4 Months Old & Our Mini Vacation

    Emerson is nearly 4 months old! He was 16 weeks on Sunday. Time sure flies. This kid is learning so much. He can roll from front to back (well, more like flop from front to back but it counts in my book!!) and he's almost ready to start sitting up by himself. He talks or squeals all of the time. He naps less during the day and likes to play more and more. When he does nap, he's napping more independently. I don't have to lie down with him and nurse him anymore to get him to fall asleep. He'll grab anything in his reach and put it in his mouth. He loves all of his toys. His eyes are turning a beautiful honey brown like his daddy's but he looks more like me than like Michael. At least I think so. He's so happy all of the time and he's so well behaved. Almost abnormally so. But I'm not complaining. :-)

Thumb-sucking. This is new.

Rolling (flopping) over!!!

    We've had a very busy couple of weeks. We went down to St. George for a wedding and were able to stay for a couple extra days to take a mini-vaca of sorts. As much as we hate to admit it, there are definitely things we miss about St. George and were happy to see again. Although, we didn't really miss the heat. We spent a lot of time just hanging out at the hotel watching HGTV (a real treat since we don't have TV at our house) and getting in a little bit of pool time. Emerson went swimming for the first time! He didn't like it so much. It's not nice and warm like bath water. We also got to spend some time with the family that I have down there and introduce Emerson to them. He was so loved!! 

Matching swim trunks!!!

Too cold!!

Meeting Great Grandma Harward

(my mom's mom)

    Michael started school the day after we got back and he's been busy ever since. I hardly get to see him. He goes to school in the mornings and then works for a couple of hours in the afternoon and then goes back to school in the evenings. He's also still volunteering at the local animal shelter as often as he can. He means business!!!

Synovial Chondromatosis

    I mentioned in a previous post that I was having really bad hip pain even after a surgery this time last year that was supposed to fix whatever was wrong with me. I got a referral to an orthopedic office from my doctor and had an x-ray done two weeks ago. Nothing showed up on the x-ray so I went in for a MRI last week. That was quite the experience. I was put under an x-ray machine and could see my hip joint up on the monitor. My feet and knees were taped together so I couldn't move and then the doctor gave me a little dose of lidocaine to numb me up. With a much BIGGER needle, he injected a contrast solution through my groin directly into the joint. It zinged quite a bit. And by quite a bit, I mean A LOT. It was very painful. I was then inserted into the MRI tube and promptly fell asleep for 45 minutes while they did the test. My hip was very stiff for a couple of days afterward because of all the extra fluid sloshing around in there. In fact, I had to get on a plane the day after the test to fly to St. George, UT for a wedding and when we took off and every time there was any turbulence (enough to feel my tummy drop a little) I felt that zinging sensation again in my hip from all of that extra fluid putting pressure on everything in there. Unpleasant.
    Anyway, I got a call from my doctor today once he finally had time to look over my MRI results and it turns out there are a bunch of little foreign bodies floating around in there that he thinks must be extra cartilage. I guess I have a rare condition called Synovial Chondromatosis. It's not life threatening by any means but it can be very painful. Basically my body makes extra unnecessary cartilage that ends up in my joints and can cause a lot of damage. Good news is, there is a cure!!!! Bad news is, the cure is surgery.
    I have to meet with a specialist to determine the next step. There are two types of surgery available for this particular problem and that's something the specialist will decide.
    I'm just so happy to finally have an answer. I was so frustrated that any doctor I talked to about this up until this point didn't take me seriously. It's kind of satisfying to know that it's not all in my head. It's a real thing and I'm not making any of this up. I'm also really happy that there is a way to fix it. That the solution doesn't have to be narcotic pain management for the rest of my life. I won't have to walk with a weird limp anymore. I will be able to run and jump and squat down on the floor and play with my kids. I'll eventually be able to be active enough to lose all of this baby weight!!! Huzzah!!!