16 months today!

Today, Dean is 16 months old!  That must mean one thing:

I haven’t updated this blog in 4 months :(

I’ve had every intention of keeping up with this blog after he turned one.  Not just for our awesome family and friends to stay updated on Dean, but also for one day I can look back and see all of Dean’s progression.  And now, Dean is no longer a baby.

That’s right…he’s a little boy.  Just look!

When did this happen?!?  It’s like, one day he went to bed as a sweet little baby, and he woke the next day a sweet little man!  A couple weeks ago, John made the comment while watching Dean, “he’s a little boy.  Seriously!  He’s a little boy.”  And he was so right.

Our little man is doing wonderfully!  He had his latest round of bloodwork done, and all his electrolytes came back normal.  Yay!  He’ll go back to see his endocrinologist around the middle of September.  That’ll probably be his next round of blood work.  Dean’s come a long way from having to do blood work every week.  Very proud of him. 

He’s also walking…everywhere.  And getting into everything.  His favorite activity right now is to hide his sippy cups in drawers and under furniture.  Those are fun to find.  I swear, sometimes he is the only person who knows where these end up.  One night I look everywhere (seriously, everywhere I could think of) for the new sippy I just bought.  Couldn’t find it anywhere.  Right before bedtime that night I see Dean on the floor of the living room, drinking from a sippy.  That sippy.  The one I look everywhere to find.  He’s got a secret stash place…and I must find it.

Since his 1^st Birthday, Dean has been on a couple big adventures!  The first found us traveling to California to visit our family and friends back in Redding.  Dean’s first cross-country trip and he did wonderfully!  There were people on the plane who even compliment on how great he did traveling.  Glad he’s a good travel companion, as his Daddy and I love to travel :)  Dean met a lot of people on this trip, including his Great-Grandmother and his Uncle Chris!  I’m so glad we were able to plan for Chris and his family to come up the last couple days of our trip.  It made my heart happy to see them.  As well as seeing all our friends who are family to me.  I miss them something terrible.  Wish California was closer…

Our next adventure was to the East Coast…a beach trip with John’s side of the family!  It was wonderful to spend time with family, especially those we don’t get to see that often.  This was Dean’s first experience getting into the sand and ocean.  Not a big fan of getting in the ocean, but loved playing in the sand.
 

There's my beach boy!

That's it for the adventures, for now :)  Until next time!

One Year!!!

This day has come too quickly...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAN!!!

Obviously, as I haven't updated this since November, I'll bring you up to speed:

Christmas was awesome!
Teething!
Crawling!
Adjust medication!
Cruising!
Eating!
Blood work came back great!
Valentine's Day cutie!
Not eating!
Eating so much!
Cow's milk!
Birthday!

I have been so excited for Dean's birthday.  Part of me looks back and wonder where all the time went.  Thankful for pictures, as they help remind me of the wonder this year has held for us.  How about a year in pictures of Dean.  Shall we?  We shall!

What a happy, handsome, adorable little man!

I can't get over just how much he has grown in the past year.  And how fast this past year has gone!  That may sound cliche' but it's absolutely true.

This year will hold so many adventures for our little man.  While I wish time would slow down, we are going to enjoy every single minute and have fun along the way.

Until next time!

8 months!

Waaaaaaaaiiiit, is this the same blog?  It's got a different name!  What happened!?  Simply, I've had a shift in mindset.  I still wholeheartedly agree that we should all make the best of what's around us.  However, I'm now living in what I consider to be One Sweet World, and felt a change of blog title was in order.  I'm still following theme, as my DMB friends will note :)

Moving along, can someone please tell Time to slow down?  My little man is growing up way too fast for my liking   :(

Yes, we are now at 8 months old for Dean.  He doesn't have another checkup until January, but will go in for another round of blood work the beginning of December.  

Dean is now up to eating yellow squash, zucchini, sweet potato, avocado, bananas, and pears.  Did I mention before he doesn't like peas?  Well, he is not a fan of peas.  If peas were a Facebook page, Dean would not "Like" it.  I felt that we had to do a food restart after the peas fiasco, so now he's back to enjoying food.  Before, when he'd see the spoon coming, he'd throw such a fit!  Then he tasted and realized it wasn't peas, and everything was as it should be, lol!  After this round of yellow squash, we'll go to cantaloupe and then broccoli, two new foods!  I'm excited, could you tell? ;-)  We started adding his salt to his food instead of his milk.  Partly so that when he's older he won't request salt to go with his ice cream ;-)  Just kidding.  Our hope is that once he's eating normally that the natural salt found in food will be enough or close to enough of what he needs to supplement his need.  We shall see!

He's also getting the hang of his sippy cup, and seems to be enjoying it quite nicely

Good thing he's liking food again, as he's working on Tooth #4!  He's had the bottom front 2 for a while.  Now he's getting the 2 on top.  Over the past couple of weeks, Dean has also picked up on waving.  Sometimes it's on cue, others, well, he just wants to wave, lol!  You'll see what I mean.

Dean's starting the gradual move from trench crawling to regular crawling!  He can now go a few paces before dropping back to the belly and trenching the rest of the way.  I suppose because it's faster.  He's getting it!

Oh, Dean had his first Halloween!  He was the cutest elephant I've ever seen:

Just melts my heart!

I'm so excited to be celebrating Dean's first Thanksgiving this year.  You can count on it that many pictures will be taken!  Until then, here's his 8 month picture with his super-fast waving hand!

May you and your families have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!
Nicole

Months 6 and 7

I've been a baaaaaaadddd blogger...

Remember how I said before that September was going to be a great month?  Well, it was.  But I'm glad it's over :)  We sold the condo.  We bought a house.  We were nomads for nearly 3 weeks.  We got the keys and moved in.  We love our new house :D  To Nick, JaVonte', Elvin, Ryan, and Alison for help in loading/unloading the POD, we cannot thank you enough!  Thanks also to our parents for giving us shelter during the sit-and-wait-to-close process.

Once we had the keys to our new home, we began the painting process, beginning with Dean's room (seriously, like 2 hours after closing).  Now, thanks to my lovely sister-in-law Krista, the living room is now painted!  We'll tackle the kitchen, extra rooms, and our room next year.  Sometime.  Maybe.  :)

Travel this year for work wasn't nearly as extensive as it's been in the past.  Thanks to my co-workers for letting me "have it easy" so I can be at home more with the kid.  I do have a couple conferences coming up that will take me out (and one I just did a couple weeks ago) for a few days.  At least conferences are fun :D

So, that's what we've been doing, and why I took an impromptu break from blogging.  

Dean is doing awesome.  During the time I wasn't blogging, we got the results back from his pediatric endocrinologist appointment.  All levels looked great, except for his salt.  It was a little low.  Leading up to that appointment my husband and I made the decision to use table salt instead of purchasing the sodium chloride.  That's right, we were spending around $25 a month in salt-water.  :P  We got over that.  It took us some skill (neither of us are a math whiz) to find the physical amount that equaled the liquid.  We told the endocrinologist that when we met with him, about our conversion to table salt.  He was fine with it, and when he told me Dean's salt was a little low, he advised to sprinkle a little extra salt into the milk.  Dean will get blood work done again in December, and will go back to see ped endo in March when he's a year old.

Last time I wrote, we had just started Dean on rice cereal.  He loved it so much we moved on to oatmeal cereal.  He loved that even more!  Now we're on to baby food!  Started with avocado, and he was not a fan, lol!  It may have been the texture, because he'd eat it when I'd mix in some oatmeal cereal.  We just finished a round of sweet potato, which he loved!  As soon as we'd set him down in the high chair, his mouth would open wide, lol!

We did manage to take a 6 month picture...although it's closer to when he was 6.5 months.  But who's counting!?!

Still a happy, smiling baby!  And see the color of his room?  Love having color in our new house. 

I did manage to get his 7 month picture right on the date!

Momma's sweet boy!

Within the past couple of weeks, Dean has started the "army crawl," and can get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth.  This weekend will be "baby-proofing" weekend, as we know the day is upon us that he'll be crawling and getting into whatever he can find.

So that's the latest.  I'm sure there have been other things I've left out, but just not coming to immediate mind.  The biggest, other than the move, is his inevitable crawling.  We're gonna have a mover on our hands.  Get ready!

Until next time!

The 5 month update!

Yes...I know I'm late...again...on posting the latest goings-on.  I have great excuses, I promise! :) (and I have more pictures to make up for it)

First, it's been crazy at work.  Everyone gets crazy with work, I get that.  This time of year for us is especially crazy.  We've got all these students wanting to come in at the last minute, so we're working on acceptances, moving students in to the residence halls, etc.  Plus we started recruitment for 2014, so that's been a lot of fun getting back in to doing :)  

Also, we finally SOLD THE CONDO!!!  Yes, nearly a year and a half went into it, and it's finally sold.  Within a span of a week we not only got the condo sold, but we purchased a house as well.  So it's been a cleaning/packing frenzy on top of everything at work.  Yet we are so thankful to have sold the condo and for our new home.  September's gonna be a great month! :)

To the update on Dean!

He is now 5 (and a half) months old!

 How precious!

As far as how his meds are, everything is still going great.  His levels the last time we had his blood work done were well within normal ranges.

Some milestones this month: we've started eating rice cereal!  At first he did not like it, not one little bit, lol!  So we kept at it, and he's gotten now to where he attacks the spoon as soon as it's within range!  Now our feedings look something like this:

Yummy!

It's nice that he's eating rice cereal too, as it's easier to give him his meds that way.  

He's rolling from back to tummy, and sometimes he'll get from tummy to back.  Still doesn't like being on his tummy.  While he does sleep through the night, he'll wake to find himself on his tummy and he'll cry until one of us comes in to roll him back.  Then he's right back to sleep!

Dean was also baptized this month!

With Michael Lester, who performed the baptism

There's our little family!

It was a wonderful occasion, as my family and John's family were all there, plus some of our closest friends.  Thank you again to everyone who was able to make it!

Dean's also gotten to where he reaches out to grab, whether it's a toy, or hair, or Gizmo.  :)  He's been keeping Gizmo on his toes, that's for sure!  Although Gizzie seems to be enjoying it.  He lets Dean reach out and "pet" him, but it's wearing him out:

Tired puppy :)

Dean is sitting up assisted, and can last a few seconds unassisted.  He's doing better at pushing himself up using his arms, so I'm sure we'll be crawling before too much longer.  Teething has started, so he's gnawing on everything he can get to his mouth.  He's also "talking" a lot more, which I swear makes complete sense to him.  So we encourage the babbling by repeating what he's just told us.  He seems to enjoy it. :)

Overall, he's a happy, healthy, smiling little man!

Exciting things coming for us this month, so I'm sure the next update will have more tidbits.  Until then!

Have a great day!

4 Months!

Hi All!

Yep, behind just a couple of days again, and that's ok.  :)

Dean had his blood work done earlier this month,  We were a bit anxious; this was the longest time in between visits for blood work that we've experienced.  Having gone a full month, I personally was nervous and anxious to know how he was doing.  

As soon as he saw the nurse come into the area with the blood work caddy, he started crying.  They tried to take his blood with John holding him, but Dean was having none of it!  It wasn't his normal nurse, so we explained we usually take him into an actual room and lay him on the table.  That worked out better, but Dean was still mad.  I suppose he thought, as long in between visits we had, that he didn't have to have it done anymore.  Poor thing :(  He was still a trooper, and they were able to get his blood on the second try.

We got his results later that evening.  While he was still in normal ranges for all his electrolytes, some areas were lower than the time before while others were higher.  Dean's pediatrician explained everything, and informed us that these numbers may not hold cause for alarm from Dean's ped endo.  He was right.  The next week we got a call from Dean's ped endo nurse saying everything looked ok.  I asked about his lower glucose level, but she couldn't explain anything, just restated that the ped endo said everything looked ok.  I'm so thankful for Dean's pediatrician who, along with me, also monitors all the numbers.  

Aside from his levels being in normal range, Dean is continuing to develop quite nicely!  He's able to roll onto his side (from his back) while on the floor, and is working diligently to finish rolling onto his stomach.  He did it once in his crib: He screamed during his morning nap and when I went in to check on him, he was flipped on his stomach!  He gets mad being on his stomach (which makes tummy time a chore), lol!  He's also grabbing at objects and sticking them in his mouth, and he loves playing with his baby rings and playmat.  I feel like he smiles constantly, which is understandable coming from such a happy baby!  He loves to coo and "talk," to which we have endless entertainment together.  :)

Noticed in my last couple of posts I haven't given much an update about me.  Which is understandable; I've had the baby, my time in the spotlight is up ;-) Overall, I feel wonderful!  When I went in for my 8-week post-baby checkup, I was only 2 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight.  Awesome, right!?  Well, that very same number looks and feels different post-pregnancy, lol!  I'm slowly getting back into my exercise routine.  I've started on Saturdays to at at least walk 2 miles, and run for half.  My next goal is to get back into Zumba, which always gives a great cardio workout!  Once I get back into a Zumba routine, my next goal is to run a 5k this Fall.  There's a 5k thisclose to my house in September, it's the Color Run, and I really really really really really really REEEEEALLY want to run it!  But, we have a wedding to go to that day, and I just don't feel I'll be in the shape I want to be by then.  There are plenty of 5k's this Fall, and I'm sure I can do at least one of them.

Now, what you've all waited for, the 4 month pic!

I mean, my gracious, how can you look at this picture and NOT smile!?  John and I have so much fun taking him out with us.  Gizmo has a blast with him too.  It'll be fun once Dean's walking around to watch the two of them play together.

Oh, Gizmo.  He's apparently suffering from a little separation anxiety.  I feel part of it is from where I was home on leave, and he got used to me being there.  And the other, I feel he's feeling separated from Dean.  He's always around Dean when we're all at home.  But when I leave to take Dean to parents', Gizmo has to go to his crate.  About a month ago, Gizmo broke out of his crate.  We tried to fix it, tried blocking him from getting out, etc.  But nothing worked.  I read where dogs do then when they feel separation anxiety.  That, and we've also had a lot of storms, and he's terrified of storms.  This past weekend we bought him another crate and a toy for us to put treats and peanut butter in so he can keep himself busy.  We'll see how this works.

Oh, I do have to tell you a cute story!  John, Dean, and I went over to Nick and April's the other night for dinner.  They have a little boy, Eli, who will be 2 in about 3 months (oh, wow!!), and is just the cutest thing!  Anyway, Dean was getting fussy because he was both hungry and tired.  While Nick was holding him, Eli went up to Dean, patted Dean's leg and head, and put Dean's paci in his mouth while saying, in his compassionate little boy voice, "Paci!"  It was so sweet!  Dean took his paci and calmed for a little bit.  Eli was probably like, "hey cousin, I know what you're going through, been there myself, and this'll make it better."  And it did.  :D

Have a wonderful day!

3 month update!

It’s been an exciting 3 months for our little man :)  Here's a quick update since the last post:

We took our first family trip last month to Charleston, SC.  I was pretty nervous about taking the trip.  When we first decided to go, Dean was still in Children’s Hospital.  Since it was his second hospital stay (at only 2-3 weeks old), we just wanted to get out of the area for a bit and bond together as a family.  Away from doctors, away from hospitals, just the three of us.  And what better place (within driving distance) than Charleston!  As I said, I was a bit nervous.  I was still getting used to pumping and having a new baby.  I hadn't packed a bag for Dean before (other than his diaper bag), so I definitely over-packed.   All those concerns, for nothing.  We had a fantastic time!  We got to take Dean to all the places John and I visit every time we go, including the very spot John proposed to me:

We went over to Shem Creek and walked/strolled along the water.   Even saw a dolphin!  Dean didn’t understand why we were so excited about the dolphin :)  In all, we were there for 2 full days.  And I’m really, really glad we went.  I was more relaxed that I thought I would be, and it set the tone for what I know will be plenty more fun-filled family vacations.

A couple of weeks after we got home, Dean had his follow-up appointment with his pediatric endocrinologist (ped endo) in Knoxville.  They took more blood to test his electrolyte levels, checked him over to make sure he was developing correctly (he is), and talked with us more about the CAH.  It seems like every day John and I learn something new.  The nurse also took Dean’s blood pressure while we were there, since he hadn’t had it checked since he left Children’s Hospital.  She took it 4 times, and each time it was high.  When she left to get the doctor, John told me that a sign of incorrect medicine dosage is high blood pressure.  So when the doctor came back in, he decided to reduce his hormone medication, and asked us to have blood work done when we went in for Dean’s well visit the next week.

So, we went in the next week for Dean’s 2-month well visit (we’re off by a week or 2 because of the hospital stays).  So proud of Dean for doing so well!  Even took his immunizations like a champ.  It was funny to me, because I was there with him when his nurse administered the shots, holding his hand.  He cried a little, but not much.  After the shots were over was when I had a realization.  I thought back to what my friends have said about taking their children in for shots “Oh, it was worse for me than it was for them” and “My poor baby just had their shots!”  I looked at my mom (John had to work, and I asked her to come in case I needed moral support), told her what I had just thought, and asked jokingly if I needed to be more upset, lol!  I suppose I'm a bit desensitized from where he had the IV's in the hospital and had to have his blood drawn every week.  Shots are nothing to Dean :)  Anyway, they took blood (again) to test his electrolyte levels as the ped endo had asked, since they reduced one of the dosages.  The pediatrician called that afternoon to let us know everything looked normal!   Everything else that the ped endo looked for in the blood work also came back within normal levels.  So happy for all the excellent news!

As of his well visit, Dean is 13lbs even and 24.5in long.  We have a happy, healthy baby on our hands!

One of these days I'll get more pictures up on facebook.  I'll make that my goal to reach before the next update.

Have a great day!