Monty's Mayhem: Vacation and birthdays

We headed back to Illinois last Wednesday to kick off our week long vacation. First stop, the Wisconsin Dells. Kyle's brother has a camper, so we set out camping on Thursday morning. We stayed at a campground, but rented cottages instead of sleeping in tents :) The kids had a blast. We went to Noah's Ark all day on Friday- perfect weather, lots of water slides, and tons of fun. Reese was pooped by the end of the day! Saturday we set off back to Illinois to my parents house. Sunday had Preston's 2nd birthday party and had a good time visiting with family and enjoying cake and ice cream. It was extra special as my sister, husband, niece, and nephew all made it down for the weekend too- it's always great to see them! Monday, I celebrated my birthday- low key, hanging with family, and enjoying some drinks in the pool. Yesterday, we woke up and celebrated with Preston as it was his actual birthday, and then hit the road around 11:00 am so we could get back for Kyle to go to work today. We had an uneventful trip back and made it home in time for dinner. We had a great vacation, but it was back to reality today.
I'm not sure if I posted about it or not, but back in April, Preston had stepped off our couch and has been limping on and off ever since. He has gotten really bad in the past 2 weeks. Back in April, the x-rayed his left lower leg, ankle, and foot. Now his limps constantly on his right leg- leaving me to wonder if I got it wrong in the first place, having them check the wrong leg. Anyways, I took him back to the doctor this morning to have him checked out again since it just keeps getting worse. She examined him, and this is the course of action we are taking. Tomorrow I am taking him in for blood tests. This will rule out or let us know if he has a systemic disease (i.e. rheumatoid arthritis). It should let us know if he has inflammation and also check his calcium levels. I should have results by Friday. If those tests come back clear, we will x-ray the whole right leg, including his hip. If the x-rays are clear, we will then be referred to an orthopedic pediatric doctor. At that point, she will have done everything she can in terms of a regular pediatric doctor, and further tests will be needed. She may also refer us to a podiatry doctor to see if it may be something that needs to be rotated is his ankle (because when he limps, his right foot points outward). She agreed with me that something is not right, but isn't sure exactly what, so we will take the necessary steps to figure it out. Keep us in your prayers!

On a happier note, here are some pics from our week away. Enjoy!

Preston- 2 Reese-4