5 Putnals: So, it's been quite a while.....

Wow! I can't believe it's been 2 months since I updated our blog. So much going on with no time to rest! School ended, and we thought life would slow down a little.... Yeah, right! We celebrated Reed's 2nd (but 1st at home) Easter; had dance recital for the girls; finished the 5th and 1st grades with outstanding achievements; survived 10 1/2 years of teaching; 13 years of marriage; etc.

Then summer began with a bang! My first day out of post-planning was spent in surgery. This surgery was supposed to correct a problem from birth that took 34 years for someone to finally diagnose! I was born with my kneecaps too high....very common problem with a relatively simple fix. They went in to fix my right knee on May 25th, since they would only do one knee at a time we started with the knee that keeps popping out of place when I walk. Dr. Waldrop made the incision (6 inches straight down the center of my knee) and decided to scope around before he started the patella realignment. He was blown away by what he found..... a chunk missing out of my femur.... Yeah, where did that go? Crazy stuff. He immediately stopped surgery and went to pull another surgeon from his own surgery to look at my knee. At least I have something to keep 'em interested, right? HA! This other surgeon is the TOP transplant surgeon, and he said to close it up and do a donor transplant. Yep, get a donated piece of femur to tranplant into my femur to grow together to make a complete femur. At the time of the transplant, Dr. Waldrop will also realign my patella. Dr. Flandry said the longest it has ever taken him to find a donor was 3 months, so he's optimistic that it will happen soon. The bad part comes next.... one month on crutches with NO weight at all on the leg while the two bone pieces grow together. So, I either have NO summer if we have the surgery soon, or I go back to school on crutches for the first month. Fun, fun, fun! There's never a dull moment around here!

Reed is crazy fast on all fours, and is taking a few steps on his own here and there. Preemies usually walk around 15 months, which he will be in a little over a week. I'm rather worried about when he does start walking....he's hard enough to keep up with now! Wait til I'm on crutches trying to keep up with Speedy! Won't we be a sight!

The girls are absolutely loving being on summer vacation! Sara officially turns 11 in an hour and a half. She made me the owner of the best title one can have - MOMMY - 11 years ago today. There is no title more honorable than that!

Summer at the Putnal house is bound to be filled with excitement and stories to tell. With an 11 year old, 7 year old, and a 1 year old, there are many fun times to be had. We are definitely going to try to work in a trip to the beach (albeit brief) before my transplant...the beach makes everything better! I can't wait to see Reed play in the sand. He was too small to do anything but sleep last summer at the beach, so I'm ready to see him play and enjoy the sand and water! :) I will attach random pics, since we haven't had any photo sessions lately. :)

It is my prayer that you will each spend an extra minute hugging your babies each night; postpone that meeting a few minutes to hear your kid finish his story; put down the phone or turn off the television to play "for just another minute" with your babies. God loaned our kids to us, and could call them home to Him anytime. Live each day so that there is no regret if there were no tomorrow to do all the things we didn't slow down for today.

Please join me in praying that a donor femur is found quickly and the surgery can be done soon so that healing can begin.