A Rocky Day

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

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

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

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:

No hummus please

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

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

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

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.