2010 Send off...

New Year's Quiz

1) What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Had a baby!! Got a promotion.

2) Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year.
Last Year: My New Year's resolutions for this year...to stop worrying so much about Bobby and just try and ENJOY my pregnancy. And of course to lose all the baby weight after he is born.
YAH! I did lose all my baby weight! All 62 lbs of it plus 4 extra! YES!

This year: Get out and be more social...I am soo bad about being a home body and I am afraid life is going to pass me by! Absorb every second of Bobby's cuteness!

3)Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, some of my close girlfriends from highschool did. Kelli, Leslie, Jenny, Amy.

4) Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, I lost my gramp. It was a horrific ordeal for me and I would rather not even start thinking about it...its too early in the day to ruin my makeup.

5)What countries did you visit?
Last year: None...I am sure this will be a repeating answer throughout the years...I am not a traveler.
Yep, same answer as last year.

6)What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
More time....there is NEVER enough time!

7)What dates from 2010 will remain etched in your memory and why?
April 22nd...the day my little angel was born!

8) What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Nursing! 8mth months and counting! Losing the baby weight. My promotion. Do I feel some repeating going on here?

9)What was your biggest failure?
I'm still not a very good friend. I need to get out more!

10) Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope...not that I can think of...thanks to good ole' prenatal's have stayed pretty healthy...knock on wood!

11) What was the best thing you bought?
Baby Bjorn carrier! I wore that thing out! Well technically I didn't even buy it, it was a shower gift. Ohh I know we got new couches in April (during my nesting I decided we needed new couches TWO days before my baby shower).

12)Whose behavior merited celebration?
My MIL Kaye...she is stepped up to be a cornerstone of my support system. She watches my angel day in and day out without a single complaint (even when she has her own things to get done). She will drop EVERYthing to help me/bobby/robby if needed. I do NOT take her for granted. She deserves to be celebrated!

My sister Alison has completely rearranged her life. She recognized things that she wanted to change to bring her happiness and though many people would like too...not many people have the courage to take these scary steps. Every risk paid off! Congratulations Alison...you are inspiring. You deserve to be celebrated!

13) Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
People that make excuses to not come to work...spare  me the crap please...we would ALL rather be at home...get it together.

14)Where did most of your money go?
Doctor bills, diapers, christmas...etc

15)What did you get really excited about?
The holidays...

16)What song will always remind you of 2010?
I can't even think of any songs right now I can think of is Christmas music. I guess "The house that built me", Miranda Lambert.

17) Compared to this time last year are you:
Happier or sadder? Happier!!!
Thinner or Fatter? Way thinner! I am thinner than I have been in years! thank you nursing!
Richer or poorer? Richer I think...or maybe I am just spending more so it feels like there is more money around.

20) How did you spend Christmas? With all the fam...us usual.

21) Did you fall in love in 2010?
Ohhh yes, head over heels, stop EVERYthing kind of love. Bobby is my EVERYthing!

22) What was your favorite TV program?
TV? what TV? I have forgotten all about you!

23) Do you hate anyone now that you didn't' hate this time last year?
Crackheads that get pregnant even when they don't want to...and then can have a healthy baby no problem. DAMN YOU! ungrateful!

24) What was the best book you read?
No free lance books this year....only What to expect in the first year etc.

25)What was your greatest musical discovery?
I have been listening to alot more country.

26) What did you want and get?
A healthy baby.

27) What did you want and not get?
My MIL's Expedition. ;-)           *someday*

28)What was your favorite film of the year?
I really like The Other Guys. Haven't seen much else. Oh Toy Story 3.

29)What did you do on your birthday and how old were you?
Can't remember...probably out to eat with the hubby. I was 27.

30)What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Last year: I don't know maybe a promotion.
YAh! I got that this year...so I don't have any complaints!

31) How do you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Pathetic! I need to throw everything away and start over! I used to be cute! Now I am just lazy!

Ohh I did give in and try the "skinny jeans" look and LOVE IT!

32)What kept you sane?
Probably just Robby...the word "consistent" describes him to a T. I like his stability.

37) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009?
 Don't take your family member's good health for granted. You don't want to even imagine what life would be like without them!

38) Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?
"When you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God"
From the Christmas song "Mary did you know"

Christmas break HERE I COME!!!

Christmas break officially begins at 3pm today when work lets me out! I think I have FINALLY finished all my shopping although I am terribly afraid I have forgotten someone's gift or won't bring it to the appropriate function. So I actually think I might have some free time for a couple of hours before hubby and Mr. Bobby get home. What will this too-busy,multitasking, full time working, housekeeper, cooking, wife/mother of the year do with her long overdue time to herself? Well but of course I will try and get ahead...there are no time for naps! I think I will start with the toliets, and the laundry, then the floors, then some organizing of the gifts, and maybe just maybe I will get started on the baking. I highly doubt that though, there isn't enough time...plus I have tomorrow and Friday to get some of that done (when I am not snuggling my bunny). Here's our schedule:
                 

 Friday night AKA Christmas Eve: We have the Reed's big family get together at Uncle Rogers house. This is ALWAYS a lot of fun...we have a Ugly Christmas Sweater contest, along with a nasty game of Dirty Santa (that has been known to cause some pouting and hurt feelings). And hopefully the evening will be following by some light snow...how sweet would that be to have a WHITE Christmas for Bobby's first Christmas? I hope its nothing like last year though...we gotta get to Kansas!



 

Saturday morning AKA Christmas morning: We will do some light gifts at our house (not that Bobby will really notice or care yet this year but oh well...its more for our excitement to share christmas with him than it is for him). And then we are off to the inlaw's for the big Christmas ordeal. My mother-in-law goes all out for Christmas so its usually full of excitement! Then its lunch with my MIL's side of the family and more gift exchanges. Probably followed by a big nap with Bobby in one of the extra bedrooms.


 
Sunday: We are off to Kansas to my brother's house for the whole day! We do Christmas for lunch followed by the gifts...which is always a big hilight to watch my nieces and nephew open everything up with all that kid like excitement. Then in the afternoon it turns into birthday party excitement for my niece Jerica! She was born on January 3rd...so my SIL's kindly throws her party the same day so that all of us out-of-towners don't have to make a second trip back the next weekend.

It's going to be a lot of fun!! My FAVORITE time of year. Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday as well! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Fast forward, rewind...no I meant PAUSE!

Does anyone else feel like the Christmas season just goes so incredibly fast that you find it hard to actually stop relax and absorb it? I find myself so caught up in my to-do list that I don't make the time to look off the main road and see all the Christmas lights, or actually enjoy wrapping the presents, or stop thinking so much so I can listen to the Christmas music I have blaring in my car...instead I am just going through the motions. I am sure I have mentioned before Christmas is a big deal to me. I start pulling out the Christmas movies around October...I can barely contain myself to not put my tree up before thanksgiving...and if we don't get snow in December I am pouting. I just wish it was all like it is in the movies. I wouldn't even mind a cheesy lifetime movie version! I just like the idea of a cozy (fireplace blaring, glowing lights decorated, wrapped up in a blanket, glass of wine in hand, cold and snowy outside) evening. Of course this year is slightly different because I have Bobby...so I don't have all the free time I used too. But I wish I could stand back from the rush....look around and soak in the season. After all this is a special year...Bobby's first Christmas! I hope I can remember it!

In other news...Grandma Kaye has been back at it...she just spoils Bobby rotten! She got Bobby a new Bomber Jacket. He is too die for cute in it...and I figured my dad and uncle Kevin would just squeal with excitement when they saw him in it (my dad is an airplace fanatic and Kevin's a pilot). Anyway I just had to share...it wouldn't be a full post without a Bobby picture!

Happy Anniversary Hubby!

Today is Robby and I's 5th wedding anniversary. I can hardly believe it. In some ways it feels like its been way longer than that...we have been together since the beginning of 2002...so nine years total in February. But in that same breath I can remember my wedding day like yesterday.

I was a nervous wreck. I don't even know why. It wasn't about the marriage, I think it was more just all the build up to the whole thing. All the planning, all the money spent, all the pressure to be beautiful and perfect...on top of making the biggest commitment of your life (marriage is a big damn deal to me...I am child of divorce that is sincerely screwed up from it so I idea of giving up on our marriage doesn't exist in our household). Like I said Robby and I had already been together for so many years that its not like we rushed into anything...we were confident in our decision...its more of the build up of just saying the words I guess. Robby was a wreck too! He gets extremely nervous in crowds and/or being the center of attention (unless its in his territory like on the baseball field or something...but that's only cause he doesn't have to talk). So he didn't sleep a wink the night before our wedding...and had retreated over to his parents hotel room in the middle of the night because he was throwing up from his nerves. I think my dad called me at 8am that morning saying Robby got to his house at 5am hoping to find some nausea medicine. Thank goodness my dad was happy to help.

Anyway...most of the wedding went off without a hitch. The only thing forgotten was the sparklers for the exit from the church. Oh well. I can live with that. I remember we had to stop at a gas station (in my wedding dress) on the way from the church to the reception to get me a red bull...I was already exhausted and we had an extremely long night ahead. The reception was the best part...when we actually got to relax for a second and visit with all of our guests. I remember the buffet line was down the hall of the Country Club so Robby and I just made our way down food line saying hello to everyone. I will never forget how grateful I was so many people came all the way from Oklahoma to support us. It was December obviously...and FREEZING cold that night, a late evening wedding plus the two hour drive...not exactly just a relaxing Saturday night affair for them. I appreciate it more than those people will ever realize!

When we took off from the Club the party was still going...but we were off to our honeymoon in Jamaica. I'm from the smallest town in America so we had a two hour drive to the nearest airport and our flight left at 5am. So I think we originally took off from Chanute around midnight or one...half way to KC we realized I forgot my drivers license. So Robby's dad Robert being the patient man he is, turned around IN THE MIDDLE of the night and drove back to get it and then turned around again to drive us back to KC. It was a disaster! We were ALL exhausted...did I mention it was BITTERLY cold!? Every time we even had to open the door it was blistering! My hair still had thousands of bobby pins in it and to top it all of we still had a long day of traveling ahead of us! NO, I did not realize its a good idea to wait till the next day before shoving off for our honeymoon. NO, I did not realize our resort was still a 2 hour bus ride from the airport CRAMMED full of tourists with NO air conditioning (AND still being in my WARM outfit from the FREEZING temperatures at home). NO, I did not just throw all my stuff down immediately once we finally got to our hotel room to jump in the shower and take a nap!! Ohhh lessons learned.

Thank goodness that was the end of our drama though...and the rest of the trip was a blast! 7 days was a little too long for me (being the not good traveler that I am). But we were in paradise...so it was well worth it!

So here is to five wonderful years together! I can't wait for the next five...and the five after that and the five after that. You get my jest. You have made my life so much more than I ever hoped for. I could never live without you. You are my ultimate companion...where you are weak I am strong. When you need me I will be there. You are my best friend. I hope I can give to you the support and stability that you give to me. You are my life. I love you!

Thankgiving break

We had SUCH a wonderful holiday break! I don't even know where to begin! We almost stuck to schedule...but there were a few twists and turns along the way. After Robby's grandparents meal on Thursday afternoon we decided to just get our car packed up and head on down the road to KC a night early. I thought I had this brilliant idea that if we just gave bobby his bath and everything like normal and just put him in his carseat instead of his crib when it was bedtime he would sleep like an angel and never even know we traveled. Well, he slept wonderfully all the way there and I thought "hah! worked like a charm" UNTIL we got there and all of the commotion of arrival and unpacking and re-situating got Bobby all wound up and awake and I had a terrible time getting him back to sleep...followed by one of the worst up and down nights we have had in months. He just didn't understand why were were going back to sleep for several more hours...in his mind he had already slept all night when he woke up at Skye's house. So night one was a disaster! BUT it was worth it to be there on Friday morning. Once my sister Alison and my niece Abby got there we all loaded up and drove to Legends (an outdoor shopping area in KC) and we shopped ALL DAY LONG!! We hit every store imaginable and Bobby was an angel. We even had a little surprise visit while at lunch...I saw another little boy there with his family that had two hands just like Bobby's! I went up and introduced myself and showed them Bobby...they were more than happy to chat with me and we even exchanged contact information. I think it was God's hands working that put us in the same place at the same time. It was really neat!

 

Then Saturday was our actual family get together. Skye did the entire meal herself. We all just brought desserts. When I say Skye is a good hostess this is an understatement! She thinks of, prepares for, and has EVERY thing imaginable on hand in a seconds notice. Every inch of her house is spotless, every bed is draped in luxury linens, every soap dispenser is holiday decorated, every kid has a toy at their place setting, every snack, drink or food is all stocked in her frig. She just does it all. Its nothing for three of our family's to move into her house with her for days at a time. Thank goodness its a big house cause otherwise Bobby would have had everyone up in the middle of the night! hah!

Bobby was adorable in his turkey outfit as you might have guessed. I even had him try some mashed potatoes at dinner. Which he didn't really know what to think about. They were alot thicker than anything he has had thus far so he didn't swallow them right away and they kind of sat in his mouth for a while. It was funny. I had his jar of baby food Turkey and Gravy though so that was cute that he was participating in the holiday with that.



 After dinner we loaded up all the kids and took them to Crown Center to go ice skating!! Highlight of the trip for me! There were Christmas lights everywhere, there was Christmas music blasting, the biggest Christmas tree I have EVER seen...not to mention the actual ice skating rink! We all had SUCH a good time!!

My sister Alison snuggled Bobby up tight with blankets and stocking caps and let me go out on the ice with the kids (thanks Addy!) and I had the time of my life! I swear there was a time in my life (many moons ago) when I honestly thought I wanted to be a ice skater when I grew up...in real life...not so much. I did fine of course...and got the hang of it before long...but its AMAZING to me how those people jump and do twists on there!

 

   Then it was back to the house for hot chocolate and our second round of turkey dinner! We spent the night AGAIN cause it was just too late to make the trip home and Robby was over at his buddy Dane's watching the OU/OSU game (Boomer!) all the way across town. So Bobby and I crashed again and we took off for home yesterday morning. That is a LONG trip for the Reed family...cause those of you that know me know that I don't travel well. But I had the time of my life...and wouldn't have missed any of it for the world. BEST THANKSGIVING EVER!!

Gobble gobble!

    Who is getting SO excited for thanksgiving? ME!! I can NOT wait! Its been a BUSY week but I think I have finally got things under control at work. And I even got new tires put on my car (my dad will finally be pleased about that!) because FIRST thing Friday morning we are taking off for Kansas City! My sister Skye and her husband relocated there last year and now have a huge house to host the whole dang family in. THAT is a wonderful feeling. I just can't wait to get there!

    The fun starts today when we will hopefully get off work early...usually around 3 the day before a holiday. Then its thanksgiving out at Robby's grandparents house on the actual turkey day. Then its home to pack and get organized I can't decide if there is anything I need to get up SUPER early to shop for on Black Friday...so I imagine it will just be a 5am wake up call to get headed out of town. The only down fall is KC is a long four hour trip for a baby riding in a car seat. So travel plans always begin with an EARLY morning take off time so Bobby will hopefully sleep on the way. Once we get to KC my sisters and I are going shop till we drop for Christmas presents all day. Bobby will be joining us so I am a little nervous that its supposed to be the coldest day we have had yet this season. We will be packing the warmest clothes he has got and blankets galore!

    Then Saturday is our actual family get together. We have a HUGE meal (I LOVE turkey! I wish it was easier to make cause I would it weekly in the winter!) Aftewards we are planning to take all my nieces and nephew to the plaza to go ICE SKATING!! Saying I am excited about this is an understatement!! I wish I had these kinds of childhood memories myself! We never did stuff like that! But that's what is so wonderful about this...we are hopefully creating the most wonderful memories for these kids. You always want more for your own children (and your sibling's children) then you had for yourself. I think they will REALLY enjoy it! I hope so anyway!

    The big OU/OSU game is on at 7pm...so I am sure that is all Robby will be thinking about. Good thing one of Robby's best friends in the world Dane lives in KC too...so he can just run along over there to do boy stuff and I get to endulge in extra family time!! It couldn't work out better!

Hope everyone has a SAFE and endulgent holiday weekend!

This is Bobby's Boomer Sooner outfit (OU's mascot is a horse named Boomer)

Stress....

Where to begin?!?! Things just seemed to pile up these last couple of days! The week started out slow and normal and some where along the way everything just got hectic. It really all started getting out of control yesterday. I had a big day, my pumping and work schedules were all moved up to accommodate for a meeting from one of our company's big wigs that they scheduled for the most awkward time of day...11am. Who schedules an hour long meeting right around lunch time? I had lunch plans immediately following that I felt like I was running late too. Then I felt like I was just scrambling to actually get some work done because I needed to leave the office early yesterday for a doctor appointment all the way in Claremore. Our work celebration of thanksgiving dinner is scheduled for today so I needed to make a stop on the way home to set out the Rhode's Rolls to rise (they take several hours) but no time was allowed for that after all and I barely made it to the appointment on time as it is. On top of all of this my father-in-law was admitted to the hospital yesterday afternoon for another pancreas attack...I think this is his 8th attack in the last five years. When he goes down hill its like a domino effect in our family because my mother-in-law is our daycare...so now I don't have a babysitter because she needs to be with him in the hospital. Robby can't take off work because he needs to be holding down the fort at work while his dad is out (and taking care of all the extra obligations at his parents house while they are incapacitated...such feeding the dogs, taking out the trash, put his dad's truck and tools away, etc etc). I can't take off work because it just happens to be the busiest week out of our month here at work also. We are on a short month because of the holiday schedule next week and I have to have my plant closed by Monday (and haven't received ANY of the documents I need for processing it YET! Talk about last minute!) And on top of ALL of this...I am busy training on a new plant that I will be taking over shortly...so I need to be learning/absorbing as much as possible instead of doing the dead rush to get everything accomplished.

Sooo....how do we solve all these dilemmas? Thank goodness we have alot of family. Bobby's two great grandmothers are stepping in to help today (Robert's mom and Kaye's mom) are each going to take a shift today. I am terribly worried this is going to be too much for them. Taking care of a baby is not just an easy task to step right into if you aren't used to it. And on top of it all...Bobby's is kind of heavy! I don't want them to be over-doing it with carrying him around. I didn't get the rolls made because we got home from the hospital so late so I just gave up and stopped by Reasors on the way to work. YEP I am the girl that brought store bought food to a work function. Not a big deal of course...but I enjoy baking/cooking...so not really my style. But hey what can you do...I am just trying to survive.

Thank goodness I am still in good spirits! Bobby is sleeping well so that is helping! I think he has slept all night for four nights in a row now! I hope I am not jinking it by saying that. Imagine me knocking on wood as we speak. Hope everyone else is having a good week!

Air time...

My brother-in-law Kevin is a pilot and owns a helicopter touring business. So last weekend when he and his wife Cathy were home working a local event we loaded up in the car to go visit them on the job. Here is a pic of me getting ready to go up for a ride. Of course Kevin tried to get me to let Bobby go up for his first ride...to which I sternly said NO WAY JOSE!! :)

St. Louis photos...

The famous St. Louis Arch

Happy boy in the waiting line...

Up in the arch looking out the window...

Riding on the train...

Taking a stroll through downtown St. Louis

And one last random picture from home of Bobby's cuteness!

St. Louis

We started the trip yesterday morning before five am. I dont know if I have mentioned it but Bobby HATES his carseat, so the earlier we left town the better chance we would have that he would sleep on the way. He did great till about the last 30 minutes or so when we were having trouble finding the hotel...so it made for a very stressful last half hour of the trip. But the rest of the day was so wonderful that it fully redeemed itself. Once we got settled at the hotel and got reorganized we headed out on the town. We drove to the nearest metrolink station and hopped on the train to go downtown to the Arch. Bobby loves the train! He could just be held instead of being in his dreaded carseat and he loved to people-watch everyone getting on and off. We all loved to look outside and catch sights of the town and dang that thig sure moves fast. We made multiple stops and I bet each one only lasted 30 seconds before we were moving again. Then once we got downtown we had the stroller and the weather was beautiful! All the leaves were orange and were blowing, the air was crisp but not cold and we were just a cute little family on a stroll in downtown St Louis. I felt like I was in a movie. We went up in the arch, spent way to much money on the dorky pictures to remember it by, and then we were on to the Cardinals stadium. This is where we met another family that was in town to visit the children's hospital too. This little boy had two club feet and then a similar condition on both hands (not sure what you would call that, club hands? in other words all his joints were facing backwards when he was born). They had been coming back and forth from new Mexico to get help. They just had the best things to say about the Shriner's hospital. This got me really pumped about appt. But most of all, meeting them made me realize how lucky Bobby really is...this little boy had such good spirits but he had quite a hand dealt to him...he had already been through multiple surgeries and was no where near being finished. He was fighting a for strength in all four limbs! It just made me think Bobby's little arm just seemed so minor in comparison to what this little boy was going through.


Anyway on to the actual appt. Everyone was so nice! As soon as we got the there were two old men Shriner's sitting in the front room just bullshitting and they kept playing with Bobby. As soon as they saw Bobby's arm they immediately lead me to another counter where they said was someone we just had to meet. "Susan" she was a woman that worked there that had almost the exact same arm as Bobby! I mean it looked JUST like it. She only had two fingers and it was a little bit shorter (of course Bobby's is alot shorter) but anyway she spent the whole day traveling around with us letting me pick her brain about anything and everything I could think of. She said he will be able to do everything! She is the centerfield and best hitter on her softball team. She is a bow hunter. She does everything! She even brought her mom into talk to me mom-to-mom about it all. They both gave me their emails and phone numbers for any and all future purposes. That was priceless for me!
 
We were first sent off for X-rays, then off to photography (so you can see the progress from appt to the next) and then it was off to the exam room. First, it was the occupational therapist just asking questions, then it was a Resident doctor examining him. Then the whole crew came in! There were 6 doctors to be exact, plus the therapist! It was kind of overwhelming! But wonderful! The head honcho was amazing! Such good bed side manner! I couldn't believe it! (I find that most specialist's are so smart they aren't very social). He spoke directly to us and on our level. He took his time and answered everything I asked about and more. He even gave me his email address so I could ask any more questions I think of! (AMAZING!) Anyway when he examined him he had some interesting things to say. 


His actual diagnosis was ulnar deficiency. Bobby is missing the outside bone in his forearm (the pinkie side) and it's not just the bone that is missing, it's all the muscles and nerves that go along with it. Because its missing completely Bobby's case is considered a stage four (the most severe). He shows us where his actual elbow is (not where we thought it was AT ALL!) His elbow is actually in the right spot and not rotated at all. What we are seeing that is bent forward (and what everyone had always assumed is his pointed elbow joint) is actually his forearm that is curved. He said Bobby's elbow will most likely not bend or have any range of motion so the idea of trying to lengthen or straighten that curve in his forearm might actually make it harder for him to use functionally then if we leave it alone (even though it might "look" better). Imagine Bobby's arm bent the way it is and him trying to get his hand to his mouth (without the elbow being able to bend) now imagine if we lengthened his forearm and straightened still without any bending at the elbow...he would never be able to get his arm near his mouth. He essentially will just have one long limb from shoulder down. They said they have tried to restore motion in elbows before on other kids but they haven't had much luck and there isn't a whole lot they can do.

As for current uses of his arm...he can use it how ever he wants! He seems to have full sensitivity and so he will probably adapt to using it in every way. He may crawl, and he may not, he may just drag it when he crawls, he may do the army crawl on that side, he may put pressure on it the normal way...they said whatever he wants to do should be fine. He isn't going to hurt it. We did talk prosthetics for a minute...but they didn't think that was something we should pursue. Its actually harder for a child with a prosthetic because they lose all feeling when using one...and based on their exam today they think Bobby has full sensitivity in his hand so it actually would be like taking two steps backwards. So at this point prosthetics wouldn't be beneficial for him...maybe as an adult...but we will let him make that decision.

I asked what on earth caused it and he said the scientists have no idea what causes this. It happened when cells were developing in the limbs in like the first 4-8 wks. So everything was already formed like this before I even knew I was pregnant! He said this going wrong was so random that the chance of something like this with another pregnancy of mine or even with Bobby's kids is so rare! He really didn't want me to be concerned with that at all. The genetics doctor had said that same thing but I love hearing it again. He said there was absolutely nothing I could have done to control or avoid this. It just happens and its amazing that things don't go wrong more often when you realize how many millions of steps go perfect to make a healthy baby. He said I am lucky its the ulnar bone missing and not the radius, when its the radius deficiency its usually tied to alot more issues and/or syndromes. The ulnar doesn't show any connection and he thinks is an isolated issue. I asked him if there was any chance that we might still have some problems show up and he said he would be as surprised as we would be. He highly doubts anything else is involved...and we have been cleared for almost everything. (this is WONDERFUL news!)

He said they want us to come back in 6 mths so they can see how he is using it. And if there are things that can be done to improve his functionality then we can assess them. If we do any surgery it will probably be within 2-4 yrs of age, before kindergarten. But at this point they are happy with how well he is using it, grabbing at things and opening and closing his fingers. I have to admit that I am relieved that no surgery is involved at this point. That would have been REALLY hard on me. But I am a tiny bit disappointed that we won't be able to help things "looks wise" since I know that will be important self image wise for Bobby. I am counting my blessings that he is able to use it and its functioning so well though, it could be SOO much worse! Thank you for all your support and for listening!

Bobby was having a great time at the hotel...can you tell?

Shriners

Soooo I will be off of work Monday and Tuesday of next week cause the Reed family is packing up and heading to St. Louis for Bobby's first appt at the Shriner's hospital. To say I am excited is an understatement! I keep getting my hopes up that we will come of out there with some magical plan to fix Bobby's arm up completely...but I really need to come back to reality. We will probably just get interviewed, examined, and hopefully explained to our options. But STILL this is going to be BY FAR the most individual attention we have gotten from a doctor thus far. So anything will be an improvement. If the doctor will actually just sit down and/or spend more than five minutes with us...or even actually look at an xray and talk to us about it I will be more than grateful. I just want to have a plan. I want to know what all our options are. I want to know what risks are involved? If starting young is beneficial or will limit our options later? I want to know whether or not Bobby will have full sensition in that hand? I want to know if you can put full pressure on that hand? I want to know if he will be able to crawl? I want to know what things are going to be like in five years, ten years, and his adult options? I want ANSWERS! I have got one chance to protect this little guy and I want to give him my best shot...give him access to the best doctors there are. I don't care how much it costs or where in the world it is. There are no limits in mind. It is my first priority in life.

Anyway....wish us luck! His appt is 8:30 am on Tuesday morning!

Something is definitely wrong with this picture...

THIS is what happens when I leave daddy in charge of Bobby.

Daddy lost a bet...

Well as you all know my hubby is an OBSESSIVE Oklahoma Sooner fan. And those who know us really well know that one of Robby's best friends Dane is equally as loyal to his favorite team the Mizzouri Tigers. These two have been butting heads for years...so I am sure you see where this is going! There was a bet made on the game last week (and yes, I am so behind in my posting that it is just now going up...but the cuteness is worth it I promise!) Anyhow the details of the bet were...if OU won Dane would to change his profile picture on facebook of him wearing an OU shirt for one week. And if Mizzou won (which they did) then Bobby would have to actually put on the Tigers outfit Dane bought for him months ago (that has been just gathering dust in the closet) for my profile picture on facebook for one week. Here he is sporting daddy's least favorite outfit ever (and yes, robby wanted me to pinch in so he would cry for the picture in this outfit).

In other notes...this is a TERRIBLE picture of Bobby's face...but worth showing because look how good Bobby is using his arm!! 

Random pics

I know these pictures probably drive my photography friends crazy because they are so blurry and not good at all. BUT all of you that know me know that I do not care about the quality...I just want to document the memories...capture the cuteness as it happens! Anyway these pictures are for me to look back on...and I know I will enjoy them! :)