I haven't updated this blog since Halloween and for good reason.  We have had a lot of not so fun things going on around here.  How can one family who rarely goes to the doctor, now have more appointments and doctors than we can keep track of?  I'll tell you.

First, we'll start with me.  The weekend before Halloween my shoulder started hurting.  It progressively got worse until about a week after Halloween I woke up in extreme pain.  I was having severe muscle spasms and it felt like I was in labor in my shoulder.  Ha ha.  I could also no longer raise my arm more than an inch.  I couldn't get dressed or do my hair or hold my kids.  I was miserable.  I went to the doctor and they diagnosed me with adhesive capsulitis.  It basically means "frozen shoulder".  They referred me to an orothopaedic surgeon and physical therapy and told me they don't know what causes it and it can take up to three years to heal.  Great!!  I also couldn't take any pain medication besides ibuprofen because I have a nursing baby, and sadly that didn't help at all.  I went to the orthopaedic surgeon and luckily they didn't think I needed surgery.  They did x-rays and didn't find a cause for my problem.  They said that this is very common in overweight, 40 year olds (none of which I am) so I just got lucky.  I have now been in physical therapy for seven weeks.  I go three times a week for 2 hours and I am slowly improving.  Yesterday, I was able to dress myself, which is huge.  I felt so independent.  Ha ha.  But now we just discovered that our insurance company thinks I have met my limit for physical therapy so they will no longer pay, even though I am only about 50% recovered.  So now get to fight them and hopefully they will agree that paying the small amount for physical therapy is much better than paying for surgery.  We shall see.

Next, is Jeff.  The Friday before Halloween he was rear ended on the freeway on his way to work.  Initially he had some back pain but it progressively got worse.  A few weeks ago he had an MRI and it was discovered that he has two herniated discs from the accident.  He has been absolutely miserable.  He can't sit, stand, walk or sleep comfortably.  He goes to physical therapy twice a week and he is also seeing a pain specialist.  He will most likely need cortisone shots in his spine within the next few weeks to help him be more functional.

These injuries are pretty bad by themselves but having both parents injured at the same time has been a nightmare.  Luckily Jeff's mom came down for a week to help us and my mom had a few days off of work when Camron came home from his mission so she was able to help us.  Our new ward has also been great.  They brought us dinners for several weeks and helped us out at church with the kids and also babysat when we needed it. 

McKinley is also still in physical therapy for her torticollis.  She is doing really well especially now that she is crawling.  She is slightly behind in her motor skills because of her torticollis and crawling was a huge accomplishment for her.  McKinley and I have also been fighting several occurences of thrush this past month.  Not fun!   So between all of us we have a minimum of 6 doctors appointments each week and many times it's more.  Luckily I am much more functional now and hopefully we'll get Jeff feeling better soon but it has been a long few months.

10 Months Old!

She has finally started crawling and is into everything but she is still the sweetest most easy going baby.  She loves to play with Brycen and Leah and follow them around the house and they have so much fun together.

Merry Christmas

Family Pictures 2010

I thought these turned out pretty good considering it was raining and we had to hurry.

Happy Halloween!

Brycen told Jeff he should dress up as grass for Halloween so that is what he did.  Ha ha :-)

Jeff had fun decorating our house.

8 months old!!

She is getting so close to crawling!!

McKinley's Head Update

The last time I updated about McKinley's neck and head issues we were waiting for a referral to Cranial Technologies for a helmet.  We finally got it and scheduled an appointment with them.  They took pictures and measurements of her head and of course they were quite adamant that her head shape was severe and that she definitely needed a helmet (We knew they would say that.  Our pediatrician warned us to not be swayed by their insistence.  Ha ha.)  They told us they would have their insurance coordinator call us in about 2 days to tell us what our insurance would cover and what our out of pocket expense would be and then we could make a decision. 

Two days later, we got the call we were waiting for and the news wasn't good.  We have amazing in-network coverage (no deductible, low copays, & 100% coverage) but because of that our out-of-network coverage is dismal.  Our deductible is extremely high ($10,000!!!) and until that is met we have no coverage.  Can you guess what network Cranial Tech falls under??  Out-of-network.  Of course!!  So, they offered us their "fantastic discounted rate" of $2,500.  So, we had a difficult decision to make and I agonized over it for nearly a week.  Is it really necessary to spend the money for a helmet or will her head eventually round out by itself??  Will we regret not doing it and will her head be oddly shaped for the rest of her life??  Is there another alternative??  That is when I began researching and discovered something called Craniosacral therapy (there's a definition of it here).  But basically a therapist can adjust the bones of the skull and help them go back into proper alignment.  So right then I made the decision not to do the helmet and scheduled an appointment for McKinley to have craniosacral therapy. 

It has been a month now and she has had one appointment with a craniosacral therapist and two with a chiropractor and the difference is astounding.  You can hardly tell there was a problem and you really have to look to see the asymmetries which used to be blatantly obvious before.  Before we started, she had a difference of 9mm between both sides of her head when they measured (they recommend a helmet if there is a difference of  >8mm).  Two week ago, it was only 4mm and she gets measured again tomorrow and I'm sure it's even less.  I can now say that I am so happy with the decision we made.  We didn't have to deal with the time, financial and emotional commitment of a helmet yet her head is still moving towards a normal shape.  Her head looks better every day and of course she just gets cuter and cuter.

This week I am going to take pictures of her head to compare with the ones that cranial tech took and I will post them just to show how awesome her head is doing!

7 months old!

First Day of School!

Brycen had his first day of preschool today.  He was so excited to go back and see Miss Kathy.  This year, he didn't cry and he just hopped right out of the car to see his friends.  Leah was the only one who cried.  She was mad that she didn't get to go too.  She has to wait until next year :-)

Brycen has grown up so much over the summer.  In the past few weeks he has learned how to pedal a bike (this is huge for him because he has never had an interest before), completely dress and undress himself, and buckle himself into his car seat.  He is also getting so good at writing his name and holding his pencil correctly.  He also draws really well and has a huge imagination.  He is such a big helper and always offers to help me clean.  His personality is really blossoming lately and he is quite funny.  But of course he is all boy and most of his jokes are about poopy diapers and baby bums.  Maybe because that's what he sees his mommy dealing with all day :-)  My little boy is growing up so fast and I love to see him learn and grow but it makes me a little sad too. 

6 Months Old!!

Her first taste of solid food.
17 lbs 10 oz
28 inches

McKinley Update

Now that McKinley has been in physical therapy for six weeks for her torticollis and plagiocephaly, I thought I would update with her progress. She is slowly improving. Her head tilt is less and her flat spot isn't getting worse so that is good. She is sitting up on her own now and rolling everywhere. She is so quick. I will put her down on the floor, turn my back for a few seconds and she will be in another room. She is tolerating 4 hours of tummy time a day and that is helping to strengthen her weak neck muscles. That was a chore to get her to like being on her tummy so much. She was not happy in the beginning. She now moves her head to different positions while she is sleeping, which is a huge improvement, and now she prefers to sleep on her left side which is great because it keeps the pressure off of the back of her head.

Next week, they will remeasure her head and determine if she needs to be referred for a helmet. They are almost certain that she will need one but we should know for sure after we have a consultation at Cranial Technologies. We are hoping to continue to see progress and that she will be able to have a normal head shape after her treatment.

Sitting up. Yay!!

Sleeping on her left side which is good for her head shape.

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Happy Birthday to the best daddy & husband!

We love you!

New Pics!

Both Grandmas have been asking for updated pictures of the kids so I finally got brave and did it. I have been avoiding it because it is a lot of work to get the kids to sit still and smile. I think I was pretty successful though.

Brycen 4 years old

Leah 2 years old

McKinley 4 months old

Gotta Love Target!

Target has some of their summer toys on clearance so we decided to go and see what we could find. We found a big sand bucket with a watering can and a shovel for $.99, some sidewalk chalk for $.74 but the biggest hit was a slip and slide for $3.00. The kids LOVE it. It has kept them entertained forever and they have so much fun. Best $3.00 I ever spent. :-)

5 Months Old!

Hubbs Family Reunion

This weekend we went to Jeff's family reunion in Prescott. It was the first time that Jeff and all of his siblings had been together in about 10 years. It was also my first time meeting some of them. There were 31 people including 19 grandchildren and we all stayed at Jeff's parent's house. It was so much fun but craziness at the same time. On Friday, we went to a rodeo and it was so fun. The kids enjoyed the buffalos and the bucking broncos. On Saturday, we had family pictures taken in the forest. It was a beautiful area but was a challenge to keep all of the kids clean and from falling into the creek. I will post the pictures when we get them back. We also had an "Un-birthday Party" for the kids. Since we can't be together on all of the birthdays we had one big party for everyone. Each child was assigned another child to buy a gift for. Then they all opened their presents and we had cake. It was fun. On Sunday, we all went to church. I think we took up half of the chapel. Then we came home and had homemade ice cream and watched fireworks from the balcony. On Monday, we packed up and came home. I really enjoyed meeting the rest of Jeff's siblings and we had a blast. I hope we get to visit them more often and we don't have to wait another ten years to get together.

Cousins hunting for lizards. Their favorite activity.

Happy 4th of July!

Leah, McKinley & Brycen

Leah

McKinley

Happy Birthday Brycen!

4 Years Old!!

His new scooter & sword

Catching Up

We have had a lot going on the past few months so I need to catch up.

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We Moved!!

No pictures of the inside of the new house yet because it's still a work in progress. I will get them up eventually.

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Backyard Landscaping

We had to do this right away because of the dogs.

Before

After
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Brycen's Preschool Graduation

Saying his part in the program

Dancing

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Whitney's High School Graduation

Flat Head

Today at the pediatrician, McKinley was diagnosed with Torticollis and Plagiocephaly. Torticollis is when the muscles in one side of the neck are too tight and cause the head to lean to that side. So because McKinley only keeps her head turned to one side, she has developed a pretty severe flat spot (plagiocephaly) on one side of her head despite my best efforts to constantly reposition her head. This is what she looks like all of the time.

So, we now have to go to physical therapy once a week, continue to stretch her neck everytime I change her diaper (I have been doing this for several weeks already), give her 3-4 hours of tummy time everyday (this should be fun since she is usually done after about 5 minutes) and invest in a Bumbo seat to keep pressure off of her head. If that doesn't start helping then in a month we go back to the doctor and start discussing a cranial orthotic helmet to reshape her head. I feel so guilty because I have always been very anal about my kids heads and preventing plagiocephaly. But when a baby is unable to turn their head to the other side then I guess there isn't much I could have done. Let's just hope that all of this physical therapy and stretching will help and she won't have to wear a helmet during the hot summer. That would be miserable.