Counting Down the Days

     Tomorrow…. Tomorrow morning we head back to Shriners, first for an X-ray and then to see the doctor once he's reviewed it. I have mixed feelings about tomorrows appointment because, much like her first X-ray, this appointment may be her last. I'm excited that her journey with hip dysplasia may finally be over but I'm also nervous that her X-ray may be abnormal or her doctor may not be happy with how she distributes her weight on the joints, or any one of a thousand things that would make tomorrow just the start of a new journey.
     Today, however, we went outside and enjoyed the clear sky. The kids ran around and played with a ball. Froggie did a lot of falling down but she was so excited to be able to explore outside. Big Brother loves to be able to run around and was sad that we had to head back home when Froggie started to get tired. (By tired I mean she was laying on the ground kicking her feet and would giggle and fall back down whenever she got up.) So tomorrow is another day but today we had lots of fun!

Froggie loved being outside today

playing ball

Love this little girl

They're so stinking cute!

What No One Tells you After Treatment

     While the pool of information about Hip Dysplasia is pretty small the information regarding the normal expectations of kids following treatment is almost nonexistent. This means that, no matter how much research you do or what you read, there is always some degree of doubt as to whether your child is supposed to meet milestones regarding mobility on track with their peers once the harness, brace, or cast comes off.
     While Froggie seemed to be meeting milestones rolling and crawling regardless of her time in the harness she hadn't shown much interest in walking (especially walking unassisted) or in standing up by herself. I really didn't think too much of it until Hubby said "Should we be worried that she's not walking yet?" the other day. At that point I realized that my answer was "I don't know". 

     If you know me you know that "I don't know" doesn't sit well with me; I have a ton of fairly useless knowledge stored away and I will look for the answer if I don't know it. However, with this issue, there is no looking up the answer. I decided not to panic about it and to call her doctor next month if she still wasn't walking (since she is supposed to be walking before her next X-ray and that is scheduled for April). Noah started walking right when he turned one and all kids are different so I wasn't overly concerned that she wasn't walking yet. 

     Well she showed us that she was just waiting until she was good and ready. Thursday she walked across the room and got us all excited. She wouldn't do it again though so I couldn't take pictures/video. Friday though, she walked all over the place and she hasn't stopped moving since!

Froggie was bit by the walking bug!

Walking?!

     Froggie turned 11 months old on New Years Day and up until recently she had no real interest in walking. If we tried to hold her hands and have her walk with us she would pull her feet up or try to get back on the floor. I remember Big Brother being so much more interested in walking so it made me a little worried that maybe her disinterest was linked to pain, discomfort or an issue with her hips that wasn't resolved by her time in her harness.
     Well, for the past few days she's been pretty willing to walk while holding someone's hands so I decided to introduce her to one of the "walking toys" at work. You know, the things with a TON of toys on them or shaped like animals that kids can sit on or push while learning to walk. She LOVED it!

moving all around!

     To show Hubby how well she did we dug out Big Brother's old one (which doesn't roll very well so she really just slid it around the kitchen, Big Brother already decided he wanted to get her something like this for her birthday). Maybe she'll be right on track with walking as well, though milestones regarding movement are always a little hard for me because I'm not sure if her hips will hold her back anywhere.

Cruising around the kitchen

concentrating!

4 Months Harness Free

     I'm SO happy to say that Froggie has been harness free for the last 4 months! August 11th was her last night to wear her harness to bed. Since then she has had a second clear X-ray and mastered being mobile. She doesn't appear to have any lasting issues stemming from her hip dysplasia and time in the harness though I can't say that for certain since I'm not her doctor but nothing seems odd.
     She has started trying to stand by herself, walking while holding hands (sometimes), climbing the stairs and trying to step away from things! It's so exciting to watch her do the things we weren't sure would be easy for her come naturally!

Standing!

Climbing the stairs!

Pumpkin Farm Picture - Final Attempt

     So every time we've gone to the pumpkin farm something has come up and one of the kids was distracted, or asleep, or grumpy, etc. Well since it wasn't raining when we got home from work I decided to pack the kids up and head out to the pumpkin farm again and give it one last shot. Just them and I to limit distractions since every time we've tried before there have been other people around.
     Here's what we came up with:

Big Brother driving Froggie around

They had a blast

Big Brother, Froggie and of course we can't forget a race car!

My happy little pumpkin

An animal made a noise and the kids looked a little afraid

Picture Day

     Today was picture day at school... Big Brother is an old pro at picture day at this point but today was Froggie's FIRST picture day. I love our local consignment shops and hit them up earlier this week to find outfits for the kids. I decided to go with a similar color scheme for both kids and they ended up with turquoise shirts and grey/blue pants. Froggie even got her first bow!
     I'm not sure how their pictures will turn out. I was assured that Froggie did great and I'm sure that Big Brother did pretty well. Although, he's in the stage where he just tries a little too hard to smile. I did  snap some pictures of the kids throughout the day since it's not too often that they're "dressed up".

Froggie's outfit

Big Brother's outfit

Froggie again

My big kid

     Froggie was also given a new hat today! All of the baby's at school got pumpkin hats today that were hand made individually for each child! They're adorable and they took a class photo of all of them wearing their hats!

Pumpkin hat attempt 1

Pumpkin hat attempt 2

New Shoes

     The day that Froggie got her harness I thought for sure that she would never be able to wear pants again and that shoes were completely out of the question... It was a relief to have the harness come off and the initial shopping spree to buy pants, shorts and skirts was pretty fun. Every time we go in for a check up though I fear that she'll need some other treatment and we'll have to go back to our modified wardrobe.
     This weekend though the family got some new shoes (most of us anyway). Big Brother got his running shoes and I got a pair of flats. Froggie got her first actual pair of shoes! These aren't soft soled crib shoes or booties, they're big girl shoes. The soles are still pretty soft but they could be worn outside without being destroyed.
     She left them on all day which was surprising, I thought for sure she would yank them off and try to eat them!

Cute little feet!

Froggie showing off her shoes!

Standing up in her fancy shoes!

The Simple Things

     After work today we headed to the library as a family. Big Brother ran around saying he wanted to buy some books and had to be reminded that we borrow books from the library and have to take them back. He picked out 10 books and a movie and we had to read ALL of the books tonight before bed!
     We also made a pit stop at the craft store. Hubby and I wanted to look at some things and we noticed that Crayola supplies were buy one get one 50% off. So we picked up some new finger paints for Froggie and Big Brother got a GIANT coloring book. It makes me so happy that he is so excited by things like reading and art. Hopefully Froggie will love these things as well since we're going to be doing some craft nights in the near future!

Coloring books bring such joy!

October 5K Day

     Today was our 5K for the month of October. We headed out to Hermitage House to participate in their "Heart to Home" Festival. This is the 5th year they have done a 5K and even though I've been working with their art club for the last few years I have had a variety of reasons not to do the 5K. As part of my decision to do at least one 5K a month I knew that I would do this 5K this year.
     We came away with one of our best times (even though it wasn't the fastest overall). We finished in about 46 minutes AND Big Brother ran approximately half of it. This is the first time we've let him run more than a few hundred feet since our first 5K in July which took us over an hour to complete. We bought him brand new running shoes yesterday so he was REALLY ready to run this morning!
     It was nice to see a lot of people we haven't seen for awhile and I'm really proud that Big Brother likes to run. After the 5K there was live music, a chinese auction, hay rides, pony rides, games, food, and a lot more. We tried our luck at the chinese auction and Big Brother got to ride a horse for the second time in a month all while Froggie slept! She woke up briefly but did spend the majority of our morning asleep in the stroller.
     I must say that I have a new found appreciation for the people I see running along the side of the road! Today's 5K was ran primarily on dirt roads and the side of the road. It's A LOT harder to run in the dirt and over rocks and dips than it is to run on the pavement. Hubby thinks he bruised his foot because he's still getting accustomed to his Vibrams.
     We did a lot of running around this afternoon and the kids were exhausted this evening. I'm finding that the more time we spend out and about the harder it is for me to stay awake in the evenings and I've been falling asleep holding Froggie quite a bit.
     Right now she's keeping me company snuggled up on the couch cushion beside me. I suppose at some point she will have to sleep in her crib but I love snuggling her so much and it's nice not to have to worry that when she wakes up to eat that she'll wake up Big Brother too.

Before the race

Our view while we ran

Running with a 2 year old can be fun

Hubby and the stroller

After the race

Showing off his shirt and shoes w/a mouth full of banana 

Waiting to ride the horse

Going for a ride

He did a great job!

Froggie's First Parade

     Saturday was a day packed with things to do. October is always our busiest month and we typically have something (or multiple things) going on each weekend. This year is no different and we kicked off the month with Homecoming festivities, a fall festival, military ball and a birthday dinner.
     I think I've mentioned before that we live in a college town and it just so happened to be homecoming weekend. Hubby and I are both Alumni of the school and I've been attending homecoming parades since I was a little kid so we continue the tradition and head out to watch the parade and participate in the festivities. We met up with some of my familyat the parade route and ran onto some people I hadn't seen in awhile.
     This year the parade was an hour earlier but was still as packed as it's every been. Big Brother and Froggie got to watch and collect candy as it was thrown. Froggie did great for her first parade and was completely unfazed by the loud noises. After the parade we walked down the street to campus to see what was going on. Big Brother got some goodies, including a tattoo, and we all snagged a quick lunch before heading out to a fall festival. We walked around for a bit and I got some cute hair clips for Froggie and Big Brother got some sweets.
     It was a nice start to our day and we were able to get home and relax a little before getting ready for the Navy Ball.

Hubby and Big Brother

Watching the parade

Fire truck!

Family picture

Froggie and I

Hubby and Froggie

Baby's need to eat everywhere!

Big Brother showing Froggie his tattoo

Getting a ride with Hubby

Fall festival

Fall festival

Fall festival

UPDATE: Froggie's Hips

     So, I know you've all been waiting all day to hear how Froggie's appointment went.
     We got moving a little early and dropped Big Brother off at school. He's always a little thrown off when he gets dropped off alone since we go in as a family every day. Hubby stayed in the car with Froggie since she had fallen asleep and we headed to her appointment from there.
     Traffic was not as bad as I thought it would be (read as we didn't get stuck behind as many buses as I thought we would) so we sat in the parking lot and talked while we drank our coffee for a few minutes. It was nice since Hubby and I don't get a lot of time to talk without the kids around. We will be going out in formal attire this weekend, but that's for a later blog.
     We got in and were quickly sent back to radiology. The ladies there were very nice and were exceptionally tolerant of Froggie's melt down. She has become very uncooperative for people she doesn't see very often and even though we have the same staff every time we go to Shriner's she was not happy to see any of them today.
     We got through the X-ray and there was a marker in the wrong spot. It didn't obstruct the view of the joint space, which is what Froggie's doctor wanted to look at, but they needed to check with the doctor before they sent us back to the main waiting room. Once they tracked down Froggie's doctor he said the image was readable and we were sent back to the waiting room.
     Froggie got to eat her oatmeal and watch the bubble wall while we waited. She really seemed to like the bubble wall and she REALLY likes being able to move herself around.
   

Bubble wall!

     We were taken back and Froggie weighed in at 16lbs 2oz and she is getting SO big. We were taken back to an exam room where we played with Froggie to keep her entertained. We hadn't ever been in this room and it had dolphins in the lights!

In the exam room

Dolphin light!

Hubby making Froggie smile

     Before Froggie's doctor came in the nurse and an intern came in to talk with us and check on Froggie. The intern wanted to do a hip exam on Froggie and she once again went into a melt down. Screaming, tears, batting at anything and anyone.... As soon as I picked her up she patted me and smiled.
     Froggie's doctor came in and said that her X-rays looked good and there was a consensus that her hips were stable and still in the proper position. Her treatment is officially considered over and she will have to go back only one more time in 6 months (once she's walking) to have one last X-ray.
     On our way out we took Froggie's picture with the Frog statue in front of the hospital. Overall it was a great day!

Froggie and the Froggy