Bye, Bye, Baby Boy

My boy is just a week away from turning one.

We've had a lot of milestones in the past few days, and it made mommy a little sad.

He's switched from formula to milk, switched from milk to sippee cups, switched from baby food to real food, you get the picture. He's already cruising all over this house holding onto things, and he can crawl faster than most cockroaches! Belive me, I used to work in fast-food and live in cheap apartments, those suckers can move like a flash when the light comes on! I nearly trip over him at least once a day.

It's amazing to watch how quickly he masters things. But it's also sad to think that just a year ago, I was anxiously awaiting his arrival and then soooooo enjoying this new little person in my life.

He's already turning into a pushy, brut, just to compete with his bossy, big sister. But he'll always be my baby boy. At least until Troy lets me have another one.

The Waiting Game (we lose)

I'm a scheduler and a planner. It comes from years of back timing everything to get my newscasts on and off the air on time. I back timed my workdays. Now that my number one job is raising for the kids, I back time our lives. The goal is always the finish line. Getting things done on time.

With Alex, almost 1 year old, and Ella, 2 and a half, that's easier said than done. I plan in lots of pad time. Extra 15 minutes here for a snack. extra 10 there for diaper changes and nose wiping. I try to cover all my bases.

Alex will turn one on May 5, and I wanted photos of him to mark the end of this first year. I also want to send them to friends, family and the grandmas and great-grandma for Mother's Day. So I scheduled an appointment last Sunday morning. This is MAJOR national photo chain. They have great prices, they take good photos, it's not too expensive. We've had relatively good luck with them in the past. Only once did we have to wait a little longer than expected. I thought scheduling when many families were still at church would be ideal. We got Alex a morning nap, had a quick snack and few drinks of milk, brought the clothes with us, so no one would get messy or wrinkled on the way, and headed out.

Perfect timing, we arrived just 5-10 minutes early. Just enough time to get everyone dressed, coiffed, and picture perfect. But wait, we're running a few minutes behind, it will be about 20 minutes. That's okay, 20 minutes is in the pad time. They shouldn't be starving or overly tired. There are blocks and other kids to play with, etc...

That 20 minutes turned into an hour and half. 90 minutes late! Before we even started taking photos. By the time we finished nearly 2 hours later than our scheduled appointment time, Alex was screaming, Ella was hungry too, and Troy was about to let it rip. They left, ,headed for the nearest McDonald's to get lunch, some milk for the boy, and escape the craziness of that lobby.

I spent 20 minutes picking the photos we wanted and really, bought more than I planned to, just to get out of there before I lost my mind. I think that's the catch. They book families 15 minutes apart in an effort to drive you nuts, so you'll just buy anything to escape!!!

We did get some decent photos. Not our best, but enough to satisfy my needs for the first birthday milestone. Next time, I'm using my friend Adam and his wife. They have small photography business that comes to you, works with your schedule, etc... and they just charge by the prints you want. Check them out at http://www.arephotography.com/.

I'll post a sample of what we left the national chain with. These are just the proofs which they gave us on a CD, after we spent half our life savings. Not making that mistake again.

My little fashionista

She comes by it naturally, the nut doesn't fall far from the tree, etc... I love clothes, shoes, purses, etc... and so does my Ella. But she's driving me crazy. I submit the photo you see here of her latest attempt at dressing herself. Yes those are pink camo jeans, a strawberry print shirt, and red/purple Dora socks, with the turquoise barrette as a finishing touch.

Don't get me wrong, I'm so proud that she can put on the shirt, pants, socks and shoes by herself and sometimes, even get them on facing the right direction. But the choices, I've having to learn to live with. She's a toddler and the outfits are, well, out there, but at least she's making her own statement.

Now for the real headache. She wants to wear so many things, at once, and all the time. I'll go into her room and find a fashion explosion, where she's emptied her drawers, put on as many things as she can, and left the rest for me to pick up and put away. I'm not saying she makes a few clothing changes, I'm talking she'll have on 7 pairs of pajama pants, 6 shirts, several pair of socks and shoes. Oh yes, the shoes, she sleeps in them, slippers, sparkly shoes, whatever strikes her fancy.

Troy has threatened to take all the drawers out of her dresser if she doesn't stop taking everything out and dumping it in piles on her bed. We've even put rubber bands on the closer doors to keep her out of there.

I'm trying to be flexible. I'll let her wear what she wants, even indulge the slippers and jewelry, but I can't keep spending hours re-folding and packing her drawers. Especially in the middle of the night, when she wakes up, decides it's all in her way, and wants me to get rid of it.

While Troy's away...

My man is off for boys' weekend and I'm home sick with a sinus infection along with two sick kids. Sounds like loads of fun, huh?! Troy has been planning this for weeks. He only made one night of the trip last year, as I was great with child and gave birth just 2 weeks later. Aaaaah the sacrifices we make, he gave up a night of drinking and fun, I gave birth, again. Enough said.

Actually I was supposed to have a bit of a girls' weekend as well. My BFF Kristi was flying in from Dallas to shop and visit with me and the kids. But she's a momma too, and when you've got this many germs in the house, she's afraid she'd take the affliction back to her own family. Who can blame her. I wouldn't want to be here this weekend either, if I had a choice.

Luckily, my parents answered the desperate call for help and came up to help me manage the kids. We're feeling a little better today, but the kids are cranky and not up for doing much. So, it's going to be a long weekend around this house.

When daddy gets home Sunday, I'm outta here! Shopping and prep for the big birthday celebration is in order, and I plan to do it by myself. I told Troy I"m already planning my next girls' weekend. Details to come, but it will involve a spa, a massage, and no one under the age of 30!

Maybe the kids will feel well enough that I can sneak out tomorrow during naps and make a few quick purchases. I planned to spend money while he was gone! Can't miss that opportunity!

Watch what you say...

Ella is like a little echo machine. I have to watch what I say and I know that.

She learned a couple of new words this afternoon when I dropped a stack of color books and stickers and markers, etc... off the top of a pair of serving bowls. (Don't ask why we keep them there. It's out of reach, out of sight in a cabinet, and well, precariously perched where something is bound to fall!)

The point of this post... Ella hears it and repeats. It doesn't matter what it is, and today it wasn't the sort of language I want my child to use or to use myself.

Troy happened to be on the phone with me at the time and got a good chuckle out of hearing his little angel say those two words like she was saying "peanut butter" or something as common. Something tells me he won't be laughing if she repeats them to her Sunday School teacher?! UGH!

It's bone"ish"

First, I thought you might want to see what we've been looking at for the last two months, as well as the latest image. You'll notice two weird xray looking images in this post. The profile shot which appears on top is from the MRI in February. You can see the white blob near the center of the top of my head. The second shot is the CT scan, which is shown more from the top of my head. Again, you'll notice the big white blob right on top.

We saw neurosurgeron #2 again today. He saw the same thing we did. The mass is there on CT scan as well as the MRI, so here's what it means. It's bone or some sort of calcification. That's why it showed up on MRI and on the CT scan, just like an xray. This is what raised the initial questions. Most meningiomas will only show up on MRI and then, only when they inject die to give it contrast. Now we know that this mass contains bone-like structure. That's something, but it doesn't get us a definitive answer.

It could be a bone abnormality which has been like that my whole life. If that's the case it won't grow. I'm an adult so my bones are pretty much done getting bigger, we can monitor and see if the size increases. We know it has not grown since the MRI two months ago, so he suggests we wait 6 months and have another MRI to evaluate. If nothing changes, we wait another 6 months and do it again. It could never change, and if that's the case, we have nothing to worry about and nothing needs to be done.

It could be a meningioma, which was the original diagnosis. Those are really slow growing tumors and sometimes they calcify or ossify, which basically means they turn partly to bone. If that's the case, it will, at some point, grow. But it could be years before it's noticeable. If and when we see ANY growth, they'll know it's not a bone and at that point, radiosurgery can stop it from growing any further.

I asked if we're taking any risks by doing nothing. He said the only way to know for sure what it is, it to cut it out, and he said "I wouldn't let you cut into my head at this point. I'd hold off until we know there's a reason to get it out." He also says while her can never say "never" he is 99% sure that this is not anything worse than a benign tumor. He says he's never seen anything malignant turn to bone, those types of cells just grown and replicate too fast for that.

So for now, we watch and wait, and if anything change in my symptoms, they'll do an MRI sooner. Otherwise, we'll schedule an MRI in 6 months and learn more then. We hope. Thanks for all your thoughts, well wishes, and prayers. We feel like we're out of the woods for now, regardless of what it is, it seems it's nothing to panic about, and nothing that will require anything more than the radiosurgery. That's a huge relief for this busy family!

(Thanks to Troy for helping me pull the images from our hospital cd-rom copy of the CT scan and MRI. If I violated any copyrights, sue me! It is my brain you're looking at , I think that should give me squatter's rights or something.)

CT scan follow up

I had the CT scan earlier this week and we see neurosurgeon #2 again tomorrow to go over the results.

They sent the films with me on CD so Troy and I have already cheated and taken a look. There's a bright spot of contrast in the same location where the contrast shows up on MRI. We have no clue what that means, but hope to find that out tomorrow.

I'll try to blog an update if we find out any news at all.