Fall Photoshoot

Fall photo session by my friend Nathan at Imagen Photography

Love these photos!!! 

October 2012

A Long Overdue Update!

It has been an absolute whirlwind since my last post and a LOT has happened!

First of all, we met with Dr. Paley in November at his facility.  We coincidentally met our facebook friends whose daughter Hayden is undergoing limb lengthening as well, in the waiting room, while we were there!  That was so helpful and nice to talk with people just like us who are going through what we will be in the next few years.

Dr. Paley had a few doctors with him observing all of his appointments since he is the pioneer in his field and everything he is doing for people.  After looking at Sadie's MRI results on disc that we brought with us, he told us that she does not have any bone or cartilage connection between her hip socket and femur bone head.  Everyone previously thought there was, from the x-rays, so this was news.  He said this requires a more "intense" Superhip surgery, which he calls "Superhip 2".  He said that there are a handful of doctors around the world who do Superhip 1 surgery (which is what we were previously planning on), but he is the only doctor who does the Superhip 2 surgery.  He has performed this particular surgery 40-50 times.  Since it is such an intensive surgery, he requires the child be at least 3-4 years of age in order to develop more before the surgery.  The recovery time is the same though (about 10 days, pending no complications).  We will plan on doing this around November or December 2014. 

Dr. Paley said he would recommend Sadie get another MRI this fall and to bring in the results for another yearly checkup with him after that.  So we kind of have a break from all of this for a while now which is helpful because there is other big news!

Sadie is going to have a little sister in July!!!!!  We are so excited!  Here is a video of Sadie's reaction when we told her it was a girl, on February 11, 2013:

We also moved into a new house, a LOT bigger than our old house!  It is so nice to have room and we have been getting Sadie's and her new sister's rooms ready.

Sadie updates:

• She will be 2 years old on April 23.
• She says a LOT of words now.
• She is a very intense personality - demanding and bossy, but also very affectionate and just so lovable.
• We think she is ultra intelligent.
• She remembers everything - she even knows the hood ornaments for Mazdas (mama's car) and Hondas (Dada's car) and when she sees any car of these brands says Mama's Car!  Dada's Car!
• Sadie and I go to a swim and gym class at the Y every Monday and she loves it! 
• We go to storytime at the library most Wednesdays and she loves that almost as much (Tick, Tock, I'm a little cuckoo clock -- is her fave song we sing there)
• She knows all of her colors.
• She knows about 5 letters, and also the first letter of her name.
• She is in Toddler 3 class at daycare now and goes 3 days per week.
• Favorite foods are pizza and macaroni and cheese.
• Sadie just got fitted for her 3rd leg brace and we'll get it soon.  She is getting so big!

Here are some recent pics over the past few months:

Sadie looking out the window for Mama to arrive at school with her friends!

A Test Run

Today, we spent all day at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital for Sadie to undergo a MRI, prescribed by Dr. Paley in Florida.  This is a procedure he needs to gain a detailed view of her hip formation as related to the cartilage, femur bone, pelvis, etc.  This all relates to her superhip surgery that he will be performing for us in November 2013.

Sadie had to go under general anesthesia to have this done.  We were not allowed back with her as they administered the gas and IV.  She is getting to be very observant and knew something was up.  She also was not allowed to eat or drink anything all day, so that made my job as toddler entertainment a bit more difficult as well, while waiting for over an hour for the doctor to take her back.  I know that people, babies and animals all undergo anesthesia every day all over the world, but when it is your baby, that is the only one that matters.

I could tell that, as I requested, all of our friends and family were thinking and praying for Sadie.  I have always believed in signs and a few of them leading up to the surgery I feel were in our favor....they called us the day before and moved the time up to the morning instead of afternoon (remember -- no food/drink for toddler until after procedure), my favorite Dave Matthews Band song and version (acoustic version of #41) came on the radio JUST as we were pulling into the parking garage, we ran into Dr. Liu (our orthopedic doctor at Rainbow) just as we were entering the elevator and got to say chat with him, one of the nurses in the pre-surgery waiting room asked if we were related to Ann Falvey (which Jimmy thinks was his grandpa's sister), AND right after we left Sadie with the doctor as she was crying, we went into the gift shop and found the one and only Dora balloon.  Sadie LOVES balloons (at the stores we call her the balloon detective because she will point out all of the balloons for you) and she also LOVES Dora.  It was a 3 foot tall Dora Halloween balloon too, just like her book and DVD she currently loves.  It was perfect, and the ONLY one they had left.  Totally meant for Sadie!

Everything went well.  The procedure only lasted a little over an hour and we were back with our girl, waiting for her to wake up.  As soon as she woke up, she saw the balloon and almost hyperventilated she was so excited.  She drank some apple juice, devoured an entire banana and we were on our way home! 

It was a test drive for our big hip surgery in one year.  We are so thankful for how perfectly everything went.  We even managed to laugh a little and have some fun during the day too.  We are a lucky family!  I hope her other procedures go this well!

Stream of Consciousness

Source: bellamumma.com via Valarie on Pinterest

In high school art class, we had this really cool project called the stream of consciousness.  You basically drew a ton of different little pictures that represented what you were thinking on a long piece of cardstock and you didn't have to have rhyme or reason to how it fit together.  Being a wedding planner for over 10 years, I pride myself on keeping things as organized as possible.  However, this post will not be that.  I just have so many thoughts running through my head that I want to get down, and the best way to jumble them all together is to relate to the stream of consciousness idea.

I was born to be Sadie's mom.  That little girl and I are so in sync with each other it's crazy.  I have never truly, naturally and 100% enjoyed anything more in my life than just taking care of her, being her mom and loving her.  I have a list of sappy songs I sometimes listen to and get teary-eyed just thinking about how much I love her and want the best for her (for the record, some of them are "Home" by Phillip Phillips, "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart and "You'll be in my Heart" by Phil Collins).  I feel that my combination of personal experiences that has shaped who I am up to this point has prepared me to be the mom of a little girl born with a physical difference who needs someone strong to help her through it.  I also feel that who Jimmy and I are, and some of the ways we as a couple view the world and make decisions coordinate well with this situation too.  We won't just get through it, we will build character from the experience and gain something from it, and I don't just mean gaining a few inches on Sadie's right leg.

Source: flickr.com via Maggi on Pinterest

I want the best for her.  If a genie appeared in my house one day and gave me one wish - any wish at all - it would be to fix Sadie's legs.  It would not be to turn back time and have Sadie born with two equal legs.  If that happened, it would not be Sadie.  She is such a special little girl and the fact that her right leg is shorter than her left makes her that much MORE special.  It's who she is, and I love who she is so much.  She is such a little ham, she's so happy, such a bright light.  She radiates from within and everyone who has met her has said something to that effect.  She *sparkles*. I am not sure if many people can truly understand what I'm saying here, but when I am walking around in public with Sadie and she's doing her toddler walk with her leg brace and what looks like 2 feet on her right leg into the library, or in the mall, or at Gymboree, I actually feel lucky that I am her mom.  People look at us all the time.  I'm sure it's because she has this leg brace on and they wonder what happened.  Some people ask and I tell them.  Most people are polite about it.  I actually appreciate it if people ask rather than just stare or give a critical/ignorant look.  I think it's best to be open about the situation because we are not ashamed of it and we are happy to talk about it.  We are so lucky that everything is going to turn out okay but even if she was not having surgery I would feel the same.  I just feel so blessed that this baby was born, just possibly needing a little more in life from someone close to take care of her and get her through these huge things that most kids don't have to deal with, to me and Jimmy.  I feel that our house was full of love and laughter before she was born- but Sadie, her heart, her laughter, her smile, her beauty, her intelligence, and her 2 unequal legs, fill our house with more love and support for one another than we could have ever planned for ourselves.  Everyone should be so lucky to have a jumbled variety of experiences fill their heart with so much love.

Source: loveisblinndd.tumblr.com via Valarie on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Valarie on Pinterest

Source: via Valarie on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Maggi on Pinterest

We've got a Walker!!!

Sadie has been furniture walking for months, and taking 1 or 2 steps on her own for the past week.  She will also walk holding my hand (which I love).  On Wednesday, August 28 I picked her up from daycare and her teacher told me she had been walking around all day long!  She is 16 months old and I feel that this is quite an accomplishment!  We are so happy and proud of her and I spent all evening praising her and watching her new trick.  I think the combination of her wonderful leg brace that was custom made for her, and being at daycare 3 days per week with the other kids who are all walking helped her.  Congratulations Sadie!!!!!


I recently found this quote and love it:

It is not what you do for your children but what you have taught them to do for themselves that will make them successful human beings.
-Ann Landers

Jennifer and Dominique

Jimmy found one of the coolest stories I have ever heard, recently on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.  Speaks to us on so many levels!  I can't find the full length segment (we have it on DVR) but here is a snapshot.  I LOVE this story, and how Jennifer was raised!  Just amazing.  We are excited to show it to Sadie when she is older.

Almost

We've been back from Florida for a week now and I've had many people ask me how Sadie's Dr. appt. with Dr. Paley went.  During the Friday before her Monday appointment while I was busy working a 200 person Indian wedding, his office called me and said they only needed to see her once a year and apologized for the oversight.  So I'm not sure what happened there but they want us to come in in November and at that time she will be having an MRI done.  Jimmy and I have to coordinate our work schedules to figure out when we can go.

At this point, we are planning on her superhip surgery for November 2013.  They said that will work great since their busiest time for surgery is in the summer (because kids are off school).

Sadie is now standing on her own, with the use of her leg brace!  She is so proud of herself and so are we!  She is almost walking as well and can push something across the room while walking without help.  Here is a video of her pushing a trash can throughout the condo in Florida:

We had a family photo session done by our friends at RAD photography (Rob) and I will post all of them when I get the disc.  They are fabulous!!!  We took them at a very special place, Kirtland Country Club, where Jimmy and I had our wedding reception on 8/15/09!

Dream, little girl!

Summer in the Hamptons, haha

Lastly, I finally had to paint the toenails on the foot of the leg brace.  I think it looks fabulous!

 

I love the song "Home" by Philip Phillips.  I also love putting pictures to music and couldn't resist adding some recent summer pictures to a quick slideshow.  Enjoy!