insisting that we make every book "funny."

December - I went to New York for my annual staff meeting. I got stuck over night because of a horrible snow-storm in Chicago. Then, we went to Goshen, Ind. to celebrate Christmas with my family and drove back in a virtual blizzard where my wind-shield wipers refused to work. It took us nearly double the time to get home, but luckily neighbors called to inform us our house was out of power. So, we went to our friends home and spent the night there.
At Christmas, we went to Michigan and spent time with the Brighton Hedgers. Liz is still mostly terrified by Santa. Not exactly sure why, but I think his long beard and general large appearance just scare her. She also doesn't like the idea of a strange person walking around our house. Though, she did make major concessions this year by letting him drop off gifts outside the house. Last year, she wanted him to leave the gifts in Africa.

Picture Tag

2008-12-30T09:34:00.005-06:00

My cousin Brian tagged us in a blog game called picture tag.

Here are the rules:

1. Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures.

2. Pick the 4th picture in that folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

I went with the third and fourth in the file, because the third one was just so cute that I couldn't resist posting it. This is Lizzy and her pal Dylan at the mall about one year ago during the holiday season in 2007. They were riding the bus together and having a lot of fun. Lizzy still talks about the fun they have together at the mall. We try to spend time with them throughout the year and just saw them a few weeks ago. We do need to get together again soon.

I tag: Tonya, Joe and Quyen, Cat and Destini.

Santa: Bring gifts - but please stay outside

2008-12-26T09:55:00.006-06:00

Even though it's a full year later, Liz is still nervous around Santa. OK. Downright Frightened. Terrified you could say. Basically, She loves talking about him, hearing about him, and even watching Santa shows on TV.

But if we're within 50 feet of a Santa at the mall or on the street, she'll immediately dissolved in fits of screaming, crying and basically a full meltdown.

It would be tempting to get a shot of her terrified with Santa, but I can't force myself to put her through that agony - even though we all know it would be a priceless photo.

Despite her fear, she still wrote her letter to Santa and was thrilled to get a letter from him in return. We even made the cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve too.

Still, just before bedtime on Christmas Eve, the thought of him entering the house sent her into a near meltdown again.

She decided she wanted Santa to leave the gifts outside - a reasonable albeit cold idea. So, you guessed it. The cookies and milk went outside too. I believe the milk was frozen in about 7 minutes. Luckily, Santa didn't mind and did indeed eat most of the cookies. Rudolph ate some of the carrot too. It's a good thing he's so accommodating. Whew!

Probably the most precious thing I've ever seen Liz do was when she bounced into our room at 6:30 a.m. saying, "Mommy, Daddy was Santa here. I've been a really good girl this year!"

She was so excited and we ran downstairs to bring in the gifts that Santa had left outside and she was so impressed to see that indeed the cookies and milk had been gobbled up by Santa. She looked at the plate with awe and said: "wow."

Then, she tore into those gifts. And, of course the best presents were the ones that came from the Big Guy.

No boys allowed

2008-12-07T17:10:00.019-06:00

Like everyone else, we've been swamped with holiday events, and this is actually my last "free" weekend of the holidays.

So, before I become that blogger that starts posting Thanksgiving photos at Easter, I must pass on some great pictures from turkey day.

We were in my hometown of Goshen with my Grandma and Grandpa Shidler and the whole gang. It had been quite some time since we'd been there for Thanksgiving. We were long overdue!

My grandma makes these legendary fabulous mashed potatoes - you know the ones with sour cream, cream cheese, and probably lots of other fattening ingredients (like butter) that I'd prefer to pretend don't exist. Instead, I just relish how delicious this dish is and the fact that no one else can truly do mashed potatoes like Grandma Shidler - that will probably never change! She's the expert!

Grandma also makes her classic minced meat pie and every Thanksgiving, typically several people walk up to it and hesitantly look at it saying: "Now, what's this?" For those of you who are fans minced meat pie, you'd be in heaven. Grandma is famous for all of her pies.

But the biggest fan of minced meat pie is Grandpa Shidler. Luckily, since the rest of us aren't huge fans of minced meat pie, he gets pretty much the entire pie to himself - to enjoy on Thanksgiving and the week afterward as leftovers.

It's always fun when we get together because three of the cousins (all girls) are about one month apart in age, and Anna, is just one year older then the three girls. So, there are four girls that get to giggle, run, cause mischief, giggle and run screaming through the house. What could be more fun!

This year's favorite activities were playing a game in which the whole purpose was that no boys were allowed. Apparently, they had some type of shop and only girls were allowed. They also enjoyed playing outside and decorating the Christmas tree.

Here they are outside - tumbling all around.

Now, it's time for inside mischief.

Speaking of mischief - check out silly Anna.

Tree Time.

Our Nation's Capital

2008-11-22T13:12:00.030-06:00

It had been a number of years since either Brian or I had a chance to visit Washington D.C. I was there most recently in 2003, but for a short trip and didn't get a lot of sight-seeing in at the time.

He and I went for one of my best friend's wedding. She got married on Nov. 1 and we had a few days to walk around Washington D.C.

Unfortunately, we were disappointed to see that some of the landscaping has fallen by the wayside. But the monuments are always wonderful to see and the World War II memorial and Korean Memorial were both new to us.

The Korean Memorial and Vietnam Memorial are quite powerful. The Korean Memorial is amazing because as you walk along the wall, you see pictures of soldiers on the wall, and there are life-size statues of soldiers beside you. If you look closely at the pictures, you can actually see me (my red jacket). So, it's almost like you're walking along next to the soldiers. Very powerful.

You'll also notice the beautiful trees. We went as the fall colors had fully changed.

Also, while we were disappointed by the landscaping around the Washington Mall., we were pleasantly surprised by the public transporation. Those of you who use public transportation, like us, are accustomed to fairly dirty trains. Most often, McDonalds bags and other food items are strewn about the South Shore or the El in Chicago.

But on the Metra, food is forbidden and they take this rule quite seriously. Anyone caught with food gets serious punishment. So, the Metra was surprisingly clean, efficient and cheap. It was also entertaining arriving on Halloween night and see everyone dressed up in costumes on the train.

Here we are in front of the White House.

Here are some pictures of the D.C. Mall. You'll see what we mean about landscaping issues. But at least they're watering.

Anyone out there with a green thumb? Rumor has it the president-elect is hiring. Maybe some new landscapers for the nation's capital? Hmmmmm. On second thought, that's probably pretty low on the priority list.

The nation's monuments look amazing, as always. That's one thing that hasn't changed over the years.

Here's some shots of the World War II Memorial that was finished in 2004. It was the first time both Brian and I had visited it.

Here we are at the top of the Lincoln Memorial looking down on the mall - a favorite view in D.C.

Now, we're at the Korean Memorial, which was one of the most powerful monuments we've seen. There are 7-foot-tall statues of soldiers walking through the woods, and parallel is a black wall with scenes derived from the Korean war that are etched in the wall. If you look beyond the pictures, when there's a reflection you can see the soliders in the background and yourself. If you look closely, in a few of the pictures, you can see me taking the photo. This monument is quite emotional because it gives you the illusion that you're walking next to the soldiers. An amazing memorial.

The main event. Here are a few pictures of Michele and John dancing at their wedding. It was a beautiful wedding in downtown D.C. in a charming bed and breakfast.

More fall fun

2008-11-16T15:30:00.012-06:00

Shortly, it'll be Christmastime, so without further ado - here's some more fun fall moments. In our house, where we have hundreds (OK - dozens) of trees - I could post many shots of leaves. But here are a few favorites.

I best be brief since I'm sadly (luckily) missing raking leaves right now to do this post. And as soon as I hit "publish post" I need to dash outside to help.

Obviously, Liz loves raking season. What kid doesn't, right?

The more leaves - the better - Who cares when you're not raking them.

An annual tradition - going to pick out the best pumpkin.

Obviously, a lot to choose from - oh the choices!

Found it! The perfect one.

Daddy - our official pumpkin carver, works very carefully on Liz's pumpkin while she "supervises."

Here she is with her perfect pumpkin.

Don't worry - we still haven't forgotten the post filled with pictures taken by Liz. Brian says he'll do that one (we're waiting -no pressure of course). Here's a glimpse of a great one she got with Brian and I.

Traveling Hedgers

2008-11-09T14:35:00.016-06:00

Lately, we've had a number of adventures and I realized I still haven't posted from our trip to Arizona in October. After we went to the big Halloween party, Brian and I flew to Arizona and were there about three days. For me, it was a work trip, but we did have a bit of time to sight-see on Sunday and went to Sedona, Ariz.

While I was working, he did more sightseeing in Arizona - playing golf, watching fall baseball, etc.. But we got one day to explore together.

Neither of us had been to Sedona before. We've been to Arizona a number of times, but this time, we made a point to carve out time to see Sedona. I highly recommend it - even if you're visiting Phoenix or another part of Arizona. This was so beautiful. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

A huge sigh of relief

2008-10-31T13:19:00.003-05:00

For the past week, I've been reminded again how difficult it can be raising a child with achondroplasia because of the unpredictable medical questions that often arise.

Last week, I took Liz for her annual appointment with the orthopedic specialist. At age 4, this is fairly routine now. We do Xrays, chat a few minutes and usually are on our way out the door. This time was different. He noticed some concerns that led him to believe her neck may not be stable. We did the Xrays over and over again and the pictures showed the same thing.

We rushed over and completed the CT test. As luck would have it, 24 hours later (before we got the CT tests back), Liz began vomiting all night.

Immediately we wondered: Was it just a flu bug, or could it be something neurological? After speaking with her doctors in the middle of the night, we took her to the ER to be on the safe side.

Everything checked out and they said it if were an immediate neck/neurological problem, she'd have other symptoms. That was good news that she didn't have any neurological symptoms.

Then, the CT results arrived earlier this week indicating that in fact one vertebrae in her neck is slightly tilted - causing more concern.

After dealing with much red tape, I got all of the scans and sent them over-night to her neurosurgeon, Dr. D.

Dr. D's at the well-respected Children's Memorial in Chicago and has been following her since she was a month old.

I've learned along the way that often radiologists and other doctors get quite nervous when they look at scans of kids with achondroplasia. Part of that is simply because kids with achondroplasia have a different skeletal makeup.

Radiologists are trained to point out when anything is different - but other specialists like Dr. D. are trained to look at Liz's scan and see if this is consistent with kids with achondroplasia and whether it poses a medical problem.

For the past four years, Dr. D. has been consistent and offered cautious and measured opinions. I kept reminding myself not to be too concerned until he saw the scans and gave me his opinion.

Today, he made me Halloween day, when he called and reported that this is nothing to be concerned about. Whew! He felt the tilt was hardly noticeable and won't impact her neck stability.

That is good news for us and Liz's biggest worry tonight will be getting the biggest load of candy that she can bring home. She's celebrating with Mimi and Papaw in Goshen.

Watch out for those bad words

2008-10-30T21:55:00.003-05:00

So, recently Liz informed me that there are bad words that the kids aren't supposed to say at preschool.

My first reaction: Oh crap, (ooops), I mean, Oh shoot, here we go already.

She's four and we're already dealing with bad words. Being a journalist, I quiz her instantly about what these bad words are. What are these four-year-olds saying?

Of course, as soon as I start to quiz her, she's already wise and isn't sure she should say these words, because she's already been told by her teacher that they're bad words.

Finally, I break her (I am a journalist after all).

She then whispers the dirty words (shhhhh - language warning coming).

Here they are: diaper, poopy and pee pee.

Whew! I can handle those bad words. Now, at first I was surprised that diaper was considered a bad word.

But after thinking about it, I do recall when Liz was little and not potty trained, there was at least one time when she had a dirty diaper at the worst moment and it inspired Daddy (maybe even Mommy) to whisper (ever so quietly) a bad word.

So, in our house diaper is now officially a bad word and that's fine with me.

Hannah and Lizzy Time

2008-10-26T12:53:00.024-05:00

So, I could go on and on about what a big slacker I've been for not blogging for the past two weeks.

I've got tons of posts that I need to write about - our trip to Arizona, picking pumpkins, Liz's most recent medical mystery and also the "I've been tagged" post.

But before I catch up on all of that, the most important thing in recent weeks was when we went to Michigan and met a number of other bloggers who have kids with various forms of dwarfism.

The party was at Tonya's house - www.blogsmonroe.com/disability

And, we got to meet so many fabulous people - Tonya, Sarah, Sue, Cat and Jennifer - but certainly we were extremely excited to meet Hannah and Catie at http://tatertotsnfires.blogspot.com

Hannah has achondroplasia like Liz and they're the same exact age - just one month separates their birthdays. For some odd reason, it seems many of the folks I've connnected with have litle boys - either a few years older or a few years younger than Liz. So, this was wonderful to see another little girl - Liz's age with the same exact condition and to talk to her mom.

We talked about clothing issues, bathroom problems, social stuff and the list goes on and one.

You'll see from the pictures that Hannah and Liz truly hit it off. Tonya went all out for the party - pizza, Halloween crafts, a haunted castle, bobbing for apples and the list of fun goes on and on. Not to mention all of the candy!

We're actually going to miss Halloween with Liz on Friday so we were thrilled to get to have these fun Halloween festivities and Liz got to go Trick-or-Treating in the Halloween castle.

So, you'll see the pictures were of Liz and Hannah mostly because I was thrilled to see how well they got along and you'll notice they're both such hams whenever a camera is nearby.

For more than half an hour, the two of them dug in the haunted castle finding more candy and they also spent more than an hour playing "princess of the year" upstairs - not to mention their great time throwing rocks in the pond and jumping on the bouncy house.

I hope that we can get these two girls together again because you will all be able to tell what fun they had. It was just so heartwarming to see the two of them play together.

Here they are getting ready to bob for apples.

Look who's peeking out of the haunted castle.

All smiles.

The two princesses taking a break from throwing rocks in the pond and you'll see Knoah - busy with the rocks right behind them.

Another cute pose.

A good one with Liz and Daddy.

Here's Mommy and Liz.

Here are some bobbing apple shots and those of you who have bobbed apples with me will notice that Liz is quite persistent and gets just as wet as her mom.

Most of the kids where running all over, but I got a few here in "thoughtful poses." Really precious.

The princess is back in her street clothes - almost ready to leave.

But she wouldn't leave without a hug from Hannah.

Changes...and more apples of course

2008-10-05T17:24:00.006-05:00

The last week has been full of changes to put it mildly. Brian started a new job downtown, and for the first time in his professional career of 11 years and since I've known him, he's now working a day shift. He's always worked that evening sports shift.

The day shift is exciting because we can all have family time together in the evenings. He's writing at a well-known organization in Chicago, but not doing sports and is in more of a niche-publication like me.

Sorry, I have to be vague for policy reasons. But it's a great job, and he's already enjoying it. This however, means he'll be doing the long 2-hour one-way commute to Chicago that I used to do daily.

On the one day I do go to the city each week, we'll commute together and that's fun. It also means that for the first time since she was born, Liz is now in an all day pre-K class. We moved her to a new school. It's been going OK - and that's putting it quite optimistically.

I think she's at the age where she's testing everyone's limits. Let's just say by Friday, she proudly told me that she ONLY had one time-out that day. Trust me, that was quite an improvement.

The nice thing about this preschool is, it's also close to home as well. The good news is other than her misbehaving, I like this school. We get a calendar of each day's activities. Monday, firefighters are coming to talk fire safety, Tuesday they'll decorate a cookie, Wednesday a veterinarian comes and the fun goes on.

I think once she's settled in, she'll be fine! She's just testing everyone's limits right now - including ours. But I guess that's what 4-year-olds do, right?

For now, here are those pictures from the 2nd apple orchard that we went to two weeks ago. You'll notice no other people nearby. This is the one that's secluded and just reopened as a U-Pick this year - so it's a hidden gem for now!

Here's Liz grabbing an apple at the orchard. We were the only ones there, and she's got a really great hold on it!

Here's Brian right by one of the apple trees. He was a bit pickier than me, and seemed to get the most perfect apples!

Here I am with an apple!

Here's Liz "helping" me last weekend to make the apple dumplings. I forgot to take photos of the finished product. But they were pretty amazing and we've already grabbed a few from the freezer. Reminded me of when we went to Grandma Shidler's and made apple dumplings in the fall. Not that I can claim these were that good - but pretty yummy nonetheless.

Apples, apples and more apples

2008-09-28T11:02:00.012-05:00

Fall has quickly become one of my favorite seasons. In most part, it's because we're so close to half a dozen apple orchards and pumpkin farms.

Every year, we go to one of the busiest orchards in the Midwest, just 10 miles from our house, but this year, we went to two that are even closer to our house and much less busy. Very quaint and relaxing.

The first trip was with Liz's preschool. That was a bit chaotic with dozens of kids but still fun. We made an apple pie from that visit as well as a few apple crisps.

Then, we found an orchard that's been around for many years, but hasn't been a U-Pick for several years. This was the first time as a U-Pick in about 6 years. So, many people aren't aware that the orchard is open for U-pick business. We had the pick of the orchard and got 23 pounds at a bargain price.

I made more than two dozen apple dumplings from that haul and have frozen most of them. For now, we'll look at the preschool pictures and I'll post the other pics. in a few days.

Here's Liz waiting with the pals from preschool for the events to begin at the apple orchard. Before we picked apples, they spent a long time educating the kids about apples and of course, Johnny Appleseed.

Our little Happy Camper

It was interesting to watch the kids behavior. Liz got really restless waiting to pick apples. But during the learning sessions she was captivated. After each learning session, then she'd get bored waiting for the next activity. We were there almost two hours before we began picking apples. That's enough to test anyone's patience - particularly a 4-year-old!

Finally - picking an apple. There she is in action. She's carefully twisting to take the apple off the tree.

Yes, this is what she'd been waiting for all morning! One delicious bite of an apple...OK more than one bite.

Here's an apple pie that Liz and I made together. She's quite the excellent helper. Oddly enough, she didn't really like it that much, but Brian thought it was one of the best pies he's eaten. I'm not just saying that either. I only make 1 or 2 pies a year (if that) so I guess it's possible that you can get lucky and make an excellent pie once in awhile. I told him if I made another one tomorrow, it'd probably taste totally different.

Oddly enough, here's a picture that Liz took of me baking. Yes, Liz took the picture. Pretty impressive. Brian and I have a whole blog idea of pictures that she's taken. We'll get to that eventually, but for now, here's a good one from our little photog.

Snack Girl

2008-09-22T21:05:00.005-05:00

At Liz's preschool, each child brings snacks for one week. Last Friday, we talked about the fact that this week would be her turn as "Snack Girl."

When I asked her what she wanted to bring, she didn't hesitate to answer: carrots and lettuce.

Yes, that was really her answer. I swear I didn't prompt her. In fact, I kind of wanted to take the lettuce out of the option, because I just wasn't sure any 4-year-olds (other than Liz) would actually eat lettuce.

I'm raising a child with unique tastes at age four. She eats green peppers whole, will gobble down an entire little sack of cherry tomatoes and loves carrots and celery. I could be wrong, but I'm always under the impression that other kids don't eat those types of veggies.

Of course, Liz makes up for it during the rest of her meals. She'll hardly ever eat any main-dish that I prepare such as grilled chicken, tacos or patty-pan squash.

Even though I was slightly concerned her snack wouldn't be well-received by the kids, we brought carrots, cut up lettuce and included the Ranch dressing for the carrots and as a topping over the snack - like a mini-salad.

I had a weak moment and at the end threw in vanilla wafers - just for those kids who are "allergic" to healthy food.

Brian reported the teacher's aid gave a slightly puzzled look at our items. But when I returned to pick Liz up, they thanked us for the snacks and said that several kids did in fact eat the lettuce and carrots. The ranch dressing, of course was a hit. I even in sneaked in a reduced fat dressing.

I was surprised that they ate the lettuce and actually they didn't have any leftover lettuce. Of course, Liz was quite proud. I had given her several chances to change her mind, but she remained adamant about what she wanted.

When we were driving home, she said: "See Mom, I told you, they'd like lettuce."

That's our girl.

Lizzy phrases

2008-09-20T14:23:00.005-05:00

Ever since I've known Brian he teases me because I'll take a phrase or word and instead of saying the typical phrase, I'll put a "Lisa" flare on it and make it sound a bit goofy or funny.

Well, Liz has started doing that too. To her credit, I think it's just because she's four and learning her words, but she's made some cute phrases.

The other day she told me: "I need to take a bath with Minnesota."

Now, you can imagine what I was thinking. Why Minnesota? What about the other M-named midwest states such as Michigan or Missouri?

I'm sure it'd be lovely to take baths with any of those states too.

What had happened was she'd been to the doctor earlier in the day, and he told Brian that Liz should take a bath with Baking Soda or mineral water - so she did a classic Lisa and combined the two to make it Minnesota. Rather brilliant - don't you think.

She also was puzzled as to why Dr. K gave her a "fluid shot." "What's a fluid shot, Mommy?"

Well, I'm not sure. But a FLU Shot is something to help prevent you from getting the flu.

And, the beat goes on. We're so fortunate to have such an entertaining girl.

Last weekend of summer

2008-09-13T21:12:00.022-05:00

I've been meaning to post the Labor Day pictures for some time and keep forgetting. Now, what could be a better opportunity to think about a gorgeous weekend at a cottage in Aus Gres, Michigan than during this weekend - when the entire country's getting pummelled with rain from the impact of Ike hitting Texas.

For the first time in several years, we had an opportunity to head to my sister-in-law's family's cottage in Michigan. Brian always went in the summers when he was growing up and I've been with him several times. This was our first time with Liz.

The cottage is absolutely perfect with gorgeous views of Saginaw Bay, right near the area where it meets Lake Huron. You can hear the waves crashing ashore.

Here's some of those sunny pics.

If you've read this blog even once before, you'll know we just can't resist a good shot of Lizzy's back. She's scrambling to collect all of the rocks she can get her hands on.

Here's a nice shot of Daddy and Lizzy walking on the beach.

Lizzy's off to build a sandcastle or maybe a sand-rocket ship. You never know with this one.

And here she is molding that "masterpiece" right now.

It doesn't take a lot to make you happy on the beach, sun, sand, warm water and of course the green watering can.

Ah, beautiful scenery - compared to the pouring rain we're facing right now. This is more like it.

Liz and I are checking out the "animal" park at nearby Tawas, where all of the swings and objects to play on are shaped like animals.

A perfect pose.

That's our happy girl.

Amazing how quickly that smile changes to a more serious pondering or reflective look.

Rather than going inside the animal, I opted for the more grownup, albeit slightly more boring photo standing beside it.

There's Brian at one end of the same park looking out on Lake Huron.

Priceless.

She's writing....errr...kind of

2008-09-06T19:36:00.006-05:00

On Liz's second day of preschool, she proudly proclaimed that she "writed." Don't worry. We're working on using words in the correct form. All in good time.

But in fact, I've got proof that she kind of, sort of, well tried to write. As Brian and I predicted - once she's in the school environment - she's all for writing. With us at home - not so much.

And, for those of you who have had the privilege (sad experience) to read my chicken scratch on Christmas cards and other correspondence you might even see a slight resemblance.

Here she's tracing and learning how to try to make a straight line.

Now, this is what it's all about. Hey, who was the wise-guy to give her such a long name - that's 9 letters. Most of us just had to deal with 4 or 5 letters.

And, who doesn't love a nice drawing.

School Days

2008-09-03T18:46:00.008-05:00

Today was Liz's first official day at her new preschool, which is much closer to our house. For those of you who haven't checked the blog, you can scroll down to see "the back to school" post to read some of the early drama we had getting her signed up at another preschool.

But we're past that. And, everything went quite well here. In fact, when I ask Liz her favorite part of school today, her reply was: "everything."

But she was quite disappointed when she reported to Brian that she didn't learn to write. We've been trying to get her to write her name, and she keeps saying that she'll do it in chool. Apparently, she thought she'd learn it in one day. Ha!

There was a little trauma walking up to the school and leaving school because it just so happens a construction crew was working nearby. You'll notice Liz's hands over her head. She cried leaving school because of the noise and the teachers said she can leave out a different door so she doesn't have to encounter the loud noise.

Yikes, Loud construction nearby!

Past the construction and heading in.

Hanging on to Mommy's knee. But a quick hug and she's fine!

Seven years ago today ...

2008-08-25T14:14:00.022-05:00

Happy Anniversary babe ... I love you more than ever.

By Brian Hedger
Hedgeradventures blogger guy

Seven years ago today, a young man woke up in his hotel room and smiled.

"Today I get to marry the girl who stole my heart the second I saw her," he thought. "How lucky am I?"

Seven years ago today, as his bride-to-be prepared for their big day, the young man looked at the grayish skies above and thought, "Good thing we're getting married inside."

Seven years ago today, the groom piled into a car with some of his best friends and headed for the church. And, as they talked about all the fun they'd had in the past, the groom thought about the future.

What was in store for he and his bride? What would life be like? Would it change? How? Would it be better? How?

Would it be the same? Gasp ... worse? Would she be happy with him? Would he be happy with her?

He thought of her face, and how he felt like it was a face he'd known his entire life. He thought of how safe it made him feel to look into her eyes ... to hold her hand ... to feel her embrace ... to kiss away any tears she might have.

"Yes," he decided. "It would be better ... I'll make sure of it!"

(As if he had that power all by himself)

Seven years ago, inside a sweltering church kitchen, the groom-to-be had a wardrobe malfunction.

His friends told him that it was fine, and not to sweat it. It was just a button on a jacket. Ah, but this groom being the person that he is, continued to freak. He sweated the small stuff (and still does).

What he wanted was his bride, who had a way of calming his nerves and making him feel like he could do anything.

"Who says I can't see her before the wedding?" he thought. "This is ridiculous. Lisa would know what to do."

Luckily, so did their friend, Nikki -- who found a sewing kit and saved the day (Thanks again, Nik).

Seven years ago today, the young man -- wearing his repaired tuxedo -- stood at the front of the church where the love of his life spent her formative years.

He looked around, and took note of how it reminded him a little of the church he attended as a boy. He looked around, saw the familiar faces in the pews and started to feel butterflies.

Then, the doors at the other end of the sanctuary flung open as the organist began to play. There she was ... beaming, glowing, more beautiful than even he'd imagined.

The groom's best man, his big brother, leaned forward and whispered, "She's beautiful, Brian."

Boy, was he right.

Seven years ago today, the groom and his bride stood facing each other, repeating their vows, placing rings on each other's fingers ... sealing it all with a kiss.

Their hands melted together. They strolled down the aisle, man and wife. They had no idea what was in store for them.

They didn't particularly care.

Seven years ago today, they celebrated with a reception to remember -- with their friends and family surrounding them with love and lots of dancing.

There were beautiful toasts. There was a first dance to Elton John's "The One."

There were smiles all around, a beautiful cake to match the bride -- and views of South Bend from the top floor of the Holiday Inn (woo-hoo! Ha!)

And, when it was over, the newlyweds went to sleep for the first time as The Hedgers. The groom snuggled up to his bride for the very first time as her husband, and he smiled once again.

"Today, I married the girl who stole my heart the very second I saw her," he thought. "How lucky am I?"

I'm so looking forward to what the rest of our future together brings, my love. It already brought us this ...

... imagine what else might be in store!

Love,

Me

A Golden Gait

2008-08-24T00:00:00.014-05:00

Nice work, fellas

By Brian Hedger
Hedgeradventures blogger dude

Tonight, two of Liz's "bedtime books" were actually stories written by her father (moi) about an Olympic champion runner.

David Neville and his teammates in the 4 x 400 meter relay blew out the competition Saturday in Beijing to win the gold medal and set a new Olympic record time of 2:55.39.

Neville, as you might recall, is the reason I wound up in Hollywood last month for a couple of days. Originally from Merrillville, Ind., where my work is located, Neville now lives in Valencia, Calif. with his wife of one year.

Now, he's a two-time Olympic medalist.

And Lizzy's face lights up when we mention his name. Seems that since watching Neville lunge across the finish line for a bronze medal Thursday, Lizzy has another "crush," telling Lisa that "David Neville is cute like Brendan." (the lifeguard, remember him?)

Anyway, Liz has really gotten into the Olympics, and it's been very fun to watch her watching them. She really liked the swimming and gymnastics (of course).

And she started to get into track the past few days -- mostly because Neville has been the subject of my work for the better part of the last couple months.

Also, he's cute. I guess. This crush thing needs to stop, by the way. Before I purchase a shotgun.

Here are some more pics of the 4 x 400 team of LaShawn Merritt (gold medal in 400 meters), Angelo Taylor (gold medalist, 400 hurdles), David (bronze in 400) and Jeremy Wariner (silver in 400 and eternally wearing sunglasses, even when it's dark).

By the way ... David ran the most 400 meter laps of anybody on the U.S. team this week -- a whopping FIVE of them, from the 400 meters first-round, semifinals and final to the relay's semifinal and final.

His legs have got to be hurting.

"Theeeeeeyyyy are the champions, my friends ..."

This is David about to receive the baton for the third leg of the race from Angelo Taylor. David's the guy in the far inside lane. Notice the Russian dude's hand placement. What's up with THAT bro? Is "pantsing" your opponent allowed? Sheesh! Hands off dude.

David hands the baton to Jeremy ... and away he goes. In a flat hurry. Sizzling.

Hey guys, now that you've got your golds ... I hear they're paying good exchange rates for gold. Just saying.

These are David's sisters, Rebecca (left) and Stephanie (right). I watched Saturday's gold medal run live on the Internet with them at their house. Very fun. Rebecca says her goal is to make it to the London Olympics in 2012 with her brother. She competed at a national junior elite track meet this summer and finished as one of the top heptathaletes in the country for her age. Maybe she will be there ...

This one's from after David's bronze dive, but I just liked the pic. And the next one, ladies, is for you ...

...

You're welcome.

Congratulations, David

2008-08-21T09:35:00.004-05:00

IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE! IT'S SUPER NEVILLE!

Hedgeradventures would like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to U.S. Olympian David Neville and his entire family for David's amazing finish Thursday to win the bronze medal in the 400 meters at the Beijing Olympics.

His bronze completed an American sweep of the event, and sets up the U.S. as the heavy favorite to win gold in the 4 x 400 meter relay this weekend -- an event Neville is also scheduled to run.

I did get ahold of him this morning, luckily, and for those comments check out www.post-trib.com or my blog link at the right.

Anyway, altogether now. U-S-A! U-S-A!

David's going for it

2008-08-20T11:29:00.007-05:00

Remember this guy?

By Brian Hedger
Hedgeradventures blogger dude

OK, those who've been reading the blog recently probably remember the one about my trip to California to write about a native NW Indiana Hoosier who's in the Olympics.

David Neville qualified Tuesday for Thursday's finals of his event, the men's 400 meters. He has the slowest qualifying time of the eight runners in the final, but he has also run the fourth-fastest time in the world this season in July, during the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials.

So, he has the ability to stun the world.

To read my blog for the Post-Tribune, where I work as a sportswriter, just click the link to that blog we just added along the righthand side of the page.

He's got what most consider to be a poor lane assignment for the finals, lane 9, but David also had the farthest outside lane at the trials and led a good portion of that race before being caught by the two favorites, LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner.

Some runners are actually better out in lane 9 because there is no strategy to worry about. Just get out of the blocks and go all out the entire way.

David races for the gold (or silver or bronze or just for the health benefits) Thursday night in Beijing (which is 8:20 a.m CDT and 9:20 a.m. EDT). The race will not be televised live on NBC, but supposedly you can watch it live on the Web on NBCSports.com.

NBC will televise it on tape delay later on in prime time.

Also, no matter what happens Thursday, Neville will then team up with Wariner, Merritt and another U.S. runner to go for the gold this weekend in the men's 4 x 400 meter relay.

I shouldn't mention this, because Lisa thinks it's a jinx, but the U.S. has won the gold in the 4 x 400 in every Olympics since 1984.

Also ... you don't have to be from NW Indiana to pull for David this week. I meet very few people in my line of work whom I truly believe are telling me the 100 percent truth when it comes to their faith, beliefs etc., but David Neville is one I do believe.

He's a minister, and directs the youth ministry at his church out in California. He and his wife live a Christian life, from the little of it I was privvy to see. And, most importantly from a sports aspect, if there's any track and field athlete who is NOT USING STEROIDS, it's David Neville.

You can believe in this guy, which is nice. I could be wrong, who knows really? But honestly, I just don't think his conscience would allow him to do it.

He's exactly the kind of guy that track and field needs to come to the fore and become a known entity both here and internationally.

Good Luck, David.

Back to school

2008-08-17T20:26:00.008-05:00

First off, I've got to thank that cute hedgeradventures correspondent for helping out while I've enjoyed a fair amount of free time at the pool with Liz. We're hoping Brian will continue to blog every few days or so (hint hint).

Now, on to a serious matter.

For months - actually more than a year, we've been on a waiting list at a number of pre-schools. We absolutely loved our school last year. It was an affiliate of Purdue University and the teachers were excellent and made perfect accommodations for Liz.

They even went so far as to have us bring in one her wooden three-step stools that was built by Liz's great-grandfather just so they could have the trade-school students make her one just like it for school. No extra cost, either.

How awesome was that?

They understood her condition and addressed it to the other children as necessary and talked with me about any issues as they arose. Overall, it was an outstanding school.

The problem: It's 30 miles from our house (and 45 minutes, at least, each way). Now that I'm working from home more it just makes no sense to drive that far to drop her off, just to drive an hour back home and then literally turn around a short time later to begin the drive again to pick her up.

So, the goal was to be patient and hope it would pay off with one of these closer pre-schools that we'd been on waiting lists for. Finally, we did find a school about 10 miles from home. Much Better. I jumped at the opportunity.

But this morning, I was thrilled when the so-called "ultimate" pre-school teacher (highly recommended by people in our community) called and told me she'd just gotten an opening. She goes by "Mrs. B," and runs the pre-school out of her house -- which just so happens to be less than a mile from our house, in our gigantic neighborhood.

We've heard nothing but glowing reports about this "Mrs. B." The kids love and adore her (allegedly). She is also well-respected by some teachers we've talked to about pre-schools.

So, I told her about Liz's condition. This is always my dilemma. I don't want Liz to show up and suddenly teachers are surprised or caught unprepared. Last year, I wrote a one-page paper for "Little Purdue" and they told me that they adored the information and found it so helpful.

So, I tried to tell "Mrs. B" a few of the same things during our brief phone conversation.

I explained that Liz might need help wiping when she went No.2 simply because her arms aren't long enough. Then, I also explained she falls a lot, but it's nothing to worry about because her bones are fine and she just gets back up.

The only reason I even mentioned the falling is because that's the first thing that other parents notice and ask me about. We had a great conversation and agreed that Brian would take Liz tomorrow for registration.

Later in the day, "Mrs. B" calls back to tell me that after considering Liz, she now can't accept her. Her reason is because she is just one person (no teacher's aides) and she fears that if Liz had to go to the bathroom and the other kids were cutting with scissors, then she'd be leaving all of the kids alone to go to the bathroom with Liz.

(Brian snide, sarcastic comment)
Yeah, and then I'm sure they'd all cut their fingers off at the nubs and there'd be HELL TO PAY and blood all over her new hardwood floors! She also brought up a bunch of other lame excuses, such as having a basement with a cement floor and she just wouldn't want Liz to fall and hurt herself. Well, A.) Who in the heck DOESN'T have a cement-floor basement? And B.) Why are they going into the basement in the first place? Seriously, woman.

Whatever ...

So, I hung up the phone feeling utterly rejected. Obviously, I could have fought a bit and said: "Why don't you at least meet her?"

But to me, it almost didn't seem worth it. Why have her meet Liz and then potentially still reject her? She's a private small pre-school and she's not required to accept everyone.

(Another Brian thought)
Also ... do I really want my kid being taught by some mamsy-pamsy wimp who's too afraid to take a kid with a couple of special needs dealing only with height issues? Why should we feel like we have to beg this old bag to take on the so-called "risk" or "bother" of teaching my daughter -- all without her even bothering to MEET HER?

Obviously, I think she over-reacted and began to worry and simply wasn't educated about little people and certainly knew nothing about achondroplasia.

I've second-guessed myself and worried that I told her too much information and perhaps I should have been more "vague." But I don't want to be misleading. I want teachers to know that Liz is a little person and she does need a few accommodations, and I suppose if they're not willing to do that - then we don't want to go there.

Perhaps, my teacher friends who read the blog (you know who you are) can e-mail me personally and let me know how you think I should handle school issues in the future. For instance, when should I contact her elementary about her condition?

Also, if there are any parents of little people kids who are in school - pass on any suggestions, as well.

Overall, I feel great about the pre-school she's going to attend (the one that doesn't have an old bag problem and that will accept Liz's condition). We'll have open house on Wednesday night and Liz and I are both looking forward to it.

The bottom line is getting rejected from "Mrs. B's" class won't impact Liz's academic future. It's not like she's going to get rejected from an ivy league school despite an impressive resume.

"Wow, this girl is awesome," The haughty dean of admissions would say, puffing on a pipe and wearing a smoking jacket. "Great grades, great extra-curriculars. But one glaring problem ... she didn't attend 'Mrs.B's' pre-school. Unfortunately, we must reject her. DENIED!"

Still, it hurts to be told "thanks, but no thanks," simply because your child is shorter than other kids her age. It's also unacceptable ... but what are you going to do?

Some people will never, ever understand how it feels to fight this battle.

Lizzy Hedger has a cold

2008-08-13T17:05:00.026-05:00

By Brian C. Hedger
Hedgeradventures blogger dude

Talk to most purveyors of fine writing long enough, and sooner or later you're bound to talk about what is supposedly the best magazine article ever written.

"Frank Sinatra Has a Cold," was published by Esquire in 1966 and written by legendary writer Gay Telese.

I have a photocopied version of it laying around our bedroom somewhere, and I keep telling myself that I'm going to read it start to finish some day. Anyway, from what I've gathered of the piece in the small bits I have read, Talese gets unbelievable access to the world's most famous and influential crooner ... who, as chance would have it, has a cold.

Well, sometimes in life you just have to settle for the next best thing. And since neither of us have read "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" from start to finish, we're doing the next best thing.

We're living the experience with our four-year-old daughter.

Lizzy Hedger has a cold.

Also, so does my wife -- who is at this very second mocking me in her "Brian voice" about how I'm probably going to write that because they are sick, I'll be sick next.

Well, even though she's 100 percent correct on that one ... I'd just like to say, for the record, that I AM now doomed to contract the most horrific, hideously grotesque strain known to man of what I'm now calling "The Lizzy Virus."

And if that happens?

Look out world. It ain't gonna be pretty.

Let's just say that we Hedgers-by-birth don't exactly deal well with colds (or any illnesses).

The runny noses. The sneezing. The pounding headaches. All the shiny, happy, people who aren't sick carrying on with their disgustingly happy, shiny lives whilst we lie around in sick bay.

It is not a lot of fun. Not for us. Not for those around us. Not for those in a 100 mile radius around us. You get the picture.

"Boy, that kid is not easy to deal with when she's sick," Lisa said tonight, upon snapping off a few photos of the main patient.

What can I say ... she got it from me.

About an hour ago, for example, Liz had a meltdown because she didn't want to take any liquid Tylenol (and only relented when told the alternative was letting her fever grow horribly out of control to the point where we'd eventually have to take her to the ER and get ... a SHOT!

Now, I know any RNs or doctors who might happen upon this post will cringe at reading that, but I have to tell you ... when it comes to getting this kid to take her medicine, no amount of coaxing works.

Fear of getting a SHOT (IN ALL CAPS)? Now that works.

Of course, we're totally hosed when the time comes that she actually does have to get a shot ... but that's a big picture, long-term worry, right?

We'll deal with that meltdown when absolutely necessary.

For now, Lizzy Hedger has a cold.

And, believe me, that's all that matters in the entire world. Just ask her. She'll tell you -- right after she demands, in between sniffles, to be picked up.

As always, here are some more Lizzy pics.

Even with a cold, the smile still finds its way to the fore ... aww.

I know. You're wondering: "Geeze, does the girl ever NOT smile?" Yes.

See, I told you. (Courtesy of Portsmouth, Va.)

Now, that's more like it. (Also Virginia)

Lizzy takes the plunge!

2008-07-22T12:48:00.022-05:00

Posted by Brian C. Hedger
Hedgeradventures special correspondent

It starts like every other swimming class we've attended the past month.

Sickeningly buff teenage lifeguard hops into pool. Shivers for a few seconds. Flexes his muscles to put on a show for all the moms. Then, he invites his young students into the water as if it's like hopping into bath water.

So, Tuesday morning, Liz Hedger does what she normally does at that point. Removes the cotton cover up. Heads for the water. Then, before she gets in with her flashy sandals still on her feet, she's nabbed by yours truly, who rescues the sandals just in time.

"Daddy, do you think my Dora band-aid on my toe will come off in the water?"

"Let's not worry about it, OK babe? Let's just get you in the pool."

"Ohhh-kaay."

Then, she's off.

I start to get settled onto my perch on the end of a pool chair, figuring we're in for yet another day of stout refusals to go under water, pained expressions while "back floating," half-hearted kick board efforts and numerous attempts to flee the pool while Mr. Buff Lifeguard (Brenden) isn't looking.

For kicks, I bring along my swim goggles -- just in case Ms. Lizzy might want to wear them at some point.

At the very least, she'll look adorable, right?

So, the lesson starts. And all three of the students in what is obviously the slow learner's class begin kicking while holding onto the wall. Liz has this part down, primarily because her face comes nowhere near the water.

Then, Lifeguard Guy announces they're all going to go under the water. And just as the lone boy of the three-person "class" begins to weep (loudly), Lizzy hops out of the pool and makes a bee-line for me with eyes as big as saucers.

Brenden (the lifeguard) hunches his shoulders. I do the same back.

"Here we go again ... Liz, get back in the water please."

But then, a stunner. I start to go through my daily begging routine for Liz to at least try when she stops me mid-beg and says, "Dad? I just want to wear your goggles, OK?"

"What?" I say. "Oh, yes. The goggles. Right. Are you going to go under?"

She nods, looking just a little freaked out.

"But I want to keep the water out of my eyes."

As Clark Griswold once said, I couldn't be more stunned if I'd woken up with my head sewn to the carpet.

So, we strap up her goggles and off she goes. Brenden picks her up, she bravely pinches her nose and down they go.

It's brief, just a dip, but it's the first time she's gone all the way under without throwing an all-out scolding, kicking, screaming, coughing-like-she's-dying tantrum.

She even keeps her mouth closed, which is a big, big deal for her.

My theory?

She has a crush on Buffy the Lifeguard Lady Killer.

Typical woman.

But, whatever works I suppose. The rest of the lesson goes just as well. Liz kicks excitedly on the kick board. And she even paddles and kicks without it (as long as dear Brenden, man of her dreams, holds onto her).

She finishes by just barely beginning to jump into the pool without holding onto Brenden's hands first. It helps that she has his neck and shoulders to aim for, which she clings to once in the water.

Still, overall, what a great day. For her. For me. For Brenden, too, I suppose.

She tried everything bravely. She went under for a split second. She kicked and paddled. And, when she was the last one out of the pool in her "class" -- getting one more jump in with Brenden -- her daddy performed a very tastefully done fist pump from his perch on the pool chair.

Yes!

Here are some pics. They're from my cell phone camera, so not great. But you get the idea. Next time I'll get one of her wearing my swim cap and goggles. Too cute.

Brian

Lizzy and Evelyn in remedial swim class. Evelyn can almost float. Lizzy can almost lean back into Brenden without looking like she's getting a root canal.

Go Lizzy, Go Lizzy. It's your birthday. Not really. You did it. Went under. No screaming. You rock! Uh-huh. That's right.

Lizzy paddles and kicks with her beau hunk Brenden.

Fully enjoying a Dairy Queen chocolate-dipped vanilla cone ... and the spoils of victory!

UPDATE: Oops, spoke too soon. Today (Wednesday) Liz took a step (several actually) backward. Refused to go under again ... but did keep progressing with the whole jumping into Brenden's arms.

Here are some updated pics from today (and yes, you're welcome ladies).

Swim cap? Check. Goggles? Check. Ready to go under again? Uh, no way bub. I'm outta here! Lizzy in full-on escape mode during "going under" time.

"Now this is more like it!"

"Jump! For your looove. Jumpin!"

"OK, so you're not Brenden. Marcus you say? You'll do."

A Hedger goes to Hollywood

2008-07-16T09:36:00.000-05:00

Posted by Brian C. Hedger
Hedgeradventures special correspondent

It wasn't exactly the way I'd always envisioned myself making it to Hollywood.

I drove a rented white Chrysler Sebring instead of a convertible Porche. I wasn't wearing sunglasses, let alone designer shades that are apparently quite popular on The Strip. And my two hot blondes were about 1,800 miles away in Indiana (one trying to get the other to stop putting things up her nose).

So, my first visit to LaLa Land could've been better. But it certainly could've been worse. It could've been me trying to dig the rock out of Lizzy's nostril. And she's very lucky it wasn't.

First, having this great point-and-shoot-on-steroids camera from work, I would've taken a photo of the lodged stone with the super zoom function.

And then, upon looking at it, I would've passed out.

So, I guess things really do happen for a reason.

Anyway, during my brief two days out in California, I got a lot done. I helped an Olympian sprinter move into a new apartment, interviewed him, got a few decent pictues of him practicing, wrote several stories about him, traversed the 405 and 5 highways with ease, drove to the Pacific Palisades via Sunset Blvd., and cruised the Pacific Coast Highway for a stretch.

I also took Sunset Blvd. back East, through Brentwood (O.J. murders)toward Bel Air (Fresh Prince land), Westwood (UCLA), Beverly Hills (Weezer, TV show from my youth) and, finally, Hollywood (Showbiz and Adult Entertainment capital of the Universe).

And no, I did NOT experience any of the latter, thank you. I did, however, spend a few minutes checking out the Scientology store, where I was actively recruited by two starlet looking women who were probably L. Ron Hubbard's kin.

Also, in my quest for a good photo of the Hollywood sign, I met actor Dorian Harewood on the Hollyridge Trail in what I assume was the Hollywood Hills area. His most famous big picture appearance was playing "Eightball" in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. He's also had recurring roles in a number of TV shows, including Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and 7th Heaven. And he played Jesse Owens in "The Jesse Owens Story."

I think his wife, Ann McCurry (who was also there) was Lt. Nara on Star Trek The Next Generation.

Anyway, here are some pics from the trip. Next time I do Hollywood, my two hot blondes are coming with me!

This is David Neville. He's from Merrillville, Ind., and now lives in Santa Clarita, Calif. He runs the 400 meters very fast. Olympic fast. Go for the gold, David!

You can never have too many pictures of the ocean. That's what I always say.

Any fan of "The Big Lebowski" knows why I took this one of the In 'N Out Burger. Dude.

I've decided that I need at least one obligatory flag shot in every batch of photos I post on here. Ha! So, here's one of the flag atop Capitol Records at dusk.

As Kid Rock might say, "Spent all my time at Hollywood and Vine ..."
That's where this one was taken.

Guess we know what the Hollywood seagulls think of smarmy former sportscaster-turned Access Hollywood talking head Pat O'Brien, eh?

Spidey clowning around with kids for "tips" in front of the famous Chinese Theater, where all the famous hand and footprints are in the concrete.

A few shots of the Hollywood sign taken from the Hollyridge Trail (a hiking and horseback riding trail). The last one is of me and Dorian Harewood, the actor. See if you recognize him.

Oh, I almost forgot what else I saw up on the Hollyridge Trail. There was a small film crew (two very strange-looking people) filming this guy who was dressed as an alien (complete with antennae). I watched them film their shot from afar, and the alien guy, who looked strangely similar to Mr. Spock, kept saying, "When I come back in the future, I want to be ..." and then I kept missing what his punchline was.

I imagined it was something like, "... a better actor than to be dressed up as an alien, with Dollar Store antennae on my head, saying stupid lines like this."

But I could be wrong.

Anyway, here's a pic of them from a distance. They didn't seem open to talking with ordinary human hikers like me, so I kept my distance. It's a dark shot, but you get the point I think.

A Rocky Day

2008-07-14T21:25:00.000-05:00

We had a delightful weekend until Sunday night. Brian headed off to California before the sun even rose on Sunday morning. Liz and I lounged about at our neighborhood pool for a few hours.

We'd finished dinner and were on a nice evening stroll to the park when Liz calmly said: "I have a rock in my nose." She said it with the same ease, she might mention that her shoe was untied.

Sure enough, there was in fact a tiny rock embedded in her right nostril. I hurried home to see if I could try and get it out. That wasn't going to happen. It was in part because of how far the rock had gone up her nose, combined with her tiny nasal passages.

Most readers of this blog know that kids with achondroplasia have tiny nasal passages, and I tend to think Liz's are even on the "more narrow side" if that's possible.

I called the doctor and he confirmed we needed to head to the ER. Off, we went.

It took several tries by the ER doctor and three of us to hold down a screaming Liz - before he finally got it out. He kept asking for smaller instruments. Obviously, there was a bit of blood but no damage - just some pain getting it out for Liz.

At her ER visit, Liz got a coloring book about visiting the hospital along with crayons, a teddy bear, a Popsicle and lots of adoring comments. I got the rock that I'll keep as a reminder about sticking foreign objects in one's body. Though, to be honest, I don't think I need to be reminded, but maybe it'll find it's place in a scrapbook.

I kept trying to remind Liz about the lessons we learned. As she was sobbing after the "extraction process" I asked her what we learned, and her response through sobs was "to be brave."

Yes, that's an important lesson. But what was I hoping she would say is that she learned not to put anything in her nose, ear, etc...

I think it may take a bit for that lesson to sink in. I was working from home today and went downstairs at snack time. I got Liz some string cheese and I had some fruit. While we were eating, Liz's babysitter looked up - stunned and said: "Liz, don't put that string cheese in your nose. Do you want to go to the ER again?"

Yikes. Talk about a stubborn child. And, it truly is amazing how quickly it happens.

I'm afraid she might be remembering fond memories of getting a bear and ice cream from her ER visit. So, we had more talks today about the "painful" extraction process and how we don't ever want to do that again.

Hopefully, a lesson has been learned. Ultimately, time will tell.

Pool time with Lizzy and Mommy

2008-07-12T19:49:00.000-05:00

So, I've finally done it. I've added a contribution to the now infamous Hedgeradventures blog that my beautiful wife, Lisa, started. This is Brian, her husband (and Lizzy's dad/servant).

These are a couple of pics I took the past few days as practice shots for my pending trip to Los Angeles to write about and photograph Olympic sprinter David Neville, who is from Northwest Indiana.

Personally, my favorite shots are the one of Liz screaming about not wanting to go under the water with mommy and the one of her little caboose sticking out while trying to pick up her toys at the pool.

Actually, that's not entirely true. My "favorite" shot was deleted off the camera before any of Lisa's former co-workers at the Post-Tribune could see her in a full-length bathing suit shot. Let's just say it was a great shot of a pretty lady poolside wearing her black "Baywatch" swimsuit very well. ;)

Enjoy the pics ...

Huge waving flag at sunset in Merrillville that's anchored outside a Tire Barn down the street from where I work.

"No!! I don't want to go under! It will hurt me!!"

A much happier Liz ...

Say cheese! And ... maybe ... say ... hold your nose let's go under the water?

Baby Liz got back ...

The June Whirlwind

2008-06-29T17:58:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy month, and I promise to do a better job posting. Shortly after the major hill project, Brian and I headed to sweltering New York for a long weekend around June 6 to the 9th. We walked all over the city. It was his first time in the Big Apple. We saw Nathan Lane in a Broadway show, walked around several New York neighborhoods and took in a game at Yankee Stadium. It was a lot of fun, and we felt like we sweated off about 10 pounds. Of course, that's not what the scales told us when we returned home.

That next weekend, it was Liz's big 4th birthday bash where we grilled pizzas and had a princess party playing duck, duck goose and eating the two homemade cakes that Liz and I made together. We also celebrated Father's Day that weekend with Brian and my dad as well.

The very next week, we headed to Michigan where Brian and I saw Jack Johnson in concert. It was his birthday gift. I got him
the tickets in April. We stayed in Michigan until the following Saturday and unfortunately missed the Little People of America convention because Brian had to work that Saturday.

This is our first weekend in more than a month that we haven't traveled or had a big birthday party and it's time to catch up.

So, I'll try to be better about posting the rest of this summer, because hopefully it'll be a bit more laid back. For now, here are some catch up photos of the birthday girl.

Surely, I must be mad

2008-06-06T17:53:00.000-05:00

Well, somehow in the midst of all of our travel, and work we managed to to complete a huge landscaping feat.

Last year, my big project was hauling 3 tons of tiny rocks to the backyard and placing them in the flower beds. It looks quite nice.

This year's project, "The Hill Project of 2008" was set up to get rid of our overgrown ugly bushes that are the first thing you see when you enter our house. It's a little hill area and our neighbor Ray helped us haul out the bushes with his truck.

Unfortunately, the project was harder than I had thought. Once we got the bushes out, then we needed to clear out the area. Seems simple enough. Right. The problem is the rail ties that surrounded the area. It literally took me two hours to get two of them out.

Finally, I placed 1 ton of Large rocks around the area, and then placed weed-covering along the entire section. Next, I put in the plants. You'll see some of the hastas look like they're dying but my neighbor is sure they'll live. Then, we put on the dirt and mulch and here you go!

Now, Brian and I are headed to New York this weekend while Liz enjoys some time with my family in Goshen. This will be Brian's first trip to the Big Apple. It's supposed to be a sweltering-hot weekend, but I'm sure we'll have fun. We'll see a Broadway show, go to a Yankees game and hopefully walk around some fun neighborhoods - like the Upper West Side.

Here's some of the "Before" and transition photos:

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No hummus please

2008-06-03T08:26:00.000-05:00

For quite some time, one of my favorite snack foods has been a fabulous hummus dip with some great pita chips or really any type of chips.

Part of my fondness of hummus was the fact that I always felt it was slightly healthier than a normal dip. So, while I was munching on bread or chips or veggies and double-dipping into the red-pepper hummus, I didn't fell nearly as bad as I would have felt had it been ranch dip.

Unfortunately, my love affair with hummus is over and it's quite possible I may never eat it again. Last year, I went with a friend to the Taste of Chicago for lunch. It's a national festival, but for those who may not know much about it, this is the premier festival in Chicago where they serve up hundreds of different types of foods.

My friend and I went there to grab a few items for lunch. Our first thing we gobbled down was the taste portion of some hummus. It was pretty good. Then, I went for these gigantic turkey legs and we wrapped up the lovely sunny summer day with ice cream. Sounds pretty perfect, right.

Yes, we gorged ourselves. But everything was great until late that night when I woke up quite sick. Leaving out all of the gory details, I was the sickest I've ever been and I couldn't eat anything for about 3 weeks.

Turns out my friend and I both got salmonella poisoning from that tiny bit of hummus we ate. Also turns out this was the first case of food poisoning at the Taste's long history.

Boy, we're lucky, right.

I was quoted in the local newspaper during the time of the food poisoning. However, I hope that story has fallen into the Internet's sinking sand because the reporter called me right when I was still ill, and I pretty much sounded like an idiot...a salmonella-sick idiot, mind you.

A friend of mine who freelances for The Chicago Tribune was writing about the experiences and now it's documented here.

So, while I'm still a firm believer that hummus is a great snack, I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to eat it again.

What a trip

2008-05-26T18:19:00.000-05:00

The first Hedger family trip was a major success. Not only was Liz an adorable, fabulous flower-girl, but the weather was great and we saw tons of sites. The wedding was in Virginia Beach at a military base and we stayed on the actual beach.

Not sure if you can tell above, but Liz is peaking out to see the bride, my friend Sarah, walking down the aisle. Liz and Brian also "cut loose" a lot on the dance floor.

We were lucky to have a Pirate's park right on the beach that was a huge hit with Liz. The ocean water was still too cold for her to swim in and she was content to be 50 yards from the ocean climbing her pirate's ship with other kids.

What A Success

2008-05-18T19:40:00.000-05:00

Liz has impressed us beyond belief during this trip. She managed to be an expert traveler - handling turbulence by adjusting her portable DVD player so it wouldn't fall off her lap, and somehow was the star flower girl fighting off utter exhaustion.

Liz went through security at O'Hare like a pro and she gave one of the TSA officials a laugh when she handed me her gummy sucker straight from her mouth. I then tried to shake off the sticky sucker from my hand before dashing through security. He chuckled saying it reminded him of his kids - 30 years ago.

Not one tear on the flight - just about 500 questions. Of course, Brian and I are used to that. Now, the passengers near us were either slightly annoyed or mostly amused, as she continued to ask over and over again: "When are we taking off, when are we landing? I believe she asked about landing before we'd even taken off.

I'm typing at a hotel computer so I'll make this brief and head to the most important event - the wedding. It went perfectly. However, we'd been doing so much since we got here - walking on the beach, playing on a pirate's playground that we wanted to see if we could get her a quick nap before the wedding. Brian took her for a drive, a mission to try and get her to fall asleep.

It didn't work. At one point, she said to him: "Daddy, where are we going?" Busted. So, I took her to the bride's hotel and we got our hair done. As Liz was getting her hair done, she was practically falling asleep on the chair while a hot curling iron was being used to curl her hair. But she was so excited she couldn't bear to sleep.

I wanted to dash her out of the hotel promptly when we finished hair and again take her for a drive before the wedding in hopes that she might get a quick cat nap. The photographer wanted to take a few pictures of the bride and bridesmaids and wedding party. As we were finishing the pictures, Liz started to cry. Well, I was convinced she was exhausted and at her breakdown moment and hoped that if we left at that moment we might have a glimpse of getting that quick nap. So, I dashed her out.

Unfortunately, I misread her tears. She was sad because she hadn't been included in the pictures. Of COURSE the photographer wanted shots of our girl, but I thought Liz's tears were from exhaustion and I swept her out to try and get some rest in the car. I forgot that our girl is pretty used to the family paparazzi. And even though the photographer had taken dozens of shots of her getting ready, she wanted to be in these shots - now that she was in her pretty dress.

So, the 2nd attempt at a nap was an utter failure as well. Of course, the photographer took TONS and TONS of pictures of Liz in her pretty dress - inside, outside, during the ceremony, at the reception....the list goes on. I got some too and I promise I'll post on our return.

Even without that cat nap, she was a pro. Finally, the big event occurred and I walked down the aisle in front of Liz. I reached the end of the aisle and she came down - pretty quickly. She even threw a few flowers... Just a few. Everyone oohed and aahhed as she strolled down.

During the ceremony, the officiant compared the wedding rings to an unbroken circle. Quite loudly Liz said: "What's an unbroken circle?"

Of course, people in the last row could hear her and shortly beforehand she couldn't resist a fast booger-pick during the ceremony. Luckily, just a few of us saw that.

After it was all done, she kept saying: "I want to walk down the aisle again."

And, that's what we call quite a success for our flower girl.

The Big Trip

2008-05-13T21:27:00.001-05:00

For nearly four years, we've managed to somehow avoid flying in a plane with Elizabeth. Part of it was simply because we thought flying might be too much for her, but probably the larger reason was we thought it'd be too much for us.

Now, I realize why we'd delayed this adventure and we were wise in doing so. We're planning to leave on Thursday to Virginia Beach and will be there for a week. One of my closest friend's from college is getting married. She's asked me to be a bridesmaid and also asked Liz to be a flower girl.

So, the first challenge is simply packing everything that we need. Those of you who have gone on trips with young kids know this indeed can be a tiring act. But since it's our first time it seems a bit more overwhelming. Not to mention the fact, that I've got to remember all of our fancy clothes for the wedding, beach clothes, warm clothes in case it gets cold as well as countless Band aids, medicines like Tylenol and not to mention books and a few toys for Liz to play with while managing to get all of this stuffed into 3 or 4 bags.

Once we get past this packing hurdle, then comes the challenge of schlepping all of our stuff through O'Hare and finally through security and ultimately on the plane.

I've packed tons of new snacks, games and suckers for Liz. We even bought a portable DVD player and hopefully that will entertain her...for a bit.

Once we arrive in Virginia Beach, the next challenge will be Brian's. I'll be busy with bridesmaid duties for the first two days and he and Liz will be playing together on the beach. As long as the weather is OK, I think they'll be fine.

The biggest obstacle will be the actual wedding, which is at 7 p.m. on Saturday. There's no other way to describe it, but to say that 7 p.m. is Liz's meltdown period. Literally, right on the dot. Basically, she's played all day and by that time, she's getting tired and ready to snooze.

That's the exact moment we'll be wanting her to walk down the aisle carrying flowers as flower girl. Brian and I both predict it likely won't happen and my friend knows that too. Now, the odds improve if she takes a nap, but given all of the excitement, a nap is pretty unlikely unless Brian drives her around and around in the car and she ultimately falls asleep that afternoon out of pure exhaustion.

But regardless if she makes it down the aisle or not, we do expect we'll have some pretty cute photos of her in her adorable lavender flower girl dress. She's quite excited about it and has been practicing throwing flowers for weeks. She could surprise us.

After the wedding, we'll stay in Virginia Beach and have a chance to relax for several days until heading back the following Wednesday.

I had wanted to blog about the trip, but not quite sure how we can manage to pack the laptop. Regardless, we'll pass on a full report upon our return...with lots of pictures...I promise.

Where's that superhero when you need one?

2008-04-29T20:34:00.000-05:00

Liz and I had an adventurous road trip to Michigan over the weekend. She's staying with the Michigan Hedgers while I'm in Boston for a few days.

We headed out on Saturday morning and about an hour into the trip, she needed to stop for water and a bathroom break. Once we got to a gas station, I swiftly found a parking spot and went to put the car in park when the gear shift became stuck and I couldn't put it in park. So, I was able to push the gear into neutral and turn the car off.

Unfortunately, when the car is not in the park position, you can't take the keys out of the ignition. So, Liz and I hurried into the gas station and I had the clear realization that it was very likely we'd return to the parking lot, and the car would be gone.

Oddly enough. We returned 4 minutes later and the car was still there. That was exciting.

I went to put Liz in the car seat and as I was trying to buckle her in, the car began rolling backward. So, my mind began swirling and I instantly wondered how to handle the situation. I was able to put one leg outside of the car and somehow stop it from rolling. Probably not the smartest move, but it didn't seem safe for us to keep rolling - especially since Liz wasn't buckled in at this point - and there were cars nearby and cars driving by us in the parking lots.

The tricky part was trying to prevent the car from rolling while fastening Liz into the car seat. I didn't want to jump out of the car until I had her fastened in. Most of you know car seats can be a pain without the hassle of trying to stop a rolling car with one leg.

Miraculously, I got her buckled in and I jumped out and hurried into the front seat to grab the breaks.

Somehow, it all worked out and we didn't hit any cars or people. I was able to make it all 220 miles to Michigan without any other problems.

Now, I'm just hoping that there wasn't anyone nearby videoing the event, because I really don't want to see it on You-Tube or the local news, where the newscaster says something like: "Look at this crazy Mom."

Catching Up

2008-04-13T17:45:00.000-05:00

Here are some fun photos of Liz from Easter. It's taken a long time for this to happen, but I think she's really starting to look like me. That's quite exciting. She was a spitting image of Brian for the first three years of her life, but that's slowly begun to change. You can also see her dimple on her face that mirrors mine.

Finally, the sun

2008-04-06T20:42:00.000-05:00

After enduring what seemed like an endless winter, we were treated with 60 degree weather this weekend and spent every possible minute outside. On Saturday, Liz and I worked on the leaves and spent about 3 hours at our nearby park. On Sunday, we all went to nearby Lake Michigan and hung at out one of the park's that tends to be more secluded, especially on a spring day.

The gift of baseball

2008-04-02T18:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a column that Brian wrote in Monday's newspaper about his trip with his brother to Lakeland, Fla., a few weeks ago for Spring Training to see the Tigers.

I think many of you will enjoy it.

The gift of baseball still has its charm

By Brian Hedger Post-Tribune staff writer

Willie Horton has a huge belly and a double chin now.
Back in 1968, when the Detroit Tigers won the World Series, he was a hero to Tigers fans of all ages. My brother Curt was one of them. He was 11 in 1968. And I ... well, I wasn't born until 1974, when he was 17.

So, when we spotted Willie earlier this month at Tigers spring training in Lakeland, Fla., I saw a cordial, old guy whom I'd only heard stories about. My brother saw Willie Horton.

We didn't get his autograph. We were too far away. He was in a hurry. But Curt did snap a picture just before the old slugger slipped into the batting cage to tutor some prospect.

And here's why, on the first big day of baseball in America, I still love this game despite its myriad problems.

Just before he snapped the picture, my brother turned into an 11-year old kid again -- if only for a second. He's a corporate attorney in Michigan. He has a nice office in Ann Arbor. He has a wonderful wife. He has two kids in college and a third who's served two tours in Iraq.

And yet, for just a fleeting second under the Florida sun, baseball gave him a glimpse of his childhood again.

"Go get'em, Willie ..." he started to shout, before snapping the shot.

You know, I'll never forget that moment. Hopefully, he won't either.

This was my gift, belated as it was, for his 50th birthday last June. I had no idea what to get him on such a milestone. He has, after all, played the role of dad, brother and best friend for me. So, I fretted about it. And deliberated. And then, finally, my wife, Lisa, came up with the perfect idea (she always does).

I took my big brother to spring training. And what was supposed to be a simple baseball trip turned out to be even more fun.

Yeah, we saw a couple of Tigers games. And we watched a lot of the prospects from all those box scores that each of us pours over every summer. We even saw Alexis Espinosa, a muscled young mystery prospect whom we'd been looking for like bird watchers.

But we also cruised around Polk County on the day it rained. And we stopped at some of our favorite haunts. At the Salvation Army (yes, you read that right) we found a bright, yellow T-shirt from a Lakeland bakery that made us cackle.

It said, in capital letters: "ASK ME ABOUT MY BUNS."

Curt bought it. And wore it. Briefly.

One day, we drove South from Lakeland to Venice, along the Gulf of Mexico. We visited family. We swam in the Gulf, cold as it was. And we took pictures like, well ... the tourists we were. One of the best is a picture of these silver Airstream RVs buried upright in a line along Interstate 4 -- a chrome-plated ode to Stonehenge.

And then there were the chemical suits that we found in the men's room of a Publix grocery store. "What the heck was that all about?" we wondered, making sure to get a photo of them too. We even found the Publix headquarters in a rough stretch of Lakeland on our last day there.

Turns out you can't miss it, because there's a giant birthday cake/water tower out front -- complete with candles that light up to warn low-flying aircraft.

We laughed a lot on this trip. And we saw Willie Horton.

Go get'em, indeed.

The Egg Tradition

2008-03-31T18:47:00.000-05:00

Things are back to normal this week. Well, as close to normal as things can be in our house.

But we're all home and that's always nice.

Liz had a fabulous time with my mom in Goshen and got to see her great Grandma and Grandpa as well as my dad, her Papaw. Apparently, Liz completed multiple Easter egg hunts daily at my mom's house.

One wasn't enough for her.

Once she got the hang of it, she enjoyed setting up the egg hunts herself. She would hide them and then scurry around the yard and find them. She clearly inherits the family gene.

For years, on my side of the family we had Easter egg hunts until my cousins and I were well into our late-teens. OK. We were in our early 20s - maybe even middle 20s.

All right. I admit it - the hunts just ended 3 or 4 years ago - shortly before the little ones were born. But Easter egg hunts have always been a big deal in my family.

It's not enough to simply show up and run around looking for eggs. You need to prepare for the hunt. You must make sure you're wearing the right type of shoes, comfortable pants and certainly you don't want any restrictive clothing that will prohibit you from leaping off decks to grab eggs.

Also, few of you (except my cousins who read this blog) have a grandma who's clever enough to drill holes into the plastic eggs and tie wire to them. If anyone thinks I'm joking about this, I know there are readers who can confirm this.

Yes, Grandma Shidler decided the egg hunts needed to be more challenging. So, she actually had Grandpa drill tiny holds into the plastic eggs and then tied wires to them. Then, she took the wire pieces and wrapped them around the hiding places - such as branches, etc...

As you can imagine, these hunts were lengthy and quite intricate. You were trying to find the eggs while untwisting that wire as fast as possible. It certainly lasted a lot longer than those little egg hunts you see at local parks.

I also must admit that I was traditionally the family loser. Yes, last place had my name written all over it, and I was pretty proud of those 3 eggs....every year. Sometimes, I even got four. Well, maybe that was just one year.

Until that one year, when Grandma Shidler urged me to get a move on it. I took her advice.

That was the year of my "infamous deer leap off the deck," as I plunged off the deck diving for the eggs, and somehow managed to land gracefully (for the first time in my life) grabbing every egg in sight.

Ok. Not every egg. I'm still pretty sure I came in the lower percentile that year, but I would say if we looked back at the family stats, I made a remarkable improvement.

Based on Liz's ongoing excitement for egg hunts, I think she's carrying on that egg tradition.

Easter and travel

2008-03-24T21:02:00.001-05:00

The last few weeks we've had more traveling adventures. Brian and his brother were in Florida to watch The Detroit Tigers in Spring Training. They spent most of their days watching baseball and visiting every Salvation Army store they could find.

Meanwhile, that same weekend I took Liz to Fort Wayne, Ind. for her first stay at a hotel. We stayed downtown Fort Wayne, which is on the far Northeast portion of Indiana. Brian and I actually met in Fort Wayne where we both worked for competing newspapers. I hadn't been there in years, and it was great fun to see all of our old stomping grounds.

This weekend, we went to Goshen on Sunday to have Easter with my family. Liz is actually in Goshen Ind., my hometown in Northern Indiana, and will be there until Thursday. Liz and my mom are having a blast and we did a few Easter egg hunts on Sunday. Apparently Liz liked them so much, that she and my mom have completed several hunts again today (Monday).

Meanwhile, As I write I'm in Midtown Manhattan and will be here until Thursday morning covering a conference. So far, it's been a great week to be in New York. The weather is fantastic and I had the chance to go to a few fabulous local New York restaurants today. Hope to head to a neighborhood tomorrow for dinner. One of my co-worker's and I are also planning to see a Broadway show later this week as well.

The Easter pictures will come later....I promise!

Maple Syrup Days

2008-03-17T21:09:00.001-05:00

A week ago, we headed to the local park for the annual Maple Syrup festival. Don't worry - I'll be sure to snap the "all important" shots of Liz eating the maple syrup with her pancakes one morning. This event has become an annual tradition and it always marks the start of spring.

What's said behind your back

2008-03-09T11:44:00.000-05:00

Last week, was a pretty hard week for us in terms of the comments people made to us directly and behind our backs. I had to deal with acquaintances who said some fairly rude and insensitive comments about little people.

In both cases, they were quite embarrassed and ashamed when approached. One of the guy's who knows about Liz and said something as a joke, apologized dozens of times, after I called him out.

But these comments put a damper on the week and reminded us that there are so many people who think it's all right to joke about little people. In both cases, these individuals aren't jerks and are quite sensitive to people of differences, but our society seems to accept humor about short statured individuals and it's quite frustrating.

So, rather than focusing on those specific incidences, I'll highlight how our week ended - which was fairly positive.

I took Liz to the doctor late Friday afternoon because Brian was worried she might have strep throat. My "gut" Mommy instinct told me it was merely a cold, but better safe than sorry.

Dr. K confirmed my suspicion and said it is just a cold. But while at the doctors office, one of the nurses we've grown to know quite well began asking me about Liz and a number of issues about her growing up.

She started talking about how bright Liz is, which makes any parent glow.

Then, she shared this story: "One time when you brought Liz in when she was about 2. You guys had just left, and Dr. K. said 'You know that girl's going to be the valedictorian of her class. She'll just need to stand on a step stool to reach the podium.'"

It was a simple comment and one that we didn't hear about until now, and it was the perfect timing.

So, who said all comments spoken behind your back are bad? If only they were all like that!

A little star

2008-03-09T10:11:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to post that my friends at "How Life is Measured" were featured today in the Flint Journal.

If you go here, you can read the story about Owen and his parents. His mom Cat and I have e-mailed periodically and she's posted on this site as well as her mother, Owen's proud grandma, Jennifer. They actually live quite close to Brian's family in Michigan and I hope we'll be able to meet up one time when we're visiting.

Owen just turned a year-old in February and is doing quite well, other than the common childhood illnesses. But if you read the article, you'll see his journey to this world, was quite stressful and that's putting it mildly. His parents were told he had a lethal form of dysplasia and he would die within hours of his birth. They had a priest on hand for the birth.

Fortunately, Owen was born kicking and screaming and the family just celebrated his 1st birthday and he's as active as Liz was at that age!

I think it's great to have articles like this about little people, because it helps the general public better understand what our families face.

Also, People Magazine ran an article about the Graf family who had a boy Will who was born with achondroplasia and then the family adopted Max from Korea, who also has achondroplasia. I didn't find a link to the article on the web site, but if I do (or someone else does), I'll post.

Causing a Disturbance

2008-03-06T18:50:00.000-06:00

Well, I had to know that we couldn't get through Liz's first year of preschool without a note from school to take home. Frankly, I'm amazed we made it this long.

Sure, the teachers often have passed on verbal comments to me particularly when the fall semester began. But after several warnings - - don't drink from the water table, no standing on the regular tables and don't pick the nose and eat it - there was instant improvement.

And, I didn't even post about parent teacher conferences, because it was so positive.

But on Wednesday when I picked her up, I saw the following note: Lately during nap, Liz has been causing a disturbance by getting of her cot and rolling on the ground and talking to her friends. Please let her know this behavior is inappropriate during nap time. Also, she has been taking off her shoes and socks during this time. We don't allow the children to sleep without socks or shoes, just in case of an emergency and we need to leave the building. Please just discuss this with Liz at home.

So, for those of you who know me, it should come as little surprise that my chatty behavior has worn off on Liz. Those of you who know Brian will be thinking the same thing, since he's quite talkative as well.

Those of you lucky enough to know both of us, are probably downright stunned that she didn't get a note like this on her first day of class.

In all fairness, I will point out that she isn't always at preschool during nap time. In the fall, she was there just for the afternoon session and arrived after nap-time. In this spring session, she's usually in class during nap time.

No worries. We took our "homework assignment" seriously and have talked about "proper nap behavior" in length. We'll see how that goes.

Our Little Lady

2008-03-02T08:58:00.000-06:00

I've come to understand that Liz's perception on life as a little person will be very different than mine.

For instance, even though I'm fairly social, I enjoy my anonymity. I like going to Starbucks or another coffee house and reading my newspaper without anyone noticing me. I don't have people giving me unusual looks or coming up to me and asking me questions about myself, except on the days when in haste iced tea is dripping down my chin. But that's only once in awhile.

Liz won't get the same treatment as she gets older simply because of her height.

Luckily, Liz is much more extroverted than I was at her age. Sure, she gets shy among new people, but overall, she loves talking to people. She's not attached to my leg, the way I was attached to my mom's leg at this age.

Since there are so few people who are 4-feet-tall, she's considered unique simply by her height and will be easily recognized at places like the grocery store, the park or the local coffee shop. In some cases, people will give her an extra glance or perhaps make a comment.

In other cases, the clerks and employees at these locations will remember her more then they'd remember their average-height customers that they might see just as often.

While I had originally feared that this might be a negative experience for Liz, I saw this weekend, how it can be quite positive.

We were at the local grocery paying for our items when the person checking out our groceries mentioned how she watched Liz and I when we first came to the store.

"She's going to be a Little lady," she said. "Whenever I see her, she always makes me smile."

Obviously, she'd noticed us several times.

So, while we may worry about those negative comments, there are so many more people that are smiling at you....when you don't even know about it.

And, that's kind of cool.

Those lazy days of summer

2008-02-24T10:33:00.000-06:00

Since we're toward March that means spring is around the corner....hopefully. Here's my favorite summer picture of Liz from last June in Michigan. My nephew Daniel snapped this one. She's pretty excited about heading to the pool.

We actually took her swimming at our local Y yesterday for the first time since last summer and she had a blast. Though, it took her a bit to warm up to the pool.

Eat your Cheerios and you'll grow faster

2008-02-23T17:42:00.000-06:00

As I'd said in earlier posts, Liz is becoming more and more aware of her size and the comments that people make about it. In fact, it's becoming a daily conversation.

One morning, she was eating breakfast and said to me: "Mommy, you grow while you sleep, right? Did I grow? Measure me."

When Brian dropped Liz off from preschool one day, a little girl was standing there and said: "Liz just needs to eat a lot and fill her stomach up and then she'll grow."

What's interesting about these comments is that probably 80 to 90% of parents try to convince their children to go to bed on time or eat their vegetables with the promise that if they do, "they'll grow healthily and get taller."

These are pretty standard comments that many parents make and don't think much about. In fact, if Liz didn't have achondroplasia, I probably would have said the same thing probably dozens of times.

So, now we're faced with the challenge of explaining to Liz, whose only 3, that yes it's important to get a good night's sleep and yes, you want to eat healthy foods for a variety of reasons.

Those are all good things to do but you will always be a little person.

That's hard for a 3-year-old to understand. She's also under the impression that being tall is somehow better than being short.

She's really picked up on a lot concerning how our society approaches tall and short people and that's pretty surprising at this age.

Meanwhile, I'm pulling all of the tricks out my hat trying to tell her all of the best reasons for being short. She still says: "But I want to be big."

That's still hard for me to hear, but we realize that it's very important for Liz to be "comfortable in her skin" and that journey is starting now.

So, while it might be easier to just let her cry, that's not the right answer. She needs to know that her view of the world will be unique and that there are many different things she can do as a little person that those of us average-height folks could never do.

Setting records

2008-02-19T17:16:00.000-06:00

Everyone likes to set a personal record every once in a while.

That's pretty normal, right? For some, it's beating their 5-mile-run record. For others, it might be slugging down 20 hot dogs in 2 minutes.

Sometimes, we set new records when we're not expecting it. For instance, I hadn't been in the Chicago office in awhile because I'd been out of town. So, on Wednesday I decided I'd head to the office.

Even though we only live about 45 minutes to 1 hour from the city, the commute is generally 2 hours because I take the train. On the days that Liz is in pre-school, I drive to a farther train station that's about 30 miles away.

Normally, I get to that station in about 45 minutes. On Wednesday, we got a smattering of snow. Just a bit. But it was enough to make a horrible mess on the highways. My first part of the drive to the train was fine, so I forged ahead. However, it only got worse from there.

It actually took me 2 hours and 15 minutes -- -- just to get to the train station. I was happy because I arrived at 8:12 a.m. - I thought the last rush hour train was departing at 8:15 a.m. and I was just going to catch it. However, since I normally take a 6:46 a.m. or 7:03 a.m. train, I had gotten the time of the later train mixed up. It was actually an 8:10 a.m. and was rolling out as I was driving home.

So, I headed back home rather than waiting for the next train at 9:40 a.m. Needless to say, that's my new personal record for the amount of time it took me - to get to the train station.

Last weekend, my nephew Stephen, who is a junior at University of Chicago, was in the midst of trying to set a record of wearing the same pair of jeans for the longest consecutive time. He'd reached six weeks wearing that same pair of blue jeans through rainy, snowy and sleety Chicago weather...that is until my sister-in-law insisted on taking the pants and washing them at our house.

Even though he may not have set the record he had intended, it was a good effort and it was impressive to see a pair of jeans that dirty. I think they could have walked the streets of Chicago on their own.

The Absent minded blogger

2008-02-19T17:08:00.000-06:00

My initial fear when I first began blogging was that I'd tire of writing, since I do it for a living, and I'd fall behind in the blog.

So far, I've done all right... That is until now. I wish I could say: "Things have been so crazy." But really, I haven't had too much to post about.

Sure, I could have added another lengthy post about annoying airport delays, but really how many of them do you need. We all endure it every time we travel so it's not really funny anymore.

We're mostly trying to get through the dreary month of February and eagerly looking forward to spring. Liz keeps asking about the park, and I'm hoping by March we'll have a few nice warm days.

Brian's still working to rehabilitate his knee and that's remained a huge challenge for him. He makes tremendous progress and then seems to fall back. We're in a holding pattern now and hopefully he'll continue to do better.

Liz had a blast in Michigan though it was too cold for her to do anything except stay with her grandma "Mimi" and her Aunt Marilyn.

The rest of the Brighton Hedgers came and saw us this weekend and that too was fun.

Brian and I went and saw our nephew Stephen play at the University of Chicago with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. That was also a great time.

The traveling Hedgers

2008-02-10T20:00:00.000-06:00

Things have been a bit hectic the last week because we've been traveling in the midst of the delightful Midwest storms.

Last Monday, I was up bright and shiny at 3:30 a.m. to head to Midway to travel to New York for the day. Amazingly, my flight was on time, and they spent just 1 hour-de-icing the plane. However, in the air, weather had worsened in New York and we couldn't land at Laguardia. So, after flying for some time in circles, we were running out of fuel and stopped in a nearby Pennsylvania airport. I made it for most of my meeting only to find that all flights in and out of Midway had been cancelled that day.

It's quite unusual for Midway to close down. It usually happens at O'Hare. Luckily, I was able to get into O'Hare and finally got home at about 1 a.m.

Not too bad for traveling in the middle of February.

Now, I'm in Miami and that plane was only delayed a few hours earlier today. I actually had time to swim some laps when I got here. I'll be here just a few days. It's nice to actually be somewhere where the weather is in the 80s, even if it's just for a short time.

We decided this would be the perfect time for Liz to spend some time with the Brighton Hedgers. So, Brian took her to Michigan today and endured horrible weather (yet again), but they made it safe and sound. At some points, he said he could only drive 5 mph. Luckily, Liz slept thru the worst of the storm, he said. Whew!

When I head back from Miami on Tuesday night, Brian and I will have a few days - child - free. What will we do with that time?

We haven't forgotten you Pumba

2008-02-02T06:27:00.000-06:00

I realized I hadn't posted any pictures in awhile and here's a good one with Liz and Pumba. We see Pumba when we're in Michigan and my nephew Daniel took this one at Thanksgiving.

Hey Elmo, Monsters are pretty cute, right?

2008-02-01T19:51:00.000-06:00

For the last few years, I've almost gotten used to the ongoing comments I hear daily from adults about Liz's size. I realize these statements will never end. And, they'll always bother me, but over time, I've made progress.

Some hurt more than others, and I've got some pretty quick witted low-key responses that are now rolling off my tongue when it comes to adults. I'll post about that later.

What's been much harder for me is handling children's comments. So far, the children aren't intending to be mean, they're simply making blunt and candid observations.

About a year ago, we were visiting friends in Indianapolis, when one of the neighbor girl's began calling Liz a monster.

I literally felt sick to my stomach and couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. I think my mouth was hanging open and not one word could come out for several minutes.

What was interesting, was the little girl, about 6 or so, didn't think that she was saying anything mean. She even went on to explain to me why she used the word, "monster" in her own way.

She said, "See, she's got a tiny body and a bigger head" like monsters.

That would have my moment to speak. Actually say real words. Really any words at all.

Perhaps, let her know that while Liz is little, calling her a monster probably isn't the nicest thing to say.

Trust me, nothing even crept out of my mouth. My mouth was still hanging open - completely speechless. Almost as though I'd forgotten how to speak.

Eventually, words came out, but they were mostly sarcastic, and a 6-year-old obviously doesn't understand that.

See, most of my practice has been with adults as I said. Sarcasm can work quite well with adults.

After I'd thought about that exchange with that little girl, I realized that while the word, "monster" conjured horrible thoughts in my mind, that's not what she was trying to say.

Kids her age and Liz's age spend their days watching Sesame Street where the heroes are Elmo, Zoe, Oscar the Grouch. These furry friends are all monsters who have larger heads and smaller bodies. They're all adorable.

This is how kids view monsters today. And, for that little girl to look at Liz and make the same comparison was actually fairly observant. Liz has a smaller body and a larger head. No, she's not red like Elmo, but I can see her comparison.

Obviously, in the future I hope I'll have the words to say something like: "Oh, I see why you might think Liz reminds you of one of your friends, like Elmo, but we don't want to call someone a monster."

Slowly, ever-so-slowly I'm hoping I'll be able to handle children's comments better. Just as I've improved with handling adults' comments.

The big hurdle is helping Liz understand what these comments mean and how to respond to them. That's becoming my biggest obstacle and perhaps will be my greatest challenge as her parent.

For the first time, earlier tonight Liz let me know that she understood things that people have said about her.

Liz's friends at preschool approach her as Liz. They all get excited when she arrives and give her hugs at the end of the day. Miss Janice said that early on, several of the children wanted to "help her" because they thought of her as a baby, but Miss Janice always says to them, "Did Liz ask for help? Does she need help?"

But, these children all realize that Liz is smaller, and they understand she has little legs and they've begun to comment on it. Again, it's perfectly natural for them to do so.

Earlier tonight, Liz was getting grumpy as it was time for bed. She started crying and said: "I have little legs and can't do things. That's what the kids at pre-school say."

It was the first time that she has realizeed and understood the comments that others have said. This was a difficult moment.

But this time, I wasn't completely speechless - just slightly stunned - and said: "Yes, you have smaller legs. The kids are right. You always will have smaller legs, but you can do anything that you want."

We then went on to talk about Matt & Amy Roloff, whom she watches regularly on TLC's "Little People, Big World." We talked about all of the things they do, and how she can do those things too, such as travel, have a career, etc..

Before I knew it, the subject had changed and it was time for Dr. Suess. That's fine with me. We'll have many many more opportunities and hopefully each time, it's just a tiny bit easier and less painful than the time before.

Hash browns anyone?

2008-01-27T17:56:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, we went to our favorite breakfast place for the usual grub. Brian normally works on Saturdays but was able to join Liz and I this morning before heading to physical therapy for his knee.

Liz always gets the kids breakfast combo and I get an adult meal that comes with hash browns. I always give her half because her meal comes without.

I've taken to that habit of often putting a cute, "ie" at the end of words when I talk with Liz. I know this can be irritating but sometimes it works. For instance, when she wants us to rub her back, she calls it "backie" and we do too.

Then, there's also "bathie" and "scratchies."

So, you'll understand why it didn't seem like a big deal for me to say to Liz at breakfast on Saturday: "Would you like more Hash Brownies?"

Brian turned to me and said: "Do you realize what you just said?"

I didn't think I had to explain it to him. He'd been guilty of adding an "ie" on occasion as well.

But still, I said: "Oh, you know, I was doing that cute thing where I add "ies" to the item. Instead of hash browns. It becomes hash brownies.

Brian's response: "You just asked our child if she wants HASH BROWNIES."

Oops. So, perhaps the cute "ie" rule can't be used for all items.

Of course, she didn't notice anything.

And, hopefully, she'll read this post in 25 years and say: "Mom, what are hash brownies?"

Well, at least I can hope.

Hangin' at the Mall

2008-01-21T10:36:00.000-06:00

I must admit that I started this post a day ago or so, and then held off because I wasn't sure I wanted to post it. However, I think it's important to share these stories, because I know that other parents of Little People read this blog, and I think it's reassuring to know that you're not alone.

We had a little time over the weekend to take Liz to the mall where they have a perfect area for kids to play in. It didn't take Liz long to start running all over the play area. It's one of her favorite things to do, of course. And, in just minutes, she'd be-friended someone. That's also not a surprise given Liz's extroverted nature.

The girl, was probably close to twice her height, but about the same age. I'm only guessing. But the two seemed to have similar speaking abilities and enjoyed the same type of games.

They were playing a robust game of tag and obviously Liz is slower because of her little legs. This girl might as well have been a child-like Michael Jordan because she had really long legs.

Liz kept chasing her around and around trying to catch her. It didn't bother Liz one bit that she was much slower than this girl. They were having a great time.

Then, the little girl started to comment about Liz being slow saying things like: "You're slow. You're really slow. Wow, you're slow. You run very slow"

This is one of those situations where it's hard to see another child innocently pointing out your child's genetic faults. And, of course any smart 3-year-old doesn't make a comment just once, the repeat the same thing over and over again.

Of course, she's slower. Look at her legs. Her legs are probably the length of a 6 or 9-month olds (even though her total height is about the height of a 14-month old).

Her legs are much smaller and she gains most of her height from the torso.

Luckily the comments didn't phase Liz one bit, which is what really matters. And, the girl wasn't being mean. She was just pointing out an obvious fact. That's what children do.

Regardless, it didn't stop it from bothering Brian and I a bit.

I was also trying to mentally pass on suggestions to Liz of ways to tag the little girl- like taking a short-cut past the 6-foot bunny rather than following her all the way around the giant-sized turtle. After a little while, she started to do that. She must have read my mind.

Brian and I both also commented that she wasn't running her fastest. In Liz's mind, it was more fun chasing the little girl then actually catching her.

I've often hoped that it will be harder for me to handle people's comments then it is for Liz, and so far that's been true. She's so good natured that those little comments don't even phase her.

She will always be a little person and her perspective on life will be different than mine because of her height. Since I've lived my life as a person who is 5-feet-4 inches tall, it's hard to imagine being 4-feet-tall, but Liz is already handling the situation as a pro at age 3.

What a Kid!

She Dreams

2008-01-18T15:54:00.000-06:00

Just recently, I've noticed that Liz has started to remember her dreams. Pretty cool. About a week ago, she walked our room early in the morning and started describing her dream. "Mommy, I just had a dream that I was taking a bath."

Oh boy. It didn't take me long to realize exactly what had happened - especially since everyone in the nation has had that dream at some point. Sure enough, she'd wet the bed.

Earlier this week, she had a child's nightmare that Mommy was taking her toys away to be recycled. She kept saying: "Don't cycle my toys mommy. Leave them here."

I've talked with her about giving up her toys to Salvation Army for other children to play with them, and it's a pretty confusing and obviously scary concept for her at this point.

No worries. The toys haven't been "hauled away"...yet. Actually, we just boxed up some of the toys she no longer plays with and put them in the crawl space.