Club Foot, Before and After

I've been wanting to post some before and after pictures of Beau's foot so you could see how well it has turned...
Here is how his foot looked beforeAnd here is after 7 weeks of casting... The red dot is where they cut his achilles tendon.
And here was Beau at three weeks old, before any of his casts...Here's my happy Beau now! He's now pretty used to his brace and is wearing it about 22-23 hours out of the day. I've gotten better at not automatically thinking he wants the shoes off everytime he cries. What an amazing miracle it is that feet can be fixed so easily. Seven weeks out of a lifetime isn't so bad. I feel blessed everytime I think about our experience so far, and I'm so excited for the months to come when he'll be crawling and walking and running!

For Joy

Since Joy noted my ommission of the pic of the baby blanket I fell in love with, I thought I'd better post it...

See! It's way too cute to pass up! The brown fabric is the really soft, almost furry stuff, and there are also patches of blue satin. I need a queen sized one for my bed. Love, love it!

Got 10 Minutes to Spare?

It really is true, what they say. The mess will wait for you. In my case, my mess was especially patient and waited a full week and a half for me. I left my house with Rus and Beau on a Wednesday afternoon, returned on Saturday night for a short stop to relieve my Mom who had been oh so privileged to be able to watch Bekah and Jacob for me, and took off on Sunday morning with my mom and kids, leaving Rus behind, to head to Sierra Vista for a week. Then Rus flew in to Tucson on Friday morning, I picked him up and escorted him back to sunny SV, and then we drove back home to NM on Sunday. Anyone confused yet? The point is I've been gone for a week and a half and it feels like I've been gone forever. Cockroaches moved out of my dishwasher and onto my counter, a bold move that sent seven of them to their maker. My grass had the audacity to grow while we were gone and now it needs to be mowed again. If it all waited a week and a half it can wait another day, right?

So for the first part of my trip, Beau and I tagged along with Rus to Colorado for a business trip. We drove straight up to Denver and then took our time coming home, going on the back roads from Denver down to Pagosa Springs, and then down through Chama to Santa Fe. Check out how beautiful it was! I am convinced that right now is the best time to travel because the weather is great and everything is in wonderful color. That sea of gold is from the Aspens. So, so pretty. This next pic is from Fenton Lake in northern NM. I thought the mountains looked amazing.


Rus and I stopped and did a little hike down to the Chama river. Rus is blurry here because he kept making the bridge sway back and forth. The hike down to the river was really more like a thousand stairs. The creative little bugger who made the trail picked the steepest place and said, "Hey! Let's put some stairs here, just for fun!" My calves and quads weren't too appreciative. The second part of the trip was to Sierra Vista. My parents moved away from there five years ago, so I hadn't had a reason to go there really. Then they moved back there this past March and I've just finally gotten around to visiting them. I forgot how beautiful SV is. My mom and the kids and I went on a hike up in Ramsey canyon and we had a blast. Jacob kept finding bugs, like caterpillars and butterflies. They loved the little bridges that took them over the creek.


Awww...they look like they like each other! Actually Bekah and Jacob are really good friends. They slept in the same room for the whole week and they loved it. They'd lay in their beds and talk to each other until they fell asleep, and then in the morning I'd wake up to their little voices, deep in conversation. Here he is! Jacob, the next Karate Kid!


Here's all of us relaxing by the bird feeders. We did a wonderful job of being too loud and scaring all of the birds away. Sometimes pictures don't really tell the whole story. Jacob looks happy here, but he had just spent the last 15 minutes crying because he face planted it whilst trying to step off one of the bridges. I had just fed Beau, and then I think right after this pic he spit it all up. Bekah had just collected a bunch of acorns that were on the ground, successfully ruining the bird-watching experience of a few Germans that were sitting nearby. Then she found the feather and in between smiling for the camera she kept asking "Did you take a picture of my feather?" I started the hike off grumpy because my kids were, in my opinion, the most horrible listeners ever, but I think I got over it by the end of the hike.

Beau lookin' snazzy in his new shoes and navy socks. I've been meaning to post an update on Beau and his shoes, but I haven't had a chance. I got his new, custom fit Mitchell brace on the Tuesday before I left and it has been so, so much better than the first brace. He's wearing it the majority of the day, with maybe an hour or two brake every 24 hours. So I think we're doing pretty good! And he's happy!

Ummm...since this has turned into the longest post ever, I'll try to briefly sum up the rest of my trip...

1. We were able to meet up with Amy and her kids Andrew and Emily. She has a good pic of us on her blog. It was so fun to see her! I haven't seen her since my wedding, and now we both have kids, minivans, and an appreciation for mac and cheese!2. Since I had to go to Tucson to pick up Rus from the airport, I decided to go early and spend the night at my brother Tyler's house. I don't know why I didn't get a pic of Tyler with my kids (slacker!) but here is a funny one of Bekah getting stuck in a random bucket that Tyler had. She was screaming, "NO! Don't take a picture! It hurts! Help me!" Aren't I a wonderful mother?3. The kids and I went to the zoo in the morning before we got Rus. Bekah got drenched playing in this little water-spray area. Once again, pictures don't really tell the whole story. Sure, she's happy here, but the rest of the time she was driving me crazy, looking at each animal for point-three-five seconds and then yelling to go see something else. And then she complained about being wet, even though she'd just reassured me, saying, "It's okay mom. Clothes dry," in a very serious 30 year old voice. Jacob was able to very strategically get wet only between his legs, so for the rest of the morning he looked like he'd peed his pants and I looked like I'd let him pee his pants. By the time we'd wrapped up that fun adventure and had picked up Rus from the airport, I was one frazzled mess and Rus said in his soothing, talking-to-a-crazy-person voice "Maybe when we get to your mom's you can just drop us off and then go have some time to yourself." I loved him for that and hated myself for not being able to handle everything.4. Amy came to Sierra Vista too, with her kids while her husband was turkey hunting. My mom got a sitter for all of the kids except Beau and we (Mom, Dad, Amy, Rus, me, Beau) took off to Art in the Park, which incidentally is the number one reason (not including family) to ever visit Sierra Vista. It was so much fun and the vendors had some great stuff. One of my favorites was a carousel made out of two bike rims and spam cans. No, really I fell in love with several paintings, a beautiful purse, and numerous pieces of jewelry. I successfully walked away with only a baby blanket that was so, so cute I had to buy it even though it's really for a girl and Beau is obviously not a girl. Oh well, I'm a girl, so I can have a girly baby blanket if I want to. (Sorry, Beau.) I don't know how I only took this one picture. Beau enjoyed Art in the Park, too.And now despite this post being seriously, ridiculously long, I have to include these pictures because [insert very long, complicated explanation here], so just stop whining and enjoy. :)

Have a wonderful, terrific, yummy, stick-your-tongue-out sort of day!

Purse Progress

Beau's arrival seemed to push all of my garage-based endeavors way, way out of reach. So no longer will you hear the loud whirr of the table saw or the up and down rhythm of my scroll saw. I've decided to accept the fact that I'm my mother's daughter and I might actually like to sew. As long as it's super cute fabric and as long as I'm not sewing clothes. And as long as I don't have to use pins. Or be precise. Or sew a straight line. (I'm my father's daughter in the fact that I really can't sew very well.) Sew... :) Here are some fun purses I've been making to sell at a craft show in November. They're for little girls, thus the fun colors and fabrics and smaller size. I'm perfecting it every time, so as my sister Amy says, here are my latest failures...enjoy!

Random Thoughts from a Random Mother

This last week has been pretty rough with Beau fervently rejecting his magic shoes and my biceps fervently rejecting the workout they're getting from carrying Beau around all the time. I've had a lot of time to think because Beau cleared my schedule of everything else, like naps and cleaning and sewing (yes, I said sewing. I, the self-proclaimed hater of the sewing machine, have picked up a new little hobby that I'll try to post about later...). So, here are some of my random thoughts...

1. If I could will certain parts of myself to my children, this is what my will would state:

I, Keri Payne, mother of three children, do hereby will to my daughter Rebekah my mouth, brain, and funny bone. Bekah has proven herself to be a quick wit and she is constantly trying to engage me in telling stories, singing songs, and explaining everything in infinite detail. Beware of a lull in conversation, because Bekah will be there, asking me to tell her a story about a princess who goes camping or shopping or lion hunting.

Next, I hereby will my ears, legs, and that spot on my shoulder to Jacob. Jacob is loud and demanding of my attention, yelling "Mom! Mom!" until I respond. Then he'll say, "Know what? Lion came last night!" And then we'll have a full discussion about whether it was a nice or mean lion, what it did, and whether Jacob shot it or not. Jacob gets my legs because I'm always running to help him, especially for bathroom related issues. I wish clothes came in a roll like toilet paper, and I could just rip off a pair of pants and underwear every time I needed another pair. Jacob would go through a roll in a week flat. And Jacob gets my shoulder because he is a true softie and he's always needing a hug.

Finally, I hereby will my heart to Beau. (And maybe one other part of my anatomy that he has fallen in love with, the guarantor of his chubbiness). Don't get me wrong, I love all of my children, but Beau is the newest and cuddliest and the least irrational, crazy one of the bunch, and when I hold him my heart swells and I want to kiss him until there's nothing left.

2. I've thought a lot about suffering this last week. I read a story about a currant bush that grew too large and got pruned back until it was merely a stump with roots. The poor bush seemed to cry out, "I was nearly half as large as the trees across the fence, and might soon have become like one of them. But now you've cut my branches back; the green, attractive leaves are gone, and I am in disgrace among my fellows." And then the gardener responds, "Do not cry; what I have done to you was necessary that you might be a prize currant bush in my garden. You were not intended to give shade or shelter by your branches. My purpose when I planted you was that you should bear fruit. When I want currants, a tree, regardless of its size, cannot supply the need...and someday, when you see more clearly, when you are richly laden with luscious fruit, you will thank me and say, 'Surely, he was a wise and loving gardener. He knew the purpose of my being, and I thank him now for what I then thought was cruelty.'" (from Hugh B. Brown, Eternal Quest). This story made me realize that my Heavenly Father knows my true purpose, and he knows what I can become. I have to trust him to help me become that person, even if that means that I have to be pruned, or suffer through trials that might seem unnecessary and cruel to me at the time.

3. Again, on suffering, I love the quote by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, "I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable." (Time, 5 February 1973). This last week I realize I have been mouring the fact that Beau will have to wear his brace for the next three years. My mind seems drawn to all of the scenarios where having his brace will make things difficult, like "Oh, I won't be able to carry him on my hip. He can't sit in the seat in the grocery cart unless I take his shoes off and put them back on. What about when he's potty training and wakes up in the night to go to the bathroom?" Really all of these complaints mean nothing when I kick myself and say, "He'll be able to walk, you ungrateful mother!"

And now some pics to complete the randomness of this post:

Beau on his blessing day, what a cutie!

Bekah and Jacob aka Batman.
Hiking up in Glorieta. Perfect weather and good kids. Bekah walked about 3 miles and Jacob walked about 1 1/2. Rus had the Kelty backpack and the kids took turns riding.
We turned around at this cool old car. Rus saw this pic and got mad at me for chopping off the top of his head. I said there's nothing there on top, so what does it matter!
We were able to get both kids walking by distracting them with stories. I'm getting really good at telling stories about Princess Rebekah and Lion Hunter Jacob.

Beau's New Shoes!

A passerby might pause in horror at the sounds of screaming eminating from our house. "Are they beating their poor baby," he might inquire? A truly nosy fellow might even take the chance of pressing his nose to our front window, so as to personally witness the atrocities taking place inside. His expression would quickly change to one of confusion when he in fact saw a poor, tired mother trying desperately to put shoes on her two-month old son. "Shoes? Shoes!?" The fellow would just not understand and would depart, fingers scratching his rapidly balding head.

Inside the home, the baby, though an infant yet wise beyond his weeks, would see the man, his last glimmer of hope, walk away. "There is no stopping this persistant woman," the baby boy would think in despair. "Doesn't she know that my leg feels like a mashed banana?" The baby would increase the intensity and volume of his cries, but to no avail. The shoes were there to stay. "Hmmm...they are stylish little moccasins," the baby would think, as the last shudder of sorrow passed through his little body.

Just then a toddler boy passed by and his face lit up at the sight of the shoes. "Baby Beau has a skateboard," the toddler cried! The baby's previously anguished face turned into a benevolent smile at the idea of having skateboard shoes, and the poor, tired mother lifted her eyes to the heavens and thought, "Maybe this will work after all!"

So, as you might have guessed, Beau got his new shoes yesterday! Hooray! He is supposed to wear them for 23 hours a day, but his leg is so sensitive and bruised that I'm doing good to just have him wear them for twenty minutes at a time. The doctor said that's okay, and by a week he should be wearing them full time. Not wearing the shoes all the time is the number one cause of regression, and there is no way I want to do the casts again. So my mantra is "Because I love you, I will not give myself the power to take off your shoes." Dumb, maybe, but I want this to succeed, so that's what I'll tell myself when he's sick of his shoes. They are pretty stylish little things...check them out! Can you see how bruised his leg is? Poor guy! He gets really mad when I touch it or bump it in any way. I think it'll be better in just a couple of days, though.

Not a Good Samaritan

A few weeks ago we went to visit my sister Amy in Flagstaff. On Sunday we went to her ward, and Bekah was so excited that they had a Sunbeam class there, just for her. So after church Rus and I were asking her what she had learned. She showed us the picture she had colored of a man lying sick on the side of the road and the Good Samaritan helping him. I asked her what she had learned and she said this:
"The man was sick on the road and a man walked by and didn't help him and then another man walked by and didn't help him and then another man came by and he did help him and made him feel better!"
I said, "Bekah, oh, that's a great story! So, when you see someone who is sick or needs help, what do you do?"
And she said, "Oh, I just walk by because someone else will help him."
I respond (in my surprised voice) "No, Bekah, the story means that if you see someone who needs help, you help them!"
And Bekah said, with finality, "No. A man walks by and then another man walks by and then someone helps him. So I walk by and then Sarah can help him!"

Hmmm...Do you think she got the point of the story?!