A birthday and an anniversary - part two

And now for the anniversary...

Today is the 1 year anniversary of Aiden's arrival home from the hospital.

The car ride home was tense, we had never taken him outside the NICU. We were so scared that his oxygen levels would go down and that we would have to go back. When I look back at these pictures I think "oh my gosh, they let us take that little baby home...with all that stuff on him". He still doesn't look well to me in these pictures, but we were so happy to take him home finally - "stuff" and all!

Daddy taking Aiden out of the car to our house for the first time. Aiden was not a big fan of the daylight back then! Now he LOVES the outdoors! So much has changed.

We spent Aiden's first few days holding him, 24/7. I'm not kidding. We took turns sleeping while the other person rocked him. We literally NEVER put him down. We were exhausted and happy, learning how to take care of him. I remember thinking he would never come off the oxygen, the feeding tube, the special formula and thickener, all the different medications that we had to put in every bottle - now he is down to just one medication a day and no "stuff".

He has come so far, I am so proud of his strong little spirit and determination to do the things that we were told he would not do. I am proud of us, too, for getting through all of it...with smiles on our faces most of the time :)

We will never forget the day he came home, happy anniversary to us!

A birthday and an anniversary - part one

First things first, it is little Tanner J's 5th birthday today. He is my sisters middle son. He is quiet and sweet and loves animals and I feel a connection to him because we are both middle children, even though he is so shy around me :)

Visiting Tanner in the hospital the day he was born - 5 years ago today!

Here is a few months ago holding Aiden for the first time. He is so sweet and gentle with Aiden.

Happy Birthday Tanner!
We love you!

An anxious day

Waiting anxiously in hospital waiting rooms sucks.

Today was the day we went back to Shriners to get Aiden's cast removed or changed. When we got there we were told that it may be a cast change or if the hip is still unstable, they may open him up again and that he may have to stay overnight. We were caught off guard to say the least, we were told this was either a cast change or removal and were never aware of the possibility that he would have to have another surgery and were totally unprepared to stay overnight - I only brought one bottle, not to mention I HAVE to be at work tomorrow! The doctor pretty much nixed all our hopes of him getting his cast removed, saying it was very unlikely so we went to wait nervously in the waiting room wondering if we would be scrambling to figure out how to stay overnight at the hospital or if we would get lucky and just get a new cast and get to go home.

About 45 minutes later they came to get me (just one person allowed in the recovery area...ugh) and when I walked into recovery I was shocked to see his legs moving under his blanket! I'm sure the nurses thought I was a terrible parent because instead of comforting and kissing him I lifted the blanket to see his little legs that have been hidden for 6 weeks! Then I gave him lots of loves and kisses :)

The doctor said his hip is very stable and a little too stiff, so they did not want to recast. While that was good news, she also said she can't see the ball of his femur on the x-ray, which was concerning. So, Aiden is now kickin' it (literally) in a brace which keeps his hip in the right position but allows him to move his legs around. He will be in it full time for at least the next month, but the good news is we can take it off for diaper and clothing changes and to give him baths! We are just so glad to get him out of the cast! It was so weird to see his legs again, they are longer and so skinny. His skin was in pretty good shape except very dry and flaky - but no red spots or rashes.

So now, we just have to hope that his hip stays in place and that his bones grow and we will get another x-ray at the end of April to see if he can come out of the brace for a little bit each day or altogether, of course there is a possibility that it will slip out and we will have to do the surgery and cast all over again....so we are really hoping that does not happen!

Here are his skinny little legs, still in the "spica cast" position!

This is his new brace, it was so funny he reached down to feel his legs and realized he could move them and started laughing. He just sat there kicking his leg and laughing for a few minutes...ah the things you appreciate when coming out of a spica cast, sweet little legs and regular diaper changes!

He must have learned how to roll over...

The other day Aiden woke up from his nap, crying like crazy. When I put him down for his nap he was on his tummy, when I came in to get him I found him like this. His foot was up on the crib bumper and he could not figure out how to get it down. Of course as soon as I saw him and laughed he stopped crying and burst into his cute little Aiden laugh :) He must have figured out how to roll over in his cast!

An afternoon out

Lately, I have been going a little stir crazy. Maybe it is spring fever, but I just need to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE. We have pretty much been home-bodies for the past year, there are so few places that we can take Aiden, and really I don't like being away from him that much on my days off. Today I decided we needed to get out of the house. I was in a bad mood. Aiden was in a bad mood. We just needed to do something different, find somewhere to go that is "safe". So, I got Aiden in the car and drove to the Folsom Zoo.

First we went on the train ride. Aiden liked it, until the conductor blew the whistle - which kind of freaked him out.


See the unsure look on his face...


Halfway through the ride, I saw this little red engine house and got a flashback of riding this train when I was a little girl...


Anyway, he smiled through part of it, but I think he was happy when the train came to a stop!


After the train ride we walked over to the zoo and spent about 45 minutes wandering around, checking out all the animals. You could tell it was springtime at the zoo, the bears were still hibernating in their little cave, so all we saw of them was a foot (with some big ole claws on it)! The peacocks made up for it by putting on quite a show and squawking at each other like crazy...


We checked out the mountain lions, that just laid around, seemingly unaware that anyone was watching them.


We got pretty close to this little sleeping bobcat, he was pretty cute - looked like a big kitten in a hammock!


This little fox just slept peacefully, there seems to be a pattern going on of sleepy animals at the zoo on a warm afternoon :)


Then, there were the tigers. Aiden's second favorite animal that he saw today. They were acting a little odd, another sign of spring maybe? They kept making weird noises and rubbing all over each other. At one point they got in a VERY compromising position and I thought the kids at the zoo were going to get an education today that their parents didn't bargain for!


Even Aiden looked very curious about what they were doing!


And then there was Aiden's favorite animal there. The chickens in the parking lot. That's right, of all the cool, exotic animals he saw today, he wanted to hang out with the chickens in the parking lot the most.


He loved them. Could be because I kept doing the "bock, bock, bock...bock" sound that makes him laugh :)


This chicken showed a particular interest in Aiden. It kept getting closer and closer, so I decided it was time to go! Chickens kinda freak me out ;)


So we got back in the car and headed home, Aiden hung on to his little giraffe the whole way - maybe he was hoping to see one...maybe there will be one at the next zoo we go visit!

Just a little picture today

I LOVE my little boy!

Mashed potatoes and gravy

This was our dinner the other night...homemade fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn fried in butter - yup, health food.

We decided to give Aiden a bowl of mashed potatoes of his own and a spoon and let him go for it. At first he wasn't sure about it.

But then he noticed the spoon looked like fun,

And picked it up,

And took a few bites.

But, eventually he dumped all the food out,

And turned the bowl over,

And it became a little drum.

Playing is more fun, anyway :)

Cast Crawling

Aiden has started a little commando style cast crawl when he wants something, most of the time it is this set of stacking cups...





I think he is going to get little baby biceps dragging that cast around!

Happy Birthday Logan!

Happy Birthday to Aiden's cousin, Logan!

I remember the day he was born, the first baby in my family. My sister let me be in the room and I got to watch him come into the world. A perfect, sweet, adorable baby...that had a better tan than I did :) He opened up his eyes and looked at everyone and he barely cried. I spent many of his first days at my sisters house, just sitting on her couch holding him and saying over and over "He is so cute!". It was so amazing to see his birth, but it is even more amazing that he is 8 years old today! I can't believe how fast time goes and how big he has gotten!

We love you Logan, Happy 8th Birthday!

Is it spring yet?

With Aiden in the cast I have been trying my best to keep him distracted and occupied. In the middle of all the rain there have been a couple beautiful days and we have been able to take long walks around the neighborhood. Aiden loves to get out and stroll around (yes - he actually still fits in his stroller with a little tweaking)! The other day, it was sunny and warm and I decided to take Aiden out and show him all the little signs that spring is just around the corner...

We wandered around the neighborhood, looking all around and I explained to Aiden what everything was.

I told him to appreciate the green hills around our neighborhood, because they don't stay green very long!

I showed him the bulbs starting to come up in people's yards,

And the daffodils already in bloom,

And he would look closely at everything.

I showed him Folsom lake in the distance (it does not look so hot right now!), and told him it will get full and we will go there in the summer to swim when he is a little older.

And he looked and babbled, so happy to be outside in the sun.

When we got back home we stopped at the pond,

And fed the little piggy fishes.

Then we went in our own backyard and saw the peach tree just about to bloom like crazy!

The magnolia tree is not far behind...it will get big flowers any day now.

The moral of this post is that just because you live in a neighborhood in the suburbs doesn't mean you can't take nature walks!