Ted's dad was released from the hospital in Ohio today. For those of you who are not familiar with is situation, he has had a bad hip replacement that resulted in an infection. That was four years ago. After their visit to our new house in June, Ben was bedfast and unable to get around on his own. A doctor at the Cleveland Clinic finally agreed to take his case and he was taken to Ohio. A week later they operated to remove the bad hip and found a pocket of infection. They placed some sort of body concrete instead of hip back in and prescribed a six week (2x a day) IV course of antibiotics. He spent the last part of his stay in a rehab hospital going through various sorts of physical and occupational therapy.

Now he will be home for about a month. After that they will make the roughly six hour trip back to Cleveland for a hip aspiration to see if the infection is gone. Five days from that, if there is no infection, they will schedule his surgery to place a permanent hip replacement. The other hip needs to be replaced too, so they will wait until his recovery from the first hip to operate on the other side. Ben and Peggy have a rough few months behind them and another rough few months ahead of them. We are hoping for the best and quickest recovery so Ben can get back to being independent. I can't imagine how hard it must be.

While Ted has been in Beckley today assembling a handicap entrance for them, the kids and I have taken a trip to the dreaded WALMART. Why do I continue to shop in a store that has everything except what I need? Daniel needed a raincoat, they had none. We bought a mini umbrella. Aurelia needed a light jacket, they had none. We bought a whole new wardrobe for her. (Sadly enough, she is a 3T top and bottom now--the bottoms are little loose, but the 2T are too small). Daniel needed a light jacket, but by the time I had threatened each of their lives I left without one. They probably didn't have one anyway. LOL.

Daniel is sitting on the couch right now listening to my new MP3 player. I have checked out several different CDs from the library and put them on the player. His tastes are very in line with mine. He is enamored with the top billboard hits of the 60's right now. At anytime, he may break out singing "Surfin USA" or "These Boots Are Made For Walkin". He has a silly little grin on his face when he sings. I love it.

Cory has an ex-girlfriend (Drew) who has been calling all day. She only has my cell phone number, but she has been blowing the thing up. Soon, all the girls will be calling and he may actually want to talk to some of them. He seems to be adjusting fairly well, making friends, and noticing older girls "checking him out". I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said..........................."A job". Um, ok. Have at it, big boy!

Aurelia is FINALLY taking a nap for the day. I'd better wrap this up and make the best of this quiet, non-naked time.

Take care.
Heather