Surgery

Hi everyone!
I had my gall bladder removed on the 21st (last Wednesday). I am able to move with out cringing again for the most part, but I have been instructed by the doctors to not pick up anything heavier than 10 pounds for 6 weeks. So, that means that Eric (who now weighs 12 and a half pounds and is 24 inches tall!) is off limits to hold and pick up. :0( I miss picking up my little guy!

I feel about like I felt after my C-Section (YUCK!), but this time, no baby! I have been having trouble with my gall bladder since Eric was born, so having it removed will be great. Now I can eat and nothing will hurt!! Thank goodness for Weight Watchers and Curves!

Since Eric is off limits to me and Mike is working, I am going to go home with my mom to Oklahoma!!!!! I am leaving here March 8th and will fly back with Eric sometime in mid-April! I am staying to be with Kendyl and Kristen for their birthdays that are in April. Mom came down here to help me out for surgery. She is spending 2 weeks here to help out until Eric's last appointment gets wrapped up. Yes, he has still been having appointments left and right since my surgery! It has been exhausting, but they gave me great pills to help with everything! :0)

Well, I will be seeing some of ya'll real soon! :0) I can't wait!

Toy Recall

If any of you have a Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Bunny, it may have been in the recall. It is a Bunny that is yellow with a Purple body. One ear is green and the other is orange. The recalled part is the pink nose. If it is a Pink "pom-pom" type nose that has been sewn on, and has the correct lot number on the tag attached to the rear, you will need to contact Fisher Price.

Ours was one of the ones that got recalled, so we will be waiting on the postage paid sticker to be emailed to us, then we send it back to them. They are also sending us a voucher for $16 to use on any Fisher Price or Mattel toy anywhere. They saw to immediately remove the toy from your child because the nose can come off and cause the child to choke.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Eric wanted to tell everyone he loves Happy Valentine's Day!

Cat Nappin'!

Eric love to nap in his daddy's chair (no girls allowed!) by the fire! I am not sure why this picture won't turn the correct way, but you get the idea!

Let's Rodeo San Antonio!!

On Saturday, we went to the Rodeo with my Aunt Linda and Uncle Tommy and met some of their friends. SInce we didn't have tickets to the Rodeo portion of the San Antonio Rodeo (sounds crazy I know!) we went looking around. This rodeo is just like a State Fair. Rodeo, concerts, mid-way, building full of stuff people are selling! We had fun, Eric met a Roper that is sponsored by the Army, I played a Virtual Reality game with uncle Tommy and Mike enjoyed himself with Coors Light! Uncle Tommy helped him out with that too! :0) Afterwards, we went to eat at Josephine St. Steak and Whisky. It was pretty good! Eric did great outside! He loves a crowd!

Brighton Early Childhood Intervention

Twice a month Gina comes over from Brighton to "play" with Eric to make sure his "skills" are as good as they can be. Since he was born so early AND he is dealing with kidney failure, his body spends more time on health than on skills. He also sees a Speech Pathologist (to help with his weak jaw muscles for eating a one day talking) and Occupational Therapist, and will soon have a Phsyical Therapist too. Gina is his case worker and we really like her!

Here are some pictures of them doing their thang'! :0) I couldn't take too many beause nosy rosy Eric wouldn't quit looking at me with the camera and get to work.



Eric HATES tummy time. Gina is trying to get him used to it so that he will crawl soon!!!

The Twins Have Arrived!!!

Eric's girlfriends and futre prom dates have arrived into the world today!!!
Krisitn Williams Reid (my life long friend) had twin baby girls at around 11:00 am (exact time is yet to be confirmed!).
Madalyn Olivia and Lauren Fenlee were delivered via C-Section after Kristin began having kidney trouble. Madalyn weighs in at 3 pounds 15 ounces and Lauren is 3 pounds 14 ounces! Almost 4 pounds each!!!! They will be in the NICU like Eric for a little while but they look very healthy and mom and babies are reported to be doing just fine!

As soon as I get some pictures emailed to me, I will post them so that we can all oogle over them!!

Congratualtions Kristin and Cody on the new baby girls!
We can't wait to hold them and are proud to be an Aunt and Uncle all over again!! :0)

Nursery Pictures

Observation

Today while watching the VH1 countdown, I noticed that Eric really likes the All American Reject's video for "It Ends Tonight". They go wild in a Firework superstore (like the big one on Highway 7 by mom's house) and blow up all the fireworks in a field. (lIke the on the way to Lawton on Hwy 7) :0)

Anyway, the part of the observation that I felt the whole world should know is this.... the lead singer Tyson Ritter (i think is his name) looks somewhat like Eric's Uncle Jesse. When he comes on the tv screen, Eric laughs and wants to touch him! I think it is cute! I guess it is ok for Eric to think his Uncle Jesse is a famous musician for now!

I just thought Jesse might like to hear that Eric does get excited about seeing him, and that I am quite sure he thinks Tyson is Jesse! :0)

I tried to copy a picture of the band on here so ya'll could compare, but it wouldn't let me. Darn copyrights! ;0)
Google them if you want to see a picture if you don't know what they look like!

I know, it is a rambling blog today, but that is really all that we had to say this afternoon!
We will post more soon!


˚˚••hn // v fl uiougv ,,,,,,, That was Eric's two cents! :0)

Hair Cut #3

This morning I took Eric to get his hairs cut at a place called Cool Cuts for Kids. His Auntie Linda has been doing a great job at it so far, but we wanted to get some cute pictures of him in their cute little cars. It went really well and is was alot of fun. We went in right when they opened so that everything was clean and there were very few rugrats in there when we were so germ spreading was minimal. :0)

Here are the cute pictures!










And now for the finished product at home..he got fussy at the end of his hair cut!






Eric got to watch Baby Einstein while he drove his car and Caryln cut his hair! He is such a big boy!!!

Happier Photo Shoot

On Sunday we took some pictures outside in our backyard. It is amazing at how much better Eric looks after so long in the hospital. He is almost back to himself! Here are some of the cutest pictures I took yesterday!

Hospital Pictures

Here are just a few of the pictures I took at the hospital. They are sad, so be prepared!



Here Eric is shaking hands and thanking this Iraq vet for fighting for his life on more than one occasion!



Aunt Linda was able to get him to finally sleep after a long day of not feeling well. He was really that pale.

Free At Last!!!!

As most of you should know by now, Eric got put in the hospital with Rotavirus (a nasty tummy virus that is HIGHLY contagious) last Friday night. He got dehydrated because nothing would stay down (on either end!). He had a fever of 103.5 for a day or so, and he felt like he had the flu times 10! Normal babies get over this somewhat quickly and most do not have to be hospitalized. The virus generally takes 3 to 9 days to run its course.

Because Eric has kidney failure, getting dehydrated is absolutely life threatening. All of the important numbers we watch every month shot up. His Creatinin that is normally 1.3 or 1.4 went up to 1.5 (normal high range is .5) and his BUN is normally high at 25, but it went up to 55. He was put on an IV which made him puffy because his kidneys cannot tolerate that amount of fluid all at once and saline (IV solution) has Sodium in it.....another thing kidney patients cannot have too much of! That number went from high of 145 to all time way too high 155. That made them take him off the IV and he got dehydrated again!

Then, a new problem arose. His BiCarb number (which tells you how acidic your body is) fell to an all time low...VERY scary! Normal low point in between medicine he takes should never be lower than 22. His was at 18 at his last check up, which was borderline ok, it was 6 on Saturday. Then with a huge amount of medicine, it went up to a whopping 8 for 2 days. Then they switched to a more concetrated medicine that has less sodium in it and that brought it up to 11, then to 18 when we left the hospital today. He had also finally made it to 12 pounds 1 ounce, then lost down to 10 pounds 15 ounces. When we weighed him this morning, he was 11 pounds 8 ounces. He is only eating 2 ounces at a time again (down from 4 ounces) so we have something to work on!


Eric was in the hospital for 8 days and was stuck 25 times for blood work and IVs. That is a horrendus amount for anyone, not to mention a baby! Everytime they went to check his temperature, he screamed! Everytime they gave him his medicince by mouth, he screamed! His nurses were very nice and very good to us! I slept in the hospital with Eric everynight, and only got to shower twice! YUCK! I came home last on Sunday, so it will take me a little bit to recoup with Eric!

We have a very busy week with appointments for Eric and me this week, so I will try to post pictures of his hospital stay very soon.

Thank you to everyone who said a prayer for us and sent us well wishes!