Tuesday, January 22, 2008

For Mom and Dad

My sister came out to visit a couple weeks ago. Here is a pic of us at the airport. Sorry Valissa...I know you don't have any makeup on, but you still look great! Her makeup bag was lost along the way.

Here is Valissa playing with Maddox. You can tell he absolutely LOVED her by the fact that he is staring up at her. She is great with babies. Also notice the shirt. It says something about her being the favorite aunt. Don't worry Pretty Aunt Roz and Michelle and Cheryl and Jeana, Valissa is the favorite aunt on that side of the family. :)
Here is a pic of Maddox in his T-shirt from MT! Thanks Mom and Dad!
A couple of naked photos just for grins. You can see he is getting quite a bit chubbier. I especially love his forearms.

And here is a cute video of Maddox talking. He is very talkative, especially when we leave him by himself to play for a bit.


Sunday, January 20, 2008

Just Hangin' Out

The past week has been a great one! It was our first week by ourselves-just Maddox and me. It is amazing how quickly he grows. Each day he is accomplishing new things and getting new "tricks." His latest is pushing up on his legs. We will hold him upright and start to lift him slowly and he will kick/push up with his legs and kind of jump. It is really cute and he gets so excited when we do it with him. He is no longer just a blob, but is getting muscles! Maybe he will be blessed to have HUGE legs like his daddy (and mommy, for that matter). Most of you probably already know, but Jeff had to wear sweats his whole childhood because his legs were too big for jeans. He got his first pair of jeans in junior high because the baggy style finally came into fashion. While I wasn't quite so bad, I do recall trying on pants in the dressing room of KMart and my mom brought me a pair of boy's pants because the girl ones wouldn't go up above my knees. Dumb thighs! Oh well...

A quick little story...Yesterday I gave Maddox a bath because he blew out his diaper. I gave it to him in the kitchen in a small tub we have. I had him set on the counter above the dishwasher and the dishwasher was on. So I am standing there, washing his face, when I here a splattering on the floor. Thinking it is the dishwasher, I look down, expecting to see water dripping all over the place, but instead I see the water is over by the fridge, like 2-3 feet away! I then followed the steady stream of water back up to the bathtub and realized Maddox was peeing out of the tub over the counter and onto the kitchen floor! Great! I just let him finish his business and kept on going! At least he didn't pee into the tub water; otherwise we would have had to start over.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Health Update

After a few days of inhalers and being at the doctor every single day this week, Maddox is doing much much better and is WELL on his way to being better, which is great because Mom is tired and getting sick herself. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, so I am hoping he doesn't get this too!

My sister is in town to visit and luckily she has been here to help me through all of this, although I think she gets even more scared than I do when Maddox has a coughing attack. The first time she held him he had one and ended up throwing up all his dinner all over her and out his nose. She freaked out and now is kind of afraid to hold him when he is coughing, which doesn't happen too much anymore.

If you know my past, you know that I have GREAT luck with doctors. Kentucky is no different and it seems Maddox's luck is no different either. The past couple weeks have been one filled with worry and then relief and worry and relieft and STRESS. :)

Story #1 Just a couple days after bringing Maddox home from being hospitalized for a "heart problem," we took him to a post-hospital check up at the pediatrician (which we switched doctors after what the last doctor observed regarding his supposed nonexistent 30 beats per minute heart problem). This doctor weighed him and he had gained 6 oz in two days, up from his birth weight of 8 lb., which was great.

So the next week we went in for Maddox's two week old appointment and they weighed him and said he only weighed 8 lb. 7 oz, which was not enough weight, so they weighed him again and he weighed 7 lb. 9 oz. on that scale! They flipped out and I did too. They said he wasn't gaining weight and I had to wake him up every two hours and feed him and bring him in in two days for another weight check. Well, I have a home health nurse that comes to my house (a free service provided for new mothers through the health department). She is great and I love her. I called her and she came the next morning with her non-digital scale and weighed him and he was actually 8 lb. 12 oz., which they doctors later confirmed when I brought him back in. So much for not thriving! He is a growing baby. Lesson: Never trust digital scales balanced by residents.

Story #2: So Maddox has had RSV. Yesterday, after a clean bill of health from the cardiologist and the pediatrician saying Maddox is well on his way to feeling better and there is no need to bring him in anymore, I go home to check the mail. I normally love checking the mail (minus bills). This time I saw a letter from the state to Maddox Bird. I opened it and read that his blood tests that test for potential deadly genetic diseases came back abnormal and he had to be retested. Yeah, just when I thought we were free and clear and Maddox was for sure healthy, he now may have a genetic disease, so I called the pediatrician, who now knows me by name, and scheduled to come in for lab tests today. I asked the nurse what test came back abnormal and she said for some reason there was one test (with a really strange name and disease) came back inconclusive, which she interpreted as they weren't able to determine if he does or doesn't have it. Whatever...I am assuming with my luck with doctors and lab tests that Maddox is healthy. We will know the results of that test next week...I will keep you posted, although I am pretty sure he is okay.

Story #3 Maddox had his lab tests this morning and while testing for that we noticed his manliness was a bit swollen on one side. So it was back to the doctor this morning. Turns out they don't know what it is and said to watch it. It looks like his circumcision is accumulating fluid on one side and making him a bit crooked. I am going to ask the OB/GYN, who did his circumcision, to look at it next week when I go in for my 6 week check up. Jeff is very concerned. :) Got to love my life!

Knock on wood we don't have to go back to the doctor tomorrow! Really, life is great being a mom and Maddox really is a healthy little boy. He has just had a rough start, but he is super cute and we love him. Here is a video of him smiling for the first time "for real." It was my sister who figured out how to get him to smile and here he is performing his first real trick! Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

One Month Old and Barely Alive!

Here is Maddox's belly after an eight hour feeding frenzy... All bundled up!
Waving hi to everyone!


Poor Maddox has had a very rough start (as have Mom and Dad into the parenthood rolls). Maddox has RSV and has to have an inhaler every four hours to open his airways so he can breathe. It has been really scary for us, but he is doing so so so much better and actually smiled today and ate without me having to make him. We are so grateful for priesthood blessings and a brother-in-law and home teacher who are doctors!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Cold in Kentucky

It is cold here is Kentucky and Maddox also has his first cold and it is no fun for us or for him. He is still such a good baby though and I feel so bad for him, especially because he can't take any medicine to make him feel better. He has a bad cough and is all wheezy and mucousy and stuffed up. This parenthood stuff is definite grounds for worrying and I am already a professional at that. Good thing I have Jeff to keep me sane and calm! Hopefully he gets over it quickly, although Maddox is still on the downward slope. It will be a relief when he starts showing some signs of improvement. I am dreading tonight because he has been pretty bad all day and it always gets worse at night. Looks to be a night of no or little sleep for me!

On a good note, Maddox did have a weight check up this week and he weighed in at 10 lb. 3 oz! He is 22 inches long and has a monster head, meauring 41 cm, up from 33 just two weeks ago! I tried to put one of his hats on his head a couple days ago and it didn't fit...now I know why. He is still only in the 50th percentile though for weight and height. There must be some ginormous (sp?) babies out there!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Poor guy

Just four weeks old and already sick...A cough and a stuffy nose are no fun for him or for me!