Boo at the Zoo

This Saturday was Boo at the Zoo in Atlanta. We got free tickets through Children's Hospital of Atlanta's Kids at Heart (a support group for kids and families of kids who have had heart surgery at Egelston Hospital). The Atlanta zoo is small but nicely laid out, and Sam had a pretty good time. All of the kids were dressed up (as was Sam) and there was a really nice family atmosphere. Part of the festivities was a private catered party for Kids at Heart families. The best part was meeting two families we have followed via CarePages for a while. Both are Hypoplastic Right Hearts (like Sam) and one of them goes to Dr. Cardis, like us. It was in some way comforting to look around at the Kids and Heart party and see so many kids and families. I hate that so many people/kids are suffering, but it made us feel not so alone in the world.

After Boo, we drove home and stopped at the Tanger Outlets. We picked up a ton of clothes, shoes, and accessories for all of us. I love a good shopping trip. Sam was still dressed in his costume, and got plenty of attention.

The first thing I wanted to do when I got home was upload our photos from the day. To my shock and horror, they were GONE...no where to be found on the card. I flipped out, and laid in bed pouting for a while. When Sam woke up from his nap, we went out to dinner at the new Mexican restaurant across from our neighborhood. I fed Sam refried beans...damn the consequences. I was super bummed. I made Chris get us ice cream, as I figured that would be the only thing to make me feel better.

I hatched a plan, did some research, and with a recovery software, was able to recover all my lost photos! I know it's dumb to be upset over photos...it's not like I don't already have 4 albums of Sam pictures! But they are back now and that is what matters!

One final story: Today at church, Chris had Sam standing in the pew seat facing the back rest. Naturally, he bumped his mouth. He only cried for a minute but I thought he was giving a funny face. Sure enough, his newest tooth was bleeding near the gum. Sam is on Asprin (and a hefty dose, in my opinion), so he bled and bled and bled. He was swallowing it for the most part, but he got tired of that after a few minutes. He started spitting it out...spraying it EVERYWHERE...all over our new clothes. I grabbed a bunch of paper towels from the bathroom, and had a pile of bloody towels next to me in the pew. This lasted about 3o min.... Man, I hate to think of the adventures when he starts running and jumping and climbing and doing general boy things....

~Kathy

Another Mobile Weekend

We went to Mobile again this weekend. This time for Brian Cobb's going away party. He is taking a job transfer/promotion to Chicago, and his family threw him a little party. I have known Brian and his family since preschool...his Mom was our teacher! It was really nice hanging out with friends and I hope Brian enjoyed it.

While we were in Mobile, we took Sam to a pumpkin patch. He wasn't a big fan. It was cold and windy and he had just woke up from a nap. Super-crank didn't smile for hardly one picture. We'll have to find another pumpkin patch and go when he's in a better mood.

When we got home tonight, Chris and I lowered Sam's bed, since he is getting really close to pulling up. While we were working, Sam decided he could commando crawl! This is the first time we have seen him doing any form of crawling. I was getting worried that he was taking so long to get to this milestone. He's already proven himself a total faker recently, so for all we know he's been crawling for months, just not in front of us! But we are super proud of him, and are ready to start a new stage in parenthood...the stage where you do nothing but chase a baby all day...

~Kathy

Sam, the Faker (and Vacation News)

We've been pretty busy recently. We went to Mobile for two more weddings this past weekend. Amazingly we made it to both (they were only an hour apart) and hit up both receptions, too. Sam didn't get much sleep our first night in Mobile, and he never really recovered until he got a nights rest in his bed here at home in Macon. He was super grump all weekend. But, in his defence, he has cut more teeth. He now has two on the bottom and four across the top.

On Monday, when I picked Sam up from school, he was holding a bottle....which is something he doesn't do at home. I was so excited and told the teachers that he hasn't been able to do that and that I was so happy he was learning. They looked at me like I was crazy. They said he's been holding his bottle FOR MONTHS. That Sam had me and Chris fooled! My Mom's theory is that kids have to be a little more independent at daycare, but at home they know Mommy and Daddy will just do it for them. Little punk. Since then, we have made Sam hold his own bottle...which he does LIKE A PRO. And I seriously thought he couldn't do it....

Today, Sam had his cardiologist appointment. He had an echo and EKG, which all looked great. He weighs 22.8 lbs, and is 30 inches long. His oxygen percentage was great...87-89%. He flirted with EVERYONE. And he sat so still during the echo and EKG, which is pretty rare for him. Dr. Cardis thinks he looks wonderful. I rehashed the conversation about the vacation to California. After telling him the exact plans, he still believes we need supplemental oxygen during the flight. But he thinks we will be fine without oxygen in Wrightwood (the mountain town where my grandmother lives). That's a big relief. We'll keep our O2 meter with us, and if his oxygen looks low, we'll have the contact of a durable medical equipment company in California that we can get a tank of oxygen from. But Dr. Cardis doesn't think we'll need it. Sam may have a true white Christmas in the mountains!

Please say some prayers for baby Amelia. She was born premature in April and is still in the hospital working on getting strong enough to come off of supplemental breathing support. This has been (and is becoming more so) a painful journey for her parents and family, and they need to bring her home healthy and happy and SOON!

~Kathy

A Busy Week, Indeed...

We have had a very busy week, so get ready to sit and read for a while...

This past weekend we went to Mobile for several events. We watched Chris's little brother's marching band perform at his high school football game. I used to 'coach' the color guard in the band, and it was nice to see them perform, too. While at the game we ran into my HS friend and college roomie Catherine and her sweet babies. I got pooped on while holding her youngest, but babies are so cute, it was easy not to care! We also ran into the drummer from Chris's old band, who is now coaching the drum line in the marching band. Quite a nice little evening. Sam didn't make it to the game though...he had a LONG drive and made it apparent when we got to Mobile that he wanted nothing to do with anyone unless they were putting him to bed.

Saturday we went to my grade school best friend's wedding. Angela married a friend from HS, Patrick, which meant the wedding was basically a HS reunion. The wedding was beautiful, Angela rocked her dress, the reception was warm and lighthearted, and hanging out with friends who stay the same wonderful people no matter how long it has been since you have seen them last was priceless. Sam had a blast, too. He met his future wife Sophia (daughter of Mitch and Mary Alice). They had a photo booth and we took way too many photos with friends. I'll scan and post them soon, I promise!

Monday was a weird day. This is a topic I will only bring up once on this blog, and then bury it for Sam's sake: circumcision. When Sam was born, our doctor would not let us do it because at any moment he could have been heading into surgery, and they didn't want to introduce an infection risk. Now that he has some time to kill before his next surgery, we inquired about performing it. Our Cardio agreed, and told us it would be a good thing to do, since it would prevent future UTI/Kidney/Bladder infections. He referred us to a pediatric specialty group in Atlanta, since Sam would need special care with regards to the administration of anesthesia.

We drove to Atlanta Monday morning in terrible weather. On the way, Sam coughed and then threw up his 8 oz milk bottle all over himself and in his car seat. After a bad dive, we meet with the Urologist, who acted like we were bad people for ever considering this procedure. He blew it off as an 'old cultural tradition' and said there was no good study to support the fact that it prevents future infection. He also said that if we decided to do it, they would HAVE to do the surgery at Egleston (Sam's heart surgery hospital) because the cardiac anesthesiologists would have to administer his meds because of his heart. On top of that, he has to stop his Asprin therapy (which poses a stroke risk). AND he would have to stay over night.

Needless to say we left conflicted and a little let down. It's not like we feel religiously or culturally attached to the procedure, but if our Cardiologist thought it was a good idea then we were willing to do it. It would have been done at birth anyway, if it weren't for Sam's heart. We're going to talk to our Cardiologist again in October, but we probably won't go through with the procedure now. I doubt NOT having it done will affect Sam in anyway socially, or at least in anyway that will be lasting. It poses weird situations for us...what do we tell him when his brothers look different, or his cousins look different? He's a special kid in many ways, so I guess we'll just lean on that explanation.

Sam had a pediatrician appointment today. He weighs 22lbs (50th %) and is 30 inches long (85th %). The MD said he looked amazing, and she commented that you would never know anything was wrong with him if you didn't know his back story. We hear that a lot. We're on a wait-list for the H1N1 vaccine because of Sam's heart, and will be first in line for it when they get it in...IN LATE OCTOBER!! The whole world will have had the virus by then! Oh well. She also got him set up for the Synergis vaccine (the RSV vaccine) which we did all of last winter. Poor Sam has a lot of injections in his future...

Speaking of Sam: he's so dang cute. He sits up like a pro now. He still hasn't crawled, but he can turn a circle on his tummy and rolls to get to far away toys. He is ALMOST pulling up to sit from laying down. He's a little behind with his mobility but the Pediatrician was not concerned. He laughs and laughs, especially when Relo barks. He went to dinner with me and three girl friends from work the other night...he flirted the whole time. He has just a tad stranger anxiety but really only when he is tired. He says Dada like a pro, and is almost saying bye bye and uh oh. No mama yet. Sigh. He's the best though, and we can't get over how much we love him...

~Kathy

Sam's First 5K

Well, Sam finished his first 5K! Chris, Sam, a few friends, and I ran in the Macon Labor Day 5K this morning. Sam was one of about 8 stroller kids. There were over 1000 people in the race so there was plenty for him to look at and be distracted by. He didn't fuss the whole run (although he rarely fusses in his jogger) and really enjoyed watching all the people around us. I forgot my camera (soooo disappointing) so these are photos and video from my cell phone. Next on Sam's run list: Jay's Hope 5K Oct 31, Strong Legs Run for Egleston Hospital Nov 14.

~Kathy

Diaper Cakes

Think I should sell diaper cakes?

~Kathy

Sam's Icky week

Census is low at my work right now, so we are rotating PTs and OTs having a day off during the week. My day off was Tuesday. Sam and I stayed home from work and school and got all kinds of things done. When I took Sam back to school on Wednesday, there was a sign on his classroom door that said "ROTOVIRUS CONFIRMED IN THIS ROOM"....oh joy. But I thought maybe he'd be alright since I had kept him home on Tuesday, and maybe he'd missed the initial spread of the bug. However, as I discovered, rotovirus has a two day latency...he had actually picked it up on Monday and by Wednesday mid day he was showing symptoms.

I picked him up from school with a fever of 101 and he did throw up a few times that day. He had a low fever and diarrhea for the rest of the week. Chris stayed home with him Thursday and Friday. He woke up a much happier boy today! But still...in Sam's 9 months of life he has had two fevers and one bout of bloody stool...pretty good record, I think.

On an unrelated note, ALWAYS question your medical bills. We have discovered that literally ALL the medical bills we have received since Sam's birth have been in error in some form or fashion. If we had just paid them, we would have paid about $10000 in unnecessary payments. This past week I did A LOT of work going through hundreds of insurance EOBs and found huge errors. If they had been smaller and fewer bills we probably would have just paid them. But when you get $4000 bills, you naturally tend to question their accuracy! Long story short, we owe nothing.

On another unrelated note, I have become a master diaper cake maker. They are great baby gifts, and super adorable! I'll post some photos when I finish handing out the three that I still have sitting on my counter.

~Kathy