Happy Halloween

I just had to post a few pics of Hannah's first Halloween. :)

She was the cutest little Georgia cheerleader EVER! 

Iron Man and a beautiful cat weren't too bad either :) 

It was a great night, and we had lots of fun. 

Fall Fun

Since my last post, we have been having a little a lot of  Fall Fun so I decided to share a few pics.

On Oct 7th, Hannah had an appointment with her leg Dr. in Atlanta so we went up early and spent the morning at the Zoo.  :)  It was great....weather was perfect and it was not crowded at all.

My Little Panda :)

Then it was on to the Dr. that afternoon, and Praise the Lord her x-ray looked great soooooooo

NO MORE CAST!! woohooo :)

We have also enjoyed visiting a local farm

and what would Fall be without a few football games :)

Please continue to keep us in your prayers!  Sometime before the end of the year Hannah will be put to sleep again and have the pins removed from her hip, AND she will have surgery on both hands AND be in a full arm cast (on BOTH arms) for 3 to 6 weeks.  Yes, another blessified cast!!!!!!!!, but the Lord has been so FAITHFUL, and we know he will be with us through this as well. 

JOY!!!

James 1:2  

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials

Well, the last two weeks have been very "joyous" at our house!! :)  As you all know from one of my previous posts, Hannah had her spica cast removed on August 28th after seven weeks in.  On Saturday, September 7th (one and a half weeks out of the cast) she fell off of the bed and BROKE HER LEG!!!  Yep you guessed it.....back in a cast.  

Praise the Lord that it is just the leg that is casted this time!!

So it has been back to the "boom bag" as Hannah calls it for the past two weeks.

Thankfully her pain is much better now, and she is back to scooting and wanting to be held. :)

I know this little stinker will have one heck of a testimony to tell one day.

We go back to the Dr. on Oct 7th, and hopefully the cast will come off and we will be cleared.  Maybe this time we can make it a whole lot longer cast free!!!!!  Here lately there has just about been more "joy" at this house than this Mama can take. ;) 

Correction!

It has only been five months! :) :) That just proves how crazy I really am.....or heck I'm really on the ball.  Getting things done early! ;).  Anyway it seems like she has been with us a lifetime and I wouldn't trade a minute.

A Whole Half of a Year

Today marks six months since our Gotcha Day.....six months to the day that I first got my hands on my sweet baby girl! :) :) :) Stephen and I were looking through our China pics last night, and it is amazing to see the difference only six months has made.

Six moths ago Hannah was scared to death and really didn't want any part of us.

 

(4-1-2013)

Today she is bubbly, happy, smiley, and says "hold you" about a million times a day. 

("hold you" is what she says when she wants us to hold HER)

(9-1-2013)

Six months ago Hannah had no idea what a family was all about......today she has one of her very own.

Six months ago no-one had any idea that Hannah's hip was dislocated.....today she has made it through surgery, a spica cast, and is on the road to recovery.

Six months ago Hannah had no idea where Georgia was.....today she can say GO DAWGS with the best of 'um.

Six months ago I thought I knew, but I really had no idea how much love I could have for a precious little girl that was born in my heart.

WE LOVE YOU HANNAH GRACE MCDUFFIE!!!!!!!

HAPPY SIX MONTHS

Blessed

Well today was the big day.  Hannah had to be at the hospital at 6 am so we drove up to Atlanta last night and spent the night.

Needless to say she was not nervous a bit.  She slept better than she usually does at home. :)

Before her little procedure (cast off and arthrogram) we met with the Dr. and he was going over what he expected and how he expected things would go.  He said she would either be put back into a cast or a maybe a brace.  He even went over the different types of casts that he may choose to use and even told us if another cast was the case, we were looking at ANOTHER 4-6 weeks.  Even the nurses were going over instructions for another cast, and the car seat rental people even called me to confirm that we would need to keep the harness system because our daughter was having a spica cast change. 

 I said all of that to say.........we were bracing ourselves for another round with the cast.  We were just anxious to see what kind.  

Welllllllllll.....Hallelujah!, Praise The Lord! GOD had different plans. 

 When the Dr. came in to meet with us when everything was done, he shared with us the news that Hannah was cast free!!!!!!  AND brace free!!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) 

Everything was healing so nicely, he felt she would be fine without anything.  We really have no restrictions.  Just let her go at her own pace with movement.

Well........

She sat still on the ride home

but has not stopped since we walked in the door.  She is already scooting around everywhere. (she just keeps the left leg pretty straight and kicked out to the side:)

She even got to take a bath tonight.....a real bath :)

and I had to get on to her for trying to stand up in the bathtub!!!!  There's no stopping her now :)

 I PRAISE GOD FOR THE MIRACLE I WITNESSED TODAY!!!!!

Philippians 4:6

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Cast Life

If you ever hear anyone say Spica (type of cast Hannah has) start praying!! Pray for whoever is in the cast, and pray for the ones taking care of them.  This has been a trying time around our house for sure, but we go on Wednesday (Aug 28th) to find out our next step.  My prayer at first was that after 6 weeks we would come home cast free, but as we get closer I pray that we come home with good news.......news that everything is healing/healed amazingly well!!! Whether we come home in a brace or another cast, I pray for healing!!!

That being said...we know the cast that she is in now WILL be taken off on Wednesday, so I decided to show a few "cast life" pictures to pay tribute. :)

Bath time is now on the vanity :(  I AM able to get her head under the sink to wash her hair though :)

  The cast itself is huge! It makes her weigh about twice as much as she would without it.

But it has not slowed her down much. 

 She has learned how to turn over, and she can even lift herself off of the floor for short periods of time.

And if you notice, she usually has a smile on her face (usually!! ;)

She stays in her stroller a lot (cause it's the only thing we have that she can fit in), but she will also get down on the floor and play with toys.......and yes, she can make a mess :)

It is hilarious to see her laying on her side and playing.....her leg just sticks straight up in the air :)

All of this going on with me back at work, and we now have 

                            a Kindergartner        and         a Second Grader

at our house.  :)

I can't leave this post without sharing some words that I heard this week that warmed my heart AND brought tears to this ol' Mama's eyes............

* Hannah has been saying "love you", but the other night while I was laying with her at bedtime she leaned over, kissed me, and said, "LOVE YOU, MAMA" :) :) :) :)

*Hannah is at the stage in her language development where she is proud of herself for knowing, and she likes to tell me what everything is.  The other night we were coming home, and when we pulled in the driveway she said, "HOME".   I know to some of you this doesn't seem big, but it meant the world to me.......my baby knows she has a home!!!!