Memorial Day Weekend...

So far we've had a great Memorial Day Weekend. Zack and I were married on Memorial Day 2003 so we have made a tradition of having our "Anniversary Weekend". Of course since Mabel was born she has been part of the fun and this year is no exception.

We started our weekend by picking up a little swing set for the backyard. Mabel has loved going to the park so much that it was getting hectic some days trying to get there before work so I thought having a little swing set in the backyard would give us the option of staying home on days that a jont to the park wouldn't work out for me. We of course will still go to the park as much as we can! Zack and I assembled it on Friday and the look on Mabel's face on Saturday morning was priceless! Mabel's new passion is climbing everything. Stairs, Ladders, furniture...everything - check her out on the ladder of her new slide!

After a ton of fun and pictures on her new swing set, we then went to a local animal park that has rescued wild animals. Mabel had such a blast looking at the deer, raccoons, turkeys, bears and all the other animals - she also loved to baby watch as there were tons of other babies in strollers and walking around. Her favorite animal? This bear cut-out. She thought it was the funniest thing ever (as you can see)! We then took an amazing nap, yes WE, and continued our day by going out for dinner. Mabel was a dream and showed off her new assisted walking skills to everyone we knew. She wooed the restaurant staff and got a hat and balloon. The best part? She fell asleep a little after 7:15!

So after such an amazing Saturday we had a perfect Sunday too. Of course we enjoyed our swing in the morning. We then had breakfast with Zack parents - Mabel again was so good at the restaurant. After breakfast we decided to checkout a new park and spent some time there. Again, Mabel took a record breaking nap - I got to take a little one myself! We in the afternoon went to the store since Mabel broke my last pair of sunglasses and headed to a Memorial Day party (even though it was Sunday). It was a very nice party, there was a 8 month old and a 16 month old there - yet all three girls were roughly the same size, Mabel was smaller than the 16 month old. Of course the "is she walking" question was thrown around at us and this time I answered right away, "No, and this is why..." You know what, it doesn't matter she isn't walking on her own, the walking 16 month old baby couldn't stand up unassisted and never crawled - why is walking seen as the ultimate physical skill right? We then headed home after Mabel made it clear she was done with the party and pulled out the grill and Zack grilled up our dinner. Yum. Mabel got to try corn on the cob for the first time. And then yes, she fell asleep at 7:20!

Let's see what Monday has planned for us!

Very impressed...

As Mabel has decided to wake up around 5:30 the last couple of weeks...oh and not fall asleep until about 8:30, I have not had much time to myself to update my blog - or do much of anything else for that matter. Today is no exception!

With that said, Mabel's progress is wonderful. Her physical therapy session yesterday went very well and the therapist was quite impressed with her change over the past week. Mabel's new attempts of standing on her own have grown to about 10 seconds of free standing before she gets so excited that she starts laughing and falls over. She will let go of what she is using to support herself and throw her hands above her head and start smiling! The longest was just Wednesday when I got home from work, I was on the floor with her and she tried to stand up from the floor and grabbed on to me and just stood there - smiling. Not only is it the cutest thing I've ever seen, but it is also so impressive since she is becoming more daring. She also will forget that she isn't holding on to furniture sometimes as she plays standing up, so I think it is only a matter of time before her balance is perfected.

Walking is Mabel's new passion. At home she wants to use her walker (best purchase I've made in a long time!) or hold on to furniture. At the park she demands to walk every where. Most times she can manage if I hold one hand, it is slow moving, but she is able to walk in the grass or from the swings to the slide that way. Other times I hold both of her hands and she walks in front of me - she sometimes "runs" when we do this. It is both weird and amazing to see her upright so often, I just know when she gets this walking down there will be no stopping her!

She's Trying...

Mabel is really trying to stand. The want is there, but the legs are still not too sure. While on the floor in the crawling position she will put her bum in the air and push up with her hands to try and stand, but falls right back down on her bum. But she tries and that is the first step. Zack and I were soooooo excited to see her do that the other day. She always looks so proud and we probably do too! She doesn't attempt it much, but she does occasionally get the gumption up to try here and there. She is cruising more during the day and also cruising one handed. I think she wants to make sure she can do this before she tries. Practice makes perfect!

Monday when we went to the park we met a 18 month old little girl who didn't really walk either! The little girl could stand and take one step, but was trying to crawl around instead - that made me so happy! Mabel was so excited when she saw the baby stand up and step, but she was even more excited when she saw her crawl! So Mabel played on the toddler area again in the park. She climbed both up and down the stairs this time and I allowed her to get a little dirty. Hey, that's big for me! She also loved playing on the toddler "climbing wall". It is a slightly inclined bumpy "slide" thing. She actually could climb pretty well. Her physical therapist will be so excited!

Last Thursday at her physical therapy session I told the physical therapist how the ortho said she didn't need to come anymore. I told her I trust he knows what he is talking about regarding Mabel's hip, but I didn't feel comfortable stopping PT yet. She agreed with me. She said that he's looking at one thing, and that is true. He wanted us to go to PT to improve Mabel's hip flexibility, but there is so much more that Mabel needs. Our physical therapist said that he looks at one thing, she's looking at the big picture. The game plan is to continue to go until Mabel can walk, then we'll go back to make sure she isn't developing a limp or strange gate. That's is a stellar plan if you ask me. The physical therapy has really helped her a lot and she's still turning her left foot in and her knee out as she tries to stand, I don't want all this hard work fixing her hip to be undone by her having an issue that will cause knee or hip problems when she's older due to her learning to walk in a modified way. Her body was in a cast for three very fundamental months of her physical development. Her body loss tone and muscle. She developed modified ways of crawling and rolling and she relied on her upper body much more than she would have. Her body doesn't know these things so she is continuing to do things in a slightly modified way, we are teaching her body to unlearn some of these modified things now. I think physical therapy is the best things we ever did in this process, I would recommend it to anyone going through life after the spica.

Mother's Day...

Thanks to Zack and Mabel, I had a wonderful Mother's Day. Zack organized a lovely Mother's Day brunch with our Mothers. He is such an amazing cook it felt like we were in a five star restaurant with the spread he made! I'll be honest at first I was annoyed on Saturday that I was cleaning the house for Mother's Day - not that I don't normally clean on Saturday night, it just rubbed me the wrong way since I had a tough day with Mabel's teething, etc., but Mother's Day was a dream.

This past year has been a roller coaster! I'm so glad we made it through and are continuing to get past Mabel's life revolving around her hip. Gone are the seeing the orthopedic every two weeks, gone are the constant x-rays, braces and cast. With that said I still have the fears and worry, but that will probably be here for a while...

So as you can see from the picture Mabel had a great Mother's Day too. Of our attempts of Mummy and Mabel pictures this is not only my favorite, but this is the best - yes we are in our PJ's and Mabel did not want to sit still and smile, but she was being so silly and making me laugh! She's always good at making me laugh.

Happy Mother's Day to me! Every day I'm thankful to be Mabel's Mum!

Down!...

So for the past couple of weeks Mabel's favorite word (besides Mama & Papa) is Down! She says it with such gusto that you can't help but respect it, she knows she mobile and she wants to move. The problem is she can't walk and when she's excited she only wants to crawl, no cruising, so in certain situations she can't get down. The park for example, it is shredded wood chips and god knows what else, plus some very excited running little ones - Mabel just points and pleads down whenever we are there. I wish I could let her explore and wander, but I can't. I try to explain to her that when she's able to walk she can get down, but I also don't want her to think that she's being punished. She watches in amazement as other babies toddle around, pointing and saying "baby".

In the interim Mabel has perfected climbing stairs and pretty much anything. She loves to climb, she will create stairs out of objects to have an excuse to climb! I tried letting her climb on the toddler structures at the playground, but she kept picking up every bit of wood chip that was on it saying "uh-oh" and handing it to me, it took her about 10 minutes to get up to the landing and it was only five steps! What can I say, she's a neat freak like her Mum! Luckily it was early in the morning so Mabel and I were the only ones there.

Since Mabel needs a place that she can really move around and explore outside of home we went to an indoor play area here in town on Sunday. Zack's parents brought Mabel's cousin Issac, Mabel keeps talking about him - well she keeps saying Issac. It was amazing for her (Issac had a great time too!), she got to go anywhere, touch everything and crawl as far as the eye can see. At a crucial point I realized we were so excited to get out of the house that we actually forgot the diaper bag, I know parenting 101! Zack scooted home and got it, Mabel stayed for like two hours, she couldn't have been happier and she took a power nap that afternoon. It was great to see her enjoy herself like that. So these days Mabel lives for the playgrounds. She asks for the swing by saying "sweeee" and swaying back and forth. She is also attempting to stand. On the bed Sunday she would straighten her legs and push herself up to stand. She loved it! Yesterday we practiced standing, she laughs and giggles when I let go and she freestands for a second or two.

Now, not to focus on this, but Mabel was the only crawler at the play area we visited. Well, there was a 10 month old who was crawling, but he would walk if his mom held his hand. I'm not comparing, just noting. Mabel can do what ever she needs to do to get around and I'm confident that she won't be 3 and still crawling, but it is annoying when someone asks her age and realizes she's 17 months, I can see a puzzled almost judging look on their face. I want to say I don't care, but I do sorta care, I don't want people to think there is "something wrong" with her. The mom of the 10 month old noticed Mabel talking and was surprised and commented. She asked Mabel's age and I told her, you could tell she thought Mabel was closer to her sons age. I know, I know, to heck with what people think. Mabel is smart and wonderful and has come a long, long way with her mobility. I guess sometimes I wonder if I need to mention her surgery and casting to put into context the non-walking...but then again I don't want that to define who Mabel is.

"Normal" Hip...

Mabel's check up with the orthopedic surgeon went great. He said that he's very happy with Mabel's improvement and that her hip appears normal. We just have to go back in two months! Yeah, he even said we probably won't have to come back for a few months after that. How exciting. I[m still chronically afraid that her hip will dislocate again, I guess I'll live with that fear for a long time, but I think that is normal. He said that she doesn't need to go back to PT, but I think we'll keep her in until she at a point to walk. It can't hurt right?

See the picture? This is Mabel's new game with Papa before bath time. She lays in her bean bag chair and Zack covers her with toys. She just lays there still, hiding... she loves it!

In Memory of Lucy...

On April 30th, we awoke to find our beloved cat Lucy had passed during the night. This was a very sudden and shocking discovery since Lucy was only two years old. Zack and I woke up at my typical time to get ready since Mabel had an early morning appointment. Zack discovered Lucy in the living room, laying on the floor. He knew that wasn't her normal sleeping spot. This has been very hard for us, it appears that she had a hidden heart problem. We are all very sad at the loss of Lucy, we had always pictured Mabel and Lucy growing up together since they were always such buds. Lucy seemed to fancy herself as Mabel's Mummy, always attentive and watching over her since birth. Mabel aways got a laugh when she would discover Lucy hiding under the furniture or racing through the room.

Lucy will forever be missed and Mabel will learn of her wonderful life through story.