March Madness...

March Madness for the Kindler clan has proven to be full of fun times. It started with a trip to Grandma and PaPa Kindler's farm over spring break. 17 of us in all (including 8 grandkids - ages 8 and under!) stayed under one roof. Fun times had by all! The kids swam in the hot tub at least 3 times/day, played legos and the Wii, and watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" - aka "Meatballs and Noodles" according to Taylor, at least 15 times in four days. We stayed up too late, but stayed in our pj's almost the whole time, which was the best. So many fun memories made. We can't wait to do it again this summer when we go to the Lake of the Ozarks.

We also got to celebrate G-G's 90th birthday on March 11th! She is such a blessing to us all. She is still her spunky self at 90. She refused to let us throw her a big birthday bash, so we had a family dinner to celebrate. She made her "annual" speech and was so excited to have received over 100 /pictures from her friends and family for a special memory album. She is such a special lady to so many!!

Well - time to cheer on the Cats for the 2nd half of the big game...still a sore subject to some in our household. Here are a few March Madness pics!


Emerson turned 7 months old today! Can't believe it. She is so happy, despite the many contraptions she is sportin' these days. She is finally adjusting to her new cast (she's had it for 3 weeks now). As the picture states - she is gorgeous!!

Here are the crazy Kindler cousins with Aunt Joy and cousin, Alida. They always are so thoughtful and are buying cool things for the kiddos. They stopped by for a bit while we were at the farm and brought the kids these cool shirts!

I love this pic! Shows you how different the Kindler cousin's personalities are...this is one of many fun dips in the hot tub. I think Papa only had to drain it twice while we were there :). Dawson (4), Aidan (5), Masen (7), Owen (4), and Lauren (8).

Here's the beautiful birthday lady! We love you G-G!!

67 Days to Go!!

Only 67 more days for Emerson to wear her newest contraption - her body cast! We're on Day #3 and things are finally getting better. Emerson's hip surgery was a success! We were so relieved to find out that nothing "surgical" was needed on the day of the procedure. The surgeon was able to manipulate Emerson's ball of her hip right into the socket and it was stable enough to just place it and then cast it in place to stay that way. This was a big relief and blessing. The first night was not fun at all - poor little Em would sleep for 30-45 minutes and then would wake up screaming. Either that, or the nurses would come in to check her vitals just when she feel asleep! Needless to say, we are glad to be home. Last night went much better. She went to bed around 6:30 and was up every two hours until midnight. But after having a bottle she was able to sleep until 7:00 without waking. Of course, that doesn't mean Josh and I got any uninterrupted sleep - we are having to set our alarm to reposition her every 2-3 hours at night so that she doesn't get bed sores. I think we'll get used to it though. It will just be like when she was a newborn. She is currently taking nap #2 today and her mood/comfort level seem much better today. She is back to her joyful, happy self most of the time!

The cast was quite shocking to see at first and she was pretty grumpy coming out of the anesthesia, as expected. We've really have had to get creative as far as where/how to lay her down, how to prop her up to feed her, etc. She doesn't fit in a highchair, stroller, etc. I just had a friend from church bring me the greatest gift to borrow - a carrier that I can hold her in when I need to get things done, or if we want to take a walk to the park, for church, etc. She is super heavy with the cast, so this takes all of the weight off and she loves to face forward so that she can see everything going on around her. This is going to be really helpful to have during the next few months! Thank you Staci!!

On April 12th we will be repeating the same procedure. If the hip still seems stable, then the doctor will put a new cast on - it will only go to the top of her knees this time. We were told that it is "not likely" that she will need the surgical procedure at that time, but there is still a chance. She'll wear the second cast for another 5 weeks and then she will then have to wear a brace for a while (not sure how long), but we will be able to take it on and off.

We are blessed by God's Grace and Care and are also blessed to have so many people praying for Emerson during this time in her life! Thank you all for everything you do and have done for us. We appreciate every one of you! Here are some pics of our hospital stay and some at home. Many more to come in the next few months. We know that we will get the hang of this shortly and the time will be over before we know it. Emerson is such an Angel!!

Here's the ballerina with her new ballerina legs :). So glad to see her so happy today!!


The day after her surgery. She is starting to be her joyful-self again!

Blowin' raspberries again.
First pic of Em with her "new frog legs."

Tomorrow's the big day...

Emerson's hip surgery is set for tomorrow morning. We have to be there at 6:00 AM, which means I don't have much time to write if I want to get any sleep - I still have to pack! Just wanted to thank everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We are truly blessed to have so much support. We are nervous and anxious, but feel confident that she is in good hands. Following the surgery, little Em will have a body cast (from the waist to her ankles on both legs!) for up to 10 weeks, with a brace to follow. We are praying that they will be able to manipulate the ball into the socket instead of having to do more of a surgical procedure, but either way, we are thankful that this should ensure that she has a "normal" hip. We know that our happy little girl will be running with her big brothers and cousins in no time. Of course, she finally started to roll over this past week - just in time for her to become immobile for a while :). We were happy though to see her reach this milestone. She is such a joy and we pray that her joyful spirit continues with this big contraption. We will post an update for everyone as soon as we can. As always -thank you all for your prayers and support! It means so much to us!