Barton Update!

Our computer died on us somewhere towards the end of the summer, and we finally have a new one! Which means more blogging joy! Since several blog-worthy things have happened since the last post, I'm going to just divide this one up into sections so I don't have to do a separate blog for each thing....here goes!

ASPEN GROVE
In August, Justin's grandpa treated the whole extended family to a few days at Aspen Grove. Aspen Grove is a really cool camp up the canyon by Provo (Provo Canyon?). Haddy was still in her cast while we were there which limited some of what we could do, but just spending time with family made the whole thing a blast! We each had our own little cabin which was fun, Haddy loved playing in the loft!

Playing in the loft with Daddy!

There were a lot of fun animal statues for Haddy to "ride"

This one is a little blurry, but I just thought Haddy's face was so cute in it!

Swinging with Gram!

They had several different playgrounds, but this one had a swing Haddy's cast actually fit into! We spent most of the time here at this swing. Here is Haddy with her cousin Isaac!

Swinging some more with Isaac and Millie!

This is a good view of one of the playgrounds and some field, to the right was the pool.

The last night there was "western night,", they had knife-throwing, games, and a train ride we frequented because Haddy loved it! They also had this cute little western town.

GETTING THE CAST OFF!
Haddy got her cast off August 28th (just a few days after Aspen Grove!! We were bummed we couldn't move it up...). I had no idea her surgery and her being in that stupid cast would be so difficult. As a parent, you never want your child to suffer or ever miss out on anything. Watching what she went through, even though she took it like a complete champ, was definitely a trial. Throughout Haddy's surgery and the everything that went along with it, including all her doctor's appointments and obviously having to wear first the body cast, then the full leg casts, I truly felt I was blessed with what I needed to get through it. I've never had an experience where I could really feel a tangible evidence that answers to prayers are real. When we took Haddy to the hospital to have surgery, I should've been freaking out for the entire 3 days we were there, but I felt so at peace and I felt the strength I needed to stay positive for Haddy. If I had been crying and stressing out the whole time, I know Haddy would've felt that and had a much harder time being there in a strange place, in pain, not able to move, and hooked up to a bunch of tubes. Whenever I look back on her surgery or see pictures of her in that hospital bed, I start crying without hesitation; yet while I was there I was okay.
When the day finally came to get the cast off, we didn't quite know how Haddy would react. I think she was definitely sore, and many of you saw the video I posted on Facebook of her attempting to walk before we had even left the hospital. She had almost no strength in her legs, because for the 3 months in her cast she didn't really need it. She pretty much had to re-learn to walk, but she's a determined girl! It only took her two days to be able to take a couple steps completely on her own, and now her walking is completely back to normal, except better because there's no hobble!
Technical stuff: Haddy's surgery was due to her hip being dislocated from birth. Since the ball of her femur was never in it's rightful place, the socket never formed, so instead of her socket now being formed around the ball of her femur, the socket is flat, so it wouldn't be difficult of to dislocate her hip again. The hope is that now that the ball and socket have joined, the socket will begin to form how it's supposed to around the ball so it stays put. If this doesn't happen, Haddy will have to have surgery again. I got the impression it was about a 50/50 chance, though I was too scared to ask outright... We have been diligently praying that she won't have to have surgery again, and would appreciate your prayers as well if you're willing.
Having Haddy able to walk and out of her cast has been beyond wonderful! Shriners Hospital has been fantastic, and if anybody is looking for a deserving place to donate money to for this Christmas season, or really whenever, Shriners would be a great place to do it! Thanks to the wonderful people who donate to Shriners, and to the incredible staff there, my sweet baby is running around and doing great! Here is a video to show just how much she loves being able to move around :)

HALLOWEEN
This was the funnest Halloween ever! Having a kid who gets super excited about a holiday makes that holiday way more fun....Haddy had two costumes this year! Her Uncle Brad found an awesome puppy vest at D.I., so one costume was a puppy. The other costume was Wendy, from Peter Pan....Justin's Aunt Karen makes these really pretty night gowns, and she gave one to Haddy that looked just like the one Wendy wore! So that was her other costume. Haddy had so much fun trick-or-treating! And she loved playing with her candy for weeks afterwards (she thought they were just toys....).

This was my awesome scary halloween shirt...

That pumpkin Haddy's standing by? It's real. Justin grew it. What's up.

Turns out I have no pictures of Haddy in her night gown, but I have a video!

ZION NATIONAL PARK
I actually think this happened before Halloween, but oh well....
My sister's husband's family has an awesome cabin outside Zion National Park, so we went for a little visit! Here are some pictures of a fun mini-hike we went on!

It was way past naptime at this point...

OTHER
In other news, Justin had surgery for a hernia the day before Thanksgiving and is doing well! Also, it's almost Christmas, and Haddy has been visited by one of Santa's elves! His name is Vincent Meyer and he's left her a few presents...mostly books, but also a couple of My Little Pony ponies, and a cute bag to put stuff in and take out! We are so excited for Christmas this year, it's so much more fun now that Haddy can get excited for stuff! Here are a couple random pictures....

When Haddy got her cast off, we took her up the mountains to play in this little stream and, of course, she loved it!

For my friend Rachel's birthday, we went to this awesome trampoline park! This was pre-hernia surgery for Justin, and I had a gaping hole in my foot, so neither of us were able to do as much as we wanted, but Haddy loved it! We want to go back when are both fully recovered!

Summertime

We've been having a really good summer so far! Haddy had her cast switched two weeks ago, and thankfully it was switched to the non-spica cast (the spica cast is the body cast). Her new cast isn't around her hips at all, which means no more elaborate diaper-changing! For the most part, this new cast is much much better, but it is more difficult to hold her because the bar is down at her ankles. She can't straddle anything at all, which means when I hold he she slides down really easily. But other than that, this one has been much better! Her doctor asked me what color we wanted to do the new cast, and I told her to do whatever she wanted. This is what she came up with...

Yes, those are little orange hearts on her knees. Her doctor is so funny! And with all the crawling Haddy has been doing on those heart-knees, they are already half worn off...so they look kind of like pixelated hearts... But still cute!
When I first saw Haddy after her body cast was off, she looked TEENY!! I had never seen her so skinny. She had grown taller in those 7 weeks and lost a lot of fat. She went from being in a size 5 diaper pre-surgery, to a size 3 diaper! I just couldn't get over how skinny she looked. It is so nice to be able to put on normal diapers and onesies now though. I can now say we survived the spica!
Other things we've been doing this summer have been going to the zoo, Justin's family reunion at "the ranch," going to Lake Powell with our friends Kara and Rachel and their husbands, and Justin has been taking Haddy on a bunch of hikes to help get her out of the house! Luckily we had this little wrap/baby carrier thing that she was able to fit into.

We stopped at Utah's armpit on our way to "the ranch"....Justin said he had to pee on it....boys are so weird.

The boys found this log at Lake Powell that they rode like a canoe....

Justin's cool wind-blown hair

The small dot on top of this huge rock is actually Justin

Tubing!

Justin and Haddy hiking

View from the top

One of the best things about summer so far is that the Murrays came to visit! Steve had to leave early to go back to work, but we had Jenna and Isla for almost two weeks!! They just left yesterday :( but oh well. We had some fun adventures while they were here! Here's the photo diary:

Haddy and Isla, best-of-cousins, at city creek by the fountain. Isla with her fashionable helmet and Haddy with her fashionable cast fit right in!

Haddy is pretty much obsessed with water.

My brother Brad found this incredibly amazing Dog vest at D.I. for Haddy. This is a picture of her rapping to Oli in it. We like to call her lil' bow wow II

Isla is trying to give Haddy a high five for her rapping skills

We had a fun campfire out on the deck!

Aquarium

Farm country at Thanksgiving point. Haddy loved this big cow she could ride!

Her face says it all....

Best sisters and best cousins!

Family hike, minus me....since I'm kind of allergic to the sun.

They sat Haddy down in the middle of this creek/river thing and just let her throw rocks. She freaked out when it was time to leave because she was having so much fun!

The crew! Haddy, Isla, and my cousin's little girl Ellie. Aren't those glasses so freaking cute?

The cabin! Justin's parent's invited us up to their cabin for the day. We had a BBQ and some people hiked. Mostly we enjoyed swinging outside under the Gazebo! This is Haddy's model shot...

Paco (aka "grandpa") with Isla (Haddy couldn't say grandpa so she started calling my dad "Paco" and it stuck...mainly because we loved it an encouraged it after that...)

Just relaxin'

Children's Museum at the Gateway! I thought I would never get Haddy to leave this water area. It was awesome.

Action shot!

The Ball area

Fun magnets

Another thing we did a lot these past two weeks was eatting snow cones. I love snow cones. So so so so much. I want a commercial grade snow cone machine more than anything!!! We ate a lot of snow cones and watched a lot of olympics and just had a lot of fun! I love my family!
Haddy gets her cast off on August 28th, 3 days after a fun family reunion at Aspen Grove....am I bummed? Yes. But oh well, I'm just excited for her to get it off! There is one thing I may miss a lot about this cast though....whenever we go out places, people have been way extra nice to me! I think they feel bad for Haddy and for me. I'm going to have to deal with being treated normally after this....oh well. I guess it's a small price to pay to get my daughter's legs back :)