Happy New Year!

We had a very Merry Christmas, got spoiled and loved every min with each other and our families. Maximus also had a VERY good Birthday! I worked hard to make it special, I wished I would have taken some pictures of the party setup before, but I was too busy trying to make sure it was perfect and forgot. Oh well. Here are some pictures of Birthday and Christmas...

Eating his favorite, ICE CREAM! I did a Sesame Street themed party

Present table, my sister Barbie made the ONE 

People showing up. I made the banner and all the cute signs. (Yes I got it all off of Pinterest!)

Opening Presents!

One of his favorites, it will be so fun this summer!

Getting into his cake!

His cute cake!! Made by one of Tony's friends from his old work. I loved it! And it was delicious. 

Christmas morning! Opening his stocking. He wasn't too sure about this stuff. But it was fun. I have too many pictures of Christmas so these will have to do for now. 

Maximus also had surgery on Friday the 28th. It was for his testicules that hadn't dropped. It was a little bit more emotional for mom and dad and everyone there this time for some reason. Maybe just felt bad putting him through it again, I don't know. The surgery took almost 2 hours and they had to take his left one completely out because it was under developed and wasn't going to survive. The right one was perfect and came down just fine. It was good news. His recovery from the surgery has been pretty good. Doesn't seem to be in much pain at all. However he is really sick. He woke up this morning with a fever of 102.4. He had been up all night and couldn't have any medicine until 4:30am but he fell asleep around 4am so I didn't get it down him. At 3 I took his temp and it was only 99.5 so it jumped in 4 hours to 102.4. He was miserable and so hot. I just held him until Tony got home from the gym and then he told me to call the Dr. So I did and he told us to bring him to the office he would meet us there. We hurried and put Maximus in the shower to try to bring his temp down and by the time we got to the Dr it was back down to 100.6. Dr tested him at the office for RSV and influenza and a couple of other things. They all came back negative. But he said 50% of the time they are negative at the office and positive at the hospitals lab. So he sent us there to get Maximus suctioned (which was worse than when he was 3 months old and had it). We wont know until tomorrow if he has either one. If he has RSV we can treat him at home and by taking him in to the suction clinic a couple times a day. If it's influenza we are in trouble. The medication is not completely covered by insurance and it's not cheap. Basically they want an arm and a leg for it. But it wouldn't matter anyways because our insurance runs out today. I am currently trying to get him on CHIP and praying he gets accepted until we can get him on Medicaid. I know it will all work out. Heavenly Father will come through as long as we're doing our part. And we are trying our hardest.  I love my little man so much and this past year he has shown me so much and taught me so much. I cant wait to see what the next year has in store for us. Thank you to every one of you praying and for your concern. We love you all and we hope you have a Happy New Year!

Day 2 & 3 of Elf

We went to Shriners hospital on Monday and it was really good news! We will be doing surgery sometime in February or March. And it will be a same day surgery! Wahoo! They took more x-rays and made sure that the separation could take place and all thats holding his fingers together is skin. All the bones, nerves and stuff are there in both fingers. After surgery he will have a cast for a couple weeks and then it should be healed! Doesn't sound to awful and makes me feel better that the Dr is so confidant in that it will be a simple fix. Anyways, this is a short post too mostly because it's late and I am sick so I need some sleep to get better. It's crazy how much harder it is being sick when you have a kid. I wanted so much to stay in my bed all day today and just watch movies and eat soup. But I had to tell myself "Hey, even though your sick, be thankful you have a precious little boy in the other room who needs you." and I didn't give it another thought. I just got up and did what I needed to do and you know what? It paid off. He actually let me sleep until 10 and then after I fed him and changed him and we played and cleaned up the house a bit he took a 3 hour nap! Which did allow me to do some online shopping and watch a movie! It was great! Anyways, Me and Tony have been taking turns with moving the Elf every other day. It's been fun for us too! So here is some pics of the last day or so...

Elf on the Shelf Day 2 &3

Day 2: Tony's turn

Hanging from the kitchen shelf

Day 3: Me

A visit at Temple Square! 

Day 4 is tomorrow so we will see where Tony moves him!

This was at Grandma S's house on Sunday. He was perfectly content in this baby stroller (for dolls!) He loved being pushed around in it! 

Getting his finger x-rayed at Shriners. He is so good with any x-ray, he just lays there so patient checking out his surroundings. Every nurse has complimented him on how good he is! So proud!

This was today. I was doing dishes and he usually cruises around the kitchen in his walker. Well today he got to my fake pathetic Christmas tree I put up in the kitchen. I just let him go because I didn't really care, until he started eating the glitter off of the ornaments. So mischievous. I just love this boy so much! He is such a joy.

Have I mentioned that he is almost walking? Yeah it's crazy! He is so close! Oh and his birthday is in like 19 days. I can't believe it's been almost a year. I have a post coming about that. It's just going to be semi emotional for me so I gotta find some me time to write it. And I'll brace you all for it now... You can expect a post soon about more of my birthing feelings. Some of you may moan at that and not want to read it and thats fine. But those of you who do, I appreciate you letting me write about them and taking the time to read them. It helps me get through. 

Motherhood Mishap and More!

Hello friends! It's been too long. A lot has happened since July 7 (my last post date) So bare with me on this LOOOOOOOONG post! Where to start? Yesterday I suppose...

Found this saying on Pinterest last night, and all though I only have one child who's only 7 months I can attest to you that it's true (and I look forward to have more little distractions)!

We got home from a long weekend trip on Tuesday, two family reunions in one. And I desperately needed to unpack and get my house cleaned and laundry done. I was going crazy Tuesday night with the mess but I was too tired and sunburnt to do anything so instead I took a bath and went to bed! So yesterday the unpacking and cleaning began. It was one of those days where my previous job as a police secretary was missed! Anyways by 1pm I was sweating and was about half way done and I finally got junior down for a nap so I decided it was lunch time and sat down to eat and watch a show for a half hour. I got my lunch fixed and junior decided a half hour nap was good enough. The rest of the afternoon he was whiney, wanted to be held, and would NOT take another nap. I did however manage to get my cleaning and unpacking done by about 4:45pm. But spent about an hour tearing my vaccume apart because it (no fault on me) decided to eat my sons butterfly toy that he loves. Don't worry, I saved the butterflies! Just minor cuts and bruises! And luckily my son is not old enough to be upset by it yet! One of many motherhood mishaps I'm sure.

Anyways, because Maximus refused a nap, this is what we encountered at about 8pm last night. (I should not be posting this video because I look my worst and don't mind the double chin I've got going on, it's hard to get rid of) I was laughing so hard I was crying! He was so cute, and sooooooo tired. I had to put it into 3 videos because it was too long.

What else. Let see, we spent a weekend in Lava, ID at Tony's uncles house. We enjoyed tubing down the river, a car show, and seriously the best parade we've ever been to! The kids had more candy than you could get trick or treating on Halloween and it went down main street and turned around and came back! It was awesome. I highly recommend this parade at least once in your lifetime. (photos and video will have to come in another post)

The next weekend (this past weekend) we went to Tony's family reunion up mayfield canyon at 12 mile campground. We enjoyed good food, fourwheeling, lots of rain on Friday, and family time! Maximus was a real trooper having to be on oxygen the entire time because the elevation is at 10,000 feet. He was such a good little camper. (again photos and video in another post)

Then on Saturday we left there after breakfast and headed to Bear Lake for my family reunion. We had a blast! We swam at the pool several times, played games, and then Monday my parents rented a water trampoline and a jet ski and we played for 8 hours on that thing! It was so much fun with everyone there. The little kiddos didn't care for the trampoline too much and my mom doesn't like water so even though we felt bad leaving her with the four grandkids, she insisted and made us adults go play. It was nice! Thanks mom! She did get a good ride on the jet ski with my dad though. We also went into town to get the famous raspberry shakes. They were pretty delicious even Maximus loved it! (photos and video in another post also, waiting on the hubs to edit them first)

I never updated about Maximus sleep study that was done up at Primary's. I don't have the results yet but the poor little guy endured a lot! But pretty much thought it was the funniest thing ever until he had to go to bed. I have a ton of pictures so I'll try and pick just a few to share. And as soon as we have the results I'll let you know what's next.

Having a bath in the sink at the hospital, he loved it!

Eating the cords, another favorite thing to do

Getting hooked up

Tons of monitors

Ninja hat

Superman belt

Trying to get it off my head!

Caterpillar wrapped

Night night!

We went to the Hanger Institute today for his 2nd helmet evaluation. We are pretty sure we are going to go ahead and put it on him. He will only have to wear it for 10 weeks. I just feel like if we have to shave his head because his hair won't grow in then I want his head shape to be good. We will get the helmet next week.

Last but not least, Maximus is 7 months old now! I can't believe it. Time flies now days. He is getting 2 more teeth which will make 3 total, 2 on bottom and 1 on top! We just found the 1 on top and the 2nd on bottom this weekend. He is sitting up by himself now and is almost saying mama! He has only rolled over by himself once from belly to back, but I'm not sure he will ever really care for it. He still doesn't eat well, but I don't know if that's because of his teeth or what. Im not sure what he weighs right now, my guess is about 13 lbs. he is still wearing size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes. He is such a good baby! I can't complain about anything! He's so happy MOST of the time. I just love him to pieces!

New way of sucking his binki - with his bottom lip underneath it! 

Sleeping today on Mommy

New favorite toy - a milk jug!

Went to dinner the other night and Maximus had a major blow out all over his clothes! So I changed him in the truck and put a new diaper on him but didn't have ANY extra clothes because he had a blowout on the way home from Bear Lake this same day and I hadn't repacked the diaper bag. We had a few more stops to make and didn't want to take our naked baby inside the stores so Tony ran into Burlington and found him this gangster Jordan outfit! Needless to say Tony was pretty excited about finding it for him and now he wants matching Jordan shoes to go with it. We may have to find some on the internet.

Tony is still working two jobs. His real estate is doing pretty good. He has 4 potential buyers and is still working on getting some houses listed. If you or anyone you know is interested in buying or selling send them his way!

I have just recently become a Paparazzi Jewelry consultant and I'm really enjoying it! It's so fun! Please host a party with me if you have time and can! It's a lot of fun and you can earn free jewelry.

Well I think that's a long enough post to bore you, most probably didn't even read it this far. But if you did thank you! And hopefully I'll learn to post more often so as not to make it such a long post!

Ta ta for now!

-B

Baffling the Dr's

This past week we have been to 3 different Dr's. Here is each update:

Dr. V - Ophthalmology: Spent 2 hours at the eye Dr, found out that Maximus can see out of both eyes right now. The left eye is definitely weaker and smaller and he may lose some vision in it over time. So thats good new! The Dr was really good with Maximus and very knowledgable about the colobomas in his eyes and how the are developing. We are really happy with this Dr and we will be back to see him in 6 months to make sure that Maximus stays on track with vision. 

Hanger Orthotics: We went to see if Maximus needs to get a helmet or not. This is the tough part, the Dr there said he doesn't necessarily NEED a helmet BUT he could benefit from wearing one, so its up to us as parents. I'm torn, because if his hair doesn't grow in because of his syndrome then I'll want to shave his head. And if we shave his head I don't want his head shape to be funny or bad. But do we want to put him in a helmet just to get his head shape more symmetrical? I don't know. He will only have to wear it for 10 weeks. So its not too long. Plus, our insurance probably will not cover it because its not a medical necessity. So we would be paying out of pocket for it which will be about $1500.  What are your (anyone who's reading this) thoughts on this, what would you do? 

Dr. U - Pulmonary: Spent a few hours at Primary Children's on Thursday to see about Maximus's Pulmonary Hypertension. We also were very impressed with this Dr. He explained what was going on as far as the hypertension and what could be the likely causes (airways blocked, vessels not getting enough blood supply). Then he asked us if Maximus snored, stopped breathing, breathed heavily, struggled breathing, tires quickly, ect.). We told him that he doesn't do any of those things and that he sleeps very peacefully and restful. We have never heard him snore, stop breathing or anything. And he is extremely active! He never stops moving unless he is asleep! So the Dr was pretty baffled (hence the title of this post). He said based on what we are telling him it doesn't sound like the hypertension could be caused by any of the normal signs, but just to be sure we aren't missing something he ordered a sleep study to be done on him. So we will be spending a night at Primary's on the 11th for a sleep study. If everything appears to be normal we will meet with a couple of cardiologists and our primary care physician and Dr. U to see if doing a surgical procedure is needed where they stick a cath up Maximus's carotid artery and up into his lungs to measure pressures. He also told us that he didn't think that Maximus would need to be on oxygen his whole life, usually the hypertension will correct itself over time and we could wean him from the oxygen. So I'm hopeful for that. 

This is my little man currently, sleeping...

Here are a few more pics from the week and another video

Me and the munchkin on the 4th of July

Playing with glow rings on the 4th of July. He was not too sure about the fireworks we lit. He kept putting his hands over his ears every time they went off! But he never cried, just didn't know what to think.

Eating ice cream with Grandma Rose

Watching Elmo 

Just being my cute self!

Anyways, that is currently what's up at our house! Also Tony is working A LOT, he is doing really well with Real Estate. Has a couple of people he is working with to buy homes. If you or anyone you know is interested in buying or selling a home please give us a holler! He would love to help out!

I also just became a consultant for Paparazzi Jewelry! I am very excited and will be hosting my first party at my moms house next weekend on Saturday the 14th! If your interested in coming, let me know and I can give you the details. Or if you can't make it but would like to host a party at your house it would be really fun, just let me know.