November 2011

What's happening in November, hmmmmm.

From Jamie:

I am crawling super fast these days and can practically "run" around the coffee table while holding on with both hands. I plan to walk any day now but am enjoying crawling too. It allows me to tear holes in the knees of my pants and find stray dog food in the kitchen.

My new found love is Thomas the Train, which mommy despises. She says it's so boring and weird with strange undertones. But whatever, I like it. I like to dance when the song comes on.

I still love bathtime and my bathtime bubble machine. I also really like trying to go up the stairs when mommy and daddy aren't looking. I don't know what that gets me in trouble.

That big spotted monster has been growling at me more when I get too close to him on the couch. The little furry one steals my toys all of the time. I don't know why mommy and daddy let them in the house. They are scary and loud.

Mommy MADE me get my hair cut last week. It was brutal! The used this buzzy thing to cut the fuzz off the back of my head. I don't understand. I just got that fuzz! I did get a fireman puppet afterwards though!

Post Haircut, 11/18/10

We went to A Christmas Affair to see a white bearded man in red velvet pajamas last week. I liked it and the man. I got to eat muffins and had a yummy sweet brown milk. I wish that all of my milk was brown and tasted like that!

From Mommy:

This is my absolute favorite time of year!! I LOVE the holidays and am obsessed with all things Christmas!

We are headed to OKC to to spend TG with Allen's family. Looking forward to Jamie's first TG and seeing friends and family. We will be spending Christmas at home. Hoping this Christmas is better than last year- we ended up at Dell Children's Hospital with a kidney infection on Christmas day and stayed there for 10 DAYS! Yuck!

I am working on Christmas decorations. Unfortunately my gorgeous 7.5 foot pre-lit tree isn't so lit right now. Working on fixing that. If I can't fix it I may just light the whole dang thing on fire! Anyways, planning to finish decorating after TG.

I have Jamie's first bday party planned. Super excited about that. Nana is coming for sure and hoping CD (my father, aka self-named Cat Daddy) will make it too.

The raffle for Baby Maverick ended last week and they picked the winners this past Saturday. Two people in Amarillo, 1 person in Clovis, NM, and my mom all won an pad. I know, I know, it wasn't rigged I swear! I wasn't even there for the drawing! Crazy!! Not sure how much money we raised but I know about 4000 tickets were sold! So happy to be able to help the Crawfords in some way. Baby Maverick is doing so much better. You can read more about him at www.caringbridge.com/visit/maverick.

Allen is doing well- working, gun enthusiast, daddy, etc. He took me to te gun range last week and we had a blast. I am planning on getting my CHL after some more practice with the sweet Walther 9mm that I love! This past weekend Allen babyproofed all of the cabinets and drawers to prevent monkey invasion/distruction.

I am still woking at austinwomn Magazine, only in the office Mon-Wed. Thankful for a boss that allows me to do that!

That's all. Happy TG!

Love,

Emily

10 month pics

10 months old today!

10 months old!

Baby Jamie is 10 months old today! I can't believe it! It goes by so fast. His birthday will be here in only 2 months and I have already started planning the monkey-themed party!

He isn't walking yet. He is crawling everywhere! His favorite spots to crawl to are the stairs and out onto the deck if the back door is open! We are constantly chasing him or barricading him in! He can walk around the coffee table really well so I think he will be waking soon.

He is still putting EVERYTHING in his mouth. He has chewed the finish off the edges of the coffee table just a little bit. I finally ha to put crib railing protectors on so that he wouldn't ruin the wood on the crib! He has 4 teeth completely in on the top. And almost 3 teeth completely in on the bottom.

He is napping less during the day. He typically gets up around 6:30am and goes to be at 8:00pm. He LOVES bath time and thinks its funny when he is completely naked!

He is mostly in a good mood. He laughs when we tickle him or when I sing certain things to him. I like to sing Amazing Grace, 5 Little Monkeys, Old McDonald, Itsy Bitsy Spider, You Are My Sunshine, Down in the Valley, and Christmas songs since he was born just before Christmas.

He watches TV in the mornings while I get ready and loves Sesame Street, Curious George, The Cat in the Hat, and Sid the Science Kid.

He is very intrigued with phones, remotes, really anything electronic. He is drinking formula, juice, and some water. He eats baby food, baby cookies, and some adult foods here and there. He is wearing 12 month clothes right now but the are close to becoming to small due to the fact that he is so long!

Jamie and I are flying to Borger for Halloween weekend. Daddy is staying home to have a boys weekend at the gun range. Jamie is going to be a bat and I am working on getting a batgirl outfit together. We will be traveling to OKC for Thanksgiving and plan on staying home for Christmas.

I love you very much James Allen and am thankful every day that God sent you to us.

All my love,

Emily (Mommy)

The Crawford Family and precious Maverick

This is the sort of thing that I normally would not do. I do not know this family personally but the mother is the sorority sister of an old friend of mine from Borger and I have been really shaken by this.

You can click here to read about Baby Maverick. He is only 4 weeks old and is literally fighting for his life. He has cancer and has just stared chemo.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/maverick/mystory

If you pray, please do so for Maverick and his family. Pray for a Miracle for Maverick and strength and guidance for his parents and big sister.

There is an account set up at the Happy State Bank for Maverick's medical care if you would like to contribute. The info for the bank is below:

Happy State Bank
500 Tascosa Rd.
P.O. Box 552217
Amarillo, TX 79159
Phone: 806-351-2265

Checks can be mailed and made out to the Maverick Crawford Benefit Fund. You can always ask for Shane Watson at the bank if you need assistance.

Like I said before, I would normally not pass along a request like this but I truly believe that this family can use all of the help they can get. As most of you probably know, my sister Jamie almost died in 2006 and it is only by the Grace of God that she is with us today. My family received letters from people and churches from as far as Australia that were praying for her.

This makes me so thankful for our happy, healthy, baby boy. And I feel like I must to something to help Baby Maverick.

Please pass this along to anyone you know that would like to pray for the family or make a donation.

Sincerely,
Emily

Monkey goes mobile!

Jamie started crawling tonight!

8/22/2010

Baby Jamie was 8 months old last weekend! We can't believe how fast it's going. His birthday and the holidays are going to be here before I know it.
We are taking him to The Urology Clinic at Texas Children's Hospital in a few weeks to get a second opinion on his kidney issues.
Jamie is so close to crawling. He gets up on all fours, but then doesn't really know what to do. It will happen any day now! He now as 2 full teeth on the botto and 1 just poked through on the top.
I am starting to plan for his birthday and Christmas. It's going to be super busy!
Love,
Em

Update on Jamie's health

Hello Friends and Fam! I am so not a blogger but finding the need for it more often these days. So here goes.

On Christmas day 2009, Jamie was only 10 days old and got a fever of 102. We ended up at Dell Children's Hospital here in Austin where they determinted that he had a pretty bad kidney infection. The infection was caused by a defect in his urinary tract called vescicoureteral reflux (VUR). It is something that he was born with. At that time, Jamie's kidney were about he same size and a VCUG showed him to have grade 4 VUR on the left side. We spent 10 days in the hospital receiving IV antibiotics. We were told most kids outgrow this problem by 1yr of age and the doctor put him on a low dose of daily antibiotics to help prevent future infections.

Jamie has had no recurrent ifections since December which is a great thing. We saw the urologist in April for a follow-up. They did an ultrasund which showed the right kidney was 55 mm in diameter and the left kidney was 40 mm in diameter. The doctor said that as long as there were no infections we would continue to monitor his kidney growth every few months and he will hopeflly grow out of the problem

We went back to the urologist on 8/16/2010 for another follow-up. We had another VCUG done that showed grade 2 VUR on both the left and right sides. The ultrasound showed the right kidney to be 60 mm in diameter, which is in the 50th percentile for his age/size, and looks completely normal and healthy and the left kidney to be 42 mm in diameter, which is less than the 5th percentile for his age/size, and looks misshapen and deformed.

The damage to the left kidney is irreversible and it will always be smaller than normal. The urologist was glad to the see that the reflux on the left side had improved to grade 2. He said that the grade 2 reflux on the right side was not that concerning and that it was probably there in December. We just couldn’t see it then because the reflux was so bad on the left side. The urine would take the path of least resistance and there would not be enough pressure to show both sides refluxing.

We will repeat the ultrasound in February to evaluate the size and growth of the kidneys. If the left kidney stops growing or gets smaller, we will do a DMSA scan to evaluate the function of the kidneys. If the left kidney is not functioning, we will possibly need to have it removed because leaving it can cause hypertension. The urologist said that only 5% of cases like Jamie’s need to have the kidney removed. So there is a very good chance that he will not lose the left kidney.
The urologist and our regular pediatrician both think that there is a very good chance that the grade 2 reflux will clear up on its own.

Our other concern is the possibility of the grade 2 reflux on the right side damaging his right healthy kidney. The doctors said that only infection would damage the kidney and that the reflux alone would not. So we will be staying on daily antibiotics to prevent another infection. They also said that grade 2 reflux doesn’t involve the kidney as much as the grade 4 and Jamie has a much stronger immune system now that he is older.

While we don’t disagree with the doctors, we are looking into getting a second opinion in Dallas or Houston. Please keep Jamie in your prayers.

Much love,
Emily