Playing outside!

After feeling like we have been cooped up in the house for AGES, we ventured outside with Daddy. He and the other neighborhood guys were playing campus golf on the island near our street, so we joined him.
Cutter had a great time "trying" to walk up the hill. It was a bit of a challenge. I give a month and he will have conquered "the hill". He tried so hard, but was unable and just kept falling and rolling back down.

He was able to crawl up the hill, but not walk it. He was determined to get up that hill some how. It was quite windy outside, so we didn't stay out long. Just long enough to get some fresh air. I can't WAIT til Spring, I already know it will be my saving grace when I go on maternity leave.

Cutter loves to be outside, what boy doesn't? BRING ON THE WARM WEATHER!!

The First Time Climber!!

First off, let me apologize for the big butt shots! I was trying to capture the moment and he wouldn't stay still long enough for me to put his pants back on!
After waking from his 3 hour nap, Cutter was in the best mood he had been in in six months. He proceeded to climb on our coffee table. Not sure if it is a new sense of freedom, but he sure was determined. I probably committed mommy sin number 1! I let him do it, the first 2 times. After that I told him no, but a Mommy has to do what a Mommy has to do to get some good pictures of a first He only tried to do it a few times, and hasn't tried since! I almost wanted him to do again last night so Greg could see it, but I decided against it. Maybe letting his do it 3 times would be sending the wrong message!!
FINALLY!! He did it, and he was so proud of himself!!

Just another milestone to make off the list!

Climbing tables - check

Mommy letting him do it - check

Just one more thing to tell him "no" to -check

The look of accomplishment - PRICELESS!!

Surgery - He's a CHAMP!!

Our lil man is CHAMP!! He came through his tubes surgery without a problem.

The alarm clock rang at 5:00, we were to report to the hospital by 6:30. Greg and I both took showers and prepared ourselves for what we thought would be a long morning. After getting ourselves ready we went and woke our lil man up for the biggest day of his life. We had one breathing treatment left to do and then we would be on our way. We arrived at the hospital right at 630, (too close to call for me, I would have been there at 6:00, but Greg insisted that leaving the house at 6 would be fine. I was right, we needed to leave earlier, nonetheless, we arrived right on time), we got our champ registered for surgery, and then waited!! At about 6:50, they called us back to the operating prep-room. Cutter fell in love with his nurse, Kathy, she did a great job at keeping him entertained while she did the things she needed to do - get his blood pressure, listen to his heart, and get a pulse ox. We got him dressed in his little gown and he was all ready to go. All we needed was to meet the anesthesiologist, Dr. Moore, see the ENT doctor, Dr West, and he would be on his way. While we were waiting for Dr. Moore, all the nurses came over and just loved on Cutter. That made him happy. He was in a GREAT mood all morning, despite not having anything to eat or drink since 8 pm the previous night.Dr. Moore came and we talked about Cutter having any allergies, any health issues, the plan of action. Cutter would just be sedated with a "laughing" gas. No IV or intubating needed here! He requested that Cutter be given a "calming" medicine with was given orally. It took about 10 minutes for the "calming" medicine to take effect, but once it did, Cutter got the giggles!! Here he is laughing at Daddy.Dr. West came by to talk to us and let us know that the surgery would only take about 15 minutes and that we should wait in the waiting room right outside the prep-room, he would come get us when it was over. Daddy handed Cutter over to the surgery nurse and Mommy started BAWLING her eyes out!! I couldn't stop crying. I gave Cutter one last kiss and one last "I love you" before he left. Before I knew it, he was laughing with the nurse and walking away from me. My little boy was being such a BIG BOY!!Greg and I went out to the waiting room and discussed finding me something to eat (I was feeling nauseous) . There was a cafe down the hall and I needed some toast, so off Daddy went. While he was gone, literally 15 minutes, Dr. West came out to tell me that Cutter did GREAT and he was all done! There wasn't much fluid and his ear weren't protruding like we thought they would be, so everything went off with a hitch. "Great, so when can I see my baby?" I asked. He told me they would come get me in 10-15 minutes. Dr. Moore came out 2 minutes later to tell me that he was the best baby he had ever sedated, he NEVER cried! I was so proud of him. 10 minutes later the recovery room nurse came to get us and warned us that most babies cry for up to an hour, they are quite sure why they feel the way they feel, and that he wasn't in any pain. Cutter didn't start crying until he saw us and there wasn't much consoling I could do (which is frustrating, by the way). It took us about 15 minutes to get him to calm down, some cranberry juice, an orange Popsicle later - we were out the door and into the truck! Time: 830. We got our little champ home and fed him some homemade pancakes and he all well. They were right when they said you wouldn't even know he had surgery by 10. He was still on cloud 9 when I made him lay down and he was out for 3 hours. After he got up from a nap, he was in the greatest mood, swinging his arms and having a good ole time CLIMBING on the coffee table. That is a first, which I will post photos from his climbing in action later, I don't know if he has a new daredevil attitude now or if he was just feeling that good. Whatever it is I am glad that I have my happy little CHAMP back!!

RSV and Tubes!

This has been what we have been doing every 4 hours! Needless to say we have been staying quite close to the house. On Saturday, Cutter started getting a runny nose and a slight cough. By Monday, it was a horrible cough along with the runny nose.

Monday morning we had an appointment with the ENT to discuss getting tubes in Cutter's ears. Cutter has had chronic ear infections since he was 6 months old and this qualifies him to get tubes. While at the ENT we did 3 hearing test, all came back letting us know that Cutter can't hear anything but muffled noises, due to the fluid on his ears. We scheduled the surgery for Monday, February 16th at 730 in the morning, please be praying that the surgery goes as smoothly for us as the Doctor is hoping. After the fluid is released from his ears we will do another hearing test to make sure there wasn't any other damage done to his ear drums and he should be able to hear normal. Cutter says a few words, but nothing more than "Momma", "Dadda" or "that". After the surgery his vocabulary should excel, if not we will talk about going to a speech therapist, but the ENT doc sounded confident that we are getting tubes early enough that it shouldn't be an issue. Cutter also has another ear infection brewing so we started him on antibiotics.

After the ENT appt we had an appointment with his normal pediatrician that I had scheduled way before him getting the cough and runny nose. Since the ENT had already given us a prescription, I thought about canceling it, but I am soooo glad I didn't! My mother always told me to trust my intuition, (I thought she was talking about when he was older, you know, about when you think he is getting into mischief), BOY was I wrong. My intuition told me to go ahead and take him in. We got there, the pediatrician took one listen to his lungs and knew he was getting the beginning stages of RSV!! She took his pulse ox level, normal is 100, Cutter's was 92. They immediately gave him a steroid shot to open his lungs up and we did a breathing treatment right when we got home. We will continue to do the breathing treatments til Monday, when he will get the tubes. We have a follow-up appointment tomorrow with the pediatrician, so hopefully we will get good news that the treatments ARE working. I think they are, he sounds a lot BETTER!!

Poor little guy has had a hard last few months, I feel like he is ALWAYS sick! Hopefully once he gets the tubes, everything will drain just fine and he will stop having these chronic infections. Keep us in your prayers that everything will go just fine on Monday and we will have our happy little boy back soon!

Doing Well

We are doing well here in the Nix home. Cutter is getting more and more of a little personality and we are enjoying watching him grow into a little boy. I feel like my baby disappeared, turned into a toddler and becoming more of little boy over night. New things he's doing include but not limited to dancing, pointing and saying "that", using mustand and ketchup and LOVING IT!!

As for me, I am finally feeling some what human again. Our appointment on Monday went well, we were hoping to maybe get a little peek to see if we "might" be able to tell what he/she was, but this baby was not having any of it and did not cooperate at ALL! Patsy (the ult tech) had a hard time even getting the measurements she needed, but we heard the heart beat. It is hanging in there around 167. What an amazing thing to hear. We feel more and more blessed as the days go on to know that we are adding another little blessing into our family.

On a sadder note, I am asking all of you to keep The Mac's in your thoughts and prayers as they go through the most difficult time of their lives. This morning their little girl, Cora, lost her 3 week battle with Neuroblastoma. I don't know them personally, but have been reading their blog for awhile and my heart is just breaking for them. I can not imagine the pain they are going through right now. Please do your best to remember to pray for them and that God gives them the strength to live another day.