Thursday, February 25, 2010

An evil gremlin has crawled inside of my body

At 3:00 this morning I was awoken by an evil gremlin crawling inside of my body.  I have spent the hours since then trying to get him OUT.  I don't think I have managed to do it yet.

Honestly, I don't think I have ever puked this hard in my life.  My eyeballs hurt.

Truman's daycare provider called to tell me that she had been invaded as well and apparently another little girl also was experiencing the evil gremlin.  Somehow, magically, Truman has not gotten it.  KNOCK ON WOOD.  If he caught this bug, I think we would end up in the hospital.  We can't afford for him to not be able to eat/drink.

I managed a saltine and a glass of Sprite.  Let's see if the gremlin likes it.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Horrible Mother Example #1023

Scout is sick.  And I didn't believe her.  Again.

The main problem is that she is a bit of a drama queen (I wonder where she got that from?)  So she tends to be a bit bigger than life when she talks about anything, including being sick.

She had a sleepover on Saturday which led to very grumpy Sunday which then led to a "I can't sleep" night which directly entered into "I have a stomachache morning" and then a random vomit.  So, I shipped her off to my in-laws with a no TV, no Wii rule because I really thought she was faking.

Then I got the call from the mother of the girl she had the sleepover with...and she has strep throat.

I bowed my head an whispered a quick prayer..."PleaseGodletherbefinewhenIgethomefromworksoIdon'tfeellikeareallycrappymotheramen."

I don't think God understands my mumbles.

She has a fever, she has a bright red throat covered in ew inducing puss pockets.  She has now slept for the entire day.  She has strep throat.

So, I have proven once again that I am a horrible mother who shouldn't be trusted with my children.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

He is all boy...

Truman has a new word.

Poop.

He says it then he grins like crazy.

I knew that the moment was coming.  I knew when I saw his little thing on the sonogram.  But, I didn't realize how early it started.

Poop.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Future lawyer?

My daughter Scout has an answer for everything.  If she gets caught doing something that she isn't supposed to be doing she has a quick response in her back pocket that usually makes me stop and have to change directions.  She has caught me a few times and I have ended up blubbering the stereotypical "because I'm the mom...that's why" excuse.

Last night I went to check on her about 30 minutes after lights out.  I noticed a thin line of light coming from under her door.  As I approached the door the light suddenly went out.  When I went into the room she was sitting up in bed, in the dark, with two books.  She looked up and because it was dark I couldn't read the expression on her face.  So I simply said, "Scout, what are you doing?"

Her response?

"I was checking to see if I can read in the dark.  I can't.  Good to know.  Goodnight!"

Then she laid down and closed her eyes.

I really didn't have anything to say after that.  I guess I could have busted her on the light that I saw.  I also could have yelled at her for disobeying and then basically lying about it...

But the kid was reading AND she came up with a smart come back.  I was actually I little proud.  So I closed the door and walked away with a grin on my face.

I think I see her standing in front of a courtroom someday.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Anyone need a great daycare provider??

Truman's daycare provider has an opening!  He is at Prairie Pond Daycare...a home daycare that is run by Margaret Hurst.  She is AMAZING!!!

I just knew when I met her that we were a match.  She is a former midwife who also taught at an environmental alternative high school in Iowa.  Her husband is a professor of film at KU.  She has two kids of her own, one in college and one is a senior.

The actual daycare takes up the full basement of her home.  She has activity centers and spends a great deal of time with educational opportunities.  She is an environmentalist and her daycare is actually named for the large pond that she has in her backyard.  The pond is a daycare learning tool.  She is able to show the cycle of life, plant forms, etc.  (Don't worry...it is safely behind a fence that the kiddos can't get into!)

She keeps the daycare small to have the opportunity to be one-on-one as much as possible.  Right now she has Truman, a 2 year old girl, and a 2 1/2 year old boy.  She will be adding a 4 month old the end of March and a 4 year old in April.  She serves amazingly helpful and kid friendly meals.  She is super understanding of whatever "mommy" quirks you might have and is flexible and cares to make you feel like your rules are her rules.

If you are interested in getting more info just leave me a comment or shoot me an email.  I'm happy to give you more and her phone number etc.

tiny-k Great Day!

Truman had his physical therapy today through tiny-k Early Intervention and he had an amazing day!  It was so incredible to watch.

He pulled up from a sitting position by using me to crawl up.  It was awesome.  He turned toward me, grabbed my pant leg and then worked his feet underneath him and was able to push/pull himself up to standing.  He did it TWICE!  So now we know he can do it and mommy needs to be more tough and not let him whine his way into me standing him up.

He also stood for over 10 minutes holding onto something.  He started to practice "cruising" by moving his hands and feet.  He also spent a good 15 minutes standing/walking with the help of his therapist.  She taught me how to hold him by the hips/knees/waist instead of his arms/armpits when he is standing.  When people are helped to stand they actually work the muscles ABOVE where you are holding on.  So if I am holding his arms he is not working any of his major muscle groups.  When I hold him by the hips he has to use all of the muscles in his torso, shoulders, arms, and neck to stay standing.  It was way too adorable to see him standing that way.  He is so tiny and he was doing such a "big kid" type of thing.  He was so proud of himself and "talked" the entire visit.  I wish I would have taken a picture.  I'll have to try to capture a moment this week somehow. 

We also are practicing sign language and language skills.  He has started to get "up" and he is working on the signs for "more" and "sit".  We are also going to work on "eat" which will be very helpful.

tiny-k Early Intervention is amazing.  We are so blessed to have them in our lives.  We wouldn't be anywhere close to where we are today if they had not been working with us.  And I truly say "us" because they are there for the entire family.  They even get Scout involved.  We have been working with our therapists since Tru was about 3 months old.  They have taught us so many things.  Things that most people take for granted.  What muscles are used to sit up or hold your head up.  How the body reacts when you turn or where your feet should go when you go from sitting to lying down.  How to gain muscle tone in your tongue (yup!) to help with the suck, swallow, breathe process of eating a bottle.  Every time we meet I learn something new and Truman gets that much stronger.  Plus Tru really loves his therapists.  He lights up when they come in the door.  He hugs and kisses and will work harder for them than anyone else.  He just "knows" that they are there for his workouts and he will push himself beyond anything he would do for just me.

Thank God for tiny-k.  Thank God for small steps forward.

Monday, February 15, 2010

12 Month Check Up

I know that Truman doesn't turn 1 until the 2nd but we were able to get in to see his new doctor today so we doubled it as his 12 month check up.

My kiddo is tall!  Ok, not really...but in comparison to all of his other check ups he has had a major growth spurt.  He is now 29 inches long putting him in the 34th percentile in height!  I don't think Scout has ever been that high.  I was shocked!

Now...if he would just gain some dang weight!  He is 19 pounds which puts him right under the 7th percentile in weight.  He has these chubby thighs that I really thought would help add to that number.  Chad had a good point though...muscle does weigh more and since he is "low muscle tone" maybe it affects his total weight too.

The most awesome news is that his head circumference was 18!  That shoots him up around the 35th percentile!!  I know that seems like a weird thing to get excited about but we have had some fears that he was suffering from microcephaly when he was younger.  Microcephaly is when your head is basically too small.  It can cause a lot of issues and is actually a marker for a lot of the genetic syndromes that we have feared.  He wasn't even on the charts because his head was so small just a few months ago.  Now he has a big 'ol nugget head and I couldn't be happier!

We also got new car seats and moved him out of the infant seat.  It was a little bittersweet.  He was getting too heavy to carry in the dang thing and he was too tall to really fit very well...but moving up car seats means he really is growing up so fast.  My little guy is going to be 1 in just a few weeks.  My baby.  My last baby. 

OK...I am going to stop that now because I am getting all gooey and boo-hooey when I think about it.  But I will share a baby picture just so you can see how fast a year can fly by...
 
This is Truman at a couple of days old with my dad.  Look how tiny!


This is Tru at Christmas!  The get big so fast.

By the way...how cute is my son with my Dad?  They have a pretty special bond.  Truman just adores his Boppo...and I think Boppo is pretty smitten himself.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Go Red Event

What an amazing day yesterday!

I had the opportunity to speak at the local Go Red for Women event supporting the American Heart Association. 

Most people don't really know my story about my daughter's birth.  Sort version--I developed Peripartum Cardiomyopathy or heart failure caused by pregnancy.  It was a horrible, scary time but it was surrounded by the miracle of my daughter's birth.  Having the opportunity to share my story and help raise money for such an awesome cause was incredible.  I was so honored.

I did break down with big boo-hooing tears.  Something that I really didn't anticipate.  I thought that I was going to make it through and then it all just sort of came back to me.  With everything that has been going on with Truman I haven't taken the time to celebrate the simple fact that he is HERE.  6 years ago I was told that I would never have any more children.  I was told that I might not even live 6 months.  And now, I have a beautiful daughter AND an amazing son AND I am healthy.  What a blessing.

Here is a link to the story about the event.

If you have a chance to join the Go Red movement I would encourage you to do so.  Heart disease is the #1 killer of women.  In fact, a woman every minute dies from a heart related illness.  Every minute.  Research and education is the key.  I would not be alive without the doctors who cared enough to research women's heart health.  Truman would not be here without research about the effects of pregnancy and heart failure.

Join the Go Red movement today!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Deep Conversation

We call Truman, Monkey because he was born covered with hair.  Plus he has the adorable monkey toes that he uses to grab at things.  Monkey has now amassed quite a collection of stuffed monkeys.  We love finding ones that are fun and different.  He also has a ton of monkey clothes.  Each month I take a picture of him next to his big monkey that my mom bought him when he was in the hospital for a ph study.  This month he decided that he had some important things to share with him.
 
It was a long conversation and ended with Truman giving his monkey a big 'ol grin.  
The do look a little bit alike...don't they!

Muscle Biopsy Scheduled

The big news of the week is that we were able to get Truman's muscle biopsy scheduled.  He will turn 1 on March 2nd and head under the knife on March 3rd.  Which just sucks.

In typical fashion we were told that it was important to move as quickly as possible and get the biopsy done ASAP...which means March.

The doctor was great.  Truman really liked him.  The surgery will only last about 20 minutes.  They will make about a 2 inch incension on his upper thigh, open it up to view the muscle and then remove about 1 cm of muscle.  Then he will get stitched back up and be able to make up a great story later about his scar.  I have heard that it can be painful but the doctor seemed to poo poo it a little.  But he did say that he would be provided with pain medication.  I guess the recovery portion is fairly simple.  For once, it is good that Truman isn't crawling or walking yet!  He will need to take it easy for several days and crawling could pull stitches.

The biopsy will let us know more about metabolic disorders and potentially Muscular Dystrophy.

We have 2 more weeks before the genetic test should be back.

I'm trying not to freak out that Truman will be under anesthesia.  It scares the crap out of me.  We will be meeting with the anesthesiologist prior to the surgery for pre-op testing.  We she her on Truman's actual birthday.  We figured that after the appointment we would take him to the Rain Forest Cafe for a special birthday lunch.  Maybe Build-a-Bear too.  Maybe we will just run off into the mountains never to be seen again...

Friday, February 5, 2010

Big News!


Truman pulled himself up in his crib!!  Can you see the pride in his eyes?  I was afraid the picture might not turn out because I couldn't see very well thru the darn tears of happiness.  Big moment, huge!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Don't need a dream interpretation for this one

I keep having this dream.  Night after night I wake up in a cold sweat and I can't shake the feeling all day.

When I was in college I studied abroad in Greece (yasu malakas) with a group of theatre kids.  It was an amazing trip and we were able to experience things I can't to this day explain without getting a little emotional.  At one point we went to the Olympic Stadium.  Yes, THE Olympic Stadium.  It was an amazing place but also very, very, very high up on the side of a cliff.  Basically you walked straight up the side of the mountain/cliff on slippery ancient rocks.  Add the fact that I am terrified by heights and you can picture the relaxing adventure.  Trying to be a trooper I hiked up the hill and tried to be brave.

Also with the group was the son of the professor who was leading the trip.  I think he was about 3ish?  I was young so I didn't have the "mommy gene" yet to remember things like that.  Noah was a cute kid but he was also a little boy (and now with the added "mommy gene" I completely understand him in a totally new way).  As a little boy he had absolutely NO fear level.  He trusted the world and didn't see that anything could possible go wrong. 

So, here we were, high up on slippery rocks, cliff like rocks.  The rocks jutted out from the side of the mountain and the Greeks weren't big on handrails back then.  Basically one little misstep and you would plunge to your death.  Maybe it wasn't really this bad but again, I am terrified of heights.  I had actually started to relax just a little bit when I turned around and saw Noah perched on the edge of a rocky area and leaning forward to look over the side.

My heart stopped.  I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think.  The world melted around me and all I could see was Noah.  I knew he was going to fall and there was no way that I could get to him in time.  I tried to open my mouth to scream but nothing came out.  I literally was frozen by fear.  The time kept slipping by and I knew that I was going to be too late because any second he was going over the edge.

A few seconds later (although it felt like hours) his mom came by and scooped him up in her arms and kept walking and chatting with the person next to her.  I didn't understand.  She didn't seem panicked.  She wasn't freaking out.  It was like nothing had happened.  And I melted.  I broke down and had to be helped down the mountain.  I never made it into the actual Olympic Stadium because the panic was too strong...

I never will know if the situation was actually as dire as I thought it was at that moment.  I wasn't able to go to the spot and see if it actually would have played out the way my mind had pictured it or if in fact it was just a little drop that Noah could have easily jumped.  I never let myself even talk about what had happened because the fear was too strong.

In the dream I am hiking up the mountain with my friends.  I am young and carefree and have my entire future in front of me.  I am tan and a bit hungover from a night drinking Amstel in a taverna with handsome Greek men and a group of incredible women.  I am a bit scared because of the heights but I am strong enough to keep pushing myself to the next level.

Then I turn and I see a little boy standing on the edge of the rocks.  He is leaning forward trying to peek over the edge.  The panic sets in and I know that he is going to fall.  My heart stops, I can't move,  I can't breathe, I can't think.  The world melts away and all I can see...is Truman.  My son.  My son is standing on the rocks about to fall off the edge and I am frozen by fear.  I look for the mom to come and rescue him from the ledge until I realize that I am the mom.  I am the one who is supposed to calmly scoop him up.  And I can't.

Night after night the dream ends here and I wake up in a cold sweat.  I don't need a dream interpretation for this one.  It is perfectly clear.