March in Pictures

Even though I don't have a lot of posts for March, we've been so busy!

Hailee's class learned to make origami with their class TA

We've gone skiing several more times and we are hooked!  It's amazing how much Hailee, Jace and Eli all improve each time.  I'm sure Bryson and Dallin are improving too, but I never see them, so...

Shock and awe, Nathan not only took a picture with his phone, but he even took a selfie!! *wink*

This boy shows NO fear on the slopes:

This was her best run ever down the mountain-

Still shoveling lots of snow around these parts...

Bryson was trying on Hailee's chest plate.  He really is so playful with his siblings- I just usually don't have the pictures to prove it!

March brings science fair time!  I only have pictures of Hailee and Dallin though 😕

Hailee did a Native American diorama with Lego's:

Dallin made a future city using all recycled materials:

Drama getting a tooth out one morning... It was SO SO loose!  So loose, in fact, it was at a 90° angle to where it should be...

Wrestling

Eli and Jace had an amazing wrestling season!  Wrestling was again at Freeman, through 'Little Guys' Wrestling.  These boys worked so hard and did great!

Most of the tournaments were 2-3 hours away, which meant that we had some really early departures on Saturday mornings- the way this kid sleeps in the car cracks me up!

Just being silly!

During one match, Jace took down his opponent pretty quickly and the kids nose slammed on the mat resulting in a bloody nose.  While they were fixing up the kids nose and trying to calm him, Jace was by his coach 'staying loose' by doing jumping jacks and push ups- it was hilarious to watch!

They ended the season by medaling almost every tournament, Eli ended up with a gold, a silver and 2 bronzes and Jace also got a gold, a silver and 2 bronzes.  Way to go boys!!

 

MRI

Hailee's neurologist recommended she get an MRI just to rule out any brain abnormalities that could be causing the variability in her eye alignment.  Which meant that she would have to be sedated because there is no way this girl could be still for 45 minutes!

We discussed what would happen beforehand, so she wasn't scared at the hospital and did amazing when they started her iv.  She loved the hospital gown... really, she did!

Got her iv in and all ready to go!

We had to wait several days for results, but I wasn't too worried.  I was at work when the results showed up on the mychart app and, I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty shaken by them.  Hailee has what is called a chiari 1 malformation where the skull is misshapen so part of the brain (cerebellum) protrudes down the spinal canal.

After the initial panic, I reminded myself that my girl is happy, healthy, smart and just generally doing well in life. Nothing had gone wrong, and really, nothing had even changed. We just have some new information.

If symptoms from the chiari malformation get severe or debilitating enough, there are surgical options, but those aren't pretty- and we're nowhere near considering that. The neurosurgeon quickly dismissed her malformation as being in no way related to her eye alignment, but I'm not so sure.  While chiari is most commonly related to nystagmus of the eyes, I've read some studies where it can be related to strabismus also (which is what Hailee has), especially strabismus that recurs after corrective surgery.  Regardless, I'm certainly not eager to do any surgery right now, be it eye or brain.

For now, the ophthalmologist is having us take pictures of Hailee's eye alignment, morning and night, several times a week, so she can monitor it.  It will be interesting to see how things develop with my amazing girl!

Random February

Well, no one can complain about a lack of pictures this month!  Apparently I'm trying to make up for my extensive history of not taking pictures all in one month *shrug*  Here we go!

Our neighbors asked us to feed their horses and dogs while there were out of town- we loved it!

Jace's fav spot when I'm grocery shopping:

After 101 days of school I ended up with a dalmation!

We lived in a winter wonderland most of February:

Some days, you couldn't even differentiate where the ground stopped and the sky began!

Hailee and Jace wanted a romantic candlelit Valentines dinner *grin*

Dallin participated in Math is Cool...

And took 1st place for Freeman again!

Hailee and Jace made their own sledding park:

Just looking at all the snow:

He accompanied us singing Happy Birthday to Eli with armpit farts *sigh*

When the county plow comes by with their long-arm plow, it's impossible to tell where the edge of the road is... Since the county has been soooo slow in plowing our road this year, Nathan thought he'd do all the neighbors a solid and do a quick plow on the road- he got a little too close to the edge and got sucked into the ditch...

Several failed retreival attempts, a near catastrophic accident and steep tow truck bill later and he was out!

My kids love having Missy living downstairs *grin*

Lunch with my Eli!

Jacec worked so hard to clear snow off the deck- a well deserved snow angel *grin*