Snacks

Mommy lesson of the day : my son will do anything to get snacks....

Recently Owen has started eating snacks...yay! No more crazy baby at the dinner table.  He was horrible at it at first but is really starting to get the hang of it and we are really seeing him use his right hand a lot - righty, maybe?

Well the other night, at our normal trip to the Pizza Inn buffet - I watch him start grabbing his puffs...eating some....dropping some....then - I watch my son put his whole mouth on the edge of the table and push the puffs into his wide open mouth! ON THE EDGE OF THIS NASTY, NASTY TABLE!  

AHHHH!

My AHHH! moment quickly turned into a, well, whatcha gonna do about it now?, moment.  Wow.  I was both totally grossed out and super impressed by my son's reasoning skills all at the same time.

I guess this lesson of the day could also be to invest in some disposable table mats.....

The long awaited ultrasound....

First, a little back story....

When Owen was born he went into the NICU immediately after birth for 9 days.  He started to go into distress from being transverse and his blood sugar had dropped.  Not to mention, my late-premee, as the nurses called him, was a whopping 8 lbs and 5 ounces and 21 inches long.  Take all that turned sideways.  Because he was transverse his lungs didn't develop fully. He came out and couldn't breathe. Throughout his stay in the NICU he had several xrays, ultrasounds, CAT scans and many, many other things that my poor baby boy was not ready for.

The day we were to leave the hospital, his doctor pulled me aside to tell me that on one of his ultrasounds of his head they found a cyst on his brain.  She said this so very nonchalantly, as if I had not been dreaming already of how it was physically possible for me to sleep with my head in his crib all night to make sure he was still breathing.  She says, just watch his development...have a good day. (Im sure she said it a lot nicer than this, but that is how I remember it went)

We brought him home and I was a wreck.  Not sleeping plus constantly trying to measure how fast he is breathing (an impossible task) and now dissecting his every move and function wondering about his little head. I would stay awake at night and hold him and cry in prayer over his little body and his brain. We asked God to ease our (my) fears (craziness) and lead us to a place of peace.  We knew that no matter what the outcome, our son was given to us for a reason and he was in God's hands.  I am thankful to say that God did that for me.  As many of you know, I am the worrier of the family.  I worry, analyse, worry some more, obsess, and lose sleep over meaningless things let alone my son having a potential brain tumor.  God eased my mind and I have been quite sane for the last few months.  The doctor said at 6 months we would do another head ultra sound to reevaluate.

Last month at his 4 month check up, the doctor brought all those fears back.  Its time to schedule his ultrasound to see what is inside there.  We went ahead and did it a month early - which I later found out why. Here comes the tears and worrying again - I knew it was time to hit my knees to the ground again in prayer.

All week I had been wondering how on earth did they do a head ultrasound?? I have had quite a few - but on my babies.  Do they take that nasty gel and rub it all over his head?  Yep.  Sure do.  So Monday morning we headed back to the hospital, and since we had just been discharged about a week prior, it was a quick check in.  The nurse was fantastic and she rubbed that goo all over his head and started scanning.  They get all the scans from the soft spots.  It was one of the most interesting things I have ever seen.  This was the reason for the push up from 6 months to 5 months - my son's soft spots are almost closed and without them there is no ultrasound.  I told my husband later, I don't know what I was looking at on that screen - but it was cool! He did awesome.  Owen sat there for 20 minutes, never fussed, and let the technition do her thing. Happy momma.

Today, Owen had his follow up from the RSV and hospital trip.  The doctor informs us that he got the results of his ultrasound.  I was not prepared for this...but I have been working on keeping my tears in check....He said the valley that had the cyst was completely empty.  It was gone.  GONE.  He said, we are not sure how it happens, but sometimes it just does. He told me I didn't have to worry anymore.

I was beaming.  I know how it happens.  We serve a wonderful God.

Tonight I will sleep easier.  Tonight, once again, I will explain to my girls that our God is an awesome God and we have much to be thankful for.

Christmas crafts and Owen update!

I make these wonderful cookies every year for family and friends at work.  I only make them at Christmas because I would weigh 500 pounds if I made them throughout the year.  They are seriously fantastic - and that's no compliment to me - its just the cookies!!

This year I wanted to make cute little Christmas cookie cans to pass out my goodies! Here is my up-cycle use for my son's formula containers.

Supplies needed: wrapping paper, formula can, tape, paint, ribbon, and of course your goodies!

Paint the cap - chalk board paint would be really cute!! This is the first coat - I did two and it covered fine. 

Fold and tap the paper to fit your can. 

I taped it at the seems and it held around just fine.  The formula cans have a lip around the edge that helped hold the paper in place. 

Tadaa! Now add cookies! 

Owens is home now and starting to seem better every moment! We still have some coughing fits, and I have been thrown up on a few times, but he is actually smiling now.  I have to go back to work tomorrow and I am  hoping he feels better - my poor husband....I did enjoy the extra mommy and Owen time these last few days.

Sweet baby boy and the hospital.

Today Owen was admitted to the hospital.  He has RSV, strep throat and possibly phenomena....if we ever get to get his xrays! It has been a long day. They put in a IV tube - with no IV hooked to it yet - which he thinks they gave him as a toy and so my entire evening has been trying to keep him away from this appealing plastic tube hanging off his hand.  I finally got him to fall asleep and here comes the nurse to take his temp....rectally. Not asleep anymore.

We did discover that Owen loves the sound of the webcam on the laptop....so here we are.  Horrible hat hair and everything.  I'l take my smiles from my sweet boy anyway that I can.

Friday, November 25th

I feel like I have been working non stop for the last two days with no sleep, almost got run over for some ipods, and had to scream at hundreds of people all day....oh  wait.  All of those things did happen.  I feel like crud. 

I will never understand how buying gifts for others brings out the worst in a person.  It's just things.  Gifts will all be forgotten - but the way you treat people remains.

On a happier note - my baby boy is 4 months old today.  I might be too tired to do anything else - but I can tell you there will be snuggling! 

Me and my little man yesterday.  LOVE HIM! He makes my heart smile.  

Really, Mom?

I don't know why - but I think this is the funniest face my son has ever given me.  I was setting up my camera settings for Christmas pictures and using my baby boy as a test subject.  He gives me this, okay, really mom?  look.  Ha!

Fall Picture Time

Today we did the kids fall pictures (as you can see I didn't wait too long to edit!)  As many of you know - I despise taking my own kids pictures.  You know how your kids act better for someone else than you?  Same thing goes for a photographers kids.  But - I do see light at the end of the tunnel - Ella has improved greatly which means, hopefully, that Avery will too in time.  Nevertheless - I love them! :)

this is typical Avery - and the one most likely of the two to go on the wall  :) 

love. 

my little man. 

this is how she spent most of the session....

3 months already??

Hi. My name is Owen...and I am 3 months old! 

Seriously, how did this happen already??  He makes my heart melt  :)  I thank the Lord for knowing the desires of my heart better than myself and blessing us with this perfect little boy.

this is hello.  seriously...he tries to copy hello.  :)  

love.