Toddler Tales

I was talking with some other mom friends this week and we were saying how crazy it is that our kids are less than 2 and we are already forgetting things.  How little they were, their favorite foods at early eating stages, and just little quirks they had for a short period of time. At this rate, how will I remember anything when she's 18?! Th blog helps me record some of my favorite precious memories I want to hold onto. 

There's no sound I love waking up to more than Rilynn yelling, "Dad! Daddy! Daaaadddyyyy!!" Haha not it! 😉 But in all seriousness, I love seeing their little bond.

Favorites:

Minnie Mouse, Elmo, pears, wearing her silver sparkle shoes from Petra, making art at her easel with crayons or stickers, singing Frozen's Let it Go, dancing (specifically to Whip and Nae Nae), and babies (dolls are fun, but she prefers the real deal. My friend has a newborn who Rilynn calls "my baby") 

Least favorites:

Getting in her car seat, being told no, eggs (unless they are hard boiled), when baby Jason leaves. 

We love hearing her vocabulary grow. It seems like she's adding new words every day. When she wakes up in the morning she asks for a smoofie (smoothie) and awful (waffle). At bath time, her new thing is to say "off" meaning she wants us to turn the lights off and then she lays down in the tub and says nigh-nigh.  

Potty training: we bought Rilynn her potty hoping we could get her going before her cast so that it was easier for us and a good transition. She was doing great peeing on the potty, but regressed lately, and #2 is still a work in process. Let's just say I use a lot of disinfectant on our floors. I think we are heading in the right direction though. 😬 

She's a dirt lovin' gal! Mud pies coming up!

She loves "awfuls" and "smoofies"

Black Butte is the best for adventures!

Audrey and Rilynn could have their own TV show. They wrestle and giggle non stop!

Picking pedals off of flowers

Wild and crazy on a walk in the woods behind our neighborhood.

She has chores... She sweeps and puts away silverware. Still working on perfecting both chores but she likes feeling helpful. 

First time bowling! She was engaged for half the time.

Petting zoo at the farm with Grandma

Say "cheeeeese!"

We'll put this one in their wedding slideshow! 😉

Unfortunately

Unfortunately... I've grown to despise that word. It is the polite way of saying, brace yourself, I'm about to give you bad news. It is the way doctors have started every conversation with us about Rilynn's hips. "Unfortunately, both of your daughter's hips are fully dislocated.... Unfortunately, the harness didn't work.... Unfortunately, the MRI shows that after just 3 hours in cast 1, her hips already fell out again... Unfortunately, her right hip has shown no improvement so we need to postpone  the next surgery... Unfortunately, the surgery failed and she will be coming out of the cast with no progress... And the latest, unfortunately, we won't be able to do Rilynn's surgery until October. Disappointed again. We can't wait for the conversation that begins with fortunately. There is never a good time to spend months in a body cast, but we had been planning on the first week of September for a year. Luckily, I'm married to the greatest man alive who is way more rational than I am (I just cried) and he was able to convince them to move it to Octobet 7, rather than the end of October. We are very anxious for the next surgery, hoping we will learn how long recovery will be this round and if she will be having another surgery a few months  later. They won't know if they can do both of her hips at the same time until they are in there, which is why our surgery got pushed back, other children who had surgeries that ended up needing to be done in two or three separate procedure. We are just praying Rilynn's can all be done at once so that her cast time doesn't double. For now, we will continue enjoying chasing her around and catching her in trouble on top of the kitchen table or climbing on the bathroom counter, while we wait for our next hip journey to begin.  We are so blessed that, although Rilynn has this hip issue, it is just a hip issue, She is healthy and happy and full of personality. Thank you for the continued prayers, well wishes, and support. 

Rilynn 1.5

Happy half birthday to our sassy pants! Before having Rilynn we had parenting all figured out. She would be this polite kid and we wouldn't put up with tantrums. Toys would only be in her room and our backyard would have a designated kid area. Well, the polite kid is still a work in progress. She has mastered the tantrum. It could be over anything, not getting an M and M for trying to go pee pee on the potty (she only gets one if she actually goes), she doesn't like her dinner, I tell her we don't have any blueberries... We can be really mean parents. Our no toys outside of her room is a joke. Have you seen our living room? And our backyard looks a little trashy with all of the toys... But those pre parent dreams just seem ridiculous now. 

At 18 months...

Rilynn loves- shoes, Minnie Mouse, the Wheels on the bus, climbing, wagon rides, camping, dirt, "booberries", water, and babies

Rilynn does NOT love, having her diaper changed, being tired, chicken, sharing, 

Rilynn and her buddy Audrey!

I watch a little guy named Bennett twice a week. Him and Rilynn are pretty cute together.

Grandpa and Ri on the boat

Berry eating/picking

Our favorite splash pad is Robinwood park!

Swimming with her cousins at Black Butte.

Weee!

Audrey and Rilynn playing dress up

Rilynn loves baby Jason (Audrey's brother) and has been obsessed with babies for a month. She looks at her baby pictures at least 5 times a day.

Potty talk is a big deal at our house these days. I've made up raps about peeing in the potty. What has my life come to? 

Art is fun because you get to make a mess

Swimming with Aija at Portland Golf Club

Her and Benno love each other.

First camping trip... I spy Ri Ri

Just relaxing in her dirt pit.

Do you see what I mean about the white trash backyard... At least it's not the front yard!

First ice cream cone.

Pretending to be proper. 

Who's this big toddler and where did our baby go?

But sometimes she wishes she was still a baby. 

Latest on Rilynn's Hips

We've enjoyed our out of sight out of mind stage with Rilynn's hips, but we are getting closer to that next set of surgeries. Today I met with Dr. Roy at Shriner's. Travis wanted to come, but since he just started at his new job, I had to go alone. Dr. Roy is one of the 4 surgeons we have seen and probably the surgeon who will operate on Rilynn next. It was very informative, but hard to hear. I was pleased with myself for not completely breaking down in front of him, especially since in the back of my mind I was reminding myself that this isn't that bad, our child is alive, walking around, and has a bright future ahead of her. Many of the other parents I saw in the waiting room couldn't say all that about their children.  We got an updated X-ray that I have posted below. It showed that Rilynn's right femoral head has developed faster than her left and that she has almost no sockets on either side. Her hips are dislocated high meaning even if there were sockets to go into? It would be challenging to get them to stay in them with how high her dislocation is. So the plan... We will schedule her right hip for beginning of September. She will have an open reduction again, a femoral osteotomy to shorten the femoral head, and a pelvic osteotomy to deepen/create her socket in hopes that it gets the message that it needs to grow into a cup shape on its own. Best case scenario we do 6 weeks of the cast followed by some bracing before doing it all over on the left side with 6 weeks of casting followed by bracing. Worst case, each set of casting lasts 8 or more weeks. That was the first big pill to swallow. He said if it was possible to do both sides at the same time without disrupting the first side while working on the second he will do it, but it is a game time decision and not to get my hopes up. Last we discussed AVN, the loss of blood supply to the femur head due to the amount of time in 1 position, is over a 50% chance. This just means the possibility of more surgery in her future and possible side effects such as a limp. Second hard pill to swallow. We just got Rilynn walking independently and the look of pride on her face melts our hearts, so the thought of taking that away from her, even for a few months, is heartbreaking. But it has to be done and luckily not over the summer this time. 

Here is Rilynn's current X-ray 

Here is what they should look like

On the bright side, her feet will probably be casted this time too, so they will be still enough to do a pedicure! 

So those of you wondering when baby #2 is coming, out of fear this will happen again (now that we had 1 with hip dysplasia, the odds go up with siblings), I feel like saying never, but in reality we are not even thinking about another one until Rilynn is cast free and done with surgeries. 

We still have a few months cast free and plan to enjoy every second of it! 

Walking!

Rilynn:
Graduated from physical therapy!  Hurray!  We will be back at it after her next surgeries and casting.  But she is doing great with her walking and we could not be more proud.

Travis:
After 7 years at DP Nicoli, Travis decided it was time to try something new and began a new career at Cintas selling first aid kits and defibrillators.

Steph:
I'm still loving staying at home with Rilynn.  I have started a few side jobs tutoring, nannying for a 13 month old boy who comes t play twice a week, and selling Jamberry nails.  Never heard of Jamberry nails?  I hadn't either; ladies you must check out this awesome product, I am obsessed! mrsbergbejammin.jamberrynails.net

Josie:
Although she still acts like a puppy, Josie turns 9 in July.

Some of our favorites from Rilynn's milestone photo shoot.  I highly recommend A Day in the Light Photography, they did an outstanding job, were easy to work with, and so reasonable.