Easter

I have been looking forward to this Easter for several months. After realizing Brady would be able to participate in egg hunts, I couldn't stop planning! I got him a special shirt from Etsy, planned his church outfit (complete with a bow tie :), got all the goodies for a hunt here at home, and planned out our weekend. 

We attended an egg hunt at church on Saturday morning. Eric decided that Brady needed to practice first, so he would know what to do. So cute! After a quick session, Brady had it down and scored a lot of eggs at church :) We got a lot of compliments on the basket my mom sent for him :)

We came home and grilled and then went back for church service that night. The next morning we were able to sleep in, then have our egg hunt at home. Brady grabbed about 5 eggs and then just wanted to play. So Eric and I had to go around and pick up the other 45763 eggs I had stuffed. Haha! Oh well. Then we had a big lunch with ham, devilled eggs, and all the fixins. My Dad was here in town and Eric's parents came over. Needless to say, Brady ate up all the attention.

I had a great visit with my dad. He was here for 8 days. We took Brady to Chuck E Cheese, to get a hair cut, to see the Easter bunny, and we went to old Katy to antique/furniture shop for my Dad's house. I'm headed back to St. Louis next week for my sister's shower. I absolutely love when my visits are back to back.

I made a point to have my new camera in time for Easter :)

Big Boy Stuff!

These last few months, Brady has turned into 100% toddler. Really since he started walking, it has been one thing after the other. He isn't a baby in any way anymore! He sits at the table with us in a booster seat in a chair. Feeding himself completely. He won't even really wear bibs anymore. He pulls them off like the Hulk if I put one on him. He walks every where, when I actually get to hold him or carry him, I realize how infrequently that happens nowadays! Brady's vocabulary has been growing and FAST! New and very popular words are sock, fork, duck, cow, puppy, apple, purple, and please :) He's always talking! His doctor said he's talking like a 2 year old. I'm so glad since he used to be shy about speaking. He would whisper new words until he was sure. So Brady! He is 35 inches tall and 23 lbs 10 oz. 95% for height and 7% (barely) for weight. My typical long and lean little man :) He's very healthy though and a better eater these days. Still picky, but better!

I can't begin to express how obsessed he is with cars! Not the movie, just the automobile :) All vehicles (trucks, vans, sports) are cars to him right now. And he can't get enough!! My mom got him several cars for Christmas, and while they were a hit at the time, his love for them has grown tremendously over the last month. I love the way he “vroom”s while he plays with them. Brady spent Saturday with his Nana and Grans, who got him the Cozy Coupe! It couldn't have come at a better time! He played in it all day and never wanted to get out :) I think it's safe to say Brady wore them out! They had a great day.

I enrolled Brady into MDO at our church for this fall. It doesn't start until September 4, but I'm already really excited. It may be called Mother's Day Out, but I swear I'm doing this for him not me ;) He will go to school Tuesdays and Thursdays from 930-230. He will get a Christian education and get all the benefits of having that routine. They will prepare him for Preschool and Kindergarten. He will have to get in the groove of me dropping him off, listening to the teacher, sharing and taking turns. It will be very different for us, but very good! And I was surprised how reasonably priced it was.

Since Brady has become such a big boy, Eric and I decided to switch his room around. We put a lot of his toys in there (so I could reclaim some of my dining room), got him a book shelf, took out the changing table, and just overall made it look less baby. We almost converted the crib to a toddler bed, but decided to hold off. I took a poll and most family voted that he wasn't quite ready yet. I also decided to hold off on fighting him to stay in bed and not play with all the toys I just put in his room...

With all Brady's growing up these last few months, Eric and I have thought a lot more seriously about baby #2. We might just be ready sooner than we thought :) But for now, I am really looking forward to a squishy niece or nephew to spoil and love on! :)

                             Daddy picked out the new decals for his Brady sign
                               "Brady's 3 favorite words.. Ball, dog, and car!" :)

Makin' Changes

I've been reading a book called 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. It's written by a Christian speaker Jen Hatmaker. She is very knowledgeable, kind, and FUNNY! Have I ever read a book that made me laugh like this?? No.Way. I've had to stop reading, so I could just sit and laugh for a second at something she wrote. It's really not a comedic topic... but she is so witty!

She and her family change one big thing in their lives, each month, for 7 months. First, food. Only eating 7 food items for a month. She chose chicken, eggs, whole wheat bread, sweet potatoes, spinach, avocados, and apples. She can use salt and pepper and only drink water. Sounds like torture to me, but it really taught her just how much food she has access to, and how much of it she took for granted and wasted. The next month was clothes, she could only wear 7 items of clothing total for the whole month. Including shoes! (But not including underwear and such, gotta stay clean!) It goes on like this through possessions, media, waste, spending, and stress.

I'm not considering doing this whole experiment 100% or anything. (This girl will never give up coffee! Or facebook!) But it has opened my eyes to how much we have and changed how I think. Now, I've just got to change what we do. It's so easy to be focused on what we “need”. Funny how most of the things I say we need are truly wants. And petty ones at that. Eric and I have had a lot going on these last few months, and some of them are pretty big stressers. After reading this book, I feel like a fool for worrying so much. We have everything we need and more! And always do.

I need to be more grateful for this and start giving back. Our first step was becoming members of our church. We spent Sunday evening at church in the class to join and it was a lot of fun. We met some really nice people, learned everything we need to know about the church (I wasn't raised Baptist, so this was important!), they served a delicious meal, and we joined! We have two small groups that we are planning to attend and hope that one will be right for us. Being more involved and connected in church will certainly help us stay focused on the right things as a family. And Eric will be baptized soon. SO happy :)

The next step is giving. More. To other people. Who need it! We have a lot. And stop buying so much stuff. God doesn't want us here on this earth to hoard a bunch of crap for ourselves. None of which we can take with us when we're dead. Here, this says it better ;)

Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19-21)

That part really got to me. I surely do not want my heart to lie in a coach purse :/ Or to answer to God someday for being so selfish. Would we really buy the things we buy, do the things we do, or say the things we say, if God was in the room looking at us? Or just try and justify it as if you were speaking to Him..

There were so many other wonderful lessons in this book. I can't recommend it enough! I know it won't be easy to make changes, but we are really going to try!!

18 Months

Brady is almost a year and a half old. These last few months he has really taken off. Walking is the biggest development! I know every parent is thrilled when their child walks. BUT, if you wait 16 almost 17 months to see them walk.. It's something extra special. The joy and relief! We knew he could/would walk.. but felt like we were going to wait forever to see it happen. I was in the kitchen cleaning up and peeked in at Brady in the living room. I saw him take a few steps and sit down. I didn't say anything because it seemed like he was doing intentionally while I was out of the room. I kept secretly watching and he kept walking! I finally let him know I saw and approved :) Then took videos. It was absolutely wonderful. Now he walks everywhere and rarely stops :)

His speech has really progressed as well. Brady says, what's that/what is it? Thank you. Sit, good girl (obviously directed at Sugar or Gugar as he says :) Ball, Spoons, chapstick, Mr. Bear, and lots more. He understands EVERYTHING! I ask him if he is ready for a bath and he very happily runs to the bathroom. Hungry? He takes off to the kitchen :) He brings me his sippy cup when he needs a refill.

His eating has been great lately too. He's not nearly as picky and always eats a good amount. Eric and I noticed the other day that he has a little belly. It's definitely smaller than most kids', but we're so happy to see it! Brady loves to sit in a chair, hold utensils (ALL the time not just at meals), he's really getting attached to his Lion so Mr. Bear's got competition! He will even make a 'roar' sound. He hugs us a lot now and loves to sit in our laps on the floor. He's all toddler!

We celebrated our Christmas just the three of us yesterday. We are super busy next weekend and then leave for St. Louis the next week so it just made sense even though it's early. Brady was loving every minute of it. He loved ripping the paper and especially the bows. The funny thing is, if you tell yourself it's Christmas, it really feels like Christmas. We got up and started the turkey. When Brady woke up, we let him see his presents, ate monkey bread for breakfast, then tore into gifts. I cooked while the boys played. Christmas music was on and it truly felt like Christmas day. A few times I thought about something I may need from the store and thought “Oh they're all closed” LOL. Oh wait it's just December 9^th! Haha. Brady is so lucky because he still gets to do Christmas with Eric's parents before we leave and then Christmas in St. Louis. We're driving this year and taking Gugar with us so wish us luck! ;)

No excuses..

When I feel awful, I will see a doctor much sooner next time..

The night I posted my last blog, I had horrible stomach pains after Eric and I ate dinner. It was the same pain I have had off and on for about 3 months. It would happen once, then weeks later, happen again. Even though it was excruciating pain, I tried to brush it off. It always came at night. Very inconvenient! Brady's sleeping, Eric and I were usually headed to bed, and I'd buckle over in pain. It would last anywhere from 30 min to 12 hours! The week of Halloween, it came and didn't leave. So, Friday night I finally let Eric take me to the ER.

After waiting for 6 hours... I finally got in and got morphine. Holy Moly! I needed it, and it certainly relieved my pain, but it was so strange! I kept saying, “It feels heavy, I feel heavy”. The doctors did blood work, urine work, an ultrasound, and a CT scan. I had gallstones. Lots of them. Fortunately, no kidney stones to go with it. Because my gallbladder was not infected, they sent me home with meds and gave me a surgeon's number. I was annoyed, but relieved to know what was wrong.

I called Monday and was able to get an appointment with the doctor for Tuesday. I had to go back and forth many times with Tricare. This was probably my first issue with them and I had to remind myself I'm thankful to have free health insurance. They gave me a really hard time about approving the referral and kept blaming my primary doctor for their mistakes. Not exactly what I wanted to deal with at the time! It was all resolved though and I saw the Surgeon. He confirmed I needed surgery and scheduled it for the next day. Woohoo!!

We were supposed to leave his office and go to the hospital to register for surgery. However, I felt so nauseous and sick that we went home so I could rest. Eric called the doctor to find out if I could get to the hospital early the next day to register instead. The surgeon asked to speak with me, but I was in the middle of another gallbladder attack. He told Eric to bring me to the hospital right away and they'd have a room ready for me. Morphine again!

I didn't see my doctor until the next morning to talk briefly before the surgery. He told me I'd have 3 or 4 small incisions, 1 on my belly button, one above, and 1 or 2 on my right side. He also had noticed that my bilirubin level was high. It's determined by blood tests and measures bile and liver function. Normal is .1 up to 1 and I had a 2.9. This meant more than likely, that some of my gallstones had made their way to my liver and were getting stuck moving from the liver to intestines. Grrreat!! He was going to try and flush them out during surgery, but if he couldn't I would have to have surgery again the next day.

That's exactly what happened. I ended up with 4 incisions from the gallbladder surgery. It was painful every time I moved and you can't really move any way without using your stomach. I just had to lay there and take the pain meds. Which unfortunately, I don't react well to. I became very constipated and couldn't even pee on my own. Bring on the stool softener and catheter (which later caused infection) :/ They even brought a specialist in for this. Talk about embarrassing. I met with a gastro doctor that night, and the next day had surgery again to remove two stones stuck in my bile ducts. I was put under anesthesia, rolled onto my belly (awesome for my incisions), and for over 2 hours, a camera and tools were down my throat through my stomach, liver, etc to remove the stones. He told Eric after, that it was much more difficult than expected and took over an hour longer than planned.

I was in a lot more pain after this one. My stomach hurt worse and I had a very sore throat on top of it. I could barely drink water and eat Jello. The day after the 2^nd surgery, I finally started to feel a little better. I could actually get up out of bed with help. Only to try and use the bathroom then right back to bed, but hey it was something. I was missing Brady like crazy! I've never spent more than a few hours away from him, so 3 days was torture. I thought of him constantly. What was he eating? Was he sleeping? Did he miss me? :(

Friday night I got to go home. Every little bump in the car was so painful! I was so happy to get in my own bed and hear my precious boy laughing and playing in the other room. He didn't react like I hoped when he saw me. He starred at me very confused. I knew I looked like hell and that really proved it. I slept most of the time until Sunday. I knew I definitely needed a shower. My back was itching out of this world and my hair was a nest.

Eric had helped me out of bed before, and I could only go a few steps before I was begging to lay back down. I couldn't stand up straight and I was clinging to him. Sunday, I was able to make it to the shower and stay up for a few minutes before needing desperately to lay down. Eric said, “You look yellow.” I told him I felt faint so that's probably why. After getting me back in bed, he said “You're eyes are yellow.” Then I got concerned. Jaundice? Brady had that as a newborn, but it really wasn't a big deal. Was this?? I started googling. Yikes!

Jaundice after gallbladder surgery, NOT GOOD! Everything said my doctor may have cut, clipped, poked, a bile duct on my liver and bile could be leaking into my abdomen. Surgery to fix it. I didn't know at the time, but Eric was in the other room googling jaundice. Yellow skin, yellow eyes, ITCHY SKIN, uh oh! I asked him to call my doctor, and the on call doctor said take her to the ER right now (yellow eyes is the worst apparently). Fantastic! The thought of another surgery brought me to tears, which was painful! We loaded up and went back to the ER. It was very painful and difficult to even sit up in a wheel chair. I begged Eric to ask if there was ANYWHERE I could lay down. At least we didn't have another 6 hour wait, only about 30 minutes.

I spent the night in the hospital. More morphine! Had more urine and blood work, an MRI, and a HIDA scan (an hour long). They started talking 3^rd surgery, but I made sure they knew I wasn't jumping on that bandwagon so easily. I wanted to know they were positive I needed it first. I honestly thought another surgery was too much for me to handle. I then waited all day to find out the results. My billiribben was up to a 4! The tests showed there was no leak though! Thank GOD. They believed I was passing another stone or two, and had a bad reaction to the 2^nd surgery. One of the tools they used, cut through tissue and burned it to seal at the same time. Those things combined, caused a lot of swelling and the stones caused blockage which led to jaundice. My billiribben was on it's way down, so they kept me another day and night to run the test again... down to 2.9. I was healing on my own without surgery. Praise God!!

The number kept going down, and I kept feeling better! I got to come home a week ago (from when I wrote this :), and it is truly amazing how quickly I've been healing. I'm finally able to pick Brady up and take care of him by myself again. Eric's parents, cousin Casey and her daughter Morgan, and my Mom were SO helpful! Our friends and family sent sweet messages, cards, and prayers. Brady was safe and sound at home while I went through most of this, and that's all I could ask for! Our second time in the ER, we heard a little girl in the next room screaming and crying. I was so thankful to be there for myself and not my baby! Put things into perspective for sure. And hey I lost 8 lbs ;)

Right after the second surgery. Very swollen! I didn't want to wake up so they put me on oxygen.

My flowers from Eric and his office :)

My bellybutton still looks crooked from how they cut it. But all the incisions are healed now

Back in the ER with jaundice. Eric said "this doesn't do it justice. You were much yellower"

Eric pushing Brady and I because walking around Wal Mart was impossible. But a girl needs eyeliner!

Ready for the ball :)

My favorite of our professional ball pics.

Take these plans and shove it!

Eric and I had been planning Brady's Halloween costume for weeks. We got practically giddy whenever we discussed how excited Brady would be to have people putting candy in his bucket. He absolutely LOVES putting things in a bucket/bag/box, taking them out, back in, back out.. And certainly loves when anyone joins him in this activity.

Yesterday, I spent the entire morning running around the house getting everything ready. Eric's parents were coming over to join us and also to celebrate Eric's birthday since it's the day after. We even had a playdate scheduled for today, so I had lots to do.

All the excitement was quickly replaced with saddness when my baby boy woke up from his nap with a fever :( He picked at his lunch earlier, but that's not completely unlike Brady. When he went down for his second nap, highly unlike Brady, I started to worry, but brushed it off. I tried to feed him dinner... then the vomit came.

Needless to say, we did not get dressed up. We did not trick or treat. And we did not celebrate Eric's birthday. I did cry twice.

It's hard to have such high hopes for a wonderful night/next day, then have to cancel everything AND see your baby sick. Brady woke up all night with tummy aches. It was pitiful.

Eric and I felt sorry for ourselves for a minute, then tried our best to make the most of our evening. Brady fell asleep, we drank wine, and watched Modern Family. Which always makes us laugh.

There are clearly people going through a harder time than this. Especially with Hurricane Sandy destroying the East Coast. When things like this happen, I always think of the quote, “When we make plans, God laughs” :) We're already looking forward to next year! Just not making any plans yet.

We'll be sure to share pictures of our little Texans player all geared up once he's feeling better :)

15 Months

Brady's 15 month checkup was this morning. The big guy is 33 ½ inches tall and 21 lbs 10 oz. The great news is, Dr. Haney is very pleased and no longer concerned about his weight. Whew! He's still long and lean, but looking chunky (for Brady). The REALLY great news is, Dr. Haney got Brady to WALK! :) 5 steps from her to me and completely by himself. Brady is much more aware of the fact that “we are at the doctor's office” and “they normally stick me”, so he got super sensitive once we were in the room. He wanted Mr. Bear, his thumb, me, and no one else touching him. He cried when the nurse and Dr. Haney checked him out, so when she took him he was upset and wanted me back bad enough to walk to me :) She said he's perfect and will walk once he has the confidence. She said his need to hold on is a 'security thing'. Makes sense.. stuffed animal obsessed, thumb sucker and all :)

I was nervous that once I got him home he'd be all comfortable again and only want to crawl, but I've already gotten him to do it twice by myself. I'm excited for Eric to get home so we can try some more and hopefully get a video. Brady's expression is the best. Half shock, half pride. And I'm busy screaming and clapping. I'm sure it's quite a sight!

We just got back from our family vacation in Florida. It was a WONDERFUL week. Eric needed the time off of work and away from the stress. He couldn't remember the last time he had a vacation. Literally! Brady did so well even though we were completely off schedule and out of our element. He was very go with the flow. It was a LOT of work, but worth it to see his cute little tush on the beach and splashing in the pool. He even called my Dad “Pawpaw” a few times. Eric got to deep sea fish and ride a wave runner. I got plenty of time laying out and a tattoo! We are already planning our next trip back :)

We are so thrilled that our friends Patti and Mike live so close to where we stay. We were able to spend a lot of time with them through the week <3