30!

Tuesday marked Brad's 30 years in the world. This makes the 12th birthday I've gotten to share with Brad. There is no one I'd rather share growing older with and I love that Brad and I have gotten to share in life's adventures with each other for all these years now and grow and mature together. I wanted to make this birthday a little extra special since it was a milestone birthday after all. On Brad's actual birthday I filled it with all of his favorite things and that evening gave him his surprise...Saturday morning we'd drop the kids off with my parents and stay the weekend at the Four Seasons in one of their villas. A little mini "staycation". It.Was.Heaven. We did a lot of lounging by the pool, pina colada in hand, reading, talking just being relaxed. We of course walked by the ballroom we got married in which is always special to revisit. Brad said it was the perfect birthday and I'm so glad we could share in such a special weekend together. HUGE thank you to my parents for making it all possible for us to "get away".
Here is a picture of us poolside that Brad took with his phone. You can see him snapping the picture in the reflection of his glasses, ha!
Happy Birthday My Love! Hope all your wishes come true this year!

Medical Mystery

Today was Brady's 9 month checkup. Brady weighed in at 16 lbs 8 oz and 28" long. He is still on the lowest end of the curve possible for weight, however, he is still on the same growth curve as he's been on, so no worry from the doctor. Of course we'll continue to keep a close eye to make sure he's gaining enough. For the most part Brady got a glowing report...meeting all milestones, etc. However, I asked the doc about the small lump on Brady's belly. I had brought it up several months ago when I first discovered it to the P.A. while we were there for one of Brady's ear infections. She seemed a little stumped but her first guess was a hernia and wasn't of concern, but we would just monitor it to make sure it didn't grow. But when the pediatrician looked at it, he immediately ruled out the lump being a hernia. But he was stumped. He stared at it, felt it, stared some more. And just was basically speechless. He said wellll, I don't even know where to start with diagnosing this. Great. He then called in another doctor in the group to take a look and she was stumped as well. He didn't think it would show up on a sonogram so didn't think we should go that route. He thought perhaps it is a cyst, even though the lump is underneath the skin. So, he referred us to a dermatologist. Not sure how I feel about seeing a dermatologist for a lump that isn't even on his skin, but I guess we'll start there and see. So now we wait a month for that appointment. In the mean time more worrying. Can we just get a healthy Brady?? PLEASE!
But to end on a cute note...Brady has started giving kisses. If you ask for kisses and lean in your cheek he opens his mouth and "kisses" your cheek. This boy makes my heart melt on a daily basis.

Mr. Cool

Nickname given by Grandma and Grandpa...I think its pretty fitting!
We went to the mall on Saturday as a sanctuary away from the heat. At one point we walked by the ice rink and no one was on it. Blake asked, "Where hockey go? Where hockey go?" He has such an amazing memory! Awhile later, we walked back by and there was hockey practice going on... Blake's reaction, "HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY!" His eyes were GLUED to the ice. Anytime we tried to leave he cried for more hockey. Here is a pic of the way he stood for I think fifteen minutes straight. In toddler time I think that's equivalent to an hour.

Brady's Ear Capades

We woke up at the crack of dawn this morning and had to be at Medical City by 6:30am. I was a little anxious about two things for the day ahead. The first, of course is Brady being put under anesthesia. The other, Brady not being able to eat from his feeding the night before until after the procedure. I didn't want him to be screaming for hours in the morning before his surgery. They had us get to the hospital entirely too early, as they had us registered and Brady's stats documented by 7 and didn't take us down (or up) for surgery until 8. Brad and I were cursing them for not allowing us the extra zzzzzz's! We only had maybe five hours of sleep after an already sleep deprived past few nights and we were tirrrrred. My second fear of Brady not being able to eat was dismissed. Brady was in his true form...smiley, happy and making all the nurses swoon! What a blessing Brady's happy demeanor is, even while going through so much health wise. At around 8 they gave Brady some "sleepy juice" to help ease any anxiety of being taken away from mom and dad. Brady was so entertaining after that. From the time they took Brady away until we were told he did great was maybe fifteen minutes? There was a mom in the waiting room waiting for her little boy who was in heart surgery. I can't even imagine. I felt so silly sitting in there worrying about Brady having tubes put in.
My second fear of Brady being under anesthesia was kind of dismissed. Brady was out and then awake in about 15 minutes, so he did great in that regard. As we walked down the hall to the recovery area where Brady was we could hear Brady screaming his lungs out. I tried holding him, feeding him, rocking him. Nothing worked. I have never heard Brady scream so violently and for such a long period of time. It was heart breaking. He threw up. I felt so helpless for my baby. I was finally able to get him to stop crying and pass out after what seemed like an eternity. Then his oxygen levels fell too low. He had to put on an oxygen mask. We'd try taking him off the oxygen and then back down, mask back on. Rinse and repeat. This had my stomach a little in knots, just wanting Brady to be okay. Brady finally leveled out and after another hour we were able to leave. Longest day ever and it was only 11. We're exhausted but I am grateful everything went relatively smoothly and just pray these tiny little tubes provide a huge relief for Brady.

Blake's Disguise