Week 3 (or is it 4?) In Quarantine

This week hasn't been too different than last week or the week before that but we're all still enjoying the time at home! Have I mentioned how much I love sleeping in every day and not having to go anywhere!? 

 Last week the kids washed rocks. This week they've been painting rocks! 



I'm so thankful that we've had such beautiful weather the last few weeks! We spend tons of time outside every day that's nice out! I know all the outdoor time is great for the kids and great for me too. Being outdoors helps my mood and outlook so much! 

I found L painting rocks in this position haha! Cracks me up how she can sit like this! She had hip dysplasia as a baby and has hyper mobility (like a lot of hip babies) so she is super flexible! 

Right before we went in for the evening we found L painting rocks again with paint everywhere! Look at all that black paint on her leg! Her expression is so funny here.. kinda like she knows she's been caught ha! 

The older girls did more chalk designs yesterday! This took like 5 brand new pieces of chalk and then they ran out and couldn't finish it..

I cleaned out part of the garage yesterday and then needed to sit down and rest. L decided she needed to rest too. Cracks me up! She wanted her little pool float behind her back and her feet up on this container ha! 

The little girls had a blast rubbing their hands in dirt yesterday.. 

they said it made their hands really soft ha! 

Can you spy C in the tree? 

The little boy across the street comes over almost every day to play with C and the girls. C loves having another boy to hang out with and our neighbor is an only child so I know he loves having other kids to play with. He is the ONLY person we have been around for weeks.. otherwise both his family and our family stays home so I feel like it's fine for him to come over and play. I'm sure all the fresh air and sunshine help kill germs too! Today the boys were up in the tree and doing something with cardboard boxes. They always have so much! J and the boys have been videoing each other a lot lately and dying to start a YouTube channel. I feel like we definitely need a great editing program (free if possible!) before they start posting all this stuff on YouTube. If anyone knows of anything please let me know! 

I found J sitting in the little kids' wagon this evening. I thought it was cute. :) 

I tried to make a face mask from an old pair of leggings a few days ago. Big fail! But L loves to wear it around the house sometimes. :) 

L has been thriving at home as I know many kids with SPD are. Being home with no changes in her routine, having her daddy and siblings home 24/7 seems to really be a great thing for her! 



She learned to take off and put on a shirt within the last week! I honestly can't remember how old the other kids were when they started doing this but it seems like L learned a bit later than they did. She came downstairs one day last week fully dressed.. I couldn't believe it! This was the first time she ever put a shirt on by herself. :) Nevermind the crazy hair and mixed matched clothing. 

I've also had her start working on preschool books several days a week. I think this is really helping her fine motor skills and helping her control her pencil better. This is the book she's working on above. This book is so cute and full of stickers and different activities! Looks like Amazon has several books in the same series as well.. and there is even a little Bible book.

I'm just amazed by the improvement she's shown in just the last week. These two drawings are both of rainbows (and the sky and people) and she drew them just a week apart. She seems to have much better control on her pencil in just this short amount of time. 

Last weekend. 

And today! Look at the difference! 

My feelings may change but right now I'm feeling more and more confident in my decision to homeschool her from kindergarten on. She's thriving with all her siblings at home 24/7 and already shown improvement with the little bit of preschool work I've been doing with her. Things are never predictable with L so all this may change but right now I'm just really excited with the huge steps she's taken since we've been in quarantine! 

She's gone down to almost no meltdowns and improved so much in skill since we've all just been staying home together. I know all the change in routine that we normally have is really hard on her. While I'm excited that she's doing so well right now I am a little concerned about how she'll adjust when everything goes back to normal. 

Besides all the outdoor time I've also gone through two huge totes of old mail and papers and have shredded bags and bags full of stuff! We thought R might enjoy playing in the shredded papers but she just jumped right back out ha! I had to hold her still for a quick pic. 

We heard today that they will start clearing lots on our side of the street where we're building! So exciting!! My husband recently bought some tools and wants to start making furniture. I decided I will have to have a built in shelf, similar to this one from Pinterest, in our family room upstairs. We plan to put a couch and TV up there but it will also be our homeschool room so a shelf like this will be amazing to tuck away bins of books and papers! 

I'm linking up with Hello Monday again today! 

Finding out our baby had hip dysplasia

(If you look closely at her feet in this picture you can see the left leg is shorter. 

She has folds on her right ankle and above her right knee that aren't on her left leg.)

I've been meaning to write about L's journey with hip dysplasia for awhile now. We got her diagnosis almost exactly three years ago today. 

By time L came along I figured I had all this baby stuff figured out (ha!) The older three kids met all their milestones on or ahead of schedule. Our first child walked at 11 months, our second walked at 10 months and our third walked at 9 months.. so we joked that our 4th would be walking at 8 months lol.. not so much.

We were a little surprised when L was delayed in several areas.. from rolling over, sitting, scooting, crawling, trying to stand, eating purees or solids.. she was delayed in all that and more.

Our pediatrician was concerned that she had torticollis. I had hardly heard of it and just pushed our pediatrician's concerns to the back of my mind. My husband is the one who thought we should pursue an evaluation with a specialist. It turned out L did have torticollis as well as plagiocephaly and brachycephaly. She went into a Doc Band later than recommended.. around 9 months... and wore it for about 4 months. 

She started physical therapy for torticollis but made very little progress. Her fine motor skills were delayed. She didn't have any interest in doing much of anything the therapist tried to get her to do. She cried a lot. Looking back later we realized she was probably in a lot of pain from her hip. :(

By this time she was around 8-9 months old and still wasn't scooting around or crawling much less trying to stand or walk. One evening I stood her up in the living room and realized she was putting all her weight on her right leg with her right foot flat on the floor. She was on tiptoe on her left foot. There was over an inch difference in her leg length*! I knew something was off at that point and started searching for answers. 

We went to a family chiropractor twice a month from the time L was born so at our next appointment I pointed out the difference in leg length to our chiro. The chiro agreed that she needed to see a specialist. I was also asking the physical therapist about it as well as the techs at Cranial Technology. I made an appointment with our sweet pediatrician who set us up in a large exam room and spent close to an hour with me looking L over from top to bottom while agreeing something was wrong.

We were referred to Scottish Rite in Dallas where we got the official diagnosis that she had hip dysplasia in her left hip. Her surgery was scheduled for about a month out. Here she is in the waiting room at TSRH just a few days after she had gotten her Doc Band. 

In the exam room waiting for results of her x-rays. 

L was already in a spica cast by her first birthday so I had some "one year" photos made before she had her surgery. The color is off here (screen shots of an old Instagram pic ha!) but I love these pictures so much!! I was just out of reach in the pic where she is standing up. She kept toppling over but we wanted this photo really bad and it turned out great! 

I'll be posting about her surgery soon and also the time she spent in a spica cast. It's hard to believe it's already been three years... it some ways it feels like yesterday and in other ways it seems hard to believe this is the same child she is today! 

What's Up Wednesday

A little late but I'm linking up to What's Up Wednesday today! 

1. What We’re Eating This Month…



We just got an Instapot and my husband has been trying it out the past few days. I just picked up this cookbook today and want to make something in it myself soon!







2. What I’m Reminiscing About…

L was getting out of her spica cast two years ago this month. She's come such a long way since then!!

3. What I’m Loving…

I'm loving my new phone! It has a great camera! I got my new phone Friday night and tried it out while I had Indie in childcare at church all day Saturday.



4. What We’ve Been Up To…

We've been potty training L for the past week. She seems to have finally turned a corner and hopefully this is it! She had a hip check-up at Shriners yesterday which was a day long trip. Thankfully her hips look great and they won't need to see her again for a year now! We were going every 6 months so this is great news!



5. What I’m Dreading…

L has a dental check-up tomorrow morning. She and S both had check-ups scheduled last Friday morning. S did fine but Indie was having a meltdown and we had to reschedule her's so she's going again tomorrow morning with G and C. I'm dreading it ha! Poor girl has been totally overwhelmed with potty training and her sensory issues have been pretty bad the past week or so.



6. What I’m Working On…

Potty training L, catching up on laundry, cleaning the house (it's a total wreck after a busy weekend), catching up on blogging. I need to grade a ton of G's homeschool work too...



7. What I’m Excited About…

We bought our Disney tickets this past weekend and booked our Airbnb! Our trip isn't until November but it's exciting to plan and prepare!!

8. What I’m Watching / Reading…

I just finished reading Beauchamp Hall by Danielle Steel. It's really good! And I've been watching Women Behind Bars on Netflix. Pretty good/interesting if you like true crime!



9. What I’m Listening To…

At the moment I'm listening to Peppa Pig on TV in the living room haha



10. What I’m Wearing…

Currently wearing black leggings. I think I've worn black leggings every single day since late October. :P 


11. What I’m Doing This Weekend…

I don't think we have any plans for Saturday but G wants to invite a friend over. We'll go to service Sunday morning then J and I will volunteer in C's second grade class at church. Sunday afternoon is life group. 


12. What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month…

Spring!! C starts baseball practice, signing the little girls up for soccer. I have no idea when spring break is but I'm thinking March.. 


13. What Else Is New…

We just bought a bunkbed for the little girls. Hopefully J can set it up tonight and maybe they'll actually start sleeping in their own room. We've co-slept with all our kids as babies which is fine when they're tiny but Sol is FIVE now and won't leave our room. :/ L is almost as big as S and it's just getting ridiculous ha! Now that potty training is (hopefully) well under way I'm hoping we can get them both in their room.. permanently.

w sitting, hyper mobiltiy, special shoes & stuff

We recently discovered (or had it confirmed) that Indie Grace does have issues with her feet turning in and also the way she runs. She's hyper mobile, as many kids with hip dysplasia are, and that can effect them in many areas.



While we're so very thankful for all the amazing things the hip doctors have done for Indie Grace.... it has been really frustrating to have them tell us there's no need for physical therapy after treatment, that her feet look fine and that she walks and runs fine when it all looks a bit "off" to us. We were also told, by professionals, that concerns over W sitting were something of the past and that it's perfectly fine for kids to sit like this and even more so for hip babies since they're more flexible.
Until now we've taken their word for it. Since we were told she didn't need physical therapy we were actually afraid to pursue it after she got out of her spica cast for fear a physical therapist wouldn't be familiar with child who had hip dysplasia. In my gut NONE of that sounded right but... never having had a child with hip dysplasia before we wanted to listen to the hip doctors first and foremost. Nevermind that we had pediatricians and other professionals telling us the opposite. The hip doctors fixed her hip (and they did a great job and we are so, so thankful for that!) but maybe we falsely assumed they're also the experts when it comes to all things Indie?

Recently two of Indie Grace's occupational therapists have expressed concern over the way she sits in the W position. Indie Grace has had a weak core since she was a baby.. slumping and very poor posture. I never connected a weak core to W sitting. But from what I'm learning sitting in the W position does nothing to help strengthen the core... it actually makes it worse... and it can also negatively effect the feet and the position of the legs when a child walks and runs. I'm thinking it can effect a child with hyper mobility even more? (Here is a great article that explains more.)

Her current OT has also been concerned about Indie Grace's feet and the way that she runs. All I needed was that nagging concern validated before I went and dug a little deeper for info related to hip babies, hyper mobility, feet position, running, etc. I've known that many hip babies are hyper mobile but in the past 2 years I've somehow missed the fact (despite asking around and searching numerous times to no avail) that many hip kids also have issues with their feet and legs. Many need special inserts, shoes and physical therapy. Once I learned that I went ahead ordered a pair of orthopedic shoes for Indie off eBay. I didn't want to buy new until I knew for sure what type of shoe she needed but the shoes we got are nice and supportive and seem very well made. Indie loves them and wears them all the time now! She was so excited to get them in the mail!

Opening her "new" shoes!! I was surprised they came a few days early! 

She got them a week ago yesterday!

Proudly wearing her "new" shoes!

The shoes we bought are $120 new but I found them on eBay for less than $40 shipped! The pair we got are gently worn but look fine and still have a lot of life left! I was thrilled to find such a great deal! They hold her feet in the proper position and keep her ankles straight instead of slumping inward. She's been wearing them every single day with no complaints even though they're a bit "clunkier" than the shoes she was used to.

We had a physical therapist look at her feet during OT last week. The PT recommended little inserts for arch support. This will help her feet which will also help the position of her legs. I'm glad I didn't spend a full $120 on brand new orthopedic shoes because the PT isn't recommending anything that drastic. But she is recommending "quality" shoes over the Wal-Mart, Old Navy, Target or the cheap stuff Indie Grace has been wearing. Personally I do love the orthopedic ones we got with the extra support around the ankles and I'll definitely be looking for more good deals on something similar. 

She'll be getting shoe inserts similar to these. 

Indie will be fitted for inserts at therapy tomorrow and they'll place an order for us. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she'll adjust quickly to the inserts as well.

We're also trying to remember to correct her when she sits in the W position. I feel like we should probably go ahead with a full PT evaluation. I'm certain a little physical therapy wouldn't hurt with her weak core, hyper mobility and overall clumsiness. Clumsiness is just something she deals with having hyper mobility and having had hip dysplasia. 

It's been one thing after another with Indie Grace since she was born and time after time we've heard various opinions from different professionals. I end up beating myself up for either not realizing there was an issue or because I didn't listen to my gut to begin with and dig harder for answers.

We're so thankful for all the help and treatment Indie has received. We couldn't be more thankful to Scottish Rite and Shriners. My eyes honestly start to well up every time I think of these amazing hospitals and all they do. It's unbelievable.

We're so thankful that we caught hip dysplasia earlier than some and that she was treated when she was still a baby. We're thankful that Indie is pretty much thriving now! She's healthy and strong and super smart!

I almost hate to write about anything she's gone through because I know it's a drop in the bucket compared to what so many others are dealing with. Having been to Scottish Rite and Shriners on multiple occasions we know full well just how incredibly blessed we are. Walking in to these hospitals with a patient who has four perfectly developed limbs, who can walk and talk and run is not lost on us. We leave with incredibly grateful and humbled hearts every single time. On the other hand, this is her story and these are the minor frustrations what we've dealt with and/or are dealing with and I will not be ashamed about sharing our lives.

I'll be sharing more about her journey in the future for a few reasons. I don't want to forget any of it. I want Indie to be able to read it all as she gets older. And, I firmly believe in helping others go through the things we've already been through. If I can share something that will help even one mother out there dealing with any of the things Indie has gone through.. from torticollis, Doc Band, hip dysplasia, hyper mobility, sensory processing disorder, evaluations, finding a therapist, OT, PT, febrile seizures and now shoe inserts and orthopedic shoes... then it's worth sharing.

On that note if anyone has further info on any of this stuff please share! I'm still confused about a lot of this!

Friday Favorites

I'm linking up to Friday Favorite with Momfessionals today

We're enjoying the last week of summer before school starts next week! And I'm loving the fact that ALL four of my kids can play in the pool independently while I relax under an umbrella for a few minutes. This is the first time I've been able to step away from the pool alone for years! 

(Pic via O P I)

I'm loving bright pink polish on my toenails! I've been painting my nails light blue all summer but finally pulled out my O P I  bright pink. Bright pink is one of my all time favorites.. especially for summer!

(Pic via kristinhannah.com)

After seeing author Kristin Hannah mentioned on several blogs recently I decided to get Home Front from the library last night. Looks like a good read! I may start reading it at the pool this afternoon.

(Pic via Google)

I grew up drinking sweet tea but switched to unsweet several years ago. This summer I've been making like 2 gallons a week! As much as I love iced coffee I would give it up if I had to choose between iced tea or iced coffee ha! Iced tea is the most refreshing drink for me... especially in the summer! I drink it with almost every meal and several times throughout the day.

(Pic via Google, HGTV Tiny Houses)

I started watching HGTV's Tiny Houses on Hulu a couple days ago. I'm pretty sure I could never live in one.. especially with 4 kids... but it's fun to watch and I'm obsessed with everything they can fit into such a tiny space!

(Pic via Google) 

I've been thinking about putting Indie in equine therapy for SPD and to help stabilize her core. She seems excited about the idea but that could all change once she actually gets close to a horse ha! We're waiting for an okay from her doctor but thinking it should be fine. There's a few local stables that offer therapy and I'd love to get her in around her third birthday if we can!

Hope everyone has is having a great Friday! We are off to the pool for a couple hours and my oldest and I have a full day of shopping planned for tomorrow!

Indie's hip check up!

Yesterday was Indie's second hip check-up of the year. Her last check-up was in February.

We didn't leave early enough. I swear I'm always running way behind. The appointment was at 1:50. We left the house around 11:20 but had to make three stops on the way. I should've left at 10. We ran into tons of traffic but made it there around 2:20 and went straight to x-ray.

I had been trying to prepare Indie to lay down for her x-ray but of course they wanted her to stand for the first x-ray. Ha! She wasn't having it but the tech was so sweet and patient. She took an x-ray of Indie's little bear first. :) Once the bear had an x-ray and Indie went back to see it on the screen she settled down and stood nice and still.

Afterwards she had to lay down for an x-ray which didn't go over too well but we managed to get a great shot first try so that was good! 

The receptionist in the waiting area told me the older 3 kids did great while Indie was getting her x-rays. They all did great the entire time and we got a few compliments on how well behaved they were. I feel like we're such a loud, chaotic bunch so often so it's nice to get compliments and feel like we're doing something right occasionally ha! 

 After x-rays we went upstairs to wait for results and see the doctor. This was the first time we've gone to a room upstairs. It was like an actual hospital room with an exam table set up in the center. Indie did great in here! She even sat on the table and waited to be seen. I couldn't believe it. We took off her dress and the nurse watched her walk, run and walk on tiptoe. Then the doctor came in to look at her hips and legs. She did great the entire time! And the x-rays look amazing!! I was a little concerned after our  last appointment in February but everything is looking better. Her hip is developing and growing just right. We have another check-up in 6 months and may go to yearly check-ups after that! Great news! 

After a trip to Shriners I always realize, again, just how blessed we are. It's sobering to see the numerous patients we encounter with life long disabilities. My heart goes out to them and their families. We couldn't be more grateful to the doctors, nurses, staff and volunteers who work with these patients. Indie was previously a patient at Texas Scottish Rite in Dallas. Both hospitals are simply amazing. 

Sol loves her turtles and wanted a pic with this one. :) 

This was our first time upstairs at Shriners. I wish I had taken more pictures. There's a nice café area and a huge open lobby with toys, games, pool tables and more. Lots of seating and tons of magazines. It looked like there was a craft room off to one side too. I just love that there is so much for patients and their families to enjoy during their stay.

 Alex wanted his pic made next to the Yoda in the downstairs lobby. :)

 Both little girls had fun on the rocking horses. There are several set up both downstairs and upstairs.

We always pass this huge, landmark peach on our way to and from Shriners... close to the SC/NC border. We made a few stops on the way back and got home around 8. Overall it was a really smooth day and taking all 4 kids wasn't bad at all.