Summer Fun

Summer has been full-o-fun lately. Here's what we've bee up to....

 

Dadd had to travel to Indiana again for a few days. With mommy's busy work schedule and threat of solo parenting, I called for reinforcements. G  & G came to the rescuse while daddy was away. They can in town Monday afternoon. We all enjoyed a nice dinner together before daddy had to cach his flight. James was sure glad to see them and didn't hesitate to start his charm right away.

 

G & G kept James home Tuesday as mommy had an early morning meeting. I think James and Grandad enjoyed some bonding time Tuesday morning.

 

 

 

Tuesday evening was James' 9 month check up. Grammy went with us to help occupy the wait time. He was either happy that Grammy was with us or happy about the fact he didn't have to get shots this time. :)

 

Snuggles with Grammy while we waited on Dr. D.

 

 

 

 

 

James got a good report at his check up. He weighs just under 21 pounds and is 28 inches tall. His ears still look great and as far as we know he is healthy. Wahoo! We will go back in October for his 1 year (OMG!) check up. It just doesn't seem possible that he is almost one.

 

 

G & G headed out on Wednesday morning. But before they left James made sure to take advantange of story time with Grammy.

 

So sweet!

 

One group shot before G and G left. James really enjoyed the extra attention despite the cranky face.  

  

 

 

Someone needed a nap. :)

 

  



Other shenanigans that James has been up to lately? Being a total squirrel in the bath tub. This kid is all. over. the. place. One of these days he's going to slip and hit his heads despite my ongoing efforts to keep him in a seated position. 

  

Hugging the tub.

Cute wittle buns.

Danger!

  

He's also had quite the personality at meal time. I find this picture to be particularly cute and quite accurate of his charming personality.

 

 

 

On Saturday we loaded up to meet the Berggren cousins at a near by pool. With the weather/heat index in triple digits, we settled on an indoor pool. A win for everyone! James and PJ had a blast.

 

"What is this thing?"

The look of pure joy. :)
 

Sweet cousins. :)

 

 

What a great week/weekend it was spent with family and friends!

 

Happy 9 Months!

Sweet Baby Nugget,

 

Another month has passed before my eyes and you are now 9 months old today! NINE. I just don't know how that is even possible. I've had my emotional moments this week as you've approached turning 9 months old. I don't know why. Maybe it's because all of a sudden you seem bigger to me. You are a little less snuggly and have these 2 top front teeth that suddenly make you look like a toddler. Momma is NOT a fan. While I am SO thankful and blessed to watch you grow, I can't help but wonder where my little, squishy baby went.

 

Anways....here are some things about you at this fun age.  :)

• James currently weighs just over 21 lbs. Almost triple his birth weight! He has his official 9 month check-up next week so we will get more official stats then. Thankful no shots at that visit.
• He's got 4 teeth- 2 front top and 2 front bottom. His teeth next to his top fron teeth could emerge any day taking his count up to 6! Poor kid. I will say he has been a trooper and hasn't been overly fussy.
• He continues to be a good sleeper. Sometimes we go in spurts where he doesn't do as good- mostly when he is getting new teeth, hitting a new milestone, or when he was having a lot of trouble with his ears. Overall, we cannot complain!
• He eating a wide variety of foods and seems to be doing well. He LOVES grilled cheese and little baby bel cheeses (are you seeing a pattern here?). He'll eat almost any fruit or veggie but isn't the biggest fan of hamburger just yet. He is still breastfeeding like a champ! I'm so thankful I've been able to keep up with his demand. Never in a million years would I have thought I could have made it this far exclusively breastfeeding.
• Chunky monkey is now rocking 12 month clothes. Occasionally some brands in 18 month. I've already started buying 24 month sizes for warmer fall/winter clothes.
• He LOVES school and seeing his friends. One of his friends in the infant class recently moved to the toddler room and James got to go over and play with him one morning. He will likely transition to the same toddler room sometime in September. It's so crazy we are already talking about him transitioning. I feel like we just dropped him off for the first time a few weeks ago.
• He LOVES books! In particular, he loves his "One Fish, Two Fish..." Dr. Seuss book. He'll often crawl over to the shelf, grab that book, and somehow get it to John or I to read it to him.
• He is crawling everwhere, climbing stairs, and has started to do some cruising. Just tonight he decided to take a few steps with assistance from the laundry basket. "Active" is going to have a whole new meaning in our house pretty darn fast!
• Sassy- boy is he getting sassy. And he's starting to comprehend when we tell him "stop" or "no" when he is about to harm himself. He will turn around and kind of grunt or shout back at us. Super funny now although I'm sure there will be a day where we do not find it funny. He is going to be so, so ornery. :)

Time is flying and the days seem to get more busy while chasing this sweet boy. We are so thankful that he is happy, healthy, and developing appropriately. I love seeing him explore new things and watch how they excite him. Happy 9 Month Birthday my sweet, James! It is such a joy to be your mommy. We love you bunches!!

 



 

 

Always on the move!

A rare, still, snuggly moment. Be still my heart.

Little Bookworm

  

Story time with Dad.

Baby yoga

 

Making progress with his sippy cup.

Looking all big.

Ear Tubes

I feel today has been a long time coming. And when I say "long", I mean 2 months (which doesn't seem like long at all). Poor James has been battling ear infections/increased fluid since the beginning of May. We had made several trips to the pediatrician's office, trialed 5 different antibiotics, and have dealt with a lot of fussiness, diarrhea, and diaper rash. All more fun than we would have hoped for at the ripe age of 8 months old. We had taken him to be seen at Children's Mercy ENT back in the middle of June. No action plan really from that visit other than to follow up again in a month and then likely discuss ear tube placement.

 

 

** Back story: John had HORRIBLE ears as a baby and had tubes placed when he was just over one. So we had a feeling James could get blessed from this issue.**

 

After some unusual middle of the night screaming a week ago, John took James back to the peditrician on Saturday (7/2). It was dicovered that he still had a significant amount of fluid and his ears were bulging. The peditrician told John that James needed to get tubes ASAP and to call Children's Mercy on Tuesday to see if they could squeeze him in sooner than his July 15th appointment.

 

Tuesday morning rolled around and I called CMH. I cannot begin to tell you the level of frustration I had when the nurse basically told me that ther was nothing they could do, there was no wait list if another patient cancelled, and that they would still plan to see us on the 15th. Needless to say my momma bear came out and I had had enough. Poor James was miserable and I was fearful his ears would only get worse within the next week.

 

I initially wasn't hot on taking James to KU for his ENT needs, but figured it was worth a shot after the horrible phone discussion with Children's Mercy. Luckily I know the Clinic Manager for KU ENT and she quickly recommended we see one of the NP's at KU.  I am also thankfully good friends with one of the nurses at J's pediatrician's office (also went to RN school with her) and she quickly made a call to KU to get us in ASAP.

 

I go ta call from KU ENT on Wednesday (my now "off" day from work each week-yay!) while James and I were out for a walk. The NP could see us that morning. We rushed home to get ready and off we went to get our second opinion. I'll summarize the appointment in 2 words: ABSOLUTELY. FABULOUS! The nurses were great, the NP was phenomenal, and I totally felt James was getting the care that he needed. They did a hearing test upon arrival that revealed James had hearing loss bilaterally. The NP flat out told us that he still had fluid on his ears, he needs tubes asap, and to immediately stop the antibiotic that he was taking. I felt RELIEVED that she was all for getting the show on the road so that we could stop all of the antibiotics and pain medicine that he has consistently been on for 2 months. Much to my surprise they had an opening for tubes on Friday (7/8) with one of the top Peds ENT surgeons in the area. What a blessing!!! I of course immediately took the appointment and John and I shuffled our work schedules as we wanted to get this taken care of.

 

Surgery was extremely quick. We had to arrive at 6:45 AM for 7:30 surgery. They took James back about 7:45 and called us from the waiting room at 8:00 to reunite with him again. He was NOT a happy camper upon waking up from anesthesia- extremely aggitated! He struggled to calm down and nurse so I was thankful I had pumped enough for a bottle on the way to the surgery center (we over slept and literally had to run out the door to make it on time leaving me no time to pump at home before we left- it's never dull, people!).

 

The car ride home was a little rough as James struggled to get settled down from the anesthesia. Once home and in his element he was right back to his usual, happy self. He played, ate, and then went down for a big nap.

 

We are now just praying that all continues to go well and that these infections are behind us. James has a follow-up appointment next Friday to make sure his ears are healing as well as a repeat hearing test. Crossing our fingers for a clean bill of health!

 

I could not be more grateful to KU for taking care of our babe. The staff and experience was simply amazing and exactly what this momma (and nurse) had wanted for her babe. If there was anything that I learned from all of this it's to never just take "no" as an answer when dealing with your baby. There is someone, somewhere that will listen to your worries. Always go with your gut feeling and advocate for what you feel is right!

 

We love you James and pray that your ears will only get better from here. :)



 

 

 

 

In the waiting room waiting to go into Pre-Op. Check out those top teeth!!

Waiting in the Pre-Op room for Dr. B.

Not feeling too hot on the way home. Poor babby! :(

Finally snoozing!

Playing with Daddy when we got home.

Back to his usual self!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a low key 4th of July weekend this year. Normally we are out of town or are busy running around town with friends, but this year we took advantage of a long weekend at home. I'll admit, I'm glad we were home as James has yet another ear infection, started a new antibiotic Saturday, and has been sleeping horribly the ast 3 nights! I'm so thankful John has not been traveling and has been home to help. I digress...

 

John took James to the pediatrician Saturday morning while he sent me on my way to have some girl time with a friend at the City Market and antique shopping before heading to my hair apt. The weekend was mainly spent at home, grilling, relaxing, and enjoying family. We found our little firecracker to be exceptionally cute in his holiday attire! Last year he was baking in the oven at 24 weeks!

 

 

 

 

4th of July lunch at Grandmommy's

Snuggles for Grandmommy

Momma's boy

 

 

I think it's safe to say we had a relatively eventful day. We were home from Grandmommy's late afternoon and I got to enjoy some rare snuggles from my boy.

 

 

 

 

We hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July!