Mary update

Waiting at cooks children's :)






Saw the dr at cooks children's and LOVED it!! Both drs we have seen this week were great, cooks is just CLEARLY a children's hospital and everyone is so kid fabulous :)

So the cooks dr said it IS dysplasia, that led to a dislocation. He believes it will NOT simply be manipulated back into the socket. He said to plan on them needing to go in, scrape the socket and then put it back in. Possibly having to cut the bone, reposition it and put a plate in the bone. Much bigger procedure than we first though but we feel good about everything being done at a children's hospital. He said they will follow marys progress into adulthood because issues can come up as they grow and develop.

The cooks dr also doesn't do he surgery alone. He will do surgery along w a senior colleague so that it goes faster (resulting in Mary being under shorter) as there are two sets of hands and two heads to problem solve if something unexpected comes up.






We will stay in the hospital a few days, until they are sure Mary is comfortable :) we are still looking at 6 weeks in a full spica cast then 6 weeks in a spica cast only to her knees. Long summer for Mary :/. Cooks surgery scheduler will call us next week to schedule surgery.

Please pray they are able to fix marys hip with as little cutting as possible!! Would love for them to not have to cut bone at ALL!! We are confident in the dr's, the hospital and resting in Gods mercy and grace. He's got this under control :)





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Mary update

Not dysplasia, completely dislocated. Looks like putting her under, moving the leg into place then a spica cast for three months. Second opinion Friday at cooks children's.


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Prayers for Sweet Mary

Playing outside on Easter my sister pointed out Marys legs looked uneven.  I of course said, no...they are fine! My mom and sister insisted one was shorter so I picked them up and compared them...sigh, one was DEFINITELY longer! Like, half an inch!!  So we took her to the pedi the following Monday.  The pediatrician looked at her legs and hips and said it didn't look so much like a leg was actually longer but that her hips were out of alignment and she sent us to an AMAZING chiropractor in Frisco.  Within ONE TREATMENT our sweet Mary was walking!!! It was pretty amazing I must say!!  We were so excited with her progress after her not walking alone at all (was probably painful because her hips were so off).

We continued to take Mary to the chiro 2-3 times a week and continued to see fabulous results :)  I started to notice a popping in her hip when I changed her diaper.  I pointed this out to the chiropractor yesterday and she felt Marys hips and the pop.....and called our pediatrician scheduling us an apt for this morning.  We went to the pediatrician so she could examine as well and the popping was very concerning to her.  Mary had been examined at our old pediatrician and they always checked her hips and there was never a mention of an issue....maybe it was missed (probably not) or maybe now that her hips are aligned and she is walking the even pressure on her hip joints has caused the problem to finally surface (what I believe). 

Our pediatrician had us go straight to the hospital for xrays.  We headed back to this side of town to our hospital of choice (since storms were coming and our hospital would have us in and our MUCH faster than the big hospital our dr suggested).  We waited and had out xrays done (10 minutes and out the door!!). The orders were for the dr on call reading the xrays to call our pediatrician as soon as the results were read....and that it needed to be today.  We got home and called our chiropractor (she gave us her cell and wanted to be kept in the loop).  Our pediatrician gave us a call around 6 and let us know Mary has hip dysplasia.  Her ball and socket both are malformed and don't fit together as they should.  We will call an orthopedic specialist Monday morning and our pedi's orders are to get in ASAP.....every time Mary takes a step it is a chance for her hip to pop out, ick!!

So of course, once we got a diagnosis and I got a minute to myself (thanks Mom and Dad!!) I went online.  From my five minutes of research it's looking like our options will be a partial body cast or surgery and then the cast (which stays on 2-3 months :/  This will be SUPER FRUSTRATING to our sweet girl who JUST started walking and LOVES the new found freedom!!!!

PRAYER: we are praying that God will HEAL Mary and that minimal interventions, IF ANY are needed.  If we do need to do something we pray it is the cast as the worst case scenario.....cutting on my 18 pound baby would be awful.  Please pray for wisdom for the dr's as well as Josh and I as we make decisions as to how we proceed from here. Pray no further damage is done while we wait and that Mary will not be in pain.  We have the utmost trust in our pediatrician and chiropractor.....Praising His name for bringing them into our lives!!

This is my life.....and I LOVE it :)

Above:  Stephie with all her "soft things" in bed.  It's a BIG deal who joins her each night :)  

Koehler Family Easter

 Daddy and Stephie watching The Ten Commandments after church....MEMORIES!!! Both of us remember watching it with our Daddys :)

 Mary cruising around while they watched....this kiddo doesn't stop much :)

 Ms Claudette bought the girls sweet little baskets for them to go hunt for eggs.  Stephie loved the little treasures in the eggs (no candy, thanks Koehlers!!) and Mary simply enjoyed filling her basket :)  When we got home Stephie informed me we needed to put all the eggs back in the nest for the mommy bird, happy sigh!!

 The impossible family picture! Look back at how our family has grow from Easter to Easter (because I'm too lazy tonight to repost all the pics :)

 Happy Sisters :)

Family and Feasting.....Fabulous Day celebrating the day our savior rose from the grave! Thanks to the Koehlers for hosting and for the FABULOUS meal!!! Thanks for thinking of our sweet girls and hiding a zillion eggs for them to find.  Thanks to Miss Stephie Jo for sharing her Easter Maps, pipe cleaner people and Easter Box (from church) with everyone and keeping the true meaning of this GLORIOUS AND GRACIOUS day in the forefront of our minds.  HE IS RISEN, PRAISE HIS NAME!!!! He died to save a WRETCH like me....

HALLELUJAH , WHAT A SAVIOR!!

Locks of Love

I finally had enough hair to chop it all off and donate it to Locks of Love (an organization who makes wigs for kiddos losing their hair due to cancer).  This is something special to me and I have simply NEVER had hair healthy enough to grow out.  My hair became thicker with each pregnancy and stayed that way so....woohoo, I got to donate it!!!  Super exciting!!

 Stephie and Daddy resting up before we head to Dallas for Mommys BIG DAY!

 A little photo session with my girls and my locks.....hard to believe it was this long! I hardly ever wore it down!

 chop chop!!! Daddy entertained the girls in the car while the marvelous Kinome worked her MAGIC!!! We had to cut off 10 inches to donate....here is the final product, woohoo!!! LOVE IT and it is super easy!!!

 Family pic....Thanks Mr Frank!!

Our Family Easter....a Tradition is born

This year we started a family tradition from Noel Pipers Book "Treasuring God in our Traditions". We made various key characters from the Easter Story and then we acted out the happenings on the specific days during Holy Week, Easter Weekend and then the following days until we did Jesus ascension.  Stephie LOVED it and really caught on.  She even took her "special people" to Grandpa Steve and Ms Claudette's house on Easter Sunday to tell the story to everyone...one proud Momma here!!

 Stephie has Jesus, Daddy has the disciples and people who will hold palm branches.  Notice my fabulous donkey (haha) and palm branches on the table.  I had SO much fun making this!! If you google Noel Pipers she has pictures online...I obviously went a bit overboard :)

 Stephie is SUPER into Dora right now and each episode has a "three stage" map. Dora has three destinations during the episode....we make two seperate "three stage" maps depicting Jesus journey....
Map one:

• Palm Sunday
• Last Supper (stephie loved the foot washing)
• Cross

Map two:

• Empty tomb
• Dinner with friends
• Goes to heaven

This was SOOOOO much fun! Next year we will start our Easter celebrations by observing Lent and also will incorporate several Jewish traditions including Passover with a traditional passover meal.....super excited!

 Palm branches and the spectacular donkey (he was actually quite pitiful but I tried!)

 Our glorious angel....Stephie didn't get him until he came to announce "Jesus is alive, Jesus is alive" at the empty tomb.

Ahhhh, my heart is joyful as I watch Stephie understand and love the amazing Easter story.....

Water Table Afternoon

The water table has been fabulous already...can't even imagine how awesome it will be when it's crazy hot outside but my kiddos need OUT OF THE HOUSE! Water tables RULE!!!

 Mary loves the shells from California, Stephie always has Dora and Princess "swimming"

 After a bit of fun our clothes were soaked and it was warmer to be nakie than in wet clothes....love it!!

 We found an inch worm...so very exciting!! Provided us with a whole 10 minutes of entertainment (before we had to rescue it from Mary and put in on a tree :)

 and now they climb....

Oye Vey!! Crazy climbin girls!! Boulder is hanging out in case anyone needs to be rescued :)

Random Springtime Fun

 Stephie has decide that since Mommy and Daddy have their bed on the floor she should have hers there as well :)  She has been pulling everything off her bed and napping on the floor, haha!!

 My little beet monster :)  Mary LOVES my homemade pickled beets!!!

We don't walk but we SURE CAN CLIMB!!!

 A little arts and crafts to start our morning.  This was Mary's first time with markers (color wonder of course).  She LOVED them!! Can't wait for the artwork the girls and hubby are doing for me for Mothers Day!!

 These two love eachother so much! It's fabulous to watch them play together!! Best buds for life :)