Happy Halloween

BOO!

We had a wonderful Halloween.  Last year for Halloween we had just one baby and didn't even know Mason would be arriving in less than 12 months.  Mason slept through most of his first major holiday.  He was a dog and enjoyed how comfy, cozy and warm his costume was.  Olivia was a ladybug this year (it's essentially the same costume as the bee from last year, just red instead of yellow).

Olivia had a great time.  She didn't really understand what was going on, but welcomed people putting candy in her pumpkin bucket.  She ate 2 fun-size packets of m-n-m's and multiple lollipops.  And thankfully, we have no candy left in our house.

Hope your Halloween ended with pumpkin buckets full of candy!

Foto Friday

Which picture do you like better???

Erin and I are playing "Foto Friday". 

 I asked Erin the rules...and she said none :)  I like those games.

yesterday

Yesterday was a crummy day, which is why I am writing this today (Friday).  Maybe it has something to do with Wednesday's post about being tired.  UGH, I don't know, but I am glad yesterday is in the past.  Yesterday is over and today is a new day, let's have a great day!  I always told that to my students when I was teaching, and today I'm practicing it.

 Mason was being super fussy (bowel issues?? i don't know) and dr said whenever he was fussy to do the dilation...NOT FUN.  So we were both sad, mad, frustrated, annoyed.  Olivia wanted my attention, but I couldn't give her all of it because Mason needed me.  So Olivia was acting up, doing "negative" things to get my attention.  Tough Situation.  Needless to say, 5 o'clock rolls around and we have no Daddy tonight, and I'm exhausted.  The last thing I wanted to do was get everyone ready and go to the concert in the park.  BUT...the last thing our little family needed was to sit in this house and cry. 

Check.  We made it to the concert and were distracted by all the fun people around us.  And we had fun.  Mason actually slept for a bit, Olivia played a lot.  We had our picnic dinner and took some self-portraits.  Mason eventually got sad again...but I just fed him (even though he just ate) which calmed him down.

Go Me!!

Thankful that yesterday is behind us and that a fun Friday is awaiting us :)

on a side note: it's the 28th...only 2 more shopping months before my birthday!!!  

I'm Tired

Found this article stating that new parents miss out on 6 months of sleep (over the course of two years) after having a newborn.

yikes

Gotta love my brother-in-law who has a brand-new-baby, stated the other day,
 "Holy Cow!  How are you supposed to sleep with one of these things???"

I know, it will get better.  But for now, I'm tired.

Doctor's Visit

After talking with the pediatric surgeon and having him view Mason x-rays, he believes that it seems unlikely Mason has Hirschsprung's Disease.   We completely agree, as the only symptom of HD Mason has is infrequent bowel movements.  

The Dr did an internal exam and believes that Mason's anal sphincter tone (the muscle that controls the anal opening) is too tight and does not relax to have normal BM.  Sooooo for the next week we have to help dilate Mason :(  

It is not fun!

We will meet with the Dr again next Tuesday for a follow-up exam to see if the dilation is helping. Thank you to everyone for their sweet messages and warm thoughts.  

How the...

...pacifier stays in his mouth.

Yes, I know that this is not recommended or encouraged...

But it works.

Bath Bubbles

Quality Family Time (QFT)

Love the days when we get out of the house, only to return for naps, and then leave again.  First, I'm impressed we were up and moving out of the house by 9:30am (considering game night lasted until 2:30am YIKES!)

 

(oh my, look at one year ago.  what a difference a year makes)

 But we put on our brave faces and went to a pumpkin patch.  Olivia loves pumpkins, always points them out, and we thought this was going to be a home run, fun, awesome idea.  Turns out there was a playground nearby that O was much more interested in (note picture where Olivia is pointing, she is pointing to the playground - not the pumpkins).  We finally convinced her to at least LOOK at the pumpkins and she actually got into it for a bit.  So we attempted a picture of Olivia and Mason together.  Haha, Mason wasn't in the mood either, although he was sporting an ADORABLE hat that Grana made!!!  Very impressive :)  And then Olivia saw the playground again. When I told her that we needed to pay for the pumpkin, she threw a fit.  A complete fit, that ended with me dragging Olivia out of the nice church pumpkin patch by one arm while she was using the other arm to hit me.  Change plans - drag a screaming Olivia by two arms to the car.  I turned on the AC, strapped her in the car seat, grabbed my coffee, and closed the car doors while I waited for Tim and Mason to come back to the car with the pumpkins.  And Olivia screamed, but I couldn't hear her if I stood away from the car.  Have I mentioned how much fun pumpkin patches are?!?! Believe it or not, we all regrouped and continued our adventure to a model home and then the mall. 

That afternoon, after some much needed naps, we went to a local park.  Olivia played in the sand, while Tim attempted to fly his kite (not enough wind).  Then Tim and Olivia ran all over the playground, while Mason napped in my lap.  It was a perfect afternoon/evening that ended with some more window shopping, dinner out, and then home in time for bedtime!

A New Cousin!

Welcome to the World 

Graham Alexander Sanner!!!

7 pounds 15 ounces

20 inches

We are soooo happy for you, Katie and Grady, and can't wait to meet your little man in person!!!!

Then & Now

Top picture was taken when Olivia was 7 weeks old. We were at the Outten's house for the super bowl. Februray 2009

Bottom picture was taken when Mason was 8 weeks old. Again, at the Outten house for the driveway tailgate. October 2010

Movie Theater!!

Tim had school on Saturday and a nearby movie theater had a showing of Thomas the Train for $5. So off we went (Olivia, Mason and myself). This was Olivia's first movie theater experience and she did a great job. I stashed some of her favorite snacks and got her in a seat....which she promptly realized she could get her legs above her head as the seat was closing.....this was lots of fun. There were a couple of loud shout-outs by Olivia of "choo-choo", but other than that, she watched the movie, ate her snack, and pumped her legs in the moving chair seat. I attempted a picture of Olivia and myself, but she was a little confused by me taking the picture of both of us :) Mason was also a good audience member. He sat in his car seat for a bit and then I nursed him.
 Check - movie theater!

Unhappy

Today Mason had the barium enema. He could not eat for 4 hours prior to the procedure, and by the time he finally got to eat it had been 5.5 hours!!! Definitely felt for my little man...he usually only makes it 2-2.5 hours in the morning between feeds...so this was a stretch for him!!

Overall, the procedure went well....as well, as it could go. Mason looked soooo tiny as he lay naked on the x-ray table. At first he was happy and waving his arms and kicking his legs while the dr and nurses got everything ready.

When it began, the radiologist took lots of pictures while the barium was entering his body. I could look over at the screen and see Mason's colon and watch as the barium was traveling through. Technology is AMAZING! Naturally, Mason was not exactly happy about everything...but he actually calmed down at one point. He was sucking on the pacifier soooo hard. I think he thought that if he just kept at it...some milk would trickle out. And 30 minutes later, it was done. The nurses were in love with him and wanted to help dress him. Each got to put on a sock :)

The radiologist told me he would read the films today and send a report over to the pediatrician and I should hear from the dr by tomorrow.

5:30pm the doctor calls. The actual doctor and immediately my heart sank.

A) the doctor is on the phone

B) she is calling today

The two radiologists that read the films believe Mason has a mild case of Hirschsprungs’s Disease. I won’t go into details about it, because honestly the only information we know is from google. However, our next step is to meet with a pediatric surgeon next Tuesday (October 26) at 11:15am. This surgeon will also review Mason’s x-rays and if he has the same conclusion as the radiologist he could request a biopsy. The biopsy would confirm if there are dead nerve cells in Mason’s large intestine. If there is, the only way to fix this problem is through surgery.

boo hoo.

Obviously this information is all really new and we have a lot of questions and lots of unknowns. We are skeptical about everything, as when we look up the symptoms, the only one Mason has is the constipation. However, we are not doctors and we haven’t seen Mason’s x-rays. Of course, we’ll update after our appointment next week.

2 Month Well-Check

Today was Mason's 2 Month well-check.  And his stats....

weight - 12 pounds 13 ounces (75th percentile)

height - 24 inches (75th-90th percentile)

head circumference - 16 inches

Big Boy!!  We are soooo proud of his great weight gain (what a difference compared to Olivia!). Mason received his first round of vaccines and I only had two other concerns to talk to the doctor about (haha, also different from Olivia where I walked into every appointment with a word document filled with questions).  

1) flat head - dr noted it and said to just try and give him more tummy time when he is awake and encourage him to look the other direction (the flat part is on the left side of his head...he frequently looks to the left)

2) bowel movements - Today was actually 13 days with NO bowel movements.  ugh.  I knew Friday was day 10 and the last time I was at the dr for this issue, I was explained that up to 10 days can be normal, contact us if he goes more than that.  So I was grateful for our appointment when Monday morning he still had not gone :(  Dr was immediately concerned about Mason not going to the bathroom and said to give him a suppository as soon as we get home.  She also said to start giving him 2 ounces of prune or apple juice in the morning and evening.  AND, she wants him to have a barium enema tomorrow.  

I left the drs office a little frustrated.  I had been told, countless times by other drs in the practice and nurses, that up to 10 days is normal for breastfed babies....I felt silly for contacting the office so much about his lack of bowel movements.  And now there is this urgency and concern...why is it a concern now and it wasn't before???  However, I am grateful that we will hopefully find out if there is anything else going on, preventing Mason from having normal bowel movements.  

Driveway Tailgate

GOOOO Texans!!! After last week's very disappointing football loss but very fun tailgating experience...we decided to create a new fun adventure. Driveway Tailgating.

Today's tailgate was at the Outten's House and it was perfect. We have the fun of the tailgating (eating, drinking, chillin) without the long drive. We also don't have to pay for babysitters or expensive season tickets. Now, we do agree that there is not exactly the same level of "football" excitement or energy...but this works for us, especially with the kiddos.

Happy 2 Months Mason!

STOP...will someone please just slow things down. I can not believe that Mason is already 8 weeks old. Just a few of the many faces of our Little Man :)

Tidbits:
*takes 4 naps a day

*eats every 3 hours (sometimes he'll do one stretch of 4 hours...if so, it's usually from 8pm to 12am)

*naps in his crib (still sleeps in the pack n play in our room at night)

*wearing 3-6 month clothes!!!!

*size 1-2 diapers

*likes to suck on his hand

*starting to vocalize

*smiles lots

*has multiple chins

*has bowel movements once every 10 days

*still likes his pacifier...although doesn't use it at all at night

*looooves his sister (usually saves his biggest smiles for her)

*does not like the car to move slowly or stop

*spits-up....not Olivia style...but enough to require burp cloths and to ruin multiple outfits in a day

*attended his first Texans Football game

*gets swaddled for naps and at night

*rolls over and is pushing up higher

Bouncing Bears

A new bouncing facility opened near us...and it's TONS of fun. There is a huge pillow that the kiddos love jumping on and bounce houses made just for toddlers. Perfect!

Olivia has a blast here. She jumps non-stop and even goes down the "big" slide all by herself!!!! And afterwards, she usually takes a good 3+ hour nap. (Have I mentioned that Mommy loves the bounce house???)

More Concerts

It is wonderful living in "super" suburbia. There are always lots of fun family activities...and today we went to another concert in the park. This time they had an official dance floor set up for some "professional" dancers. Of course Olivia took the opportunity to show off some of her own dance moves. But this time, she also wanted Daddy to dance with her. Daddy tried to resist...and then she said please :)

Looooove her "cheese" face :)

Red Eye

Okay, I don't want to jinx things....

But I have NEVER needed to "fix" red eyes in ANY of Olivia's pictures!

(click on picture)

YOU SHOULD...

watch this...

Laughing Cars

IMMEDIATELY!

My nephew...has the most contagious laugh I've ever heard.

Love it.

Love him.

Love life.

Mason

Texans Game

Today we went to a Texans game with Mike/Chris, Justin/Tiffini, and Brian/Jen!! All the children stayed at home with babysitters...except lucky Mason :) We had a great time tailgating... and then went to the game where the Texans lost miserably. It wasn't even a good game :( But, I think we were all happy to get out of the house for a bit and have some good food/drink and socialize!!!

Booster Seat

Someone is SO BIG and sits at the table with us.

And someone can say... "CHEESE" when the camera is out :)

Chilly

The past couple of mornings, it's been a little chilly here in H-Town. We've had the AC off and windows open...which feels great until the 50 degree mornings come around.

We are not complaining though...love the crisp fall air and bundling up a bit!

Does This Make You Smile?

I'm Smiling :)

What Does Happy Taste Like?

Somehow I have never experienced a carvel cake until a couple months ago at Taylor's birthday party. I fell IN LOVE! It's an amazing dessert, and Tiffini brought it over after Mason was born for us to devour!! YUUUUM!

It's G.L.O.R.I.O.U.S.!!!!

And today, I went out and bought this cake.... I love tasting happy :)

Walk

Grandma and Grandpa leave early tomorrow morning.

I think this little girl would walk with you all the way back to WV!!!

Two Under Two

I have two children, under two.

phew...Mom, don't know HOW IN THE WORLD you managed with three under 25 months!!

Bubbles

Someone loves to blow bubbles!!!

Roll Over

Mason has been rolling over for awhile now...the first time was at 3 weeks! We thought it was just a one-time event, but it's been happening more frequently ever since.

Travel

Daddy has been gone all week in Denmark (with Justin, Mike and Brian)...working really hard and driving fast cars like the tesla. We are glad you were able to have some fun on your trip and that it wasn't too mundane :)

We missed you lots and bet you are really excited to be back driving cars like the 4runner and Acura.