Pics from the 4th

We stopped in Globe to eat on our way to Grandpa's. I had to take a pic of the sign. It was classic.

At the parade. Reed was going nuts because of all the firetrucks.

Reed with Grandma, Papa and Abram.

Little boys dream day. Firetrucks.

At the end of the Thatcher program it is tradition that the fire trucks cool everyone off. Reed loved it. I tried to stay as far back as possible and still keep an eye on Reed. I still got wet anyway. This is when Reed finally realized he was cold and wet and needed a nap.

Yes, I have the cutest kid in the world.

Road trips with Nan are the best. We were having a great time being silly...Making up new song lyrics, telling boy stories, making jokes and trying hard not to pee ourselves. Reed was not quite so entertained by our antics.

Reeds morning

I cant wait til nap time. Reed has been especially fun this morning. He squirted his juicebox all over my bed. I usually limit his juicebox time by drinking half of it before I give it to him, but I was in a hurry to get in the shower so I just put the straw in and handed it to him. He LOVES juiceboxes because the become Old Faithful with just a squeeze. (And Old Faithful is right, cause without fail, if Im not watching him, he squirts it everywhere.)

The other big Reed fun this morning was that he discovered eggs. He gets into the fridge all the time, but this was the first time he actually took out the eggs, opened them up and decided that they looked like balls. AND THREW THEM. When I walked out of the bathroom from doing my hair...which takes about 10 min, he launched one right at me. I walked forward to the open fridge door and found half a dozen more broken on the ground. He had a big smile on his face and started playing in the yolk of one. I was supposed to be proud I guess.

I should have taken pics, I guess. Except I wasn't especially proud of the dirty floor underneath that would have been captured.

So for now I count down til nap time and then I can actually start my cleaning day without new messes to clean up.

Adenoid land

For Katie: Everyone give Katie and Derek (Marley) congrats on the arrival of baby boy #2, Weston.

I told Katie that I would give her a little more detail about Reed's surgery so it wont hurt my feelings if you just ignore this post from here on.

I listened to Reed snore from the time he was like a month old. It got progressively worse and was especially horrible if he had a cold. He would get mid-snore and then either stop breathing or make this horrible "water draining from the tub" sound. It was almost like the snore got stuck and he was trying to force it through. Eventually, he would gasp and kinda wake up. It freaked me out. The pediatrician gave us a prescription for Flonaise and I was supposed to squirt it up his nose at night. It was supposed to help shrink the size of his adenoids I guess. Well, that was a HUGE joke because IF I was lucky enough get it squirted up his nose, he went ballistic. All the crying just made him even stuffier and defeated the purpose of the Flonaise in the first place.

I relayed this to the Dr, who sent us to a pediatric ENT. He was fantastic (Too bad you aren't here in AZ, Id tell you to go to him). They took X-rays and verified that Yes, his adenoids were bigger than usual. Thus the surgery.

The first couple hours after the surgery were tough. He fussed and was pretty pissed coming out of the anesthesia. (Which the Dr said was normal for kids) Pretty quick though he started to get back to his old self. He hated the IV and kept trying to pull it out. But he ate better than he ever has for me at home. Originally, we were told he was so young we would have to stay in the hospital overnight, but at 6pm he was doing so well, the Dr let us go. Thank heavens.
He was prescribed antibiotics and pain killer. Which was difficult cause I had to try to find a way to hide it in his food or juice. (He wont take it alone)

About 2 days after the surgery the poor kid had meat breath. It was horrible. Most the time I was checking his diaper cause I thought he was pooey. No, it was his breath. It kinda had the smell of raw chicken that has been outside in the trashcan too long. YUCK. For a while, I had to turn away so he wasn't breathing directly at me. That lasted about 2 weeks.

There weren't any complications, it was a quick surgery, and there aren't any sutures or anything. And it seems to be very successful.

Every once in a while I hear him buzzing lightly, but any snoring (more of a hum really) is a full breath in and out. It doesn't get "stuck". I dont worry about him not being able to breathe at night. I dont stay up at night listening to him thinking, "I have to stay awake and listen or he will die in his sleep." Also, he doesn't breathe out of his mouth as much. So he looks a little less cromagnon than he did before. I think it is definately worth talking to the pediatrician about. If you have any more questions, let me know or even better email them to me so you dont have to go through the blog. blueyedmle@msn.com

Reed

I realized I didn't tell ya'll what they did to my poor little boy. He had an adenoidectomy. (He has his adenoids removed.) He snored like an old man/grizzly bear and had sleep apnea. I just cant imagine who he inherited that from? Because he was so young, they take sleep apnea pretty serious. Thus the surgery. Funny, after the surgery, while still coming out of the anesthesia, he was snoring just as loud as usual. The nurse laughed and said it wasn't an instant fix because of the swelling.

Surgery day

This had to be the most miserable day ever. Waiting around in the hospital 4 hours with a not whining, but screaming, kid. Hungry cause he couldn't eat, tired cause it was nap time and mad cause there was a big plastic id chafing his little kankle. It was horrible.

Thank heavens, he recouped fast and while we had to stay til 6, the Dr didn't make us stay the night as originally planned. These pics are all post op as we tried to amuse ourselves til they gave us the go ahead to leave. I had to get really creative in entertainment cause otherwise he was trying to pull out the IV and pick off the monitor stuck to his big toe.

On a side note, the surgeon said he was a trooper and would be a linebacker in the near future. He said I must have my hands full. He fought the nurse all the way down the hall and into the operating room. I wanted to say, "yeah, thats why I told the nurses station that trying to wrestle him for 4 hours prior to his surgery was 'bullshit and that I was loosing it fast'." (Those were my exact words by the way.) Instead, I just smiled and agreed.

First swim in a big pool

MMMM

"I thought I was your snack pack."

Whats On Grandmas Camera?

Just the cutest kid in the whole wide world... Thats all.

Reed

Guess who is a lefty!!!

Bad hair?

HA HA those pics below make me realize Reed has Lloyd Christmas hair.

If Im outside, Im OK

Pat me on the back

Hey, I just thought I would let everyone know that this is day 2 for Reed without a bottle!!!! Im so proud of myself for not giving in. That first night was pure hell and I am blaming my very intense headache today on the past 2 nights without the damn thing. Reed is starting to accept it, although very angry at first. (He threw his sippy cup across the room any time I tried to give it to him to let me know just what he thought...) YEAH for me!!! I didn't cave.

Reeds world continued

Reed is always looking for something to discover. No gate can hold him in. Its kinda frighening from a mom's point of view.

Reed loves the piano. I think we may have a musician despite his chunkly little fingers.

Read: "Mom, Im tired of running errands."

Read: "Is this the last stop? This seatbelt is making me crazy."

This is Reeds new trick. He likes to climb up and play in the dishes that are drying up top. Just think of all that dangerous possibilites that this has....

Reed and the rainy day. Nevermind it was really cold. He wanted to play in the water.

Reeds world

The neighbors across the street have a construction company and have great digger trucks. Reed loves when they are loading and unloading the diggers onto the semi to go to a job.

Reed has discovered Papa's flower beds. He loves picking the flowers and digging in the dirt.

I wish I would have listened to the Dr.

When the doctor told us the bottle has to be taken away at 12 months, I blew him off. What did the old man know anyway. Its just not possible. Reed uses table food for throwing, not eating. He needs the bottle or he will starve.

Six months later, the doctor just assumes Reed is off the bottle. I didn't correct him. I feel way guilty, both for lying to the good Doc, but because Reed should have been weaned a long time ago.

Supposedly, If you dont take the bottle away at 12 months they get attached. It becomes a security object. Well, if that not the silliest, nonsensical thing I have ever heard.

Then I saw this.... I think its time to take the bottle away. I think next weekend... Maybe.

Where did the time go?

I was uploading pictures from my camera onto the computer and started looking back on the old pics. Everyone said time would fly by and to enjoy the "tiny time" as much as possible. 18 months later Im wishing I had a few of those moments back. (Just not the colicky ones.)

Charmer...

Lil Monkey

I see an emergency room in your future.....

Today I was talking to mom when I realized Reed had disappeared from sight. This is where I found him. Luckily I had my phone on me. What did we do before picture phones? How else would I have captured such obvious parental negligence for all the world to see? This is a 6 ft block wall and he was dead set on getting to the top of it. I believe this is a big indicator of just how fun my "boy raising" experience will be. Pray we survive.

Mean Mom...

One of Reed's already developed "man traits" is his ability to watch his movies undistracted by stuff going on around him. Its really funny as my dad can do this too. One of my favorite things to do is poke him, say his name over and over again, or just say "hey, hey, hey..." until he looks over at me. IT TAKES FOREVER, but this is his usually response.


You can see his little boy self wanting to scream out, "leave me alone, mom. Mater's on."