B is 6 months old!

So, Barrett turned 6 months old Saturday! Time has gone so fast! We go to the doctor tomorrow, for his 6 month shots, which neither one of us are looking forward to. We had to go to Convenient Care today because he's been coughing for 3 days. Luckily, it's just a cold. All he's wanted to do this weekend is sleep, poor baby. We are getting family pictures made on June 1st! I'm so excited, since this will be our first professional pictures done with our new addition! I've GOT to go to the tanning bed tomorrow though. I've been telling myself to go, every day, for the past week but something always seems to come up! I've told myself not to go to the tanning bed at all but I really hate being pasty white...just ignore my last blog, talking about how I wasn't going to go ever again ;).

Barrett was excited, watching Lilly

He refused to look at me and smile!

I've really been beating myself up lately because Barrett isn't doing things that I see other 6 month old babies doing. He still hasn't rolled over either way. He can sit up but doesn't have his balance down yet, to do it completely on his own. He is nowhere near crawling. He babbles and has good coordination though. His doctor told me last time to not worry about it, that every baby's different and he'll more than likely do everything at once, since he's so big. He said alot of big babies will start crawling a week or so before they walk so I'm hoping that's our situation. I'm going to ask him about it again tomorrow just to ease my mind. I know it's nothing I'm doing wrong but you can't help but feel that way, when you're a mother and your child isn't progressing like other babies. At the doctor today, he weighed 21 pounds 3 ounces...I love my giant baby!

He is such a doll-baby!

Anyways, I guess that's all I have to post today. I'll post again this week, about his 6 month checkup!

Same ole Same ole...

Nothing's new. Barrett's still growing up a storm and just as cute as he's always been. Lately, he's wanted to wake up around 6 every morning, which is getting exhausting. I know I should just be thankful that he's slept through the night for a few months now but I've gotten so adjusted to him sleeping from 10pm to 8am. Now, it's pretty much 6 or 7 am when he wakes up, regardless of when he goes to sleep. I'm a night owl so I don't go to sleep til around 12. Oh well...him being such a good baby 24/7 makes up for it. This child literally hardly ever cries. I get the question, "is he always this good?" every day. If he's fussing and I can't make him stop, then I know he's got an ear infection. Speaking of, this is his second one already. Ugh...I'm hoping he's not going to follow in the footsteps of my 3 nephews with allergies, ear infections, etc. but I'm sure he will. They've all had the worst luck. I have a feeling his pediatrician and I will be discussing tubes in his ears within the next 2 or 3 years, but I hope not.

Thursday last week, I ran over a giant screw on Highland, which landed me at King Tire the next day, to get 2 new tires (since another one needed replaced anyways). I went to eat at Rafferty's this past Monday and came out to discover about a 2 foot long crack in my windshield. I'm guessing I had a peck from a rock or something and the first good heat of the year took it's toll. So, I got a new windshield from Jack Morris this morning. As I was pulling back into work, I noticed my glass had a wavy appearance in some spots so I ran it back by Jack Morris this afternoon. Unfortunately, it was a defective glass and I get to go back on Monday to fix it. So in other words, I haven't had great luck with my car this week. We've had a few birthdays lately, as well as a couple of graduations, baby/wedding showers, and weddings...tis the season! I've been dying to go to the tanning bed lately but trying to not let myself do it. My mom had a run-in with skin cancer last year, which will make you re-think jumping in the tanning bed. She definitely doesn't go anymore. I just know that with the way my skin burns, I'm vulnerable to it as well. It's crazy to think about what damage people will risk to their body for what they consider "better" appearance. I mean, I've even said before that I want a tummy tuck...seriously. But then I think about how unnecessary it is. I mean, what if the surgeon accidentally cut something wrong and I was paralyzed for the rest of my life...I figure if it's unnecessary to live, then I don't need to do it. I'll admit though...I'm still VERY tempted to go to the tanning bed. I may just have to invest in the Versa Spa again this year.

I had a great first Mother's Day. I got some very sweet cards and gifts from my family. Barrett's been the best gift of all! Being a mother is so indescribable. It is and will always be the greatest accomplishment of my life. I am so content with my life right now. I have the best friends and family a girl could ask for. On that positive note, I'll get off here. Have a great week.

Political Bashing

Yes, I am republican. I have lots of friends that are democrat and I think no different of them than my republican friends. When I see someone bash George Bush, it's pretty much like they're bashing me. No, he's not my best friend or anything but I've always been fond of him. I don't agree with certain political figures and some of them are even republicans. However, I don't feel the need to voice my disapproval of certain people on Facebook. I just think it's sad that this is what political parties have come to. Bin Laden was killed and all of a sudden Bush-bashing has come back? I'm a little confused. Oh well. Since everyone else is entitled to their opinion, I thought I would voice mine. I have nothing harsh to say about Obama at all...can't we just get over it already?

Busy weekend!

So, as this blog title explains, we had a busy weekend! Friday night, we went to O'Charleys with some friends. After we got home, I had laundry to do. Saturday, I had to take Lilly to the vet to get her Bordetella vaccination then came home to do more laundry and the dishes, while Ty did some yard work. While B took a nap, I snuck outside (and took the monitor-don't worry) to help trim the bushes for a few minutes. Thanks to my mom and step dad for letting us borrow the electric bush trimmer by the way! Ty refuses to spend the money and get our own. Ha ha. He has always cut them using manual clippers, which used to take hours and hours. This electric thing is SO much easier. After laundry and dishes were done, I decided to take B with me to get my car cleaned up and to Kroger. The whole day Saturday, he was really fussy and wanted to sleep a lot. He got worse as I tried to get ready to leave with him and was tugging at his ears so I decided to go ahead and run him to Convenient Care. Of course, he has another ear infection. We just saw his pediatrician last week or the week before and he said that his ears looked great! Luckily, I think we caught this one early. The Convenient Care doctor said it was probably just the beginning. Anyways, we had to put him on antibiotics once again. He's acted like he feels a little better today than he did yesterday. Needless to say, we didn't have a chance to get my car cleaned or go to Kroger. We had to run by Walgreens instead. After we got back home, I put him down for a nap and I got ready to go over some friends of ours house. We went over there Saturday night and took B with us. Ty and his friend grilled some elk. Oddly enough, Ty said it was pretty good. Sounds disgusting to me! I decided to run to Outback with someone else and get some desert at about 10 that night. Oh yeah...speaking of desert...they have this new strawberry shortcake thing that is sooo good, so give it a try if you go!

I had every intention of going to church this morning and was so disappointed when I woke up at 10:15 and church starts at 11. I set the alarm by my bed for 9 and my phone for 9:15 and sat my phone on my dresser, so I'd have to get out of bed to turn it off. Well, I must have been horribly sleepy because Ty said he didn't turn it off...therefore, I must have. The storm woke me up around 4 that morning then I woke up at 5, not feeling good so I guess those 2 times messed me up. So, we missed church but had Ty's family reunion at 12:30 in Beech Bluff. I'm already always late but with a baby, I'm REALLY late. He always decides he's hungry as I'm trying to walk out the door and do something so I end up late...most people that have had a baby totally understand that. We ended up getting out there around 1 and left at 3. I ran Ty by the gun show at the fairgrounds after we got back in town. We stayed there til around 4:30. On our way home, the sirens started going so I forced Ty to let us stop by work and hang out there til the storms passed. He thought it was stupid but I'm a scaredy-cat and that's ok!

Tonight, we went to Red Robin with my mom and step dad. The food was great as always. "Granny" and "Doo-Dah" love getting to see Barrett and I love for them to be able to see him since they don't get to him as much as they or I'd like. Unfortunately, they both have to work during the week which leaves only the weekend for them to see him. Every now and then, they'll get to see him on a weeknight. We only got to spend an hour or so with them on Easter so we're looking forward to getting a lot of Mother's Day to spend with them. Anyways, back to my weekend, we got home after dinner tonight and gave B a bath, fed him his cereal and bottle, and now he's in bed. Of course, I just heard him start talking, so I'm sure he'll be crying in a few minutes for us to get him ;). We usually let him fuss for a few minutes before we run in there and get him up. If we immediately picked him up every time he fussed/cried, he'd be attached to mine or Ty's hip.

I had hoped to take Lilly to the groomer Saturday but they didn't have anything open so she's going tomorrow morning. She goes to Petsmart and they've always done a good job. However, I make sure she gets 1 of 2 people to do it, since I know they're good to her and cut her the way I like. She desperately needs a haircut and a bath! Speaking of Lilly, she's really growing to adore Barrett! She's loved him from the day he came home but she loves him more every day and it's so sweet! Barrett's learning and doing new things all the time now and she knows it. He can finally sit up by himself with just a Boppy pillow behind him. He sat in a highchair at Red Robin tonight. We just had to stuff a few blankets around him and he did fine. He was tired of it after about 10 minutes though. Barrett weighed 20 pounds when I took him to the doctor on the 21st. That's more than a lot of one year olds! The doctor said he looked great and re-checked his ears since he had had an ear infection, which he said looked good as well. I asked him about B not rolling over, which he told me to not worry about. He said that most babies are rolling over by now but since Barrett was exceptionally large for his age, it's more difficult for him to shift his weight like little babies. The doctor checked his reflexes and said that B's muscle tone was actually really really good for his age, so that made me feel better. He's not fat by any means. We were actually laughing earlier because his little ribs were sticking out. His bone structure is just big. He's sitting up good now...not quite by himself yet but really close. He does TRY to roll over but just can't get it all the way. The doctor said he may not roll over until he's crawling, which is fine. He's saying mama a lot. He's loving his cereal finally. He's had a few drops of tea and a tiny bit of whipped cream...that's it. It's funny seeing his facial expressions when he tries new things. I wouldn't ever give him large amounts of any kind of table food but the tiny bit I've given him is fine. The only bad thing about it is that he knows what a cup, bowl, spoon, fork, and plate are...meaning that anytime someone's eating around him, he thinks he should be eating too ;). He's gotten to where he'll open his mouth and make little noises to tell you that he wants something. I hate that I can't give him more...ha ha. For now, we just stick to our formula and the once a day cereal at night. I have started putting a tiny bit of applesauce baby food in his cereal and he loves it! Not to mention, it helps counteract the constipation factor of starting cereal. We have to give him an ounce of prune juice every night too, to help.

I love being his mother and watching all the new things he does. The fact that he wants his momma over anyone else is the best feeling in the world and I'm just so in love with him! I never knew I could love something/someone so much. I adore watching him grow and learn things. I can't ever get enough time with him either! He's the sweetest thing on earth and I wouldn't have him any other way! Anyways, I think I've covered every second of my weekend! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Finally got some news

So, I found out my results from Friday's MRI yesterday. They found...NOTHING. I'm baffled to say the least. They're putting it off to upper IBS but still don't know what's causing me to vomit. The Vandy doctor said that he figures at the time, I probably did have Pancreatitis but doubts I ever had a blocked bile duct. He said it "might" have been blocked at that time but it isn't now. I'm irritated and upset about the whole situation. I went through all of this for no reason and still don't have an answer. There's been some mention of possibly Chron's or Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction or some other disease where your upper intestines clamp together, keeping food from digesting...I'd have to go through alot more testing to see if it's any of these other things and I'm just not up for it. My symptoms sound exactly like Sphincter of Oddi Dysfunction though. However, to diagnose it, the doctor would have to perform an ERCP on me and when the Jackson doctor attempted it in February, he was unable to even get in my bile duct to do the ERCP so it couldn't even be checked. Not to mention, the Vandy doctor said that he may not even be able to tell if I wasn't having a current flare-up. The doctor mentioned putting me on antispasmodics but I've taken some before and I either got bad side effects or they just didn't work. Oh well. I've done all that I can and it's just something I'll have to adjust to. Anyways, just thought I'd update since I've had a few people asking me what the status was.

Another Update

So, my Vanderbilt appointment with the pancreas/bile duct/liver specialist was Tuesday. We spent the night in Nashville Monday night so that I'd actually be on time to my 9:30 am appointment. The wait at the office wasn't bad at all and it was actually pretty easy to find my way around the clinic. The doctor I saw was pretty thorough and seemed to know what he's talking about. He informed me first thing, that he doesn't think I have a blocked bile duct. He said with almost every case of a blocked bile duct, the person will have jaundice and liver blood tests would come back abnormal, which I've had neither. As far as Pancreatitis goes, he said my previous blood work does indicate that diagnosis. However, he said that most of the time, an MRI or at least a cat scan is ordered, to image the pancreas and look to see how inflamed it is. It's possible, but rare, that some people have regularly high blood work that would show Pancreatitis when they don't really have it. I haven't had an MRI or cat scan so he can't guarantee that I've had Pancreatitis. We basically just discussed different diagnoses that my symptoms could possibly be attributed to and I had lab work done. I go back on Friday for an MRI to see what's going on. Currently, my levels involved with Pancreatitis are normal. I do have some other lab work that was off so I'll find out what he has to say about that Friday or soon after. When I first started having these symptoms, they did an ultrasound of my gallbladder and happened to find a spot on my liver, which I've been told by a couple of different doctors, is harmless. However, the Vanderbilt doctor said he feels we need to look at that as well during the MRI to make sure it's just a hemangioma. The following website describes what a hemangioma is in case you're curious. http://www.medicinenet.com/hepatic_hemangioma/article.htm. He said that "normally", these things are harmless but it should not be brushed off, saying they always need to be looked at closer and be re-checked in a few months to make sure it isn't something else. He also mentioned that he thinks I may be having spasming in my upper intestines, which is causing the pain and vomiting. I forgot the actual diagnosis he had for it but compared my intestine to a balloon. It will clamp together in certain areas, bunching food up in a big ball and it has nowhere to go, while it continues to spasm. This would also explain the vomiting. As if all of this information wasn't enough of a shocker, he informed me that the 2 procedures I had done in Jackson weren't the best decisions. The doctor here tried to do what is called an ERCP (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003893.htm) but was unsuccessful. The Vanderbilt doctor said that the ERCP should never be used as a diagnostic procedure but only if they had done a cat scan or MRI already and KNEW there was a stone or something in my duct that needed to be removed. The second procedure I had done here was when they tried to put a stent in my bile duct but were unsuccessful with it as well. He said, "honestly, I'm beyond shocked they even attempted something like that". I remember the day I had it done, the Interventional Radiologist performing the procedure came in and said, "I don't know that I should be doing this procedure on you". The Vanderbilt doctor just said that both procedures, particularly the latter, are very risky and I'm just lucky that nothing was damaged (or at least that we know of). He even said that they don't practice that procedure at Vanderbilt, unless a person is about to die and it's a last resort. I just hate that I've gone 3 months thinking that I had a blocked bile duct. While it doesn't matter, it's just disappointing and confusing. To be honest, I was satisfied with that diagnosis because it could be fixed. If I'm having spasming of the intestines, I'll have to take medication until it gets better and who knows when that will be. I despise starting new medications. Now I worry about finding something else as well. I am glad however that I have found a great doctor that seems very well-educated, experienced, and cares. Anyways, all I can do now is carry on with what advice he gives me. Hopefully, after the MRI results come back, which will hopefully be on Monday, we can come to some sort of conclusion/diagnosis. Everyone have a great week and weekend!

The big day!

So, Tuesday's the day I've been waiting on for a while now. I was supposed to go to Vanderbilt to see the pancreas/bile duct specialist on May 10th. They called me Thursday to let me know that they had an opening on April 19th, which is this Tuesday. I was thrilled, to say the least! My appointment is at 9:30 that morning so Barrett's going to stay with my mom Monday night and we're going on to Nashville after work tomorrow. Barrett hasn't spent the night at my parents' house in months so they are excited to have him. I'm eager to see what this doctor has to say and what he wants to do about the situation. I'm a little nervous about waking up during whatever procedure he's going to do, like I did both times at JMCGH, but I'm trying not to think about it. On another note, Barrett's getting so big. He's still not rolling over but he's holding himself up like a champ. We tried cereal again Friday night and he actually liked it this time. I also got him a big boy carseat last week, which he used for the first time today. It's sad how fast they grow up. He goes to bed between 9 and 11 pm every night and sleeps for about 9 hours, which means he gets up between 6 and 8 am. It's great! We've been blessed to have such a good baby. He's still going to Mother's Day Out at Englewood on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Ty's mom keeps him on Wednesdays and occasionally another day or two during the week. It's been really nice to have a little bit of "me" time again. I normally work when he's away but sometimes I go shopping or use the day to clean the house or run errands. Speaking of, I cleaned house today and I must say, it feels great to have a sparkly clean house!Barrett loves to watch Mickey. He likes sitting in his swing, bouncy seat, or Bumbo and play with toys...mainly toys he can fit in his mouth and chew on. He still naps quite a bit during the day. He takes around 8 ounces of formula every 2.5+ hours. He likes to be rocked to sleep still which I'm definitely not complaining about ;). He's just started caring about Lilly. Ty will hold Barrett, facing away from him, and chase Lilly around the house. He holds Barrett low near the ground and he just giggles and loves it! Lilly likes it too! They're just too sweet together. I'm loving my little family right now! Below is a video showing Lilly and Barrett together.
Barrett was extremely fussy last Thursday and Friday. Finally, Friday night, we decided to take him to Convenient Care and sure enough, he had an ear infection in his left ear. He was so fussy for about 3 or 4 days and he's acting like he feels much better now. We just finished our antibiotic today! Anyways, I have to run to Kroger (yes, it's 11 pm) to get a few things and get this boy to bed before I leave! I hope everyone has a good week. I'll try to get back on here after my appointment Tuesday for an update.