The Wheaton-Pavlik Harness

When Isabella was born, the Doctors told us she might have to wear a brace because her hips may not have fully developed. Well after 3 trips to Primary Childrens Hospital Bella now has to wear a brace. The brace is called The Wheaton-Pavlik Harness and the aim of treatment ( hip dysplasia) is to hold the hip in the reduced position to allow the head fo the femur (the ball) to mold the acetabulum (the cup). This is usually the postion of flexion and abduction. As the ball molds the cup, it deepends the cup, resulting in a stable hip.

The doctors told us that if she did not wear this she would have a limp when she learned to walk. She may only have to wear it for 3 or 4 months, I am hoping it is less. Here is what the harness looks like (however Bella is not smiling when we put it on her, she does not like it and fights it until she gets use to it).

(picture on the internet)

Bella Grace

My sister Jill has been taking photography classes and getting really good. She took some pictures of Bella for us while we were n St George this weekend. She did a great job!!

We love our Bella!

Bella with her cousin Abby

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE!

Steve was born April 1, 1963 at 8 lbs 4 oz, 20 1/2 inches.

Steve turned 46 (and Bella turned 2 weeks), we had a family party for him, just us and the kids.

Isabella Grace Mills born March 18, 2009 (she came early)

Don't I just look lovely!

Isabella came early, and because of that she came C-section which was a lot easier on her than me. We are so happy she is here, and she is so BEAUTIFUL! We want to call her Bella for short.

This is Bella's THRILLER pose......

Steve in the newspaper......

Steve was mentioned in the newspaper for his award of "Volunteer of the Year".
(If you click on the picture it will enlarge)

To all my Crackpot Friends and Family....

CRACKED POT

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots,
each hung on the ends of a pole,
which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while
the other pot was perfect and
always delivered a full portion of water,
at the end of the long walk from
the stream to the house, the cracked
pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily,
with the woman bringing home only
one and a half pots of water. Of course,
the perfect pot was proud of its
accomplishments. But the poor cracked
pot was ashamed of its own imperfection,
and miserable that it could only do half
of what it had been
made to do.

After 2 years of what it perceived to
be bitter failure, it spoke to the
woman one day by the stream. "I am
ashamed of myself, because this crack
in my side causes water to leak out all
the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice
that there are flowers on your side
of the path, but not on the other pot's
side? "That's because I have always known
about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds
on your side of the path, and every day
while we walk back, you water them.
For two years I have been able to pick
these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.
Without you being just the way you are,
there would not be this beauty to grace the
house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw.
But it's the cracks and flaws we each
have that make our lives together so
very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person
for what they are and look for the
good in them.

SO, to all of my crackpot friends and
family, have a great day and remember to
smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Celine Dion

Last Friday we celebrated Valentines with the kids and took them to Rodizio Grill for dinner, if you have never been there I suggest you go. Besides the awesome meats they bring around they have the best salads!! For Valentines Steve got he and I tickets to see Celine Dion in concert this Sunday the 22nd, I am so excited I have always wanted to see her! I just have the BEST HUSBAND in the world!!

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!

-

Kelsey and Dads Project....

Kelsey wanted a window seat for her room so her dad built her one and they painted it together, it turned out really cute.

Baby Poems

My sister Jill and friend Kiki gave me these Poems that I wanted to share. If you can't read them you should be able to click on the picture to make them bigger:

Volunteer of the Year!

Steve is on the Board of the West Jordan Chamber of Commerce because his S&S business is in West Jordan City. Steve and I, and a few other members were in charge of "Share the Magic" Chamber dinner this year for all the West Jordan City Businesses. The night turned out great!! Steve had to "MC" most of the night. Honors were given out to people that were nominated by the community....Business man of the year, Business women of the year....etc.. Steve was voted "Volunteer of the Year". He is always helping out someone and giving a lot of his time in the community.

Joey is feeling better!

Joey has been playing around a lot more since he is now feeling better. He was diagnosed with Hypo Thyroid right before Christmas (which is why he lost all the hair on his tail, no more rat tail). Joey now takes meds everyday and is now more energized, his hair is softer AND he now has hair on his tail, he's even lost some weight (HE LOOKS SO MUCH BETTER)! The kids just love Joey!
Joey thinks he has to go everywhere we go....

Getting ready for Baby!

Our new baby bedding, isn't it sooo cute!! I know we are getting started a little early but the Doctor keeps saying each visit that if I don't settle down and get over my sickness I will be put on bed rest and the baby will come early... (it's so hard for me to slow down)

St George Baby Shower

My sister Heather gave me a Baby Shower in St George last week, my mom and other sisters helped her. It was great to see everyone and it was so fun opening cute little girl things, I am so excited for her to come....just not too early!

Heather had water bottles with this printed on them:

25 random things about me

Here's how it works as written by the person who tagged me... I'm not sure where this original project started but I got tagged and decided to continue it. All of you who read my blog I hope you'll play along because it would/will be fun hearing from you or seeing your random things on your blog or email. Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. Here goes....


1. I am absolutely totally in love with my husband, he is my best friend.
2. I love Halloween!
3. I love bluegrass music (Banjo & Fiddle) & 70's music
4. Favorite colors, Pink, Brown & Orange
5. I met my husband on LDSsingles.com
6. I have 4 nicknames; Wendy Lou(my middle name is Lee), Gwen, Wendell and now Windmill
7. I love to clean
8. I have 5 sisters and 1 brother
9. Love chips and salsa (with cilantro LOVE IT)
10. Never had a broken bone (knock on wood)
11. I love to decorate (house)
12. I want learn to play the guitar
13. I want to learn to read piano music and not just play by ear.
14. I love to travel
15. I love all my family members and love hanging out with them playing games
16. I love to dress up and wear heels
17. I love the TV show "Ghost Whisperer" and "Greys Anatomy"
18. I love to be inspired with inspirational stories and quotes.
19. I am a giving person (sometimes too giving so I'm told), but sometimes bossy
20. I am fascinated by volcanos and fault lines anything geographic
21. I love DARK chocolate
22. I love to drink super cold MILK
23. I don't drink soda pop
24. Went to the Police Academy and was a 911 Dispatcher.
25. I love DILL pickles and HATE sweet pickles(I even love to drink the pickle juice)

Our new Piano! Well.....it sounds new.....

Steve and I bought an old beat up (and I mean beat up) piano from my Aunt Beverlee. When we looked at it we thought WOW, this thing is going to take a lot of work. Well we had a guy come and look at it and he was pretty skeptical but he took it anyway. He called today and asked us to come by and see if we still wanted it or to buy any of his other pianos he had fixed up, we took one look at it and thought, are you sure this is our piano......Anyway he put a lot of work into it and replaced a few things and refinished it and now we have a great piano. There are still a few scratches in the wood but I think it gives it character. I should have taken before and after pictures because you would not know it was the same piano. (Thanks to Mom we have a bench to go with it until we can find a real piano bench to go with it).