Ava Grace's appointment at Shriners

We had Ava Grace's appointment yesterday at Shriners Hospital. It went pretty well. It is like I told Mom, it isn't good news or bad news....it is just news. Ava Grace has been diagnosed with Developmental Hip Dysplasia. Looking at x-rays, it was obvious that her left hip doesn't look like her right hip. Her right hip is perfect according to the doctor and the bones in her left hip don't quite match up. If she were younger, they could put a harness on her, but since she is almost 9 months old, we are sort of in a waiting game. The doctor seemed encouraged, but needs to wait until she starts walking to really figure out the next step or step of intervention. It is possible that when she begins walking that the bones and ball/socket will "work itself out". It is also possible that it won't and she will have to be casted or have surgery to correct the bones structure. In about 80% of cases like this, the child's hip turns out to be perfectly normal. Of course the other 20% makes me a little nervous. So, in essence, we are waiting on her to begin walking (she is already crawling, so who knows when she will learn this new skill) and we go back in October to determine what to do next. Ava Grace doesn't even know anything is wrong - she is in no pain and is moving about as freely as possible.
It was a wonderful experience at Shriners!! I have always believed in what they do and have witnessed their miracles (some of you know my cousin, Avie). Tim's parents went with us to the appointment because Tim was out of town unfortunately. We all felt very good about the discussions we had with the doctor, nurses, and staff. Ava Grace was perfect too!! She didn't cry when they had to x-ray her and she didn't wince when they were moving her legs all around. She actually smiled most of the time...imagine that! :)

I just wanted to give you an update of our appointment. Thank you so much for your emails, texts, calls, and prayers. We know that Ava Grace will be just fine no matter what route we have to take for intervention.

Mommy & Me at Sarah's birthday party


Ava Grace's cute toes THROUGH the blanket during a nap.



Just relaxing with a snack.



I love the camera!!



Ava Grace and Daddy hanging out before school.



Aunt Stacey, do you like my outfit?




I'm supposed to be taking a nap.

We're baaack

Hey! The Perry family is back in commission with our computer. I can remember when we didn't have computers and now sometimes I wonder what I would do without one. Isn't that sad?
So, let me update you on a few happenings. We had baseball games this past weekend and although they did not turn out the way we wanted them to, we did learn some good news!! Alan DeRatt, who pitched for UNCA the last 4 years, is coming back to Asheville. Alan was drafted last year into the Rockies organization. Their class A club is in Asheville, so Alan will be back in town playing for the minor league team, the Asheville Tourists. YEAH!! We were so excited to see him and his parents this weekend. We hope to see more of them this summer!! Good luck Al!!
The Zinman's and Wohlwend's were in from California for the weekend to see their sons plays baseball. It is always so great to see and visit with them!! The Zinman's brought us a treat ALL the way from CA. In a small, blue bag we found some yummy lemons!! I mean these lemons made it all the way across the country and I don't care what anyone says, these lemons don't taste like the ones in the stores. Isn't it funny how when something comes directly off of a tree (lemons, oranges, grapefruits) they taste even better?? Thank you so much, Mr. & Mrs. Zinman. We'll see you in May!!
Ava Grace and I participated in a "Donkey Walk" at church on Saturday. No, we didn't walk a donkey and No, we didn't ride a donkey, but there was a real donkey there named Bailey. Bailey came to church on Sunday for the children to participate in the "Donkey Walk" which carried us around our church yard as we read the story of Jesus riding into town on the donkey before the week of Passover and Easter. It was really neat!! There were so many children that I couldn't get close enough for Ava Grace to actually pet the donkey. She did notice her though when she shook her head once. It was really neat and the children at church seemed to really like it!!
This is our last week at school before spring break and you have NO IDEA how excited I am to be away from school for a week!! It has truly been nuts and I am ready (and very much need) a break from school and the constant stress that I am under.
Ava Grace's appointment at Shriner's is this Friday. We will let you know what we find out!! I will post another email shortly with the pictures that I haven't been able to upload because of the computer issues. So, check out the next posting!

Well.....

Well, if it isn't one thing, it is another. So, our computer is fixed and I was so excited to have it back home in operation only to find out that now our keyboard and mouse won't work. WHAT?!?!?! AUGH!! OK...so I tried not to get frustrated about it and I actually haven't even been back to the computer to see what the problem may be or what else I need to go buy. I wish I knew more about computers. I have a feeling I could save myself a lot of money!! Oh well!!

Ava Grace has officially had her first day of school - middle school at that. We had to work today to make up for snow. She has been great - just playing and entertaining herself. Olivia is at school with her mommy too, so Ava Grace was excited to see her. They go to the sitter's together every day, so there was finally someone familiar to her. Anyway. She has eaten her yogurt, taken her morning nap, had a snack, and is currently banging her sippy cup on a toy. What fun!!

We are going to go to Tim's baseball game this afternoon against Radford. The weather is supposed to be really nice here (although we haven't been outside since 8 am when it was pretty cold). We are really looking forward to being in the sunshine and hopefully pulling the bulldogs through for a win!

I just wanted to update you on our happenings for the day. As soon as I can get the rest of my computer at home working, I will upload pictures. I do have some pretty cute ones (I'm not biased at all!). Have a great weekend!!

YEAH...a win

Our "boys" won their conference game against High Point yesterday!! Many of you know that we are struggling this year and have lost some really close games which are defeating in more ways than one. However, yesterday "our boys" came back and scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to beat High Point. What a great win for our kiddos....they really needed it!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CECE!!

Happy Birthday Cece (a day late)!!! We know that you had a great day, but we wish were could have been there to celebrate with you. I guess we'll do that when we see you in a couple of weeks.

After a week of strep, I am finally feeling like a normal person again. It has been a rainy week here in the mountains which means tons of very thick fog and a flooded front yard. Our baseball games for the weekend were postponed until today and tomorrow because of all of the rain. Ava Grace and I went to church this morning and it was nice to finally be outside in the sunshine. We rode up to the ballgame, but the sunshine didn't stay out long. It was way too cold, so we managed to make it through the first game and came home to listen to the second game on the internet. Unfortunately, we lost the first game and the second game was suspended after 10 innings due to darkness. Ava Grace did enjoy seeing Meme and Pop Pop for a little bit though.
We had a great visit with Wendy and Todd last night. We were sad that we only got to visit for about 30 minutes, but I guess it is better than nothing. Wendy has been a friend of mine since she moved to Myrtle Beach when we were in the 7th grade. They live in Raleigh with their adorable puppy, Chesney. Thanks to Wendy and Todd, Ava Grace has a new, very fun bath toy!! We played with it tonight! She loved it!! We hope to see you two very soon!!
I can't think of anything else that happened over the coarse of the week or the weekend. Being sick kind of put a damper on things at our house. Thanks again to Cece for coming to take care of me and Ava Grace while Tim was out of town playing baseball.
Our computer is still "under the weather", so I will add pictures as soon as I can.