Thursday, December 1, 2011

Diagnosis Day...

...2 years later. December 1, 2009. The day is still as vivid as if it were today. Two years ago today we found out our sweet boy had spina bifida. He is truly a miracle, and we could never have imagined how amazing he would be doing at just 19 months of age. We are so blessed, and thank you all for your prayers throughout the past 2 years! Please don't stop!

December 1, 2009. The only "foot picture" I have...and I'm still thankful that it's blurry! :)


December 2, 2009...God knows how much I love the snow and gave me a snow day the day after.


December 1, 2010...clearly he was as thrilled as I was. Haha. We marked "1 year" by decorating the Christmas tree.

And, he was learning to crawl.

Today...December 1, 2011. Getting into trouble. He knows he isn't supposed to be standing in the recliner.

Never mind the crazy eyes. He also knows he isn't supposed to stand on that seat. And, yes...I took this picture as he was driving past me. :)

Today is also 34 weeks for Miss Anna. Her little feet are KILLING my ribs...but it's more than ok with me! :) I've been having contractions, but nothing that doesn't go away with water and rest. Some swelling, but NOTHING like I had with Davis. Hallelujah!

Me and my boy. I love that he likes to kiss my nose; and my belly. :) And, yes...in honor of diagnosis day, I wore my redefining spina bifida shirt. Actually, I wore Brandon's shirt...mine doesn't fit anymore.

And, because it was funny to me, here's a close-up of the sign B made.











Monday, November 28, 2011

I Know...

...I know...I have no excuse. So, here comes another mega post. Really, it's the longest post ever...In bullet format.
  • Our Rangers went to...and lost...the World Series again. We let him stay up late and watch one of the games. He only lasted a few innings. :)


  • He turned 18 months old and I didn't ever get an official "sign" picture. His doctors are all still impressed by him, and all of his skills.  He's still short and skinny...31 1/2 inches tall, and 23.8 pounds. He uses too many single words to count, and LOTS of 2 and 3 word phrases. His favorite phrases are "I be back," "Push it," "Hi Daddy," and my favorite..."Mommy, I hung-y!" (the last one us usually in "whine" form. I don't love that part.) The mommy and the speech therapist in me are so very proud of these skills being so advanced!!
  • We went to Abilene to the pumpkin patch at DRI. He was in awe at all of the orange "balls!" I am certain that he at least tried to pick up EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. :) Since Grandpa works there, he had connections. Everyone knew Davis, and he that he was king of the place. 

not a fan of my trying to get one decent picture.

this is the closest I got to "decent."

LOVED the hayride.

Checking out the candy store they have there.

Trying to decide what to get after he finishes that "choc-it" covered graham cracker.


Yep, he made a gun with that stick. Nope, we didn't teach him that. Where on earth do boys get that from?!

Grandpa never says no...this was a "bath before dinner" kind of night.

He was helping Grandpa "push it."

Not a fan of this photo op either. Haha. I don't know why, but this is one of my favorites.

That thing sings "Monster Mash" and dances. D was dancing too.

  • We got a call from daycare one day to let us know he fell on the playground. The cut wasn't that long, but went all the way to his skull. We had to make our first non-spina bifida related trip to the ER. I'm sure only the parents of other special needs kids will understand this, but even with the gash on his head, we were calm, and even happy while we were there. Sounds odd, I know, but we were there just because he's a little boy! It also helped that they gave him some tylenol with codeine...he was quite happy too. :) I don't have any "before" pictures since it was a bit of an emergency, and no time to stop for the camera.  
3 stitches...his first non-surgical stitches.

The day after the stitches, he had a fever again, and saw the pediatrician for yet more ear infections. He got antibiotic shots in his legs and REFUSED to use them...at all. He would think about it, and then just cry because he couldn't. I'm glad the nurse warned me about that...I might have had a panic attack.

All was better the next day.
  • Since it was on his face, they removed the stitches after 5 days, and used the glue stitches that lasted another 2ish weeks. That just fell off last week. We had his 18 month pictures scheduled for that same day. And, those were used for our Christmas cards. :) Oh well...a memory for sure. 
Posing for pictures wore him out.

  • Halloween! He had fun at daycare, carved a pumpkin with Daddy, dressed as a golfer (Old timey/Payne Stewart type, not modern/Tiger Woods type), and went trick-or-treating for the first time. 
This is the face I get every morning when I tell him to come on, lets go to school. Then he yells "BEBA!" (that's what they call his teacher...whom we all love!)

Yeah...he pulled the guts right out of that thing and ATE THEM! Yuck!






  • We had a shower for Miss Anna a few weeks ago. We got a lot of great stuff...PINK stuff! I washed them this weekend and laughed when I cleaned the lint from the dryer. :) Thank you all for coming and blessing us again! (Official thank you notes are in the works.) One of my pictures won't upload...it's a picture of the quilt my mom made for Anna. I'll keep working on getting that on here. It's really cute! 



Ali made the Anna sign (that is now hanging on her door) and the Bow holder thing...that is now covered with bows. :)



  • D turned 19 months old! Technically not a "sign picture" month, but since we didn't get the 18 month one, we threw this one in...Captain Uncooperative! 


But, when I asked nicely to see his paper, he was happy to show me.

  • I passed 32 weeks. 

  • Aunt Vasha came for Thanksgiving! Since Dr. Tabor said I couldn't be more than 30 minutes from the hospital, Nana, Grandpa, and Aunt Sha came to us. D was in HEAVEN and we had to have a serious "detox" when they left...mommy's and daddy's have so many more "rules" than aunts and grandparents. 


Not a fan of daddy in the tunnel

my boys! I am sooooo very thankful for these two...every day, not just Thanksgiving!

  • I passed 33 weeks as well. Thursday will be 34 weeks. I saw Dr. Tabor again today and he moved our delivery date back by one day (his schedule wouldn't work for the 28th after all)...Anna is now scheduled to be taken out December 29th! 

  • I found this after breakfast the day after Thanksgiving. He's been able to do it for a long time, but just hasn't tried. Nothing is safe anymore! 

  • We decorated for Christmas. It is a little sad...we did not go all out this year. I usually decorate the whole inside, and make B put up lights outside too. This year, we have stockings on the mantle, the little people nativity set, and a tree...with about 20 toddler friendly ornaments. That's it. But, D loves it! 
Checking out the ornaments.


Putting them on...



I love that with an 8 foot tree, all the ornaments are clumped in one place at the very bottom. I left it until he started taking them off and losing them. I moved them up, and left just the one's my Mamaw (great grandmother) made years ago for him to "play with."

  • The End!!