First Week

The first week of the new year is officially over.  I had a pretty great week and I hope you did too!  Harlow was so excited to get back to school.  Harlow also started her new violin lessons.  She did really well.  She can name almost all of the parts of the violin.  Next, she is started to work on beats to actually start playing it correctly.  She was pretty shy with her new instructor but after a few weeks she'll be running circles around him lol. 

On Friday, Derek & I went to the AHL Outdoor Classic game in Philadelphia.  We made a day trip out of it and stopped at King of Prussia mall for some shopping <3 <3  We had a lot of fun.  The game was good, the Phantoms pulled out an overtime win against the Hershey Bears - YAY!  Our seats were really great, we could see everything.  It was pretty cold, but I made sure to wear lots (& lots of layers).  There was a couple in front of us who didn't have such a great time because they were fighting the whole game :-/  I definately would not have want to been riding in their car on the game home hehe ;-)

I just finished up year ends for 2011! Woo-Hoo!!! Now I can start taking photo's of all my completed work and get it up in my Etsy store.  Then I can add new pieces as I make them :-)  I can't wait to really try out my new Sony NEX N5 to take the photos.  I've only gotten to take a few pictures during Christmas but it works great and those pictures are all really nice so I can't wait to see how my items look.

Hoping you have a Fabulous Week 2 of 2012!

Welcome 2012

Another year in the past.  Was it a bad year?  Definitely not!  Some people might say it wasn't a great year for us because Harlow had hip surgery, but I don't look at that as bad.  The surgery was successful.  She is doing great!! She doesn't have another follow up until July.  Her walking is very, very good.  She can even run now.  Another great thing about 2011??  Harlow got accepted to Christian School of York!!  We couldn't be more happy with her progress at school.  She is doing really well.  She started in PreK2 but we ended up moving her to the PreK3 class and she loves it!! We couldn't imagine her ever attending another school. 

I'm excited for a new year.  I try not to make resolutions for the new year.  I just try to make the best of every day. Harlow will be 3 in February (I know, 3 already!!!).  She loves LaLaLoopsy & is having a Loopsy party at York Arts.  I think the party is going to be awesome.  In March, we are going to see the Fresh Beat Band in concert.  She is so excited that she talks about it every day :-) 

I am going to be opening my Etsy store next week again, finally!!!!  It's been too long since it's been open, but I was just so busy with making items for donation and the holidays.  I will be having lots of embroidered infant/toddler shirts, hair clips, hair flowers, hats, tote bags ~~~ all of which I can customize for you! 

2012 is going to be an incredible year!  If you are pessimistic, than you probably won't have a good year, so instead of always looking at how things "could" be better, think about how blessed you are to have the things that you do have.  Make everyday fantastically awesome!

Toygaroo

Toygaroo is awesome!!

www.toygaroo.com

They are an online toy rental.  They have a no YUCK factor for toy cleanliness so you don't have to wonder what germs they might contain.  The toys are steam sterilized, then cleaned with a safe cleaner that is used in NICU's, & then they are shrink wrapped to maintain the cleanliness.  They have a few different packages regarding how many toys you get and if you keep them for one or two months.   The nice thing is they pay for shipping (one shipment during your monthly fee).  You can keep toys as long as you like, but don't get new toys until you return the ones you currently have (so if you get 6 toys a month you can keep 2, send 4 back and they will send you 4 new ones - so you will only have 6 toys at once).  If your child really likes a toy you can even buy it at a discounted price! 

Now I'm not a "used toy" shopper.  I'm always thinking "what germs might have come in contact with that toy".  So I wasn't sure about this but I'm tired of spending loads of money on toys that get played with a few times and then forgotten about.  So I decided to try it.  I signed up for the Boomer Plan (approx $260 worth of toys a shipment), which is 8 toys a month.  We went through the online toy catalog and added about 17 toys to our "pouch".  Toygaroo then picks 8 toys from the pouch to send us.  We got our first shipment in less than a week after signing up.  They arrived shrink wrapped, they had detailed picture list of every item and how many pieces it should contain, & a return shipping label to send them back (you just fold up the box they received in until you are ready to send them back).  I unwrapped each toy and inspected them.  They were all clean, no signs of wear, no stinkiness, no harsh cleaner smell, & all had working batteries (if they took batteries). 

Harlow was super excited to have an entire box of new toys to play with.  She liked everything we got.  She still plays with all the toys.  I keep them in a separate toy bin so we always know where they are.  I also only allow her to play with one toy at a time to make sure nothing gets misplaced or broken (we do this with all of her own toys though too).  We've had the toys for 3 weeks now.  The other day we sat down and added a few more toys to our pouch so we are back up to 19 toys.  They suggest you always have at least 2x the amount of toys in your pouch than you get a shipment.  This way if something isn't available there are plenty more choices to be filled.  At the end of this week we will pack up the toys we have and send them back to await our new shipment.  I think she might actually keep a toy or two from the shipment for another month because she likes them so much. 

Overall I love Toygaroo.  It's awesome.  It's affordable.  It's fun.  Harlow loves it.  Mommy loves it. 

I found a coupon code POSH5 for $5.00 off your monthly subscription fee.  I also have a referral code: ref2JZW34OLH75 that you can also enter in the referral section to get an additional $5 off your first delivery.  If you try it let me know if you like it!

August

Ok, Ok, I know it's been FOREVER since I've written.  I'm sorry!  It's just been SO busy! So let's have a little catch up...

Harlow has been wearing her hip abduction brace all month.  She learned to walk about two weeks ago.  When she walks she doesn't bend her left knee (she had surgery on the left hip).  Since she was always keeping that leg tense she was waking up at night screaming that her knee hurts.  So yesterday she went back to see Dr. Hennrikus.  He decided to give her a week off from wearing the brace.  Next Thursday he is going to re-evaluate her and see if not wearing the brace helps her start walking on her leg correctly again. To sum that up, the brace might be doing more harm than good.  He thinks she might just go to part time in it which is about a month and a half earlier than she was scheduled too - YAY!

Today was Harlow's first day of pre-school.  She looked so cute in her little white uniform polo & hot pink leggings w/ a navy cardigan, & her Pottery Barn Kids pre-school backpack.  Derek & I walked her into school and told her we'd back in a little bit & she was like "Ok Bye" lol!  This was GREAT!!  I thought she might cry because the only people other than us that she has been babysat by is Grandma's & Grandpa's.  She only goes for 3 hours, 2 days a week.  Derek & I went out for breakfast together, stopped by Toys 'R Us to get her a special little "first day of school" gift, & then went to Best Buy to pick up a few things.  We were headed to the school about 15 minutes before it was time to pick her up & the school calls....  She was bawling for about 15 minutes and saying "blankie" repeatedly.  They called just to make sure we didn't think she was in pain because today is her first full day without her brace and she was walking around class all day & even playing on the playground.  That was so nice of them to call just to make sure we didn't think something may have caused her pain --- she was just tired though.  So, we picked her up.  She was excited to show us the awesome picture she drew in class today and as of now she says she stills wants to go to school (we'll see how she feels when I go to drop her off next week lol).

Since I can't make the pacifier clips anymore I decided to take up machine embroidery.  I got a sewing machine/beginner embroidery machine this month.  It's AWESOME!! I love it!  I've already had a big business order & some other orders.  It's hard to find time to embroider with a toddler, so I mostly do it during nap & bed time.  I have a ton of new designs to get samples made for infants/toddlers.  If you aren't a fan of my Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Whimsical-Lo/113773698646073 then check it out NOW!!!

I'll check back in soon so there isn't so much to update you on!

<3

Weird

It's weird seeing my 2 year old stand up. What's even weirder is typing that lol. I mean it's been since April since we've seen her stand up. The other day she stood up all by herself when we were at Grammy & Pap's. She was very proud of herself and amused that were all clapping at her. Today she realized she could stand up & turn our one low light switch on & off....and on & off.

She has an appointment with her pediatrician on Wednesday for a check up. She hasn't been there since before her surgery & since she lost some weight they are just going to make sure all is well.

We traded in our little Jaguar for a Lincoln SUV. Ever since we got it she keeps saying "I like our new car". When we showed her it has a built in DVD player she didn't know what to do. She was actually speachless for a moment....that never happens with her lol!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Getting Back to Our Normal...

It's been almost a week since Harlow got her cast off.  Things have been going really well.  She still isn't walking, but every day her legs get a little stronger.  She can actually crawl almost normal now, in the cast she sort of did a frog hop crawl, but now she has more leg movement and can really go...fast!  She is also climbing.  She can climb on her bed and on chairs.  She can stand holding onto something.  She can walk it you hold on to her, so it's only a matter of time until she really gets going on her own. 

I'm so glad to be done with the spica cast change.  I really, really, REALLY hope we never have to go through that again.  Even though it wasn't that tragic, it's not something I would wish on anyone.  Harlow has still been sleeping in her bean bag, well up until today that is.  I took it from her and put it away.  She can lay down flat in her brace and she can roll over just fine, so there is really no reason for her not to sleep in her bed.  I gave her a few days after the cast came off to adjust and get used to the brace, but now it's time for the bean bag to go.  She was so exhausted today I put her in her bed, she mentioned the bean bag and I told her that it was time for it to go bye-bye & that it was just here visiting with her while her cast was on.  She didn't mention it after that and quickly fell asleep.  So fingers crossed she sleeps all night without the "bean bag of beans" (as she refers to it). 

Today I also finally switched out the Hippo car seat and put back in her car seat.  For the first few days she kept her legs the way they were in the cast, but now she can close them more so it was time to get back in her own car seat.  I'm going to give it a few days and make sure it's comfortable for her and if so we are going to return the Hippo seat to the hospital.  I hate using it because it's a $450 car seat and if it gets ruined we have to pay for it.  It's not an attractive car seat at all.  It's huge, bulky, blue, & ugly so I do not want to pay for it because it's not something I would voluntarily put in our car lol. 

Now that it's been a week, it's time for us to get back to our normal....however normal that is I really don't know lol.  It's time to change my blog title back from the spica cast.  I will always continue to update our journey and if anyone ever wants to read our story all they need to do is browse the blog history starting in April. 

I got an embroidery sewing machine this week & it is AWESOME!  It's the greatest sewing machine I have ever owned.  It sews so nice, it's actually smaller than my regular sewing machine and it is just GREAT!  It has an automatic needle threader and sews pedal free - that's like heaven for a sewer.  I made a skirt on it last night which turned out really cute.  My next project is to practice embroidery on a few of Harlow's onesies.  Once I get the hang of it I'll be adding lots of fun embroidery items on my Etsy store.

Cast Off Day

This morning when we woke up, we asked Harlow if she was ready to get her cast off today.  She looked at us, crawled into her bedroom, shut the door, & yelled out "It's mine!" Deep down I know she really wanted it off...lol

We arrived on time to our 11:40am appointment only to be told the doctor was running 30 minutes behind schedule.  This is shocking news.  Everytime we get to there, we are told the doctor is behind.  Thankfully, I came prepared.  We had lunch right before we got there and I made sure everyone had charged iPads.  Harlow played games on her iPad while Derek & I played Battleship on our iPads (he beat me 2 times in a row - darn!).  So while we were playing about 30 minutes passed and the front office receptionist yells out to the waiting area that the doctor is now running 1 hour and 20 minutes behind schedule. Talk about annoying!  I understand this is the best hospital in the area, but really get the timing a little better.  We kept waiting because there was no way I was leaving that office with a kid in a cast!  Finally, at almost 1pm we got called back!!!! YAY!!!

We get back to the room and right away the nurse started to cut Harlow's cast off.  They just have a little hand saw.  Nothing to big and scary but it is a little loud.  Harlow took it very well.  She did fuss a little but no screaming or thrashing around.  She was very tired as 1pm is normally her naptime.  He got the cast cut off without any problems.  He cut up the sides of each leg and then up her hips, so it could just pull right off in two pieces.  Shockingly, she wasn't hardly dirty at all (not too stinky either).  She didn't realize it was really off right away.  I got out the soapy wash cloth I brought along and wiped her down.  Putting a normal size 4 diaper on her skinny little butt was so weird!  Putting her pants on was a little hard because she wasn't ready to move her legs from the position they were in for twelve weeks.  We got them on though - pants for the first time in 3 months!!

The nurse came back in and took us to weigh & get her height.  She weighs 20lbs and is 34 inches tall.  She lost over 5lbs while in her cast.  Before her surgery she weighed 26lbs. With the last cast being tighter around her belly she wasn't eating as much, so I know she'll gain it back quick now that she is free.

Next, a man from Orthotics came in with her new brace.  There really isn't much to it.  It has a plastic mold around the back of her hips and her back.  The rest is just some foam as padding and some velcro straps.  It keeps her legs in a similiar position as the cast did, to give them more healing time but also time for her to adjust to the cast being gone.  She has to wear the brace for basically 24/7 (except bath time) for 3 months.  Than she will go back and as long as everything looks good she will only have to wear it to bed for a year.  When we were leaving she said "Where's cast?" We replied, "Your cast is gone."  She says, "Cast all done!"

Once we got home she was pretty eager to start playing with her new found freedom.  She can walk with her hands and feet on the floor (like a bear), but not just on her feet.  Once she starts building the strength up she'll be able to walk on her own again. She got in the bath tub for the first time since getting the cast on.  She was so excited!  She played for a good 45 minutes before she was so pruned she looked like a raisin.  Once I got her out and dried off she was asking to get into her bean bag.  She was sound asleep by 6:30pm! 

To finish off this great day, Derek brought me home a $5 Phillies lottery ticket tonight and I won $100!  The craziest part is today is the 18th and almost all the winning #'s on the ticket were 18's!  My psychic did say 8 is my number for the year :-)

Getting her cast cut off. You can see how little the saw  is.

CAST FREE!

Just got her new brace put on.

Front view of the brace.

Back of cast.

Trying to stand up!