2 Months

Little Elliot hit 2 months old this week. Yesterday we had his check up which went great. E impressed the nurses and Dr. with his chunkiness. He even took his shots like a champ! He weighed in at 14 lbs 6 oz and has stretched out to 24 1/2 inches, putting him in the 95% for both categories. I guess with those types of stats I shouldn't be surprised that he is already moving into his 3-6 month clothes! I was able to talk to the dr. (who was my pediatrician when I was little, and hasn't changed one bit its kind of scary!) about his kidney issues and was told that there is a urologist in town that works with infants and is very familiar with the situation and the tests we've run. That was such a relief to know that we don't have to drive over an hour to see a urologist. Love it!

Elliot has been such a riot lately. He is really into mobiles and laughing at them. There is no sweeter sound that his cooing and giggling. I don't get much done when he is in a good mood because I just like to watch his wonderment. His hands have become his favorite toys. They are constantly being chewed on. He is sleeping well at night fairly consistently which has been wonderful. Now I just have to train myself to sleep through the night again and life will be grand! He generally will go from 9pm to 4am then is up again between 6 and 7am.

His second month has been far more quite than his first. I have time to really enjoy being a mom. Although we are about to kick life into high gear again as we are closing on a new house on Monday. The house needs a lot of help, inside and out. So with all that we've been through in the last two months we figured why not throw a renovation in there too?!? When we get into the house next week I'll take some more pictures to do a fun (read: gross) before tour of the place. But we are pretty excited to get it the way we want, we'll have lots of space inside with a good size yard in the location we want!

My two little loves:

Kidney Update

Just wanted to write an update on E's trip to the doctor for his kidney check up. The day went so much better than our last visit which we are so thankful for! We started out in the Pediatric department to get his iv and catheter in and he didn't make a peep through any of it and totally charmed the nurses! Then went down to radiology and put him on the xray bed all comfy on a pillow and blanket and he threw a fit - go figure! But for that test they pumped a dye into his bladder through the catheter and took xrays to watch the bladder fill then removed the catheter to watch everything flow out. The radiologist told us right away that everything looked great on that side of things (meaning there was no reflux where the urine is going back up past his bladder instead of just down and out) so that was good to know right away. Then it was off to Nuclear Medicine (that was an intimidating area of the hospital just because of the name!) For this test they put a radioactive dye into his iv and he had to lay very still for half and hour while a special camera/xray thingy took a picture every few seconds. This showed how the kidneys were functioning. So it maps the kidneys processing the dye and sending it out to the bladder. He did remarkably well for this one as well. threw a fit right away but that was good because it put him to sleep for most of it! Thankfully we got to be right with him through it all and B even got to watch ESPN for some of it. The nurses down there were so nice and called up to see if we could get in to see Dr. K the urologist sooner and they got it so we could go up immediately instead of waiting around another two and a half hours until our scheduled apt.! Dr. K looked at the results and was pleased with the first test but the second one showed that there is still issues with his kindeys.  The left one is functioning at a decent level (still not where a normal one would be, but he isn't too concerned with it) the right one isn't behaving itself. He described it as sluggish. So he isn't concerned enough to do surgery just yet, but we need to have the tests done again in three months to see if the kidneys are just immature or if there is a larger problem. If things don't correct themselves in three months we do more tests to find out exactly where the blockage is and then go in and move some things around and rearrange his piping. So we'll just keep praying for his body to keep maturing and that these issues will resolve.

By the time we got home little man just wanted to sleep the rest of the day he was so worn out.

 Here he is checking out his new chair we got him.

Just Hanging Out

Hey all, sorry we've been so quiet on the blog front but I've been hanging out with this little dude. Well that doesn't  really accurately describe it. A few days after Elliot was born Bryce accepted a job back in our hometown. So its been a blur of trying to learn this new mom thing, selling our house, looking for a house back home, packing up the house, wrapping up our jobs, all while sleep deprived! So please excuse the lack of cute baby pictures for now, when life settles down I'll be sure to bombard you with images of the most adorable little man I have ever given birth to!

   For now here is little man ready for his first walk outside in the big beautiful world!

Elliot Bryce

I don't really know how to start posts when it isn't a baby countdown anymore. But I am sure glad that this little man finally decided to makes his appearance. 

Allow me to introduce to you Elliot. 

He was born on January 7th, following his mom's footsteps and arriving four days late. He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz (which he was already up to 8 lbs 9 oz at five days old!) and 20 inches long. I know most people say I can't believe he is a week old already, but for me I can't believe that he is only a week old! There has been so much packed into his little life already that it seems that we have had him for a lot longer. And this little face is why its taken me so long to write anything on here. Everything he does is adorable. Well maybe a little less adorable at 4 am in the morning when we still haven't slept yet, but still cute beyond words!

At the hospital I mentioned to the nurse that my doctor had wanted a follow up ultrasound on his kidneys to check out if things have resolved themselves. They ran countless tests, which his heels still show the marks of. When they got the ultrasound done it was found that both kidneys are still dilated and the reason is still unclear. This news was followed by the news that there is concern that one of his eyes wanders a bit too much and that a trip to a larger city over an hour away to meet with specialists was going to happen this week. I don't think Elliot liked the news so he went on a nursing strike and decided he didn't need to eat anything, which isn't so good when there is concern for the kidneys, if nothing goes in nothing comes out and doctors don't really like that. So we won an extra long stay at the hospital with an iv started in his little hand.

We got discharged on Tuesday afternoon (which was such a relief as they were saying we would probably not release us until Wednesday morning when we had to leave for our appointments) and had an afternoon to try to sort out life and get to know our little man. Wednesday came way too soon, and after no sleep we got in the car after the first ice/snow storm of the season and took Elliot on his first road trip at 4 days old. He actually had a lot of firsts that day, a lot that I wasn't really planning on having that early, but what can you do?

Our first appointment was with an eye doctor, who after a lot of confusion with the nurse finally realized we weren't really concerned parents that take their 4 day old baby an hour and a half away for their first eye check but were indeed sent by our hospital, took a quick look and said that things look anatomically correct and that we can't know if the eye is really wandering until he is a few months old, so schedule another appointment later. Great, thank you mr. pediatrician for sending us on a useless mission. After that E had his first Target trip and fast food stop, where he had his first complete diaper explosion going through all the extra clothes I brought for him. We finally made it over to the clinic to see a pediatric urologist. Again we were met with confusion. Apparently he hadn't even looked at the ultrasound results mr. pediatrician had sent to him and was apparently consulting with. We were told that we have to do tests but can't do them until later, and may have to redo them again down the road because he is so young. Frustrated we left and headed home. We wasted our first day home as a family to be told no answers. 

The rest of the week has gone better. My mom came out Wednesday night and was so helpful to have here! She kept us well fed, and rested and made sure the house kept going so I just got to focus on little man. Friday night the rest of my family came out to meet Elliot and we had a great time hanging out with them as well. Bryce's parents came for the second half of the weekend. Elliot was well snuggled and loved throughout the weekend, thats for sure!

Elliot has been a joy to have at home. We have nights and days switched around which has been hard, and makes for some really long nights. I keep trying to remind myself that it will pass and soon he will be sleeping through the night, but to keep enjoying the all the time I get to snuggle him during the nights. He definitely is a little cuddle bug, right now he and Bryce are stretched out on the recliner watching the football game together. This week will be an adventure, Bryce goes back to work and I will start taking care of him on my own. Not going to lie, that scares me. But we are looking forward to hopefully getting some sort of schedule down. 

Hopefully soon I'll get around to writing out his birth story but I hope this recap of E's life thus far and some adorable pictures will keep you satisfied for now!

Pregnancy Thoughts - Week 40

40 Weeks - ??? days to go

My dearest Little One,

It is January 3rd, 2012. This is a date that has been engraved in my head for months now, I've dreamed about this date speeding to me and have wanted to slow down time to not get here too. This is the day that means you are probably about ready to come out and meet me and Daddy. You aren't here yet, and so instead of snuggling you close this morning I allowed Bentley (who you are going to love when you grow up, I already know you guys are going to get into trouble together!) to jump up on the couch with me so I have someone to lay in my lap. I wanted to write you to tell you how much  I just can't wait to see you, to see your sweet face, kiss your little toes, and feel your little fingers grasp mine for the first time. Daddy and I are all ready for you. Just yesterday we got a beautiful little cradle for you to sleep in (and I really do put emphasis on sleep!) made by your Grandpa just for you. And Mammau sent a cozy Mockey for you cuddle close when you get sleepy. There are so many people ready to see you and love you. You will be so blessed by all your grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and your cousins. 

  In the months since we found out that you were going to join our family your Dad and I have been dreaming about what life will be like when you come. I know life will be so different, but in the most wonderful way! You have made me a mom, and even though I don't fully understand the depth of this new role yet I can't wait to learn! One of the things I've loved the most in the last couple of months is watching you move inside of me. You like to dance around in me. At times it feels like you are an octopus, you can kick and punch me in so many different places at once, it is quite impressive! I like to chase you around and I'm pretty sure you don't really like it! When you stick your little butt out and tap it until you move it to another spot and then you stick your knees and I chase those too. You don't really like people touching you, but it makes me smile. Sometimes it seems like you want just me to know you are there. Whenever someone tries to get you to move or talks to you, you go completely still. So I will keep you all to myself for a little while longer. But my little dear-heart, please come out and play.

Lil' Crony

No this isn't an announcement that Baby is here and we named him Crony. It is just a time to say I finally finished the baby blanket I was working on for Baby. ( I didn't bother ironing it, so ignore those wrinkles!) 

Here's a close up of the blanket. 

The Lil' Crony comes from my long time friendship with these girls. We've been together since high school when we dubbed ourselves The Cronies (lifelong friends) . These are the girls that I laughed, cried, hugged, boy-bashed, ate countless meals at Perkins, and all sorts of other stupid things with. Things have changed a little bit since high school. All four of us are married and there are 6 kids and 2 on the way between all of us. Rachel and Karla (bottom and on the right) both had babies this summer and so I had made these blankets for them. Then shortly after, I found out I was pregnant and then Rondi announced she was going to have another little one too, so of course there were two more blankets to be made. We will all have a little baby within 8 months of each other! How much fun is that!! Love these girls and so excited to join in on the motherhood adventures with them!

  For your viewing pleasure here is Lil' Crony Baby T wrapped up in his blanket on his way home from the hospital

And Lil' Crony Baby D ready for his first adventure outside!

I can't wait to wrap up my own baby up in the blanket and see Rondi's babe too (shes due two weeks after me, so really could be any day!)

Thank you girls for so many wonderful memories (and even the not so great ones) I treasure your friendship, support, advise, and all of the many ways you've blessed my life!