My Three Musketeers

Or my three stooges.  One of the two. 

Because he is cute...

Tanner's worthwhile dr. appointment

We made a quick trip to Seattle for Tanner's doctor appointment at the Children's Hospital there.  It was a really nice experience.  It was the exact opposite of what we experienced with the specialist here.  Going to a place specifically for children made a world of difference.  We learned a lot and know what is going on now so I feel a lot better about the entire situation.  The cause of Perthes Disease is unknown.  There are four stages of this disease.  Tanner is either in stage 2 or 3, time will tell with that.  Basically the bone in the hip weakens and dies because it is not getting the proper blood supply.  The thing that is amazing to me is after this happens the bone rebuilds itself, which is about where Tanner is at now in the process.  This process however can take 2-3 years.  In some cases surgery is needed, thankfully this is not the case for Tanner.  In fact there is very little for us to do, but let the body heal itself.  They did studies using braces on kids with Perthes and some kids without and there was no difference.  They all healed the same.  We are lucky because the kids with Perthes that are younger tend to have less severe cases and heal easier.  We get to check in with the dr. and have him x-rayed every six months as well as restrict him from rough sports or things like jumping on a trampoline and give him medicine if needed, but that's it.  Mainly we are just letting the dr. keep an eye on things to make sure his body does what it needs to in order to heal itself.  The body really is an amazing thing isn't it?  I am so glad we went over there.  I am feeling so much better about everything.  Tanner did awesome too!  He's a trooper.

Good Weekend

We had a great weekend with my family!

We saw Rosemary in her high school musical, Pirates of Penzance.  She is seriously adorable!

We finally met my soon to be sister-in-law, Tami.  She's a keeper!

And the main event was hearing my brother, Glen give a talk in church before he leaves on his mission on Wednesday! He is going to be a great missionary.  We love Glen so much.  I thought I better get a picture of him with our boys since they will change so much in the next two years.  I appreciate the great example Glen is setting for my boys by serving a mission.  Best of luck Glen, we will be praying for you!

Cute and Chunky Baby Alert

Porter is already two months old.  Time flies by so quickly, but at the same time it is hard to remember life without this little guy.  He adds so much to our family. We all adore him, especially his older brothers.  Porter had his two month check up today.  He weighs 15 lbs 14 oz (99 percentile) and is 24 1/2 inches long (94 percentile) He continues to be a very big baby, just like his older brothers.  I just have big babies, that's all there is to it.  They are so darn cute though.  I am pretty sure Porter has a reflux problem and the dr. seemed to think so to after I talked to him about it, but we decided not to do anything about it right now, anyway.  Tanner had the same thing too (unfortunately).  He spits up a ton and it is projectile sometimes, although he isn't as bad as Tanner was.  He can get fussy around eating time because he's stomach is upset (I assume).  However, he is still a good eater and obviously he is not having a problem gaining weight.  The meds we put Tanner on didn't seem to help him at all so I'm not really in a big rush to put Porter on any meds.  I just wish there was a better solution to the problem.  I get tired of constantly being covered in spit up and I feel bad whenever Porter seems to be in pain.  I am hoping he grows out of it sooner than Tanner did.  Porter reminds me of both of his brothers in different ways, but he is definitely his own person.  It's amazing how easy it is to fall in love with these little spirits.  I am honored to be Porter's mother.

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful women out there.  I have been blessed with many awesome mother's in my life, including my grandmothers, my mother-in-law, my sister, my sister-in-law, and of course my own WONDERFUL mother.  My mother does so much for me even now that I am an adult and I appreciate and love her so much.  Thank you for all you do Mom!  My mom could be a superhero, you should see what her schedule has been and will be like this year.  When I was little I thought that when I grew up to be an adult that I would be outgoing and friendly.  I didn't realize that it was just part of my mother's personality, one I didn't actual inherit. :)  I love you Mom!

Tanner's dr. visit

Today Tanner had his appointment with the Orthopedic Specialist.  I was really looking forward to this visit and finding out the next steps in treating his Legg-Calve-Perthes Disease.  I was quite disappointed with the visit.  Stephen and I agreed that it was the most unprofessional doctor office/visit we'd ever been too.  They were way overscheduled as was apparent in the waiting room and the fact that we waited for nearly an hour and a half before we even saw the doctor.  When we finally did see the doctor I wasn't impressed with him either.  He obviously had not read our pediatricians notes before hand and admitted to us that he'd hardly looked at the x-rays.  This is only the second case of this disease that he has seen in the Northwest in the 28 years he's been here.  Basically he told us not to make Tanner walk on his leg if he doesn't want to (duh).  He also said he would try and get a specialist he knows in Seattle to look at Tanner's x-rays when he sends him some other things for another patient.  We are suppose to go back in three weeks, I guess to find out if his colleague has indeed seen the x-rays and what he recommends.  He spent seriously about 15 seconds checking Tanner over, I guess to make us feel like he'd done something, I don't know.  He obviously could have cared less about us and was trying to get us on our way so he could move on to his next patient.  Needless to say, I was disappointed.  At least we have a good pediatrician.