Dancer Knees

Ballet class was going great. I mean, really great. It was pushing me physically and exhilarating me emotionally. And then last Sunday happened.

I was in class and I did a little jump - and I do mean little....like a bounce, really - and I felt a twinge in my right knee. If you remember, I tore the meniscus in my right knee about four years ago and it's been a problem ever since. My knees have been holding up to class really well, but they are dancer knees with a previous injury so I suppose the "twinge" wasn't surprising. It didn't bother me through the rest of class, so I didn't think much about it until I got home. Then it started to hurt like none other. I immediately wrapped it, but as the day progressed I knew something was wrong. The pain was all too familiar and it hurt. I got mad, I cried, and then I called the doctor.

Due to perfect Carrie timing, my doctor was on vacation. Of course. But I got in with John's doctor yesterday to see if we could figure out what was going on in my knee. I was expecting horrible news (meniscus re-torn, needs surgery, shouldn't ever dance again, etc), but I didn't get horrible news. I got blah news. That is better I suppose, but it could still turn into horrible news. I'll explain:

The current diagnosis is that I have strained my MDL (inner side of my knee) and bruised my meniscus where the former tear had healed itself. The pain is being amplified due to a bunch of bad cartilage under my kneecap. I have to stay off of it (no dance class) for a month. I have crutches for the bad days, and am to take Aleve twice a day for the next month. I have to keep it wrapped to keep swelling down, and I have to go to physical therapy for a month. The expectation is that it will heal itself over the next month and I can return to ballet class (limiting my movement as needed). Here's where it can still turn to horrible news though: If it doesn't get better over the next month, I will be referred to an orthopedic surgeon, who will then cut my knee open and dig a bunch of stuff out.

I'll be honest. I'm terrified that it's not going to get better. Ballet is so knee intensive, I'm not sure how well I could return to it (if at all) if I require surgery. And that is devastating. So I need prayer. Lots of it. Let's heal these knees!

Orthodontics

The boys had their 6 month dental visit about two weeks ago, and during Aiden's exam the dentist recommended that we schedule an orthodontic evaluation for him. Oh no....already?!

We met with the orthodontist this morning. Aiden was quite nervous (he has really bad anxiety when it comes to dental work), but we reassured him that it would only take a few minutes and we weren't going to do anything to his teeth. Luckily, Aiden doesn't have any overcrowding issues (yet), but he does have a slight overbite on the bottom. Still, nothing that had to be taken care of right away. And then there were the words that I had fully expected to hear: Aiden does need braces.

BUT, he's not ready for them yet. Obviously, since he's still losing teeth (there are two loose ones at the moment). We go back in one year to see what his teeth are doing then. And maybe by that time we'll convince ourselves that it's actually worth it to have dental insurance.

Magic Van

It's official. I'm a minivan mom. This is our new "Magic Van", as the boys call it. It's magic because I can open the doors via remote while waving my hand and muttering some phrase from Harry Potter.

Our Subaru finally gave out and we shared a car for about half a week before we decided that it was no good. John needs a car to get to meetings multiple times per day and asking me to drive him back and forth when I have things to do throughout the day was NOT working. So car shopping we went. After months of internet research and a rental, we knew exactly what we wanted.

It's a 2008 Toyota Sienna and we are very happy with our find. Siennas are one of the highest rated minivans out there and we know we made a great choice. This means we can actually take road trips without everyone feeling cramped and horrible. We've been planning a trip out to the Olympic Peninsula for August and this will make the 4 1/2 hour drive much more comfortable. Plus, I can finally talk John into driving down to California to see our little nephew!

Activities Recap

So I've been pretty terrible at documenting our activities. Even though it got easier to remember to take pictures of things once I got myself a fancy new smartphone, I still had trouble getting the motivation up to blog about it. I'd think "Oh, I'll do it later..." and then I'd never do it later. I took spring term off from school and had the grand plan that I'd catch up on so much stuff. Nope. I just kind of did, well, nothing every evening instead. It was fabulous. I was going to take summer term off as well, but then a class that I needed was added online and my advisor encouraged me to take it. So I'm one week into summer school. And before we get into any other activities, I figured I'd catch you all up on the ones we've done so far.

Back in March, Aiden started soccer. Yep, I became an actual soccer mom (minus the minivan), bringing team snacks and everything. This was the actual Hillsboro Soccer Club and not some parks department thing, so it was our first real organized sports (I am not counting wrestling because he never competed against anyone else). I think he had a lot of fun and it wasn't too time consuming (unlike wrestling). We made some new friends....ok, I made some new friends. Two of Aiden's classmates were on his team and I befriended the moms. We've gone out for girls nights, and send each other text messages to vent about our days - it's been a fun result of signing up for soccer.

The first week being out of school was rough. The boys were bored and I nearly ran from the house screaming by 9am every day. The following Sunday, I started my new activity and oh was it welcome. Ballet class! I'm taking an open adult ballet class at Portland Festival Ballet on Sunday afternoons and it is glorious. I began in the level 1 class because it's been 10 years since I've set foot in a dance studio and I had no idea how rusty I would be. Well, level 1 was painfully slow. The instructor took notice a few minutes in and asked about my background. After a short discussion, he suggested I move up to level 2 until I get my strength back. Then I can move up to the advanced class. Level 2 is still a little slow for me in terms of what I know from my training, but it's perfect for where my body is right now. I have angry hamstrings and hips, and my legs want to fall off by the end of the 75 minute class, so I know I have to build myself back up to where I was. Signing up for that class has been the most wonderful decision I've made lately. I feel relaxed mentally and emotionally, and it's great to start my week off that way. I love it.

After one week out of school, Aiden was ready for something. Luckily, he had been signed up for Camp Invention for months. It was his second year and he was so excited to be back. And his classmate Ella was going to be there! He ended up missing Wednesday due to food poisoning and then had a rough last day when all of his projects were given to another child, leaving him with nothing to bring home (long story - I was angry - no one did anything about it - Aiden cried). But he tells me that he wants to go again next year, even with the last day disappointment.

 Preparing to launch their rubber ducks (above).

A solution to red light runners in Paris traffic (below).

While Aiden was at camp, Nathan and I spent lots of time at the library. One day I asked him, "What would you like to get at the library today?". He responded, "Weasels. I'd like to find a book about weasels." Confused, I asked if that's really what he meant. He said, "Yes, I want you to read to me about weasels." And so that's what we did.

 He's REALLY into weasels right now. (A sentence I never thought I would type under a picture of my child)

Moving on from the weasel-obsessed child.... Aiden started a short baseball camp on Monday through the parks department.

 It's just down the street from our house, which is nice since my car can get us about five minutes down the road before it dies. It's been almost unbearably hot the past few days (mid-90s), but we've spent lots of time playing in the fountains at the park.  

 It's been fun and we've had lots of friends join us, but even with tons of sunscreen applications, me and my poor children are blessed with pale, pale Irish skin that cannot handle a even a small amount of sunshine. We looked almost slimy due to the amount of sunscreen we had on our bodies the last couple of days, and we are still burnt as can be. I can handle the burns, but the boys are in pain and I feel so bad for them. Hopefully we can avoid further burning for the rest of the summer, but we're really going to have revisit our UV avoidance techniques!