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. 

2 years and ENT update

On the 25 me and Tony had our 2 year anniversary! It seems like it should be longer than that for some reason! Maybe because we dated for what seemed like forever. Anyways, we had a pretty good anniversary. Tony came home from work with some beautiful roses for me and me and Maximus were taking a nap when he got home. I felt bad because he had this plan to have Maximus bring me the flowers and I wouldn't let Tony wake him up. So I felt bad because he had this cute plan and I kind of messed it up. Sorry hunny! You made my day though! Then we (Maximus in tow) went to dinner at La Jolla Groves down at the Riverwoods mall. It was DELICIOUS! Seriously good food. Cant wait to go back! It was such a nice relaxing evening. We've talked about going up and staying in Park City for a weekend for our anniversary and a little vacation but it will probably have to wait until Tony isn't working 14 hour days and we have a little extra money. Hopefully next month or in August when we don't have so many appointments, holidays, and family things going on! 

A picture from our beautiful day 2 years ago!

Our cute little family on Maximus's blessing day at the same temple Mt. Timpanogos 

I have wanted an entry way table since we moved in almost 2 years ago! My mom found one at Hobby Lobby that I loved but it was $165 and Corey said that was too much right now and we could probably find a cheaper one. The next day he emailed me one he found on KSL classifieds and it was only $40 and it looked very similar to the one at Hobby Lobby. So me and my mom went and picked it up! It wasn't really for our anniversary but the roses on top of it were the ones Tony brought to me. So beautiful. Made my whole day! Thanks again hunny!

We had our appointment with the ENT (ear, nose and throat) Dr. Myers up at Primary's yesterday and it went really well! We got good news that everything is normal with his nose and down to his vocal cords. Dr. Myers said his tonsils look a little big but nothing that would require surgery until he is a little older and then we may want to consider it. So now we just have our 3 appointments next week to look forward to. I am pretty nervous for them especially the pulmonary because I think they are going to have to put my baby under anesthesia and I'm really not looking forward to that. We are going to do a fast for Maximus this Sunday if anyone would like to join us and I think I will get Tony and his brother or someone to give him a blessing too (maybe me too!). 

Anyways, that about all I have for now. OH! Except my baby is ALMOST saying Mama! I will get it on video as soon as I can catch it on video! And apparently he is turning himself around now! I put him under his toy thing and ten min later he was turned sideways...

PS for those of you still reading from the PD, I MISS YOU!! I know I've been HORRIBLE at coming in to visit! But I promise to come soon! Hope your all doing well and I think about ALL of you often (like everyday). See you soon! 

Keeping us on our toes...

It's been crazy the last few weeks! We went to the cardiologist on the 4th of June and the news was the same. NO CHANGE in his pulmonary hypertension. So our cardiologist (Dr. H) talked with our pediatrician (Dr C) and another cardiologist up at Primary Children's and they decided together that Maximus should be seen by a pulmonary specialist. So we called the pulmonary specialist to make an appointment and they gave us the run around. So because Dr. C was out of town his co-parenter (Dr. J) in the office told me to come in and he would check Maximus's weight and vitals and give them a call and have them get us in. So I took Maximus in to see Dr. J (who is well aware of our situation and we've seen before) and I was so worried about his weight. To my surprise he was 12 lbs 1 oz! We finally hit the 12 lb mark! Yay! Maximus was also showing off and very social and talkative while there and Dr. J was really surprised how active he is and stuff. Kids with pulmonary problems are not active and tire quickly. My little man only stops moving when he is asleep! 

This is a video of him standing on a chair by himself. He was loving it!

The next day the pulmonary clinic at Primary Children's called me to make an appointment with Dr. U (a pulmonary Dr.) but they wanted me to call and get an appointment with an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist first and see them before proceeding with an appointment time. So I called the ENT specialist also at Primary's and told them that Dr. U (the pulmonary Dr) wanted Maximus to be seen by one of their ENT's before making an appointment. I hope this all makes sense. I know it's kind of confusing! Even in my own head! Needless to say we have an appointment with the ENT specialists (Dr M) on the 26th of June and then with Dr. U (Pulmonary) on July 5th. 

Maximus is now 6 months old! Today! I can't believe it. Where has time gone? He is getting so big. He thinks he is bigger than he really is too.

At 6 months he:

- is ALMOST rolling over!

- Loves to go swimming (even went down one of the slides at 7-peaks with Daddy a few days ago and loved it!)

- stands at the couch by himself (I'm just behind him) and plays with his toys for 10-15 min at a time

- is also almost sitting by himself

- Loves to help mom do laundry

- STILL pulls his oxygen off of his face!

- Still loves avocado

- jabbers and makes a lot of noises

- is getting a second tooth

- notices toys in his peripheral vision and picks them up

- grabs onto anything and everything within reach and puts it in his mouth, even my hair! 

- still hates tummy time!

Yesterday was his 6 month check up. He weighed 12 lbs 3.5 oz! I was so happy because the last 10-12 days he has not had more than about 10-12 oz a day. He just would NOT eat at all. I was worried Dr. C was going to order a feeding tube back into him, which I would have refused. But to my surprise he said he wasn't worried about it because he did gain even though he hadn't eaten much and he thought maybe he was too backed up (even though he poops once a day) to want to eat. So he told me for the next three days to give him Miralax 2 times a day and get it all out of his system and he should gain his appetite back. It seems to be working! But I feel bad for the poor kid. He is such a happy baby though I am spoiled with how good of a baby I have! He is sleeping completely through the night now! I am getting up at 3 most nights though and giving him a bottle just to get the extra calories in. But he stays asleep while I feed him and burp him. Also at this appointment we found out that he may have to wear a helmet. So we have that consultation on July 3. We are not too happy about it, but we would rather him have to wear a helmet than have surgery to correct any problems he may be having with his skull and brain growth. We also had to go to the hospital today and get an ultra sound done on him to see if he had his left testicle because Dr. C has never been able to feel it and it has never come down. The news on that is he has both of them, but they are both pretty high up in the canal and haven't dropped down . If they don't drop by 12 months old he may have to have surgery to pull them down and tack them in place. So I'm praying that they do so we can avoid another surgery. Also on July 2, we will see an ophthalmologist (Dr. V) and we will see how his vision is going! I am excited and nervous about that appointment. 

So to break it down a little better here are dates of appointments and Dr's and I will seriously try to be better at updating more so it's not so long and confusing.

Tuesday June 26th - Dr. M - ENT (ear, nose, and throat)

Monday July 2nd - Dr. V - Opthalmology

Tuesday July 3rd - Orthotics Specialist (helmet)

Thursday July 5th - Dr. U - Pulmonary 

And then we will follow up with Dr. C - our pediatrician on July 12. 

Picture Update

I have a TON of pictures to share, so I decided just to do a picture update. This may be a long post, so I hope it doesn't bore you to death! Maximus is 5 months old now, and just loving life! Me and Corey are also doing really good, Corey is working A LOT, and also learning Real Estate stuff. I am just being a mom, and I really really would like to figure out a home based business. I have a few ideas just don't know how to start so I'm not too motivated! Plus I have tons of projects I'd like to work on, including losing weight! Which has been going ok BTW. I have only lost 4.5 lbs in a month but I honestly haven't worked hard enough. So I know if I worked harder I'd be where I want to be or close to it in no time. I have a plan in my head, it's just getting to the point of doing it and not just thinking about it all the time! If I could lose weight just thinking about it I would be so skinny I would look sick! But wouldn't we all?

Alright here goes! (in no particular order)

Maximus LOVES his food! Avocado is his favorite! Which I'm glad for because it's high in fats. He has been eating (homemade) baby food now for over a month! 

He also LOVES LOVES LOVES the water! He's a little fish! He started swim lessons on Monday with his cousin Hulk. We are doing the Mommy and Me class and its pretty fun for me, as for my sister, I don't know if she's having too fun! Hulk, thinks he can do everything by himself and doesn't need his mom! He's a little firecracker! 

Here is a video of Hulk with no fear! 

One morning, about 4:35am to be exact, I heard the monitor start beeping. Which usually indicates a dead battery or its unplugged. So I go in to switch out the parent one thinking it must be dead and I heard noise coming from the crib. So I go over there to see this... Can you find the monitor? He was chewing on the cord! I was freaking out! I hurried and captured the moment and then fixed it so it was out of his reach. Little stinker! Then he was so awake that he just wanted to play! So mom stayed up with him until about 6:15am and played until he was tired and ate and went back to sleep. 

I don't know if you can see, but this is the picture of his tooth. Its in better now and the little bubble on his lip has popped and isn't as big so I need to get a better picture. Also I am pretty sure he's getting another tooth on the bottom. 

I made these Pinterest inspired red velvet brownies for desert one Sunday night for my family! They were so good! 

Motorcycle ride on Memorial Day 

Me and Maximus went shopping at Target with my mom one day and he got pretty hungry so I headed home. My mom had bought me a few things and I just stuck the receipt down in the side of his seat so I could throw it away on the way out. Well I forgot to throw it away, and he had been screaming on the way home. A few blocks away I noticed he had stopped screaming so I thought he must have fallen asleep, NOPE, he was just eating the receipt! I was at a red light so I snapped a picture. He ate pretty much half of it! I felt so stupid, I didn't know if it would hurt him, so I called my mom and she said he would be fine. Thank goodness! But I did learn my lesson! One of many I'm sure are coming my way. 

At the UVU baseball game

Eating his toes in the tub!

Cuddling with Mom

I bought Maximus a fish! He loves to stare at it. 

We went to the cardiologist on Monday and he had another EKG and ECHO. The Dr said nothing has changed with his pulmonary hypertension. So for now he has to stay on the oxygen at night and then our cardiologist is going to talk to another cardiologist and a pulmonary specialist up at primary's to see if there is any other reason its not getting better. So not the best news and it kind of worries me because I don't want him to have to have oxygen for the rest of his life. But then again I guess it could be worse. The Dr is supposed to follow up with us by the end of the week to see if we need to head up to primary's or stay a night at the hospital to do some testing. The Dr was also concerned about his weight again. But whatever. I'm sick of them being concerned that he isn't going to develop because he is SOOOOO under weight. Get over it! He's just going to be small until we can get some steak in the boy! 

PS he loves the paper on the little tables at the Dr offices! 

Some videos: 

Random laughing! I have no idea what or WHO? he is laughing at! But it was pretty entertaining and funny.

Just babbling and talking

We also blessed him this past Sunday. It was beautiful and I am so thankful to all those who came and supported and helped me put it together so wonderfully! We had so much fun and a lot of yummy food! Thank you to all who were there and supported us!