Gavin's Update

Just a quick update.

Gavin's surgery went really well! The doctor was happy with how his foot looked and for the most part Gavin handled it all amazingly.

More later!

Gavin's Surgery and more...

On Monday of this week, we were given the go ahead to proceed with Gavin's surgery on his Achilles Tendon. Due to scheduling for both the doctor and Gavin and I, we were given the date of this Thursday, tomorrow. Nothing like a little short notice!

The surgery will last about 45 minutes, max., if not less. The doctor will go in, make a tiny snip on the tendon, which will allow the tendon to release and stretch so that his foot will have an increased movement and flexibility.

I am very confident with the treatment we will get. Shriners is an amazing hospital, and we are working with the best doctors. In fact, Shriners is one of the leading facilities in the Western United States in treating clubfoot. We couldn't be in better hands. That being said, I am obviously still nervous. I don't want to see my baby uncomfortable, scared or in pain. It is also difficult not having Ryan here, and I know that is hard on him [Ryan] also. So in the meantime, Gavin and I have been playing peek-a-boo with the surgical mask and blue hair net so that when he sees the doctors with them on tomorrow he won't be as scared. This was a suggestion from the nurses at Shriners, how thoughtful is that!?

I will try and put an update on how he did here tomorrow, however it may be spread better through word of mouth until I have time to write another post.

This past week, again, just flew by! On Monday, both Gavin and I were making doctors visits. I have yet another ear infection, and Gavin got his third cast put on. This time, 'Aunty' Sara got to come along! She will be here for a few weeks, Gavin and I are both excited! Another bestie of mine, Sophia, is coming this weekend to holiday in Odessa! (I couldn't resist to say holiday...) And THEN Gavin and I will be heading to Texas, ya'll! I am going to see a good friend that I met down in California at work! Coincidentally her husband is also in the Marines and was sent to Afghanistan just a few months before Ryan. They do not work together and are not on the same base, unfortunately. She also moved to be closer to family while her husband was gone, and we made plans to get together during "our" deployments! I have never been to Texas, and I am beyond excited. I don't even know what to expect, but I told her that I had to get the whole Texas experience! Gavin is also going with me, I got the go ahead from our doctor who said he would be more than fine to go by then (whew! after my mess with Southwest, it would have killed me to have that been for nothing!).

School has started here in Odessa, and I am anxious to finish my application process to substitute teach! I still need to get my fingerprints taken care of, it hasn't worked out every single time I have gone up to Spokane!

Well, I better get to bed, we are in for an EARLY day tomorrow. Here are a few pictures from this week:

 Gavin and I took turns wearing the surgical stuff, HAHA!

 "Can I knock them over yet, mama?"

 "I like to relax and enjoy my bottle. Yes, I am more than capable of holding it myself, but do I? Nope..."

Crazy old man hair!!! YES!

Whirlwind Weekend.

Whew! What.A.Week!!!!

This past weekend, I had a very dear friend, Sadie, whom I went to elementary school and jr. high with come visit Gavin and I. She has two little boys, Hunter and James (Jimmy or JP) who are 3 and 2. To say that they are high energy would be an understatement! (Right, Sadie?!?!) They are the cutest, sweetest boys though!!! Sadie and her family live in Missoula and we are finally within a decent driving distance to visit each other which is so nice.

We took the boys to the park and then to Lake Roosevelt, and hung out at Porcupine Bay. Hunter and Jimmy were a little nervous about the water, and in the end, Hunter wanted nothing to do with it and Jimmy was jumping off the dock like a pro!! It was a really fun, and HOT day. We did a few boat rides and then chillaxed in the shade at the park. Sadie's sister, Kile, recently got a job in Davenport and her and her husband, Chris, were able to make it to the river as well! I can honestly tell you that I am exhausted! I had so much fun chasing after the boys all weekend, but I sure am pooped!

It was awesome to catch up on each other's lives and we downed a few bottles of wine throughout the weekend...after the kids were asleep of course!

Gavin also had his second appointment at Shriners on Monday. This time he was a little more squirmy than he has been, though not in a bad way because he was uncomfortable, he just wanted to look around at everything in the casting room. The doctor will most likely be able to decide next week about a surgery date. He was happy with the progress of Gavin's foot and said everything is going great. I am just so pleased with our doctor this time around, and that seriously makes a world of difference.

Ryan is doing well. He has had some extra assignments such as guard duty these past few days so he is pretty tired I can imagine. With all the commotion this past week I haven't been able to have a good conversation with him, so I am very much looking forward to things slowing down so I can talk with him! Wow. I just looked at the date, and realized that we are officially at the two month mark. That feels both amazing and horrible! I've been trying to keep myself busy, which I have, but now I am just exhausted and it still feels like the time is crawling. Two months down, five more to go! We. Can. Do. This!

Here a few photos from the weekend!

 Remember this photo?? Oh he got it. Even his foot can get the turtle :)

 Look at this sweet baby. Amazingly enough he looks so much like a Nordrum (my mom's side) but NOTHING like me. DARN IT! hahaha

 Sadie's two little boys, Jim and Hunter...Hey, Sadie, here is proof they were both in bed at the same time! Even if it was only long enough for a picture.

 Jim and his ADORABLE hat. 

 He also wanted me to get a picture of him with the kitchen tongs...haha!

 I got a new haircut! I am pretty happy with it. Also, I had just eaten a popsicle, so my teeth were red...

I absolutely love this picture. I stopped at Jay and Kathy's on our way home from Spokane and we sat outside for a little bit. The sky was beautiful and I snapped this pic of Gampa Jay and Gavin "flying" which is something Gavin loves right now. 

Shriners

Gavin had a great appointment at Shriners Hospital today! We had an amazing doctor who was a perfect mixture of professional and personal and coincidentally he went to med school with our past doctor, Dr. Wallace at Rady's Children Hospital. Our doctor at Shriner's, Dr. Baird, is the Assistant Chief of Staff and has studied under Dr. Ignacio Ponseti who developed the Ponseti Treatment, which is the leading way to treat clubfoot worldwide.

My mom went up with me for this appointment and Gavin weighed in at 17.9 pounds! He has almost gained two pounds in the last month! He is now 27 inches long...I foresee a new car seat in our future! We had him casted today, and Gavin was great. He was very still and just studied what the doctors were doing, he was very interested. He has been a little fussy since, but I think a big reason for this was because he was very tired. He has been a bit fitful in his sleep, and I am sure that is because he can't move around like he usually does in his sleep due to the cast. Poor baby.

We go back next week to get another cast, and once the doctor is happy with the progress, we will get a minor surgery on his achilles tendon, to stretch it. Hopefully this surgery will make wearing the orthopaedic boots more comfortable (and not painful!).  I'm really not looking forward to Gavin needing to have a surgery, especially because Ryan is not here, but I am confident that we have the best possible doctor to do it, so that is a small comfort.

Due to technical difficulties, I do not have any new pictures to share, but for kicks, I'll share Gamma Kathy and Gavin taking a snooze together a few weeks ago :) How cute!

Happy Friday!

This week has flown by! I can't believe that it is already Friday...where has the time gone?

We pretty much lied low this week, however I did make it over to Moses Lake to get some baby things...I also decided that I was going to turn in an application to substitute teach here at the school. I got the needed signatures for that, and now I just need to wait for my transcripts from PLU and to go get my finger prints done. I am pretty excited about it, it seems like it might be the perfect job for me for the time being. The school is in need of subs and sub para pros, so hopefully I will have something to do several times per month (we'll see) but I will still be mostly home and spending time with Gavin...

This is something that has been bothering me....One question people always ask me, is "what do you do all day?" and I think rather than get offended, I am going to ask them to come watch him for the whole day and then they can tell me. Ha! He keeps me so busy. He is such an active baby, he always wants to be moving around doing something, he loves playing but gets bored of toys fast and wants to move on to the next thing. Some days he is really needy and wants me to be by his side or holding him the entire day. Then there are diapers, making bottles, cleaning bottles, feeding him w/o getting food all over my kitchen, laundry (oh the laundry that kid produces!), fighting to get him to sleep...the list goes on and on! Not that I am complaining in one bit, because I love every single second of it, but babies are exhausting and it's not like I just sit around doing nothing all day. There, that is my rant... :)

Gavin has turned into a little clepto. He grabs things that I didn't even think he could reach, or I didn't even know where there! It is like he has a radar for knowing exactly where my phone is at all times. He immediately lunges for it, which generally wouldn't be a problem if the screen wasn't shattered and losing glass shards or if Gavin wasn't drooling a gallon per minute (he would probably drench it so bad it would fry it). He grabs cords and yanks on them, he eats paper that I didn't even know was there. It is insane. He pushes and scoots himself around, but still no crawling yet.

We have our Shriners appointment on Monday. I am very anxious to get this process moving. I don't want him in the casts again, but at the same time I just want it over with! Ugh, poor baby! I wish that everything would have just worked out the first time so we wouldn't have to be doing this all over again! That being said, I am so thankful that it is such a "minor" problem in the big scheme of things and I know that things could be SO much worse. It's been great hearing from so many other people that have had the same problem that I would have never known! I guess my cousin had a similar issue and a lady from our church's son was also in the boots for a while. It makes me feel a lot better because both of their sons have lived completely active athletic lives and I would have never known that they had club feet/issues with their feet. 

We were able to talk with Ryan this morning, and he is doing good. He said that a lot of the guys have gotten sick this past week and he is nervous about getting it also. He also mentioned that they just had a day that was under 100 degrees and that it was amazing! They are working on new projects so that has been a nice change of pace for them. Other than that, not a whole lot to report on.

I took some pictures of Gavin the other day, he was being so cute playing with some of the hats that we found around the house, so I couldn't resist...

Have a great weekend!

 Our sweet baby.

 Baby toes! I love his little/HUGE feet :)

 Go Seahawks!! 

 Marines are called Devil Dogs, so I have named him Devil Puppy

 Little biscuits.

 Such a happy boy!

 ...Most of the time :) Everyone asks me if he ever cries, so here is proof of a little "tantrum" he was having the other day! He gets VERY dramatic when he cries, it's hard not to laugh.

 It was a meeting of the minds. They were discussing the numbers that came in at the end of the Fiscal Year and I could tell Gavin was not happy. Just moments after this, he gave Mr. Bear quite the reaming.

I tried to get a good photo, but he was sporting his CWU gear from Uncle Chris and Aunt Amber. He was not letting me take a picture though, he kept screaming, "leave Britney alone!" 

Whooping Cough

Good morning, all!

Today isn't really a family update, but something that I think is really important.

Here in Washington State we have a Whooping Cough epidemic. There are 3,000 more cases than we had last year, and it's not even cold season yet! Anyone can get Whooping Cough, but it especially effects children, and is especially dangerous for babies, like our wittle Gavin. It is spread to babies mostly by adults, as easy as by breathing on or near them. It effects the respitory system, and with babies you can understand why that would be so dangerous. It is a disease that can cause pneumonia, seizures, brain damage and even death. It is pretty scary stuff!

So why am I writing this you say? Well, I am highly recommending everyone who hasn't been vaccinated to go and get the vaccine, for Gavin's sake, and for the sake of any other little ones you may be around. Many adults don't think about getting vaccines anymore, but it really can save the life of the little ones around you. Babies have to get the shot in several doses, and Gavin has had three of the six? doses; I was given the vaccine the day I delivered him.

I am usually not one to ask people to do something like this, as everyones health choices are their own, (I obviously won't look down on you if you don't!) but I can't stand to imagine Gavin catching this! It especially makes me nervous having the best hospitals over 75 miles away. Everyone has their own opinion on vaccines, but in this case, I am all about preventing a very serious disease that could be easily spread to my defenseless baby!

Here is a link to the Washington State Department of Health which can provide more information on Whooping Cough and where you can get the vaccine to prevent it (pretty sure most doctors offices have the vaccine available).

There you have it. If you are able, please, please get your vaccine, if not, at least you are a little more educated on Whooping Cough! Thank you in advance :)

Trip to the Homeland!

We made it back from Montana! We had such an amazing time, I didn't want to come back! My mom, Gavin and I went over for my cousin, Tiffany's, baby shower. She had little Ava about a month ago and has had some terrible complications with her c-section surgery. She was doing much better and it was so good to see her! I also loved holding her little baby! I can't believe how big she makes Gavin look. Gavin is a beast compared to her, it is so funny! I think Gavin won over all the family over there. He was such a good boy the entire time! He even travelled pretty well in the car. He had his moments, but did amazing for being in the car for 8 hours both ways.

We got to see so many people! We stopped for lunch in Missoula on our way there and had lunch with my good friend, Sadie (Patrick) Dustin, and that was great! The last time I saw her was last September, when I was a bridesmaid in her wedding! She is hoping to come out and bring her two little boys to Odessa sometime in late August. We didn't make it out to the Hi-Line, but they made it to us! Both my mom and I had friends drive in to Havre to meet us for lunch. I got to see most of the Kimmet's, my adopted family. I think of them as real parents and sisters, I lived with them for several months when my family first moved to Odessa. As always, we had a blast, and a simple lunch turned into a hilarious story. Angie (the oldest sister) was holding Gavin when she looked down on her hand and realized that he had pooped and it was spilling out. Laughing I quickly grabbed him and ran to change him in the bathroom. There wasn't a changing station, but there was just enough space in between the double sink counter. As I was laying Gavin down I realized that right above him was an automatic soap dispenser. I had just angled him out of the way when Becky (the third sister) came in to help me. We started laughing about the poop being literally everywhere. It was all up his back and all over my little changing pad. I was just pointing out the automatic soap dispenser when Gavin put his hand under it and got some soap perfectly in his palm. By now we were just rolling laughing. Then walks in Angie, who has a two month old baby, and he had just pooped all over too. I finished up with Gavin and was holding him out of the way so Angie could get in, and then somehow Gavin's diaper had disconnected and got stuck to my shirt. We were all just laughing, I'm sure the restaurant thought we were crazy! Now, imagine things like this 24/7 and that is pretty much how it was living with them! I hate to admit it, but at one point to cheer Melissa (the youngest sister) up, Becky and I put on our blue track suit warmups and rolled around her bedroom pretending to be blueberries...Such fun memories, it was so good to see them!

_________________________

Ryan is still doing good. He finally got packages, it takes about two weeks, minimum, for them to get to him. He has had a few really long days, but other than that things are going pretty well. I guess they have a couple projects coming up that will keep them busy, but until then it is business as usual.

Gavin is growing like a weed. He is SO heavy. He is sitting up on his own and is getting so close to crawling. He is really starting to teeth in full force and has been a little fussy and out of character for him. He has been taking pretty good naps, which makes me both happy and nervous (he is a terrible napper usually). He has a bit of a runny nose, but I am starting to think that is combined with allergies from some plant out here and teething.

Well, speaking of fussy....

Here are some photos!

 Baby Ava Diem

 Gavin and his cousin, Ryker

 Cousin, Tamera and Gavin

 Tamera, Bobby, and Gavin

 We stopped to see my Great-Aunt Grace, making her Gavin's Great-Great Aunt.

 Gavin got a little bath in the sink at my Aunt Sandy's.

 Pretty girl!

 Gavin with his Great Uncle Bob and Great Aunt Sandy.

 Seahawk fan already!

 Aunt Sandy, Tiffany and Ava, Myself and Gavin and my mom.

 When Ava would cry, Gavin would either yell back or look at her super concerned, like, what's wrong?!

 Meeting Uncle Keith and Aunt Janet.

These two...Tamera and Gavin. They were so cute! She just toted him around like a natural little mommy. Her brother and other cousins were trying to get her to leave Gavin and go play with them, and I told her that it was ok if she wanted to go play, and she just looked at me and said, "I LOVE HIM," with the straightest face, so needless to say, she played with Gavin!