Families are what make life rich. Love is what binds us together. Joy is being surrounded by both. ~Unknown
Sunday, August 22, 2010
New Size
Finn has almost completely graduated to 12 month clothing. I've always said I was bad at buying ahead for my kids, and once again, I have proved myself right. Last year there was a HUGE clearance at Children's Place (one of my favorite stores!) and I bought Finn a bunch of winter clothing for this year--size 12 months. Ugghhh--it's a little too hot for his 12 month clothing right now. But luckily I have some leftover 12 month clothing from Kai, and we have some friends who seemed to know better than me. I just LOVE these jammies on Finn that we received as a gift last year. They are just the perfect size and perfect for the weather. Here's to hoping that the few pieces we have will last us for the next 6 weeks or so. And I'm hoping that Finn doesn't outgrow his winter clothes before we get there!
Rolling in the Dough
Kai loves to play pretend these days. And he's got quite an imagination. The other day he told me this was a mud puddle. In actuality it was the change from our change bowl--all $24 and some odd cents. One day he's going to wish he could roll in money like this. If he can, I can guarantee it won't be mine!
Saturday Play Day
Our first snow last year was on September 21st. That means we only have about a month more of consistent good weather and then we will be into the 8 month stretch of winter. We've been doing our best to take advantage of the weather and enjoying our time together. Last Saturday (the 14th) we took the kids to Fox Run Park to play after our afternoon naps. Finn played in the grass and tested out his new shoes. He wasn't thrilled with the loud dogs and screaming little girls, and he wasn't very good at walking in his shoes, but he had fun anyway. He even took a turn in the swings. Kai enjoyed the swings and slides with his daddy. And then he asked to play hide-n-seek. It's been so fun to see Kai mature over the past several months. In this last month I have seen him actually start to play with others. He interacts, laughs, plays chase, and really enjoys being with others. It's such a neat phase. Hide-n-seek is one of his favorite "together" activities. Reid enjoyed hiding and watching Kai try to find him. It was a good time.
Of course, after the park we needed dinner. So we took the kids to Arby's and, after a yummy dinner, we topped it off with Coldstone. We did it all for Kai--honestly! :)
Of course, after the park we needed dinner. So we took the kids to Arby's and, after a yummy dinner, we topped it off with Coldstone. We did it all for Kai--honestly! :)
Finn's First Shoes
On Friday the 13th we went to buy Finn's first real shoes. I had bought him a couple of different pairs of shoes over the last month or so, but none of them seemed to be working real well. The last pair I bought him were these really cute sneakers, but they never stayed on his feet. And he couldn't walk in them at all, as the sole was just too thick. So, I decided the trip and the expense of Stride Rite shoes were worth it. I knew we'd get the right fit and that he would be able to walk in the shoes.
My first trip to Stride Rite (2 1/2 years ago) for Kai's shoes resulted in buying Kai a size 3 extra wide shoe. Silly kid was 11 months old and had really short and fat feet. Finn's almost 10 month-old feet, in comparison, seemed normal sized (not pudgy at all). And I thought the size was pretty comparable to Kai's 11 month feet. His height and weight are comparable, so the shoes should be too, right?? Wrong! Finn's foot measured in at a whopping 4 1/2 medium. At least I was right about the normal width thing. But I have spent the last week in shock over how long Finn's foot really is. He really stands a good chance of being taller than his older brother. Poor Kai.
Here are some pictures showing the difference in their first shoes. Finn's shoes are the larger, brown ones. Kai's shoes are the tiny cute white ones.
My first trip to Stride Rite (2 1/2 years ago) for Kai's shoes resulted in buying Kai a size 3 extra wide shoe. Silly kid was 11 months old and had really short and fat feet. Finn's almost 10 month-old feet, in comparison, seemed normal sized (not pudgy at all). And I thought the size was pretty comparable to Kai's 11 month feet. His height and weight are comparable, so the shoes should be too, right?? Wrong! Finn's foot measured in at a whopping 4 1/2 medium. At least I was right about the normal width thing. But I have spent the last week in shock over how long Finn's foot really is. He really stands a good chance of being taller than his older brother. Poor Kai.
Here are some pictures showing the difference in their first shoes. Finn's shoes are the larger, brown ones. Kai's shoes are the tiny cute white ones.
Friday, August 13, 2010
My Boys
One of the hardest things for me is trying to cook dinner and keep Finn entertained. Since he can walk and open cupboards, he can get into everything! Yesterday he decided that he couldn't wait until dinner and he pulled the bread out of the bread drawer and began to chow down. It made me laugh!
Since I was taking pictures of Finn, Kai had to get in on the action, too. Here's Kai with his new huge bouncy ball from his Aunt Wendy.
Since I was taking pictures of Finn, Kai had to get in on the action, too. Here's Kai with his new huge bouncy ball from his Aunt Wendy.
Fountain Creek Nature Center
On Wednesday we once again adventured out to explore more of Colorado. Our friends that accompanied us to Belleview Park joined us again. So fun! This time our trip was to Fountain Creek Nature Center. It seriously was one of the most perfect days I have had in a while. It started with Finn sleeping from about 7:45pm to 5:15am. He took a bottle and was back in bed at 5:45am. I climbed back into bed for a half hour and then decided to do something that I didn't know I missed until I did it--I took a shower first thing in the morning. There were no kids beating on the shower door, no loads of laundry or dishes to think about. I was just able to stand in a hot shower, rub my bleary eyes and relax. It felt so good. After my shower I was relived to find the kids were still asleep, so I grabbed a bowl of cereal and my scriptures and sat at the table and enjoyed the peaceful morning, my scriptures, and the beautiful mountain view. Seriously one of the best mornings ever. I even managed to get a load of laundry in, check all the blogs, Facebook, and email before Kai woke up. Finn didn't wake up until after 7:30am. So nice. On our way out the door to the Nature Center, our long lost friend Nancy called. She was in town and wanted to get together for lunch. We made our plans and headed out.
The nature center was off of a dirt road that I missed the first time we drove by. The center was very small, but had a lot of interesting stuff for the kids. Kai enjoyed looking through the binoculars at the beautiful scene below. There were also telephones that played animal noises, a small sand box with wood cutouts that made various animal tracks in the sand, furs to feel, and many other things to touch and explore. After a short time in the center we decided to venture out onto the trail. The nature center trail links up to a trail that runs through a regional park. But unlike the larger trail, no bikes or dogs are allowed on the nature center trail. It's a very low-trafficked area and so the wildlife can be found pretty easily. We saw lots of trees, a bunny, butterflies (including monarchs), a blue heron, and several roly-polys. We even heard the croaking of what we were told is a very large bullfrog. But he decided he didn't want to come out. The kids enjoyed chasing the bunny down the trail and just running and exploring in general. Our longest stop was at a bridge over a small waterfall where the kids spend time throwing rocks into the water and my friend and I tried hard to figure out just where that darn bullfrog was. It was a good outing. Kai wore himself out, which is always a good thing!!
After the center, we had a good time chatting with Nancy over lunch and ice cream. We even made a quick stop at Gymboree where I "didn't need anything", but spent money anyway. It really was a very good day!
The nature center was off of a dirt road that I missed the first time we drove by. The center was very small, but had a lot of interesting stuff for the kids. Kai enjoyed looking through the binoculars at the beautiful scene below. There were also telephones that played animal noises, a small sand box with wood cutouts that made various animal tracks in the sand, furs to feel, and many other things to touch and explore. After a short time in the center we decided to venture out onto the trail. The nature center trail links up to a trail that runs through a regional park. But unlike the larger trail, no bikes or dogs are allowed on the nature center trail. It's a very low-trafficked area and so the wildlife can be found pretty easily. We saw lots of trees, a bunny, butterflies (including monarchs), a blue heron, and several roly-polys. We even heard the croaking of what we were told is a very large bullfrog. But he decided he didn't want to come out. The kids enjoyed chasing the bunny down the trail and just running and exploring in general. Our longest stop was at a bridge over a small waterfall where the kids spend time throwing rocks into the water and my friend and I tried hard to figure out just where that darn bullfrog was. It was a good outing. Kai wore himself out, which is always a good thing!!
After the center, we had a good time chatting with Nancy over lunch and ice cream. We even made a quick stop at Gymboree where I "didn't need anything", but spent money anyway. It really was a very good day!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Professional 9 Month Pictures
Click here to see Finn's 9 month pictures. The password is "jones9mo". I'll admit it wasn't the best picture day for him, but he's still cute. Enjoy! (The pictures will be available online until August 30th.)
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Crazy Lady
Let me start by saying that I do not agree with the idea that certain people or situations make us behave the way we do. I fully believe that we have our own agency to choose how we react to situations. Yes, our past and our baggage have an influence, but they do not control our behaviors. Having said that, I now have to say that CF has made me crazy!! There are so many times I find myself realizing that I am the "crazy lady". Here are just a handful of examples.
- At Wal-Mart, I'm the crazy lady that the greeters watch wipe down the entire cart with the sanitizing wipes. Kai likes to help push the cart, so I have to wipe down all of the individual bars where he grabs on. Then I have a tendency to pull the cart from the back and sides at times, so I have to wipe those as well. And of course, after we finish wiping, we have to sanitize our hands because we touched the cart before we had cleaned it. Yep....I'm the crazy lady. It seriously takes us several minutes to just get in our cart and get ready to start shopping.
- To friends, I'm the crazy lady who invites you over for a play date but then adds that if you have sick kids you are uninvited. Stinky, I know. I don't like it either.
- To the insurance company, I'm the crazy lady that saves and scrutinizes all of our claims. Our company has a handful of kids that attend the same clinic that we do and they say that there have never been problems before like what we're having. To that I say "Yeah, right! (dripping in sarcasm)". My guess is that they just have never had a lady as crazy as me to pay such detailed attention to what they are doing.
- In public, I'm the crazy lady who really freaks about someone touching her baby. I watch your hands like a hawk and if I feel I have to, I wipe his hands with a baby wipe once you're out of sight.
- To the poor man who answered the phone at our FSA company yesterday, I'm the crazy lady who did not understand why they absolutely had to to have the name of the prescription drugs my son is on. Why can't a receipt that says RX Pharmacy, the amount, the date, the store, and FSA reimbursable count?? Why do they have to know what medication it is? I was pretty upset about that invasion of privacy.
CF Clinic Visit
This past Monday was clinic day. Our last couple of visits to clinic have been relatively quick (under 2 hours) and uneventful. I was expecting the same for this month as well. I left Kai with some friends (thank you Kelly!) and arrived 5 minutes early for our appointment. Finn weighed in at 17 pounds 15 ounces and was 27 3/4 inches long. I was so, so proud of him. Those measurements are the exact same as Kai's 12 month measurements. That means that Finn is now 2 and 1/2 months ahead of Kai! Considering 8 months ago he was 3 pounds under Kai's weight at the same age, we really have come so incredibly far.
I should note that going into the appointment, Finn had been off for weeks. For at least two weeks, he has not been sleeping like he should and his eating had become a bit sporadic, but not bad. About 2 weeks before his appointment his diapers had begun to look like he needed an increase in enzyme dosage. So, we changed his dosage from 2 capsules per meal to 3. Two days later, at his 9-month well visit with the pediatrician, we discussed possible reflux symptoms and increased his Prevacid dosage as well. So, in a short time of two days, he went from taking 15 pills a day to 22. Yikes, poor kid. Add in the fact that we all came down with colds at that time, we permanently dropped his 3rd nap, and my sister and her fiancee were visiting, well....poor Finn was trying to adjust.
So, at clinic we talked about the normal things--sleeping habits, eating habits, activity level, etc. He is doing absolutely great. There's always a question I truly dislike, though, and that is "Does he have a cough?" I never know what to say. In the past the doctor has said that her rule is 10 times a day. So, in general, no he doesn't have a cough. But lately his occasional coughing has started to sound more like gagging/hacking. We've seen some heads turn and have gotten some looks. I don't know how to tell people that he's not sick! So, I mentioned to the doctor, the RT, and the nurse that he doesn't cough 10 times a day, but he does have a bit of a loud cough. They felt that this counted and that since I have reported that he's had a cough for a while, it is time to try something else. We now have our first prescription for Pulmozyme. There are many, many more to come I'm sure. Pulmozyme is a nebulizer medication that all CF patients take daily starting at age 5 (according to our clinic team). His doctor thinks we should try it now to see if we can shake this cough. If we can clear it up, we can stop. (really crossing my fingers on that) The doctor said to try it through to our next appointment--his annual visit at Childrens' Hospital. In addition to this new prescription for a nebulizer and Pulmozyme, I also had to resign some paperwork for a clinical trial he's participating in (a national CF registry), and I spoke to the some of the team about insurance woes we are having. They have been trying to help us out, and I'm so hoping that someone can fix this. All-in-all, we were there for over 3 hours! Poor Finn was so tired that he passed out in his car seat before we ever left the office, which is something that he hasn't done in a long time.
I left the appointment feeling overwhelmed and, admittedly, a bit defeated. The thought of going on this new medication just did not, and still does not, sit well with me. I always envisioned that the kids on the nebulizers were really sick, and Finn isn't. I felt as if I had failed him in some way, even though I feel that most of the time I'm doing the best I can. And mostly, I worry that I'm the mom who "cries wolf". I worry that maybe I'm making more out of it then there really is. I worry that they are putting him on these medications just because I'm paranoid. I worry that I'm making mountains out of molehills. I expressed a small bit of this to the nurse and she told me that wasn't the case and that they were the ones who had asked the question. True....I wouldn't have said a thing if they hadn't asked the question.
Two days later, our care nurse from our insurance company called and I talked through some of this with her. She has made me feel much better about things and has reassured me that I'm not one she would think is "crying wolf". I'm glad she thinks that, but I still am not so sure.
We have received our nebulizer, but we have yet to receive our medication. Don't even get me started on that one.......But I'm ok with that for now. We have years of nebulizers ahead of us. I figure a few extra days of normalcy isn't a bad thing.
I should note that going into the appointment, Finn had been off for weeks. For at least two weeks, he has not been sleeping like he should and his eating had become a bit sporadic, but not bad. About 2 weeks before his appointment his diapers had begun to look like he needed an increase in enzyme dosage. So, we changed his dosage from 2 capsules per meal to 3. Two days later, at his 9-month well visit with the pediatrician, we discussed possible reflux symptoms and increased his Prevacid dosage as well. So, in a short time of two days, he went from taking 15 pills a day to 22. Yikes, poor kid. Add in the fact that we all came down with colds at that time, we permanently dropped his 3rd nap, and my sister and her fiancee were visiting, well....poor Finn was trying to adjust.
So, at clinic we talked about the normal things--sleeping habits, eating habits, activity level, etc. He is doing absolutely great. There's always a question I truly dislike, though, and that is "Does he have a cough?" I never know what to say. In the past the doctor has said that her rule is 10 times a day. So, in general, no he doesn't have a cough. But lately his occasional coughing has started to sound more like gagging/hacking. We've seen some heads turn and have gotten some looks. I don't know how to tell people that he's not sick! So, I mentioned to the doctor, the RT, and the nurse that he doesn't cough 10 times a day, but he does have a bit of a loud cough. They felt that this counted and that since I have reported that he's had a cough for a while, it is time to try something else. We now have our first prescription for Pulmozyme. There are many, many more to come I'm sure. Pulmozyme is a nebulizer medication that all CF patients take daily starting at age 5 (according to our clinic team). His doctor thinks we should try it now to see if we can shake this cough. If we can clear it up, we can stop. (really crossing my fingers on that) The doctor said to try it through to our next appointment--his annual visit at Childrens' Hospital. In addition to this new prescription for a nebulizer and Pulmozyme, I also had to resign some paperwork for a clinical trial he's participating in (a national CF registry), and I spoke to the some of the team about insurance woes we are having. They have been trying to help us out, and I'm so hoping that someone can fix this. All-in-all, we were there for over 3 hours! Poor Finn was so tired that he passed out in his car seat before we ever left the office, which is something that he hasn't done in a long time.
I left the appointment feeling overwhelmed and, admittedly, a bit defeated. The thought of going on this new medication just did not, and still does not, sit well with me. I always envisioned that the kids on the nebulizers were really sick, and Finn isn't. I felt as if I had failed him in some way, even though I feel that most of the time I'm doing the best I can. And mostly, I worry that I'm the mom who "cries wolf". I worry that maybe I'm making more out of it then there really is. I worry that they are putting him on these medications just because I'm paranoid. I worry that I'm making mountains out of molehills. I expressed a small bit of this to the nurse and she told me that wasn't the case and that they were the ones who had asked the question. True....I wouldn't have said a thing if they hadn't asked the question.
Two days later, our care nurse from our insurance company called and I talked through some of this with her. She has made me feel much better about things and has reassured me that I'm not one she would think is "crying wolf". I'm glad she thinks that, but I still am not so sure.
We have received our nebulizer, but we have yet to receive our medication. Don't even get me started on that one.......But I'm ok with that for now. We have years of nebulizers ahead of us. I figure a few extra days of normalcy isn't a bad thing.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Toy Story 3
It was fitting that the 3rd adventure off of our adventure list was a trip to see Toy Story 3. Kai would get so upset when I mentioned going to see the movie that the day of our outing, I didn't say a word. About 45 minutes before we needed to leave I began to tell Kai that he was going on a special adventure with only Momma and Daddy. He really liked that idea. He had no idea where we were going until we got there. Once inside the theater he looked around and asked "Is this a movie theater?" Of course the answer was yes! And then he asked if we were going to watch Toy Story 3. I was pleasantly excited when he was happy to be seeing the movie. We arrived just a few minutes before the show began and were the only ones in the theater. Another mom with one child arrived during the previews, but that was it. Almost a private showing!! (Probably because we went to the non-3D version.) Kai really enjoyed the movie, but started getting antsy about 30 minutes before the end. If only there hadn't been 30 minutes of previews! All-in-all it was a good trip and I know that Kai will be more than willing to go to a theater again
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More Walking
Since the last video we did of Finn walking is 2 weeks old, I thought we'd update you all. Here are some clips from today (in the order they were shot). Don't mind the sounds of Kai watching Cars in the background.
And this is my favorite one.
And this is my favorite one.
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