Just a quick note to say Christmas was great. Little Man was so excited that Santa had been to his house and was not happy when we informed him he had to wait for his brother to wake up. Luckily for him that happened about 15 minutes later.
Pictures will be up in about a week or so. We're traveling and won't have much in the way of internet for about a week. I took the pictures off the memory card to make room for the pics from our trip so I don't have them handy.
Wishing everyone a safe and pleasant New Year!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Christmas Cookies!
Who doesn't like cookies? Today was going to be the only day between now & Christmas we could really take the time to make some cookies...so we did.
Little Man is excited to leave some for Santa and is just really getting into this whole Christmas thing. It's the first year he's really been able to comprehend what's going on and it's been so much fun.
He's into the whole cooking thing now. He loves to be in the kitchen and "help" so this was especially fun for him.
Little Man is excited to leave some for Santa and is just really getting into this whole Christmas thing. It's the first year he's really been able to comprehend what's going on and it's been so much fun.
He's into the whole cooking thing now. He loves to be in the kitchen and "help" so this was especially fun for him.
Friday, December 19, 2008
I heart HEB (formula)
I really don't like HEB. In Houston they aren't as over priced because they have competition but in many areas of this great state HEB has effectively put its competition out of business. I go there for those 'can't beat em' deals only. Their formula is one of those deals for me.
I know I've written about this before but tonight I scored big. Peanut will be 8 mo old on Christmas Day and as long as he can transition to whole milk at 12 months we might not have to buy any more formula.
I started off the night with two $5 Enfamil Formula checks and 3 coupons for Free cans of HEB brand formula. Each formula check triggers another Q for Free formula and each Free Q triggers a Q for $10 off a big can of HEB formula. I realized these coupons would all expire before I would be able to use them if I didn't just use them all tonight. Thankfully management was very patient with me, I didn't empty the shelves and I did many transactions to make sure I didn't hold up any lines.
So here is the tally: 5 cans of big formula (each big can is equivalent to 2 small cans) and 7 small cans for $32.51 OOP.
Before coupons the cost would have been $132.46. That's a savings of $99.95!!!!!
That 12 cans is equivalent of 17 cans (remember the big cans are equal to 2 small cans) which means a net cost of just under $2 per can. NOT BAD!
We now have the equivalent of 34 cans on hand plus a few cans of ready to feed formula.
I know I've written about this before but tonight I scored big. Peanut will be 8 mo old on Christmas Day and as long as he can transition to whole milk at 12 months we might not have to buy any more formula.
I started off the night with two $5 Enfamil Formula checks and 3 coupons for Free cans of HEB brand formula. Each formula check triggers another Q for Free formula and each Free Q triggers a Q for $10 off a big can of HEB formula. I realized these coupons would all expire before I would be able to use them if I didn't just use them all tonight. Thankfully management was very patient with me, I didn't empty the shelves and I did many transactions to make sure I didn't hold up any lines.
So here is the tally: 5 cans of big formula (each big can is equivalent to 2 small cans) and 7 small cans for $32.51 OOP.
Before coupons the cost would have been $132.46. That's a savings of $99.95!!!!!
That 12 cans is equivalent of 17 cans (remember the big cans are equal to 2 small cans) which means a net cost of just under $2 per can. NOT BAD!
We now have the equivalent of 34 cans on hand plus a few cans of ready to feed formula.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Christmas Pictures III
All I wanted was just ONE picture of them together, both at least looking the same general direction and it just didn't really happen, lol.
Peanut rolled into Little Man and this is what Little Man thought about that.
Peanut rolled into Little Man and this is what Little Man thought about that.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Christmas Pictures!
This is very pic heavy so I'm breaking it up over 3 entries.
First up: Little Man. Who was not happy about my trying to take pictures of him.
It figures: This is the ONLY picture where he cooperated and I got the cheesy smile, lol.
This is how he really feels about my taking pictures.
First up: Little Man. Who was not happy about my trying to take pictures of him.
It figures: This is the ONLY picture where he cooperated and I got the cheesy smile, lol.
This is how he really feels about my taking pictures.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Cereal Anyone?
Little Man is the only one feeling "normal" right about now. I've got a cold or something, Hubby was sick last night and this morning and Peanut has a stomach bug or something. So in light of all of that, Hubby was home from work today and I left Peanut with him to go to Little Man's therapy in town. I realized on the way home I might not be able to take Little Man to his appointment tomorrow since Peanut is sick so I stopped at Randall's on the way home.
I'd read something briefly about cereal there somewhere so I figured I'd stop and see what it was about. Boy am I glad I did.
**I went back and figured out that I must have read about the ceral over at Katy Couponers. It seems that these days I browse things and not read them all the way through...ZM I didn't even notice you had the marshmallows in there too!!! lol.
2 boxes Fruit Loops ($1/1 *2)
2 boxes Blueberry Mini Wheats ($1/1 *2)
1 box Cocoa Rice Krispies ($1/1)
1 Bag Safeway Mini Marshmallows ($1 off any marshmallows WYB Krispies)
Total OOP: $2.37
Total Saved: $16.49
I'd read something briefly about cereal there somewhere so I figured I'd stop and see what it was about. Boy am I glad I did.
**I went back and figured out that I must have read about the ceral over at Katy Couponers. It seems that these days I browse things and not read them all the way through...ZM I didn't even notice you had the marshmallows in there too!!! lol.
Total OOP: $2.37
Total Saved: $16.49
Friday, December 12, 2008
Peanut's Diagnosis
I will no longer say, "when things calm down." I have come to accept that this busy life is the way it's going to be. Especially now that we are adding another specialist to our line up.
Peanut does have hydrocephalus, but not the traditional kind with enlarged ventricles that needs an immediate shunt. By definition, hydrocephalus is too much fluid around the brain and that's what Peanut has. However, in Peanut's case he also just has more space around his brain to accommodate fluid. There is a cavity at the top of the head (can't remember it's name) and the normal size for the cavity is 1 to 2 millimeters. Peanut's cavity is a centimeter and a half!!! His head is just abnormally large and we don't know why as of right now.
The hope is that as the space naturally narrows from things like the closing of the soft spot that his brain will automatically adjust the amount of fluid for the new size of space.
We have explained away many of Peanut's issues but if you put them together at a global level, they could have been signs of too much pressure from early on. This would include his vomiting that we have said is his 'digestive issues' and his irritability which we blamed on his tummy bothering him. There are others, I just can't think of them at the moment. It's interesting that all of his "issues" went away as though someone had flipped a switch. He became calm, sleeping through the night and started spitting up less all in a 24 hour period of time. Is it possible that his head just finally got big enough to accommodate the fluid?
I need to go back and look but I do believe his head started growing at a much faster pace around 4 months old and it hasn't stopped. His head circumference is well above the 100th percentile without even correcting for age.
We see the neurosurgeon again at the end of January and they will be following Peanut very closely until he either outgrows this or proves he needs a shunt. The doctor believes he is very likely to outgrow it and that makes us VERY happy, obviously.
As of right now there are no signs that he needs relief of pressure in the brain therefore no shunt necessary. We've been given the list and told what to do if we see them and obviously we're hoping it never comes to that.
I asked the doctor if this means Peanut is being set up for the potential of many MRIs and or CT Scans. The short answer is yes. The long answer is that he at least has this MRI to show him the anatomy of the brain and hopefully we'll be able to put off the MRIs longer. We don't like the MRI because he has to be put under general anesthesia to do it. Of course, then there is the CT Scan which is huge amounts of radiation.
On another note: I'm ticked off that I think I caught something from one of those runts in the waiting room! LOL!
Peanut does have hydrocephalus, but not the traditional kind with enlarged ventricles that needs an immediate shunt. By definition, hydrocephalus is too much fluid around the brain and that's what Peanut has. However, in Peanut's case he also just has more space around his brain to accommodate fluid. There is a cavity at the top of the head (can't remember it's name) and the normal size for the cavity is 1 to 2 millimeters. Peanut's cavity is a centimeter and a half!!! His head is just abnormally large and we don't know why as of right now.
The hope is that as the space naturally narrows from things like the closing of the soft spot that his brain will automatically adjust the amount of fluid for the new size of space.
We have explained away many of Peanut's issues but if you put them together at a global level, they could have been signs of too much pressure from early on. This would include his vomiting that we have said is his 'digestive issues' and his irritability which we blamed on his tummy bothering him. There are others, I just can't think of them at the moment. It's interesting that all of his "issues" went away as though someone had flipped a switch. He became calm, sleeping through the night and started spitting up less all in a 24 hour period of time. Is it possible that his head just finally got big enough to accommodate the fluid?
I need to go back and look but I do believe his head started growing at a much faster pace around 4 months old and it hasn't stopped. His head circumference is well above the 100th percentile without even correcting for age.
We see the neurosurgeon again at the end of January and they will be following Peanut very closely until he either outgrows this or proves he needs a shunt. The doctor believes he is very likely to outgrow it and that makes us VERY happy, obviously.
As of right now there are no signs that he needs relief of pressure in the brain therefore no shunt necessary. We've been given the list and told what to do if we see them and obviously we're hoping it never comes to that.
I asked the doctor if this means Peanut is being set up for the potential of many MRIs and or CT Scans. The short answer is yes. The long answer is that he at least has this MRI to show him the anatomy of the brain and hopefully we'll be able to put off the MRIs longer. We don't like the MRI because he has to be put under general anesthesia to do it. Of course, then there is the CT Scan which is huge amounts of radiation.
On another note: I'm ticked off that I think I caught something from one of those runts in the waiting room! LOL!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Peanut's Head
Yesterday morning we took Peanut to have his head worked on. His head is very misshapen and even though the pedi might not want to be concerned about it yet, we don't see the point in waiting to help him get it back to the correct shape.
During the exam the doctor pointed out a bulge in his soft spot. This pretty much set off the alarm bells in our heads because Peanut's head circumference is huge. That doctor was kind enough to measure and plot it and his head circumference is well above the 100th percentile. So to recap we have 'big head' & 'bulging soft spot'. Of course the first thing that came to our minds was hydrocephalus. We discussed this revelation all day, made an appointment with the pedi for the next day (today) and just kept discussing.
We came to the conclusion that if there was any possibility of our child having hydrocephalus it couldn't wait. Going to the pedi was going to give us the same conclusion: his head needs to be evaluated. Then we would call for the referral and get an appointment in probably a good 3-4 months or longer. By the time we'd actually have answers several months would have passed. That just wasn't acceptable when you're talking about my child's brain!
We also easily decided that if we were going to go the Emergency Room route, it had to be a pediatric hospital so that it was pediatric specialists that were seeing him.
So off we went, leaving Little Man at my parents house to play with Diva and we headed to Texas Children's Hospital in the Medical Center. UGH! is all I can say for this country's healthcare situation. Especially in pediatrics because there just aren't enough physicians to go around.
I'll spare you the complaints of the ER and skip to the important stuff: According to the CT Scan they did, it's not hydrocephalus. The neurosurgeon did say that he has more fluid up there in the head than he should have. Initially the plan was to keep us in observation until morning when the neurosurgeon could come meet us, examine him and discuss the situation. They were talking about chalking it up to prematurity, following him closely and letting us go home after seeing the neurosurgeon.
Then this morning came and the plan changed. We weren't able to see the head neurosurgeon because he ended up in surgery. But he did look at the pictures and reports from his scan and determined we needed to stay, have an MRI done and figure out what is going on.
We weren't able to have the MRI done today but have been told, "first thing tomorrow morning." We'll see if their definition is the same as ours, hahaha. The hope is that the MRI will tell us what kind of fluid is surrounding his brain, why it's there and what we should do about it.
Until then, we wait.
I'll keep you posted and you keep the prayers coming!
PS: this means Peanut is missing his first snowfall. Can you believe how much it's snowing here right now? Good grief! Go Home Jack Frost!!!! lol.
During the exam the doctor pointed out a bulge in his soft spot. This pretty much set off the alarm bells in our heads because Peanut's head circumference is huge. That doctor was kind enough to measure and plot it and his head circumference is well above the 100th percentile. So to recap we have 'big head' & 'bulging soft spot'. Of course the first thing that came to our minds was hydrocephalus. We discussed this revelation all day, made an appointment with the pedi for the next day (today) and just kept discussing.
We came to the conclusion that if there was any possibility of our child having hydrocephalus it couldn't wait. Going to the pedi was going to give us the same conclusion: his head needs to be evaluated. Then we would call for the referral and get an appointment in probably a good 3-4 months or longer. By the time we'd actually have answers several months would have passed. That just wasn't acceptable when you're talking about my child's brain!
We also easily decided that if we were going to go the Emergency Room route, it had to be a pediatric hospital so that it was pediatric specialists that were seeing him.
So off we went, leaving Little Man at my parents house to play with Diva and we headed to Texas Children's Hospital in the Medical Center. UGH! is all I can say for this country's healthcare situation. Especially in pediatrics because there just aren't enough physicians to go around.
I'll spare you the complaints of the ER and skip to the important stuff: According to the CT Scan they did, it's not hydrocephalus. The neurosurgeon did say that he has more fluid up there in the head than he should have. Initially the plan was to keep us in observation until morning when the neurosurgeon could come meet us, examine him and discuss the situation. They were talking about chalking it up to prematurity, following him closely and letting us go home after seeing the neurosurgeon.
Then this morning came and the plan changed. We weren't able to see the head neurosurgeon because he ended up in surgery. But he did look at the pictures and reports from his scan and determined we needed to stay, have an MRI done and figure out what is going on.
We weren't able to have the MRI done today but have been told, "first thing tomorrow morning." We'll see if their definition is the same as ours, hahaha. The hope is that the MRI will tell us what kind of fluid is surrounding his brain, why it's there and what we should do about it.
Until then, we wait.
I'll keep you posted and you keep the prayers coming!
PS: this means Peanut is missing his first snowfall. Can you believe how much it's snowing here right now? Good grief! Go Home Jack Frost!!!! lol.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Yikes!
One of our beautiful nieces turned 4 yesterday and she had her party at a jump place in the evening. So much fun. So much drama for Little Man. Apparently it's going to be tradition that he find a way to get hurt at her birthday parties.
Last year he was riding the little tikes roller coaster down the driveway and eventually (after about 100 trips down) he went over the front of it and flipped it over himself. Few cuts and scrapes, nothing major.
Last night little man was very much enjoying the bouncing and only about half way into the session he was at the bottom of the slide when a little girl went down backwards and hit Little Man in his mouth with the back of her head and the blood started gushing. Oh he cried and cried and cried. For those of you that don't know him very well, when he cries about pain, it's FOR REAL, lol. He's a tough little booger.
I felt so bad for him and just sat on the floor and held him. He didn't wany anyone else, not even his daddy. I'm not going to lie, that kinda made me feel good, lol. I don't know what I'm going to do when my magical mommy healing powers vanish.
At this point Hubby is saying, "let's just go." My thinking is, "I want him back on the equipment so he isn't scared of inflatable jump stuff for the next 5 years."
I took him out into the hallway and he got upset and started pointing back into the bounce room. I told him if he wants to stay he has to quit crying so daddy knows he wants to be there. I asked him several times if he wanted to go back in and he said yes every single time.
As I walk in the door Little Man immediately insists that we go in the obstacle course bouncer. Oh joy. One problem, he doesn't want me to let him go of him! That was fine until we got to the tall steep wall that has the slide exit on the other side. That was absolutely impossible for me to do with him on me. OMG!
After much coaxing (he's crying the whole time but insisting I don't go back out either) I got him to agree to let one of the bigger girls help him up the rest of the slide and I would follow.
Out he went and the phobia was basically over and I was exhuasted!!
I wasn't able to get pictures last night, that just would have been cruel. He just wanted to be held and loved. He was also asleep by the time we got home. This morning I asked him if he had any bo-bo's. (That's his own word for them.) He pointed to a small burn on his elbow but insisted his mouth didn't hurt. That was until he went to eat a donut for breakfast and he told me then that he did in fact have a bo-bo in his mouth.
And here it is:
Last year he was riding the little tikes roller coaster down the driveway and eventually (after about 100 trips down) he went over the front of it and flipped it over himself. Few cuts and scrapes, nothing major.
Last night little man was very much enjoying the bouncing and only about half way into the session he was at the bottom of the slide when a little girl went down backwards and hit Little Man in his mouth with the back of her head and the blood started gushing. Oh he cried and cried and cried. For those of you that don't know him very well, when he cries about pain, it's FOR REAL, lol. He's a tough little booger.
I felt so bad for him and just sat on the floor and held him. He didn't wany anyone else, not even his daddy. I'm not going to lie, that kinda made me feel good, lol. I don't know what I'm going to do when my magical mommy healing powers vanish.
At this point Hubby is saying, "let's just go." My thinking is, "I want him back on the equipment so he isn't scared of inflatable jump stuff for the next 5 years."
I took him out into the hallway and he got upset and started pointing back into the bounce room. I told him if he wants to stay he has to quit crying so daddy knows he wants to be there. I asked him several times if he wanted to go back in and he said yes every single time.
As I walk in the door Little Man immediately insists that we go in the obstacle course bouncer. Oh joy. One problem, he doesn't want me to let him go of him! That was fine until we got to the tall steep wall that has the slide exit on the other side. That was absolutely impossible for me to do with him on me. OMG!
After much coaxing (he's crying the whole time but insisting I don't go back out either) I got him to agree to let one of the bigger girls help him up the rest of the slide and I would follow.
Out he went and the phobia was basically over and I was exhuasted!!
I wasn't able to get pictures last night, that just would have been cruel. He just wanted to be held and loved. He was also asleep by the time we got home. This morning I asked him if he had any bo-bo's. (That's his own word for them.) He pointed to a small burn on his elbow but insisted his mouth didn't hurt. That was until he went to eat a donut for breakfast and he told me then that he did in fact have a bo-bo in his mouth.
And here it is:
It looks SO much worse in person. One tooth looks pushed back a little which is hard to see and of course it's all swollen right there. I think it's going to be a couple of days before he's eating real hard foods. He doesn't get the concept of bite with the back teeth first.
BTW: I'm being nice. I cropped this picture even closer in on the mouth and decided it was just far too gross to share. This picture (that still doesn't do the icky factor justice) will work just fine.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Pictures with Diva (Part 1)
Diva is adorable & beautiful so I decided to take some pictures of her yesterday while killing time before Little Man's appointment with the neurologist. Of course that means Little Man was there too. It was the perfect autumn day outside, although a little chilly. They had a lot of fun playing in the leaves. I'm doing this in 2 parts just because there are so many pictures I feel compelled to share.
Poor Peanut
Peanut is going to kill me for these some day, lol. Who needs a cabbage patch kid when you have an infant? :)
Pre Dress Up
Truth be told, it was chilly and the hat was smart. The sunglasses on the other hand? We just call that random silliness because they were laying on the floor near me. TY Diva for allowing me to borrow them. HAHA!
This poor child is doing everything in his power to get those sunglasses in his mouth with his tongue.
Yes, I do believe Peanut's face says it all. Or maybe it's Diva's face that says it?
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
What a great day! Long, but great. We spent it with my mom's side of the family and Little Man had a lot of fun with his cousins. Crazy times with 4 children 4 & under in the house. I missed my grandparents being there but we still had a great time with great food.
We have so much to be thankful for this year too. Peanut is doing great and Little Man is making such great progress. I could make a list but am just too tired to do so, lol.
Just know...we are grateful this year!
We have so much to be thankful for this year too. Peanut is doing great and Little Man is making such great progress. I could make a list but am just too tired to do so, lol.
Just know...we are grateful this year!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Peanut goes Full Circle
After he was done playing with his bottle I figured I'd just try to get some pictures of him. I didn't move, but he made a complete circle on his tummy. It was cute. Notice how in the first pic he's facing to the right and he slowly turned in a full circle, grunting the whole way, lol.
You do realize you're in trouble once he's sitting on his own, right? Oh yes, the camera will be very busy then, lol.
The Bottle
Perhaps I should change the name of the blog to, "My life in pictures" lol. Last night Peanut decided he wanted to grab and hold his bottle so of course I had to take pictures. He's not actually ready to hold his own bottle which is evidenced by how far he's got it crammed into his mouth and by how bad his aim is.
That's okay, he's still really cute to watch.
Hmmm...maybe it should be, "My boys lives in pictures" since I'm always (happily) behind the camera, lol.
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