Toddlerhood

BJ has been having a blast and truly living up to his status of toddler lately. He continues to be quite independent. He has recently decided that it is better to eat dinner at the table with a booster seat- or rather eat his dinner in the highchair and then get down to sit in the booster to eat Mommy's dinner. He is totally into climbing on anything he can- he pulls his booster seat off and pushes it next to the cabinets to climb on, he likes to get on and off (sometimes by falling) the piano bench, and one of his new favorite places to play is on Mommy and Daddy's bed. He walks over to the bed, gives his "put me up there" noises and gestures, and giggles the whole time he's on the bed. He likes to walk and then fall over into the covers, likes to be tossed into the covers, or tackled on the bed. He has also really grown to love slides- of all shapes and sizes and does a great job going down them by himself- with close supervision of course. He and I spent a morning together during a "BJ and Mommy" day at Lil Monkey Bizness with some friends. He was able to climb most of the steps (no ladders) to the slides and then either sit down, or turn around to go down on his tummy depending on the size of the slide. He only had a few mishaps when he got set to go down on his tummy but didn't realize someone was still in front of him and he pushed them down the slide.

His 15 month check up went great, with the only concern his lack of speech. He makes lots of noises, but really doesn't have any words that are specific to anything. We all think that it is probably due mostly to his poor hearing prior to the tubes and are going to watch it for a few more months. Hopefully our next report will be about all of his words!! I'll have to attach some new pics later when I get home!

Prayer updates

I know many of you were praying for many things this last week concerning our little boy- so here are some updates.

Christmas Eve- BJ did great with his ear tubes! He slept until it was time to go to the hospital and then was so preoccupied with the play room, that he didn't even notice he hadn't had breakfast or anything to drink since midnight. They had an awesome playroom- tons of toys and a playhouse, and we had a great nurse who would send us there and then come and get us if we needed to be back in the room. I was able to carry him back to the surgery suite and hold his hands until he fell asleep. They only did gas for the case, so no IV's and no intubation- which was great!! It was 15 minutes from the time I left him until I went back to post op- (a long 15 minutes) where he was ready to cuddle and down 12 oz of Pedialyte. We zipped through post op, leaving the hospital less than an hour after our surgery! Basically no pain, and we think he can hear better already!

Christmas Eve driving- Due to our schedules, we chose to drive back to Omaha for Christmas on Christmas Eve. Brandon got out of work early and we left Denver around noon. The roads were perfectly fine (despite all of the warnings on the news)- until about Lexington. From Lexington to Lincoln it was very windy and there was a lot of blowing snow- such that there were moments you couldn't see anything- that resolved quickly. From Lincoln to Omaha, it was a bit stressful- with continued blowing snow and snow on the interstate. Brandon is an amazing driver!! The worst roads were in the neighborhoods in Omaha, especially with the other drivers, but we made it safely and in good time! Luckily BJ slept 5 out of 8-9 hour drive, which helped!

Christmas vacation: was awesome! We were able to spend time with lots of friends and family, BJ got tons of playing time- we were blessed. We are happy to be back at home but were sad to leave!!

Thank you to all who "prayed us home." God heard your prayers!! Thanks to all for an amazing Christmas!! Love you!

New Owies!

Being Dr. mom comes with advantages and disadvantages- advantages: I have the cell phone number of close to 30 different doctors- definitely a perk for second opinions!! disadvantages: if your ABC's are fine (airway, breathing, circulation) after an injury, other things may be minimized. Case in point, BJ decided all he wanted for Christmas this year was lots of adventure in Omaha leading to the minor scrapes, bruises, and bleeding heads that come with it! It seems thus far BJ has been able to fall or wipe out or bump his head without any demonstrative injury. Not so for the week of Christmas. We were able to spend a week in Omaha (making it through on the interstate right before they closed it during a relative snow storm in NE). It was awesome- BJ played with Grammy, Papa, Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Miranda, Uncle Jason, and his cousin Anson. Lots of giggles from our little boy all week! He did have a few tumbles (hard when you've just started walking 3 months ago). One such tumble he lost his footing near the fireplace at Grammy's house. He fell over, hit his head on the brick, and came up crying immediately. I ran over and got him (jumping over Brandon to get there) and started to try and calm him. Saying "It's okay, you're fine." Brandon came over to assess the damage and only slightly alarmed let's me know that, it's not okay, he's dripping blood. We quickly reassessed the damage to find a moderate scrap with a few deeper gashes (those are the medical terms- J/K). With a little pressure, time, and a bit of vaseline on the cut, we stopped the bleeding, no stitches or staples required. It has healed fine- and I'm learning quickly to assess my primary survey (ABC's) and then move on to the secondary- any other injuries before saying "you're fine!' On a side note, I may be bringing home some EMLA (numbing lotion) and staples for future injuries!! After all, as my father in law reminds me, he is a boy!

Sledding with Papa- pre- face plant!!

Bath time after Spaghetti!

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Cheering for the Huskers, with the hammer and cell phone!