Just a family update

We have had a very busy week, so not much time for pictures the past few days, but I will get back on it in a couple of days after our crazy week is over. We have had activities of some sort every day after work and then still have to fit in dinner, bath time and a decently early bedtime.

Hayden is absolutely loving his new school still! He has already learned so much and I am just amazed. He has also never cried there once and that shows me just how happy he is. In just a week and a half, they have tought him about circles, squares, octagons, triangles and hexagons. He knows how many sides each of them have and points out random objects that look like the shapes. At costco today he saw a sign in the employees only area and exclaimed, "Mommy, that's a square! It has four sides!" At first I thought geometry was a little much for a not even three-year old but they teach these things in an extremely creative and relaxed way and make it fun. Hayden is so excited about learning and that's just great. His school is NAEYC accredited and it's definitely not just for show or so they can say, "We are NAEYC accredited". They really care about the best interest of each child and that just warms my heart.

I am also loving my job and it is so exciting to work with a different dynamic of children. We have regular 2-parent families, single mothers, single fathers and grandparent caregivers as well. I love such a wide range of ages as well. At first I wasn't so sure that working with 3-5 year olds mixed was a great idea, but it actually works well. We have some 3 year-olds that are actually teaching the 5 year-olds things and vice versa.

Matt's job is the usual and he loves it still, so there's not much going on there. He did get his 3 year review a few weeks ago and he got absolutely wonderful marks on EVERYTHING! He was told to keep it up and some great opportunities may come up in the next year for him!

This weekend is going to finally cool off so we are planning to play some golf, go to the zoo and also catch up on some fun projects we have been planning such as letting Hayden wash the car and doing our family walks for exercise! I'm sure there will be plenty of great pictures to come. Also, on October 14th, Hayden is getting professional pictures taken at school and the backgrounds are beautiful. I will definitely order enough to share and send them out to everyone when we get them back! Hope everyone's week is going well!

who cares?

As most of you know, Hayden sleeps with us. I used to be embarrased and not tell people because I didn't want them to think we were crazy, but now I absolutely love it and I don't care who has a problem with it. It works for us and that's all that matters.

When Hayden was born he had some pretty severe heart rate and breathing issues for the first 2 weeks. He had Bradicardia and RDS (Respiratory Distress Syndrome). He also had jaundice so bad that the nurses affectionately called him "pumpkin". When he was released from the hospital after 2 weeks, we were told to check him every 30 minutes to make sure he was breathing and his color was ok. It was too unsafe to have a 4 pound, 2 ounce baby (his weight when we left the hospital) sleep with us, even on the couch or in a chair. Matt's boss gave us a basinette on wheels and we would move it around to suit our needs throughout the day and put it next to me at night so I could wake up with my phone alarm, check him or feed him if it was time and put him back. Needless to say, we weren't sleeping AT ALL and Matt was working full time because it was Preseason and he had to. Finlly after about a month of this, Hayden didn't have any more scares where his color got funny and we were able to let him sleep longer without making him eat every 2 hours, so we were able to sleep a little better. We brought Hayden's crib into our room so I could still feed him easier and I still wanted to be able to peek at him every now and then.

He actually slept in his crib from around 6 weeks old until right after he turned one. Then all hell broke loose. Hayden got pneumonia and we spent 12 hours in the ER waiting for a diagnosis, followed by 24 terrible hours of waiting for the antibiotics to kick in. A lady at Hayden's old school brought her daughter to school a couple of times that season with pneumonia and since the administration doesn't follow a very strict sick policy, she was never sent home. Hayden of course picked it up since he was a preemie and didn't have the greatest immune system at that point. He slept literally on top of me for 6 days, 24 hours a day while he was sick and after that would never sleep in his crib again. We tried several things like crying it out and "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" but he just never bought in to any of that. He slept well after that ordeal, snuggled next to us for months and months.

About 10 months ago, we took apart the crib and put it in storage and Matt surprised me with a toddler bed and Elmo bedding one afternoon. We put the bed next to the wall, touching my side of the bed. We asked him one night if he wanted to sleep next to me in his bed and he said, "Ok" and has been in his bed since then. We periodically will ask him if he wants to move his bed to his room and sleep by himself and we always get the same answer, "Nope, I like sleeping with Mommy and Daddy." It's actually kind of comforting for me, and for Matt as well because we can just reach over and touch his head anytime we want to check on him. And waking up is the best...He crawls on top of us and says, "Get up! It's time to have breakfast and play!" I just wish he would sleep in past 5 am some days...but that's not happening so oh well. I have decided that he won't be 35 still sleeping next to us in his toddler bed, so who cares? Just had to share that, I have seen lots of stuff lately about it being unacceptable to sleep with your kids and I don't feel that way at all.

What's next?

The past few days, I have been thinking to myself, what's the next stage we will encounter with Hayden? The past few months, he has been such a big kid and I think we may be over the "baby" phase. We went from starting solid foods to crawling to walking, then running, and potty training and now it seems we are out of huge changes. I suppose the next stage will be when he turns 3 and gets a 3 year-old attitude and maybe an independence phase. I keep thinking how insanely lucky we are that he is a well-mannered, sweet kid and we don't have severe switches in his mood from day to day. Sure, he's not perfect and will occasionally have a 30 second tantrum, but overall I think we are looking at a big kid in the making! It's kind of sad but also exciting because we are having a blast doing all the "big kid" activities that come along with him being older.

Weekend Adventures...

We had a very relaxing weekend and it was so nice. We golfed at the driving range, had Movers and Shakers class, went to a neighbor's 3rd birthday party where Hayden had a blast, Matt and I walked Reid park Saturday night, we went to 17th street market (Jane bought lots of English favorites that we didn't expect them to have!) and Hayden played in his sprinkler and his sand box. It was one of those weekends that are full of great memories...and great pictures too! It's afternoons like these that I dread going to work the next day because we have had so much fun, although Hayden has been asking to go to school all day today because he wants to hug his teacher! We are finally all settled into a routine and it's fabulous.

Hayden and Meemaw

Hayden and his MeeMaw have lots of special songs and games that they do together. Most of them are old English songs and they are adorable. Hayden sings them with an absolutely perfect English accent. This video is from last week and he was just learning the song. I have to get him to do it again so you can hear his sweet little accent. He sings the song all the time now and I love it; I'll try to get him to do it again tomorrow!

I could watch this kid sleep for hours!

Relief and Something wierd

Well, the good news came yesterday...Hayden only has an allergy to dairy! Yay, we already knew that and are already doing everything we can to keep him off of it! The doctor wants to send him to a GI Dr. to have him looked at to see why he gets diarrhea sometimes, but we think it's from foods that are processed on equipment that produces dairy products, so we have cut all of that out as well and of course, no diarrhea! We have decided not to take him to a GI Dr. unless he develops any new symptoms. We don't think he needs to be put through anymore poking and prodding at this point. We are SUPER relieved and can now go on with his special diet with no new restricions!


Now for my story...
Today we were in Target, looking for a birthday present for a neighbor's party tomorrow afternoon. We had just found our gift and a very elderly hispanic woman approached us. I am used to that as many older women have come up to us in the past to tell me how pretty Hayden's eyes are. This old lady was a little different and had an awesome energy about her. She asked me in very broken english, "Can I touch his head?" I was a little caught off guard and normally would walk away, but she was very sweet and also very old, so I agreed. She kissed her hand and ran her fingers through Hayden's hair. She then said in spanish something about beautiful blonde boys and this boy being like a blonde angel and that he blessed her life today! I was a little confused because I only understand a little spanish, but that's the stuff I was able to pick out. I wish I knew more of what she said. I was still sort of confused by the whole thing so I told her thank you in spanish, patted her on the shoulder and made my exit. Hayden was also a little baffled by the whole thing but he patiently smiled at this woman the whole time and then waved goodbye to her and said, "Have a good day!" I am assuming that this is some sort of superstition or hispanic folklore but now I am absolutely determined to find out about it. I came away from it feeling great because it clearly really did make her day and I was honored that she thought Hayden was beautiful. I will never forget that encounter, even though it was kind of strange and I really hope she did get blessed by my little blonde angel!

Another Week!

Well, I called the Dr. once again today and was told the lab is a week behind schedule on everything. This means it could be until next Thursday before we get Hayden's test results! So far I have cut out all dairy, whey and casein and we are doing great! He still isn't eating much but hasn't thrown up in about a week. I am assuming we will get the result that these are the three allergies...I am just hoping for no more. We also need to know how severe the allergy is because last time he had a bad incident with the Cheez-It, his cheeks got puffy in addition to the throwing up and the pain. I want to make sure that if he does have a "contact allergy" that we get an Epi-Pen right away. For now, he isn't touching anything that has touched dairy!

Hayden is thriving in his new school and has a crush on his teacher, Ms. Prairie! He has learned so much already and has several friends that he has been talking about. We DEFINITELY made the right decision! I have some pics to post of golf but we have been SO busy! I'll try to get around to it tomorrow! Love to All!

Hayden's First Day!

Today was Hayden's first day at his new Preschool and he did AWESOME! I was really worried since he had just been to such a horrible home daycare and now Mee-Maw does the drop off (it's $300 a month cheaper to just bring him in 8:30 and pick him up at 2:30). He cried when Mee-Maw left him, which was clearly harder on her than in was him because he improved immediately after she left. His teachers said he had a wonderful time and never cried after that. They also made lots of comments about how well he speaks for his age and couldn't believe he can read several letters and numbers! They said they were really glad they put him with the 3 year-olds so he can be challenged. He came home today already and said, "I painted a picture of an octogon and it has 8 sides!" An octogon? That's freakin awesome for his first day of school! He has been in a GREAT mood all afternoon and was so excited to play golf at the driving range. We definitely made the right decision and I am unbelieveably happy we did...Especially because he is only going 28 hours a week, so he is officially just a "part-time preschooler"! I can't wait to see what else he learns tomorrow...something I haven't EVER been able to say with any of his other teachers! Pictures from the driving range to come tomorrow...my camera is charging.

On a side note, still no allergy panel test results! I called the Dr.'s office today and of course never received a call back. They better hope I hear something by the two-week deadline Thursday or I will call every hour until I get an answer. Wish us luck for a response tomorrow!

Birthday Fun

We had an absolutely wonderful day today celebrating Matt's birthday. He is definitely the shy type and doesn't like his birthday to be made a big deal, but we had some awesome activities just spending time together.

First thing this morning, we had a little yard sale with some random baby items, old furniture, etc. I normally would turn my nose up at a yard sale and just give the stuff away, but Mee-Maw had the day off today and we went for it. I never imagined having such a good time. We talked to lots of people from Mexico who yard sale for a living and it was fun to hear stories of the things they had bought from other people and most of them were wonderful to spend a few minutes with, digging through our treasures. We ended up selling everything we had by 9:00 and got to spend a couple of hours relaxing as a family. During the sale, Matt took Hayden to his first Movers and Shakers for the fall session and he said Hayden had a great time and was very excited to see his good friend M.

After a quick lunch and Hayden's nap, we went to the bowling alley for 2 hours of cosmic bowling. Hayden had a great time both using the little ramp to roll the ball and also throwing it himself. He actually got a few strikes with the ramp and also loved watching Mommy, Daddy and Mee-Maw bowl.

When we were exhausted from bowling and playing arcade games, we went shopping at Target and got Hayden a new lunch box for his first day Monday and he got a new adorable wooden step stool since he hasn't needed help with the potty for a very long time. We had fun wandering Target with Grammy and Mee-Maw and he of course got spoiled with some new hot wheels cars...He always knows how to sweet-talk the grandmas!

For dinner, we made Matt his favorite meal: Steak on the grill, salad and beans. it was delicious and Hayden even had some beef sausage once we fibbed and called it hot dogs! I mostly just have pics of bowling from today, but they are very cute!

Happy birthday to Matt...I love you!

My boys!

I was scrolling through the camera about to post the pictures of Matt's birthday and I found about 30 pictures of Matt and Hayden waiting in the car outside my school. They are the most adorable and creative pictures and I have to share them. These photos brought tears to my eyes. Matt and Hayden have such a special relationship, way beyond father and son...They are truly best friends forever and I am so grateful for that every second.

Seriously?

Ok, I understand that lab tests have to be sent out, and they take time, yada yada yada...But seriously, I am a little over the waiting game and now I get to worry for yet another weekend. We got the results of his cell counts and regular blood panel and they were, of course normal. We expected that since we weren't concerned about leukemia or somerandom blood thing. We need the food allergy panel! I am really trying not to call her but it is SO frustrating! Tell us what he's allergic to so we can move on with our lives!

Anyways, The good news is Hayden starts his first Movers and Shakers class for the fall session tomorrow and he is more than ready to get back into it! We are also having a yard sale tomorrow so Hayden gets to play store for real. I will post pics! Tomorrow also is Matt's birthday. Our big 28 year old will celebrate by grilling steaks and going to Frost for gelato!

Seriously?

Ok, I understand that lab tests have to be sent out, and they take time, yada yada yada...But seriously, I am a little over the waiting game and now I get to worry for yet another weekend. We got the results of his cell counts and regular blood panel and they were, of course normal. We expected that since we weren't concerned about leukemia or somerandom blood thing. We need the food allergy panel! I am really trying not to call her but it is SO frustrating! Tell us what he's allergic to so we can move on with our lives!

Anyways, The good news is Hayden starts his first Movers and Shakers class for the fall session tomorrow and he is more than ready to get back into it! We are also having a yard sale tomorrow so Hayden gets to play store for real. I will post pics! Tomorrow also is Matt's birthday. Our big 28 year old will celebrate by grilling steaks and going to Frost for gelato!

New Preschool!

As some of you may now, Hayden has been going to a family friend's home daycare since I started my job. It started out ok, but the past two weeks he has been VERY unhappy there. He isn't sleeping well, seems really grumpy and he tells us to please not take him back there. We decided enough is enough and pulled him out of there. I enrolled him in a very sweet little preschool right down the street from my work and he can go there until he turns 3, which is wen he can start at my school. It is WAY more expensive than the home daycare which will no doubt make things harder for a few months, but we decided he comes first and we will just make it work.

I am very excited because the director felt after taking to him that he was too verbal and social to be with the 2's and he's the only potty trained one, so he is going straight into the 3's class on Monday. I think he will love the challenge as we are already seeing him want to read numbers and letters. Words he can recognize when written on paper already: Hayden, Duffin, TriSports, Target, Mommy. I am by no means pushing him to learn any of this, he just always wants us to tell him what words are and how to say them. I guess we will just keep doing fun things with words and numbers as he seems interested in it...Maybe we have one of those kids that reads at 3 1/2 on our hands...we shall see. He also wants us to add things up for him such as crackers, blocks, etc. He will pick up a block, say, "I have one block" and I will hand him another and he will say, "I have two blocks now. One block and one block makes two blocks." It's really fun to watch him play games like this and he makes them up on his own. I am proud of my little guy and I can't wait to see how happy he is with a group of 7 other kids in a nurturing environment where he will feel safe and loved.

Still waiting on the blood test results! Hoping to get a call any day now! I am trying not to be the tyical annoying mother who calls 50 times when the doctor clearly said, "This is a priority for me since Hayden is having so many problems and I promise I will call you as soon as i have the results in hand." It's still kinda hard to believe them sometimes! I will update as soon as we hear something!

So creative!

Every day I am absolutely amazed at the creativity that comes out of Hayden. I can't believe some of the games he comes up with. This evening, after his bath, he said, "Mommy, I would like to play store. Will you shop at my store?" I of course agreed and watched as he gathered his cash register, play money (made by Mommy a few weeks ago) and his shopping bag. Then he pulled a bunch of play food out and arranged it all on the table. After he was done arranging it the way he wanted, he yelled, "The store is open!" and handed me a shopping bag. I was told to leave the room and come back to shop. When I re-entered the room, he said, "Hello Ma'am, What would you like to buy today?" I nearly burst out laughing and crying at the same time because it was such a grown up thing to say, and he had clearly thought about the way to greet his customer. We played several times, switching roles as cashier and customer and Daddy and Meemaw joined in as well. He carefully rung up our items, weighed the produce and of course charged us astronomical amounts of money for our purchases! At 2 years and 8 months, I am just so proud of everything he does and he is truly a very intelligent and articulate little boy. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

Fun Times

We have had a great weekend so far and are thrilled we still have one more day to go before it's back to work. On friday night, we went with some friends to the Tucson Racquet Club Friday night BBQ and had a lot of fun. Hayden had a blast running in the grass there and was thrilled when other children joined his game of racing then crashing into the grass. There was also a band and Hayden shook his little booty several times, it was really sweet.

Today, we made french toast for breakfast and Hayden ate quite a bit (His was made separately with his special ingredients). Then I pulled out his pop-up tent pieces and we made a fort in the living room with a sheet over it. Hayden and Matt had the time of their lives in it and I have a feeling this will be a new favorite game of ours. We also decided to finally take advantage of our YMCA membership and we went swimming in the wading pool and also let Hayden play on there amazing playground. There are soft wood chips, big tires to climb in and a brand new climber with a rock wall and bridge. He had a great time exploring it all and said many times, "Let's come back tomorrow with Mee-Maw!" This afternoon, Hayden's godparents, Hayley and James came over for an afternoon of playing and hanging out and then we made delicious chicken parmesean and watched "Earth". Hayden was tuckered out and fell asleep at 6:45! We had some nice adult hangout time and I was glad he had such a wonderful day. Hopefully tomorrow brings more relaxation and fun times...Especially in the fort!

Just a quick update

Well, just wanted to update that we got Hayden's last set of blood drawn today. I will spare you the datails but it was a rough afternoon and pretty traumatic. Apparently he has small veins and they are deep, not pressed against the skin. This happens with a lot of kids and they said it is fairly common that it can be hard to get blood from them. Thanks for the heads up AFTER we have been through all of it...Really appreciate that one! The testing if over for now and we should hopefully have all of his results by next friday. Until then, we are checking ingredients of ANYTHING he comes in contact with and keeping with the no dairy. He hasn't thrown up in a couple of days (his usual pattern...no vomit for a couple days and then several days in a row, etc.) but still has the diarrhea so we are hoping for an answer as to what the other allergy is very soon! We have a pretty mellow weekend ahead but are planning on swimming and playing at the park for sure, so there will inevitably be some adorable pictures posted soon! Love to everyone!

Back Yard Antics

This afternoon, we decided to just hang out in the backyard. Hayden rode his bike and then figured out how to turn on the hose and completely soaked Matt and I. It was lots of fun and seemed to cheer him up since he was a little down about yesterday's Dr. visits. Praying for a quick and easy time at the lab tomorrow!

Hopefully heading down the right path!

Well, I called Dr. G's office this morning and her receptionist attempted to tell me Hayden couldn't be seen for another 2 weeks. I threw a huge fit, made her call the doctor personally and they squeezed us in this afternoon. Normally I would have just agreed to wait, but I am not doing that anymore. It's time to stand up for Hayden and get him the care he needs for his poor little tummy. At our appointment, Dr. G looked him over and said except for the fact that he hasn't gained weight since she saw him 8 months ago (he's still 26 pounds), his tummy felt ok to the touch and he sounded fine. She ordered a complete lab workup on him including tests for 20 food allergies, a Celiac's disease test (for a gluten allergy), and lots of tests for his blood cells and vitamins and such. She explained that if those tests come back positive for the allergies, it will tell us how severe they are and how much we have to cut out. If they are negative, we will go to a Gastroenterologist because she isn't happy about him having so much diharrea. She said that a child his size can't be losing all of his nutrients like that for much longer because it will make him ill. Dr. G thinks that he has the dairy allergy and some sort of other allergy that is lurking with it, still causing random symptoms even though he is eating dairy-free. We also got Hayden's FluMist vaccine while we were at it. That thing is wonderful...just 2 little puffs of nasal spray and he's covered for the regular flu. We will definitely be getting the H1N1 vaccine next month as well. She said the results of the blood test will take a week so we decided to head to the lab...

I have never seen a Dr.'s office with no magazines, no toys, no books and no tv to entertain the patients! I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in the lab office and saw chairs and only chairs. Thank god I am an over-prepared parent because we would have been in serious meltdown mode after a few minutes. We passed the hour wait by playing with cars and talking to some sweet old ladies whom Hayden won over by showing them his cars. He didn't care that he didn't know these women at all...He went on and on about what he had done today and his new fish, etc. The ladies all got sad when they called our name to go to the back. I think he really brightened up the lab visit for some sweet elderly women who don't get to interact with children all too much. Once we got to the back, I was informed that the Dr. ordered 6 vials of blood (6, seriously?) but the lab tech said based on his weight she wouldn't take more than 3...so guess who gets to go back Thursday for 3 more. I think it was harder on me to be honest. I felt so bad holding him down with him sobbing "No, don't poke me lady." I had that mother instinct of wanting to pull the needle out of the lady's hand and run out of there, but I stuck with it and we got it done. I'm really not happy about having to go back, but he took it very well the first time, so I am hoping the same for the return visit. A few minutes after the visit, we drove to go pick up Matt at work and Hayden fell asleep right away. I am guessing the blood draw just knocked him out. Wish us luck for Thursday. I am just so ready to figure this out and not see him throw up anymore. Hoefully we are on the way there!

Our Awesome Labor Day

Today, Hayden has been in underwear for a whole 6 months. Not that anyone else cares, but I am proud of my little guy!

We had a wonderful, relaxing day today. We went to the zoo for 2 hours and just enjoyed the breeze and shade. It really didn't seem like Arizona this morning. There was a wonderful post-rain smell in the air and Hayden had the time of his life going to each animal's pen and telling us stories about what the animals do. After we had been through the whole zoo, some of it twice, we headed to Applebees for lunch with Grammy. Hayden ate some of the food I packed for him and also had french fries. He seemed perfectly accepting of the fact that the little boy at the next table had macaroni and cheese and he had to wait until later for Mommy to make his special mac and cheese. (More about the food allergy thing at the end of this post).

After a lovely lunch, we headed home to just spend a few hours together relaxing. Hayden only took a 20 minute nap, but sometimes it's more fun to play! This evening we went to Udall park and ran around under the trees. Hayden spent 45 minutes playing soccer with us and the kid is amazing at it! He can run across the field dribbling the ball with his feet while maintaining his balance. He is definitely getting cleats, shin guards and an official ball for his birthday. He keeps asking when he can play soccer but I don't want to tell him he can play in March yet because all I will hear for 6 months is, "Is it March yet?"

The final thing we did today was visit Frost. It's an Italian gelato shop that has tons of dairy-free sorbets to choose from. Hayden was able to pick out a flavor (banana) and he ate the whole bowl of it. No doubt this will be one of our new favorite activities. He has really missed having ice cream.

On a not-so-light note, we are taking Hayden to the doctor this week because it appears his allergy is getting worse. He has had diarrhea for 2 weeks and Friday he threw up from ONE Cheez It cracker. Just two weeks ago he ate a whole bowl of them and was totally fine. The doctor said kids with dairy allergies can still eat baked goods containing dairy due to the "milk protein" being baked off, but obviously that doesn't apply to Hayden for some reason. We want to get him allergy tested since he is having the diarrhea even with a dairy-free diet. I have tried to cut out EVERYTHING containing dairy but it is so hard to do with crackers and such. We also want to rule out a stomach problem since I have had my fair share of stomach issues. It's all a little scary but he handles the vomit like a champ and we are offering him lots of love and encouragement and activities to distract from it. I know we will get it all sorted out, we just have to get the doctor on-board. I also must commend him because he has not once had a potty accident with his diarrhea..He knows when it's coming and tells us to hurry him to the potty. I will post more as the week progresses and we get a Dr. appointment.