Does this picture say a thousand words or what? It's my favorite. Daisy's look of exasperation and Em's enthusiasm to play, she just shoves the toy in her face. Just imagine a high pitched squeal of laughter. ha ha. Did I mention that "Daisy" was Emilee's first word beside mama, and dada. She would wake up in the morning and call for Daisy first thing. It's really sweet.
(She also now does this to me and the phone! I get the same look on my face as Daisy.)

Cast off!!!!

The day we looked forward to for 3 months finally came! The cast came off! We went into Primary Children's and they did and X-ray and cut the cast off on May 11th. It was pretty quick. Pretty much a slice down each side then some scissors and pliers and voila- freedom! Emilee screamed the whole time. That poor nurse had to do a few of those that day. The Dr. said the X-ray looked good and showed what she wanted to see, but the real tell-tell sign of how the hip socket is doing will be at our 3 month check-up after she has been walking on it and moving around. Holding her after that was cut off was so so weird! She actually felt soft and squishy....and SKINNY! Just crazy how skinny and tiny she looked. We just laughed at her little chicken legs. Immediately following the ordeal we headed to my dad's house for a much much needed bath. Her skin was flaky and kinda red, but better then I was expecting. She also grew dark hair all over her left thigh, strange huh? Daniel had to get on a swimsuit and help her in the bath because she could no longer bend at the waist or sit up on her own (unless in the car seat). Then we had a celebration lunch at Cheesecake factory! Delicious! The next week after the cast came off she acted like she still had the cast on. That leg was still sticking out in that same crazy position, she wouldn't really bend it and just drag it along and would cry if touched wrong. A part of me was expecting her to take off running as soon as it was off but I have realized that there is some healing and adjusting that will take weeks or months. It has been two weeks so far since then and she is doing really good. She crawls, she can stand and cruise along the furniture and even stood up by herself for only half a second but it's progress.  That's all for now- until next time. -Jenna

Even with a cookie and her baby doll and her duck she still screamed like mad when it was getting cut off. I guess most kids would scream when a nurse takes a power tool to them.

FREEDOM!!! This picture seems so funny to me, because it's like Emilee just disappeared. I was so used to this cast being HER that it wasn't right without it.

What's new

Yeah, it's been a while since I last blogged. Our computer was broke down so now it's up and running again and ready for blogging! So let's see what's new...
#1.  Emilee had a birthday! Her birthday was miserable for her though because she had a fever of 102 all day! A few days later though we had a big party with a few of Daniel's aunts and uncles and cousins which was fun and she got super spoiled. A year sure has flown by!

Special baby birthday pancakes! (They didn't get eaten)

Her birthday presents from Mom and Dad. Puzzles and a musical toy remote since she loves remotes and things with buttons.

The table for her birthday party. Pink and yellow cupcakes, ice cream and brownies, and cake pops. Framed photos of Em as a newborn, 5 months and 11 months and a few others on the clothesline to show the past years growth.

Opening presents

Her cake. Ohh it's a long story. Everything I try to make for special events ALWAYS turns into disasters. I tried to make it healthy with applesauce instead of oil which is great if you don't need to cut the cake, layer it and frost it. It was so moist it was falling apart. Gobs and gobs of frosting made it turn out OK (although ruining the healthy factor).

She was very dainty eating her cake, picking up the pink dots of frosting one by one. She didn't even get messy. 

 

 

#2. Purple cast

 

After 6 weeks in the pink Spica cast, we got a new one (for growth, readjustment, and a bath!). Daniel requested a purple one this time. She had to go back to Primary's and go under anesthesia again, but it was pretty painless compared to the surgery. This cast seems less huge :) and I discovered she can actually fit in a stroller again, amazing! 

# 3. Yard stuff                                         

Sprinklers successfully put in the ground after some hard work. Tulips are beautiful and we put in a rock garden with flowers on the corner. Dahlia's are also planted so they should come up soon too. (We kinda like flowers). If only we had grass- that will have to wait.

 

 

 

                                                                                                   

# 4. EASTER

Ha. 

Well I know I'm leaving things out but this will do for now.

Update on the Em

Julia was so nice to come visit us in the hospital and bring balloons and a duck that cousin Phineas picked. She litterally hugged that duck all night and just LOVED it! She got spoiled with a few new toys.

The last picture of those cute litte legs. Emilee in her hospital gown.

This is how we go shopping. She can not sit up or bend at the waist at all, so all high chairs or shopping carts are out. We have this bean bag that is our everything! I feel a little weird packing a bean bag into a grocery store but oh well. We can't get too many groceries or she will be buried in them but it's good to get out of the house any way we can. (We also use a bouncer seat instead of the high chair.) I get some looks and people ask how she broke her leg... or more like what did I do to break her leg and I explain it was a hip problem she was born with and this cast is going to fix it. :)

Still cute as ever! This cast never dampened her happy personality one bit.

ONE MONTH DOWN!!! It has been a month since Emilee's surgery. In two weeks we will go back for a cast change and all this will be half way done! For that I am glad. We are doing good, it has made life a bit more complicated but all in all not too bad. She crawls around just as good as before (well maybe just a little slower and more grunting involved, ha ha, but it's heavy!) It really is amazing to see how well she has adapted. The nurse said that the babies just go on with life and think nothing of it except that their clothes seem unusually stiff that day. That sure made me laugh. She stays in one spot if on her back, which never happened before, which can be kinda convient at times. And I can put her in bed at night and she has to lay there and fall asleep (a blessing in disguise???) instead of immediately standing up in the crib before I could even get to the door. On the other hand though, she does wake up at night in frustration from lying in the same spot without being able to move or roll over. There was a horrible horrible diaper blowout last week which seemed like the end of the world at the time, but since we have learned some tricks to keep the inside of the cast pooh-free. Pantieliners have worked wonders! I never thought my little girl would be needing feminine hygine items before turing one. I line the inside of the cast with them like a diaper extension in case of leaks and it has saved us from any more diasters.

Hip Surgery

had an IV in her hand and a chewing on a binkie, she was pretty sleepy most of the day

Dad and her new duck offered some comfort

So this cast is giant, right! Clearly when I first saw her I was heartbroken!

Feb. 21st- Emilee had a date with the orthopedic surgeon at Primary Children's Medical Center. She had to have a surgery because she has hip dysplasia and her ball joint and hip socket weren't fitting together properly. So they scraped out the cartilage or whatever was filling up the space and moved the femoral head (I think that's what it is) into the right spot. Moving it into the correct spot will help the bones form correctly and fix themselves. Hopefully it permanently fixes it and she won't need any more hip surgeries later. She will wear this giant cast to hold everything in place for 3 months (6 weeks, then another cast for 6 weeks to account for growth).

Weeks before her surgery, the thought of it would just break my heart but as it came closer I got used to the idea and knew things would be alright. I was actually so nervous for the fact that before any surgery they don't want the patient to eat for 12 hours beforehand (or that's what I had thought in my mind) and I thought she would be a miserable, starving, screaming, child who wants nothing more then to nurse and I would have to hold out on her. Luckily that was not the case!! She could eat anything until midnight and then breastmilk until 4:45 am, and I took full advantage of that and woke up to nurse until 4:46 am.. dun dun dun! What a rebel, right? We checked in at the hospital at 7:30 in the morning and waited around to see and nurse and get a cute tiny hospital gown. Then we waited in a room full of people in hospital gowns until the moment when they take you back. She was happy as can be when I handed her off to the anesthesiologist and they walked through those doors, no idea of what was about to occur. That's when I lost it though, but Daniel thought cafeteria breakfast would be a good distraction- it kinda worked. The surgery lasted 2.5 hours and we explored our brand new phones and played angry birds and worried- of course! Our doctor came in to tell us everything went exactly as expected and good. All family members were relived. I did not think the cast would be SO giant. I was speechless when I saw her in the recovery room. She was just so sleepy but she kept having these awful muscle spams that would violently jerk her awake and she would cry then fall back asleep. The Dr. said that happens when you disturb tissue and muscle and it's trying to make those nerve connections again and it will last 2 weeks! ugh!!!! Nightmare. Valium experiments followed but didn't seem to make any difference. I must say though, that if you have to be in a hospital, that is the best hospital to be in! They brought Emilee any food we could have wanted, stuffed animals, blankets, free baby rocking chair, hat,and leggings (Thanks to Dawna's hook up!!)  They were all so nice. After a day and night and half another day we were free to go home, on the condition that she was taking oral pain medication instead of IV meds. The only probably was that she would not take oral medicine. Screaming bloody murder the whole time we were trying and screamed so hard that she vomited everywhere. Everytime. We figured we could handle it better at home and left as soon as she swallowed some lortab. Well it's late and I will write more later. Sorry- this format is driving me crazy, I couldn't type any other way. I don't know what I screwed up.

                

 

 

Thanksgiving Point

I dared to turn my back to the llama for a brief moment

A few weekends ago we had a fabulous time taking Emilee around and doing fun things before her surgery. We went to the aquarium, I loved the penguins. The barn at Thanksgiving point, with Ben, Julia and cousin Phineas and even ran into one of my cousins. We also went swimming and enjoyed some time with the family. Yes, Emmer even rode a pony! She was holding on pretty tight, but I think she still had fun.

Phineas, Norah and Emilee