our weekend at the beach.

last weekend we spent a rainy, lazy couple of days at the beach and had the best time.  i didn't take many pictures but we lazed around drinking coffee and watching the big kids and the babies play on the bounce house on a rainy saturday.  eventually it cleared up and they all got to ride the jet skis.  on sunday we did venture out to the beach - i wore a sweatshirt and colin was swimming in the ocean.  he was not going to let any cool/windy weather deter him.  he absolutely loves the beach and little brother is definitely a fan too.  it was so nice to hang out with our friends and it's always fun to see the kids together.  :)

wordless wednesday.

 

Grandparents Day @ School

Last week was Grandparents Day at the boys' school.  Colin was so excited to get on the stage {risers} to sing in front of everyone again.  Pappy was able to come and Grammie was there too.  Honey and Daddy Jay were out of town but I got a video {scroll to the bottom of post} so they could still see him sing.  Davis even made the trip down the hall to see his big brother sing too!  He will be up there before I know it.

Rodeo Parade 2012

This was our 3rd consecutive year to go watch the rodeo parade -- don't know if I can call it a tradition {yet} but we have so much fun every time.  We have a nice little spot picked out right in front of Starbucks and a kolache place...perfect if you ask me!This was the first year that Luke got to go with us -- he has been out of town or otherwise occupied the last couple of times.  The parade is not the most amazing parade I've ever seen but Colin loves it and it's not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning either.

my little cowboy with his kolache and 'coffee milk' {steamed milk w/vanilla}

Little brother was happy to stare at everyone and eat his snacks.  :)

The whole crew.

It was a Saturday = Texas Tech game day so we dressed appropriately, ha.

The firetrucks were so loud.  Colin covered his ears too.  Davis didn't even flinch but it was nice that Grammie tried to preserve his ear drums anyway.  :)

9 months old!

How in the world is my precious tiny baby already 9 months old?!?!  He has been in this world longer than he was in my belly and that is just crazy.  I still feel like he JUST got here.  And he's not so tiny anymore, ha.  The past 9 months have been the most fun, most challenging 9 months of my life so far.  I think little brother is making it his job to keep me on my toes.  I love this boy to the ends of the earth. 

 

We went to the pediatrician last week and here are the stats:

Height: 29.25" (80th percentile, no kidding! - don't know where he got that from)

Weight: 21 lb 14 oz (70th percentile - he lost a little weight after surgery.  I'm sure he will make it up in no time)

He started eating table food last week and so far his favorite is the brown rice and he is a big fan of chicken too.  Sweet, sweet boy.  He has been my shadow this week and will magically appear no matter what room I am in.  He says ''mama", "dada", "bu-bah" {whatever that is} and the newest is "ga-gah".  He will talk gibberish non-stop too.  :) So far his 2 bottom teeth are pretty much grown in and the 2 top teeth are almost there.  I feel like my baby is slowly slipping away and I know that sounds crazy because he is still technically a 'baby' but he is gaining more and more independence each day {that is a good thing, I know!}. 

He is still just the happiest baby and he is still completely smitten with his big brother.  They actually play together right now and it is the sweetest thing to watch.  I guess technically Davis just follows Colin around but Colin is so gentle with him, sharing his toys and showing him how to play with them.  I know at some point they probably won't play so nice all the time so I am soaking it all in now.

Davis started crawling a few weeks ago and he is already a pro at pulling himself up and now he wants to push the walker/cart thing.  I am not ready for that yet and am selfishly hoping he will slow down a little, but who am I kidding?  My little mister man is growing so fast.  I am still not used to seeing those top 2 teeth in his mouth!  In the picture below I caught little brother mid-laugh and I know his pj's look too small.  They are too small and they are size 12months...I think this boy is going to be a football player.

Happy 9 months to my handsome little boo bear.  I am so thankful for your presence in this family - you have completed us in a way I didn't even know we needed.  We love you more than words.

No time to slow down.

It's hard to believe it has been 3 weeks since Davis' surgery.  It sort of already feels like a long time ago.  A lot has happened in the last 3 weeks and little brother did not let any of this slow him down.

The surgery took place on a Thursday...on Sunday he started crawling for the first time.  Really it was only a couple of crawls but Monday he took off.  Now, there is no stopping this kid.  Within one week of crawling he started pulling up on anything or anyone he could find.  I swear he wants to just take off and run...thankfully that has not happened yet.  :)

Luke and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary...no big plans this year but it was still special.  It's hard to believe it's already been 6 years since we said I Do.  I know I say this a lot but time is flying by.  I feel like I am going to wake up tomorrow and my kids will already be grown and out on their own. Really.  It scares me a little.

The boys had their first official day of school.  I know it's silly because they go year round but I still like to make a big deal about it.  Colin is now in the 3 year old class and he LOVES it - it is amazing what he can do and what he already knows...oh my goodness!  I can't wait to see what all he learns this year.  Davis is in the Infant 2 class, ha!  He loves his teachers and his entire class is boys with one little girl.  My little loves are growing and changing so much.  Colin didn't protest too much about our impromptu photo session - guess he is probably used to my craziness by now, ha.  :)

Recovery

I was anxious and nervous to see Davis in the PACU - we didn't really know what to expect but my heart breathed such a sigh of relief when I saw his face.  He was still asleep and hadn't woken up from the anesthesia yet.  The nurse told us he would take a while to wake up since he had been under anesthesia for so long and that once he did wake up he would be in and out of it.  Almost as soon as we walked in she asked if I wanted to hold him - like she even had to ask!  I was apprehensive because at this point he still had so many wires and cords {2 IV's, a catheter, and a drain}.  She was so sweet and got me all set up in the rocking chair.  I don't think it has ever felt so good holding that baby boy in my arms - probably even better than the day he was born because now I knew he was ok.  We waited what felt like forever in the PACU and finally got to our room a couple of hours later.  At this point we had been at the hospital for 11 hours and all of us were physically and emotionally exhausted.  As were we getting ready to leave the PACU he started to wake up and drank some apple juice {they would only allow clear liquids at this point}.

We got settled into our room and met the nurses (who were in the middle of shift change) - our biggest concern was we didn't want him to wake up in pain.  My sister brought us dinner and we were able to relax {sort of} for a little while until he started really waking up and being alert. 

We only spent 1 night in the hospital {crazy!} but it was a rough one.  He didn't sleep for any lengthy stretches and kept waking up in pain until {FINALLY} they got it under control.  We tried giving him apple juice and even some baby food in the middle of the night but he was not interested.  I don't blame him, poor boy.

The next morning bright and early we saw the rounding physician and fellows - they told us they were going to keep an eye on him for awhile longer but that we would probably be able to take him home that afternoon.  I did not believe them - it had only been about 15 hours since his surgery finished - no way would we be able to take him home yet.  Ha, obviously I am not a doctor!  A couple hours later they took out the catheter and he cheered up a little! 

I got to hold him again - it had been 12+ hours since I'd held him in the PACU and my arms were aching for him.  While it made my heart so happy it was also frustrating to hold him - I was so nervous about the IVs and the drain and was so afraid I was going to hurt him.  It feels wrong to just have to look at your baby and not be able to pick him up to comfort and soothe him like normal.
 

After another couple hours they took out one of his IV's too.  The fellow came back in the early afternoon and told us we could stay one more night or we could take him home - medically he was safe to go home but it depended on our comfort level.  He was going to have to keep the drain in for 5 - 7 days but other than that we could give him his antibiotics and pain meds and let him rest at home.  This decision brought more tears - I was ecstatic that we could take him home but I was afraid of taking care him of, specifically I was terrified of the drain.   Luke promised to be the nurse and our actual hospital nurse gave us some tips that made me feel better too.  Here is little boy cord and IV free (except the drain) in one last nap before we headed home.

I never ever want to see him a hospital crib/bed again and I know Luke doesn't either.  The fellow told us that the urology team fixed everything possible on him so there should be no reason to go back - thank goodness!  The nurses kept joking he got a 3-for-1 deal in the OR.  I don't know about that but I am beyond thankful that he is 'fixed up' and doing so well.

Surgery Day for Little Brother

8/23/2012

We dropped big brother off at Grammie and Pappy's house and headed to the medical center.  I don't think I have ever felt so sick or nervous in the car.    Davis was just playing and baby talking it up in his car seat and I was sitting in the front seat, my heart racing with the biggest knot in my stomach.  I kept thinking about the only other times we had driven to the hospital as patients - both times were to have a baby.  This was so much different.  There was no nervous energy or excitement because we were about to meet our little miracle, only nervousness that we were going to have to hand him over to strangers and trust them with one of our most precious gifts. 

Once we got to the hospital we checked in and met with a lot of different people - financial counselor, nurse, nurse anesthetist, the anesthesiologist, the surgical fellow, one of the OR nurses and the surgeon.  Every single person we met (all individually by the way) commented on my sweet boy's chunky legs.  It was pretty cute.  At this point it still felt like a dream.  We snapped back to reality pretty quickly when we were sent back to Pre-Op to put on his yellow pj's.  Then we did some more waiting - my precious boy actually fell asleep for a good 30 - 40 minutes while we were waiting in this area.  {Did I mention that at this point he had gone almost 12 hours without milk/food...I was so nervous about a hunger meltdown and thankfully it never happened.}  This was the point where Luke and I started to get (even more) nervous....waiting for them to come and take him to the OR. 

The moment we did have to hand him over was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.  I wanted to just get back in the car and take him home but instead we kissed and hugged him and they quickly walked off with him.  In retrospect it was probably better that it was a quick goodbye but at the time we both felt like we didn't get enough time to love on him.   One of the nurses came back as we were sniffling and crying and probably looking pretty crazy and told us that he was just smiling and looking around as they took him to the OR. 

We had been told that the surgery would last 2 - 3 hours and to our surprise the OR nurse called us every hour to check in and let us know the status of the surgery.  The first call scared us to death - we were sitting in the 'snack room' and they told us to answer the phone if it rang because they were trying to reach us from the OR - I couldn't breathe for a moment until she told us they were just chekcing in.  We did a lot of waiting and talking to our family that was there for support.  Our pastor came up for awhile too and everyone provided such a great distraction.  The first couple of hours flew by - it was amazing.  Hour 3 started to feel long because we knew they would be finishing up soon.  Then we went almost 2 hours without a phone call and at this point it had been 4 hours since the surgery began.  We were told that Davis was fine, they were still working on him and she didn't know when they would be done.  I don't think I have ever felt so vulnerable and it doesn't help that I always have the worst case scenario running through my head. 

Finally after 5 hours the computerized status board changed to show they were 'closing'.  Then, more waiting as we were called to a private room to meet with the surgeon.  Davis was there to have a laparoscopic pyeloplasty but he ended up with 2 additional procedures while in the OR - they found 2 hernias we didn't know about {don't ask me how we didn't know about these - there have been so many pictures of his insides I don't know why we hadn't seen them before} and they fixed his undescended testicle which was attached {sort of?} to one of the hernias.  The surgeon told us he had done fine and we would be called to the PACU soon to see him. We felt immediate relief after talking with Dr. Cisek but were so anxious to actually see our boy - I just wanted to get my hands on him!

When life hands you lemons, to surgery you will go.

At the end of July we made yet another trip to TCH for the nuclear renogram with lasix test for Davis.  The purpose of this test was to measure his kidney function to see how the hydronephrosis was affecting it.  I will begin by saying that it was the worst day of my life thus far.  I know that sounds extreme but it was true.  It is the worst feeling in the world to see your baby helpless and in pain and not be able to do anything about it.  I just wanted to pick him up and hold him but he was literally taped to a table.  The worst part was getting the IV.  At one point he had 4 or 5 nurses all working on him and none of them could get the IV in.  They tried his wrists, the tops of his hands, his feet, and his arms before they finally got it in on his left wrist.  I have never heard my baby cry like that before and I pray to God I will never hear it again.  He wasn't a fan of the sugar water or pacifier and I wouldn't have been either.  After they got the IV in and working it was time to insert the catheter.  My poor boy was getting poked and prodded all over the place.  Once that was done he calmed down and eventually fell asleep on the table watching a Baby Einstein video.

The actual test took about an hour.  They inserted a dye into his system along with the lasix so they could see how his kidneys were working and draining.   Once it was over they unhooked him from everything and sent us on our way.  As soon as they took the IV and catheter out he was smiling and back to his normal happy self. 

The day after my birthday we were back at the urologists office to get the results of the test.  I was hoping and praying to hear that everything looked just fine and there was no need for any further tests or interventions.  The doctor told me that there was definitely something wrong and that we needed to fix it before it caused any permanent damage.  So my sweet boy is scheduled for a laparascopic pyeloplasty later this week.   While I am so grateful for modern medicine that will hopefully be able to 'fix' this problem and to live near one of the biggest medical centers with one of the best children's hospitals, I am also terrified.  We are talking about my baby.  I don't want him to know pain or fear.  My entire purpose is to protect him and I know that is what we are doing by way of this surgery but I can't help but be terrified.  I want to put a bubble around him and us and pretend like we don't know about any of this so we can just go on with our normal lives.  I know in my heart that he will be fine.  I have faith in the doctor performing his surgery and I know we are doing the right thing.  All of that said, I am still scared and I know that Luke is too.  We are about to face the biggest challenge of parenthood so far and one that I never anticipated.  I have done just about all of the 'googling' I can do looking up the surgery, the recovery, the possible complications, etc.  Now I know I have to put the rest in God's hands but I am struggling with how to do that.  Hopefully I will figure it out in the next couple of days.

water fun.

 it is august in texas and it is H-O-T. every year i like the summer a little less and want fall/winter to get here a little earlier. but i wouldn't trade summer afternoons splashing around with these two.  i love that a blow up pool in the backyard can make my kid(s) so incredibly happy.  i know they won't always be so easy to please.  truth be told, a blow up pool in the backyards still makes me pretty happy too.   you can't help but have fun with them splashing around and singing songs.