Reid and Stefani Adopt

 This summer our little family decided to do a vacation, with just the 5 of us, to Asheville, NC.  We spent 5 days there.  Each one of us took a day to plan what we wanted to do on that day.   Monday was Esther's day.  She wanted to see nature and catch salamanders.  We went on a hike.   Tuesday was Jaydon's day.  He chose to see waterfalls. There are tons of waterfalls nearby to see.  There is even one you can slide down.  The water was frigid, though.  Luckily, there was a hot tub to get into afterwards.   Wednesday was Mom's day. We went to visit the historic grounds and mansion of Biltmore. I took way too many pictures to post.  I'll just show you the one we paid for.  Sadly, it's not better than the ones we took... Okay, okay.  You convinced me.  I'll show you some others. This is the renaissance experience at Biltmore.  This is the famous painting "The Birth of Venus." We stood where Venus was sup...

 Jaydon's tendons and muscles on the backs of his legs are so tight that he toe-walks.  He also has frequently woken up from sleep crying because of muscle tightness in his legs.  This was one of the MANY things we needed to tackle for his health once he entered our care as a foster child. Unfortunately, we didn't know his entire health history and we kind of just tackled one thing at a time.  Well, the time came to tackle this one.  We finally got him into a podiatrist and it was recommended that he had a muscle lengthening surgery on the backs of each of his legs.   He got that done June 9, 2023, right after school got out.  The nurses were so good to him and made sure to help him feel more comfortable by giving his bear, Mr. Snuggles, the VIP patient treatment.  Mr. Snuggles got an IV, a blood pressure cuff (a real one, mind you, for infants), several hospital bracelets, bandages and wraps, and their version of a hospital gown for bears.  ...