So Blessed

Hard to believe Christmas has come and gone and we are now quickly approaching the new year. I try to remind my kids that Christmas is not only about receiving but giving as well. It's a time to be thankful for all that we have and to remember how blessed we are to have so many incredible people in our life. Our family has had a rough year but finally I feel like we have turned a corner. Ava is doing incredible!! Each day she is moving better and she's back to all her "normal" activities. Sometimes it's hard to believe she had two hip surgeries. I am so proud of her!

Our healthy girl!

All Ava's x rays have looked great and I'm happy to say that she's had two successful hip surgeries. I have heard so many stories of children having multiple surgeries on the same hip, how can I not feel blessed!? In February we return to Dr. A's for a follow up. We will then set up Ava's final surgery to take the plates and pins out of her femur bones. By no means do I look forward to another surgery but knowing it will be the last one makes me anxious to get it over with. I like to think we've all learned some life lessons through out this. I know it has changed me and has giving me Faith I never had before. I will never under estimate the power of prayers. There were days that was the only thing that got me through. I am so proud of how Ava has handled herself  and I love the confidence she displays when she tells people " I had hip dysplasia but I got my hips fixed." It cracks me up to her her say to her brother (and little cousins) "Be careful I have scars and plates and pins in my legs." I look forward to 2013 for new beginnings. As of June (as long as we stay on track) Ava will be considered fully healed. I look forward to that day and this will be all behind us. In the mean time on January 3 Ava will return to the endocrinologist for a follow up. He will check her growth and more then likely send her for blood work to see if her hormone level has risen. I believe if it has that Ava's hip dislocation was the reason her growth slowed so significantly. I pray that is the reason and we are now back on track.

Family : )

With all the recent tragedy around us take a moment to remember how blessed you are. Hug your children and loved one tight and know each day is a gift. To all the Mom's and Dad's who are currently dealing with hip dysplasia, hang in there. One day this will be a blip in our children's lives. The road is not always easy but keep your faith to make it through. I know I am grateful for all that we have, especially our health. Have a happy and healthy New Year everyone!! XOXOXO

Life as we knew it...

Ava's strength amazes me! She is slowly but surely getting stronger and beginning to move fluently everyday. At our last visit to Dr. A we were told Ava was fully healed (even though we're still working on the walking.) She was cleared to resume normal activity and to start getting back into her "normal" routines. Normal??? What is normal anymore? I love seeing Ava move around more and more but to me "normal" isn't until she moves like every other child. Normal isn't until she doesn't have to think about every step she takes or until she doesn't cry or say she's scared when she has to go down stairs. I just want her life to resume the way it was before just without pain. Will we ever be "normal" again? Will the worrying ever stop? Will ever go without my heart in my throat when she's playing in a group of kids? I guess time will only tell just as time is slowly healing my girl.

Ava & Kate (one of her besties.)

Now that I got my neurosis out I can tell the positive things happening in Ava's life. This past week Ava has grown in leaps and bounds. Her recovery has taken a huge leap forward and it's just a matter of time before she's a hundred percent. Ava's physical therapist recommend she use a mini trampoline to help her bare weight on her hips properly. Thanks to a good friend we we're able to borrow one and what a difference it has made. When bouncing up and down she is forced to use her legs equally and it helps strengthen all the muscles in her legs and hips. In the last week Ava has started walking less "soldier" like, can walk up and down stairs using the railing or holding a hand, can alternate legs while walking up stairs (who knew what excitement this would cause) and most recently started riding her scooter. The biggest thing of all is Ava went to our local tree lighting and to cut down our Christmas tree without a stroller. She walked on her own for huge lengths of time and barely asked to be picked up. I can't ever remember a time when we took Ava somewhere and she didn't cry and tell us her legs and knees hurt. To see her happy and pain free makes every minute of surgery, every minute in a cast, the exhaustion and frustration worth it!

First day of Pre-K.

The one thing we learned about Ava is the more she's around her friends, the harder she works. We been having more play dates and getting out more to help her regain her strength and endurance. Today was a huge day for Ava...she started Pre-K!! I'm happy to say she did fantastic but Mommy had mixed feelings. I know, I know, you think I would be jumping for joy to have a few hours to myself but for the last 6 months my life has been consumed with taking care of Ava to help her heal, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself now. I'm sure this will be short lived and I'll find a million things to do or maybe I'll actually sit still and enjoy the peace and quiet. I was very excited for Ava because she was ready for school but the worry wart in me was nervous as well. She has only been with family for the last 6 months and for two hours I had absolutely no control of her environment around her. Well she survived her first day and I'm sure each day will get easier (for me that is, she has this down pat!)


In May Ava will return to the OR to have the plates and pins removed from her femurs. In comparison this surgery should be a piece of cake, one hour surgery and the healing of her incisions. I'm not looking forward to another surgery but I am looking forward to being on the other side of this. Who knows if my worrying will stop but I know seeing my girl so happy makes me beam with joy. Every day we are a step closer to Ava being fully healed. We are so blessed and I have all the confidence in the world that her hips will remain in place. I'm so so proud to be the Mom of such a brave strong girl! We're almost there! XOXOX

Giving Thanks

I have so many things to be thankful for this year. I am thankful for my huge family that provided me an incredible support system. I am thankful for my friends who let me vent, cry and helped me laugh when I needed it most. I am thankful for my wonderful husband who put up with my 3000 mood swings when I was completely stressed out (and still does.) I am thankful for my Jack. He is an incredible big brother and so supportive of his sister. I am thankful Ava is healing and she had two successful surgeries.

It is hard to believe it has been 5 1/2 months since Ava's first surgery and she has been cast free for 10 weeks. The day this whole process began I couldn't even imagine how we were going to get through it. But here we are! My baby is on the mend and every day she is getting stronger. We recently had a well visit at the doctor and I am thrilled to say she grew 3 inches!! For the first time since she was 1, Ava is on the charts. My heart exploded when I heard the news! I am so happy to see her moving in the right direction. We also had a follow up with Dr. A. Ava had a stand up x-ray to see how things look now that she is moving. The x-ray looked great and Ava's hips are looking good. She is continuing physical therapy and hopefully she will be walking normal again soon. Dr. A said she is healed now and gave us the go ahead to start getting Ava back into her normal routines. Yeah!! She's going back to school! We have a follow up visit in 3 months and we will then schedule the last of her surgeries to remove the plates and pins in her femur bones. I am not looking forward to another surgery but compared to the other two it should be a piece of cake.

I look forward to the next few months as Ava learns to move better and we can say she is 100% healed. I am in awe of her strength and watching her start to dance again makes me so incredibly happy. As a family we had a challenging few months but we made it through it together. I am so blessed to be a Mom of two awesome little people and so proud of both. Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for all the support! XOXOX

Progress...

I haven't posted much lately about Ava's progress but like everyone else in NJ we have been consumed with Hurricane Sandy. We are so thankful we were only without power for 4 days (wish I could do more for my friends who are STILL without) and even more thankful Ava was not in a cast when Sandy roared through! I'm positive our experience would have been very different! That being said, we are still taking each day one at a time. It has been 3 1/2 weeks since she took her first steps and her progress since has been amazing. I am so proud of her strength and her determination.

On October 28 Ava had her 5th birthday party, this was a turning point in her healing. She finally ditched her walker and did her best to keep up with her friends. To see my girl so happy and act like her old self was an awesome feeling. It still can bring tears to my eyes thinking about how happy she was that day (and has been since) while dancing with her friends. It was so nice to have some normal activity in our life. Being around her peers definitely has encouraged Ava to try harder and she has become more determined then ever to walk. Since that day she is walking around more and doing a lot less crawling. Monday when we went to Physical therapy, Miss Jill was very impressed with Ava's movement even though we missed a week (thanks Sandy.) The movement is there but now we need to work on strengthening her stomach and hip muscles to make the movements more fluid.

It has been almost 8 weeks since Ava's cast was removed. The difference from day one til now is amazing, although I'm not sure I expected it to take this long. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly proud of the strides Ava has made but I just want my daughter to be herself again. I want her to walk without having to concentrate so hard, I want to hear the pounding of her little feet running around the house, I want her to be able to keep up with her friends and I look forward to the day my heart is not in my throat when she's around other kids because I'm so scared someone will knock her over. On the flip side my heart soars for all things she has relearned since surgery...kneeling, crawling. standing without help, getting up without help, starting to dance, peddling a bike and walking. The look of pride on her face after accomplishing a new task is priceless and the excitement she shows when showing off her new movement melts my heart. Tonight was another proud Mommy moment... for the first time Ava walked up a whole flight of stairs (holding the railing and my hand) alternating her feet on each step! This is huge!! She hasn't walked up stairs in almost 5 months!!!!

Ava and her friends.

I know soon enough Ava will be her old self (hopefully not as cranky since she seems to be pain free.) I can not believe it's been almost 8 months since her dislocation was discovered! I am thankful everyday for the doctor who finally discovered it and for the doctor who performed two amazing surgeries. I look forward (and as always) slightly nervous for November 16...Ava first x-ray standing up. Please, please let those hips be in place!! I pray for another perfect x-ray and that her doctor is happy with her progression. Please do the same! So incredibly proud of my amazingly strong girl!! XOXO

Birthday Girl

In honor of Ava's 5th birthday I made a slide show of her journey to help raise awareness. Ava had a hard time watching the beginning of the video, she does not want to see herself in a cast again. Hard to believe my baby girl is growing so quickly. I am so proud of her!! Enjoy! XOXOX

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVHOMIwHTOw

Step in the right direction...

Over the last week Ava has made huge progress. She is gaining more confidence in her legs and herself each day. The transformation day to day in amazing. I have lost count of the number of time tears have come to my eyes just watching her. Being home with Ava almost 24/7 over the last four months has been a whirl wind of emotions but over this week I can finally see the light. Ava has relearned to crawl, pencil rolls every where, scoots across the house on her bottom, gets up stairs, stands at the sink to brush her teeth and stands without assistance. In the past I took each of these achievements for granted, all children hit these milestones with out much fan fair. Heck 6 months ago Ava did all this without a thought. I now realize how precious life is, Ava has struggled and showed tremendous courage to achieve each and every milestone. As hard as it's been we are lucky to relive each one for a second time but this time she gets all the fan fair!

Yesterday was a huge leap in progress for Ava and excitement for our family. Of course the one day a week I work Ava decides it's the day...always in her own time. I received a text from David stating "Check my FB page." I knew instantly what this meant, Ava did something big. I'm the obsessive FB poster of the family documenting each and every step of Ava's recovery. This was big if David posted. There I was in the middle of the salon watching a video on my phone with tears streaming down my face. "My baby did it! She took her first steps!!" I can not even express  the joy I felt inside. One of my first thoughts was "Of course, on the one day I work." Then I became so excited for David, he has seen many of Ava first accomplishments in pictures or videos. This time he got to share the news! On 10/11/12 my girl took her first steps almost four weeks after her cast removal...there's no stopping her now.


Life is slowly but surely getting back to normal. In the last 24 hours Ava has practiced her walking skills over and over. I still watch in awe each time she takes a step. At times I feel sad to see her struggle just to take a few steps but then I see the determination on her face and I know she is so strong and brave. Ava is feeling so confident we even joined her Pre-K class Pumpkin picking today, I have to say it was nice to do something normal in our life. She had a blast seeing her friends and teachers and was so proud to show them how she is relearning to walk. Thank you once again to everyone who has been routing for Ava these last four months. It means so much to me and my family. Everyone has giving us so much strength and every kind word of encouragement touches my heart. We are almost there!!! All our love. XOXOXOX

In Her Own Time...

On Friday it will be three weeks since Ava had her cast removed. That morning she has an appointment with Dr. A for an x ray and to see how things are progressing. The change in Ava's movement over the last three weeks is incredible. Most of her pain has subsided and slowly but surely she is gaining confidence in her legs. Physical therapy is going well and has helped tremendously with rebuilding her leg and hip strength (although she still has a ways to go.) In true Ava form everything is happening in her own time... At PT Ava takes everything in Miss Jill shows her. She cooperates for the most part but often says "I'm tired" and wants to stop whatever exercise going on at the moment. Or other times she says "I can't do it. I'm scared." But when we get home, look out! Ava does everything Miss Jill showed her but on her terms. This kid is stubborn!! (Some say she gets that from me.) She doesn't want help and she really doesn't want anyone watching her. Ava has always been fiercely independent and this girl got her independence back! She is determined to regain her ability to walk and she's on the right path.

Crab walk.

This whole process has taken a toll on me that I had not expected. I knew it would not be easy but I didn't expect it to invade every inch of who I am. I am looking forward to life going back to normal (well a normal as normal gets.) I have become consumed  with her recovery. I forget things, I become anxious easily and I find it hard to find time to do things for myself (like exercise & I guess I'm not losing that 15 lbs for my upcoming 20 year HS reunion. Oh well!) At the same time I would not change it for the world. Watching the determination and strength Ava has helps me get through each and every moment. She's navigating territory that in the past was easy for her and watching her struggle can make me so sad. Then Ava gets a look on her face of such pride for her accomplishment that I quickly remember how strong my daughter is. In three weeks Ava has relearned to sit on her own, crab walk, bend her knees, crawl, pencil roll and pull her self up on things. She's slowly taking steps (with help), peddling a tricycle and kicking a ball. Her achievements are outstanding! Ava is on her way to being completely healed and will be up and running in no time. I can not say enough how proud I am of her! My daughter is AMAZING!!

Love this girl!