A visit to Shriners, and finally a diagnosis

Our long awaited Shriner's appointment was yesterday.  Sam, Tyler, and I went to Spokane and left the other boys with a babysitter.  We can not remember when  or if ever we have both spent that much time alone with Sam.  He is a lot of fun to have on his own.  He was pretty nervous about going to the doctor, so he was a bit silly.

When we pulled into the parking garage, he asked if this is the place where they are going to shine his feet.  It took a minute to figure out that he thought we were going to "Shiners" hospital.  We all laughed and laughed about that.

Sam has had issues with his ankles, feet, and legs since birth.  When he still wasn't walking at 18 months, he ended up going to physical therapy and wearing orthotics until he was 2.  They worked wonders.  Since then, we have noticed that his feet are turning in more and more when he runs, he still sits in a W, and he is not keeping up with other kids his age.  We have been to physical therapists, doctors, surgeons, etc with differing opinions as to what should be done.  They ranged from nothing, orthotics, physical therapy to surgery.  Our pediatrician finally recommended that we go to Shriner's to get the answers once and for all.  I was very nervous, but it is hard watching him struggle to keep up with kids his age, and he is turning in his feet and knees more and more which is bringing comments from outsiders - lovely.

The official diagnosis is femoral antiversion.  The best explanation I found is on the Johns Hopkins website.  Basically, his thighbones are rotated inward which makes his knees knock and toes point in when he walks and runs.  It also explains why he sits in a "W" rather than criss-cross.  The doctor said that it might correct itself, but that in some patients it does not.  They will evaluate him when he is 8 or 9 if it is causing an interruption in his life.  At that point, they can do surgery where the bone is cut, rotated, and set.  We are praying for the auto correction option.  We have to go back in 6 months for a repeat xray of his right foot, because his arch is higher than his left, and they want to make sure that does not change.  He was also diagnosed with loose ligaments which makes his ankles bend all over the place.  He will probably be a clumsy little boy all growing up. 

This does not answer any questions as to why he was delayed in walking as an infant, as it was primarily caused by low core muscle strength which is typically neurological.  She said we could see a neurologist and a geneticist to test for syndromes and such, but that the outcome would not affect the way we treat him moving forward.  Since he is maintaining a normal life, there seems to be no reason to go through extra tests that may never show anything.

For now, the doctor said that the best treatment is to let him be a normal 5 year old.

We are grateful to have some answers, and I feel very blessed that this is not something serious.  Being at Shriner's is a humbling experience.  It makes me re-evaluate challenges in my life and just to be thankful for what I have.

Jack's coolest day of his life

Jack just completed a two and half week science camp.  It was something he looked forward to all summer long, and it did not disappoint.  When I picked him up on Monday, he was outside experimenting with all of the gadgets that the Science Bus had to offer.  One of them was a robot named Disco.  He was amazed that Disco knew his name, and commented on his Austin shirt.  He asked Disco if he had ever met R2D2 and said if he ever does to tell him hello.  I only had my phone, so the picture is not that great.

During his time in camp, he made gak, a compass, a weather vain, anemometer, two boats that they raced,  miniature rocket, and regular sized rocket which they launched on the final day.  They also learned about magnets and polarity, and all sorts of chemical reactions.  On the last few days, the Science Bus came with all sorts of cool things to play with, and the robot.  When I picked him up, he said it was probably the coolest day of his whole life.  He wasn't sure which was his favorite, the robot or watching them dip things like hot dogs into liquid nitrogen and throwing them on the ground to watch them shatter.  He was also very excited that his regular size rocket had several successful launches.  He worked very hard on it.  Here are some great quotes from the last few weeks:

(acting like I must be a complete idiot)  It's an anemometer, it measures wind speed. (eyes roll)
According to my calculations...
I am pretty sure I figured out how to change the polarity of a magnet (insert long theory)
I am not a farmer, but I know a thing or two about crops.
It seems like the smartest kids I know are all going to science camp.  (I told him that some of the other kids might not think it would be very fun)  His response:  They are soooo wrong.
His nightly prayers:  Please bless that my rocket will have a successful launch.  Please bless that my rocket cone will not get damaged today.
Mom, I didn't want to give Disco a high-five, because he is made of metal, but I realized that he was just holding his hand up; not hurting people.
Mom, I really want a robot, can we go to Walmart.
Do you think some day, people will have robots in their houses?
I don't think you should stop at Sonic on the way home again today, you stopped drinking coke, but you are still too addicted to sugar.

Amazingly, this was offered by the school district and totally free.  I had to send him with a notebook, an empty two liter bottle, duct tape, cereal box, and some stickers.

A Wirick Weekend

Last week for family night, we came up with a plan for our summer including fun activities we could do together on the weekends.  Tyler had to file a case by Midnight on Saturday, so we had to work around his schedule, but we were able to fit in a movie night (Cars 2 with Jack, Sam, and Mom).  It was 3d and we were the only ones in the theater; probably because the movie started at 9:30 at night.  The kids stayed up until midnight.  Tyler and Logan hung out at home and went to bed on time.  After Tyler had finished his work Saturday, we went to Green Bluff Washington to pick strawberries.  Green bluff is a cool area with a coop of farms.  We go there to pick pumpkins, peaches, and now strawberries.  We will keep our ears open for other fun foods that we can get fresh from the farms.  The farm we ended up at this time was Knapp's.

The drive to the farms is beautiful.  There are rolling hills planted with all sorts of great things.  The farms are off-set with the beautiful Ponderosa pines found in this area.  It smells wonderful.  The actual picking went fast, because I had to remind the boys that we could only eat so many strawberries.  Tyler was the funniest; he could hardly stand to leave any behind.  Each boy had a different personality for picking.  Tyler = pick one, eat one, grin, keep head down and keep picking.  Jack = pick one strawberry from each bush, bounce through the field, declare over and over that he had the most strawberries.  Sam =  look in other peoples buckets to find the best strawberries, and steal them for your own.  Logan = pick and taste, as soon as mom isn't holding on, take off running through the fields as fast as possible.  None of them would stop and let me take a cute picture.  They also LOVED riding the golf carts back to the barn.

Once we were done picking, we stopped to get the big boy's a haircut.  Jack's was growing out, and Sam decided he wanted to get a haircut like Jack's.  He looks so much different to me. 

A day in the office

I love working from home! I went to the backyard to take a call without interruptions, and it was too nice to leave. I am in my pjs at 2:15 working from my back deck. I can hear birds, squirrels, and the boats down on the river. Blessings to the creators of the wireless network!

How many more days until we aren't in Utah?

We have been in Utah since last Friday.  Sam has asked me several times each day, "How many more days until we aren't in Utah?"  He really doesn't want to go back.  Good news for Sam, we got to stay four extra days.  When we come to Utah, I always schedule a day in the office in SLC.  It is good to see people face to face.  While I was there, I found out that I needed to make a quick trip to DC the following Tuesday.  We had planned on going home on Saturday. 

I will back up a little bit, as soon as we got here, Tyler received an email from the court saying that he needed to appear on Monday, so we spent the first day of the trip scrambling to change flights home, so he could be in court.  He went to his 20 year high school reunion Friday and Saturday, and then flew home on Sunday.  He had court Monday (surprise) and Tuesday (planned).  Then he missed his flight Tuesday night and ended up coming back here Wednesday just in time to take me out for my B-day.  Hooray!

OK, back to the DC plans.  We were trying to get things worked out, and it seemed crazy to drive home Saturday just to unpack and fly out Monday morning, so we figured out a way to stay in Utah.  Tyler is going to work, and my mom will help him with the kids.  I will fly out tomorrow (Monday), give my presentation Tuesday morning, and fly back home Tuesday afternoon.  We will wake up Wednesday and make the long drive back to Post Falls.  Sound fun?

It has been a lot of fun being here with my family.  Here are some highlights.  Cousin sleep overs! Bike rides, crafts with Lucy (b-day), B-day lunch at Sonora, B-day dinner at Taste of India, toe nails painted with glitter by Angela, white trash BBQ at Steve's :), more Sonora, X-men, movie with the cousins, playing with cousins a lot, aquarium in SLC, planetarium, boyscout office visit with Grandpa, new iPad, shopping, hanging out with grown-ups, meeting people from Tyler's mission, playing pig with Gracie, Rachel, and Lucy, winning every game of pig by shooting from the foul line, waterfall spotting, sunshine!, team Ballard shirts, Father's day dinner with the whole Ballard clan, and more...

I better get to sleep.  Early morning, early flight.

A road trip with Jack

I had the opportunity to take Jack on a quick road trip to Utah.  It was a sad occasion, my Uncle Clark passed away and I wanted to be with my family for the funeral.  When I looked at my options for getting to Utah, I decided that I wanted to rent a car and take Jack with me.  It has been a long time since I have had time to spend a block of alone time with him.

For 4 years, Jack and I spent every waking hour together, mostly just the two of us while Tyler was in law school and then his first year of working at a law firm.  I miss that time.   He is so much fun.  He loves to talk and sing and play.  He has great ideas and loves to hypothesize.  When I asked him if he was interested, he was all in and very excited.

We planned it all out.  Jack packed all by himself.  He used b-day money to buy a new Lego set to put together while on the road, and we stocked up on snacks and treats.  He picked out some movies.  Tyler even loaded up his i-touch with music and games.  Jack was thrilled about that.

 

In the car, he immediately started chatting.  He wanted to know how close we were to Montana...Idaho....Utah.  He loved talking about the scenery and trees.  He kept a look out for lightening and storms to drive through.  We had some very sweet talks about death and funerals.  He told me he loved me about a million times.  He did get bored with me a few times and asked if he could get in the other car with Grandma and Grandpa.  I told him that it would be even more fun when he is big enough to sit up front rather than hollering from front to back.

We made it to Utah in time to go to the viewing.  It was so nice to see my family.  We went to my parents after the viewing.  We found out the Jake got hit by a car.  This became the focus of Jack's universe.  I had to tell him over and over again that Jake was OK.  He told me it was the worst news he had ever heard in his whole life.  We were dead tired!  We went back to the Wiricks and slept.  In the morning we got ready for the funeral.  Jack told me that I did not have to have a talk with him about how to behave, because he already knew that and he would never be bad at a funeral.  He was great, and tried to be a good example to all of the cousins.  It was a beautiful service.  Jack was so cute with Aunt Kay.  He told her that she could come live with us if she needed to.  He was very concerned to see her cry.  We had a side trip to the scout shop to get him his bear gear.  He told the guy at the counter that, "My Grandpa loves scouts even more and he collects scout patches.  He is in this store ALL of the time." 

After the funeral and luncheon, we stopped at Walmart to get some gifts for Jake.  Jack wanted to get him a new bike.  We settled on a star wars guy.  I bought Angela (Jake's mom) a Pepsi and some chocolate.  Then we went to visit him.  Jake told Jack that he insisted on him sleeping over.  Jack told him that he couldn't sleep over, but he would stay as long as he needed him to.  I told Jack he could sleep over after Angela said it was OK.  He was thrilled.  Jack and Jake hung out, played, and watched movies.  I asked Jack what he did, and he said that they mostly just talked.  He couldn't tell me about what - I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.  Jake and Jack have great conversations!

I have to add that I did eat at Sonora Grill.  Only once, but I couldn't let the trip go by without a stop.  I am never disappointed!  I am looking forward to a longer trip to Utah in June.  We will be there from 6/10 - 6/17 to attend Tyler's 20 year reunion.  Then staying later for some fun time.  If anyone out there wants to meet up in Utah, let me know!

p.s. If you are confused. My brother married an awesome lady named Angela, and they have an awesome boy named Jake.  I am also named Angela and I have an awesome boy named Jack.  You can imagine how much fun this is when we are all together.  To make it more confusing, most of our family calls us both Angie, but in our other lives we go by Angela.  Even better, she is now Angela Ballard, and all growing up I was Angela Ballard, so I still answer to this even though I shouldn't.

Another hotel room...

I find myself sitting in another hotel room with a few hours to spare, so I figured I would update my blog.  Here is a view of downtown Austin from my room

So much has happened this spring that I have not written about.  Logan turned 2 in March.  My baby is officially not a baby.  He loved having us sing happy birthday to him, and enjoyed his cake very much.  We had a low key party at home. 

Jack had his first pinewood derby!  He took 3rd place in the ward and got to go to the district race.  He ended up taking 8th overall, and he and Tyler had a blast!  Jack named his car blue lightening.  It sits on a trophy stand in his bedroom where he admires it regularly. 

Jack and Sam are both playing soccer.  I have some pictures on my other camera.  The weather has been miserable.  Sam has struggled with the cold.  The 4 year olds do not practice.  They show up every Saturday.  They spend the first 20 minutes practicing with their coach.  They run a lap and do jumping jacks.  Then they practice dribbling the ball and kicking it into the goal.  Then the two teams play a game.  Sam likes to run the opposite way of the ball.  When people laugh, he keeps on running and showing off.  He will not get in and kick the ball.  He eventually gives up and comes to sit on my lap.  Sometimes he cries.  Last week was his final game (halleluja!).  It was a beautiful warm day.  He played the whole game without any tears.  His team did really well, and he even kicked the ball once or twice.  He still mainly stayed out of the way of everyone else.  He just ran behind everyone and grinned the whole time.  After the game was over he told me how much he loved soccer and asked if he could play it at home.  We also just registered Sam for kindergarten.  When we arrived, they took him away for screening.  He was not having that, but luckily I knew the screener from church and told him it was ok to go talk to my friend.  He was able to answer all of the questions and write his name, so they said he was good to go.  He barely makes the cut off date.  We went through all of the steps to get him registered.  His favorite part was buying a school shirt.  He put it right on.  Then on the way out he told me, "I do not want to go to that school.  And if you don't come with me, I am never going."  GREAT.  He hasn't really talked about it since and I am not going to bring it up for a while.

Jack turned 9 on mother's day.  We had a fun day.  We went to Red Lobster on Saturday for a combined celebration.  We taught Logan how to say, "Happy Birthday". He was really cute saying, Happy Birthday Gack.  He also would say Happy Mother's Day.  He often calls me Daddy-Mommy.  It was pretty funny when he would say, "Happy Mother's Day Daddy Mommy."  He is also really really good at saying, Stop it Sammy!  Or Sammy, no hit!  Or Sammy Mean!  He loves to be outside and running around.  It is a good thing the weather is finally warming up, because all three of my boys have cabin fever!  Jack was also the mayor in a cute school play (Suessical the Musical - Horton Hears a Who scene).  He has his first piano recital this weekend.  We are very excited for that too.

Tyler is all moved into his new office.  It is really nice, and he is really happy with the way it turned out.  We are both staying busy with work, church, and chasing after the kids.  That was a great distraction, now I must get dressed up and ready to go to a banquet and award ceremony.  I would much rather crawl into bed and watch a good movie on Netflix!