Wow, it's been a long time.

I can't believe I've let it get to be a few months since I've written here! I am a bad Mommy!

First, a very important update: Logan is just fine! We got news in August, after sending new biopsies off to Seattle Children's hospital that his tumors were in fact Fibrous Hamartoma of Infancy, and still benign after all! Then, the even better news came when the lumps started going down, and we realized it was just scar tissue that had built up quickly, not the tumors regrowing as we had feared! We just had a check up on Monday, and he's still looking great! No sign of tumors, and now we don't go back for six months! Dr. Gandhi said the longer we are out from the recurrence, the less likely they are to come back! Yay!

Logan had his 15 month check up last Friday with Dr. Alleman. He was 22 lbs, 11 oz and 31 1/2 inches long. He is at the 25th percentile for weight now and the 50th percentile for height. Dr. Alleman said he got a little skinnier just because he's walking and almost running, and just being generally more active now.

He is growing up so well! I can't believe how big my baby has gotten! He is such a little ham, and has such a funny little personality. He loves tickling Mom and Dad, and now he dances to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse hot dog song! He has a whole routine he does! He stomps his feet and then spins in circles, and does it over and over, all the while saying "ah dog, ah dog!" It is the funniest thing.

He is in the process of getting all four of his one year molars. That sure has been fun. NOT. He hasn't been sleeping very well, so of course Mom and Dad are pretty tired too. But we are all surviving.

Some of his favorite things right now are:

1. Fans. He loves seeing fans.. ceiling fans, stand up fans, box fans.. it doesn't matter. Anytime he sees one if he can reach it, he'll go stand by it and start talking to it. It's a favorite passtime at Poppa's house, and we even call it Mr. Fan (and Mr. Vacuum too!). He holds entire conversations with them.

2. Logan-ese. His said language with the fans, we have no idea what he's saying. He will start repeating what you say though, especially if it is something like "Boogity boogity boo."

3. Hiding all sorts of food in his high chair for later. He loves to make little piles of food in his high chair so he can swing back by later and snack while he's playing! Or if it doesn't like it, he'll stick it next to his legs and then wiggle them very quickly back and forth so all the food goes out the leg holes. Or for the food he REALLY doesn't care for, he'll just dump it over the side of the tray.

4. Throwing himself back for his sippy cup. Our sweet little boy still hasn't learned how to sit UP and hold a cup, he must lay down to drink, so as soon as he sees his cup (even if its empty), he throws his head back and lays down. It doesn't matter where he is. He could throw himself down on Poppa's shoe, right at his high chair leg, right onto the hard wood floors, or, when he's feeling particularly cute, he'll grab a pillow first and then lay his head on it.

5. Opening doors. That's his new trick this week! We have the lever style doors in our house, and the little stinker has figured out how to open them! We better watch out, no more using the bathroom in peace again!

6. Picking up toys. This is one of my favorites. He has learned that anytime he puts toys in his toy box, Mommy will clap her hands and go "Yayyyy Logan!" He thinks it's hilarious, so he picks up ALL his toys. (and then proceeds to take them all out again!)

7. Reading books. He will sit and read his books over and over for a good 20 minutes, and in toddlerworld, that is an eternity! Dr. Alleman actually asked us while we were there if he did this, and he was very impressed when I told him yes. (He said he seemed very smart and attentive for his age!) He really likes his dinosaur book with the different textures and the bright colors in it.

8. Putting on his shoes! He knows exactly where his shoes go, and he loves getting them on his feet now! He even has started handing me his feet. I'm also excited to say that yesterday, he did his own velcro!

9. Brushing his teeth. I am a bad Mommy and for the longest time, forgot to brush his teeth, but we've been very good for the last few weeks to brush them. He is so good about it, I think it feels good on the ones that are coming in. He just opens right up and sits there drooling. It is quite precious!

and one more funny thing,

10. Every single animal, on TV or in real life, is a Doggie. It is the cutest thing. It could be a horse, or a bug, it is a Doggie. :)

It is amazing how much he's growing up, and how fast. I'm going to try and be a little better about writing here. So many times I've thought lately about writing, just a few minutes a day. There are so many things he does, like give me a hug and wave bye bye every morning when I drop him off, that I don't want to forget. I let this blog get to be about only the big things, but I want to remember the little things too. I'm going to try really hard to write at least a few times a week about the mundane. I need to for myself. I want to look back in five, ten years, and read all these things that made me laugh, made me frustrated, and made me smile. I don't want to forget the cute little voice that says "Hi" to me everyday, and I'm afraid I will.

I need to stop and smell the roses. I'm so busy with life, that I'm not taking time to enjoy it.

I graduate school in six weeks. Then, it's off to the "real world". It's hard to remember that I'm already there.

Never Thought We'd Be in This Position..

Over the last few weeks, we've been going through a really tough time with Logan medically wise. His tumors have been growing uncontrollably since his last surgery in June and we don't know why. To update this easily, here are the emails I've been sending my family the past couple of weeks.

Well it's time for another update!

Logan's actual birthday went well. Mommy, Daddy and Logan spent the evening together, and Logan had his first cupcake! His party is tomorrow afternoon, so I will get pictures out sometime next week. I can't believe he is one! Thanks everyone for being such a great support system for us this year.

Unfortunately, we've had some not so great news. Over the weekend (11-12th) we noticed that he was becoming swollen and thought we noticed some masses down in his scrotum again. I started actively researching fibrous hamartoma of infancy, and also came up with a possible second diagnosis, thinking perhaps we have a misdiagnosis, of lipofibromatosis. Basically a sister diagnosis to FHI.

We had a regularly scheduled check up on Wednesday and I was hoping the doctor would tell me that it was just scar tissue and not to worry, but he didn't. Logan's tumor has grown back VERY aggressively just one month after his last surgery. Dr. Ghandi seemed completely shocked. He took the information I had found on lipofibromatosis and said it could be a possibility. He and I both agree that surgery is not the answer, or not the whole answer at this point. He has a plan of action, which I will talk about in a minute, but in the meantime, we are watching Logan very closely, making sure that he continues to pee. If at any point he stops being able to urinate, we will end up catheterizing him until we can figure out what we will be doing.

Here is his plan of action, which things should already have started by now.

1. He was going to call the pathologist's office and have them re-review the slides of his biopsies of both surgeries. He mentioned that he also might send it to a second office for another opinion.

2. He was going to do a literature search on both Fibrous Hamartoma of Infancy, and lipofibromatosis to try and learn more about both since he's never seen either condition.

3. He was going to contact a pediatric urologist up at Seattle Children's hospital who's also been at Boston Children's and a hospital in Denver, and see if he knows anything about it, or knows someone who does.

4. He is going to post to an online forum for pediatric urologists to try and find a doctor who has worked with the condition before.

Basically, he is fighting for us. He is trying to find a doctor anywhere in the country who has dealt with our condition. I don't know at this point if he would just consult with this doctor over the phone, or if we would end up flying somewhere for treatment. I don't know if there are any other treatment options. I don't know if we even have the correct diagnosis.

After our appointment on Wednesday, I found another possible diagnosis that sounds more like how Logan's condition is presenting, and the next time I'm able to talk to Dr. Ghandi, I will discuss it with him. He definitely seems open to all the ideas I'm throwing at him. It's called Aggressive Fibromatosis. From what I was able to find, that kind of tumor grows back within 3 months (his grew within 1), within the same area, over and over. Some of the treatment plan can include chemotherapy, radiation, and a medication. But we will cross that bridge if and when we get there.

Right now, it's just a whole lot of waiting. It is so hard. I feel like I should be doing more. I'm his mom and I'm supposed to fix everything that's wrong. Dr. Ghandi is very capable and he's working really hard on our case. I will let you know what happens as soon as I know something more.

________________________________________________________________

Hello Everyone!

Well, we were able to get in to see the doctor yesterday. I'm glad that they are accommodating! They told me to come in at 11, and we might have to wait for a little while, but they would squeeze us in. It took about 45 minutes, but that's ok.

Dr. Ghandi said that it didn't seem like the tumors grew too much since last Wednesday and that part of it might actually be a little swelling that we were feeling, so that was good. We are going to start giving him Motrin every 3-4 hours, I just need to swing by the store and pick some up.

He also talked to the pathologist's office, and they reworked the slides that they had made already of both surgeries. They came back again as the first diagnosis of fibrous hamartoma of infancy. When Dr. Ghandi told them that it had grown back, they were as shocked as he was! Together, they decided that they would reslice the tumors, and send the new ones up to Seattle Children's were they could run some very extensive testing with different inks looking for different markers. At this point in our conversation, the word malignant got thrown around a couple of times, so I guess there is still a possiblity that we could be looking at cancerous cells.

Since the diagnosis came back as FHI again, Dr. Ghandi went ahead and had a literature search done with FHI cases, in Logan's area (the scrotum), within the last 15 years, and English speaking cases. There were only a handful of cases that matched those criteria. The good news that came out of that is that he either knows of the doctor that worked on the cases, or knows the doctor personally, so he will be able to contact them. He had the articles pulled, so he should have them by tomorrow and will be able to start studying them.

He was going to call his friend up at Seattle Children's yesterday (during his lunch hour even), and discuss the case with him to see what his take was.

He also is more than likely going to go ahead and send us to a pediatric oncologist down here at Mary Bridge sometime this week. He said there is an excellent doctor that he knows that he'd like us to meet.

I also asked about getting a scan done because I'm a little worried about the tumors moving out of the pelvic area. He said he'd like to wait for now. He wasn't sure if an ultrasound would detect these kinds of tumors, he said more than likely it probably wouldn't. An MRI has a lot of risks associated with the dye that they use to highlight, the greatest being kidney failure. Not one we want or need to take at this point. A CT scan has the effect of 350 x-rays, which is a LOT of radiation, and we don't want to do that over his testes right now if we don't have to. He said that if at some point we need to do a radiation treatment down there to get rid of the tumors, he doesn't want to have already done a CT scan on top of it. He wants to keep the radiation down as little as possible down there, because it has been linked to future cancer just in the last 18 months.

So, we are at least on the road to some answers. They may not be the ones that we want, but at least we are getting somewhere I guess.

Please just keep Logan, (and us too) in your thoughts.

I have one week left of school and I'm off until September 10th. I'm only working 2-3 days a week, and have been taking more time off from work than that, but it's obviously making money very tight, so if you could just keep all of that in your prayers too that would be great. We'll make it through this, but it's going to be a long, emotional road.

Dr. Ghandi said he will call me tomorrow if he has any new information or not. He knows how worried I am and he knows I'll probably end up back in his office if he doesn't keep in contact with me personally, because he knows how proactive I am being!!

I wish I could just take all of this away from Logan and do it myself, I would do it in one heartbeat, but I know my son is a fighter. He will be ok. We all will.

Love you all,
Kristin

11 Months 10 Days

Wow, these last few weeks have really flown by! I guess that's what happens when your head and heart are so full of emotion. On June 6, Logan and I went to my friend Tessa's baby shower. He was playing with all the girls I work with, and crawling around with Mason and Dylan, Kara's boys. He was having a great time!
On Sunday, I realized that I saw a lump in his scrotum again. I knew right then in my heart that his tumor had come back. I thought it had during his 9 month appointment in April, but the doctor thought it was probably scar tissue so I didn't worry about it.
Since it was already almost time for our checkup with the surgeon anyway, I decided to call first thing Monday morning. Well the morning rolls around, and when I went to change his diaper, he had not peed all night. I knew that was very bad because Logan will fill an entire diaper over the course of the night since he finally sleeps through. As soon as the surgeon's office opened, I gave them a call. They squeezed us in at 10:45am. We got in to see Dr. Pohlson, and she was very concerned that he wasn't peeing. She immediately sent us to the best pediatric urologist in town (well, right outside!) because she thought he needed a catheter. She also thought that he might be admitted to Mary Bridge that day. Nick and I were both extremely worried, and upset, as I'm sure most every parent would be. We thought we were done with this!
So we run home and pack a little overnight bag just in case. I didn't want to be stuck without a bag if we had to get Logan to the hospital. Then we drove out to Puyallup to meet with Dr. Ghandi.
Right away, I liked our new doctor. He was very thorough, and quick! He checked Logan's bladder and there was only 1 oz. of urine in it (he had finally been able to pee a little!) so we opted not to do a catheter. Thank goodness!
Then he did a physical examination. Logan's tumor was back in full force. He could feel them, and told us it was in three different places. One above and one below the urethra, and then one near the testes. He wanted to get us into surgery as soon as possible.

What?! 2 days ago, my son was a healthy little boy, playing with his little friends!

So he tried to get us in on Tuesday, but they were booked. So we scheduled for Thursday morning. The rest of the week until his surgery, Logan was becoming more and more agitated. I kept alternating Motrin and Tylenol to keep him out of pain, and we monitored wet diapers very closely. His tumor was growing so fast, you could literally see the difference in just a couple of days. It was also blocking the lymphatic vessel which caused a lost of swelling and discomfort.

So Thursday morning, we had to be at the hospital at 7:30am. Logan played with some toys and flirted it up with the nurses a little bit, but he was very hungry (couldn't eat formula since midnight, but hadn't had any since 7pm), and getting very tired. At about 8:45, they gave him a medicine that made him really loopy. He was talking to the wall, couldn't keep his eyes open, and when he reached for something, he couldn't tell where it was. We have a video I'll post of it soon.

At 9, Dr. Ghandi and the anesthesiologist came in to answer questions. Because everything had been a whirlwind on Monday, I had a whole list that Nick and I compiled. Dr. Ghandi didn't mind, and answered everything we wanted to know. Have I said how much I like him?

At 9:30 on the dot, a nurse came and took Logan from me. She didn't let us say goodbye to him and I was so upset!! I wanted to chase her down the hallway and give my baby a kiss, but she walked too fast.

We went up to the waiting room where Dad, Doug and Martha (inlaws), Dad's pastor Heather, and my friends Jeanene and Noelle were waiting. Little did we know we'd be waiting for a long time! At 10:30, the volunteers phone rang. It was for us. My heart dropped. I was so scared to answer the phone, but I knew I had to be strong for my little boy. I answered it and thank God, it was only the nurse giving me an update (everything was going great), and telling us they'd give us another call if it went on for another hour.

I wasn't expecting a phone call at all, because the last surgery only took 45 minutes or so. It must be standard procedure, but it wasn't one we were prepared for! At 11:30, I am sitting waiting for a call. The volunteer says that Dr. Ghandi will be up in a few minutes so she puts us in a smaller private waiting room instead. Nick and I leave everyone and go wait in there.

It feels like an eternity, and Nick and I are seriously feeling ill at the moment. I looked at the garbage can and contemplate moving it closer to us just in case because that is how nervous we were. Finally, Dr. Ghandi comes in about an hour later. Why we sat in there so long I don't know.

He said they'd just finished closing him up and that he thought they were able to get it all. He recircumcised Logan, and then he had 2 other incisions as well. Poor guy.

We finally got to go down to recovery at 1:15, almost 4 hours since we'd seen him! The PACU (pediatric ambulatory care unit) was completely full, so we had to wait in the recovery room with him. He was passed out. They had given him some Demorol for the pain because he was definitely hurting. That was very hard sitting in that room, because we had to listen to a lot of other babies and young children waking up and crying after their surgeries. It broke my heart. Finally, about 1:30 or so, we got a room back in the PACU.

We were waiting for Logan to pee, and then they were going to send us home. I already didn't feel comfortable with that, because Logan's incision looked SO bad. At about 3, Noelle and I were the only ones in the room, and the nurse came in to check to see if he'd peed. A couple of minutes prior, Logan woke up absolutely screaming, and then fell back asleep in about two minutes. So the nurse opens up his diaper, and it was full of blood. Oh my God. I was so scared and upset. My poor baby! They paged Dr. Ghandi who was in another surgery and we had to wait for him to get out.

Finally, at about 4, he came in and explained that it was more than likely a blood clot that came out. He could see on my face that I really wasn't comfortable with leaving, so he asked me if I wanted us to stay, and I said yes. He immediately changed the orders. Have I mentioned I REALLY like this doctor??

So Nick, Doug and Martha left to go get some stuff for us to spend the night, and Noelle had to leave to go pick up Syris. Logan and I waited around in the PACU until 6:30 when they finally got us a bed in the regular ward.

The nurses in the ward were very nice. They brought in a chairbed for me to sleep in, and kept making sure we were ok. Not just Logan, but me too. About 3am, Logan had another blood clot with a diaper full of blood. I was so scared again, and I am so glad we spent the night! He was also running a fever of 101, so he received two doses of antibiotics through his IV.

The next day, around noon, Logan finally woke up from his anesthesia/pain med sleep. At about 4, Dr. Ghandi came back in and we went over discharge paperwork. He was explaining what we would need to come back in or call for, and then he said this "Listen to your Mommy intuition, as long as I've been a doctor, I've found that that is 99% right. But maybe it was my mom who told me that soooo...". I was so happy. To have a doctor actually say that was so awesome!

Anyway, so we took Logan home, and he has been steadily recovering. He was crawling around that night. He ended up sleeping in our bed for a few nights. One of us would take the couch and the other would sleep with Logan. By the Wednesday after the surgery, he was off the pain meds all together.

Sunday, Father's Day, he took his first steps. He walked from his toy to me which was about 3 steps.

Monday, I took him in for his post-op appointment and Dr. Ghandi said everything was looking great. We go in again on July 15, and he will be able to feel and hopefully tell us that it hasn't started growing again. Then we will be going every month until Dr. Ghandi and I feel comfortable graduating to longer time periods.

I am so grateful that we were placed in such excellent hands. He has been so proactive in Logan's treatment and recovery. I'm SO happy.

Now, we are trying to plan a first birthday party! Wow!! He can't be almost a year already, right?

Logan's Update on his surgery

Everything went very well. We were very pleased with our doctor! We got to the hospital a few minutes before noon. We went up to the Pediatric Ambulatory Care Unit, or PACU. They checked Logan in, and all of the nurses fell in love with him. He of course, was hamming it up and was a very happy boy. Even though he hadn't eaten since 6:45am!
We hung out in his little room for about an hour, we brought him some toys and he was playing. Grandma and Grandpa Keogh were there, along with Poppa. He started getting really tired, so I rocked him to sleep. He was asleep for maybe 10 minutes when the surgeon came in to talk with us. She marked which side the mass was on, and told us exactly how they were going to do the surgery.
After that, the anesthesiologist came in and explained what they were going to use for anesthesia. They used a general anesthetic at first, and then they gave him basically an epidural, but a little lower, they called it something else but I can't remember it now.
After they were both in there, the surgical nurse came in, and then they got ready to take him back to the OR. At this point, our parents went up ahead to the waiting area, and Nick and I said goodbye to Logan. The nurse took the little hospital crib back to the room while Nick and I carried Logan. Then she took him from us in the hallway. While she was walking down, Logan was staring at us over her shoulder, and he actually waved. For the first time. That was the hardest part of the day for me. As soon as we walked out into the main hallway, I started bawling. My poor little baby.
After they put him under, they gave him a Foley catheter to protect the urinary tract, put in an IV (it ended up in his foot, they tried his hand though, so he's got a bruise), and put in a breathing tube.
We went up to the waiting room where there was no phone reception. We had to walk to a different part of the hospital to actually get reception. We sent out texts, and made phone calls. Then we sat and waited.
It was actually only about an hour from when we left Logan that the updating board said he was being closed up.
About twenty minutes later, the surgeon came up to talk to us. She said she got the whole mass, and it didn't look like cancerous tissue, it looked more like fibrous tissue, but we'll have to wait for the pathologist report to be certain. There was a bit of a problem after they closed him. He started oozing pretty bad from the incision, so she reopened him and made sure everything was ok. The second time he was closed, there was no oozing.
After she finished we waited for another ten minutes or so, until they said Nick and I could go back down to PACU.
When we got there, Logan was playing with three nurses. He didn't even realize we were there for about ten minutes!! He was in an extremely good mood for just having surgery. When he realized we were there, he just wanted Mommy. We sat with him for another hour or so. We fed him a bottle (he wasn't very hungry though). At about 5 we were discharged.
To get him home, I had to loosen his car seat and that totally scared me, but it was the only way to get him home. I sat in the back with him and he was ok..just tired. Last night he was pretty uncomfortable, moaning a lot. We can only give him Tylenol or Motrin, but so far he's doing well.
Today he is very happy and playing a lot. He is such a little trooper!
Here are some pictures. :)
These are all before the surgery:









I LOVE this one!















With FIL:









This is right after the surgery... how we found him playing with the nurses. He didn't even realize we were there for a good ten minutes, he was too busy playing!





After he realized we were there, he only wanted Mommy.







And today, he has been playing and playing! He is in such a good mood. He is still a little sore, and he is very swollen, but he is such a happy boy.

Please Keep Logan in Your Prayers

We are going in for surgery tomorrow morning at 10am. He is having the solid mass removed from his scrotal sac. The blood tests showed last week that the tumor marker is high, so we are anxiously waiting to hear back from the pathologist. Hopefully we will know by Monday what we are dealing with. Logan obviously has no idea what's going on, so it's only Mom and Dad that are freaking out! He will be at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital. One of the major risks is damage to nerves and the urinary tract. The doctor is going to put in a Foley Catheter to try and keep that from happening. She said she will try and make it outpatient, however, depending on how he's doing, I might push for one night in the hospital.

Please keep thinking about our little boy. Until we get the all clear, I'm going to be on pins and needles.

Thanks,
Kristin

Update on Logan

I can't remember if I wrote this on here or not. At his 6 month appointment, the doctor felt a lump in Logan's right testicle. He sent us to get an ultrasound this past Monday. The tech couldn't find the lump or anything while we were there, but I don't think they knew exactly where to look. The lump is kind of up and behind his right testicle.

Anyway, I just got a call from the doctor, and he wants us to still consult a pediatric surgeon to get a second opinion. He is going to recommend someone for us, and their office will make sure that our insurance covers it before they call me back. I should hear something more by Monday I am expecting.

I feel bad for the little guy, but I am very happy that our doctor is on the same page as I am. We both know there is something there, and even though the ultrasound didn't find anything, he still wants to make sure. That makes me feel great that we are in good hands.

Logan is a big boy!

We had Logan's 6 month appointment last Wednesday, the 14th.

He weighs 17 pounds, 6 oz and is 27 inches long! Such a big boy. He is now rolling both directions, and likes to roll all over the living room (including trying to get under the couch! that little sneaker!) He is sitting up unassisted now, and loves playing with his toys. He so badly wants to crawl, and I don't think it will be much more than a couple of weeks! (yikes!)

He tried carrots last week and loved them, and last night had peas for the first time. He really likes his veggies, because he scarfed those down too! He will get green beans in a couple of days, then sweet potatoes, and then we are off to fruits!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Nick's parents took Logan Friday and Saturday night, so we got him back this morning. At some point over that 36 hour period, he finally cut his first tooth! It more than likely happened on Saturday, Daddy's birthday!! Yay!

I will post a picture as soon as I can get one.

Logan is too funny with it. He keeps rubbing his tongue on it like "Hey! How'd that get there!"

My little boy is growing up so fast!!

Christmas 2008

We had a pretty nice Christmas this year considering. We didn't do anything at our house, but we were very happy to be invited to Nick's friend, Ryan's house for Christmas Eve. His family is very very nice, and we enjoy their company quite often. We all snacked on some very yummy appetizers that Ryan's mom, DeeDee made. She is an excellent cook! Then, we participated in the present exchange and got some really cool martini glasses and a mini George Foreman grill! Yay!

Christmas morning, Logan let us sleep until 9 or so (yay!). We hung around the house for a few hours and then went to see my Dad. He had fun with Logan. He really misses him this couple of weeks. Last week with all the snow, I only had school 3 days last week. Plus I am off for the Holidays for 2 weeks. It was great seeing them together. Logan fell asleep on Dad's lap almost right away!

After Dad's house, we went to Nick's aunt Carrie's house. Carrie, Brett, Maureen, Randy, us, Pat, Grandma Keogh, Barb and Penny, Penny's mom, Mike, Valerie, and Tammy were all there. We had a very nice dinner. Logan got spoiled by everyone, and we got a few new outfits, toys, and other things for him. In the gift exchange, Nick and I got a very nice set of steak knives for the new house! Yay!

So, all in all it was a very nice Christmas. We move into the new house on Thursday, the 1st. We get the keys on Monday, so I will be moving small boxes for the first few days of the week. I can't wait to be home!!

Today is Nick's birthday, so a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY! to the most wonderful man in my life. I love you!! (sorry you only have one more year until the big 3-0!)

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. :)


Logan having fun in his Exersaucer!! Isn't he getting big??



Look at that neck roll!!



The Christmas Tree at Aunt Carrie's



Mommy and a sleepy baby!



Logan just waking up and seeing his first present!



What's this Dad?



Complaining to his new GlowWorm.. look at that throbbing vein in his forehead!



Shhh Wormy, be quiet!



Cousin Randall letting Logan play with the tree.



Mom? Why did you make me wear this ridiculous outfit??



Logan playing in his exersaucer!



Short video!



Logan playing in his saucer!



Logan with his GlowWorm!!



Sorry Logan for your ridiculous outfit!!

Christmas is upon us!!

Things have been crazy around here, sorry for having no recent posts! As soon as we get moved and settled, I will make sure and write more often. Here are a few pictures of Logan (5 months old!) and the new house!! Enjoy! Have a great Holiday season!



Trying to crawl!!



Outside in the snow for the very first time! Logan giving us a look like... what the heck are we doing out here??



The snow outside! We got about 9 inches.. but it looks like it is raining right now, so it is quickly disappearing! That took about a week to accumulate!



Logan is so big now! He sticks his binky in all by himself!!!



Sitting up on his own!! YAYY!

I guess that is about it for now! I think we will have a tooth by Christmas. I can feel a bump on his lower gums, and he is chewing and drooling even more than usual! He is also not sleeping very well.. the past two nights he's been up the majority of them both.

Have a great Christmas everyone!

Edited! I realized I promised pictures of the new house but forgot to add any! Forgive me! Here are a few of my favorites.


Well.. I will have to get back to you guys.. Photobucket is down right now. :(

General Updates!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile!! Life has been keeping me busy. School is going great! I just finished my first quarter back, and got a 4.0. :) I'm the president of the college's PC User's Club, and we are holding three fundraisers right now, plus having meetings with presentations every week. I also started an employee interviewing class. That one is pretty interesting.

This past week, I returned to work at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It is nice to be able to have a job, but it was kind of bittersweet going back.

We also found out this week that Nick, Logan and I will be moving! Pat is taking over the mortgage, so Nick and I found a very nice updated townhouse! It is only one bedroom, but there is an attached office area with walk in closet where we will put Logan. We get the keys on the 29th, so we are very excited!

Other than that, I'm just trying to pack, work, school, take care of Logan, and finish all of our Christmas gifts! There just aren't enough hours in the day!!

Some Updates

Well, my surgery is scheduled for this Friday, October 31st. Good thing Logan is too little to know that I won't see him on his first Halloween. :(

I have to be at the hospital at 11am, and surgery is scheduled to begin between 12:30-1pm. It should last about an hour, barring any complications, and recovery is about 3-4 hours. Then I should be on my way home. Nick's parents are taking Logan for the weekend. It will be the longest I've ever gone without him! I am sad already. I am hoping I will either be A. In too much pain to notice, or B. On too many painkillers to notice! Haha.

I'm sure I will be fine, but it is still scary going under the knife. Before having Logan, I had never even been admitted to a hospital! I am not one to be sick or anything, so this is all pretty new to me.

Dad is leaving Monday for Colorado for Amanda's 18th Birthday. I hope they have a great time together. I am so happy that Dad was able to do that. He will take the train both there and back.

I can't believe that my baby sister is turning 18 this year, and that she is graduating from high school in May. It is not possible.. I swear. She is still the five year old in my memories! When did she grow up?? Happy Birthday Kiddo! I love you!

School is going great. I'm really enjoying what I am doing. I am working on getting my A+ certification, the most basic IT certification out there. I also was elected President of the PC User's Club (haha.. it will be a good resume booster), and am doing all of the product requisitions for our Repair Shop, through the college. All of these things are giving me extra experience for the job search.

The only thing that irritates me is that there are a lot of students in my program who don't really care about being here. My classroom is very noisy and disruptive. I try and block it out since I am actually paying my way through school, I don't qualify for financial aid this year.

Hopefully I will continue to move quickly this year, and be able to finish by the end of June. If I can't however, I will be done by next December. Yay! I can't wait until I finish, so I can get a career job. When that happens, if we are not out of the condo by then, we will hopefully be able to at least rent it out and get out of there.

It is getting so tight with all of Logan's stuff, and we are all on each others nerves. Who knows, maybe we will actually be able to sell it when we get it back on the market!

Well, I should get back to my schoolwork.

Don't forget to vote on Tuesday!

-Kristin

Quick Update!

I hope everyone is doing well!

Logan is getting SOO big! I can't believe he is over 3 months old already. Today he is 100 days old! He is growing in leaps and bounds! Last week, he started rolling over. He has only rolled over at Dad's house, so I haven't seen it yet, but I know he can do it. He also started sucking his left thumb this past week! It is the cutest thing! Sometimes he can't quite get just his thumb, so he will suck his index finger and thumb pinched together on his left hand. What a cutie!

We switched his binky to a new kind. The one he got from the hospital was getting too small, and was pretty nasty. Somehow, all his drool got in between the rubber layers and it was getting all green. Disgusting! So he isn't quite sure about his new binky, but I don't think it will take to long to get used to it.

Night before last, we gave him a little rice cereal in his bottle. I was kind of apprehensive to do it at first, since everything I have read says not to do it until he is four months old. However, we just couldn't take the waking every two hours to sleep anymore. So we gave him a little cereal, and he slept from 11:15pm-6am when we had to get up for work/school! WOW! I thought we were on the right track, but last night he was back to waking every two hours. Hmm.

The night before that, I had him sleep in his stroller (it goes completely flat). He woke up a few times to eat, but after he was done, I put him back in it and he would put himself to sleep! It was the first night that he never ended up in our bed!

So we had two big sleeping milestones (might have been flukes...). October 19, 2008: First time without sleeping in our bed for any part of the night, and October 20, 2008: First time sleeping through the night.

I weighed him on our scale the other day, so it isn't completely accurate, but I am guessing he weighs around 14 pounds. We also measured his length, and he is 24 1/2-25 inches long! He is getting so big!

He likes sitting up now, and prefers to do that than lay down. He can also pull himself up pretty well from a laying position to a sitting position using someones hands. He is also showing interest in toys now! He has a cute little giraffe rattle that is super soft that he likes to chew on, and there are a pair of plastic keys that have a little sun "keychain" that plays songs. It is easy for him to push, so he can actually turn it on himself!

As for us, I go in for my surgery consultation this afternoon. Hopefully I will get it scheduled to it happens soon. I can feel the hernia getting larger, and it is pushing out more. I'm trying not to lift too much, but I have a 3 month old, so not lifting anything is impossible. It is also getting quite more painful. Hopefully the surgeon will realize that I need to get this done as soon as possible.

We are also going to be putting the condo back on the market in the next couple of weeks. There are just a couple of things I need to finish up in the bathroom, and we need to keep the place spotless. (Very hard with so much baby stuff around!) Although the market is really crappy, I am really hoping we can get this sold soon. I am so ready to finally have our own place for our family.

Well, I guess that is about it for now, I need to get back to work. I will talk to you all soon.

-Kristin

Updates

Logan accidently said Daddy this morning! He and Daddy were talking to each other this morning while I was getting ready for school. All of a sudden, I heard Logan say Daddy! He was just imitating, but it came out clear as day!

My friend's little girl will be laid to rest on Saturday. I wish I could be there, but she is in Hawaii.

I was diagnosed with an umbilical hernia in two places today. I will need surgery to get it repaired. I have an appointment on October 22nd with a general surgeon for a consultation. We will hopefully get it scheduled then. It is outpatient surgery, and I should be home the same day. It will be another 2-4 weeks of recovery. After that, I am going to start exercising! I need to shed these baby pounds!

Sorry this is so short, Logan is sleeping on my left arm, so this is all one-handed typing! I'm talented huh? :)