2 More Months????

We made it back from our trip to Blair's specialist. She slept the whole way down, which was great, except she didn't go to bed until after 10pm...it was a long night!! We went shopping and Blair went to the Petaluma outlets for the first time, I was in Carter Heaven!!

So the appointment went really well. Dr H came in, looked at Blair's new x-rays and was a bit speechless (which is very unlike him) he was really happy to see how much improvement the last two months in the brace has done to her hip sockets. There is so much more curveature that he thinks two more months should do it! YAYYYY after 10 long months of bracing, appointments, spongebaths, screaming, wearing only onesies, I hope we'll be through with HD for the rest of our lives.

September Oakland Trip

Next week we're off to Oakland for the 6th time, wow Blair has traveled almost as much as I have in the last 8 months of her life. We can laugh now at the first few times we traveled. The first time, Blair being a week old, traveling with my Mom and Stepdad. First off not knowing how she was going to do in the car, second traveling with parents, trying to breast feed/pump, not knowing where to go, what to expect and being utterly EXHAUSTED with my incision still fresh and all that goes with being a first time Mom. To say the least our traveling has finally gotten to the point where I feel comfortable and actually enjoy going. Darren gets three days off, we shop a little, and get to eat In n Out burgers! But then there's not know what the doctor is going to say/do. Come Sunday night I won't sleep a wink just thinking about everything. Wish us luck and pray for Blair...I said it before but hopefully this time (might) be the last.

Yesterday was my first annual, and I expressed my concerns to the doctor about our next baby having HD. Two hours after I got home he called me to let me know he did some research and the likely hood is 6% overall and 12% if I have HD. Pretty good odds, but I am no where near wanting another baby yet. Blair is enough for me but I know having a sibling makes life so much more fun.

Bouncing and Bubbles

Blair has been loving her bouncer and her bubble baths. Our highlight of the evening is taking a bath. Blair loves to kick and splash while trying to get all the bath toys. The brace has also been going good. We've been trying to get the full 14hours but at best we're at 13. Our next Oakland appointment is in two weeks, we're so anxious and ready to get down there.

We've planted our second round of grass seed, it is so hard to grow a thick lawn. I also planted pumpkin seeds, although I know it is really late in the season. Hopefully we'll have small pumpkins by Halloween, or at least Thanksgiving time. Blair is going to be a ladybug for her first Halloween, I'm going to make her costume.

Our little family went to the Ferndale Fair, this time Blair stayed awake for most of the time. She also rode in the jogger and got to see all the animals and rides. She loved watching the kids on the bungee jumper. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. Blair is growing up and changing everyday, being a stay at home mom is the best, I couldn't ask for more:)

Thought everything was going good...

Tuesday evening Blair was sitting on my leg, thrashing around excited about Josh playing and I heard "CLICK" about 6 times. We've never heard her hips click except the night she was born. Needless to say I got NO sleep that night worrying about Blair's hip coming out of the socket and wondering if that is why her hip is not improving. I called down to Oakland that morning, Dr. Hoffinger is out of town so his nurse called me back. (on a side note I love the way everything is so effecient and fast). His nurse didn't think there was a problem with her hip, and that both of them are almost the same as far as where they are in the socket. Still I can't help but worry. They're going to call me back next Tuesday or Wednesday when Dr. Hoffinger is back. Ugh it's never ending!

Blair finally rolled over!

I knew that some milestones in Blair's life would be delayed because of all the harness/brace time, but I am happy to report she rolls onto her belly almost every morning in her crib! I had quite the surprise when I went to check on her and there she was on her belly looking around. She is also doing very well in her new brace. We're getting 12+hours a night. I'm not sure when we're going to stop co-sleeping, I just don't want to fight it right now, she sleeps, I sleep, end of story. She is also trying alot of new fruits and veggies and LOVES eating with people. I'm also loving all the babbling she's doing...daddada, and abaa seems to be the loudest. We go back to Oakland in a month and a half, I'm sure time will go by real quick.

Blair hip update

Our Oakland trip did not end like we thought it would. Just looking at the x-ray we had gotten that morning I could tell her sockets weren't curving like they should. Dr. Hoffinger came in the room and did a physical exam of her hips and then went over the x-ray with us. I think he could see the shock on my face when he said she needed to be in a brace again. Her new brace is an abduction brace, which is actually alot more comfortable than the pavlick brace. Blair needs to wear it for 14 hours a day, so far we're up to 13. Dr. Hoffinger thought we'd have to ease her into the brace since she's been out for so long. We go back down in 2 months for a re-check. I gave myself one day to be mad, and upset, cried in the bathroom at the hospital, then I got over it. One thing hip dysplasia has done is made me a lot stronger. Being a wreck is not going to help anything. We'll make it through this. Blair is still the sweet happy easy-going baby.

Our other update is of my brother. He is home after a stay at Davis hospital. He has 4 compression fractured vertabrae, but he doesn't need surgery. He has a body brace but is up and walking around.

A year full of Blair's first Holidays!

One accent wall done in the kitchen

My cutie patootie

It was Blair's first 4th of July, nothing too eventfuly though. We're not a real firework family so we stayed home, took a nap, had hotdogs for dinner, Darren painted and we watched a movie. I'm looking forward to more of Blair's first Holidays.

Blair now has her second tooth coming in on the bottom, oh the joys of teething... We leave next week for Oakland, I'm really anxious to go. The plus side of traveling is shopping, seeing the doctor, and Darren having three days off!

Darren and I will be celebrating our 3 year wedding anniversary on the 16th, time has sure gone by fast. Hard to believe we've been together since we were 17.