Here are some pictures I've taken on my phone.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Some good news
Today we went to the first of several specialists appointments we have for Miss Mady. We drove to Aurora (1 hour and 1/2) to the Colorado Children's Hospital to see the rehabilitation specialist that specializes in mobility disorders.
First, can I just say that the Colorado Children's Hospital is pretty much the best hospital I've ever been to. It was so easy to park, find our Dr. office, and beyond that, they had wagons which Mady could ride in. (That was a huge hit with Mady of course and may have jumped up to the top on her Christmas wish list.)
The specialist gave us some VERY encouraging news.
In his opinion, he thinks that she has a Collagen 6 disorder which means she has extra stretchy collagen which causes her joints to hyperextend. In her case, he thinks she probably fits into a group of kids that have this disorder that cannot really be defined. Meaning that genetic testing may or may not discover what she has. This is a VERY good thing. If you're ever bored, google disorders with hyper mobility. Some of the disorders that have hyper mobility as a symptom are not good. Some even can shorten the life span. The Doctor was certain that she did not fit most of these disorders.
He also tested her reflexes. I found this interesting because no other doctor has done this before. He said that because she has good reflexes that it's not a cognitive problem. Her muscles will fire when the brain tells them to which is GREAT news. And that in itself rules out a lot of things she could have.
We asked a lot of questions, of course.
One of my concerns was that in a lot of kids with hyper mobility, it can affect their organs. He said that it typically only affects hearts and eyes. If her collagen was affecting her heart, we probably would have heard a murmur by now, and so far, no other doctor has picked up on that yet. GOOD NEWS!
Overall, Mady will get stronger and will learn to overcome her extra stretchy collagen and will be a "normal" child.
The doctor did dash our dreams for our child when he said "She probably won't ever be a construction worker though!" HAHA!
Perhaps the most encouraging thing he said was "We see a lot of children with hyper mobility." Sometimes, being parents of a kid that is developing differently makes you feel isolated, like she's the only one struggling with this. It also doesn't help when her previous primary care doctor admitted "I have never seen this before." To know that she's not alone and that it's not unusual is very encouraging.
So where do we go from here?
1. We will be getting genetic testing done even though the results may be inconclusive. It will help us know if there are any major concerns with Mady's health. This wont be until January.
2. We will be seeing a cardiologist just to make sure there are no heart problems. We're hoping to get this done in the next couple of months.
3. We will have a follow up appointment with the rehabilitation specialist so he can track her progress.
After being at the Children's hospital and seeing all types of children, Jeremy and I are so thankful. We saw children who were hooked to IVs or that were unable to do anything for themselves. We are so blessed. I kept telling Jeremy, we could be going to this hospital for so many worse reasons than a gross motor delay. There are so many children there that can't leave the hospital and come back to their home. We have much to be thankful for. Miss Mady is healthy and will get stronger in her own time.
First, can I just say that the Colorado Children's Hospital is pretty much the best hospital I've ever been to. It was so easy to park, find our Dr. office, and beyond that, they had wagons which Mady could ride in. (That was a huge hit with Mady of course and may have jumped up to the top on her Christmas wish list.)
The specialist gave us some VERY encouraging news.
In his opinion, he thinks that she has a Collagen 6 disorder which means she has extra stretchy collagen which causes her joints to hyperextend. In her case, he thinks she probably fits into a group of kids that have this disorder that cannot really be defined. Meaning that genetic testing may or may not discover what she has. This is a VERY good thing. If you're ever bored, google disorders with hyper mobility. Some of the disorders that have hyper mobility as a symptom are not good. Some even can shorten the life span. The Doctor was certain that she did not fit most of these disorders.
He also tested her reflexes. I found this interesting because no other doctor has done this before. He said that because she has good reflexes that it's not a cognitive problem. Her muscles will fire when the brain tells them to which is GREAT news. And that in itself rules out a lot of things she could have.
We asked a lot of questions, of course.
One of my concerns was that in a lot of kids with hyper mobility, it can affect their organs. He said that it typically only affects hearts and eyes. If her collagen was affecting her heart, we probably would have heard a murmur by now, and so far, no other doctor has picked up on that yet. GOOD NEWS!
Overall, Mady will get stronger and will learn to overcome her extra stretchy collagen and will be a "normal" child.
The doctor did dash our dreams for our child when he said "She probably won't ever be a construction worker though!" HAHA!
Perhaps the most encouraging thing he said was "We see a lot of children with hyper mobility." Sometimes, being parents of a kid that is developing differently makes you feel isolated, like she's the only one struggling with this. It also doesn't help when her previous primary care doctor admitted "I have never seen this before." To know that she's not alone and that it's not unusual is very encouraging.
So where do we go from here?
1. We will be getting genetic testing done even though the results may be inconclusive. It will help us know if there are any major concerns with Mady's health. This wont be until January.
2. We will be seeing a cardiologist just to make sure there are no heart problems. We're hoping to get this done in the next couple of months.
3. We will have a follow up appointment with the rehabilitation specialist so he can track her progress.
After being at the Children's hospital and seeing all types of children, Jeremy and I are so thankful. We saw children who were hooked to IVs or that were unable to do anything for themselves. We are so blessed. I kept telling Jeremy, we could be going to this hospital for so many worse reasons than a gross motor delay. There are so many children there that can't leave the hospital and come back to their home. We have much to be thankful for. Miss Mady is healthy and will get stronger in her own time.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Looking forward...
to meeting this sweet little girl Miss Abigail (Abby) Hope!
Only 11 more weeks to go! I'm hoping for more like 9 or 10 more weeks but who knows...this little girl could be stubborn like her older sister.
We finally decided on her name. It took us awhile this go around unlike Madelyn which we had picked out VERY early. I love the name Abigail which means "Father's joy" or "Joy of the Father". We know this little miss will bring so much joy to us and her Father in Heaven. "Hope" was a huge word for me in my healing after losing our precious 2nd baby in December. Learning to have "hope in the Lord" was a powerful lesson I learned and continue to learn. So naturally, we wanted her middle name to symbolize the hope we have in Christ.
This little girl did cause her mom and dad to worry this week at my doctor's appointment. The doctor was concerned because I was measuring small so they sent me directly to the ultrasound room. Thankfully, Abby measured right on track and there was enough amniotic fluid. We will just keep monitoring my size. (I guess the doctor doesn't realize that I am chasing/carrying around a toddler ALL. DAY. LONG and that this little one may be small like her older sister.)
We're working on Abby's room but are not even close to being ready. Hopefully in the next month we can get her room set up. We can't wait to meet Miss Abby!
Only 11 more weeks to go! I'm hoping for more like 9 or 10 more weeks but who knows...this little girl could be stubborn like her older sister.
We finally decided on her name. It took us awhile this go around unlike Madelyn which we had picked out VERY early. I love the name Abigail which means "Father's joy" or "Joy of the Father". We know this little miss will bring so much joy to us and her Father in Heaven. "Hope" was a huge word for me in my healing after losing our precious 2nd baby in December. Learning to have "hope in the Lord" was a powerful lesson I learned and continue to learn. So naturally, we wanted her middle name to symbolize the hope we have in Christ.
 |
| These full face pictures always look a little alien-like. |
We're working on Abby's room but are not even close to being ready. Hopefully in the next month we can get her room set up. We can't wait to meet Miss Abby!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Being More Intentional
Over the last month and half since we moved to Cheyenne, Mady and I get to spend TONS of time together. We haven't found a babysitter yet so Mom can get out a little bit on her own and some of the bible studies through our church haven't started just yet. (They'll be starting in a few weeks with free childcare and I'm SO excited!) At times, it can be very tiring spending all day with my little girl and having no outlets for me. I don't do well with very limited or non-existant social time. The first 2 weeks went well because we had a lot of different places to explore around Cheyenne. But as soon as the "new-ness" of it wore off, I began to have a more selfish attitude.
So to combat that, I decided to be more intentional with Mady each day.
Since I was a teacher, writing lesson plans comes naturally to me. I decided that to help me become more intentional, I would write a general lesson plan for our week and what activities we were going to do each day. Thanks to pinterest and the HUGE amount of toddler websites, I came up with lots of new activities. Now we don't always do a new activity EVERY day, but I try to do something new at least every other day.
Sometimes our activity is going to the library or the Children's Village.
Other times its an art project or a sensory tub.
And sometimes, it's more of a "learning" activity like our Red Day we're planning for this Friday to learn about the color red.
Here's an example of an activity we did last week. We made a foil river and had lots of fun playing in the water hose and watching ice cubes make their way down the river.
I'm hoping that starting this now with only 1 child, I will be able to continue it somewhat when I have 2. I know that it will look different and we will have to be more flexible when I have more than 1 little girl around but it's a start. I also hope to incorporate bible lessons in our weekly plan as well.
I can tell by Mady's behavior and my attitude that being more intentional each day has helped tremendously!
So to combat that, I decided to be more intentional with Mady each day.
Since I was a teacher, writing lesson plans comes naturally to me. I decided that to help me become more intentional, I would write a general lesson plan for our week and what activities we were going to do each day. Thanks to pinterest and the HUGE amount of toddler websites, I came up with lots of new activities. Now we don't always do a new activity EVERY day, but I try to do something new at least every other day.
Sometimes our activity is going to the library or the Children's Village.
Other times its an art project or a sensory tub.
And sometimes, it's more of a "learning" activity like our Red Day we're planning for this Friday to learn about the color red.
Here's an example of an activity we did last week. We made a foil river and had lots of fun playing in the water hose and watching ice cubes make their way down the river.
I can tell by Mady's behavior and my attitude that being more intentional each day has helped tremendously!
Friday, August 24, 2012
Lately...
we've been:
1. Cleaning our play kitchen and other things around the house.
2. Riding in our pink car. Everyday we go down to our mailbox in our pink car with the mailbox keys. Then we come back and "deliver" the mail.
3. Pushing our baby around in our pink stroller.
4. Figuring out how to get partly undressed while sleeping(??) Don't know how she did this but she wasn't too happy the morning I found her like this.
1. Cleaning our play kitchen and other things around the house.
2. Riding in our pink car. Everyday we go down to our mailbox in our pink car with the mailbox keys. Then we come back and "deliver" the mail.
3. Pushing our baby around in our pink stroller.
4. Figuring out how to get partly undressed while sleeping(??) Don't know how she did this but she wasn't too happy the morning I found her like this.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
The Children's Village
Last week, we went to the Children's Village in Cheyenne. It's a part of the Botanic Gardens. I didn't dress us appropriately (i.e. sunscreen and sandals) so we didn't stay as long as we both wanted to. We ended up being there for 45 minutes but I'm pretty sure Mady would love to be there all day!
They had a lot of really neat things to do, most of them having to do with water. There were places where Mady could get in the water but we didn't wear sandals and with the rocks, it wasn't a good idea to go barefoot.
Here's a few pictures from our trip. Next time we'll come more prepared and will stay longer.
They had a lot of really neat things to do, most of them having to do with water. There were places where Mady could get in the water but we didn't wear sandals and with the rocks, it wasn't a good idea to go barefoot.
Here's a few pictures from our trip. Next time we'll come more prepared and will stay longer.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Best Garage Sale Find EVER
While we were in Colorado at my parents house over the weekend, there just happened to be a garage sale down the street. I love garage sales and love to try to find a good deal so we headed down there on Saturday morning.
And what did I find?
Only the thing that I've been wanting to get Mady for a LONG time.
A Kitchen Set!
See I have been looking and looking and looking for one.
I did NOT want to pay much money.
I also wanted something to look realistic and for it to not be made completely out of plastic.
I was contemplating doing one of these amazing pinterest ideas.
But the first thing I spotted as I walked up the driveway was this set!
It's made completely out of wood.
It needs a new coat of paint but other than that, it's in great shape.
Mady LOVES it!
And I may be just as excited about it as she is.
Oh yeah, and I paid $10 for both pieces. SCORE!
And what did I find?
Only the thing that I've been wanting to get Mady for a LONG time.
A Kitchen Set!
See I have been looking and looking and looking for one.
I did NOT want to pay much money.
I also wanted something to look realistic and for it to not be made completely out of plastic.
I was contemplating doing one of these amazing pinterest ideas.
But the first thing I spotted as I walked up the driveway was this set!
It's made completely out of wood.
It needs a new coat of paint but other than that, it's in great shape.
Mady LOVES it!
And I may be just as excited about it as she is.
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