Around the corner....

Aaaaahhhhh.... last post was Grady's 1st birthday-so sorry. Grady began crawling the week of his 1st birthday and has been on the go ever since. He is now walking with help (currently his favorite activity) and talking up a storm! He talks non stop all day and is such a blast to hang with. We welcomed Grady's new cousin this week 'baby Lincoln' and hear everyday from him how 'baby lincoln sleeping' or 'baby lincoln crying'. Its adorable-no word is too challenging. Grady now has 12 chompers and quite a diverse palate which includes lamb, crawfish, shrimp, liver pate...... So many fun new things to try each week-today is corned beef and cabbage! He is super smart and loves to read books stack toys and ride his rocking cow! Climbing is his new activity and cause of our most recent boo boo's, no turning your back to him these days!

We are excited to say that this summer Grady is going to be a big brother! He does not understand yet but we know he will make such a good big brother to his little sister. (We just found out this week)

Our other big news and reason for the update is that Grady's 'open reduction' surgery is quickly approaching. We are heading to Arnold Palmer in Orlando for surgery on March 28th. Where Dr. Herrara Soto (with Dr. Price overseeing) will perform Gradys surgery. Basic breakdown with no technical jargon is they will be reshaping the hip sockets-one by carving bone out, the other by cutting and pinning hip bone and carving- removing a section of bone from his leg in order to bring down into the socket and setting then casting for 8 weeks. We are dreading it but at the same time looking forward to putting all this behind us. We are excited for Grady to walk, run and play like the other children his age. He is so motivated seeing others moving around he has taken many steps on his own, but not looking like he will be fully walking before the surgery.

I hear him waking from his nap now! Will post updated pics soon! Love to all! Please keep our little G man in your thoughts and prays for his upcoming surgery & recovery! Hugs!

1 Amazing Year!

Okay, so I think I can count on both hands how many entries I have made since setting up the blog.... Oops -sorry! Oh well, it's been a crazy, whirlwind, beautiful, amazing, sleepless, tiresome and all together pretty perfect year! Grady turned one in July, and honestly, this was the quickest year ever! We are finally settling into this parenthood thing! Grady has begun sleeping through the night, which has only made this really fun period in his life that much more enjoyable. He is such a fun little dude now.... he started crawling the week before his first birthday, and has since learned to stand and walk while holding on to objects. Although turbo speed crawling is still his first choice in transportation. He has such a fun and happy personality, rarely cries, and is very opinionated when it comes to food. He is my biggest critic and when something is unacceptable for his palate, it is immediately thrown to the floor. However the dogs are staying well fed, and consider any scraps they are allowed to pick up after Grady a delicacy! Grady loves to dance, play piano, play in the pool, and can point to lots of places on his body IE: hair, ears, nose, and his favorite: tongue! Too fun! His newest endeavour is mastering the moves for the itsy bitsy spider song!

Quick surgery note: our last appt. revealed the need for surgery in both hips. The surgery will take place in Feb. More to come later, for now we are focusing on our perfect little guy and loving every moment with him!!!

Mmm Mmm Good.

We had our 3 month follow up appointment with Dr. Price last week... Looks like the 'good' hip is having trouble staying in place because the hip socket is a little straight vs. curved. So in Jan,when they operate on his left hip, they will 'chisel out a little of the bone' on the right side also. At this point I am assuming you are grimacing just as we were, but the Dr. assures me it is not as bad as is sounds. We are also going to start physical therapy, per the ortho and pediatrician to try to get him caught up on his motor (crawling/walking) skills. His lower body strength is a little behind because he was in a cast, and his left leg is measurably shorter than the right.

However, he is getting pretty good at rolling over, and in the last few days loves standing while holding your hands and can even pull himself up with a little help! He has learned the 'pincher grasp' and is enjoying feeding himself-almost as much as he loves throwing his newly grasped food on the floor.

How time flies....

Okay-so I should have known when I started this blog, there would be a slim chance I could actually keep up with it.... But seeing as our birth announcements only went out today then most people never really knew the blog existed.... Yes, birth announcements at almost nine months-I could be setting some kind of slacker record here. I just have to keep telling myself that anyone with kids knows how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday we were leaving the hospital!

Okay so on to the update... The Monday following Thanksgiving (yes it has been that long) Grady got his cast removed! Then it was on to a soft brace for 6 weeks, followed by 6 weeks of nights only in the soft brace. Then another 6 weeks of freedom!!! Which Grady loved! So we were very sad to get the news our following visit that his 'good hip' was no longer staying in place. So to date we are back in the soft brace for 3 months... We are still scheduled for surgery next Jan... Other than that new, Grady is our happy, healthy, growing baby boy. We are loving parenthood and look forward to the nw things Grady is doing every day. A few wonderful firsts for us recently have been; saying mama for the 1st time (no dada yet), sitting up on his own, rolling over & drinking out of a straw! (today) Oh yes, and we can't forget his first beachtrip-he loved the beach almost as much as he loves eating the sand!

So Brave!

No Cowardly Lion here! (Grady's costume this halloween) Going on week 5 of 6 in the new cast and our brave 'lil guy is doing so wonderful! I have to say I think he is taking this much better than anyone else! He has truly found his voice and is no longer quietly cooing, we are now in to roars, squeals, yells and giggles, with the occasional belly laugh! We are anxiously awaiting the cast removal, and are guessing that once removed he will be on the go in no time! He is constantly kicking, moving and wanting to explore this new and interesting world! He loves the outdoors and will make a good little camper one day soon! He also loves the water so the first thing we plan to do after the cast comes off, is take a bath in the tub! (A much needed one might I add) Only a week and a half to go! Here's to hoping that things settle down a bit and we all begin to get on some sort of a sleep schedule with occasional naps!

Glass Half Full

Our most recent hospital trip can be looked at in many ways... in the interest of keeping a positive attitude we are looking at it in a glass half full sort of way. Thirty short minutes after taking him in, Dr. Price came out with the news that they were able to put his right hip in place, but not his left. Therefore he is again in a cast, but it's a sort of half cast holding his right hip in place. (a little more tricky than the first cast-if that's possible) He will stay in this one for six weeks, then spend his nights in a harness once it is removed. That will bring bring us to the end of the road...for his right hip anyway! The empty part of our glass is a whole other story. Grady will have to have surgery on his left hip in order to clean out or possibly reconstruct the socket. They plan on doing this somewhere between 8 months and 18 months, which is yet to be decided. It sounds like the later we wait, the shorter amount of time he will spend in the cast. (8 months=3-5 months in cast, 18 months=6wks in cast!-GO 18 months!) The great news is this will not interfere with him learning to crawl or walk!

Blue Jean Baby

Had 'closed surgery' on September 22nd. Breakdown: They put our little man under general anesthesia, injected dye into his hip sockets, clipped his groin muscle (ouch-gasp from all the men) and put him into a stylish body cast! Which is giving everyones lower backs a workout! However, they had trouble setting the bones into his hip socket, so technically his hips are 'docked' not set. They are sitting near but not in the joints, as the sockets were curved short instead of open to allow the bones into place.

We go back on October 22nd to repeat the procedure (hopefully sans clipped groin muscle) at which point he will be re-cast for another 6 weeks if they are able to set his hips into place. This is the scenario we are hoping for so please send positive energy, cross your fingers, pray or whatever you choose, towards our little mans hips going into place! Grady has been in his cast to date for 3 weeks, the first couple weeks were pretty rough, he was very unhappy. It has slowly gotten better, and he is smiling more and more and in the last few days started 'talking' to us in lovely coos. So adorable-life just keeps getting better and better!