Monday, November 29, 2010

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!!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

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)

Thursday, November 18, 2010

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!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

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!! :)


Friday, November 12, 2010

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!


Tuesday, November 9, 2010

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?

Friday, November 5, 2010

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!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Something is definitely wrong with this picture...

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


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

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!! 

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

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! :)