The first camping trip…

The weekend after Easter was absolutely BEAUTIFUL in Knoxville.  And what is there to do on a beautiful spring weekend when you don’t have any other plans?  Why you should load up the family and go camping!!!!

First, let’s start with a definition.  Camping means different things to different people.  For some, it’s loading up a backpack and walking down the trail until you start running out of daylight.  Then pitch a small tent for the night before hiking on down the trail.  This probably isn’t the best method if you are planning on taking a 5 month old with you.

As a matter of fact, if you are planning on taking a 5 month old, you probably should forget the whole tent idea anyway.  Of course, anybody who knows us already knows that we gave up tent camping after the “bear incident”.  We’ve even moved beyond the pop-up camper.  Yes indeed – our version of camping is to load up the 28 foot rolling hotel.  And our version of “roughing it” is cooking steaks on the grill while baking some potatoes in the microwave and some biscuits in the oven followed by a little dip of ice cream from the freezer.  Yep – it’s rough…

So we loaded up the camper and head up to Norris Dam State Park – one of our favorite spots.  We arrived, got the camper set up, fed Mike, and fed ourselves.  By then, it was time for Mike to go to bed.  He slept like a little angel is his pack-n-play.

Mike’s first night camping!

The next day, Mike woke up in his usual good mood…

 Hey everybody!  I’m camping!

The weather was absolutely fantastic.  We fixed some scrambled eggs, biscuits, and sausage (yep – that’s roughing it!) and decided to work a little bit of that breakfast off by taking a stroll around the campground.  And we decided that Mike, who has now demonstrated his ability to control his head and neck, could ride in the stroller seat (rather than in his car seat attached to the stroller).  He later told us that he likes the new way MUCH better than the old way – he loves looking out at everything going by!

Dude!  I can see out!  This stroller thing might not be so bad after all…

Mom with all her babies – Izzy, Foxy, and Mike!

 

Camping is FUN!

 

After that, we came back to the campsite and relaxed a little.  Mike took a little nap, got to spend some time on Dad’s lap and got to spend some time on Mom’s lap too!  All while looking out at the blooming red-buds and budding trees.

Howdy everybody!

Me and my mommy!

 

  Dude!  Look at that pink tree over there!

 

   The view from our campsite on top of the ridge…

Now – just because we don’t hike in to our campsite, doesn’t mean that we don’t like to take little hikes!  No indeed!  And as it turns out, there is a short little trail that loops around the top of Andrews Ridge that we thought would be perfect to take Mike on.  We’ve been on it enough that I believe the dogs know it by heart.  So dad loaded up Mike in his carrier (would you call it a “front pack”?), gathered up mom and the dogs and headed to the trailhead.

 

Dad and Mike – ready for the hike!

The Andrews Ridge trailhead – one of our favorites!

 

The dogs already know the way…

This is a short little trail, only about 2 miles.  And it’s nice and wide, smooth, not rough terrain and reasonably flat (especially for East Tennessee).  We started of down the trail and Mike would swing his head from one side to the other watching all of the scenery.  He even looked up to see a couple of hawks gliding above.  Then, about half way down the trail, we noticed that he wasn’t looking around any more.  He had fallen asleep!

  Mike says, “Boy, this hiking is HARD work”!

After we got back to camp (and Mike finished his nap), we had some supper and hung out.  Mike was just beginning to wonder what was next when his dad began piling up some wood.  He told Mike, “it just isn’t camping if you don’t have a campfire”.  And Mike loved it!  He set out with mom, dad, and the dogs until he fell asleep.

Mike hanging out in the camping chair!  Soon we will have to get him one that is more his size!!!

Mike and dad sitting by the campfire.

This fire is great – but I’m ready for bed!

Our last day was a little less eventful.  We spent the morning enjoying the beautiful weather before packing up our stuff head heading back home.  It was a fantastic weekend and Mike has told us that he can’t wait to do it again!

 Mike and mom get ready to start the day.

“Man!  I can get used to this!!!”

“Bye everybody!  I hope you can come visit and go camping with me soon!”

Easter in Knoxville

Easter has become our favorite “holiday”.  There are so very many reasons for this – and now we can add some more reasons!

It’s hard having a new baby when all of your (and his!) family live so far away.  You want him to have a close relationship with all of his family – so it’s always extra special when we get to visit…

Friday night, Mike’s “Nan and Pap” arrived.  They were amazed at how much he had grown in just a few short weeks!  Of course, right away they set in to spoiling Mike – and he ate it all up!

Mike and his Nanna

Saturday, we all loaded up and went to the Easter Vigil.  For Catholic’s, the Easter Vigil is considered the “most important” mass of the year.  It is also one of the most beautiful masses and is thick with traditions that date back almost two thousand years.  It really is amazing – and perhaps one day I will try (as best I can) to describe it all…

During the Vigil – Mike got to spend time with our neighbor Maureen – who also happens to help out at the church nursery.  Mike and Maureen hand a wonderful time hanging out (as they usually do!).  By the time we got back home, Mike had a little surprise waiting for him.  Aunt Jennifer, Derrick, and cousins Lucas and Kiersten had decided to come and visit!  It was the first time they had seen Mike.  It’s ALWAYS fun meeting new relatives!  Not long ago, we found out that Kiersten wants to teach Mike how to jump rope and Lucas wants to teach Mike how to spell.  They didn’t have time this weekend – but I’m sure they will get their opportunity!

“Hi Lucas!  I’m Mike!”

Sunday morning we all hung out and had fun.  Lucas and Kiersten finally got to play the Wii (always a hit with the kids – and the adults too!)  That afternoon, we had a nice little Easter ham.  Aunt Jennifer didn’t make us a pecan pie – but we will forgive her (this time…).

Kiersten and Lucas battle on the Wii  

 

 

Yummy!

That afternoon, everyone had to return home.  We sure were glad that they were able to come and visit us!  We had such a wonderful time and can’t wait to do it again soon!

More catching up…

First off – we’ve had some inquiries about Mike’s health.  And we are very happy to say that he is doing MUCH better!  He is still taking some medicine (and I have to say – it tastes pretty darn good!) as a precaution, but other than that – he’s 100%! 

Now back to the catching up.  The weekend before Easter, we had some great friends (Matt, Karen, and their two kids Sara and Nathan) who decided to come and visit!  As it turns out, they were looking for something to do while the kiddo’s were on spring break and they decided to make Knoxville their destination of choice.

Sara and Mike just loved each other.  She would get up in front of him and (in her best Pauly Shore voice) would say “Hey buddy!” and he would just grin and laugh.  For Nathan, it was always “baby” Mike.  Never just Mike (or Michael or Mikey) – always “baby Mike”.  And anytime he walked past, it was always a quick wave with a “Hey baby Mike”.  It was adorable!

Nathan and Sara with “baby Mike”

While they were here, we took Sara and Nathan to Smokey Mountain National Park.  We drove up to Newfound Gap where it was so foggy that you couldn’t see more than about 30 feet in front of you.  So much for the good view!  And the wind was blowing about 20 miles an hour causing the fog to form icicles on the trees.  We stayed long enough to take a bathroom break and head back down into the valley where it was considerably warmer.  We walked a short trail to Laurel Falls – and with the rain we’ve had, the falls were very pretty.

 

Matt, Karen, Sara, and Nathan at Laurel Falls

Of course, we also had to go the the aquarium – what 7 and 4 year old wouldn’t love that!  They were fun to watch – zooming from exhibit to exhibit.  To say that they had fun would certainly be an understatement…

“Look at that one!”

 

The next day was an adventure too!  And this time Mike got to go along.  It was Mike’s first trip to the zoo!  He had a really good time all the way up to the point where he passed out from shear exhaustion.  He is in such an inquisitive stage – he really enjoyed staring out at the animals and trying to figure them out.  He had so much fun that we decided to buy a family membership so we can go back whenever we want!

 Mike and dad with the “Waterbucks” in the background…

It’s always so much fun when friends decide to visit.  It’s the next best thing to living next door!

And a preview of the next post – Mike got to meet some relatives for the first time over Easter!  And the weekend after Easter, Mike had yet another “first” – it seems like April has been full of “firsts” for Mike!  We’ll tell you all about it!!!!!

Sick and Tired

We are still behind on the posts – but this particular entry is all about the here and now.  Don’t worry – we’ll catch you up on all of the folks that have visited us the last couple of weeks (and all the fun we had!) – and Mike’s first trip to the _______.

But today was not about fun and games.  We had noticed that Mike was crankier than normal last night.  We weren’t concerned at all.  Mike had a very busy weekend and his schedule was all out of whack.  This morning he was still very sleepy, but we took him to daycare and thought that everything would be back to normal once he rested up.

But at 3:00 this afternoon we got a call from daycare telling us that Mike had a fever.  We picked him up and sure enough, his face was flushed, he was warm to the touch, and he was REALLY cranky!  Our unofficial parental diagnosis was that Mike was “sick and tired” – literally.  We drove to the pediatrician and if they would have poked and prodded and pricked me as much as they did Mike, I would be cranky too!

They started with the usual battery of “why are you here” questions.  Then we moved out to the scale (he’s up to 12 pounds and 3 ounces!) and the ear thermometer read 101.3 degrees.  We went back to the room to wait for the doctor when the nurse (her name was “Starla”) came back in – the doctor wanted to confirm his temperature with the rectal thermometer.  Starla lubed up the thermometer and took the reading.  Mike patiently waited with a “shouldn’t we have dinner first?” look on his flushed face.  Low and behold, the temperature came back at 101.3 degrees.

The doctor came in and did the whole physical exam - listen to the lungs, look up the nose, look in the ears, look down the throat (wow those tongue depressors look big in his mouth!).  We were scheduled for the 4 month exam this Friday, and the doctor decided “We should go ahead and do the ‘CBC’ today”.  What is a “CBC” you ask?  It’s a Complete Blood Count – but it certainly sounds cooler to say that you had a “CBC” done.

The pricked his finger and BOY he did NOT like that!  Then the nurse had to squeeze his finger until the little vial was filled up.  Then it was off to the lab to conduct the CBC.

About 5 minutes later, the doctor came back in.  Mike’s CBC showed an elevated WBC – I think I’m diggin’ this doctor talk.  The “WBC” – or White Blood cell Count” – should be between roughly 5,000 and 11,000.  Mikes was 22,000.  A temperature and an elevated white blood cell count – the conclusion was that Mike was sick.

The doctor decided to do a chest X-ray.  He’s had a stuffy nose for a little while now, and even though she didn’t hear any congestion in his chest, she wanted to confirm that his lungs were clear and rule out pneumonia.  And while we are at it – let’s stick these swabs up his nose so we can test for the flu and RSV.

The chest X-ray came back clear, and both the swabs came back negative.  The doctor decided on an antibiotic shot in the leg and told us to start him on some Tylenol.

So, the short version is, Mike had a fever and the doctor stuck a thermometer in his ear, a thermometer up his butt, stuck a cold stethoscope all over his chest and back, pricked his finger and drew blood, wooden sticks down his throat, swabs up his nose, doused him in X-ray’s, and gave him a shot in the leg.  And the end result?  Take some Tylenol and we’ll see you tomorrow.  How cliché! 

So – we have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon…

The hiatus is over!

Our apologies to everyone for our extended absence!  Needless to say, we have a lot of ground to cover – so let’s skip the formalities and get right down to business!  We need to update everyone on Mike’s feet!  So let’s start there…

As we mentioned (a month or so ago), Mike’s orthopedic doctor gave us the “ok” to start taking the brace off during the brace and wearing it during “naps and night”.  Needless to say, mom and dad were very worried about this – even with the doctor’s blessing.  Before the tenotomy, Mike’s foot would begin to regress a noticeable amount in 12 hours.  The doctor assured us (several times) that with the tenotomy and 2 months of wearing the brace 24 – 7 that his feet would be fine.

And so we tried it.  For just a few minutes at first.  And I think we spent the entire time obsessively staring at his feet as if they might suddenly spring back.  But low and behold – they stayed in their perfect little position!  And we tried it a little more and a little longer.  And sure enough – no regression!  I guess after all those years of medical school combined with all those years of working in pediatric orthopedics – Doctor Crawford truly did know what he was talking about! 

Mike has absolutely LOVED the time out of his brace.  He kicks and plays and plays and kicks.  And the interesting thing we’ve noticed – now that he gets to have time OUT of the brace, he doesn’t mind so much being IN the brace!  Those crazy kids – you never know what they will think of next…

We have also marveled about how much little babies actually understand.  At four months, Mike knows who mommy is and who daddy is.  He know that “going to school” and “going to see Miss Stacey” means that it’s off to daycare.  All of the wondrous beginnings of communication.  We began to wonder about Mike communicating with us – of course he smiles when he is happy, cries when he is hungry, has a different cry when he is sleepy, and yet another cry for when he is generally mad.

But it is still many months before Mike will be able to say “I’m hungry” instead of simply crying.  Or is it?  Mike’s daycare sent out an email to all of the “baby parents” about a class they would be hosting called “Wee Hands”.  It’s a class about teaching babies sign language.  We signed up – and so far it’s been a wonderful experience!  Mike doesn’t have the motor skills yet to sign on his own – but he watches us intently when we sign to him.  Our teacher has an 8 month old who has began signing – and our hope is that in the next 4 months, Mike will do the same!  And there is a girl in our class who just turned one – and she now knows more ASL words than she does spoken words.  It really is amazing to watch her “talk” to her mom and big sister!

As of right now, mom and dad have nearly a 100 word vocabulary.  Of course, we aren’t expecting 100 words from Mike anytime soon.  But our focus is going to be on 10 words that mom and dad want and 10 words that Mike wants.  We haven’t settled on all of the words yet, but here’s what we have so far.  Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Grandpa, hungry, eat, more, milk, dog, please, thank you, change diaper, toy, and play.  That should get us started!

So that’s the “beginning” of our update.  There are still several things to share.  Don’t worry, I’m keeping a list so I won’t forget to share!

It was bound to happen…

He certainly can’t help it.  After all, Mike’s dad is a Hoosier who still thinks Bobby Knight is King of the round ball.  And Mike’s mom grew up in Kentucky watching Adolf Rupp and Joe B. Hall run the show in Lexington.  And we also have the fact that Mike’s mom and dad bought him a Tennessee season basketball ticket before he was born – and he actually attended several of the games this year.

Yep – it was bound to happen.  Mike is a basketball fan through and through.

How can we be so sure?  Because of the television of course!

The NCAA basketball tournament began yesterday and we’ve had the television tuned in periodically.  And when Mike is awake, regardless of whether he is in his swing, in his bouncy seat, on his play mat, in his bumbo seat, or even if he is in our arms being fed – if a game is on, he is bending over backwards to try and watch it.

And I understand that some of you might believe that he would watch anything that is on.  But believe us – he only watches basketball.  Break for commercial and he turns away from the TV until play resumes.  The evening news?  No interest at all.  Oprah at 4?  Not a chance.  It’s round ball or nothing for Mike!

So if you are firmly in the grip of “March Madness” – feel free to consult with Mike.  He’ll be more than willing to watch with you all day long!

Mike and his dad watching the Vols beat San Diego State

The things we say

There are a lot of things we say that are due to the influences of other people.  I’m not talking about “peer pressure” or anything like that.  I’m talking about the interactions between parents and their children!  It turns out that there are many things that we say that we’ve learned from the children of our friends and family.

This is certainly not a complete list.  But some examples are – we still call a hot dog “hot goo”.  And every time we get on an escalator, we say “nana go up down”.  Or every time someone sneezes, we say “hess you”.  We are likely to call our dogs “goggies – BIG goggies”!  And when the mosquitoes swarm around us in the backyard, we’ll say “these bugs are getting me”.  We still call turkey’s “big chickens” at Thanksgiving.  Most recently, when we eat something hot (like the jalapeno Doritos that I just tried) we will say “my Doritos – they are stinging me”.   

There are many more, but one of our favorites is “Go Vols”!

Of course, the phrase itself is simply a way to cheer on your team and is yelled out my adults and children alike.  But in our case, we’ve begun to use it as other forms of speech.  For example, a common exchange between us in the evenings is “Is Mike asleep?  Yep – he’s sleeping in the ‘go Vols’ position”, which is laying on his back with his hands over his head in the “touchdown” pose.

And where in the heck did we get that from?

A couple of years ago, the “quad squad” parents taught all of the kiddos to raise their hands over their heads in the “touchdown” position and say “GO VOLS”!  It was the most adorable thing! 

They say that you should be careful what your say because your children will repeat it.  But we are living proof that the adults are just as likely to repeat what the children say!

A visit to the Orthopedic doctor

Today was the big day.  Another “follow up” visit with the orthopedic surgeon.  We’ve been worried about it for a while.  Not worried because we thought something was wrong.  But worried because we are parents.  “Have we really been getting the shoe strap tight enough”?  “What about the laces”?  “What about those times when we accidentally buckled the shoe with the sock wrinkled underneath”?

And then there has been all of our detailed observations of his foot.  “Is his pressure point healing ok”?  “Do you think this foot looks different?”  “What about his toes”?  “Does this heel look right”?  “Is that a bruise”?  And so on and so on it would continue until bath time was over and the brace went back on.  Even though Mike’s club foot correction has really gone remarkably well (with the exception of the two weeks before the tenotomy), it took remarkably little to convince us that things were surely going awry.  And as the appointment with Dr. Crawford approached, the more convinced we were that Mike’s prognosis wasn’t really great (it was merely good – or maybe it wasn’t even good, probably not even mediocre – in fact, the prognosis will most likely be bad – or maybe even horrible).

So – here it goes.  Today is the day.  Time to load up and head out to see Dr. Crawford.  We arrived at his office, signed in, and waited for our name to be called.  A short 2 minutes later, we were following the nurse back to the examination room.  She tells us to go ahead and take the brace off and that Dr. Crawford will be in shortly.  By “shortly”, she meant 30 seconds. 

Dr. Crawford walks in the room – and for a fraction of a second, our over active imaginations were convinced that we would be heading directly over to Children’s Hospital for a complete foot re-construction surgery.  Dr. Crawford walks over to the table where Mike was lying.  He holds his little foot in his hand, takes a breath, opens his mouth – here it comes – he’s going to tell us that we’ve been horrible parents and have been doing it all wrong - “why have you been putting his brace on backwards”?

ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!!!!!!  Here it comes!  What is he going to say??!?!?!?!??!?!?

“WOW!  His feet look FANTASTIC!  I mean, they look really, really good!  And both feet are so supple – no pronation.  They look great!”

Whew – that’s a relief!

And we would have been happy with just that information.  We had a few questions that we were wanting to ask Dr. Crawford, and he quizzed us on how things had been going.  And then he dropped the big bomb on us.

“Since Mike’s feet are so supple and aren’t showing any stiffness at all – I think it’s ok for him to start having a little time out of the brace during the day”. 

What?  No more 24 1/2 hours a day?  He can spend some time with his little feet free?

And as excited as we were about this – there simply aren’t words for how excited Mike is.  Up till now, his absolute FAVORITE time of day was right before his bath when we would take his brace off and let him play and kick for a few minutes.  There is simply no other time of day where he laughs as much, “talks” as much, wiggles as much, or has as much fun as he has during that 15 minutes.  And now that 15 minutes gets to be stretched out to HOURS at a time!  It makes me smile just thinking about it…

Our first road trip…

Ok – so it’s not our first road trip ever.  But it is our first road trip since we’ve been parents!  And let me tell you – we really had no idea what to expect.  We’ve heard stories that go all the way from “it was nothing” all the way to “our 30 minute drive took us 3 hours”.  Yikes!

So our first trip – we decided that it should probably be somewhere reasonably close.  Our closest family is Aunt Diane, Uncle Jessie, and cousins Anthony, Jessica, and Amber.  It’s about a 3 1/2 hour drive (or at least it used to be) up into Kentucky…

We started by packing things up.  We’ve learned from other folks.  The biggest advice we got was “on our first road trip we packed everything but the kitchen sink – and we didn’t need 99% of it”.  So we packed light.  It was only a weekend trip after all.  For Mike, it was a small bag with plenty of clothes, and overstuffed diaper bag (packing light is one thing – running out of diapers is another!), the Pak-N-Play to sleep in, bottles, and pumping supplies.  For the dogs, it was beds, food, treats, and leashes.  For mom and dad, it was simply clothes.  And that was it!  We nearly packed as much for the dogs as we did for Mike!

And Mike was a really good boy.  He let us tie him into the car seat and drag him all over creation.  And if you only knew how much he doesn’t like the car seat – you would be amazed!  Not once did he get fussy until we were nearly back home.  He was such a trooper!

So – how long did it take us to make the 3 1/2 hour drive?  Believe it or not, it only took us 3 1/2 hours to get there and 3 1/2 hours to get back!  And it was worth it all just to see little Mike and his cousin Amber (who is just a couple of months older) playing around!  And now that we’ve had a successful trip – beware!  We might be planning a world tour that includes a city near you!

 

 Mike and Amber say “HI!”

The pictures are in

What a day it has been.  And it has all been “mostly” good.

As a matter of fact, the only thing that wasn’t good today was the weather!  Another cold day.  We even had snow flurries again.  They say that spring is right around the corner, but the majority of days next week they are forecasting highs in the 30’s.  If we could just get up to our average (55 for this time of year)…

But enough about that!  This was a good day!  The day started out with a trip to buy our “outlive” shirts and pick up our pictures!  First, here’s the scoop on the outlive shirts…

A couple of years ago, the University of Tennessee had a basketball player named Chris Lofton (the UT and SEC all time 3-point scorer).  He failed a random drug test after the 2007 NCAA tournament.  But it wasn’t drugs, the failed test turned out to be the result of a tumor marker.  And not wanting any additional attention, he decided to undergo the cancer treatments in “secret” all while playing through his senior season.  None of his team mates knew.  None of the fans knew.  Only his parents, the head coach, and a few university officials knew.  He battled – both on and off the court, beat cancer, and graduated on time.  Then, last year, he teamed up with coach Bruce Pearl and UT Hospital Cancer Institute to start the “oUTlive” program to raise money for cancer research and screenings.  This year (so far), the program has raised more than $130,000 and almost $250,000 since the program started.  All we can say is “Thank You Chris!”.  We enjoyed watching you play, and we are touched by your continued support in this community.  Congratulations on being diagnosed “cancer free” – and we look forward to supporting this program for many more years.

So – we have our orange outlive t-shirts in hand.  Where should we wear them?  Why to the basketball game against Kentucky!  We were there with 22,000 of our friends – all doning our outlive shirts as we welcomed the number 2 team in the country to our town.  Kentucky took the early lead (4 to 0) – but that was the last lead they would have.  And it wasn’t close for almost the entire game.  They did tie it up 65 – 65, but in they end, we pulled away – scoring the last 9 points of the game and winning 74 to 65.  And since we won - beating a college basketball dynasty – I’ll gloat just a little.  Kentucky is arguably one of the best college basketball programs ever.  But which team has handed Kentucky more losses than any other?  Tennessee…  And this year, today (after Oklahoma State beat Kansas), the number 1 and number 2 teams in the country have combined for 4 losses – 2 of them came from Tennessee.

Now – on to the pictures!  Remember that last Sunday, we all loaded up and went to have our pictures taken.  We had decided on Megan Parker Photography (www.meganparkerphoto.com) and we absolutely LOVED IT!  For those of you in Knoxville – her studio is right off of Calahan Road – about 1/4 mile from the “Bounce House” (for those of you with kids) and about 1/2 mile from UPS.  If you are thinking about having pictures made – you should certainly give her a call.  And if you would like to check out some of her work – it just so happens that we picked up our pictures today!  47 pictures in all.  Which is WAY too many to put here in the blog!  But here’s one for you..

 

What?  One picture isn’t enough?  Never fear!  We uploaded all of them to the Kodak Gallery.  You can click here and see them all!

 

 

 

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=490097729308%3A196768046&cm_mmc=site_email-_-new_site_share-_-core-_-View_photos_button

A poop of epic proportions!

Most “pee” stories are gender specific.  Mike has many “pee” stories that we love sharing with other parents (like laying on the changing table at daycare and shooting the fountain of youth straight into the sink!  Ol’ faithful is like a firearm – always considered it loaded and ready to shoot!).  And parents of little girls have “pee” stories too – just as fun to tell, but slightly different than the boy “pee” stories.

But all parents can relate to “poo” stories!  And everyone has a story like the one that happened to us tonight…

Mike was sitting on mom’s lap when he starting getting a little fussy.  All the signs were there, waving his arms, pulling his knees to his chest – we knew that the gas pressure was building.  Then all of a sudden, the small cries suddenly stopped.  Mike froze, holding his breath, arms in mid flail, not moving a muscle.  Then mom exclaims, “Oh my gosh”!  Then dad asks the usual follow-up question “gas or poo?”

“Poo”, replies mom.  At this point, we would simply change the diaper and one would ask the other “was it a small, medium, or large”.  But not this time. 

Instead – mom says, “Wow – it’s still coming out”!  Slight pause.  “Oh my gosh!  It’s still coming!”  Slight pause – Mike still frozen in place.  “He’s still going!”  Slight pause.  “Holy cow!  Is he going to stop?”  Another pause – Mike’s face is really turning red now.  “Uh oh – we may have a blow out.”  Slight pause.  “Yep – definitely a blow out”.  Pause.  “I hope he stops soon!” 

After what seemed like 20 minutes, Mike finally started moving again.  Sure enough, the diaper had leaked.  And it was in no way the diaper’s fault!  Take a look at how small a “size 1” diaper is.  Even with the modern advancements in absorbency technology – it’s not going to hold five gallons of anything.

So there it goes.  Out the legs.  Out over the waistband.  Through the white onesie.  Through the shirt.  Through the overalls.  Yep, that’s three layers of clothing!  And the bottom layer (that poor onesie) had more “dirty” area than “clean” area!  This will give all new meaning to “spot remover”.

Then it was time to bring out the wipes.  Starting with the little baby butt (of course you need to clean there!).  Then move on down the legs.  The backs of the knees.  All up the back.  Is that poo on your shoulder?  Are you kidding?  How did it get on your stomach?  In your bellybutton?  Really?

If you have kids, you know EXACTLY what we are talking about.  And right now you are saying, “I remember that day when…”

If you don’t have kids then you are wondering how anybody in their right mind could write so much about “poo”.

Pictures of us!

We’ve taken a LOT of pictures in the three months since Mike’s birth.  And I really mean A LOT!  Hundreds and hundreds.  And some of them have even turned out pretty good!

But today we collected on our Christmas present to each other.  For Christmas this year, with our limited shopping availability, we decided to go get some pictures of the the three of us as a new family!  We did some research and settled on Megan Parker Photography.  She specializes in photographs of little babies and families – and when we took a look at some of her work, we were sold.  We called her right away, and made an appointment.

We walked in to her studio this afternoon and were amazed at how good she was with Mike.  It really does take a special talent to pose a 3 month old and be able to grab the camera in time and snap off some pictures before the baby decides to do something else!  But Megan did it time and time again with Mike – and he even seemed to enjoy it!  I should have known that he would be a little flirt.

So Megan is working on the pictures now and hopefully we will be picking some out later this week.  What?  You don’t want to wait until later this week to see some of the photos?  Well guess what – you are in luck!  Just click here to see 6 of Mike’s proofs.  And yes – those are REAL bunnies! 

Thank you Megan!  We really did have a fantastic time today – and the pictures are GREAT!!!

The first cold…

How ironic.  I can’t say that we are having “record cold” in Knoxville.  But I can say that our high today (33 degrees) was almost 20 degrees below our average temperature for this time of year (52 degrees).  And it’s true that most of the people we know live at a more northern latitude and they might even be envious of the temperature.  But we moved further south for a reason – and 20 degrees below normal during the winter was NOT it!  And this isn’t some “one time deal” either – it’s been this way for a couple of weeks now.

So it’s only fitting that Mike gets his first cold during this “cold streak”!  Poor little thing – he’s got it all.  Runny nose, cough, sneezing – even watery eyes.  He’s been unusually fussy and didn’t sleep well last night.  All of this AND he got a round of shots two days ago.  The shots didn’t cause the problems, they just came at a bad time.

But like most things – there is a silver lining in this cloud.  He visited his doctor today (and he really likes to visit her!).  They did an RSV test (currently making it’s rounds in Knoxville) and it came back negative.  So, al we’ve go is a little cold (both Mike AND the weather!)

And we even had a “first” with the brace tonight.  It was one of those “Oh my gosh – can you believe this?” moments.  We took the brace off to give Mike a bath.  Mike and mommy played a little while daddy ran the bath water.  Then it was a few minutes at the baby spa followed by a quick bath.  We dried him off, put on his diaper, put on his socks and prepared to put on the brace.

So let’s pause the story for a minute.  Remember that Mike is sick.  He’s been cranky.  He’s had shots, we’ve been squirting saline up his nose (he REALY doesn’t like that!).  Not to mention that we still hold our breaths, cross our fingers, and say a little prayer every time we start putting on the brace – even though he hasn’t had ANY trouble since his surgery.

Now back to the story.  We prepared to put on the brace (breath held?  check.  fingers crossed?  check.  prayer prayed?  check.) and while we were putting on the first shoe, Mike actually fell asleep!  Somewhere between tightening the strap and tying the laces – he actually fell asleep.  We looked at each other – then looked back at Mike – then looked back at each other and both said “I don’t believe it”.  And he continued to sleep while we put on the second shoe.  And continued to sleep while we fastened them to the brace (which is the biggest surprise of all).

So today marks the end of the first week of the brace.  And I think we are getting less and less afraid of it every day!

 

Mike smiles and says “Hi everybody!” while his mom steals some kisses before bath time.

First days with the brace…

Last Thursday morning, Mike had his casts removed.  A few short minutes later, we were strapping the brace back on.  Worried?  Yep.  Nervous?  Yep.  Anxious?  Yep.  Optimistic?  Yep – that too!

It only took a few minutes to cut the casts off (he still LOVES the sound of the saw!).  And a few short seconds after that, he quickly discovered that he could bend his legs and kick his feet.  The doctor came in to the room and took a look at his feet – and they earned a glowing report!  “Wow – those feet look great!  The are beautiful!  We couldn’t ask for better results!” 

Obviously, that made us feel better.  We spent another few minutes chatting with the doctor, shook hands, and he left us in the room.  Just the three of us.  Mom.  Dad.  Mike.  And the brace (which has been called many other name – none of them are nice…)

So we hunkered down.  Unlaced the shoes, and began our task of putting Mike in the brace.  He laid patiently on the table, looking up at us with a “what are you guys worried about” look on his face.  We slipped his foot into the first shoe, buckled and tied it.  All without a peep from Mike!  Then we slipped his other foot into the second shoe, buckled and tied it.  Again – not a peep!  Then we attached them to the bar.  His feet were SO much easier to get into position!  There was absolutely no problems at all – and Mike took it all in stride.

But we were still apprehensive.   After all, this was still just the first time putting the brace back on.  And it had only been a few minutes.  Not wanting to count our chickens before they hatch, we decided to reserved our judgment until we had a few more opportunities with the brace.

The first came Thursday night.  Remember that Mike had the same cast on for the past three weeks.  For those of you who have never had an infant in casts (especially a boy!) – you can’t imagine how many times he peed down the inside of the cast.  And don’t forget the poop!  So his little legs were certainly ready for a bath.  Off with the brace – and the feet still looking good!  A few minutes at the baby spa and he came out smelling like a rose!  Put on some pajamas – and then back to the brace.  First one foot – then the other foot – then the bar – and Mike didn’t care one single bit!  Maybe things were looking up – but after our last experience, we were still hesitant…

Friday night was much of the same routine – ending with getting Mike in his pajamas and then on with the brace.  Again – no problems!  Saturday night – same routine – same outcome!  Maybe we could begin to relax.  Or maybe we should wait one more day…

Sunday – Valentines day.  This could be the day.  A bath, dress in pajamas, and no problems with the brace!  And now we are starting to breath a little easier…

Not only that – but Mike’s personality has continued to be nearly angelic.  Those bright blue eyes and smiling face are such a contrast to the red-faced screaming that accompanied “round one” with the brace. 

We can still see a little “dimple” in his heel from the pressure point he had before the surgery – and we are keeping a VERY close eye on it to make sure it continues to heal and not get worse.  But so far, so good!  And as of right now, we have no causes for concern!

And in celebration of Saint Valentine’s Day – we’ll leave you with a picture!  The bag is from Mike’s pre-school where he collected Valentines from all of his classmates.  And his shirt does indeed say “my 1st valentine”!

 

 Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!!!

The last night with the casts!

This is it!  Less than 12 hours from now – the next chapter in the club foot saga begins.

Tomorrow morning, Mike goes back to the orthopedic surgeon to have his casts removed.  It’s almost sad when you get to see how much fun he has with them.  I know how that sounds – like we are some sort of demented parents.  But it really is true!  We’ve mentioned several times about how Mike has enjoyed “clacking” his casts together and how we were using that as a measure of how his heel no longer hurt.  But little did we know how much he enjoyed it, or how often he really did it, or how hard he really did it, or how little his heel must bother him.  Tonight, while we were having a little party to celebrate the last night with the casts, we noticed that while his left heel was making the familiar “clack”, the right heel was making a dull “thud”.  This was a new development – and as it turns out, Mike has pulverized the plaster in the heel of his right cast!  Now when he tries to “clack” it, all he gets is the “thud” of the cotton padding underneath.  I guess it’s a good thing that they are coming off tomorrow!

So, how do you celebrate with an 11 week old on the eve of getting his casts removed?  I don’t think there is anything in our “new baby instruction manual” about it, so here’s what we did…

We started the evening with a feeding.  And, of course, we put Mike’s favorite “I’m the boss” bib on…

 

That’s right – read it and weep!

Then, after a little supper, we enjoyed some time on the mat…

 

My mat is SO cool!

Watch me “clack” my casts together!

Then we spent a little time in the “Bumbo” seat…

 

I love this seat!  And check out my cool rattle!

 

 

 

And after all of that playing – it was time for Mike to pay a little visit to the sandman…

 

All of this playing sure is hard work…

And now Mike is in his bed, sound asleep.  Tomorrow is going to be a big day.  Not because of the cast removal.  We’ve been through that enough to know that it’s a piece of cake.  But after the casts come off, the Dennis Brown Brace goes back on.  And that makes us a little apprehensive (considering how it went the last time…).  But everyone (both doctors and folks that have been through this very thing) has told us that the DBB won’t be any problem at all after the tenotomy.  But we are apprehensive nonetheless.  So be keeping us in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow!  And we will let you know how Mike reacts to his first day back in the brace…