Orthopedic Appointment

This morning was Arianna's appointment with the orthopedic doctor. After a really nice guy took two x-rays of Arianna I was getting really nervous. The doctor came in and put the x-rays up and you can REALLY see the scoliosis in her back. I was about to freak out but he told me he doesn't think this is acurate and believes she moved when they took the x-ray. I didn't see her move but then again the slightest movement can really make a difference in x-rays. She doesn't have a significant change in her scoliosis but I asked him anyways what degree he thought it was and he said according to this x-ray, which he's doesn't feel is accurate, he would say she has a 10 degree curve. Her last x-rays showed a 1 degree curve so I hope he is right and this isn't accurate. Of course we were not going to put her through more x-rays cause she has had too many already. The second film was a side view to check for kyphosis, which is a curvature of her upper spine, and he didn't see any kyphosis on the film! YEAH! That would be really bad and require surgery if she did. I asked him about her legs and before he even examined her he said she has tibial torsion because her toes point inward. I told him my concern with her ankles so he did an exam on her legs and ankles and agreed it is tibial torsion and ankle pronation. I read that tibial torsion can correct itself by the time the child is 3 years old, but when I asked the doc today he said it can take till there 10 years old. Guess I should listen to the doc and not a report online..right? He also diagnosed her with flat feet but said she doesn't need inserts for her shoes at this time but it will probably be necessary as she gets older. We will go back in 9 months and do this all over again to see how she is doing.

I do have so many pictures I want to post but I am just way too tired to do that tonight so I'll try to do it tomorrow.

Tomorrow we take Arianna to her first birthday party!

Normalcy

Tuesday I went to the mall to meet a dear friend of mine and actually took Arianna! This was the first time she's been inside a mall besides when we had the Heart Walk inside Tucson Mall, which was before it was even opened. LOL! She did so well just sat in her stroller and watched all the people. I did really well until we sat down at the food court to eat lunch. Arianna wanted out of her stroller and wanted to play with all the other kids at the play are. My friends daughter, Alyssa who is 6, was running around playing at the playland and I know Arianna wanted to go with her. It was just really nice to be out with a girlfriend and enjoying normal day things. I actually wasn't that paranoid either, well to a normal person they would think I was paranoid but I was better than I've been in the past.

Then yesterday Arianna was invited to a birthday party which is being held at a local park next Friday and since it's outdoors I'm able to take Arianna out for a little while. It's only a hand full of people too so I'm not freaking out either.

Then last night we all went to church!! I can't tell you how long it's been since all of us went to church. She did really well and even sat in the sanctuary for majority of the service. Wednesday nights have less people and only an hour long so we will probably start going to church on Wednesdays instead of Sunday.

So as you can see we are enjoying some normalcy in our life.

The Littlest Heroes Project

I just HAD to share this with you guys. This is an organization made up of professional photographers who will provide a free photo session of any child that has a serious illness. One of our TOF kids on the yahoo forum just had his session and his photos turned out amazing. I just put in an application for us and hope we can get someone to come out. There isn't a local photographer but one up in Phoenix who might be willing to travel, but not sure how far. It's crazy cause just this week I've been thinking about how the only professional pictures we have of Arianna are when she was a few months old and she has grown so much since then. We financially can't afford to go to a professional studio again but healthwise we can't afford to go to a local Wal-Mart for cheaper pictures. Then I find out about this organization and I'm almost in tears. So go to http://www.littlestheroesproject.org/ and fill out an application cause you know you want to! :)

Good Morning America

A dear friend of mine told me Good Morning American did a story on a child that has DiGeorge Syndrome and had a thymus transplant. Here is the link to this story and you can watch this amazing journey of baby Jayla. What an emotional story it is.

Weekend

I haven't been posting much lately because I've had a bad few days and I really don't want to get into it. In the meantime, I've been spending more time with my sister and nephews which has been great. Arianna was able to go swimming and loved spending the days with her cousins.

The main reason I wanted to post was because Arianna peed in her potty for the first time today. I really had no idea how excited I would be about this. She signed 'potty' like she does after she goes pee, but we still went and sat on the potty. After 10 seconds she peed and probably thought I was a nut the way I was getting SO excited. Like last time, I gave her some ice cream and she was totally excited. What better way to get her to eat more calories! I'll be going to party city tonight to get her some little toys to keep in the bathroom and every time she successfully goes potty in the toilet I'll give her a toy. I'm really excited about this whole potty-training thing!

We're getting Robert's kids tonight so Arianna will have her brother and sister to play with this week. She is really becoming quite the little girl. The only thing Arianna has this week is Sherri (EI) coming over on Wednesday. The 31st is her appointment with the orthopedic doctor which I'm really wanting to go see him cause I just noticed this weekend how Arianna's right ankle seems to cave in a little (ankle pronation). I am hoping he can do some x-rays and make sure everything is okay. I know it's nothing major but I want it looked at. Besides that we are actually going to the mall on Tuesday with a friend of mine, which will be the first time ever Arianna has been to the mall. WHAT AM I THINKING?!?!? No, I'm actually excited to get her out and be around people a little more. We went out to dinner last night and she was totally into looking at everyone and even saying hi and waving to another toddler. Hope you all have a wonderful week. I'll post more pictures this week after I buy some batteries.

Take Care!

Setting blog to private

I will be setting this blog to private and trying to send email invites to those of you that I really want on our blog. If you don't get an email from me it's because I don't have your email so please email me at nessa1880@yahoo.com and I will send you an invite to view the blog.

Thank you,

Vanessa

Potty-training

Two weeks ago we bought a potty for Arianna to start potty-training. I know she's young but I figured it couldn't hurt to get her used to the potty. The first 4 days I was putting her on it and signing 'potty' when I put her on it. She always follows me into the bathroom when I go to the bathroom and I just sign to her potty and she goes about doing her own thing. Looks like it has paid off cause tonight we were eating dinner, by the way she is eating really well, then she looked at me and signed 'potty'. I immediatly picked her up and went to the bathroom. She sat on the potty for about 1 minute reading a book and then she went poop!!! Sorry for the gross details but this is VERY exciting for me. Who would of thought I would be so excited over poop! LOL! Looks like she is ready for this potty-training business so I better start using it more.