She Made 1%

This past week Alora had another endocrinology appointment.  I was hopeful that she had grown enough these past few months, but apparently she has only grown about an inch these past 15 months. (In comparison, her 4-year old brother, Max, has grown 4 inches these past 9 months!)  Another bone x-ray revealed she was still quite behind, which means she will now have to have a 4-5 hour long "stim" test.  The growth hormone (GH) stimulation test measures the level of growth hormone (GH) in the blood after you receive medication that triggers the release of GH, such as arginine or GH-releasing hormone.  The test measures the ability of the gland to release GH.

 

 

Basically, she will have an IV inserted and have her blood drawn.  She will then be given some stimulant through the IV that will encourage her GH to do it's job.  Every hour or so her blood will be drawn to see if the GH is working properly.  The entire process takes about 4-5 hours.  She is NOT going to be a happy camper before or after.  Thankfully, it's just the one initial poke and not every hour. 

 

It takes about 2 weeks to review the results.  Depending on what they show, she might have to have a MRI of her brain to check her pituitary gland.  Once all of that is analyzed, we will know if she has to have daily hormone injections until she is about 12.  Her doctor predicts her current full height to be 4'9", way below where it was predicted at age 2.  Because of this, our insurance should cover most of the cost of injections.  If not, we are looking at spending $800-$1000/month for the shots. 

 

We have just barely started researching short stature and the whole hormone therapy deal.  We would rather not have to subject her to daily shots, or all of these tests, but if we can give her a couple of additional inches, we know it would be easier around her classmates and friends.  We'll just have to wait and see what this upcoming test reveals about her.

Superman, Monkeys and Rockets

This past week Max has started swim lessons.  One of my friend's friends (Jaime C.) teaches what's called Survival Swim, as well as the regular strokes.  We decided it was finally time to have Max learn the basics, especially since he's still a little afraid of deeper water and insists on wearing his goggles while in the water.  He actually did quite well after his first lesson.  She taught him how to "Superman", or look like Superman while kicking in the water.  He didn't complain about putting his face in the water or having to open his eyes underwater.  He acted like a monkey while climbing along the interior of the pool and she taught him how to "rocket up" when on the bottom of the pool. 

After his second lesson, he was able to jump in the pool and swim like Superman to his teacher, as well as go to the bottom to retrieve jewels she had sunk down.  Surprisingly, he hasn't fought going to swim lessons and seems to really enjoy it. 

Day 1: Learning how to "Superman"

Day 1: Learning how kick out of the water while doing the Superman (her little 3-year old, Jackson, is quite the swimmer already and a good helper during lessons)

Joinin' a Bunch of Country Folk

Tonight we decided to join our friends the Wray's and the Davis' at Buckeye's Demolition Derby. It was totally last minute and we didn't know quite what to expect, but it ended up being super fun and the kids loved it.  We just wished the smashing of cars lasted even longer!  Besides wrecking already super destroyed cars, they had heats of lawn mower races, which were actually pretty entertaining as well.  Who knew that lawn mowers could be so fast!  One guy even clipped the corner and biffed it, sending his mower on top of him and out of commission. 

Hone W., Jackson and Major D.

This poor car got pushed up on the barrier within the first few minutes.  Poor guy never even really got a chance to smash the other cars.

After the race, the car that looked like it was made out of tin foil still managed to drive out of the arena.

McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park

Last weekend my brother was here visiting from Utah.  My mom thought it would be fun to check out the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale.  We didn't know much about it, but basically it was just a glorified children's park that had a couple little train museums, a train ride, and a large miniature train exhibit.  Nothing super exciting, unless you love the history of trains.

The kids wanted to ride in the little cargo car on the train.  They literally locked the door on the outside so the kids couldn't jump out during the 5 minute ride.

What it would have looked like at a rail yard.

Alora mimicking the mannequin.



Little did you know that you could eat and use the facilities at the same time on a train.

More and More Baseball

Jackson's baseball season is about halfway through now.  So far, they have a record of 6-1 and have 7 games remaining.  As for Alora and Max, Max still has about 4 games and Alora 5.  Alora's team has won all their games, even their first one against a team that has been undefeated the past couple years... quite the shocker!  Max's division doesn't keep score, but he is still quite the little ball player and loves playing.

 

 

 

Alora at first base.

 

Max, trying to slide into home.  He wants to slide like Jackson so badly.

Rockets and Cougars

Today was opening day for the Estrella Youth Sports (EYS) baseball season.  Both Max and Alora are playing this year.  Max's team, the Rockets, is a t-ball team and Alora's team, the Cougars, are coach pitch.  Max had this first game tonight and the team actually did pretty well for their first game.  They don't keep score at this level so it's pretty low-key.  Max did great and we didn't even have to stand on the field with him! (Alora's first game isn't until next weekend.)

 

Pledge of Allegience



Max told us, "I swide!" meaning he tried to slide through home base, even though it looked more like a jump.

Manning first base.

Our "New" House

This past month our house has been invaded by painters and carpet cleaners.  When we found out what Jeremy's year-end bonus was, we decided to do a few home projects.  The first project we did was getting our exterior all repainted.  Even though our house is only 3 1/2 years old, some of the trim paint was already starting to flake off in the front and the stinkin' woodpeckers had ruined chunks of our back stucco.  Rather than have the HOA get after us, we decided to just go ahead and get it redone.  The whole project only took about 3 days and the end result was exactly what we wanted.  Same colors and no more holes!  The quality of workmanship should also last longer.

The next project we had done was painting the entire interior of our home.  When we moved in, everything was flat white paint.   Not a good thing with kids!  About two years ago, Jeremy and I (mostly me) painted a natural color throughout the majority of the house.  (I painted Max's room a light blue, the boys' room a medium gray, and the office the same gray).  However, we never could quite paint the top section of the staircase.  We tried various ladders and poles but they didn't work.  I wanted the lines perfectly cut in, so we just never finished that part.  It bugged us everytime we went up and down those stairs.  We hired Arizona Painting Company and within two days, our home AND staircase was repainted in a slightly darker color called Sandstone (by Dunn Edwards).  We love the color and how the white trim, doors and blind now "pop."

Part of the kitchen mid-paint.

Lastly, we had the carpets, tile, and living room couches all cleaned yesterday.  Those areas weren't horribly bad, but with four kids, two cats, and a plethora of people always coming and going, they needed a good deep clean.  We hired John Randall from Randall Carpet Care (www.goodyearcarpetcleaningservice.com) and it took him just about 7 hours to clean the entire house. 

Now that everything is freshened up, we can start putting the rooms back together.  My next project is to develop some of the family pictures that Caitin Nalder (www.nalderphotography.com) took of us last year to hang on the walls.  It's about time!