"There is nothing fragile about that hip."

That's the quote of the day. Who said it? Who else? Dr. Dror Paley...the only guy whose opinion really matters in this case.

And it really could not have come at a better time. We are fried. All three of us. Emily is ready to get up and go (that's frowned upon at this point) and like any good two-year old, she's giving us the business by just screaming that she wants to get down, wants to get down, wants to get down, wants to get down...you get the idea. Of course, we're mortal human beings...there's only so much Kate and I can take, especially when that's happening in the wee hours of the morning.

Got up today, dragged around the room for a bit before getting ourselves together and heading over to the hospital for our one-week follow up. This, of course, means we have to take another x-ray. Want to guess if she was a fan of the idea? (Here's a hint...she wasn't.) Then wait for Paley to come see us.

While waiting for Paley, Caroline Eaton came in the room and looked genuinely afraid as Ems just let it go for a long, long time. "I've never seen a reaction like this!" Super.

It should be noted that we are REALLY spoiled by this kid. She was the happiest, most mellow kid on the planet for the first 20+ months of her life. That ended last Thursday. Now, we can all understand why she's so upset (although if anyone told us we had to lay on the couch and watch TV for six weeks, a lot of us would probably be ok with it) but it doesn't make it any more fun to deal with.

So there we were, walking her up and down the hallway in the stroller, hoping and praying she'll decide to calm down, just for the sanity of everyone on this wing of the hospital.

Tony, the ortho guy, came in, removed her hard cast and replaced it with a soft cast...essentially a clamshell brace which can be fastened with velcro. Emily did not share our enthusiasm. Eventually she would wear herself out and take a nap on the exam table. The next 25 minutes were the most peaceful, most wonderful minutes since they began keeping track of time. I wish I were exaggerating.

When Paley came in, amazingly, Emily did not stir ("I have that effect on kids" he said with a grin.) He looked at her leg, her incision, her x-rays...and used words like "beautiful," "great," and "fantastic."

"That is a perfect Superhip," he said. Which is pretty funny...cuz, ya know...he did it.

(Hey, I've said it before...as long as he gets results, he can high-five himself, call me names, punch me in the junk...whatever he wants.) He also dropped the quote featured in today's headline which was pretty comforting, considering it led to a conversation about what was now considered kosher...like taking Ems swimming, giving her an actual bath...just no weight-bearing activities for another five weeks. At that point, take a new set of x-rays and, barring anything unusual, she should be free to ditch the brace and wreak havoc on Camp Sweatpants like Godzilla in Japan.

Now we're back in the timeshare...for one more night. We've already been to the pool, had a nap and started to pack. 24 hours from now, the ladies will be in the air and I'll be bearing down on the Florida/Georgia state line.

Things are looking up!