A long weekend

It's been a long weekend. Not just for the holiday, but other reasons too. 

Let me be honest and say, I wasn't going to talk about this, but there is probably someone else who is or will be doing this at some point in their lives. At any rate, here goes with the true confessions:

I'm 30. (Whew, that wasn't THAT bad!)

A few weeks ago, I found "a lump". The kind of lump women don't like to find. I didn't think it was really bad, but I just wanted to hear someone, who is closer to an expert than I, tell me it was nothing. So I scheduled a doctor's appointment.

I went in for some screening tests and mammogram. Let's just say, this isn't something I would enjoy doing regularly. Again, I'm just waiting for them to look at the results and say "this isn't anything you should worry about."

Instead I hear "This is abnormal and we highly recommend a biospy."

Me: not prepared.

So what made the weekend so long was having a biospy scheduled for Monday, yesterday. And let me just say one thing: 30 is too young for someone to have TWO mammograms within a month!

I'm still waiting for the latest expert in my life to tell me this isn't something to worry about. I'm just remembering, however, I know the Ultimate Expert and He has reminded me that "He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed." It will all be OK.

Let's talk about Samuel.

He is doing great. I can't believe I let him play in McDonald's Playland (a.k.a. GermLand) yesterday for longer than 30 seconds. I CAN believe, however, than I pretty much hosed him down with hand sanitizer every time he came out and before we left. It was a friend's birthday, so this special occasion will probably be the ONLY time we will be in there. I was very impressed with his fearless ability to climb and stand up to the bigger kids there playing with him.

This is the ONLY hat he will wear for longer than 3 seconds. It's so cute!

A few weeks ago I had decided to give up trying to keep him from getting the pots and pans out every time we were in the kitchen. He gets them out, I put them away, it's this fun cycle we have going. I decided I don't care that I have to wash them when I want to use them. But Samuel surprised me. He took them all out play while I was working on other things. A few minutes later, I looked down to make sure not to step on a pan and, to my surprise, there weren't any in the floor. Figuring he had taken them all to the other room, I went around the corner to find his trying to close the cabinet door. He had put all of the pots and pans BACK in the cabinet where he found them, he just couldn't get the door completely closed because there were just a few handles sticking out, as you can see below. I'm so glad my requests to "put it back where you found it" haven't COMPLETELY fallen on deaf ears.
Speaking of the little munchkin, I better go take care of him. My evenings are getting shorter and shorter, it seems, since he's napping less and less at Miss Amy's.

The coolest kid in church

Playing games with girls. Oh, they do learn young, don't they?

whoever said little boys are like old men...

...had it right. Here is my little old man, crying because he can't reach the fruit and yogurt parfait. What's that on his feet? Why, it's white socks and blue crocs!

These crocs were purchased for Samuel's friend, Hudson, about 2 years ago. Hudson wore them and wore them and wore them some more and when he finally grew out of them, they were passed on to Samuel.

We discovered them in the closet this morning and since Samuel has been obsessed with shoes lately (he wants to wear them with his P.J.s to bed!) I put them on him. They, of course, were too big, but he insisted on wearing them. I put the socks on thinking, "I'll just put his sneakers on when we get downstairs" then the crocs went back on his feet. He was so proud of them, he would NOT take them off and I just figured is wasn't a battle I wanted to fight. He won.

White-socks-with-sandal-wearing old men of the world, please welcome the newest member to your club: Samuel Kelley. 

thankful

Just discovered a saved draft from last week. Thought I'd pass it along. It's still true, so why not? Just a little bit of old news...

I'm am so thankful it's Friday. This has been a busy week! Up early for boot camp, which has been a great release for me lately, then up late with VBS at church. And we haven't even been every night; only 2. But it's made those 2 days very long!

Kevin (DH), has been to VBS more than I have but we all went on Wednesday night. It was great! The team who has organized has really outdone themselves again this year!

That being said, Samuel is too young for VBS :( . He just doesn't understand the games, or even staying with the group he is supposed to be with. I guess there is a reason the youngest kids they register are 5. hmmm...

Without going into too many details, our Wednesday night trip to VBS was cut short. Little guy was very sleepy and had about 3 head bonks too many (again, touching on the point, he's too little - people didn't see him behind doors and plowed him down). So we left. On the way home, while he was resting/recovering, I was thinking about how it will be in a few years when he IS old enough to enjoy VBS along with all the other crumb-cruncher, germ slathered kids there. How will it work when snack time comes around and he has to take enzymes before snack? Am I going to have to provide applesauce and a tutorial on administering meds to my child just before snack time? Maybe he'll have a buddy to help him every night.

All of this reminds me of the book we were given on diagnosis day, talking about experiencing "acute grief" from time to time, like when seeing a chubby baby in the grocery store and grieving that your child has a difficult time getting those chubby thighs. Now, every chubby-thighed child I see, everywhere, brings on those thoughts of "Samuel had chubby thighs for a day or two." I guess VBS brought on some acute grief the other night. 

Anyone else ever experience this? I'm sure other CF Mommees do from time to time. How do you get through it?

A big weekend

What a great weekend to follow Samuel's test on Friday!

First, Samuel's test on Friday went very well. There have been improvements since our last IPL 10 months ago. Everything is "normal" and we couldn't be happier. Well, we couldn't be happier with the results. All celebrating ended with the ice bath Samuel got when we were trying to wake him up after the test. When he doesn't want to wake up, just leave him alone! :)

Also last week, Samuel's 18 month check-up (a month late) complete with pokes. 3 pokes and he cried longer this time than ever before. Not just crying from the pain but from a broken heart and hurt feelings. I felt bad for him.

Samuel hamming it up at the doc's office while we were waiting:

This past weekend we had a first. Samuel's first hair cut. We've been getting lots of grief over his mullet but, really, I don't care what others think of his hair. Clearly, since we haven't cut it for the last 19 months. But it was getting very long in the back...so long it was getting tangled up all the time. It looked like he had bed-head all the time. And I will say, if it had been a little curlier, there is no way a pair of scissors would have touched his head. All in all, he did great! He wasn't too hip on the idea of being buckled into the fire truck he was sitting in, but he got over it pretty fast. He was very comfortable in the place, playing video games and all the other toys they had there.

Admiring himself in the mirror.

In the fire truck. Complete with a cape.

In: a baby.

Out: a little boy.

This weekend he also got a hold of a pen. Nothing new, but he has never used it before either. I wouldn't let Kevin wipe his leg off until I could take a picture.

Samuel has been learning all kinds of new stuff lately! Seems like I say that every time. But it's true. At his well-baby check, they were asking how many words can he say and does he make any animal noises yet. At the time he didn't but that changed in about a day. By the end of the week he was barking like a dog. "Samuel, what kind of noise does a dog make?" "Woof Woof Woof!" So cute. At a friend's house, he was chasing their little dogs around, barking at them. By the end of the night, he was barking at their cat too. Fine by me, I don't care for cats so much. If a barking toddler keeps them away, bark on!

As for the words he says, well, it's not too many. However, he is learning how to communicate in other ways. I will whole-heartedly encourage new parents to teach your baby sign language. Samuel is a signing sponge! He signs all kinds of words: more, eat, drink (while saying "juice"), candy, please, thank you, cheese, airplane, ball, bird, and his latest, shoes! (Definitely his mother's son).

Eating grilled cheese. Well, eating the cheese out of the middle...while standing up in the high chair. A good shot of his crazy hair.
My brother, Andy, his lovely wife, Morgan and baby Will. And cousin Samuel.

Not sure whose kid this is that fell asleep at Olive Garden.

Thanks for checking!

It just hit me

I said I would report Samuel's weight but I didn't.

Samuel gained a pound and a half since his last visit! Something must be said for Hostess blueberry muffins...

Next, we have IPL on June 5. You can read more about his last IPL here. More updates later. With pics.

no!

It's true!

We've been having lots of fun with Samuel lately. He's really learning LOTS and it seems like he's changing and growing every day. He loves to point out planes and helicopters in the sky and has quite the eye for them. He can spot them from far away! It's really cute to watch him study the sky, see something of interest, then point up and say "See?" We are working on teaching him to say "airplane" but haven't gotten so far yet.

For about the past 2 weeks he hasn't been eating. Not too cool since we, well, he, has to weigh in tomorrow at the CF clinic visit. I'm hoping he breaks his 22 pound plateau. It seems he's been 22 pounds for the past 6 months. Why hasn't he been eating? Well, it appears he's getting 4 new teeth. I'm not sure how many there are in there now. I should count the bite marks on my legs, since that's where he's been biting me lately. Only me. He doesn't bite anyone else. I'm almost thankful for that, really. That's probably the quickest way to get kicked out of Miss Amy's house. :) The other day I was standing in the kitchen making dinner and he leaned over to bite my leg. I told him to find something else to do and so he laid on his tummy to get a better angle to bite my big toe! I couldn't believe it! The eating thing has been getting better, though. Last night (Cinco de Mayo) he was enjoying his staple, bean dip. Yum!

What else is Samuel learning? He's learning where his body parts are. He knows his nose, ears, eyes, toes, mouth and we are working on the fingers. He's also learning how to jump, which is so cute. He gets his whole body involved but his feet don't leave the ground. He is able to "jump" on command. Very funny!

It's becoming clear that Samuel hears the word "NO!" waaaaaay too much. I have to admit, it's not easy to say much else sometimes, but when thinking about it, it's a great learning opportunity to teach him what we want him to do, not just say no. For example, a staple line heard during meal-prep time would be, "Samuel, we don't play in Lucy's food and water bowls. Those are hers." Over and over and over again. Until I put up the gate.

So why do I think Samuel hears the N-word too frequently? Well, it's a known fact that when he is sleepy, he starts to hit. Not very nice. "We don't hit mommies, Samuel We hug and kiss mommy!" Last night, he came over and slapped my knee, then looked at me, pointed to my face and said, quite loudly, "No!" He could also say "Stop!" which comes out more like "Bot!" but still the same thing. It was very hard to hug and correct in love and not laugh at him, but laughing will only encourage the behavior, something I don't want to do.

Other things going on? We are starting to think about what we want to do in our back yard since it's full of dirt, weeds, and dog poop right now. It's a blank canvas. I've got this great idea to install a splash pad! Better than a pool on so many levels. It's been consuming my thoughts for the past few days. 

Pray that Samuel breaks 22 pounds tomorrow. I'm not sure how that will happen after 2 weeks of minimal calorie intake but miracles still happen. If it does, I'll  be sure to post the happy news. If not, I'll probably post that too.

Thanks for checking in!

I almost forgot! Team Samuel at the Great Strides walk! We did great, had fun and were successful. Still getting a team total, but thanks to all who participated!

Kevin Kelley, Lori Kelley Woods, Brenda Kelley, Audrey Sullivan, Tabitha Alexander, Suzanne Francis, Grace Nakazawa, Mike Gentry, Daniel Gentry, Lisa Sifuentes, Eddie Sifuentes, Alexis Sifuentes, Justin Tullock, Delaney Tullock, Amy Tullock (in spirit). Others who are really helping lately are Sandra Ramirez and Ashley Ramirez. Thanks to all of you! It's very touching to have your support and participation. All who donated to our team, thank you thank you thank you! You can be proud knowing your donation is helping to make astounding differences in research and development.

Other interesting pictures:

Chocolate pudding face

Easter Sunday