Easing Into a Family of Seven

It seemed this week we started to ease into a feasible schedule and routine with our new baby. For me the most challenging part is picking up kids from school and after school activities like piano and physical therapy. Phillip will start soccer the end of March so that will come in a few weeks.

Monday morning I earned a gold medal because we got to Josie's two-week appointment on time at 9 am. I will admit to feeling rather exhausted afterwards. Josie tipped the scale at 8 lbs 4 oz, one ounce over her birth weight! Good job little one. She looks very healthy according to Dr Shaw. Yay. Right before we left I got a phone call from Dr Georgopoulos assistant from Denver Orthopedics. She briefly reviewed the MRI, once again confirming Amelia's diagnosis for the third time. Robin said that Amelia is at the beginning of the disease cycle, not the middle or end as we hoped. This makes surgical intervention a necessity, the surgery performed is to break the femur head, reshape it, and pin it back into the hip to allow better blood circulation. Mia would be in a torso cast for 6-8 weeks. I went to Josie's appointment feeling defeated and hurting for our little Amelia. After Shaw finished with Josie she asked about Amelia. I told her what the Dr was saying, she got a defiant look on her face and told me her son also had Perthes. She decided to not accept any surgical interventions for her son since the surgeries did not change the ultimate outcome of a hip replacement in his 20's. He was on crutches for 18 months, did physical therapy, and took Aleve and melatonin for the duration. After the disease ran it's course he was left with his left foot a bit rotated in and an inch leg discrepancy. He is now playing basketball and running around. She said it was a hard, angry 18 months of his life, but they got through it. It was refreshing and an answer to prayer to hear her opinion. I am not saying we will pursue this course but it gives us more information to make the best decision we can. One factor that will affect our decision is the severity of the disease in her hip.

For FHE we went to Math night at Amelia's school. She was so excited to have us all visit her school. We started in her homeroom with math grids, using blocks to solve funny sentences. Mrs Plant held Josie most of the time we were in her classroom. Some of the other activities included tangrams, making prisms, estimation, a photo booth, minecraft, and other math based games. We got a kick out of Everett's enthusiasm over doing Math. Evelyn naturally gravitated toward the classroom sinks, she could not help but run the water. Silly goose. We ended the evening with a treat from Sonic.

Evelyn started napping with strange objects this week. Her favorites are apple sauce packets, tubes of kool aid powder, her favorite shoe, socks on her hands, and even a tooth brush. She has taken to pointing at things with her middle finger as well. I tried to get a photo, the last one above, but she is too fast for me. She poured herself a bowl of Parmesan cheese for dinner because she was not a fan of the soup I made. You may ask if she ate it...yep! She did. Evelyn also enjoys snacking on strawberry milk powder straight from the canister using the scoop. Two year olds make me laugh.

The most stressful event of the week was Amelia's first physical therapy appointment on Tuesday. Sister Swain could not watch Kaylee that day so I ended up with 6 kids. We walked into the hospital, Kelly said she knew we were coming because of all the whooping and hollering. That was a bit embarrassing. We sat in the lobby for an hour. I nursed the baby while the kids ran around amusing themselves and eating snacks. I tried my best from the seat to keep the kids near by and out of folk's way. Amelia met with Dr Karl alone since I did not want the kids in the cool therapy room. Dr Karl needed me to see the exercises to do at home so at the end we all went in. Course, Phillip immediately whoops and runs to the trampoline grabbing bell weights along his path. Dr Karl was brillant telling the kids they could only stay on the areas of the rug light with sunshine. I stood there nursing while Karl went through the exercises. I had him do it three times, the last time I took a video in case I forgot. Meanwhile the kids dsicovered that sun was not only touching the carpet but also cool equipment. Yikes, we left as soon as possible with the room still intact. I refuse to take her again with 6 kids in tow! Sister Shields helped me find someone available to take Amelia 2-3 times per week. I am grateful that Sister Elliot will help me out for the next 6 weeks. She is a true angel.

Kindergarten celebrated Dr Seuss this past week with fun activities every day. He got to wear mismatching clothes, silly hats, blue/red, and PJs to school. Almost each day he prayed that Dr Seuss would have the best birthday ever. He missed Friday's celebration because of a short bout with stomach flu. He chucked all on the living room carpet while telling me he needed a bowl to barf in. Gracious! Just get a bowl. Justin, yes, you read that right...Justin cleaned up the barf and even busted out the carpet cleaner to sanitize the carpet. Around 2:30 that night Everett crawled into bed with us. He laid down then barfed all over our pillows, sheets, and comforter. Justin cleaned him off in the shower while I tracked down some sheets and a blanket so we could finish out the night in our own bed. Everett went back to his clean bed for the rest of the night. We discovered the next night that he barfed again in his own bed and just went to sleep in it. Gross. Friday both boys held down the couch and watched movies half of the day. Phillip was thrilled when Josie fell asleep on his lap in spite of his wiggles. He sure loves her.

I installed the cool new swing the kids got for Christmas. We are having spring-like weather. Makes me worry to see all the tree bud begin to swell. In my experience here when the plants begin to bloom this early they get killed off because of spring snow storms. Still, the 65 degree weather yesterday was heavenly. The kids played outside most of the day on the saucer swing. I hung up the rope ladder for extra loads of fun. My kids are too chicken to climb up the ladder and enjoy the tree. We made an excursion to Cabela's for a new lawn chair. Now I can nurse outside while the kids play.

Josie looked adorable for her first day at church this morning. She hid out in her car seat the entire time so nobody got a peek at her cute dress. I included a couple photos to prove she did indeed look adorable. I am working on Thank You notes and sending out birth announcements. I ordered a bunch of prints late last week. Half of the photos were up on our walls before dinner time the day the boxes arrived. Ahhhh! So many pretty choices.