Keller Egg Hunt!

Last Saturday, we went to the Keller Egg Scramble!  Our girls LOVED IT!

The first thing Landrie spotted as we walked to the park was...

...something that made her squeal with glee and jump up and down!!

It was the Easter Bunny!

Big hugs!  Mark and I were taking bets as to if she would love him or cry. :)

It was less than 12 hours after we got the news that Tatem was done with her helmet, so I found the biggest pink bow we have and put it on her head!  The girls looked so sweet in their white dresses!  (Landrie's is on wash #2 after lots of chocolate!)

Landrie wanted to stop at every booth and color.  

Tatem was just happy to kick back and take it all in!

Can you tell how over-the-edge-excited Landrie was to go get those eggs?!

Precious baby girl

and my other precious baby girl!

Got it!

There were SO MANY people there!!  We even ran into a few friends while we were there!

Our family :)

jump!

Eventually, we went way too far into Tatem's nap and had to switch to the Moby Wrap.  It works even with a 7 month old, and it works great with the Pavlik Harness too!  Mine is a homemade knock off.  All you need is a pair of scissors.  Here's a tutorial!

Landrie loved every single second of this day!  

I had no idea she'd be so into Easter.  She loved Christmas, and she loves birthdays, so I should have known!  After the egg hunt, I was explaining why we celebrate Easter.  I finished with, "...and after 3 days, Jesus rose again!!"  and Landrie said, "YES!!  And He gave me CANDY!!!"  hahaha!

Harness Day!

Tatem got fitted for her Pavlik Harness today!

What a happy girl!!

If you're counting, that's...

-23 hours a day in a helmet

-23 hours a day in a harness

-one baby having a hard time getting comfortable to sleep in a harness that pulls her legs up and out :(

-only a few months (hopefully weeks!) until one head is round and two hips are perfectly formed!

-3 sleep sacks that will get lots of use, since sleepers are a thing of the past!

-10 little piggies that won't need to be painted for awhile!

-A closet full of cute dresses that are going to get lots of wear!  No shorts, leggings, socks or shoes around here for a few weeks!

-ZERO full body casts on my baby girl  

It's a miracle!

WOW!  Thank you so much for your prayers and kind words to us after we found out that Tatem has hip dysplaysia and will need to wear a FULL BODY CAST for 3 months!

We still had lots of questions for her pediatric orthopedic surgeon, but we were waiting for our pre-op appointment.  Guess what?

Before they scheduled our pre-op, we got a phone call from Dr. Vara himself!  He said he just kept thinking about Tatem's case.  Her case was so unusual.  That explains why I had such a hard time finding info on 6 month olds getting diagnosed with hip dysplaysia!  He asked us if we would go to the children's hospital and get an ultrasound done on Tatem.  He had to get special clearance to be able to do this, because it's just not done.  We did the ultrasound on Wednesday.  The woman doing the ultrasound let us know several times that this is just not done.  It's harder to do because the ultrasound doesn't go through bone well.  (Younger babies are mostly cartilage in their hips.)

There are 3 main treatments for hip dysplasia.
1.  Pavlik Harness- This is usually for newborns and is completely non-invasive.
2.  Hip Abduction Brace (hard, plastic brace)- This is used if the harness doesn't work.  It's also removable and non-invasive.
3.  Spica Cast (full body cast)- This cast requires anesthesia 2 times and either an injection of dye into the hips or surgery to go in and fix the joint.

Tatem's doctor called today and was SO happy to tell us that as unorthodox as it is, he is going to put Tatem in a Pavlik Harness!

 

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That means this...

 

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instead of this!

That means 6-8 weeks in a harness...

instead of 12 weeks in full body cast!

That means a "fitting"...

instead of going under anesthesia for 1.5 hours two times!

That means my baby can SWIM this spring/summer...

not melt in our typical 100+ degree weather!

That means relatively normal diaper changes...

instead of THIS!  

(Yes, it does say "just dab a bit of perfume on the cast"!)

Oh, thank you, God for this new report!  

I love how God works.  If the doctor would have originally told us that she had to have a harness (we were hoping to find that no treatment at all was needed), you betcha you all would have gotten an earful about how we might have to sponge bathe her around the harness, how I would have another weekly appointment to go to to get it adjusted, how...well, the list could go on and on.  But NOW, because of God's perfect plan and timing, I am grinning ear to ear at the prospect of a Pavlik Harness.  Can't wait!!!