Fin's Fables

2011-06-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is just the simple things in life. I am completely in love with the randomness of the following phrase:

"Momma ... I love you."

This of course is followed with a giant hug to my legs. Sometimes I will catch his eye and he'll stop, stare back for a moment. Then, as though it was part of a screenplay, he will smile his big grin and proceed with the above phrase.

I love my little Irish-looking Doog.

First Trip to Dr Page

2011-04-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

There are many "firsts" in your life, and this was just another one: Your first trip to the dentist. Dr Page's office is filled with tons of cool stuff and to be honest, it's one of Bubba's favorite places! After your visit they let you pick a sticker and toys out of the treasure box. Bubba came with you and wanted to take over the show!

He asked if HE could ride in the chair that goes up and down, and HE wanted to show you how the magic squirt gun worked (teeth rinser). You were a bit shy because all of the attention turned on YOU YOU YOU, so you hid behind my leg a little bit until you realized that Bubba just might get to take your thunder. You then hopped up like a pro to take the glory.

Dr Page counted your teeth and you were really happy when they put the Sponge Bob sunglasses on for you; that was just TOO COOL. Lorrie let you squirt the tooth rinser at her and you liked that. Next week both you and Maysen go back to have your teeth cleaned so that will be your real first "procedure". We'll see how it goes, but I think you'll do just fine.

As for everything else you are growing like a weed! You've grown about 6" since we moved into this house which was only 8 months ago. Now just a few inches literally separate you and your brother, even though you're 3 years apart! You're now potty trained, going to school in undies, and sleeping at night with nothing! You've only had 3 accidents at night so far and none in the last few weeks so you're pretty much there! (Shhhh, don't tell your brother you're just about better at pooping in the toilet than he is!).

You were registered for preschool the other day so you'll start that new adventure in the fall!

We bought our boat a few weeks ago (SeaRay) and just yesterday brought home our new Tahoe, so we're looking forward to turning you into a water dog this summer! Boy are you guys excuted! You got your new life jacket (thanks to Austin Glenn!) so we are ready for action once the weather turns nice!

Love you, Doobs.

2011-03-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

As I sit typing at the computer, a naked-from-the-waist-down Griffy entered the office. He was attempting to climb the desk and piddle around. All of a sudden I heard a bare-butt fart come out of him. He stopped what he was doing aburptly and looked up at me.

Uh-Oh. Guess what, Momma. My butt burped.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

2010-12-27T15:31:00.000-08:00

To my Doogs,

I can't believe you're 3 today. Maysen was just about this age when you came along and all I can see in you is that you're still my baby! You've gone through lots of new changes this year, so it's been a big year for you!!

For Christmas this year, Santa brought you a motorcycle bike with training wheels! It is red, silver, and black. At first you had a hard time pedaling because you kept stomping the pedal backwards and slamming on the breaks. You're sure getting the hang of it, though and even running that hummer off the curb. Grandma and Poppy must have known Santa was bringing you a bike because they got you a super cool red helmet to wear! Bubba even got a new bike. His has no training wheels, a "two-wheeler" he says, and it is lime green and silver. You two have a lot of fun riding and playing together on them.

Everyone developes little habits throughout their life and you have started one; you have a transient tic where you blink your eyes really hard but you alternate your eyes. Most people comment how you're "winking" but you can't help it. We don't draw a lot of attention to it as you can't "wink" if we ask you to, yet you do this subconsiously. It gets worse when you're tired or if you're upset. Laurie Carmichael, pediatric NP, saw you for your 3yr check and says that its not uncommon for kids your age to get something like this due to all social and developmental changes going on at this age. She says you'll outgrow it more than likely, but we don't care either way!

You are a very good eater, and it shows because of how tall you've gotten! You will eat just about anything. We like to sit together on the couch and eat yogurt. Our game is you see if you can get a whole blueberry and then you show it to me before you chew it. Its just silly but I sure do enjoy your cuddly time with me. You really have been a Momma's boy this year and I love it. I just can't believe how big you are.

In September, you got your first experience of school. You are going to 5Cs now in the Young Preschool class that Miss Thelma teaches. That was Bubba's teacher, too! You have some familiar faces in your class; Karaline is Austin's sister and just recently Skyler Anderson joined your class. You've really come out of your shell now that you're in a classroom. You can be shy at first and wrap your arms around my legs, but as soon as you get comfortable you're 100mph like the rest of them.

We went and visited Grandma Jo and Grandpa "Bob" (one day you just walked up to him and said "Hi Bob", so ever since Gr Dave has been Grandpa Bob) in Yosemite this summer. We drove down in the van and it was a long drive but you guys did really well. We got to see the National Forest and we did lots of swimming and playing in the warm sun. You absolutely loved Grandpa's golf cart and wanted to drive it any chance you could get!

I love watching you say your "S"s because you have a little cute lisp when you say it. So when you say "Perry the Platipusssssth" your little tongue dodges quickly to the right and out of the front of your teeth. It is so stinking cute!

You have grown so tall over this last year. In fact, only six inches seperates you and Maysen! He is still your big brother though! You guys have found that you have more in common this year. You have a love/hate relationship like any other siblings but you are able to play together on the same page almost. Favorite things to do right now are Hide and Seek and playing Mario Kart on the Wii together. You've also discovered the game Cooties and have lots of fun with that, but you get upset when anyone mixes up the colors of the bodies and heads; you'd like them to match, thank you very much!

Our next adventure is getting you potty trained which should be successful this summer in which you will roam around with no pants on. In fact, if I do that now you are potty trained! If you are naked from the waist down, you will not go anywhere but the toilet. The second you have pants on? Forget it. So we'll work on that this summer.

In January after your 2nd birthday we started building our new house. We would go just about every night after supper to see what the new developments were. You and Bubba would run all over, play in the rocks, play hide and seek, climb on the bull dozers, and anything else little boys can get into. We had to be careful, though, because there were lots of nails and tools around that you were itching to get ahold of! We finally moved into our new house in July and you love going up and down the stairs! You sleep upstairs with Bubba in your Surf Board beds. You have lots of fun playing in your play room. You used to be deathly afraid of Bubba's dinosaurs, but at the end of this year you came around to kind of liking them!

Onward we go! Looking forward to all the adventures to come ...

I love you, my special Doogy Boy.

My buddy

2010-10-22T15:37:00.001-07:00

Big brothers are usually good at many things. In our house, Mase is usually the fight instigator and bully most of the time. I know he really does love his brother but he likes to put Griffin in his little-brother-place. I bought the boys slippers for this winter, as I usually get "My feet are cold!" in the mornings getting ready for school. They love wearing them and have donned the phrase "Little Red Riding Boots". At the library last week, Maysen picked "Splat the Cat" and has been reciting the book over and over. On this night, sitting by the fire, Bubba asked Griffin to sit by him as he recited, word-for-word, Splat the Cat Goes to CatSchool. They really are good pals ...

2010-06-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

Hi Doog,

Its been a long time since I've updated! Mom has been a tad busy. You've grown leaps and bounds, almost so fast I can't keep up. Just yesterday we were driving to Grandma and Poppi's and I had Jack Johnson playing in the stereo and you said clear as day, "Momma? I like this song!" It was great.

We are back to naps because I didn't last long with you having no nap. We have a routine that we do and after lunch you and I go lay down and sing songs in my bed. You will shortly drift off to sleep, begrudgingly, and sleep for at least an hour or two, giving Bubba and I some time to do our thing. It's good you are taking naps because lately you have been getting up at 6:45, walking in bright eyed and saying "Hi!". If you crawl up into daddy's warm cozy spot you usually will fall back asleep for another hour.

Maysen can do no wrong in your eyes and as you can see in the photo above, whatever it is he is doing, you wish to be just like him. Right now it seems to be the backtalking, getting into things. I think it's Maysen that has taught you to find out where I am before you get into trouble. The other day Daddy caught you in our bathroom saying "Mommmmmma? Where are you!?" when I didn't answer or come walking in there, you started getting in the cabinets and make up. The newest "oh great" moment was just the other day. You asked Daddy to watch a show in the playroom and when he turned it on, out the garage you went - broom stick in had to use the handle to open the garage door. I found you riding your trike down 1st street.

We are almost done building our house and I can't wait to make new memories watching you grow there ...

Mr No Nap

2010-01-21T19:35:00.000-08:00

So, when I get to the point I'm fighting you for 2hrs to nap, it's time to NOT nap. And that's where we're at. It's an adjustment but if you finally DO nap, you're up until 10:00pm and that is not an option for mommy and daddy time! So, by about 4:00pm you're absolutely exhausted but you catch a second wind from somewhere and make it until about 7:30. Total Catch 22. Nap and stay up until 10:00 and I'm frustrated and TIRED ... or push through until bedtime. And that seems to be winning right now.

But you're not so happy ... Love you.

First Broken Bone

2010-01-07T15:57:00.000-08:00

Last night you broke your right collar bone. We were at the model house showing Papa and Grandma Sherrill the house and you and Bubba were upstairs and BOOM. You and Bubba ran into each other with Bubba landing on top of you. After your nap yesterday you woke up intolerant to using your right arm. We saw Dr Kordesch this morning and sure enough! You had xrays and it’s broken. Poor baby. Luckily your bones are growing so fast it’ll fuse within the next few weeks and “all” I have to do is try and keep you from being too rough with it. Should be easy … right? Right!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Roo.

2010-01-02T14:55:00.000-08:00

The last few months have been a wild ride. Over the last few months, you have turned 2 and had your second Christmas. But when it was here, it was a great time. On 12/24/09 while daddy worked until noon we all 3 stayed in our “cozies” and made Christmas cookies for Santa. You liked eating most of the frosting.

After having Christmas at Poppi and Grandma’s we went home and you helped Bubba get the Christmas cookies out for Santa. You slept really good that night and by the time to open presents at our house, you didn’t want to! That’s OK because I told dad, “We can just open the rest for his party on Sunday.” Then I realized that I hadn’t set any gifts aside for your birthday, so it all turned out good!!

You turned 2 on 12/27 and we held your party the same day! Mary, my hairdresser, was to come at 3:30 and cut your hair for the party. 4:00pm came and she still wasn’t there so we moved ahead and Grandma Bobbi did the honors and cut your hair. She used to be a hairdresser years ago, so she knew what she was doing. MAN, how you changed with that one haircut!!

The next day we headed out for our Winter Wonderland vacation. Daddy took the week off and we rented “the mountain house” and left for 4 days. Before we left town, we did stop off at where Bubba gets his hair cut and Cindy cut it “right” for you.

You loved Eagle Crest and the 2nd day we were there, we got snow! You played with Bubba in it and had a ball. Last winter you went out but had no gloves and you HATED that. This year you had snow and all the stuff to keep you warm and you loved it.

Dad, Bubba, and you built a snowman but you were scared to touch it or even pose for a picture with it. No thank you! We played games and played toys, watched movies, and snacked and you had a lot of fun. One of the best parts for you, I think, was going swimming at the indoor pool. We put arm floaties on you and just kicked and flapped your arms, stuck your head under water and blew bubbles. Natural swimmer!!

You jibber all the time and are starting to make sense now! Instead of “ooce” for drink, you say “ink” now. You can repeat just about any word that we say. “Why?” is a frequent question around here followed by 4 million “Momma, mmmmmmmommmmm”. You are my constant shadow these days. Naps are fading I fear. It’s a struggle every day, and you will go probably 2 days a week with no nap. Bubba can do no wrong in your eyes! You constantly have the “Monkey See, Monkey Do” thing going on, despite the injuries it might bring.

I can’t believe you’re TWO already and it’s been so fun to watch you grow. Can’t wait for many many more. We love you, Roo/Doog/Doogles/Rooble.

23 months, Crib Freedom!

2009-11-15T00:39:00.000-08:00

The most recent happenings around here is that you have now graduated to not being in a crib! Last weekend (11-7-09) we took the front off your crib. You didn't like it one bit! I think it was the losing-the-security-wall feeling behind. You cried and didn't want left. You'd get out of your crib and get books, try to take your PJs off. Finally since we have a video monitor I just laid you down, turned it on and sat outside your room. When you'd get out of your bed, I'd go right in and when I'd leave I could see you on the monitor looking around like "What in the world?!...." But that was a week ago and you're sleeping like a champ now. We have to sing songs (I lay my head down) and you always con me into one more (holding your little number 1 finger up). Naps are only going to happen when Bubba's home. You won't nap if he's not around. So your naps now are from about 2:30 - 4:00.

This was your 2nd Halloween. Last year you were a dragon, but you didn't understand what was going on. This year you totally got it.

We put the suit on and you weren't happy about that. But we went to Soren and Lindsey's first and by the 3rd house you were right up there saying "Tank Too" and falling off their top step because you couldn't turn your suit around quick enough. You, just like your brother when he was 3, were the talk of the neighborhood.

Today Bubba had his 5th birthday party and I can't believe that next month you will be having yours because you are TWO! You loved watching all the kids and playing around. Wendy brought you a present too along with Maysens. A pack of 3 trucks, which Maysen HAD to have, so he gave you some of his others, which you were just as happy with. However, I learned today that you wrote all over the playroom's walls earlier with marker. Dad had to replaint part of that wall. Way to go, slick.

You are really starting to open up with words. You say: (the new ones) Oh man, up, down, yuice (= drink), Scooby Doo Be Doo, *shoulder shrug*, Bubba this and Bubba that, Dots, Daiey. Cute things you do now is squint your eyes up in a smile and say "NOooooooo" (like, "no, silly .. "), shrug your shoulders if you say something like "Where's Dots?". Also, you want to pee so bad on the toilet. But, everything is "poop". So you will grab your diaper and say "poop" and that means you want to sit on the toilet. You wish so bad you'll pee, but not yet! So we just keep trying ....

I think that's it for now! I love you, Roooby-Doo.

21 months

2009-09-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

Baby Roo,

Life has gotten crazy lately so I am sorry there is no new pictures of you up lately except this one of you standing with Bubba on his first day of school. You love him so much and want to do everything he is doing right now.

You are growing so fast it's amazing. Your words have sprouted like weeds! You mimic just about anything we say such as, "All Done, Daddy, Bath, Bubbles, Dog, Cat (Meow), Bubba, Num-Num, Ossssh (outside), Show, Shoes, Juice, Momma (you pat your cheek), bye-bye, TOP (stop), OUCH, Nannas (banana), Owie (for everything you want attention to), Ball" and others but those are the main ones.

You went swimming while we took a family trip to Eagle Crest and you love it. We put the arm floaties on and you went around like you owned the place.

You love chocolate milk and bananas are a new favorite, but to be honest you'll eat just about anything. Naps are becoming shorter. You get up around 8:00am but won't nap until 1:00pm. Now that Bubba goes to school from 11: 30 - 2:15 you don't get much of a nap. NOOO! I'm not ready for no naps. We both need them.

You are Mr Attitude lately. When you don't want to come in you'll squeel at the top of your lungs, grab my shirt or try to pinch my cheek. That doesn't go very far because you get in trouble, but you try! You'll fall to the ground like you can't walk if we're coming inside and you dont want to. You also try and escape out the front screen door.

We are moving out of this house ... the house you were brought home from the hospital (twice) in. I'm sad that we are leaving those memories behind but I know that this is for the better of our lives. We are getting a bigger house and have hopes of building a house where you and Bubba can play and have more room to grow.

I love you, Little Roo.

19months

2009-07-28T01:22:00.000-07:00

My mister Fin,

This last week Daddy and Maysen went hiking with Papa, Josh, and Jonas. You and I stayed home together and had a great time! The second the boys were out of the house, you clung to me like "Who's going to run and chase me now!?" You also soon realized that you didn't have to compete with your brother to speak so you started talking on your own! You spit out "uh oh, oopsie, woops, ouchie, wet, down, up, and more (while signing it)".

You had your 18mo check and all was well there. Nothing to add but you're doing great! Your stats were:
height: 32" (45%)
weight: 25.5lb (50%)

You continue to be Mr Independent. If you want to eat and I try to feed you, you won't eat. YOU have to be holding the spoon, thank you very much. And if something goes down you don't like, you throw a tantrum. They range from throwing yourself on the ground, to trying to hit us or Maysen, to running full speed into my leg or the couch for effect. Its rather comical.

You are very sensitive and become rather shy quickly. If you get put on the spot, you will put your finger in your mouth and tuck your head.

You love to be outside and will take any opportunity to sneak outside. Almost Hudini.

We stopped giving you the bottle at bed/nap. You seem to do OK with it but haven't been doing naps for Amanda when she is babysitting. You are offered a sippy cup at night but really don't use it (I'd rather you not ..) so that habit is broken! What a big boy ...

More to come, my growing boy ...

almost 18 months

2009-06-12T22:21:00.000-07:00

Droob,

My my how fast you are growing! I can’t believe you’re in 24mo clothing and barely 18mo old. I can still remember your brother wearing most of the clothes you’re in. We should be taking your bottle away, but it works so wonderfully in putting you to bed. I am dreading that missing from our nightly routine, just because it runs so smoothly. But, this month we will do that. Your hair is still red, but getting lighter and your curls are continuing! I’m not sure when we’ll cut it but I’m enjoying them…

You are sure smart! When you and Maysen play chase you have started to anticipate his movements. This surprises even him sometimes! You still can’t make it up onto the couch by yourself so you now go get Bubba’s stool, carry it to the couch and hoist yourself up. At bedtime I will hand you your bottle and wave “bye bye” at me and walk to your crib for ni-night.

Our first camping trip with your cousins was last month. We went to South Beach. The wind blew like you wouldn't believe and you got cold quickly. Otherwise we had a great time! You loved the sand ...

Your words you’re saying the most these days are “bubba, stop, hot, cat, hi-yee,” you’ll wave bye-bye. We have gotten used to your grunts and groans that we know what you want and have made it unnecessary for you to talk, almost. You have us wrapped around your finger!! Monkey See, Monkey Do is the newest game. You’ll imitate anyone doing anything that looks fun.

When we try and feed you, you’ll have nothing to do with it. You want to feed yourself, thank you very much!! Favorites include beans, peaches/pears, chocolate milk, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Cheeto Natural, popcorn, Fig Newtons, peas. You hate bananas - I think it's the texture.

You love the hose and spraying it but you hate to be sprayed. Sleeping through the night is happening slower than it did with Maysen. You sleep from 8:30pm until about 7:00am. If you get a bit more bottlel then you’ll sleep until 9:00am. You get one nap, still (thankful you take one!) from about noon – 2:00pm.

Your big toenails fell off a few weeks back. You must have smashed them in the door or something because one day I noticed they were lifting up! You didn't seem to mind at all, so I just trimmed them way back and eventually they fell off. Weirdest thing. You're so "cool" though, nothing ever seems to get you riled up. I love you so much ...

AUNGH!

2009-05-10T00:28:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa were here this last week. You had fun with grandma reading Green Eggs and Ham. She would hold your fingers and go "buzzzzbuzzzbuzz" on the mouse on each page. You loved it!

It took you awhile to warm up to Grandma and Grandpa but once you did, that was it. You wanted to be with them all the time. I hope we get to see them again soon!

You're quite the singer these days. You're approaching 17 months old and already my little singer! Anytime a song comes on in the car, radio, or even your singing books you'll start singing and you get your eye brows bushed up all serious like you are on Idol!

This is what you need to be wearing away from your brother these days - suit of armor!! He's a little rough on you but something tells me you'll be getting him back one of these days.

Mr Attitude is back - you will walk around and "Aungh!" your way through whatever you want. Somehow it's just annoying enough to give in to what you want so we don't have to hear it anymore! However, I'd rather brave through it long enough so that you will learn your words! You actually did start saying "Momma" more than just when you were angry crying.

Mr Scoot - You will throw yourself down about 5 feet away from any door and scoot-scoot-scoot your happy fast way to the door to try and get out before you come and haul him back in.

Indian Giver - You cart things around with you and you'll blow up to the first person you see, hand it to them and walk about 3 steps back. Then you'll turn around and demand it back ... you guessed it, by the AUNGH!

Playing chase is a new-found love in this house. You will chase your brother around while he screams. You love it when he screams (Goody....).

You still get a bottle. That's going to be my hardest thing to break with you. I put you to bed with it and I hear nothing but peace. I will miss the peace once I take it away. Darn.

Almost 16 months, past Easter

2009-04-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter, Roo.

You found eggs and put them in your basket. You even ate chocolate for breakfast! It was a fun day and you liked the ball and tractor in your Easter Basket. (not to mention candy)

What a little attitude you have these days. You’ll come and yell because something’s not going your way. If you’re mad because I picked you up, you’ll scratch my chest then look at me. Your brother pulled my hair when he didn’t like getting picked up. You have thrown a couple of tantrums by throwing yourself on the ground. If you want to hold something yourself vs someone giving it to you or doing it for you, you’ll turn away and run off like you’re too good, usually including a grunt or a holler. Grandma Sherrill gave you a good tantrum the other day and you watched her like “what a crazy lady”.

You can say: Ball, basketball, hot, cat, dada, bubba, dog, bite, hi. Singing is something you like to do and will go “La La La La” and bob your head around while dancing when you hear music. You’ll give kisses (open mouth), blow kisses, wave bye-bye. You still get a bottle when we put you to bed and you have 2 bottom teeth coming in. The one on the right bottom is swollen, bruised, and raised up waiting to come in. It’s no fun, that’s for sure!

You love being outside. You’ll try and sneak your way out if there’s an open door. You’ll sit down real fast and scoot to the door but you sit down about 5 feet away from the door! Right now the weather is warming up and you squeal when the water is going and love to run your little feet through it.

Off you go following your big brother around ….

Words - 15 months

2009-03-30T21:24:00.000-07:00

Roo,

Your speech is picking up now. You saw Cat (--At), Hot (--Ot), Bubba, Daddy, Momma, bath and are mimicking just about every word we say. You insist on feeding yourself with your spoon already and do a relatively good job with thick liquids like applesauce, soup, cottage cheese. So far you are left-handed.

You’ll wave bye-bye and will say “hi” when someone says it to you. You are doing this funny thing when I ask if you’re hungry or thirsty. You’ll growl. Like a grunt/growl and it’s to the point where if you are hungry/thirsty you’ll do that to basically tell me.

Surprises are fun to watch because you do the mouth-wide-open like a “gasp” but you’ll do it when you know something is going to sound funny or at a expected surprise. Speed is nothing – you are running everywhere now and will even go down/up stairs and steps with total grace. You will go to grab my hand if it’s there but if it’s not you seem to make it up/down.

BALL is your favorite word right now and love the basketball. You’ll walk around and throw it down – anything round (eggs, tomato, grapes, apples) are balls. You just cut your 10th tooth - top right molar. Strawberry-blonde is what your hair color is and very curly in the back. After the bath is when it's at it's peak "curlieness".

Tooth #9

2009-03-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

Roo,

I know, another nickname? Yes. I honestly don't think we ever had this many nicknames with Maysen. But you don't seem to mind and come willingly (sometimes) when you're called by various names.

You cracked the surface with your 9th tooth yesterday. It's your top-left molar. You have been cranky and throwing your fingers in your mouth. A couple weeks ago I noticed a bruise back there so figured it was on it's way. You have bruised your gums a couple of times when teething.

Your new word is "Ball". You even say the "L" of ball. And you LOVE balls. Right now you love picking up and tossing the ball, even a full-sized basketball. You'll do this for hours. It makes you happy.

You still dance whenever you hear music. Even a whistle. You have started doing a whistle-like sound of your own. It's like this singing but the pitch goes up and down erratically really fast. And you're starting to be really ornery to your brother. Don't get me wrong, he's had it coming to him! But if you're mad at him you'll go behind him and pull his hair, or scratch him and yell. It's kind of quite funny ... Shh ... don't tell.

14 months

2009-03-03T23:27:00.000-08:00

We got home from your 2nd real trip to the beach on Sunday. You had a great time and showed us another thing you are fearless of and that is the water waves. You kept walking straight for them, oblivious to their strength. Bubba actually got caught in a wave and I had to save him from it, getting knocked in the water too. It was frightening for a mom to come that close to danger with her babies. Luckily daddy had you. We rented Isabella Cottage and stayed 4 days.

While we were there you enjoyed "peek-a-boo" with your brother in their cabinet. You'd crash the door open and just giggle when Bubba got pretend-scared. You loved it!!

You are doing great things now. You almost demand to hold the spoon yourself and you want to feed yourself. Today you actually picked up cottage cheese on your spoon and fed yourself almost the whole bowl. Then today you also said "Ball". Your first real word. I mean, for awhile now you'd say "Momomomomoma" when you'd be mad or upset. Or you say Dada at random. But I said "get your ball" and you did and came back and looked right at me, trying really hard and said "Ba - l". So fun to watch. You have such control over this wooden duck you have to push and you push it just right to where it stands up and walks. I always say "quack, quack, quack" and you try to mimic me. You understand "dog" and will say "da!" for dog, and you have started to correlate Bubba = Maysen and are saying Bubba for Mase's name. So fun.

You have figured out "nose, eyes, forehead" because while at the cottage you bumped my nose with your finger for a certain sound, and so on for the various other body parts. So smart!!

Before we left town we took you guys to the Devil's Lake park. What a playground they have! Of course you just wanted to get wet and you did! You had a great time.

Right now you're walking with this big boodah belly. You stick it out and puff your chest out while you walk like you're hot stuff. Bubba will chase you and you just try to run so fast into my (safe) arms and you get so excited.

We love you, little Roo.

almost 14 months ..

2009-02-20T00:41:00.000-08:00

You’re not a talker yet. I can say “Where’s the dog?” and you’ll look for her. Or I’ll say “Where’d Bubba go?” and you’ll look for him but that’s it. You will say MOMMMMOMMM if you’re mad and you want me. That’s the other time you say it. You really don’t call me or dad by name. You don’t even say “Dada” much. You’re very quiet and you suppose we know what you are thinking. You do this funny thing where you will stick your arms at your sides, but stiff and moved behind you a bit. Then you’ll poke your neck out and really just give someone/something the what-for spitting and talking as fast as you can. “Oh really!?” is all we can muster out.

Tantrums are what you like to throw lately. If you’re not getting something in the manner you think you should be getting it, you will stiffen your body and let one loose. You’ll even scratch me – then look at me like “did that get an effect?” Bubba has been hard on you lately. He knocks you down, pushes you over, rolls over you. The other night he even said he was trying to wash your hair and by the time I got there you had two balls of bubbles on your eyes … you were screaming your head off. I am sure that one day Maysen will be running to me telling how much you’re beating HIM up. His times coming and paybacks are a you-know-what.

One of your favorite things right now is dancing. If you hear music (from a book, TV, radio, me singing) you’ll start rocking your head side to side. Then you move to waving your hands out to your sides like you’re trying to fly. You make this noise like you’re trying to sing with the music. Then after a few minutes of that, you’ll find me, grin and come running – wanting me to pick you up and dance too. You are quite the mommy’s boy. When I go on my walk at night you miss me and cry until I come home. I love that – because you’re mommy’s “baby boy”. My red-curly-haired, 8 toothed tiger.

We’re taking Maysen out tomorrow. I think he misses being the only child so you’re going to go stay with Grandma. I think she’s looking forward to having some Griffin-Alone time. So, it works out for everyone! We will miss you though, and just tonight Maysen started talking about everything he has yet to teach you llllliiiiiiiiikkkkkkkkkke, “riding bikes with the kids, potty’ing in the toilet, putting on his clothes right, drinking out of a big boy cup, building a super-fast train…” so he has a big job coming up. Before too long you boys will be sharing Maysen’s room, bunk beds intact as the flashlight and big brother talk continues. You are lucky boys.

And I’m a lucky mommy ….

12 month check

2009-01-15T20:49:00.000-08:00

You had your 12 month check last week. Of course you're right on target and we had nothing really to talk about. We did talk about how your skull is asymmetrical, probably from being held on one side too long. There is a small bulge in the back of your head on the left side. She said it was very subtle, and really it is. You can only notice it if your hair is wet. I guess we won't buzz cut your hair .. Haha. You also got FIVE shots today. That always makes mom sad, but if it keeps you healthy that's all that matters. Poor little piggy legs though :( Your stats are:iou

Height: 30 inches (50%)
Weight: 21lb 10 oz (25%)

You have just recently got your 8th tooth in. Its your bottom right tooth that just popped through about 10 days ago. You've also started dancing - or at least responding to music. You'll start swinging your arms around, clapping, bouncing, and going "huh-huh-huh" noises kind of like mimicing singing.

Tonight you also learned to stand up by yourself. Up until now you've always crawled to an object and pull yourself up on that and then start walking again. Tonight, Maysen knocked you down and you crawled over to the cabinet but before you got there, you put your arms out and pulled up with your legs -- and stood up on your own! No more crutch!

Your new kick is that you try and put things into my mouth at bathtime. You'll put a fishie foam pad in my mouth then try and take it out with yours. You get so excited when you do! And I love to watch you do new things ...

Happy 1st Birthday, Griffin

2008-12-27T16:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Wooze,

Happy 1st birthday, my little boy. Your daddy and I were talking about how much has gone by in the last year. You've had a very big 2008. It started with you getting sick for the first time. Boy was that a doozy! Dad was right as he whispered "Come on .. you're my little Trooper" as you were fighting your last and worse seizure. You had to be recessitated but you trooped right through it and battled your way out of your illness, with the help of many prayers, doctors, and nurses (including Joan, pictured below). I have such admiration for you and you are only 1 year old.

You have had many favorites, including your swing, which was your first love, really. We discovered early that you also loved to eat - eating early and lots! You still love everything and will start to fuss when you see someone eating something that you're not a part of.

Your brother has been a bit rough on you this year, but we can already tell you'll be holding your own soon with him. If he upsets you now, you will actually go after him. Well, you whine first and if that doesn't get you far, you'll yell at him, then maybe even go to hit him. I wonder how many ER trips we'll be having over the years to come ...

This year you went from being brand new, to holding your head up, then holding your body up with sitting, then standing, and you are now cruising around like you've been doing this for the longest time. You crawled at around 6 months ... walked around 10 months.

You went camping for the first time with Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave. We went to Sweet Home, OR and fished, camped, and had a fire.

You've had a few boo-boos along the way - most came from your excursion from crawling to walking. The picture above you dropped Bubba's Leapster onto your face, slicing the top of your left eye open. It was minor and you were over it very soon ...

You had your first Christmas this year, too. You didn't care about opening presents, so Bubba got to open most of those. All you cared about was what was inside and most of the time, all you cared about was the box it came in. Your new loves around this time of year have been the remote and phones. You'll hold anything that resembles a phone up to your year and yell something inaudible but we're sure you think you know what you are saying!

And the year closed out with your first birthday. You were surrounded by family as we sung Happy Birthday (you weren't sure what in the heck was happening!). Aunt Jessica made your Snowman cake which you devoured. You liked the balloons especially this bee one.

It has been one year filled with expansion, adjustments, firsts, trials, excitement, fear, worry, laughs, smiles, claps, and more emotions than I can fit on here. You are very loved and we are so happy you joined our family ... making it feel that much more complete.

First Snow!

2008-12-15T13:21:00.000-08:00

You experienced your first snow today. It was supposed to come a day or two ago, but at least it came. I dressed you up snuggly and then put on a pair of big pajamas to keep your feet warm and to keep you somewhat dry. It worked!

I didn't think to put socks on your hands and before we knew it you were screaming bloody murder because your hands hurt. Poor things were so red!!

We warmed them up and before too long you were back outside enjoying the mysterious white powder!

11 months

2008-11-30T21:31:00.000-08:00

Woozle,

You might wonder where “Woozle” came from out of the blue but the fact is, is that we’ve been calling you “Bamboozle” for a long time – mainly because we’ll trick you into a lot of things and then you’ll have this look on your face like “Huh?” Bamboozle quickly turned into Woozle, Oozle, Doozle. It certainly feels like this nickname will stick. I’m sure you’re going to hate us for this, but it just seems like …. You. We’re also starting to call Maysen “Bubba” because you started calling him that one day a few weeks back. Maysen seems to like it and it’s easy to fly out.

You’re still bashful with your walking. You will walk independently for only about 6-8 feet and then sit down. You will chose crawling over walking still, but you can certainly walk on your own for a bit.

Your hair is getting really curly, especially when wet. It’s still strawberry blonde, and your eyes are still a bright blue. You still have 6 teeth, no new ones!

I am starting you on milk. You still get formula at night and at your naps, but during the day you will drink milk out of a sippy cup or a regular cup with mom’s help. Average breakfast is NutraGrain bar, yogurt, oatmeal, applesauce, Cheerios, or bites of toast. Then you get your bottle at 11:30 for naptime. You have a snack at 3:00 which usually is cottage cheese, cheese, fruit loops, applesauce. You will eat dinner with us, and then you have your bottle after bath at 7:30. That’s your routine lately.

You experienced decorating for your first Christmas. This past weekend when you turned 11 months, we put up Christmas lights and got our tree. We actually took dad’s truck, which only has a forward facing seat. So, out of a bit of a no-no we drove with you in the forward-facing seat. You weren’t any happier in that seat, but I’m hoping it was only because dad’s truck is a tight fit. You loved getting all the decorations out of the boxes and were mesmerized by all the balls, lights, and sparkly things. You like to look at the windows and look at the lights when it’s dark. We have “the singing lights” and you get excited watching all the lights go with the music.

We took your first long trip this month, too. We drove 400 miles to Baker City to visit Papa and Grandma Sherrill for an early Thanksgiving. You were not happy one bit, but we kept you entertained with mom/dad in the backseat with puppet shows, singing, and snacks. A few more weeks and we’ll be able to turn you around so you can see the world (well, at least movies with your brother).

In a few weeks you’ll turn ONE, have Christmas, and be able to sit forward in the van. Lots coming your way in the next month to come.

Love, Momma

Walking Boy!

2008-11-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

You have been taking steps for about 3 weeks now, but you're starting to get more brave, taking multiple steps at a time by yourself. What a big boy!! You will start smiling and going "Da-Ta-Da-Ta" when we let go. What a big boy!

10 months

2008-11-05T23:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Fin,

You turned 10 months a few days ago but it was right before Halloween so we had been busy!

Over the last month you’ve changed quite a bit. You are starting to take steps, which is crazy! Maysen was walking at 9 months and here you are just about ready to walk. You must be ready to chase after that big brother! You stand pretty solid on your feet now and will take independent steps, anywhere from 2-5, depending on what/where you’re going. You get excited when doing it though.

We went up to the Roloff Farm in Hillsboro, OR to pick pumpkins. The Roloff’s are the stars of a series on TLC called “Little People, Big World”. Mommy and Daddy love that show, so it was neat to go. That was your first pumpkin picking extravaganza and it was on famous land even! WooHoo!

You had your check up with Dr Pelinka on Halloween! You were a dragon for your first Halloween. Unfortunately you had to get a flu shot and a finger stick before the fun could start so you weren’t real thrilled. She said you looked great and you have your last meeting with Dr Koch at OHSU on 12/30. Here are your stats:

Weight: 20lb 2oz (20%)

Height: 29.5 inches (70%)

You’re starting to really have fun with your brother. He’ll run up like he’s going to tickle you and you shriek with excitement and want me to pick you up as quick as I can. You giggle and laugh so hard, and Maysen likes this too. He’s a bit rough on you, but that’s just what brother’s do.

President Obama was elected yesterday. You of course are too small/young to remember any of this, but one day you’ll realize just how historic this election is. It is going to impact not only your future but the futures of many many Americans.

You got 2 more teeth. You got your neighbor-to-the-front teeth. First one was on 10/17 and the other was 11/1. Right now you’re gumming things like a champ. You don’t want that babyfood anymore – you want what we are having, thank you very much. Even if that means spaghetti or ham sandwiches. I have to be careful of you choking, but you’d rather have that over baby food.

You also like drinking milk out of a regular cup. I have to hold it, and yes it’s messy, but you prefer to drink out of a cup vs even a sippy cup. You enjoy your snuggly bottles at naptime (11:30-1:30+) and at bedtime. Otherwise, you want a cup.

The last couple of days you’ve slept all night long. You do get up at 5-6am to eat, but then you go back to sleep, which is nice! You did get pink eye this month, thanks to brother’s preschool class. It comes and goes so we’ll see how long it takes to “really” go away.

I love you, baby, and shopping for your first Christmas and birthday is fastly approaching. In fact, we are going shopping in 2 days for that.

Love, Momma

First Steps

2008-10-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Last night you took your first steps without holding on to anything. I don't think you're ready to walk yet, but you sure took 3 steps alone! You wanted some of my potatoes and you were getting very ansy! You were standing at the footrest, then all of a sudden you let go and BAM ... BAM ... BAM three independant steps later you were at my chair. I don't think you realized what you had done, or even meant to for that matter, but you did! What a big boy!!

2008-10-11T23:28:00.000-07:00

Today you had your first blood-boo boo. You were playing with Maysen's Leapster, flinging it around, chewing on the corner, etc. You laid back holding it and it fell on your face. It's not the smallest thing in the world and it fell and cut your left eyelid. I think it scared you more than anything but you were fine within a few minutes.

You're starting to be very vocal these days. You will do this funny thing where you grunt and then you'll wait for us to grunt back, like cavemen. It's your way of communicating I think. You are also saying a lot of "La-La-La-La's". I think you like the feel of your top teethies. And you've discovered the fun of hair-pulling. I think Daddy started it. He'd lay on the ground on his tummy and let you yank on his hair to pull up. Now you think it's great to pull hair. In fact, you get very excited about it ... and IT HURTS!

Your brother is still hard on you. He will knock you over and bang your head and take toys away. But I'm starting to see you rebel on him a bit. You've been crawling over to him and will start whacking/slapping him on his head. I am not looking forward to the ER visits as you both get older!

Language

2008-10-02T00:13:00.000-07:00

One little note. It wasn't until this morning that I realized you can understand what I say. You were looking everywhere but at me, so I finally said, "Griffin, watch!" and you immediately stopped and faced me like, "What, mom?" I thought it might be a fluke but when I repeated it again this evening I got the same response. Amazing .... (like you'll be listening to me in 10 years. Ha!)

9 Months

2008-09-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

Dear My Boy,

A few days ago you turned 9 months old. It seems you are developing new things and trying them every single day in rapid succession. Yesterday while at Aunt Jessica’s and Uncle Josh’s you discovered how to clap on your own. You don’t bang both hands together, but rather will sort of set one hand stationery and bang the other one on top of it. Then today while in a very whiney phase, you wanted picked up and I had walked off. Well, you lost it and starting wailing, but you started crawling toward me when I heard, “…Ma….Ma….Ma….Mu … Ma….” You were saying MaMa for communication purposes. Big milestone! Of course daddy says “Well, he’s been saying ‘Dada’ for a long time!” My arugement to that was that you just say it to say it … not that you are “calling” for daddy or saying his name. But it appeared this time to be so! You’ll even clap on demand, so that’s very fun to watch.

You love getting into the toilet and that’s become an issue. At first it was just flicking your fingers in the toilet water but now you love to pull the TP down and dip it into the water. Your brother loved the same thing. So when we can’t find you … check the bathrooms!

You love to pull hair. You use it mainly to pull up to stand and you’re very rough when you do it!! But that is what makes you laugh very hard .. the harder you pull the more excited you get J Very funny.

You went to your first football game this month – Creswell High. We sat you back in your stroller and you loved it! You watched the cheerleaders most of the time (already!).

This month we have been trying to get you to sleep longer through the night. You were up 3 times a night and it was getting ridiculous! So, we had to start letting you cry out those periods when you woke up. I hate hate hate listening to you cry and know I can’t just go pick you up. It’s time for you to learn that you can comfort yourself back to sleep and you don’t need us. So, now you’re only getting fed once a night and that is helping the sleep factor.

Your top two teeth were born around September 11th. You ran a fever for 2 days the week prior but nothing poked through. So you now have a matching top and bottom pair and MAN DO THEY HURT when you like to "nibble". You’re getting more independent with eating. You’d rather be eating OUR food versus yours. You like real food like bread, crackers, yogurt, applesauce cottage cheese, cheese, pretzel twists, and I give you smashed things off our plate. I have introduced you to a new soft nipple topped sippie cup so you can have more independence with eating that, but you still kind of make a mess. You blow IN to the sippie cup, and in response milk comes out this little hole in the top and onto your face. So, it’s messy … but I’m hopeful you’ll catch on and I can just let you hold the cup and drink.

You’re getting good at walking with your walk toy. You would just fall down with it, but you do have pretty good control of it now and will walk until you run into something. You have learned to click with your tongue. It’s something I have always done to get your attention and now when you click, I will click. Or if you hear me click, you’ll click back. It’s pretty cute!!

We love you!

Momma

First Cry-Out

2008-09-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

Check out the feet ... you're in "gonna stand up and walk" mode but just can't get there. You've been a pill the last few weeks. Your top 2 teeth were born last week (slow movers!) and you have one I-Tooth that is coming through that has caused a bruise but yet no break through. Poor baby. But with your crankiness has come some waking up at night wanting held. I admit, I had given into this, but it was causing no sleep for momma!! You'd be awake at 11p, 2a, 5a. More than when you were born! Finally daddy talked me into letting you cry it out after you were up from 11:00pm until 3:30am one night. So, Sunday night you woke up at 11:00 and cried so daddy slept on the couch (I can't stand to listen to you cry) and let you cry it out until you went back to sleep. It took you until 1:00 to go back to sleep. But you did! And ever since then *knock on wood* you haven't gotten up at night until like 6:00am to eat. Thank you!!

You're standing on your own now. You crawl 100mph to get to where you're going, pull up then you'll let go and stand until you get nervous and fall to your bottom. That's what Maysen did before he started walking so I think that's around the corner!!

ouchie teeth

2008-09-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

You just got over your first bad bout with teething. You ran a fever for over 2 days straight. You were mopey, whiney, tired, and looked miserable. Thanks to Tylenol and some extra care, you are feeling much better now. I am still waiting for those babies to poke through but it should be very soon. You still have your lonely 2 in the bottom, but before we know it you'll have all of them poking through.

You're walking with your walker now. Before you would pull up and start to walk but just fall down. Now you're taking steps and can walk with it for a good 10 feet before your legs give out. Who knows, maybe you'll be walking at 9 months like your brother. You need to get a jump on him. He's a pretty good big brother, but he likes to get a little rough with you sometimes. You'll be showing him who the Little Brother Boss is before you know it!

8 months

2008-08-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Pretty Boy,

You will be 8 months this week and I still can’t believe how fast the time has gone. This month you have exploded with new things. You started crawling and have mastered it by now but it still frustrates you to have to crawl to things – you’d much rather just walk or run to them. You started out by crawling with one leg/knee but would keep the other foot flat on the floor and kind of half-walk with that foot. Before long, you had gotten the whole knee/arm movement and are crawling great now.

You got your first 2 teeth at the end of last month and they are big and bright now! They are your bottom front teeth and you jet your jaw out trying to munch on things. You’re now eating Stage III foods and loving every drop! You also are eating solids now, such as cheerios, bits of bread, Club crackers, bits of cheese – really you will go after just about anything!! You slide it to the side and gum it until it breaks up. You like drinking water/milk out of a cup although it still is a bit much for you. You recognize when others are eating/drinking and majorly want part of the action!! Your newest thing are the teething biscuits – which are supposed to not break apart easily. Well, #1 their messy as all get out, but #2 is you break them apart in no time so I have to really watch you!

You still get up in the night once. Its usually around 1:00am, then you get up at 7:00 to eat again but will generally go back to sleep until 8:00 or so. You nap around lunch time and if I’m lucky (and ONLY if I’m lucky) I can get you back to sleep around 4:30. You get a bath still around 7:30 and are in bed at 8:00pm….unless you refuse your pm nap then you’re in bed a bit earlier than that.

You’re also pulling up on things. You will crawl right over to the couch, grab on, and pull right up! You’ll crawl over to me in the kitchen and pull up on my pant legs. That’s less successful, but you try J You get frustrated very easily and will give that half whine/half cry bit when you’ve had it.

For a small while you were doing this fake smile that was hilarious. You’d squint up your eyes/nose/lips in this smile like “yep!” and then you’d just stop …. So we all knew it was a fake one. Another hilarious thing you’re doing right now is you’re doing a very similar thing like your brother’s “hooting”. Whne you laugh/giggle, when you breath back in post laugh you will suck it in loud and drawn out like “Hehehehe ….. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW”. It’s hilarious!

You love Bailey. If she’s laying around you’ll crawl over to her and scratch her with your nails … more for the feel for you, but Bailey loves it, until you decide to bite her ear. You are pretty ruthless with those little kitten teeth!! Very sharp blades!

I think that is it. I can’t wait to keep watching you grow and change.
Love,Momma

Seven Months

2008-07-28T01:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Griffin,

You are 7 months old today and just this past week, your bottom two front teeth were born. You had been working so hard to get them here!!! You’ve been a drool bucket for the last several months it has seemed. But Finally, they are here!!

You are not officially crawling yet, because you have decided you like to do Mr Inch Worm. You plant your toes, keep your legs straight, and lift up, sort of like an upside down “V”. On your way down, you slide and you’ll move about another inch forward. Of course you roll all over the place, and just today you rolled onto your side and sorta lounge back (like you always have) but you used your ab muscles and actually pulled yourself from that side lounge back into a full sitting position with no help! It was exciting. You are so happy … especially being more mobile.

And you LOVE to eat!! You are eating two of the Stage II Gerber foods. If you don’t eat two it’s because we’ve made one runny one, like green beans, with a half-bowl full of thick oatmeal but even then, the bowl is overly full with thick thick beans. You eat it all up! Then usually you’re asleep after that … hehe.

You are saying “Ta-Ta-Da-Da-Ta”, especially when you’re excited. I think they’re just sounds that you make more than a recognition toward anyone. But we’re working with you on how to understand just WHO “Da-Da” is.

Fourth of July was fun this year, your first one. Anything loud and it was NOT Ok. Luckily the night of the fireworks, you were fast asleep and never woke up once! Good boy!

You LOVE slapping the water. You sit on your little yellow spongie and just slap the crap out of the water. Double fisted most times. You cackle with delight as you do this, not even minding that so much water is in your eyes you can’t see! You’ve also started doing this wiggle, almost dance when he’s on his back naked – doesn’t matter if it’s water or on the carpet. He wiggles his top part one direction, and his bottom the other and it looks more like a dance. And he gets going so far and just smiiiiiiiling. He’s such a happy boy.

We love you, baby boy. Onward HO to Month 8.
Momma

1st Tooth!

2008-07-24T10:28:00.001-07:00

Fin,

Your first tooth was born yesterday morning. I'd imagine it popped through during the night of 7/22. Your other one is right there and will pop out today I'm sure. It's already at the surface and you can see it, just needs nudged. You're officially eating crackers now :-)

I call you my inch worm because I just don't think you want to crawl. You get it, I think, but you'd rather just raise your whole body in the air and upon coming down, you push forward, slowly inching along. It's more fun, right?

Love you.

6 months

2008-07-08T02:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Fin!!

Boy ...you are six months now. I just posted about the things you did, but wanted to do a blirp about what Dr Pelinka thought about our man at 6mo. She said you are looking so good, and that if she saw you like this at 10 months old she would be just as happy developementally. You sat up good for her, smiled and even talked to her. You got all your shots, and she told me about an anemia screen you'll have to have at either 9 or 12 months. To be honest, I don't think momma's going to have that done. Only because, you aren't at risk for it and for two, your little tiny veins are so hard to get blood from -- at OHSU they had to put you under anesthesia just to get the "important" immunity labs from you. I have a hard time justifying doing that to you and putting you through that for some screen that you're at low risk for. So, momma will talk to Dr Pelinka about that at the next visit. I have your back! :-)

Stats: Weight: 16lb 14oz (50% in weight)
Height: 27 inches (75% in height)

You are eating stage 2 foods now twice a day (trying to slow you down!) and still eating good on formula. You go straight to bed at 7:30-8pm every night without a hitch. You wake up to eat at about 5:30 and sleep again until 8 or so.

You are loving your stand up toys ... like your gymboree thing and Johnny Jump Up. You like to be on your tummy, but will throw up a lot like that. Too much pressure. You sleep on your tummy at night and that makes for a leaky diaper so usually a change at the 5am waking. You are doing the backwards crawl thing, wanting so much to be mobile. You like to watch TV and eat ... or you'll roll over to the TV just to watch. You still have this connection with your brother -- where he does the scariest things to you and you love it ... cackling the whole time. Scary ...

With that I'll close. I love you, Mr Fin.
Momma

2008-06-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

Baby Boy,

Tonight was your last dose of phenobarbital. I don't think you've even been getting much these last few days because you fall asleep during bottle time, which is what I mix the pheno in. Nonetheless, it was the last night and it's been a long phenobarbital road.

On Friday you'll be 6 months old. Half of a year! It's been fun watching you grow and change. You've been sitting up on your own for the last few days and love it. When we pick you up you want to stand and arch your back to say "Let me do it!". You're also rolling over onto your tummy no matter what is going on; bath, laying on the floor, bed. You're always on your tummy at night which scares me but you seem to not have a problem making sure you breathe!

You want to crawl so bad it's not even funny. You're starting to pick your torso up off the ground and bending one knee at a time. I wonder if you'll be more like your brother; barely crawling and going straight to walking at 9 months ....

You are enjoying baby food now, so far peas seem to be your favorite. You eat just about 3 times a day with the food and love it! I feed your in your car seat and your little feet start kicking 100mph when you see the bowl/spoon.

Will give you stats on Friday when you have your well-child check with Dr Pelinka.
Love,
Momma

5 months

2008-06-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a week or so since you turned 5 months old. Developmentally you're right on track, and a tad ahead on some things. You are rolling over from back to belly now all the time. The only thing is, is sometimes you get really mad when you're rolled over because you can't crawl and haven't figured out how to Army crawl yet, so you get frustrated. We are tapering you off phenobarb and now we're down to half of your dose. I've found that you are more fussy now. I don't know if that is age, or if that's the tapering process. You aren't very happy in one place for very long. If I put you in the Johnny Jumper, you're only happy for 10min. Then you cry and I move you to the floor, which you're crying in 10min. You just want to move and go that you don't stay happy long.

You and Maysen get along great. He truly loves you. I had wondered if we were going to have any problems with him hitting or being rough with you and we really haven't. He gets down and talks in a baby voice to you, and you and him often giggle amongst eachother a lot. When you cry, Maysen seems to know why you're crying which is mostly "Griffin needs a bottle!".

We have started babyfood with you because it doesn't seem like you're very satisfied with 8oz every 3hrs. So, you like having consistency in your belly. So far you've tried bananas, sweet potatoes, and green beans. I mix all these in rice, because you don't like the watery consistency plain. You sure get messy, but you eat it all! You are trying to work on the tongue-thrust part of it, and it's hard to feed you sometimes. But toward the end, I just put the bowl under your little mouth and you suck it right off the spoon. When you decide to blow/spit with all your might I have to take cover as you like to do that lots now!

Your brother is in Baker City with Gr Sherrill and Papa. It's quiet around here and you're getting a lot of attention. I think you're eating it up!

Love,
Momma

OHSU visit

2008-05-23T13:34:00.001-07:00

We just got back from the OHSU adventure. Wednesday you had your MRI. That was an ordeal. We were to arrive an hour early so that they could put lidocaine cream on your IV sites so when they started it, you woulnd’t feel it. Well, the receptionist came out and put the cream on the tops of your feet and one hand. I thought it perhaps was a bit fishy, but what did I know? After waiting the required hour, we went back and the RN right away said that you had no visible veins in the feet. She tried your hand, which you screamed bloody murder on. She called the anesthesiologist who came and tried the outside of your foot (no cream was put there) and while you continued to turn purple with screaming so hard, she too couldn’t get it. They informed us that they now needed to put you under with the “gas mask” as I call it. They gave me a pacifier with some sugar water and I rocked you while he fell asleep until they were ready. When they said we couldn’t go back with you, I informed them that I would be going back with you and I would talk to whatever supervisor I needed to because I would kindly tell you/her what I thought of their inadequate use of the lidocaine cream. Needless to say, I went back with you and held you while they put the mask on you. You never woke up and drifted right off to gassy sleep. I have to admit, I was getting a big drowsy as I caught wisps of curly air coming from the mask.

We saw Dr Koch and when he walked in he said, “The good news is that there is a lot of good news!” He was really encouraged because of the fact that your EEG done on May 9th was completely normal now – the low seizure threshold found in February had resolved. The MRI showed no surprising results and Dr Koch put it in analogy form like this: When You got sick, it was like he had fallen and really skinned up your knee. The MRI done right after your illness showed swelling, acute trauma, and inflammation. On the MRI done on Wednesday, none of that was present and instead just the scars remain. Dr Koch anticipates he might forever have those scars, but developmentally, those scars have not affected anything. The area of the brain where the scars are present is a rapidly growing part of the brain and hopefully the scars will diminish as the new tissue forms. Dr Koch was more impressed with the EEG because although the MRI is a nice picture-taking tool for diagnostics, it doesn’t necessarily reflect functioning. The EEG showed 1hr of pure normal brain function.

You'll see Dr Koch one more time in 6mo, closer to your 1yr birthday to check your development one more time. If everything goes as he anticipates (which is developmentally appropriate), then he’ll discharge you from OHSU care.

Closing on the best note ever: we have been given the OK to start tapering you off of the Phenobarbital. It will be a slow 6wk taper, but eventually you will be Phenobarbital-free. As Dr Koch left the room, he said, “He’s now thrown into the ‘Normal Kid’ Bucket’”. Ahhh, finally.

Month 4

2008-04-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Fin,

You are 4 months old now. You really have grown leaps and bounds since last month. You are still on phenobarb but the dose has not been changed since it was made 6cc at night. We have started giving you a tiny bit of rice on a spoon. At first you couldn’t figure out how to swallow, and your tongue thrust just would spit it back out. Now you suck it right off the spoon and you think it’s delicious! We only give it to you at night, which has made you more full (before no matter how much we fed you, you were always hungry) and you sleep all night now. You get your rice about 7pm, then your bottle around 8pm and you sleep soundly until about 6:30am. You get fed and will snooze back off to sleep until you’re ready to get up at 8am. You nap from 10:30 to noon, then again around 3pm for a couple of hours if your brother isn’t too loud. You figured out your own schedule and we just go with it – but it’s pretty much the same every day!

We have to trick you by letting you fall asleep in our arms, then putting you in your swing during your naps, because you won’t nap in your crib. You WANT to be put in your crib at bedtime, but it’s like you feel you’ll miss out on something if you’re in your crib during the day. But we put you in your crib awake at night and you go right to sleep!

You are such a talker! When I lay you on the changing table you start talking away. But now, you suck on your fist. You don’t want to suck your thumb – instead you suck on your whole fist. It’s even chapped at night! Since giving you rice you poop about 3 times per day, but you’re happy that you’re a full baby now.

You are such a wiggle worm! If we put you on the ground, you will push up with your legs and in about 10min you have yourself faced the other direction! You also love your new BUMBO seat. It lets you sit upright and you just love to stare at your feet and look around. You’re very content.

You are starting to laugh, too. If something happens you think is funny (usually funny faces/voices) you’ll giggle. It’s very cute. You can identify things held out and you’ll grab them and pull them to your mouth to explore. You’d much rather just have your fist though.

You’re starting to show signs of bad eczema, just like your brother. Mainly right now it’ son your sides and side of your leg. I keep Aveeno on it and have been putting hydrocortisone 1% on at night. I hope you don’t have big problems like your brother. Not fun!

Will close for now. My love continues to grow daily.

Month 3

2008-04-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Griffin,

You are 3 months old already. We had Easter a few weeks back and you weren't real sure what to make of everything. That will only get more fun as the years go by. You are doing so much now! You are a very fussy sleeper, meaning the elements have to be just right. That usually means that someone is holding you, you are in your swing being tricked as though you're being held, or it's night-time and you're in your crib. Otherwise, noise and light effect you and you refuse to sleep.

On March 22nd you slept through the night for the first time from 10:00pm-7:15am. It was very pleasant! You are eating rice now in your bottles from time to time as you just don't get enough satisfaction from just plain formula anymore - you want some consistency!!

You are very strong and love your Johnny Jumper. You stand and jump in that thing and get really big grins and smiles on your face. When it's rest time, if you're laid down on the diaper changing table, you start talking up a storm! Usually a lot of sideways grins and then "oooooooo"s and the squeels.

You have found your hands now and like to suck and slobber all over them. Thankfully you are not a thumb sucker and not fond of the pacifier either. For now, you're satisified with just sucking on the sides of your fist, which is just fine for me! You have very dry skin - the top of your tummy, scalp, sides of legs/arms, and face is the worst right now. We're trying Aveeno baby lotion and Baby Oil baths to help. You don't seem to mind.

That's all for now. You're getting over yet another cold right now that I think YOU got and are spreading to all of US for a change. Love you very much.

Momma

2 month check-up

2008-03-07T20:26:00.000-08:00

Fin,

Yesterday we had your 2 month check-up with Dr Pelinka. It was a great visit! For once a doctor got to see you "real" and not on phenobarbital. Because before we were giving you the pheno twice a day, every time you saw a doctor you were on it. Therefore your tone always seemed to be "low". Well, now that we're giving it all at once at night, she got to see you hold your head up, sit up, try to stand, kicking with your legs. She was very impressed. She said you had absolutely no abnormalities and developmentally you're right on target.

You smiled at her, talked, and sang to her. She loved it! You have a little heat rash on your chest and a rash on your face, due to the viral cold you have. Since we hold you on our left side all the time, we need to start holding you on the other side too so your head doesn't end up malformed!

You got 3 shots yesterday, and boy did those suck! The nurse that did them I don't think knew what she was doing as far as giving them to a baby. She did them so slow! You screamed your head off as she put 2 shots in one leg and one more in the other. When we got you home, you continued to scream if your legs were touched or if you flexed them and used your muscles. I started giving you Tylenol around the clock and that seemed to help. Today you were a little "off" but much much better. Dr Pelinka wants to repeat the immunology studies one last time as recommended by the doctors at University of California so we'll do that next month. I couldn't do that to you the day you already got 3 shots!

Overall the report we got is that you are more than a normal baby with no abnormalities. You're right on target with everything.

Weight: 11lb 7oz (50% percentile)

Height: 24.5 inches (94% percentile)

I think you might end up like daddy - tall and skinny. Your next check-up in 2 months, at your 4-month check up.

Love,
Momma

2008-03-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

Finny,

You have been really fussy the last couple of nights, starting at around 6:30pm and lasting until about 10pm. I have found it's mainly because you stay up all afternoon and then you find yourself overexhausted and can't go/stay asleep. This afternoon I'm making you stay asleep this afternoon with hopes that you are OK this evening. One thing is for sure, the $$$ we spent on this swing was worth every penny! (You think so, too!)

Another weird thing we noticed are huge lumps almost like you're teething on your lower gums on the sides - almost like molars! I know you're too young to be teething so this has me quite perplexed. Maybe Dr Pelinka will have some ideas when you see her on Thursday for your 2 month check up.

2008-03-01T22:30:00.000-08:00

You're finally over your RSV. Maysen went back to school on Wednesday after being in California visiting grandma Jo and grandpa Dave for a week and now has another cold. I am praying that you don't get sick again. I think you've had enough illness!

You did well on your first real trip. You slept most of the way, but by the time we got home from the 9hr trip, you had HAD ENOUGH of that car seat.

Your swing is one that can swing sideways or front-ways. We turned it around to where you swing front/back and we can hardly get you out of that thing! If you stay up long enough, you like to look at the mobile/mirror at the top. Otherwise you fall right to sleep.

You're also holding your head up really well. It flops every once in awhile but you can hold it up for 10 seconds at a time straight up. You're a very strong boy!

You also smile on demand almost, and are coo'ing. You are eating about 4oz at a time now, but still eating that every 2-3hrs. It would be great if you ate more on more of a time interval, but you do what you want, and that's fine.

Grandma Bobbi was here to see you Friday. You were holding your head up long and tall to look at her. She loved it!

Love,
Momma

7 wks old

2008-02-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Griffin,

You have a had a rough last week. On Wednesday 2.13, you were diagnosed with severe RSV. Dr Herbert wanted to put you in the hospital again, but I reminded her that you were scheduled to see Dr Koch at OHSU on Friday 2.15. Reluctantly she agreed to give me a nebulizer machine and give you breathing treatments. You were seen by her that night and the following morning to make sure you hadn't worsened. Luckily you never did and we were able to go to the much-anticipated trip to OHSU.

Dr Koch was very nice - a spitting image of Dustin Hoffman. The day went off without a hitch. We had gone up to Portland the night before and ate dinner with Jenn and her friend, Jason. We spent the night at The Marriott downtown. Grandma Bauer was with us, too.

Dr Koch basically said that MRIs done on babies that young are very unreliable when it comes to diagnosing something that severe. He was not concerned with the findings found on the MRI done when you were in the NICU. He said you looked great developmentally and that he wasn't concerned that you'd have issues as you got older. He said we could start tapering you off of the phenobarbital starting the 1st week of March, but it's a 6wk ordeal. By April 21 you will be off Phenobarbital. You had another EEG on Friday and we'll come back in May to do another MRI, then see Dr Koch again with you off of Phenobarital.

You're starting to cooo and talk to mom. You smile when I smile at you. You sleep about 5hrs at a time at night, and are starting to get your nights and says back to normal. You don't like sleeping in your crib during the day, but rather prefer being snuggled by us, or in our down pillows. At night you do rather well in your crib.

We love you very much and are amazed everyday. We know in our hearts you are pefect and you always will be.

Love,
Momma

5 weeks

2008-02-01T22:03:00.000-08:00

You've been doing so well!! Maysen brought home a cold that everyone got - including you. It's so hard listening to phlegm gurgle in your throat/chest and not cough it up for you. You don't understand the concept of "coughing" yet, so you gurgle. We took you to the doctor earlier this week and they suctioned you out really well. They noted you were still wheezing a bit but the next day you were doing really well. You now weigh 9lb 10oz.

There has been another twist in the case - the University of California read your MRI as something different than everyone else (periventricular leukomalacia). At this point it's hard to speculate anymore which is right and I just put it in God's hands that OHSU will have the answers we need to hear.

They increased your phenobarbital dose and I can completely tell when they increase it - as you are more lethargic. Hopefully you will be off of this soon. I know it's for your own good - as it is protecting your brain from any seizures.

You're sleeping pretty good now. You sleep in your crib and wake up at about 2am and 5am to eat. You like to sleep more on your left side and it seems to be making your head seem flat on that side! You've grown out of your "newborn" outfits and are now in your 0-3 and fitting pretty well.

You pucker your lips just like your brother used to do at your age. Your nose is so small that you flair your nostrils and pucker your lips. It's so cute!

I love you so much - and this illness weighs heavy on my heart. I rack my brain hoping that I did nothing to cause this. Everyone says there's nothing anyone could have done and I know you're going to grow up perfect and excell in every way. I just know it. But I hate that you had such a rough start. Just know we are doing everything in our power to keep you well.

Love,

Momma

3 weeks, 4 days

2008-01-21T22:01:00.000-08:00

Today you met Blayz for the first time. You and him got to sleep in the Moses basket for a bit while mom got pictures. He was pretty jaundiced so you and him looked mighty different. It’s amazing in just 3 weeks how fast you grow! Even your head was just so big compared to his. We laughed about how you’ll probably remind him that you are, in fact, older than him, if only by just 3 weeks!

You had your appt with Dr Pelinka today. You weighed 9lb 2oz and are doing just great! The first part of your immune studies came back just great! Today they had to draw more blood for the rest of the studies and also to recheck your Phenobarbital level. Hopefully if it’s stable we’ll be able to hold off on drawing it again for a few weeks. Your tone in your legs were a bit slow, but that might just be your normal. Grandma Sherrill came to this appointment with us to meet Dr Pelinka. She’s calling OHSU to see if we need to do a followup MRI before you go up on February 15th.
You slept good for daddy last night – only waking up once at 2am to eat. Otherwise you slept the rest of the night. Since tonight is my night I’m hoping I’m just as lucky!!
You’re starting to sleep with your eyes open, which is weird. You flutter your eyes around and make noises but once I wake you up you’re fine. Dr Pelinka says it happens sometimes. So far you’re just perfect! Until later, we love you!

Home

2008-01-18T21:01:00.000-08:00

So, you were discharged on Wednesday 1.9.08. Dr Goins came in at 4:00pm to do his consultation. Grandma stayed too. Needless to say, we weren’t all that impressed with what Dr Goins had to say. He didn’t do much review of your chart, reports, or consults but yet came into the room saying that he was concerned with some of the abnormalities in your MRI. Dr Pelinka had just talked to the specialists at OHSU who had a very different opinion. Dr Goins let you go home that night and it felt great to get you home!

The next day we saw Dr Pelinka to explain our desire to have a 2nd opinion by the neurologists up at OHSU. She said she would contact them to see if they’d do a consult.

The next day, which was Friday, Dr Herbert called stating that the State had called stating that your eye culture that was taken the day your were seizing came back positive for Varicella (chicken pox or shingles). She wanted to put you back in the hospital for more IV Acyclovir and another spinal tap. Mom put her foot down and said NO! You were/are looking great and it’d been almost a week since you were really sick. She spoke to her colleagues who suggested just a mouth swab for a repeat varicella, which came back negative the next day. However, coincidentally – Maysen just got sent home yesterday with a letter that on December 20th, he was exposed to chicken pox at school.

Whatever the case – you’re doing well now. You have a consult appointment at OHSU for February 15th. The doctors called Dr Pelinka back on Friday (mentioned above for repeat swab) and said that all 4 of them sat down and looked at the MRI and all thought that there was nothing to worry about regarding the abnormalities on your MRI since they were consistent with changes in a brain that was just inflamed by encephalitis and nothing to worry about permanently. You’re #1 on the cancellation list, so we’re hoping that an opening comes sooner than Feb 15th as I’m optimistic that they’ll just let you off the Phenobarbital.

You’re sleeping during the day and awake at night, eating about 3oz every 3-4hrs. My favorite time is at 2am. You’re wide awake and it’s just you and I. Of course dad and I are taking shifts where one of us sleeps well and the other is on duty with you. You really like your baths! You just lay on your sponge bath mat and love the warm water wash all over you. You smile every once in awhile but I think it’ sjust when you toot. I can see the starts of dimples, though! Red hair and dimples – drives the girls nuts!

Will write more later. Your brother is tearing his room up. I love you very much.

2008-01-08T23:05:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo for once! Daddy was discharged from the hospital this afternoon. As though a miracle had set in, his strength and grip had regained (despite muscle enzyme changes shown on labs). Feeling pretty good, they let him leave to be with us in the NICU with you and so far has been doing pretty well. It’s so nice to have him back.

You're doing pretty good, too. I went to my doctor appt today, and everything is moving slowly (healing-wise). Then I went to see you. My morning with you started out frustrated because they had oxygen on you – stating that your oxygen desaturated to the 70s. When I looked at what was going on when your oxygen level fell, I found they were feeding you on your back. Apparently side-lying position feeding didn’t get passed along to the new nurses. Once they fed you the other way, you did fine. Dr Pelinka called and I asked her to write an official order that they have to feed you side-lying, and she did. The nurse had also said you were very lethargic and not waking up for her. But, once I started talking to you, you woke right up.

Later that afternoon, the lady came to hook you up to an EEG machine, the machine that catches seizure activity. Dr Pelinka had talked to the pediatric neurologist in Porltand who suggested doing a repeat one to compare activity. He also said that if you were his patient, he might just trying you off of Phenobarbital (seizure med) to see how you does – as the seizures are more than likely related to the illness rather than a chronic seizure disorder. I am hoping that they at least taper you off of it – as this afternoon you seemed very lethargic. We bathed you and you got very upset, but once we get your clothes back on we could barely wake you up to eat. I sure like to see your eyes, but this afternoon was fruitless on that front. Tomorrow Dr Goins, the pediatric neurologist here in town will be in for a consult. Dr Pelinka told me that you're looking so good that depending on what Dr Goins says – you might get to go home tomorrow! If not tomorrow, probably Thursday. Let’s pray Dr Goins has good news … oh! And the pediatric neurologist said he hadn’t seen the MRI that was read with an abnormality – but said that what it was suggesting as an abnormality seemed to be something normal in premies. That was good news – but we’ll wait for the official report.

Until tomorrow …

2008-01-07T23:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Fin,

You're doing much better - you're alert, keeping your eyes open for 1-2hrs at a time. You're eating well over 2oz at each feeding, which are 2-3hrs apart, keeping above his 70cc/3hr status. You're breathing on your own - maintaining oxygen saturation mainly above 91%most of the time. You have no IV any longer, and the ONLY med you're taking is the seizure medication, which you gets now by mouth (liquid). The MRI which initially was read by a regular neurologist (Eugene has only one pediatric neurologist -Dr Goins- who is out of town until Wednesday) and it read as "no abnormalities". However, upon further inspection there were some "anoxic diffusions" which translates to a signal that there was some period of significant no oxygen. This MRI was sent yesterday to a pediatric neurologist in Portland for re-evaluation yesterday. We have yet to hear from him. You're still in the NICU, probably until evaluated by Dr Goins on Wednesday.

The "not-so-reprieve" news is that daddy was admitted to the hospital today. The day you were admitted he complained of headaches, Day 2 he ran a fever, Day 3 he had muscle aches, Day 4 (yesterday) he complained of really weak hands. Today he could barely get out of bed, put on socks, hold a pencil, or walk. So he went to the doctor today who sent him to an immediate neuro consult (with Dr Wilken who has been watching you while hospitalized) who said everything was checking out OK, but admitted him to the hospital for further tests (MRI, lab, probable spinal tap). She said it was likely the same germ that caused you to be so sick, so maybe if we could isolate the germ causing this, we would know what infected you too, in the end helping both.

I am in a daze and all this will probably hit me next week when life catches up with me. I had to miss my own doctor appointment today - and have been showing some signs of poor healing. I needed this reality to see that my family needs me ... well. So I'm trying to keep that in mind while both being there for my family too. Where is the balance??

Scariest time of Momma's Life

2008-01-05T22:10:00.000-08:00

We have had quite scary last few days, Momma's Fin. The last few days have validated just how much you mean to our family. We have been praying so much for you as you have been one sick little boy.

Wednesday 1/2/08: Daddy commented this afternoon that you sure were complaining when you were moved. When you'd move or we'd move you, you'd cry out - almost in pain. This night Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave were on their way to Oregon to see you for the first time. While I was holding you, I noticed you were breathing rather funny. Daddy and Grandma Jo convinced me that you were ok, perhaps just getting grumpy in your old age. I said if you were not better we'd move your Weight Check doctor appointment from Friday to tomorrow. I woke up at 3am and daddy was taking care of you, and said you weren't eating and only crying. I slept with you on my chest the rest of the night.

Thursday 1/3/08: Dr Herbert said she'd see you at 11:00am. We got there at 10:30. The nurse brought you back and you weighed 7lb 15oz. You were running a slight fever and I asked her to check your oxygen saturation. She did and it was 82% - I started crying immediately as I knew 82% wasn't good. Immediately Dr Herbert was in the room and was arranging ambulance transportation to the NICU. When she realized there was a hold on the ambulance she asked us to take him over there immediately and she cancelled her patients for the morning and met us there. The next few hours were almost unbearable as they tried 3 times to get a spinal tap, drew many labs, took many swabs of uncomfortable parts of your body, started IVs, started medications, took XRays - all while you were crying. It was very, very sad to watch. Many people came to support you as you went through this. You were on oxygen but doing well. So far the tests had all come back negative and you seemed to be doing "ok" in the scheme of things. Daddy and I went home to get some rest (I am still recovering from surgery and had no medication in 10hrs). Dr Herbert said she wanted to transfer you to just the regular pediatric floor, but if we were leaving she'd keep you on the NICU floor to be monitored closer and we'd transfer in the morning. Maysen stayed home with Grandpa Dave and Grandma.

Friday 1/4/08: Daddy and I expected you to be transfered. When we got to the hospital, the nurse explained that earlier that morning you had a 45 second period where you stopped breathing. You regained yourself on your own, but becuase of this, you weren't being transfered. That scared me to death! She said you had just eaten and were doing ok. It was about 9:30am. I was holding you when I noticed that you arched your back, turned your head, and while holding my hand were rhytmically hitting my chest with your hand. I immediately knew this was seizure activity. I asked the nurse to watch and by then it was somewhat over and she sort of blew it off. 5min later you were seizing again, and she saw it this time, too. The neonatoligist (Mike) was on the floor and he wasn't sure it was true seizures or myclonic contractions due to prematurity. Before treating you with a medication, he wanted to make sure so he ordered an EEG to watch your brain activity. As we waited for the machine to come up, your seizures only got worse. Luckily you were breathing through them but I can tell you it was the hardest thing mommy has *ever* had to do - sit and watch you seize in my arms. I felt so hopeless, weak, and vulnerable. Somehow, I got through it. 5 hours later, they got the machine up there and you hooked up to 21 probes on your head. Grandma Jo and Grandpa Dave were there while you were seizing and convinced me to take a break while Daddy stayed. When I got back from lunch daddy was crying and very scared. He said while I was gone you had a very bad seizure and you stopped breathing for over a minute, turned blue, and your oxygen had dropped to a very critical level. Daddy talked to you the whole time holding your hand saying "Ok, Trooper, you'll get through this" never leaving your side. The respiratory team had to come in and recesitate you, but they had caught it on the machine and you were now being given Phenobarbital to help with the seizures. Within the 1st dose you were much better, but had a mild seizure. So they gave you a 2nd dose. This helped greatly, but the neurologist noted one more seizure so one last dose was given. You were completely seizure-free except for these small tremor-like seizures that were nothing of concern. Finally, in 2 days you were resting. They were concerned that you would be better off at OHSU in Portland, but after Dr Herbert talked to the pediatric neurologist up there, he assured he that all that they would have done up there was being done - and we decided to keep you here. Physically and emotionally worn out, Dr Herbert convinced me to go home as to not get sick. In the middle of this Hell Day, Daddy discovered he was running a fever, so wasn't around much after that. We went home and tried to sleep.

Today: You were a completely different kid. Yesterday you weren't eating, Tylenol had to be given rectally so you wouldn't aspirate because you weren't swallowing, you were so sedated you weren't responding to any touch. We got to the hospital and you were holding your own pacifier to your mouth. I asked if we could feed you and once we got the OK, you ate over half the bottle! You were holding mom's hand, you were pink, you were off oxygen, you oxygen was great on your own, no seizures (not even tremors) since yesterday, and your probes were all off your head. They took you to MRI and although we haven't gotten the definative report, the tech said it looked completely normal. Talk about a breath of fresh air!!!! I haven't cried so much in the last 2 days than I have these last 2 days. I am hoping that this is all just viral like they are thinking. You were born right in the middle of a viral epidemic in this family. It's hard not to blame ourselves on who was sick and what could we have done - because that is hard. We want nothing but to see you healthy and finally today it looks like you're getting better. I only pray that you will continue to get better.

God be with us ...

Scary

2008-01-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

Fin,

Tonight my heart is scared. Yesterday you started crying whenever you were moved - something you've never done before. Grandma and Grandpa were on their way from California to see you for the first time so we were waiting up late to see them. You were breathing fast but daddy convinced me it was just you. I decided that I'd make an appointment to see Dr Herbert this morning.

We got to the doctor's office and your blood saturation was only 82% and you had a funny looking rash all over your body. Dr Herbert came in right away and stated you were going to the hospital via ambulance to Sacred Heart NICU (neonatal intensive care). The ambulance was backed up, so we took you ourselves and we got there within 5min. They did a chest xray, nasal swabs, IV sticks, catheterized you, and did a spinal tap. Luckily so far RSV, influenza, and pneumonia have been ruled out. The spinal tap they did went well (after 3 pokes) and the preliminary results looked as though meningitis wasn't the culprit.

They aren't sure at this point what it is. You have the rash still, but you are breathing on your own without oxygen. You're on antibiotics and IV fluids. You'd lay on the table and just cry. Finally I got to hold you and once I did you calmed down.

I didn't take any of my pain pills to the hospital so daddy and I came home knowing you were in the best hands out there. When we left your fever was coming down and you were sleeping soundly. The nurse was right outside your door and we were assured you'd be fine. Tomorrow we're going back up to the hospital to be with you. They should be moving you to another less-invasive floor - the pediatric floor - tomorrow. Mommy's heart is hurting becuase there were a lot of sickies that wanted to come and see you when you were born and they held you. I was one of them and so was dad - but we were all so careful. I just hated seeing you so sick and hope you're feeling better tomorrow.

I can't imagine what I'd do if something happened to you, even though you've only been on this Earth for one week.

I love you.

You're Here!!

2007-12-27T14:13:00.000-08:00

Baby Griffin,

A lot has happened since the last time I talked to you. Momma had about 3 weeks of being hospitalized with scary blood pressure. The last time I was hospitalized was from December 14-17. I talked Dr Friedman into letting me go home, but she told me that if my BP was high in the office in 2 days then she’d deliver you. Luckily Daddy’s last day of work was that day and he was able to stay home with me and help out. We went to my appointment on Wednesday the 19th and sure enough my BP was lower! I saw the doctor again on Friday, December 21st and it was fine again. Christmas came and went and I saw Dr Friedman at 10:00am on Thursday, December 27th.

My blood pressure at home had been creeping up and I told her that. She said that I had protein in my urine again, so she decided we’d just deliver you that day! You were born on Thursday, December 27th at 2:13pm.

Although you were just over 3 weeks early, you weighed and measured the size of a full-term baby. You weighed 8lb12oz and were 21” long. The second you came out you were screaming loudly – the sign of mature lungs – and you peed all over! We were glad you urinary system was fully working!

I couldn’t move my legs when you were first born so I was careful when holding you. When you have spinal anesthesia, you’re unable to move your legs for about 2hrs. I was glad to have a spinal, though, because they poked by back about 12 times before getting it in my spine right. The alternative if they can’t get it, is to have general anesthesia, where they put you to sleep. I didn’t want that!! I wanted to hear you cry for my own ears to know you were ok!!

We brought you home on Sunday, December 30th. You sleep all the stinking time and wake to eat every 2hrs. You make the same exact noises Maysen used to make – it almost sounds like you can’t breath and sucking for air, but you just squeek!!

I couldn’t imagine what life would be like with you here – and now I can’t imagine what it would be like if you weren’t here!! I’m doing good – I went to see the doctor yesterday to get my staples out and I have a seroma – which is a collection of fluid on/near my incision line. Sounds worse than it is, but it does make me hurt more. It’s all worth it every time I look down and see your blue eyes.

Maysen loves you!! He walked in when he first saw you and said “There’s my Griffin!!” He helped feed you and wanted to hold you immediately. Just today he pulled all his blankets into your room and asked if you could sleep on the ground with him. He’s ready for you to grow up so you can play with him. I know I’m not. I want you my baby as long as I can!!

Right now we’re taking shifts with you sleeping. The first night you were home I slept on the couch with you beside me on our huge foot rest while daddy slept in the bedroom. Last night was my turn to sleep and Maysen was up all night. Lucky me!! You’re such a good baby, though!!

I'll post more as you grow more and more, which is what I look forward to the most. I love you.

2007-12-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

Your new room!

2007-12-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Fin,

This weekend momma and daddy (with the help of Maysen) got your room ready for when you come home. Maysen helped daddy build your dresser and he was afraid of the drill at first but wasn't scared when it was over. I even got your bottles out, formula ready, everything washed and ready to go. I can say that the reality is sinking in now that you're on your way. You will be here right before Christmas or right after. You're definitely going to be our Christmas baby! I see the doctor tomorrow and I get to see you on Wednesday in our next ultrasound to see how big you are!

Love You,
Momma

Week 34

2007-12-08T09:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Griffin,

Good news! I made it past my first appointment this gestational week. I had my non-stress test first, which turned out fine. You were flipping around all over. Luckily you stayed in one spot and we could finish the test. The nurse didn't take my blood pressure until I had relaxed in the chair and it was 142/70. There was no protein in my urine, thanks to the bed rest. Dr Friedman confirmed to us that she will still be taking you on 36-37wks, which is in a couple of weeks. If everything stays under control, we will be having you after Christmas. She said that if things get out of control, I have to be put in the hospital until 36wks. Hopefully I can stay at home until you're born.

You're going to be my Christmas Bee! Love you.
Momma

Week 32-33

2007-12-04T10:46:00.000-08:00

Dear Griffin,

You seem to be happy in there, but mom has been having some problems. It's been a very trying past few weeks. Two weeks ago, great-grandma Nana died so we all flew back to Iowa to be with grandpa's family. We had delays in Chicago, and Maysen was a handful to keep track of. While there, Maysen got sick for a few days, then on the way home daddy got sick. When we got home I was sick throwing up for 2 days and you didn't enjoy that one bit! The day after I felt better (Tues, 11/27) I had a doctor appointment. My BP was high, but came down with rest. I had 2+ protein in my urine on dipstick, but you looked good on the monitor. She wanted me to come back Friday 11/30 and do a collection of urine to see if I was still spilling protein in my urine.

Friday I saw Dr Reilly because Dr Freidman was in New York at a conference. I really liked Dr Reilly! She was great and handled me well. My BP was 170/100 but the monitor looked good. She let me rest and rechecked it, but it still wasn't coming down. So she had me lay down, and 10min it still wasn't coming down, so I had to go to the hospital for monitoring. Once there, my BP came down nicely and it was decided that I'd be put on pretty strict bedrest.

Yesterday 12/3 I had a follow-up. I have been checking my BPs at home, and they've been all over. 130/70 if I'm really good and 148's if I'm up. Staying down is hard, but I'm doing my best. I go to the office and they told me Dr Freidman was at the hospital with a delivery, so there would be a delay. They hooked me up to the monitor, but you were moving so much that they couldn't keep your heart rate on the monitor for more than a couple of seconds. Dr Franz came in to try and get you, but she had no luck. She asked if my BP had been taken and sure enough! It was high 162/98. She looked at my urine from the week before and the protein level was 298, which was pretty much diagnosed as mild pre-eclampsia. That mixed with BP and inability to keep you on the monitor I had to go back to the hospital. They drew stat labs, which all came back perfect. My BP did come down in the hospital, but not as far down as they did on Friday. The average was about 140/70. They let me come home, but Dr Franz did tell me that I'd probably be having you at 37 weeks, which is the week of Christmas. You are already a big boy, and they'll make sure we're both healthy enough to carry on with this. They're keeping a good eye on momma and they just want us both healthy!

Right now Maysen is going to be going to school on Monday, Wed, Thurs, Friday mornings now so that I can rest and have time with you. This will be good for when you're born, too.

I see Dr Freidman (hopefully!) on Friday. I'm hoping that I can relax enough for my BP to be down in the office and that you're sleeping so that your heart rate stays on the monitor. My fear is that if I'm hospitalized AGAIN they'll just make me stay until you're born. I would miss Maysen and daddy A LOT and don't want to do that. So, we'll see.

Love you.
Momma

Week 30

2007-11-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Griffin,

This past weekend we had Maysen's birthday party and Auntie Jenn was here. She took our family pictures for Holiday cards. It was weird looking at them knowing that this was the last time our family was going to look like this. The next time we do Holiday pictures you are going to be in them!!

I went to my doctor appointment last week and saw you again for the 4th time. Everything is still going well. You are growing so fast! You are showing as though you are 3 weeks older than you are - because you're so big. A baby at 30 weeks should be weighing around 3lbs and you are showing about 4lbs 7 oz! My blood pressure is still running a bit high (150/90) so she said if that continues to stay high then we'll be having you early! She also said that starting now, every 2 weeks I have to see her and have fetal stress tests to make sure you're doing OK. It sounds a lot scarier than it actually is, it's just to make sure you're OK. I had to do them some with Maysen, too.

You're flipping around a lot and giving me lots of heartburn. If I lay on my left side and relax I feel better but you flip even more then - or maybe it's because I am relaxing I feel it more. Maysen still thinks you're in HIS tummy ... I wish! I can't bend over to pick anything up or I feel like I am squishing you to pieces. Maysen is a big help and will pick up things if I ask him to. He's going to be a great big brother. I'm sure you will have your tiffs in years to come, but he is loving and really is excited to be a big brother.

Love,
Momma

Baby Shower

2007-10-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Grandma Bobbi and Aunt Jessica gave me my shower for you. It was a lot of fun!! Lots of people were there including; Auntie Jenn, Aunt Marsha, Aunt Danielle, Aunt Robin, Grandma Shirley, Amanda H, Lana D, Pam P, Virginia Y, Aunt Nena, Mazie, Destin, Joyce H, Cinda P, Dr Meyers, and I'm sure plenty I'm missing. We played games such as pick the melted candy in the diaper, and who can pair 24 pairs of socks together the quickest when they're spread out on the floor. I beat everyone by picking up the whole pile and dumping it back in the basket. "That's what my sock drawer looks like". We had a good laugh.

We got lots of good stuff for your new room too. Aunt Danielle got a cool fireman hat to hang on the wall. Grandma Bauer got you a firetruck painting. I got lots of diapers, wipes, bottles, drop-ins, a video hand held monitor, hand-made blankets, clothes, booties. Lots of fun stuff!!

Aunt Robin had her baby shower the day before. Aunt Danielle threw it and it was held at King Estate Winery. It was fun. She got a lot of fun things, too. It is going to be so fun for you to have a cousin who is just a few days older/younger than you. I can imagine the trouble you two will be getting into as the years go on.

Then yesterday I saw Dr Friedman. Everything is looking good, still. My blood pressure is "creeping up" so she is keeping an eye on that. I am having another ultrasound, then appointment in 2 weeks. We discussed my last ultrasound when you were measuring 3 weeks bigger than you were supposed to. Apparently despite 3 readings showing that, they average everything and every inch together and you were really only about 1wk 5d ahead. You however, are still 15oz over weight according to that ultrasound. And momma can tell!!

Can't wait to see you again on November 7th.

Love,
Momma

2007-10-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

Maysen's online birthday invite turned out well. To see, Click Here.

My New Boy

2007-09-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

Griffin Vaughn

Ok, so my Momma's Intuition is completely off! Within just a few minutes she announced we were having another boy! You can tell by the picture above (legs in upper right, head in lower left) that YES you are a boy! And a big one at that. Today I am 23 weeks and 5 days. On all the measurements they did on you in the ultrasound (your tummy, femur, head, brain, etc) you measured around 26 weeks 4 days (give or take a day or two). Also, a baby your age should weigh around 1 pound. You were 1lb 15 oz (one ounce away from TWO POUNDS). Your brother was 9lb 7oz when he was born and they say the first is the smallest. You're going to be a Hulk when you come out, but I can't wait!

I don't know why I thought you were a girl. You can believe it wasn't because I was "hoping" to have a girl. Of course, it would be completely different having a girl; new clothes, new styles to look for, new hairstyles to try. But the second she announced it was a boy, I thought of Maysen. Then I thought of Daddy. The fun he is going to have with his "boys" will be like the fun Papa had with daddy and Uncle Josh. Camping, football games, wrestling ... all that he gets to experience with you boys now. And that makes me happy.

Watching Maysen growing up I would watch him when Jurny or Jonas were over. He idolized them, watching their every move and trying so hard to copy it. He would eventually say the same things they would - if they were mad, he was mad. I am so excited that you have an older brother to look up to - to idolize - like daddy did with Uncle Josh. I am sure you two will have your moments, fights, punching matches, and yelling competitions ... but what are brothers for? The bond you two will share forever will make up for all that.

So with, my little Griffin Vaughn, know that we are so excited to start welcoming you here. In fact, I bought your crib today. Tonight me and Daddy are going to look at cozy blankets for you to sleep in. We're more than ready for you!

Love you Mr Munchkin,
Momma

take two:

2007-09-25T21:10:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow bright and early we will *try* and figure out if you are a little boy or a little girl. Momma's intuition tells me that you are a little girl. Maybe you'll prove me wrong, and then my theory of Momma's Intuition will be all for nothing. Nonetheless I am so excited to finally (hopefully) be able to talk to you using your name!!

See you tomorrow!

Shy Baby

2007-08-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had the ultrasound that was to tell us exactly what you were. We waited very patiently while we watched you move around on the screen. Daddy said to the tech "When you get there, we want to guess what the sex is." Nothing was ever said. Finally we asked, only to be told that she was unsure because your legs were so tightly closed she couldn't see! The ultrasound was a hour long and not once did you open those things for anyone to see!! I was disappointed not knowing that day because I was looking forward to getting to shop, confirm your name, and get stuff picked out for your room! I guess God is telling me to be more patient. But I do get one more shot. Since my blood pressure has been running high on my last few visits (Thank you White-Coat Syndrome) I am lucky enough to have multiple more ultrasounds to measure your growth until the day you arrive! Our next ultrasound is scheduled for Wed Sept 26th. I keep talking to you, asking you to please show of your "goods" just for one quick peek. I hope you are listening!

One of the funny things you did was we were talking about how closed your legs were while the tech was measuring your abdomen, you stretched both legs as far and hard as you could. Your little legs and feet looked just like a ballerina pointing her toes. It was just for one quick moment, though and then they were right back up.

I'm starting to feel a bit more *knock on wood* energized the last few days. I hope that keeps up. Your brother starts school in about 10 days and he'll be going 3 mornings a week. That will give me time to rest in the mornings as you grow bigger. Once you're here that will give you and I special alone time. I can't wait to see you .. I wish January was already here.

Love,

Momma

Week 18

2007-08-22T18:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Baby,

You're growing bigger and bigger every day! That means that mommy is too and I sure feel it already when I have to bend over. Your brother is having to learn how to pick up his own toys!!

I had my last doctor appointment a couple of weeks ago and again everything is fine. My blood pressure has been running high, but I seem to be more nervous with this new doctor than I was with Maysen. Everything seems to be going great, though! Your heart rate has been between 153-161 ever since we could hear it.

On Monday, August 27th, we find out if you are a little boy or a little girl! Daddy will be there to see, too. He's been working so hard he hasn't been able to go with me to the doctor appointments yet, so he's excited he's getting to go.

I can feel you moving around now. You're not as feisty as Maysen was, but I suspect that you will as you get bigger. You always kick me on the left side - never the right so far. I feel you about 2 times a day. You must be sleeping a lot right now!

I can't wait to see you again on Monday when you show us what you are!!

Love,
Momma

First pictures

2007-07-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

Dear new baby,

I had my first OB doctor appointment on this past Friday. Dr Friedman is really great. Everything looked good - I had every blood test in the world ran and everything turned out OK! She wanted to make sure mommy wasn't further along than I should be, so she scheduled an ultrasound. Auntie Jenn came down to be with momma for the big day as daddy had to work. Kristin said everything looked good as far as she could tell. I don't see Dr Friedman again until July 30th. You are so small the pictures were amazing to see!

In this picture, your big tummy is on the left, and your head in on the right. You can see your face right now is just a skeleton - very alien-like! That dot above your tummy is your hand! You were rather skirmy but we got a few good shots of you. I'll get to see you again at 20 weeks. Right now here were my stats on you!

Gestation Age: 13 weeks

Baby length: 7.1cm

Heart Rate: 161bpm

Due Date: January 19, 2008

That is all I have right now. I've been feeling you move somewhat - more like fluttering movements in my tummy - and a few pokes from you but that's it. You've stopped making mommy sick, which I'm thankful for. With the help of Ambien, I am sleeping much better now at night.

Mommy has now been staying home full-time with Maysen for over a week now. I am looking forward to being able to stay home full time with you, too, once you're here!

Love,

Momma

Hi New Baby

2007-06-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Baby,
I wanted to dedicate this blog to you. I hope your big brother isn't too jealous, as I did not discover this fun little place until after he was already here. I thought this would be a fun place for you to visit some day when you're older and realize just how excited and happy we are that you are on your way to be a part of our family! Let me start with how I learned you were on your way!

In April, Daddy, Maysen, and I went to California to visit Grandpa Dave and Grandma Jo for a few days. We took Maysen to Disneyland and we had a great time! About 3 weeks later, I had a dream that I was pregnant. (This happened with Maysen, too. It's weird, I know!).

I met daddy for lunch on Friday May 11 and we were generally talking about how long I would work as a nurse and in the job I was in. Daddy was saying that maybe when we got pregnant again (not planning for a few more years) that maybe then I could stay home during the pregnancy and be with Maysen, too. When I got back to work I decided "What the heck! I'll take a pregnancy test" (I work at a clinic with those available and it's always been an open thing that we can use supplies). I stood there, in the lab, and watched as the test started taking effect. I had been having irregular periods lately, so this wasn't new for me to be taking a pregnancy test. They've always came out a strong NEGATIVE. However, today was different. As the "wetness" went up the paper under the clear plastic, I noticed where there was never a pink line appearing - something was happening. I looked away thinking it was just my eyes playing tricks on me, so I cleaned the counter and looked useful. I walked back over and my eyes had not deceived me! There was a definate pink line under the (always standing alone for negative) blue line.

I could barely hold it in to my co-workers. I got off work and when daddy got home, I handed him a box. The outside said "One line for negative, Two lines for positive". He looked confused and didn't know what that meant. He opened the box and said "What's this?" Then he looked closer and said "Oh! You're pregnant?" We had decided that we were going to wait to tell people for a bit. That is, until Aunt Robin called us that weekend to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. Then she says "Well, I have a present ... I'm pregnant!" I couldn't believe it! I must have sounded strange and I blurted out "Wow! That's funny ..." She said ".... uhhh, why? ..... Oh my are you pregnant too?!!!!" So the cat was out of the bag then. Since Robin knew it was only a matter of time so we told Daddy's Family. I had already ordered a T-Shirt for Maysen to wear so I could send pictures to the family that aren't close. It said "I have a secret ...." (front) "I'm going to be a big brother!" (back). When that came I posted it on my main blog and called Auntie Jenn and Grandpa and Grandma. Everyone is so excited and we are too!

With this news and the talk daddy and I had at lunch that Friday - we both decided I would hang up my nurse's hat and stay home for a bit. Daddy was in college when Maysen was born and I had no choice but to work. But since then daddy has graduated and just got a great permanent job making websites for Real Estate Agents. I'm going to play and have fun with Maysen this summer as he is starting pre-preschool in September. Then I will be able to home with you everyday until I'm ready to go back to Nursing.

I don't have an exact due date for when you will be making your appearence because I'm only guessing (I have a pretty good idea). My first OB appointment with Dr Friedman is July 6th. So we'll know more then. But basing it off my "hunch" on when you were conceived, I am just about 9 weeks pregnant. I get weekly emails about you and your growth, and I got this one yesterday:

Hello, Leslie!You are about 9 weeks pregnant. Your baby is nearly an inch long — barely the size of a grape — and weighs just a fraction of an ounce, but he's poised for rapid weight gain now that his basic physical structure is in place. His embryonic tail is completely gone, and the development of his body parts — including organs, muscles, and nerves — is kicking into gear. His eyelids are fused shut and won't open until 27 weeks. His upper lip is fully formed, and his mouth, nose, and nostrils are more distinct. Your baby's sex organs are present now but won't be discernable as male or female for another few weeks.

I haven't been too sick with you yet. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel great, but I haven't thrown up or anything. Of course I've been really tired. I'm not sure because that's growing or you're not letting me sleep at night! I lay in bed and for the life of me cannot sleep! I generally get up feeling fine, but as the day goes on (or I eat!) I start to not feel good. That subsides with sucking on peppermint candy and sips of ice water.

I will close for now. I look forward to knowing and learning more about you with every passing day!

Love,
Momma