July...

Whew, what a busy month! Even though it's been busy, we've enjoyed it and we're sad to see it go.

*Paxton officially became a "walker."  He had been doing a lot of practicing, but his main mode of transportation was still crawling. At 13 months, he figured out he can get around a lot quicker on his feet!


*We always spend the week of July 4th at Lake Herman, camping with friends. What a great time!

*July 8th we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. Actually, we didn't really "celebrate", it was like any other day at our crazy house :)

*We spent lazy days by the pool:

 *Brewster Fun Days.  What can I say? ....it was fun :)

{here the kids are waiting for the parade to start}

*July 21st we celebrated Kaden and Kenley's birthday with a party at our house. We were so thankful for those who were able to make their day a special one.

 {Kenley got some new make-up, thanks to auntie Kris :) She pressed that tube of lipstick to her lips and round and round she went. This, I think, was her favorite}

{The day was perfect!!}

*July 22nd...Kaden and Kenley turned **3**!!

{because their birthday was on a Monday night (and we had already celebrated with their party the day before), it was only Kaden, Kenley, Paxton, myself, and Kris and Khloe. We were in Brandon (more on that later). But we decided to order pizza and have more cupcakes :)



 

 

 

*3-year well child checks:

I still can't believe my babies are three years old. I know I will forever be saying that, but my eyes well up with tears every time I think about it. Here are their stats at age 3:

 

Kaden:  weight: 33lbs. (65th percentile)

                      height: 37.5 inches (45th percentile)

 

Kenley:  weight: 39lbs. (97th percentile)

                       height: 37.5 inches (56th percentile)

I had some pretty hefty concerns, so our visit seemed as if it took forever. The dr. goes over each child individually. He starts and ends with one and then moves on to the other. So we are literally sitting through two individual appointments, so it really does get long. And it always seems so hot!

Things are at a stand still right now with some of my concerns, so I will save that for another post :)

*The last two weeks of July, my parents went on vacation. They left for Florida the day of the twins' birthday party. Some months ago, (I still can't figure out why), but my sister and I agreed to work for her and watch the daycare kids. So the kids and I packed up and spent the next two weeks in Brandon. Actually, the days weren't too bad, it was the single parenting in the evenings that I didn't care for. Cody and I have such a team routine, that when I'm by myself things tend to get a little out of control. It felt good to finally be back home and have our daddy back :)

*Larsonfest:  a good time always spent the last weekend in July with friends, close to home on some farm land. Words (even pictures) don't do this "camping trip" justice.

{this picture shows Kenley on the ground throwing a tantrum....and Marcus joined her}

 

 

*July 30th....we celebrated Cody's 32nd birthday. Grandma Deb was so gracious to take the kids that day and even kept them over night. I was still in Brandon, so Cody came out after work and we were able to go out for dinner and run a few errands - kid free. And it was awesome!

 

*July 30th...also the day that we said goodbye to Cody's sister and her husband. They apparently decided they needed to move across the country, to Virginia. We knew the day was coming, but to have to actually say goodbye was rough. They are fulfilling dreams of their own. And although we wish them nothing but the best, it doesn't make it any easier to have them so far away :(  Ok, I'm not going to lie, it literally makes me sick to my stomach to think about it. Plus, she's going to be having my new niece/nephew in a few short months, and that's really going to kill me!





So there ya have it, our July wrapped up in one long post. Of course I wasn't looking forward to August, because that only means a few short days until we have to enter the real world again....back to school, aggghhhh :(

haircut

Ok, so technically Paxton had already gotten his "first" haircut. But as I mentioned previously, they trimmed a teeeeny bit around his ears and neck line. Honestly, you couldn't really even tell he had anything cut.

So we decided last week that he needed to really get it cut. Actually, let me clarify. Everyone ELSE decided that it needed to be cut. They kept telling me he looked like an old man, or a homeless child. I, on the other hand, thought he looked like my baby. And that's kind of how I wanted him to stay. I mean, don't get me wrong, it did need to be cut, but I don't think I was ready to make that transition from baby to big boy.

I actually did start crying as we were trying to decide how short to cut it :(

Here is little man "before"..........

he did an AWESOME job!

 

and here he is "after"......



Such a big boy. I can't believe how different he looks. He looks so good cleaned up, but he's definitely not my little baby anymore :(

Paxton's 1st Birthday

Paxton turned "1" on May 14th

We celebrated on May 25th

and I am finally posting about it July 1st :(

 

It was a fun day and also a sad day for me.

I hate that Paxton is growing up so quickly.

People keep telling me it's because we're busier now with 3 kids,

but I can't believe how fast his first year went as compared to the twins.

{my sister made the cake. i think she does an amazing job! we did have cupcakes, so this was a dummy-cake...frosting covered styrofoam :)}

 

{so thakful for those that helped make his day special}

 

{of course there were going to be helpers}

 

{a quick bath before presents}

 

{of course, he was a very spoiled little boy}

 

 

 

**I can't write this post without giving HUGE props to my mom and sister. I wouldn't have pulled it off if it wasn't for those two :)

 

 

 



HELLO???

Is anyone out there????

Anyone still with me????

Or have you all given up on me :(

Since it's been a while, I will touch on a few things that we've been up to:

 

*Ear tubes! In April, at 11 months, Paxton had PE tubes placed. From December to March, Paxton had 5 ear infections. You wouldn't know it if you were to see him during the day, but his nights were painful (for all involved)!  A 15 minute procedure, 15 minutes in the recovery room, 40 minutes of inconsolable crying, and 12 oz. of formula .... and he was back to himself. Other than developing a high fever for a couple of days afterwards, everything went great and we haven't had an ear infection since!



 

*6 month Oncology visit.  I'm always amazed at how fast 6 months goes by. On May 3rd, Cody received another clean bill of health. I knew it didn't matter, but I had to ask the dr. what he thought. When Cody was initially diagnosed, he was given a survival rate of 3-5 years. This July, it will be 8 years! Why? Why hasn't his cancer come back? The dr. really doesn't know. He said, unfortunately the vast majority of those with brain cancer, do not have the outcome that Cody has had. Looking at where we go from here, there isn't much out there in terms of "guidelines" and we have to do what we feel comfortable with. The research just isn't there. We decided to switch to yearly checkups. It was a difficult decision for both of us. But Cody felt it needed to happen at some point, and he was comfortable with now. His dr. threw out the idea of "divorcing" at the 10 year mark.....but we weren't so sure about that. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it :)

 

 

*Pacman got his first hair cut! The week before turning the big "1" we thought he needed cleaned up a bit. That's basically all they did....cut a tiny little bit around the neck and around his ears. I wasn't impressed. And when they charged me $15.00 for it, I really wasn't impressed. He was such good boy though :)

 

 

*May 14. My baby turned "ONE"!!!  Wow, what an emotional day that was. I can't believe how fast the past year flew by. He has been one amazing addition to our family.

{i'll post again with pictures of his party}

 

*May 23. I was done with school for the summer. An AMAZING feeling :)  We've started it off well:



 

 

*May 25. Paxton's 12 month well-baby check. And let me tell you...he is, one well baby :)

 

Weight:  26lbs. 12oz. (99th percentile)

Height:  30.75 inches (75th percentile)

 

Eating: Paxton's transition off of formula and onto whole milk went smoothly. And the kid eats any table food you put in front of him. We haven't found anything he doesn't like :) He drinks from a sippy cup, but still would much rather have his bottle.

Development: Paxton was right on track in all areas developmentally, and exceeding in fine motor! He has not yet started to walk (but oh, we are getting soo close now!) but cruises all over the place along the furniture. He loves to talk. His favorite word is "NO" and he uses it all.the.time! Other words include: "mama, tickle, cheese, and dada". We've really been working on signing "more and all-done" but he usually just laughs at me.

Behavior: Paxton continues to be a good baby, but he definitely does not like to be told no or redirected or have things taken away from him. He has learned to squeal with the best of them! He has developed a temper and will throw himself to the floor and just sob.

Sleep: This is an area we were struggling with A LOT!! Paxton was waking up in the night anywhere from 1-5 times a night. And the ONLY thing that would get him back to sleep was a bottle. We had cut down to just giving him 2oz when he would wake up, but that seemed to be all he needed. Honestly, we tried it all, but sucking on a bottle was what he needed. (**I am happy to report, that Paxton is now sleeping through the night! One night, it just clicked and he hasn't had a sleepless night again. Yay!!!)

 

 

 

Our summer is flying by already! I can't believe we're half way through June. Hopefully I'll write more often :)

 

 

{thanks for sticking with me}

 

 



castle of care

Paxton spent his 10 month birthday in the hospital.

 

When I took him to the dr. I actually had respiratory concerns. He had been coughing a nasty cough along with congestion. He was very irritable, not sleeping, and not eating well.

 

But his lungs sounded fine. His chest x-ray was clear. His influenza and RSV panels came back negative. The dr. said it was just a nasty case of viral "crud."

 

The following 24 hours, he refused almost anything to eat/drink. And then, the diarrhea set in. Pooping every hour and taking in no liquids, dehydration happened quickly. The dr. wanted to admit him to give him some IV fluids and make sure the diarrhea wasn't going to be an issue. He thought an overnight would take care of it.

 

He did test positive for C.diff. (clostridium difficile). Which he likely got from being on two consecutive doses of antibiotics to treat a stubborn ear infection. So while I initially was concerned with his lungs, he ended up hospitalized due to diarrhea and dehydration.

 

The entire time he was there, Paxton did not act sick at all. He was his happy, playful, active self.

But this caused his stay to be very difficult. How do you keep a 10 month old, who feels good, with an IV in his foot, to be "not so active?" About impossible!!  They didn't want him to stand on his foot as much as possible....that was easy for them to say!

 

It took both Cody and I to be there. I just couldn't do it by myself. If he wasn't sleeping, someone had to be holding him or at his bed side constantly to try to keep him off of his foot and not rip at his tubes and cords.

 



He was admitted around 5:00 and received IV fluids for the first 24 hours, as well as being put on a clear liquid diet. He loved himself some gatorade and jello! We didn't see the dr. until the following evening around 6:00. He then wanted to start him on Flagyl, a common antibiotic to help treat c.diff. This was given through IV. He continued with the diarrhea, so he continued on the clear liquids, but he still wasn't drinking a whole lot.

 

But he was still happy!

 

The next step was to turn down the IV fluids in hopes he would start drinking more on his own. Then move him to his regular diet. AND, get him to start taking the Flagyl orally (because this was going to be something he would have to take for the next 10 days at home), however we knew this was going to be the tricky part. The dr. warned us it tastes horrible and many kids aren't able to take it.

The first attempt, he threw up. Then we tried mixing it in a bottle and giving it to him, and he threw up. He was soo irritable that the nurse tried Tylenol a little later in the evening, and the second that hit his mouth, he threw up. The next day we tried again, and he threw up. We needed to visit with the dr. again to see what he wanted to do about this.

The next morning, I was holding Paxton on my lap and feeling his legs and the leg that his IV was in felt huge! and hard!  We called the nurse in to have a look. Sure enough, because of all the moving he was doing on his foot, his IV had infiltrated. Therefore it was no longer in his vein and everything from the IV was going right into the tissue. It needed to come out.

His foot was soo swollen that he couldn't (or wouldn't) bare any weight on it. They said the best thing for it was to get him up and moving on it....but he wasn't having that. He would pull up to stand and just hold his leg up and whine.

We met with the dr. that morning. Everything had been going well, except the Flagyl.  He said we obviously can't keep him in the hospital for 10 days just to give him the medicine through the IV. There was another medication option, but that would have cost around $800. We filled the prescription for Flagyl and just hoped we would be able to get something down him the next 10 days.

He said we could go home.

We gave the little man a bath, packed our things, and headed home.

 

Once we got home, we gave him his first dose of Flagyl. He threw up. After that, he never puked again. Now, he certainly didn't like it and ended up spitting most of it out. But that, we could handle.

 

And he is back to being a healthy little guy!