All About The Micro Preemie Lowell Mark Werblow III

IFSP & Hawaii Early Learning Program results

2010-11-29T16:16:00.000-08:00

Just got done meeting w/Lowell's speech therapist & far northern regional center. we wrote up Lowell's IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan, aka lots of goals for him for the next 6mths) & also got the results of his Hawaii Early Learning Profile from the Parent Infant Program, he's doing great!!!

Evaluated @28mths old
Cognitive:19-25mths
Language:19-21mths
Gross Motor: 19-22mths
Fine Motor:23-25mths
Social:20-22mths
Self Help:23-25mths

I would absolutely love to be able to scan in his reports onto this site so you all could read them (maybe someday soon i will be able to). :)

Until then the school district & far northern will be meeting with us again in the next 3 months to give us options as to what services the school district offers, which will be a slim to NOTHING for Lowell. He more than likely wont qualify for any services due to the fact they mainly just do speech therapy & he is doing VERY WELL with his speech. It's still nice to see what the options are out there though.

Recently I've been looking into different preschools & am still undecided as to when or where I would like Lowell to go. Not quite sure when is age appropriate for him to start going, guess i'll decide that when I'M READY ;)

Well I'm off to put Lowell down for a late nap, these meetings were a little later in the afternoon & once I got off work I kept him awake so he was able to "play" & learn new things w/the speech therapist. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I'll update ya all with new pics SOON!

cheese

2010-11-06T22:34:00.000-07:00

getting a bite to eat at dairy queen, such an adorable little smile!

halloween 2010

2010-10-31T23:41:00.000-07:00

FIREFIGHTER LOWELL

mr mouse on a rainy day

2010-10-23T12:36:00.000-07:00

showing off mr mouse on a rainy day :)

Lowell's Toy Story Themed 2nd Birthday!!

2010-05-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

Lowell had a wonderful 2nd birthday party at Bille Park! Lots of friends & family came :) He enjoyed opening all his presents (especially his John Deere one) & had tons of fun hitting his "spaceship" pinata, & digging into his gigantic homemade cupcake!! Thank you everyone who was able to come, it truly meant so much to us!! :)

EASTER 2010

2010-04-04T23:26:00.000-07:00

we had a great easter this year!! lowell got an easter basket from mommy & daddy full of things to color on & with, plus fun sand/bath toys, fridge magnets & a basketball hoop.. then my mom got him a fun toy story bucket with great things like buz socks & toy story undies, haha it was too cute! lowell had fun dumping all of the things out..

we easter egg hunted & spent time with marks family in sutter, it wasnt the best easter egg hunt due to it raining but lowell had fun & did a really great job!! i cant wait for him to get older, it will just get more fun every year!!

bidwell park

2010-03-03T21:37:00.000-08:00

sunday (feb 28th) mark, lowell & i decided to meet up with a good friend of my sisters from school kristina, her daughter cabrie & their dog lucy, (&my sissy came too) we of course brought our st bernard gus as well. it was so much fun!! :) here are some pics of the kiddos.. it was SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY!! a perfect day to walk around the park & go to the kiddy park 'caper acres'. days like this make me realize how much i love living where we do, it is gorgeous outside, i love enjoying nature & so does lowell. he is such an outdoors boy (throws little fits when we try & bring him back inside).

bath time 22 months old

2010-03-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

TODAY LOWELL IS 22 MONTHS OLD!! :)

Feb 27th, 2008

2010-02-27T20:50:00.000-08:00

Lowell &a I attended my friend Corrins wedding. It was beautiful! This was Lowell's 2nd attendance @ a wedding & he did great! :) I always get nervous when children go to weddings, haha.

disney on ice.. feb 13th

2010-02-23T13:09:00.000-08:00

DISNEY ON ICE WAS AMAZING!!!! It was down at the Arco Arena in Sacramento. We got great seats, & Lowell was so entertained! :) There were parts from the movies Cars, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, & Tinkerbell.. There of course was Mickey, Minnie, Donald & Goofy too! Lowell LOVES Donald Duck & Cars too! He was so mesmerized when they came out! It was tooons of fun, we definitely will go again!

Jan 3rd, 2010 (southern california)

2010-02-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

We went to our favvvvorite place in laguna beach! :) we also went to the sea lab, it was lots of fun!!

have you missed seeing this face?

2010-02-22T23:32:00.000-08:00

heres a recent pic of lowell.. i am JUST finally uploading pics to my laptop (its been broken since november). i really promise this time you will see more pics soon.

random pics :)

2010-02-22T23:24:00.000-08:00

random pics of our growing little boy.. :)

BEEN TOO MANY MONTHS W/O A POST!

2010-01-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

I know over the holidays I have heard so many people ask, "where are the new blog postings and pictures", i have to admit.. I HAVE BEEN SLACKING OFF!! :) But for good reasons, there hasnt been much to blog about.. Lowell has been healthy (knock on wood). He had a wonderful thanksgiving, ate tons of mashed potatoes, turkey, green bean casserole & you cant forget PIE!! he then proceeded to have THREE xmas's.. YAY for presents and yummy fattening full of calorie food (all us preemie moms have to admit hearing a few extra pounds, let alone ounces, were put on during the holidays on our babies, is music to our ears...) We cleaned out lowells toys and donated them to Mark's cousin's little girl... of course that was the FIRST thing we did after Christmas because we had no where to put all of his new toys. He got an Elmo Live.... oooh goodness it is adorable! Lowell carries him around like it's his little buddy! He got tooons of other Elmo stuff & also Buz & Woody stuff from Toy Story. Elmo & Toy Story are his two favorite things! I cannot wait for his 2nd bday.. it's going to be so much fun to plan now that he has "favorite" characters and shows.

Anyways... The holidays passed by so fast. We then found ourselves catching a ride down south with my parents last minute to visit some family. It was a blast. We got to do so much, in the short little week we were there...

Lowell has an annual development appointment at the MIND institute at UC Davis in Sacramento on the 2nd of February. I cannot wait for the appointment I love seeing what "age category' he is in with all the different development assessments they do. I will have to post the results once I get them.

Until then I start back at college full time, I'm excited and scared all at the same time. It is going to be hard being away from Lowell 2 days a week. For now Mark is still looking for a job, which in a way is good for me right now. I feel comfortable and reassured that Lowell is ok when I go to school. Guess we'll just have to see how things work out once he gets a job. I already have had a few people offer to watch him for free, so that's at least good. I am so thankful that we always get blessed with so many helping hands. Thank you all for being so supportive. :)

rash pics (some partial nudity)

2009-11-26T00:41:00.000-08:00

sorry for the tushie shots, i tried to sensor as much as possible, but here is "the rash". i took lowell into the doctor today & he just placed him on 5mL of benadryl every 6 hours.. he said its not contagious and should go away within a few days.. let's hope so! :)

CLICK TO ENLARGE PICS TO SEE THE RASH CLOSER..

hives.. rash..??

2009-11-24T23:43:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what is going on with Lowell lately but his body has broken out with a hive-ish type rash. I will have to take pictures tomorrow & post them & see what any of you guys think it possibly could be..?? the only thing we have really changed is his nebulizer treatments.. the albuterol he used to take was a lower dose & he hasnt taken any albuterol in months so I was thinking maybe he is having a reaction to the new albuterol??? I'm going to call the advice nurse tomorrow, when we went in on Monday for a re-check doctor appointment I pointed them out to the doctor & he said it could be an allergic reaction to the albuterol.. but nothing to be worried about... but since then they have gotten 3 times worse :/ so I'm not sure if the rash is what he thought it was.. Hmmm.. but on the positive side of things his oxygen levels were 99% and his broncitis is getting better, the doctor only heard a little bit of wheezing when Lowell breathed out.. anyways hopefully we can get down to the bottom of this rash soon.

ohhh and after his doctor appointment on monday we took him down to my mom's work to see the dentist, because on sunday he bumped his mouth pretty bad & was bleeding everywhere (i have no idea how or what he did, all i know is he was in his crib). I felt horrible, the older he gets the more unsafe I think his crib is (is that normal..??) Anyways, he tore his Frenum & managed to get his right front tooth a little loose. They said its nothing to worry about and it's common in children because their nerves are the size of a strand of hair and can break easily causing their tooth to become loose. I just have to watch and see if his tooth becomes darker or if somehow it becomes infected.. he's on a soft diet for a few more days to help his tooth to get better. we can only hope for the best, i'm pretty positive everything will be ok though.

Bronchitis? :/

2009-11-20T23:29:00.000-08:00

Last night was a REALLLLY bad night for Lowell :( He started to have a cough, and as the wee hours of the morning came it just got worse.. As soon as I was able I got myself & Lowell dressed & out the door to the peds office up here in Paradise. We were in there office @ 830 waiting for an appointment to check his oxygen level... I could definitely tell he wasn't breathing 100%... They got him in REALLY quickly.. but made us wear masks.. needless to say Lowell only kept his on for about 5 mins before he realized he could take it off.. His sats read 94% (which isnt as bad as I thought) but the doctor said he is beginning to get bronchitis... are you serious??? :( I was soo bummed when I heard him say that!! I thought we were going to go ALL WINTER without Lowell being sick... guess I set my hopes a little too high. So ever since 9am I have been routinely been giving Lowell Nebulizer treatments... the office gave me a new pediatric mask that we have never used before & it works AMAZING!!! Lowell has never fussed during all the neb treatments he had today (hes gotten 2 treatments that were about 15 min long, & 2 treatments that were about 5 min long), he just sat there patiently & didn't even move until they were finished... I am soooo proud!! he is such an amazing kid! he also took a 3 1/2 hour nap & a 2 hour nap.. guess his body needed the rest since he didnt get much last night. Hopefully tonight is a better night & we can get through it without too many wake-ups. I just KNOW how I get when he gets sick within his lungs, I wake up atleast 3 or 4 times & go to his crib & check to make sure he is breathing.. I am soo afraid of him not being able to breathe while he's sleeping...

well prayers & positive thoughts are greatly needed right now, I just hope he gets over this quickly & it doesn't effect him for long... love you all & will keep you posted on his progress :)

Look at my poor child.. :(

18 month check up

2009-11-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Lowell's 18 month check up... he did amazing & only had to get one shot.. YAY!! He is 21lb 10oz & 31 1/4 inches.. he's getting so big!

We ended up taking him into the peds office up here in Paradise so he stayed on top of his vaccines... although I have to admit walking into the office I felt like we were in quarantine... there was no one in the waiting room, everyone was outside the office in a different waiting area, wearing masks... I had my hand sanitizer handy & used it mutiple times while there.. I honestly felt like we were at a pure sick child clinic & shouldn't have even been there with Lowell being so healthy.. I definitally gave myself a silent 'high-five' that Lowell has managed to not get sick the last 2 months that everyone around us have been sick (regular flu, swine flu, stomach viruses, etc).. I have yet to be sick either.... But after today I'm pretty sure it's going to bite me in the butt.. we were exposed to waaaay too many germs. :/ Well we can only hope for the best.... right?

(OF COURSE WE HAD TO TAKE PICS OF OUR FAVORITE DR OFFICE ROOM.. I LOVE THIS HUGE WALL PAINTING.. Oh & Lowell does too)

CHANGING BLOG LINK

2009-11-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

CHANGING BLOG LINK TO

MiracleLowell.blogspot.com

I'll be changing it within the next week... so SAVE the address!! :)

poem

2009-11-11T23:36:00.000-08:00

stumbled across this poem i had found when Lowell was 1st born.. it is short, simple but sweet. enjoy~

Precious one,
So small,
So sweet

Dancing in
on angel feet
Straight from Heaven's
brightest star

What a miracle
you are!

H1N1 SHOT

2009-11-07T12:50:00.000-08:00

So I've been doing A LOT of research on the H1N1 flu shot. Lowell already has gotten the seasonal flu shot (last month) & I decided that today I would take him to the clinic our local high school was having to have him get his 1st dose of the H1N1 vaccine. But since there was a "limited amount" of shots (& a lot of the nasal spray) they were hesitant to give it to him a shot because they were wanting to do "school aged children", but I fought to say he NEEDS it & he got it! :) Now lets just hope the will have another clinic in a few weeks, or that his peds office will have the 2nd dose available for him! Wish us luck! :)

A little laughter never hurt anyone... ;)

2009-11-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

Gosh I am soooo in love with this boy's adorable little face & charming sound of laughter! It is MUSIC to my ears! I guarantee this video will make you smile.... more than once! :)

~ENJOY~ (especially you great grammy bee)

oh btw he is laughing at Mark's nephew Bryce... Lowell absolutely LOOOOVES Bryce. This laughing uncontrollably happens everytime the boys are together!

LOWELL IS WALKING!! (& Halloween pics)

2009-11-03T09:08:00.000-08:00

I'm sure some of you have heard the news that LOWELL IS WALKING!! He started walking all on his own on the 15th of October. It started out with about 5-10 steps, and now he can walk all over the house without falling down, its amazing what 2 1/2 weeks can do! :) It is so great to watch him walk all on his own.. I told myself I thought he would start walking before or by Halloween & my prediction & hope was right!! It was such fun to let him walk around in his costume, I thought he would have a hard time walking because his costume was bulky but he did so good!! here are some cute pics from Halloween... he was such a cute Monkey! We met up with my friend Amber, her son & husband at the local church up here, they have a huge harvest festival with bounce houses, games, cake walk, food, trick or treating (lined up cars that are all decorated neat... so its actually called trunk or treat), etc. It was tons of fun, I cant wait until Lowell gets older & he can enjoy more things!

I love this picture of Lowell & Landin!!

they love each other so much

Amber & I

The Monkey & The Boxer

Look at those baby blues... :)

Amber & I with our Boys.

Mark letting Lowell get some of his own goodies.

Lowell & I
(he was so entertained by everything else
we didnt get too good of pics, haha)

my 1 1/2 year old

2009-11-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

I CANNOT BELIEVE LOWELL IS 1 1/2 TODAY!!! BEFORE I KNOW IT HE WILL BE TWO!! :)

Monkey Shoot

2009-10-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

I decided to get some pics of Lowell in his costume & invited my friend Shannon to bring her son Brayden since I knew they both were going to be Monkeys for Halloween & it would be cute to get them 2gether! :)

here comes the terrible two's..

2009-10-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been thinking"the terrible twos" are starting to set in, with Lowell. Here's proof they are on their way... He does this whining all the time, especially when he doesn't get his way with something (such as hitting something/someone & not being able to do it over again). There is no more saying "Mama", now it's always "Mom".

testing his funny skills

2009-10-06T14:30:00.001-07:00

his favorite thing to do when done in his high chair.. throw anything & everything down to the ground & say "ut-ohhh" once it hits the ground. haha

New Little Puppy!

2009-10-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

Thursday I fell in love with this puppy (I saw a picture of him). Friday we went & got him & it wasn't until Sunday he FINALLY had a name! I have never had such a hard time coming up with a name (due to the fact naming Lowell was a given, because Mark wanted him named after him). But this little pups name is Jax! He is sooo cute!!

FINALLY A STANDING PICTURE!

2009-09-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

Not so clear but FINALLY PROOF LOWELL DOES STAND ON HIS OWN!! :) [you guys get to see it from 2 different picture views] He was playing w/Mark's Brother's Family dog & got so excited he was standing, laughing and clapping to the dog :) Super cute!

5K WALK

2009-09-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

Today we did the 5k walk in Bidwell Park (in Chico), with our Stroller Strides group of mommies. It was sooo much fun & was for a great cause (supporting heart desease research). In these pics are Lowell & I, my friend Amber & her son Landin, & my friend Cassie & her baby Nevaeh. :) Incase you all are wondering the 5K was 3.8 miles, we got done in just about an hour, woohoo go us!!

possible VIRUS

2009-09-26T16:47:00.000-07:00

I guess there is a very bad virus going around that is hitting babies pretty bad right now. The symptoms seem to be a fever & a red dotted/rash type outbreak. Hmmm sound too familiar? I'm guessing this is what Lowell had, & he was one of the first children to get it so "they didn't know what it was or what to diagnose it as".

On Monday I am going to try & find a new ped. office to take Lowell to. Am I crazy to say, I am going to look in Sac for one? I honestly have thought really long & hard about it & what's the different if he is seen in Sacramento or Paradise? His ped. now can't even see him until a few days after I call to make an appointment so if I can get in the day I call or the next at an office in Sac I will be MORE THAN WILLING to drive an hour & a half.. Lowell's health is worth it to me. So any mom's in that area that have ped. suggestions please let me know. Also any good pulm. doctors because I have to ask for new referrals from Lowell's ped now for a pulm., because I have yet to get in anywhere & it's been too long for anywhere to now see if Lowell has a referral there (it's really mixed & messed up). On top of that any good ENT doctors?? Lowell has an aptmnt w/the ENT through our hospital at the end of Oct, but I'd rather him see someone is Sac & just make rounds for aptmnts for a Ped, Pulm & ENT doctor. :)

Evaluation with PIP

2009-09-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Lowell had an Evaluation through Parent Infant Program today. They assessed his development & social skills. They had him play with lots of different things, such as; place pegs in a peg board, take things in & out of a can (acknowledging in & out), try & match objects (mainly a circle) into the correct shape designation on a board, etc. He showed them how he could stand on his own, clap his hands, say "ut-oh", "dada", etc etc etc. The list could literally go on.. I hopefully will get an evaluation on him & what they thought soon. :)

Tomorrow Lowell & I are going to join the Stroller Stride class that we workout with every week for a 5k walk supporting heart disease research. :) It's in Chico at Bidwell Park. I can't wait!!

1ST DAY OF FALL!

2009-09-22T22:06:00.001-07:00

Today brought us the 1st day of fall. Lowell had a not so good start :(

Lowell woke up 5 times last night starting at 11pm,

11pm- I gave him his sippy cup with warm water & he fell back asleep.

1am- he cried until I gave into giving him his sippy WITH milk/formula (we are converting him over to milk so I do 3oz formula 2oz organic non-fat milk)

2am- he screamed & cried so I sadly gave into another sippy of milk

3am- I got up super quick when I heard a little peep & while being 1/2 asleep gave him another sippy of water.

4AM- THIS WAS THE BREAKING POINT!! I was def. ready to PULL MY HAIR OUT when I heard him cry!! I tried to keep my cool, but living in a studio you hear every little move & sound your child makes, sometimes is enough to drive you nuts because when they don't sleep good, neither do you.. Anyways I waited and waited because I didn't want him to know I was awake, he had a total tantrum for 30 mins before I found myself completely upset am crying myself. I kept on telling him to "lay back down" & he would, but would not calm down, he would get back up on his knees and cry, i would proceed to tell him to "lay down" & then he started hitting his head into the side of his crib.. I couldn't take it any longer & picked him up & cried holding him! How do mommies deal with letting their babies cry themselves to sleep to break the habit of waking up at night?? I can't do it!! I really need help!! He cuddled in bed with Mark & I for 10 minutes & he was almost asleep & content until he balled like he was starving, I don't know how wrong I am for doing this but I gave him ANOTHER bottle of this time just straight formula & put him back in his bed. He then slept until 745.

All day today he had a tummy ache, I'm not sure if he all of a sudden isn't handling milk well or what, but he got a handful more of diaper changes than he typically does. He also is SUPPPPER emotional and moody about everything. :( Great Gma Bee is up from Southern California, so I'm very bummed he has been such a pain in the rear... hopefully he will feel better tomorrow so she can see more his laughing, lovable side! :)

On the bright side he started to blow a whistle today :) & knows how to get off the couch/bed by himself!!! (which is scary, because he doesn't know how to do it everytime he wants down). He says "dada" & "mama" in reference to us as well. He is growing up so fast!!

Oh & I completely forgot to blog about it but on the 13th of this month he starting STANDING ON HIS OWN, as in, he can be in the middle of the room with nothing around him & will just stand up!! That has got to be a major start to walking by himself!! :)

Ut-Oooh

2009-09-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

I had to blog real quick about Lowell dismorning.. I had him on the diaper changer & was changing him, & he was holding a whistle (we have to give him distraction toys to get diaper changes done without struggle, haha) but he took the whistle that was in his hand & threw it on the ground & said "Ut-oooh"... I enjoyed it so much I made him drop it & repeat himself 4 times!! haha, I will have to get it on video and share it with you guys :)

103 temp :(

2009-09-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

Off & on all day today & yesterday Lowell has had a temp of about 103. :( I've been giving him Motrin & Tylenol & its been helping it come down to about 99-100. I've been giving him a bath about every 12 hours to cool him down as well. I was going to take him in to the ER because he can't keep his temp down but I am so dreadful of all the germs there!! I took him to prompt care on Thursday when all those bites/rashes were really swollen and red & they said "we cant do anything for you, these are just bug bites". Needless to say I was really really frustrated! Bug bites? Maybe the ones on his arms, head, legs, hands & feet, but NOT the one on his thigh. They told me "its because he itches that one too much". I don't believe that because he was wearing pants, with a band aid on the 2 areas for the whole day, on top of that I had him wearing long pj pants when he went to bed. Who knows, all I do know is now he is really cranky and has been fevering every few hours (when the meds wear off). Maybe he is teething & it has nothing to do with all these bites? All I do know is if hes not better by tomorrow, we are going to have to be seen by a dr. :/

"DUE DATE" BDAY CAKE

2009-09-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

I FINALLY FOUND THE CHIP TO MY MEMORY CARD THAT IS IN MY PHONE, SO I CAN POST THESE CUTE PICS FROM AUG 10TH. WE DID A "DUE DATE BDAY CAKE". LOWELL HAD FUN WITH IT. THE CAKE HAD SOME COOL YET FANCY CHOCOLATE THINGS ON TOP OF IT... BUT WAS SUCH A YUMMY CAKE. MARK WAS EXCITED TO EAT SOME OF IT ONCE LOWELL WAS DONE EATING & PLAYING IN IT. HAHA, WE TRIED TO KEEP HIS EXPLORING TO ONE SIDE. :) IT TOOK HIM A LITTLE BIT TO GET HIS HANDS IN THERE & GET MESSY, BUT HE FINALLY DID :)

(THE CAKE ALMOST FELL ON HIM WHEN WE SANG)

Another Skin Problem..

2009-09-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

First it was 'bug bites' that looked like this.. but they weren't only on his feet & chest, he had them on his back, arms, legs, etc...

& now he has a rash that looks like this....

It's so inflamed and red, not only is it on his thigh (like in these pics), but also on the top on his right arm & hand. He doesn't itch or act like it bothers him but it has gotten worse since yesterday afternoon when I noticed it.

Lowell's Dr's office has this "new" thing where they NO MATTER WHAT can not over book the pediatricians that work there (there are 3), so our only thing we can do is wait until NEXT WEEK when they have an opening.. I am so torn as to what to do!! There were SO MANY people at prompt care who were sick last week, & we were there for 4 hours.. honestly that is the LAST place I want to take Lowell. So I'm posting pics hoping someone will give some good advice, I obviously will have to take him to the doctor but I always like going in a bit prepared and with my own opinions, options or suggestions on things.

& he got this while in the car on our trip home from SF yesterday. We left at 630am, he slept the whole way there, then we were in SF for about 2 hrs walking around outside (picking up his marks mom & her b/fs family, they just got back from a cruise starting in Canada & ending in SF). Then we were back in the car & about 2 hours later I notice Lowell had these welt like bumps all over the right side of his body...????

ADVICE ADVICE... ANY IS WELCOME... YOU CAN LEAVE IN ON THE COMMENT BOX BELOW OR EMAIL ME!!

taking steps & bug bites

2009-09-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

Each & every day Lowell is taking a couple steps all on his own!! he finally can be placed to stand & stand all on his own with nothing around him! he is doing soo well!! on the other 2 days ago he woke up with this really big red bump on his chest, right where his chin touches his chest. It looked really irritated but I figured it was just a bug bit, later that day (in the evening) I noticed about 10 other little bumps all over his body (feet, legs, back, etc) that looked as if they were really swollen mosquito bites, so I let them be figuring they were just irritated at the moment & then yesterday morning when he got up they were REALLY red so I called his doctor.. OF COURSE they couldn't see him! they are booked out the whole rest of the week & suggested I take him into prompt care or a walk in clinic :/ I was dreading that answer!! there are too many people with the flu & are just in general really sick right now so I wanted to avoid the public sick places like that, but these bumps were really starting 2 worry me. I was thinking possible chicken pox, but they weren't spreading.. soooo I didn't know what to think. Anywho after a long awaited day of me pondering if we should go or not I realized i'd rather know what is going on then it get worse (the one on his chest started getting bigger, about the size of a quarter). So we were there for 3 hours!! :( The nurse practitioner couldn't diagnose him, & said we should see a ped. because she had never seen anything like it, so I called Lowell's ped & told them that & they said they are doubled booked & still can't get him in until maybe Monday.. UGGGH!!! Needless to say I was super frustrated, another doctor came in the room & looked at Lowell & said she was pretty sure they were bug bites, but the one on his chest was starting 2 get infected (ouch!!) which is why it was so big (also it could have been a spider bite). So they placed him on antibiotics & a steroid cream.. They strongly explained how they are worried about MARSA & how his infected one is exposed.. & so on.. I get it!! So we are hanging out at home for a few days until he gets better. Hopefully these bumps/bites go away soon because they seem to make him not feel too great.

pics from landin's 2nd bday

2009-09-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

look at this precious little boy!! :) my friend amber had a photographer come & take pics of all the kids at the party & here are a few of them (from 8/22)

flowing water :)

2009-09-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

any flowing water & lowell is happy! here is him exploring the running water from the sink! :)

parent infant program

2009-09-02T13:26:00.000-07:00

Every other Wednesday the Parent Infant Program comes to our house & works with Lowell on developing new skills. The past 2 months(ish) we have been trying to teach Lowell how to put things 'in' & 'out' & he finally showed them he can do it!!! His new task is to stack blocks, he already has down stacking two blocks on top of each other, but we're going to try and get him to be consistent on stacking those two, & possibly stacking three all together. We also are trying to have him get down putting a puzzle peice (which has easy to handle pegs) in & out the puzzle cut out, they're simple shapes (circle, square, & triangle).

Here are some fun pics of him playing in foam soap.. I have never even heard of it, but Lowell definitely LOVES it so we are going to go out & get some!! :) Thanks to Jamie for introducing s to it!

1 year post discharge

2009-08-31T22:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday came & went faster than I had imagined. I honestly was excited and nervous all at the same time. This past year I have dreaded Lowell's 1st bday (May 1st), his due date (August 10th) & his discharge date (August 30th).. But guess what.. I HAVE MADE IT THROUGH ALL THREE! All those days bring back past memories & I wish it was easy to say I am past the hurdles of them this year, but in the back of my head I still see the dates for next year... Hopefully they will be easier to bare than they were this year. Each one of those days bring me happiness & past 'not so good' memories as well. But whenever I am feeling down about things I try to remember 'why i believe in miracles'. :) My son is living, breathing & ALMOST walking proof of my whole purpose in life! He is the reason I can wake up every morning with a smile on my face, his laughs and giggles when I come to get him out of bed, the way he rests his head on my shoulders and wraps his arms around me & holds me every morning like there is not any other care in the world! THAT IS THE REASON I LIVE, I have a purpose! I realise that I went through the NICU journey for a reason, & in the end I AM A STRONGER PERSON! Though this past (almost) 16 months have not been easy, I BY FAR am a better person & wonderful Mommy... My son is the definition of being blessed! I wish you all could see him develop in person, you would fall in love! I can truly say I AM LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF MY SON'S LIFE!

COMPARISONS FROM AUG 30, 2008-AUG 30, 2009 :)

he says bu-bye

2009-08-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

LOWELL SAYS BU-BYE WHEN HES WAVING NOW!!! Saturday was the 1st time he did it (while at my friend's little boy Landin's 2nd bday party) & once he said it, he did it over & over again. Oh I am so blessed, he is the sweetest thing ever! I have yet to catch it on video, but hope to soon! :)

Here is an adorable pic of Landin & Lowell when they had a little sleep over together last week (8/20)...

Actual VS Adjusted Age

2009-08-23T10:13:00.001-07:00

Actual VS Adjusted age.. when will I ever just be ok with saying Lowell is 15 months not "he should be 12", I wish I was alright with not correcting how old he would be if he was born on his "due date". I just want to be ok with saying he is 15 months & not look into detail about how he really shouldn't be. I try sooo hard to close my mouth when other parents say their baby is 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (etc) months old & they think Lowell looks small.. So then I quickly say "well he was a preemie". DO I REALLY NEED TO JUSTIFY?!? I dont think I do, but I feel 1/2 the time I do just so I look like a semi-normal/good parent! I do feed my baby & doctors say he looks good, I mean gosh he is FINALLY ON THE GROWTH CHART!! He may only be in the 5%, but hes on it! I always hear everyone saying (well doctors and development specialist), that "the hope is he is all caught up to his age (weight/height/development) by 3".. So once he turns 3 will I finally have my "actual/correct age" all straighten out & will just always go by & be ok with actual?

I feel like I am at fault sometimes for explaining what my son has gone through, YES I really can admit that when I think about it, it is a way to get attention for what he has gone through... but I dont see it until after I talk about it! I know most preemie/micro preemie moms don't admit it but we urn for a sense of credit for how much our babies have been through. We always have & probably always been advocates for getting them what they need in life. It makes me so made when people say "well hes normal now", just because he looks healthy doesn't mean he is NORMAL! I fight & fight with people to prove to them that he still has problems! Mainly his lungs, which all in all is such a major thing in one's body! It gives you the air to breathe & stay alive & sometimes he just CAN'T breathe! Is it normal to give breathing treatments everyday to your child? & when he gets sick it could be 4+ times a day.. like how it is right now. I can't just live a completely normal life, I freak out about germs but try to stay as sane as possible so people don't think I am crazy. I'm the person in the doctors office, squirting the foamy hand sanitizer stuff in my hand every time I stand up! Which is over 5 times while I am there, but do you blame me? Every time in the NICU, wither going in our out of the babies rooms YOU HAND SANITIZED... that little squirt kept my baby away from those yuckie germs... and even though he is bigger... I still am cautious! When I forget the shopping cart cover, I use those sanitizing wipes.. over & over & over before I will place him in there... its just too dirty & germy!

Anyways enough rambling... I just had to get this off my chest because it really has been bugging me lately! I know some micro moms read my blog.. so any advice on how you get through the age thing would be helpful! :)

and just to make u smile i'm posting a pic of the little guy...

STANDING ON HIS OWN & CLAPPING!

2009-08-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

LOWELL IS KEEPING HIS BALANCE REALLY WELL NOW & STANDING ON HIS OWN. HE ISNT STANDING ALL THE TIME ON HIS OWN BUT MARK & I KEEP CATCHING HIM DO IT A COUPLE TIMES AN HOUR. IT IS SO EXCITING & MAKES US BOTH SO PROUD! YESTERDAY HE ALSO STARTED CLAPPING.. I'VE SEEN HIM A FEW OTHER TIMES CLAP, BUT THIS TIME HE WAS CLAPPING ON PURPOSE! HE HAS GOTTEN SO INCREDIBLY SMART THESE LAST 2-3 MONTHS, EACH AN EVERY DAY I FIND HIM TO BE EVEN MORE OF AN AMAZEMENT! I HAVE A FEELING BY THE END OF THIS MONTH HE WILL BE TAKING A FEW STEPS ON HIS OWN.. & PROBABLY BY THE END OF NEXT MONTH WALKING! LOWELL HONESTLY IS THE MOST AMAZING BABY YOU WILL EVER MEET!! TOMORROW IS HIS "ORIGINAL DUE-DATE" & I'VE BEEN VERY CONFUSED LATELY & TRYING TO ACCEPT THAT HIS BDAY IS MAY 1ST, NOT AUGUST 10TH... YET I FIND MYSELF REFLECTING ON HOW MUCH HE HAS DEVELOPED & HOW IF HE HAD HIS BDAY NOW HE WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT & BE SO MUCH MORE ALERT & INVOLVED & ACTUALLY EAT A TON OF BDAY CAKE.. I'M VERY UNDECIDED AS TO IF WE ARE GOING TO MAKE A LITTLE CAKE OR SOMETHING.... I GUESS I WILL FIGURE IT OUT TOMORROW! :) UNTIL THEN I'M OFF...

daddy's little sailor boy

2009-07-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

I decided to go & get Lowell's pictures done as a surprise for Mark. I went & got pictures of Lowell in Mark's old baby outfit, a little sailor outfit. It is seriously TOO CUTE!!! & in perfect condition considering Mark is now 25! You guys will get a kick out of these, he is so gosh darn cute!!

1st time at the river...

2009-07-26T22:30:00.000-07:00

Today was Lowell's 1st time to the river, he had a lot of fun swimming with Mark, I on the other hand didn't swim too much because the water was FREEZING! Mark took Lowell to the 1/2 way point in the river & needless to say I WAS SO FREAKED OUT!! but we were in a group of like 10 people (marks mom & fam & brittani & her fam came w/us) so in a way I felt better that it wasn't just US there.

durham pool

2009-07-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

we went to the durham pool today for lowell's
cousin bryce's 5th bday! we had fun! :)

NICU VISIT

2009-07-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Lowell & I went down to Sacramento to visit the UC Davis NICU with my friend Cassie & her baby Nevaeh (who I went to school with & who's baby was also in the NICU but came after we left). We showed up right in time & a social worker there asked if we would go to the "support group" meeting.. We were SO EXCITED to hear that the support group was ACTUALLY going on because when we both were there we saw signs but never heard of a meeting really going on. So of course we openly went with our kiddos to the meeting and as soon as the meeting started we told our stories gave advice & heard the stories of all the other parents in the room. My heart got VERY heavy hearing their stories, major NICU flash backs came in my head & I tried holding myself together for the sake of the parents! Just about every parent cried while telling stories about there babies who were ages 3 1/2 days to a little over a month. Surprisingly babies in the NICU were from... hold your breathe.. PARADISE! What is going on in this town!! I cannot believe how many people I have met this past year that have had preemies down in Sac. I am truly hoping to go down for another Thursday group meeting again! I think it's good for parents to hear advice from NICU graduate parents.. I truely have a passion for working sometime in my life in the NICU! I would LOVE to be a social worker there, but the chances of me getting a social working job in a NICU is very slim, so I'm trying to network and see if there is another way I can get plugged into helping parents in the NICU! I would LOVE to start a non-profit organization like the NICU Lowell was born at (Mercy San Juan) has, but that takes money and surprisingly enough I don't have much of it. I truly deep down in my heart know that these parents in the NICU need the love & support I can give them! So some how, some way I will make this happen! This has been placed on my heart, and has been, and I just know that in time I will be able to make a difference for NICU families. But for now I just am researching and trying to find a way to make what I feel inside happen!

Well all in all we had a fabulous trip down to Sacramento. & LOWELL IS FINALLY IN A BIG BOY (FRONT FACING) CARSEAT AS OF YESTERDAY!! He looks so cute in such a big seat, haha! The "carseat rule" is they have to be "one" or 20lbs, so legally Lowell has been one (& at his last dr appointment he was almost 20lbs) but I haven't thought he was ready for a front facing carseat yet so we held off until I started noticing he really want to be facing forward, he always is trying to turn around in his carseat & shopping cart to see what is going on in front of him. He did really well in his new carseat, it was super cute seeing him just look around like he was experiencing something completely new to him. He sat there quite almost the entire trip!

So we are doing good over here on this end of the blog, Lowell is crazy active and getting more daring with each step he takes, he reaches further and further to walk from place to place (play center, toy box, entertainment center, dressers, coffee table, couches, etc etc). He even finds himself reaching onto our legs and walking to us. It is amazing how fast he is developing! Just the other day we were watching his favorite show "Tilly Knock-Knock" on BabyFirst TV & a cow came on & was going "Mooo Mooo" & he proceeded to smile & then say "Mmmmmm, Mmmmm" I just about fainted! How adorable, huh?? He also makes gus sounds when we make them "*heavy st. bernard panting*", & monkey sounds!! It is such a delight to see our son so happy!! He recently discovered he has a bit of an attitude about things and "talks back" when he doesn't like something, it's funny but we try to be serious about it, Lowell also arches his back when he doesn't like something, we quickly started to stop the habit by giving him a firm "no, no" which always turns into tears, he really is going to hurt himself on of these days if he keeps on arching his back due to the fact he does it so quickly his head bonks into things and he practically slips out of our hands. I hope he soon will break this "arching" habit. Another new thing he likes to do is throw everything, at first it was cute & now that he loves it I find myself chasing him around cleaning up every 20 minutes, oh well babies will be babies & I have figured he's not hurting anything or anyone so why not let him play how he wants to :)

Lowell now is about 20lbs & eating tons & tons of solids. He still loves everything and doesn't dislike anything yet.. Aren't we lucky parents? :) haha, well that's enough writing for now... Hope you all remember to email me if you'd like to be added to my blogger list & be able to view the blog because I am going to private it soon....

swim day with friends

2009-07-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

saturday swimming

2009-07-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

MAKING THE BLOG PRIVATE

2009-07-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

LATELY WE HAVE BEEN GETTING SOME WEIRD VIEWS OFF OF IMAGE SEARCHES WITHIN WEBSITES, AND ALTHOUGH I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE MY LOVELY SON WITH EVERYONE I DONT THINK HIS IMAGES SHOULD BE AVAILABLE TO JUST ANYONE. SO SOON I AM GOING TO PRIVATE THIS BLOG SITE WHICH MEANS YOU WILL NEED TO SEND ME YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO ACCESS IT, ITS PRETTY SIMPLE.

SEND ME AN EMAIL SAYING YOU WANT TO BE ADDED TO THE BLOGGER LIST & GIVE ME YOUR FULL NAME.

I WANT EVERYONE TO KEEP UPDATED ON LOWELL & I HOPE THIS ISNT TOO MUCH OF A HASSLE TO ASK!!

THANKS A TON!!

COURTNEY & LOWELL :)

email: lowellmarkwerblow3@yahoo.com

coughing?!?! :(

2009-07-14T02:27:00.001-07:00

I cant sleep :( Lowell has been coughing, it gets worse when he sleeps, I have been giving him nebulizer treatments & today/yesterday took him to the doctor & they said they want to place him on prednisone. I dont really like the thought of steroids, I think my poor little babe has been on enough in his short little life this far. I'm torn between giving them to him again, in hopes his cough will go away. Or keeping him doing just the nebulizer treatments and see if it gets better. I think in the morning I am going to do some more research on the steroids.. until then I am off of here... Lets all pray Lowells cough goes away soon.. Because for now I am not sleeping for more than an hour, due to his coughing waking me up & me having a worry attack he is going to stop breathing!

GOODMORNING SUNSHINE

2009-07-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

THE REASON WHY I WAKE UP EVERY MORNING WITH A SMILE ON MY FACE...

:) alligator loving.

standing on me

LOOK AT THOSE EYE!!!
I AM SO IN LOVE

1st DENIST APPOINTMENT!

2009-07-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

So I figured it was about time Lowell went to the dentist, after all its not THAT scary of a place.. especially since "grandma" works there!! :) My moms office was so glad to see him there happy & content for his little teeth check up. As of now he has 6 teeth that are fully grown in and one more that is coming in. I noticed a few days ago that his right front tooth looked as though it had a chip in it, so that was one other reason for the check up. Turns out he has a 5mm fracture on his tooth, the dentist said it could have either grown in like that or been bumped and chipped that way. he also has a 1mm fracture on the side tooth next to it. Poor little babe! I guess thats what being a kid is all about though, I cant protect him from everything & have to admit he has been bumping his head a few more times than normal now that he is figuring out how to walk!! YES I SAID WALK!! he walks along everything like crazy!! From table to couch like a pro!! I'm sure he is going to take off walking before we know it, but I think i'll give it atleast another month! He makes me so proud though!! He truly is a miracle! Anyways back to his dentist appointment, everything is going well in the teeth department besides the fractures, but atleast they are his baby teeth. Another thing Dr. Ann pointed out is his teeth next to his two front teeth (lateral incisor), grew in looking like his eye teeth. The dentist is curious to see if they are positioned wrong or if he will get his actual "eye/canine teeth" and the others are just pointed. I had a feeling they looked funny but was waiting until he saw the dentist for them to say something.. guess we will just have to wait and see.. :/

Lowell & I @ the dentist

mommy, whats that over there?

i am very proud of him, he did good! :)

happy & showing off his new tooth brush

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

2009-07-04T23:31:00.000-07:00

Last years 4th of July was Mark & I's real time away from Lowell, we went to Idaho for a big family get together, while my mom & grandma stayed with Lowell in the NICU & watched the fireworks from out the NICU window in his room that were set off at Cal Expo in Sacramento. This year we got to take Lowell with us to Idaho, it was a wonderful experience... & there will be many more years to come of us going up there. I never thought last year that we would be in such a great wonderful place that we are this time now with Lowell. WE ARE TRULY BLESSED & THANKFUL THIS 4TH OF JULY FOR OUR COUNTRY & BABY BOY!!!

on the way to idaho sleeping next 2
mark's cousins baby girl sophie

mark's aunt's house we stayed at
CAN YOU SAY AMAZING!!!

can you spy sleeping lowell?

my three boys

Lowell loves his little shoes

looking for his doggy gus.

ooh there gus is!!

staring at his daddy

I was TRYING to catch a smile..

loving this black & white!!

staring at the green walls &
pretty wall hangings

OHHHH look its time to swim! :)

Quick Trip To Southern California

2009-07-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

We made a super quick trip to Southern California for a good family friend's wedding. Oh my gosh I cannot even begin to describe how over the top and amazing it was, being there made me dream of all the different things I want at my wedding... Mark & I have talked about marriage a lot lately, how our wedding is going to be, where its going to be, etc etc.. yet I have our "promise ring" but no engagement yet.. I'm sure it will come along some day! We really want to get married when Lowell is old enough to walk & listen to directions ;) haha! Anyways our trip to Southern California consisted driving down on Friday & visiting with my mom's side of the family, then the wedding, then saturday went to a little cove in Laguna Beach, & then visited with some of my dad's side of the family later that evening & then left on Sunday! It didn't even feel like we were down there long! Mark LOVED the beach, Lowell on the other had wasnt too fancy of it.. Maybe because I sat down in the ocean with him & a wave came & splashed his face when we 1st got there.. nothing like a splashy taste of salty sea water, huh? Poor kiddo! My mom walked up & down the shoreline with him after that though, they walked for over and hour and he didn't make one sound just started at the crashing waves. It worked out great & he even got a little bit of a tan! He's finally starting to look more like his mommy! haha just kidding! Everyone BUT Lowell got sunburt, lucky little kid! Poor Mommy, Daddy, Auntie Jen, Gma & Gma got very burt & sadly enough are still feeling the pain. Well I have to go finish packing for Idaho, can you believe we are going on ANOTHER TRIP!! This time we will leave Thursday evening & arrive back in town.. well we don't have a set date but probably Monday or Tuesday. I can't wait to introduce Marks family up there to Lowell! He is going to have such an amazing 4th of July!! Well off I am.. here are some pics from the short but sweet so cal trip this past weekend :)

FORT BRAGG (june 18th-21st)

2009-06-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun in Fort Bragg!! It was my first time there, as well as Lowells. It was good weather (besides being windy at the beach one day). Lowell did surprisingly well, but I guess that should have been expected since it was his 3rd camping trip in the last month! Haha! We have been so busy lately it is insane, but I am trying to enjoy every minute of it, because lets all face it Mark & I both won't be off work together for much longer. Mark's been doing side jobs while still looking for a job that will be able to fully support our family, I have to say that those aren't easy to find right now, so for now he's been on unemployment. As much as I don't want him to get a job & I would like him to stick around with Lowell & I all day, it's not reality. So if any of you know of a good place hiring, we would love to hear from you!! :) Well anyways back to the talk of our Trip to Fort Bragg... We spent 3 nights there & by the 4th day we still weren't ready to go home! :( We definitely are going back soon!! Enjoy our "beach pictures" of Lowell's first time at the beach, nothing like the So Cal beaches I grew up at. These beaches are the ones you don't really want to get in the water because its freezing cold outside you don't even want to take your sweater off. We stayed at a campsite that was the best one at the campground, the place we stayed was Caspar Beach. Overall it was a memorable family trip I cannot wait to show Lowell pictures of when he gets older.. Let's just hope he doesnt remember the windy windy WINDY car ride he had to take to get there.

((CLICK IMAGES TO MAKE BIGGER))

camping trip above chester/lake almanor

2009-06-15T12:11:00.000-07:00

(JUNE 11th-13th) Besides the fact it rained 50% of the time & we even experienced a hail storm with hail the size of blueberries we had a fun time! :) It sure was an experience, and although I love camping.. for this trip I could not wait to get home & be dry, warm & out of the rain :) Oh yes & this past camping trip Lowell started drinking out of a straw (6/12)!! He loves it & is slowly but surely getting better at it

Sink Bath!

2009-06-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

Lowell definitely LOVES bath time, especially in the big bath tub. We typically put about 5 inches of water & a bunch of toys and let him crawl around and play for a bit! He splashes the water with his hands & kicks his feet like crazy, especially when he sees the water flowing out of the facet! :) its super cute! We also, well sometimes, give him sink baths, he sits up better in the sink & for us parents its easier because they are more reachable and able to be watched & washed standing up rather than being knelled down. Anywho here are som sink bath pictures.. :)

Fair Time..

2009-06-09T23:24:00.000-07:00

So Saturday we went to the Colusa Fair... Mark was working there with his dad delivering ice to all the vendors. We had some fun, Lowell loved all the music & bright colors! :)

trying to show everyone who's boss :)

trying to push buttons like always

Lowell Mark Werblow's (I, II, & III)

loving on his papa,
with ice cream on his face :)

doing pull-ups on daddy & papa's ATV

eating daddy's sunglasses

watching the circus act

he loved the crazy circus guys

trying 2 get a family pic... :/

mommy & baby
(he was ready 2 get home)

his favorite sippy cup

he's too cute!

mezmorized by the rides

CAMPING PICS

2009-06-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

OUR ADVENTURES CAMPING.. 1ST IS LOWELL IN THE (MILLION TIMES LYSOL WIPED DOWN) SHOPPING CART :) WHILE GETTING FOOD FOR CAMPING, THEN PICS FROM DADDY BEING SILLY STROLLING LOWELL AROUND IN THE ICE CHEST (EVERYONE IN THE STORE GOT A KICK OUT OF THIS), THEN THERE ARE PICS OF US ALL CAMPING, SOME OF LOWELL IN HIS PLAYPIN, EATING SOME SNACK & DINNER, US GOING ON A FAMILY WALK, PLAYING W/DADDY ON THE ROCKS & TRYING TO EAT THE ROCK, & DADDY TRYING TO FOR WHEEL LOWELL IN THE SNOW, ETC ETC..

Changing Formula...

2009-05-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

So last night we changed formula. I've been so used to his Similac NeoSure that changing to a different kind made me sad! (haha) I really was trying to hold off, but in order for him to progress to being able to drink milk, his doctor said he should be put on a non-preemie formula, so he now is on Enfamil Lipil. I've been a bit worried this past day about him changing formulas due to me not knowing how he would react to it, well low & behold I got a great present of him spitting up while we were at the doctors office, it was every where & I got a little panicked because I havent had him do that in a while. Thankfully the reception ladies are amazing & helped me clean up the little/big mess. Poor little guy! Well we went back & Lowell got weighed, he is 18lbs 15oz! :) He's getting big but not gaining weight like normal either... but he is crazy active so I'm assuming that is why! Anywho I asked the doctor about doing like partial NeoSure to the Lipil & he said yeah that would be a good idea... I would have thought he should have told me sooner, like before I switched Lowell to the new formula, but oh well. Now I have to go buy more NeoSure due to the fact I told the pharmacy we don't need it sent to us anymore because WIC would cover his new kind. Well I'm off to bed, I just finally found my camera from last weekend so next week I will upload them so you all can enjoy Lowell out in the wilderness camping!! :) He is seriously sooo cute!! Oh & by the way his pink eye has gotten significantly better & pretty much completely gone away.. yay!!

FIRST BLACK EYE! :(

2009-05-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I will have pics up soon enough of this past week. 1st camping trip, 1st pink eye, & 1st black eye! :( this week he has been sooooo clumsy while crawling & sometimes even when standing up, he bumps his head into the floor atleast once a day, typically 3 or 4 times. It's so sad & he has a complete melt downs. Of course I know I would be super upset too, for the near fact we have wood floors :( Goodness!! Today he I think was trying to stand up onto our glider rocker and bonked his head into the wood on it, resulting in a nice black eye on his left eye! :( It's bad & I felt horrible!! On top of that it looks even worse since that is his pink-eye eye! I hope & pray it will all heal itself soon!

****ALSO I TOTALLY UPDATED HIS BLOG WITH NEW INFO & PICS, THE NEW STUFF STARTS AT "THE GOLD NUGGET PARADE" HEADLINE!****

NEW UPDATES ON LOWELL :)

2009-05-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

new updates on lowell:

he stands up on to everything very well
he walks around/along things, but not a whole ton
high fives when you place your hand out (well more of a "low" five)
he still is very selective on sitting and has a hard time keeping a straight back
he almost has down crawling to sitting but keeps one leg back/to the side to keep his balance (hard 2 explain), he doesn't have both feet in front of him
when standing to get down he bends his knees & then puts down his hands to the floor, which i feel is really good. lots of babies just lean back and fall onto their behinds
loves saying "dada"
waves when someone says "hi" or "bye"
is starting to eat more & more "non" baby food
has two bottom teeth & four top
is very alert and realizes when someone is leaving (he gets very emotional with separation)
knows when we talk firmly he is in trouble and gets super sad :( he defintally knows how to pull off a good sad face.
has been going to sleep at 730pm waking up around 2am to eat (have one bottle) then sleeping until 8am-ish
he enjoys laughing and waving at our puppy gus & basically any animal
bending his knees up & down to dance while music is playing is on of his favorite things

but most of all out of anything & everything.. HE LOVES HIS MOMMY & DADDY VERY MUCH!! :)

1st camping trip!

2009-05-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

this weekend we decided to take our 1st camping trip to philbrook which is about an hour up north from our house, overall it was really fun but we had to come home a day early due to me realizing the possibility that lowell had pink eye. :( so yesterday we came home & i took him to the doctor & they said that he did. Poor kid! Luckily I took him in before it got really bad. They kept on asking if he has been waking up with his eyes gooed shut, but he never has just earlier yesterday morning I realized it was pinkish and about 4 hours later when we got home & i took him to the doctor it was bright red! :( It still is pinkish/red but looks better than it did last night. They gave me this ointment to squeeze into his eye 3 times a day. Hopefully it will be better in the next 3-4 days. We'll see, we have an appointment on Thursday! Lowell also has an appointment on Thursday with his Parent Infant Program (who comes to our house every 2 weeks) & Far Northern Reginal Center is coming as well to write a new development plan (ISSP). They do a new plan every 6 or 12 months, I forget exactly! Hopefully it goes well! :)

SWIMMING FOR THE 1ST TIME!!

2009-05-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today Lowell went swimming for the 1st time, he absolutely LOVED IT!! :) Of course after about an hour of it he was ready for a bottle & a nap! :) Thankfully he got lots of sunscreen on before hand so he ended up with no sunburn :) I can't wait for it to get warmer and me be able to take him swimming more!! He laughed so much & thought it was tons of fun!! :)

Teething!?!

2009-05-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

Lowell has been pulling at his ears non stop, well actually it hasn't been much of pulling anymore it's been more scratching.. like really fast & aggressive scratching to the point he is making his ears bleed really bad. On Monday during his 1st year exam Dr. Logan said that he had a little bit of fluid behind his left ear but nothing too bad, and then yesterday he woke up from his nap & his entire left ear was covered in blood. I of course was a bit panicked due to the fact I wasn't sure if it he was bleeding from the outside or inside of his ear, so we got him into the peds office & they said that it's only on the outside & nothing bleeding inside *sigh of relief* i was happy to hear that, but wanted to know why his ears are bugging him so bad. They said it's all due to teething, in a way that makes sense but yet he didn't do this when he got his two 1st teeth & he has only ever itched his ears since he got his ear infection a few weeks ago. Hmmm I'm not sure what to do or think. As of now all I am doing is putting ointment in his ears which has made the bleeding stop, but his ears still bother him.

1st BDAY!!

2009-05-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

I cannot even begin to believe that I have a ONE YEAR OLD! He is so amazing & had such a great monkey themed bday! :)

PICTURES FROM APRIL

2009-04-30T22:37:00.000-07:00

here are some pics from april; easter pics (professional & him in the blue & white outfit), my friend's baby shower for her baby girl nevaeh, & when lowell stood on his own for the 1st time (4/18) - in the brown & blue outfit. hope you enjoy the WONDERFUL video of him as well!! he is such a crack up!! :)

^^^^^VIDEO^^^^^

Gold Nugget Parade!

2009-04-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

ON SATURDAY MARK, LOWELL & I WENT TO OUR TOWN PARADE (THE GOLD NUGGET PARADE) IT WAS A LOT OF FUN! IT LASTED ABOUT AN HOUR, BUT THE LAST 15 MINUTES LOWELL FELL ASLEEP. HE EVEN SLEPT THROUGH SHOT GUNS BEING FIRED.. (ABOUT 40 SHOT GUN FIRES). I WAS SO SURPRISED & FIGURED HE REALLY MUST HAVE BEEN TIRED. I CAN'T WAIT FOR HIM TO BE A LITTLE BIT OLDER AND WATCH THE PARADE & UNDERSTAND ALL THAT IS GOING ON! :)

Whoa Watch Out.. MOBILE BABY! :)

2009-04-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

5 days until my little boy is not so little anymore! He will be ONE ON FRIDAY!! Can you believe this day has almost came, I certainly can't, it feels like just yesterday we were stuck in the hospital waiting his arrival, well maybe because a year to yesterday's date that was our 1st day we were in the hospital waiting his arrival. Yesterday, well mainly last night, was a really hard day for me. I cried a lot and felt so much hurt and pain within myself. I thought I was over these feelings, but I have figured out that deep down I am not. It's very hard to not blame myself for my son going through what he had to go through by being born early. I think its really difficult to think about all the paperwork and statistics that were placed upon me when going into labor at 24 weeks. I was so scared and the conversation of them not "having" to save my baby & that it was up my choice as to what I wanted them to do was... unexplainable! Thankfully my labor was prolonged and I didn't have him for 6 more days, so they had a little (but not a lot) of optomisum about saving him but it still doesn't make these memories of pain go away, I am praying that I have the strength to get through Lowell's bday! I am going to do something special when the time comes to the time he was born, Mark & I are thinking we will FINALLY drink the sparkling cider we got at Mercy San Juan after Lowell was born. (we've had it saved for something special, it was going to be his discharge date but we wanted to wait for his bday so we could drink it having him WITH US!). Please just keep me in your thoughts, and let these upcoming days be days of thankfulness that my baby is still here and alive with everyone of us! He is so amazing, I am so incredibly grateful God has placed him in my life!

Well on to some exciting news that you all have been waiting to hear.. Lowell now is all over the place! He proceeded to show us he could crawl on all fours about 3 weeks go, a week after that (april 9th) he started pulling up onto things but not on his feet yet just on his knees and then on around the 12th he started STANDING!! yes my little boy now pulls himself up onto his feet and leans onto things!! Its so exciting, but I have to admit we have had some head bonks going on, I try and keep a pillow behind him when he starts to stand but having a mobile kid means he is EVERYWHERE now & its hard keeping that pillow behind him, but Mark & I have done a pretty good job! :) He also has learn to love the sound of "BAAA" its just a constant rambling of "baaaabaabaaaba" or "buhbuuhbuh" and he has for about the last 2 months been very into saying the sound "maaa" when he is whining or crying, I definitely know when he wants me! He is fully on a sippy cup and is also on stage 3 foods, lots of cereal like puffs, and tomorrow we are trying baby biscuits! :) I love the fact he can now eat food, he loves to eat! We bought him a high chair & he enjoys sitting in it & having the freedom to feed himself. He is VERY good at picking up his food and placing it in his mouth. Last week I noticed he started getting a 2nd tooth too! Soo much has happened in the last month, it has been amazing! Lots & LOTS of pics will be posted soon, as for now I'm off to bed! I'm sure by tomorrow I will be able to think of more new things he has been doing since I last posted & want to get on & post more! Oh like bending his knees up & down & dancing when he hears music, and also hitting his little leap frog drum- it is so much fun watching him hit his drum & it place music to him. :) well more updates soon, & happy birthday to lowells great grandma bee today!!

..my soon to be 11 month old! :)

2009-03-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

WOW, can you believe we have found ourselves saying Lowell is just about 11 months old! in 4 days he will reach the mark of 11 months! On that day it will be a year to the day we found out he was a boy (April 1st.. how funny how I think back to the thought Mark & I were going to prank everyone & say Lowell was a girl, but the fact so many people were dying to find out what the sex was we thought we better not or else we would have returns of baby girl clothes after the april fools joke was told! haha) anyways on to the recent stuff, lowell is incredibly mobile! he crawls everywhere! he doesn't stay on his knees all the time but gets up on his knees for a few seconds at a time, pushes himself forward a few inches, then back up on his knees, then onto his tippy toes with his little tush in the air, hahaha it is too stinkin cute! he had his "development skills" testing yesterday down at the mind institute in UC Davis, he did amazingly well considering they work with him (basically all by "playing") for over an hour. They said his skills are where they should be if he were his corrected age of 7 months. I will get paperwork in the mail soon with all the info they wrote down, so until then I don't know exactly how they assessed him. He got a really fun "taggie" book for being there though, I thought it was very thoughtful of them, and considering he LOVES tags it was perfect! After Lowells appointment we met up with Trinity (another baby from the NICU), it was fun seeing her and her mommy Tiffany! Then off to babiesrus we were due to the fact we don't have one closer than Roseville (right near Sacramento). Oh also we went by a huge party store to find some "easter" supplies for his easter basket & also monkey stuff for his 1st birthday! I have it almost all planned out & am super excited about it!! Soo then today Lowell got to play with Landin & baby Brayden, call me crazy but RSV season is just about over & in our town it has been going around LIKE CRAZY! More than 7 people I know have had their baby catch it within the last 2 months (insane I KNOW!) Anyways.. call me crazy but I don't feel the need to keep Lowell in the house everyday, his health means everything to me, but so does his childhood. I finally am getting used to "the real world" with not being such a freak about hand sanitizing, but do make sure toys aren't shared or each other's fingers aren't in one another's mouth. Thankfully summer is almost here & RSV season is just about over, so not that we will be completely free from sickness and germs but they will be a little bit less than winter season. Well here are some pics of the last few weeks.... Lowell literally has been growing into such a cute little boy, and by boy i really mean boy, he seems to grow out of being my "baby" each and every day :(

THE PICS START FROM LEAST RECENT FIRST TO MORE RECENT (TODAY) AT THE BOTTOM.., THE PICS INCLUE PLAY TIMES AT HOME, TRYING TO CRAWL, A TRIP TO THE PARK, ST PATRICKS DAY, ALYSSA'S ELMO 2ND BDAY, HANGING OUT WITH BRAYDEN, FIRST TIME TRYING A SIPPY CUP (which by the way he loves & does so well with!!!), UC DAVIS WITH TIFF & TRINITY, AT AMBER & LANDIN'S HOUSE, ETC.

(little circle as to where his tooth is)

Rash?!?

2009-03-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

So once again today we found ourselves at the doctor's office. I swear they all have become our best friends over there -hahah- (laughing uneasy). I really should look back and see how many times we have been the last 3 weeks, I think its been about 5 or 6 times. Well so anyways the past 2 days lowell has been doing this "head itch" thing, it actually looks really cute. He smiles at me at itches the back of his head, I possibly thought it was because all of a sudden he has grown tons of hair & maybe its bothering him, well lets just say I was WAY WRONG! As he's scooting around the house today I notice he is still itching his head, but instead of a couple times in one days its like a couple times in an hour, I pick him up & notice a HUGE rash on the back of his neck. I freaked out because it looked really bad all red and puffy with the bumps coming to a whitish head. So 2 hours later we got into the doctors and saw some doctor, of whom I have never even seen in the office before & he says "I have no idea what that exactly is" he thought it could have possibly been heat rash but, he only has the rash behind his neck & on the back of his head & with heat rash it would be under the armpits & other places on his body. So for now we are just going to try and use hydocortisone and have it check out on Tuesday when he goes in to get his "cough" checked out! Lets hope it clears up, because it looks like its been bothering him a lot lately! Last night he screamed for hours and hours like something was bugging him, unless we were right by his side or holding him he would not calm down. Maybe it was due to his bad rash, but I have no idea! It was the worst and actually 1st tantrum I have ever seen Lowell have.

1st TOOTH!!! :) :) :)

2009-03-19T01:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday Lowell got his 1st TOOTH!!! I'm surprise I haven't gotten on here sooner to tell you all the GREAT NEWS!!! Ahh I was so excited at the discovery of his little tooth, I even cried! Its a great accomplishment. One thing I've noticed with having a micro-preemie is you appreciate all the "little & big" things so much more. Anywhoo he also started stage 3 foods yesterday! He is doing great, he also on Saturday began eating strawberry apple puffs, which are like little cereals that disintegrate in your mouth as soon as you get them wet, he likes them. He still is trying to crawl, he has almost got it down, he sort of does this "leap" thing where he gets up on all fours and then uses his toes to push on and "leap" forward. its very entertaining!! anywhooo pics will be posted soon, like always I post late & don't have much time to wait & post pics before I decided I'm tired & want to get to bed! I hope to post them before the weekend comes.... ooh also Lowell still has his horrible cough! I am determined it not acid reflux the medicine hasnt helped but oh well. He has an appointment on Tuesday with Dr. Logan, so maybe he can figure out once again what he thinks is wrong.

...ALMOST CRAWLING!!

2009-03-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

yes I said it... LOWELL IS ALMOST CRAWLING!! :) He gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, it is soo cute!! He scoots his way all around the house, one second he will be playing with his toys & 30 seconds later he will be 7 feet away from his toys and trying to chew on a shoe! haha!! Today is my day to go out & buy some items to "baby proof" the house! It happened so quick, I was not ready for him to become so mobile in such a short amount of time! haha. (GOOD JOB LOWELL) He definitely is keeping mark & i on our toes 24/7! His play pen is one of his best friends when we are trying to clean or get things done in the house now! He cannot be left without our eyes on him until we have our whole house "baby proofed"! Thankfully we only live in a studio so it wont be too much work to get the whole place situated! :)

Well now on to the not so wonderful news... today we went to the doctors because Lowell was due for his second dose of the flu shot (they do them in two doses, a month apart from one another). But low & behold HE IS STILL SICK!! Coughing like crazy and having a runny nose. I thought he was getting better but he really didn't. He was placed on oral steroids for 4 days and he hated them :/ I felt so bad giving him the medicine! He had to have 1/2 a teaspoon 2 times a day, he was famous for gagging and chocking on it! One time he even had projectile vom.... well need i say more? you get the picture.. haha! It wasn't pretty! But he smiled and laughed while i cleaned it up, thankfully it was all over his daddy & not me :) Well anywho today we went to the doctors at 9am, it was sooo hard getting Lowell to wake up because the past 4-5 days he has been staying up until about 3 or 4 in the morning :/ needless to say I haven't been getting much sleep! So I wake him up, we get ready & head off to the doctors. He proceeds to say that he can't get his flu shot because he is sick (which I already knew), we weighed him and he is now 17 1/2 pounds!!! (BIG BOY!!) And then the doctor put an order in for him to get a chest xray! :( His cough "sounds like an rsv cough" said Dr. Logan! But with the test coming back negative 9 days ago he doubts he has it. I explained to him that he has had lung problems off and on this winter season, and he said hmm I wonder why his last ped never got a chest xray (my thought exactly!!). Anyways we went and got his chest xray, Lowell cooperated as best as possible, its no fun having to sit up and have mommy pull his hands over his head :( But we had to get a front shot and a side shot & it only took three tries to get both! Tomorrow we are scheduled to see the doctor to go over the results, I swear on the computer xray I saw a blackish area in his lungs :( But who knows I could have just been seeing it wrong... at least I hope! I feel kind of sick and upset, waiting for results and Lowell having xrays taken brings back some old past memories and feelings! I'm trying to keep my head up! :) here are some cute pics of him today while waiting to get his xray, he's just in his diaper because he went from the doctors office to the xray room withing 2 minutes (its in the same building).. thank goodness because lately he has been fighting to have me put on & off his clothes, as well as buckle him in his car seat. haha

such a serious face

"what a ridiculous hat mommy"
-its to keep you warm baby :)

being patient

waiting for my xray, chewing on my toy

relaxing & hangin out in my bouncer

almost crawling.. :)

he loves to smile in his bouncer

bumbo time

sitting up on his own watching "baby tv"

RSV scare!

2009-03-03T14:53:00.000-08:00

So I've been hesitant to write a blog for the past week because first off I didn't want to scare any of you and secondly I wanted to make sure we were in the clear before I said anything. Anyways last week Mark, Lowell & I went up to my best friends house to have dinner, low & behold her little one was sick but I didn't think much of it because he was going to bed so Lowell & him were not even around one another, also Lowell isn't as active as her 11 month old so I knew he wouldn't be playing with any toys besides his own. Well come to find out after we left she took her son to the ER because she went in his room & he had a 103 temp. That freaked me out, but I soon just brushed it off because Lowell wasn't acting like he was sick. Two days later I find out her son was diagnosed with RSV, I'm not sure if you all know what RSV is, but Lowell gets shots once a month to lower his risk of RSV symptoms if he were to get it because for preemies, especially micro preemies, they are at a high risk of it becoming VERY serious stuff. Potentially babies have died from it. Well ever since I found out he (my friends baby) had RSV I panicked, Lowell to catch RSV is my worst nightmare!! I cried for a long time, and soon called his ped & they said they couldn't test him for it unless he had symptoms so I basically just had to wait it out. Saturday rolled around and Lowell could barely breathe. Coughing and sounding like he was "drowning" my mom said. So we took him to the ER (the one place I dread & avoid taking Lowell), they said his lungs sounded fine so they couldn't do anything for him & sent us on our way. I could only think WOW we just exposed him to all these germs for nothing! Oh yeah and earlier that day we took him to prompt care in Chico and waited 3 hours to be seen (which I refused to wait in the building so we hungout in my car), then spent 2 hours being seen, which included going to Enloe hospital & Lowell getting tested for RSV because his chest was tight (the didn't give me the results until MONDAY!!! Can you believe that!! It takes his peds office 10 minutes to tell me!! UGGHH!!) But while at prompt care he was placed on Nebulizer treatments, but I already knew they were going to place him on the treatments so I started them the night before. He in general is on pulmacort treatments 1-2 times day no matter what (and always has been since he came down with his chest stuff a few montsh ago), and now he's back on albuterol every 4-6 hours, before it was just "as needed". Well that's all the info I have for now... Overall this has just been a BIG HUGE headache, but I am SO HAPPY he is clear and free from RSV! (or so we hope!) They say he could get it anywhere from 3-8 days after being exposed and today is day 8, he did wake up with a temperature, and didn't sleep all night long. He fell sleep at 3am and woke up every hour screaming until 830 which is when he got up for the day! Right now he is asleep & I have a feeling he will be for a while because he has got to be tired (as I am right now!). I truthfully can say that last night was the worst night I have ever had with Lowell, I'm hoping the screaming & tears were only due to teething. Well off I am, I need a nap....

february update

2009-02-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

most recent things that have been going...

last week Lowell really has discovered his feet! :) he is sooo amused and loves them. he also has tried tons of different baby food (prunes, carrots, peaches, apple sauce, peas, etc) & he has not had a problem with any of them! He eats soo well and finishes a jar of baby food in less than 5 mins. He right now is still on stage 1's but I think this week we are going to start stage 2. :) We got some valentines day pictures done & he got a few easter pics done too (to model the "bunny" costume the photographer had). haha they are cute, but look torchering at the same time. He had fun & once he started getting fussy we had to stop... If anyone wants any of the pics I post just let me know.. I can order you them... the top are from a few weeks ago (john deere & red vest), and the bottom ones are from last week (monkey & bunny)

"no more picturs mommy..." :(

& pictures are up... :)

2009-02-04T22:41:00.000-08:00

Lowell has tried rice cereal twice, and today was the first time trying prunes. He actually likes the prunes a lot, but the rice cereal he did good with the first time, and not so good when we tried again yesterday! I'm thinking I might need to water it down even more so its not so thick. He has discovered that he loves the spoons that he eats with (I think he likes the rubbery texture on his gums since he is teething), Lowell is even trying to feed himself, haha!! Sure it makes a mess, but I figured if it gets him to eat more, why not! :) Anyways we are off tomorrow to get another RSV shot, it will be our last time at his old pediatricians office, they have yet to know we have switched pediatricians but they will find out tomorrow, wish us luck with no troubles. :)

Look everyone I'm 9 MONTHS OLD TODAY!

& its also super bowl sunday... woo hoo!!

pouting while i'm giving him a mooch

yay rice cereal for the 1st time (2/1)

Lowell getting his 1st little mohawk (today)

playing

daddy's little all star

(getting ready to eat prunes 4 the 1st time)

1st spoon full

i love these spoons!!

yummy!!

daddy being silly w/the bunny ears

9 MONTHS OLD & EATING!!!

2009-02-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

Hooray as of today Lowell is 9 months old!! We got the ok last Tuesday from Lowell's pediatrician that it is fine to start feeding him more than just formula. We actually switch pediatricians last week to Dr. Logan up here in Paradise because I really have not liked the way his old pediatricians office was. Dr Logan was VERY surprised that Lowell had not started any other food besides formula. (but said he also looks to be growing just great!) We had an appointment with his surgeon doctor gates on Wednesday so before we started feeding him I wanted to make sure he thought it was ok to start the food as well, he said he thought it would be fine too! Mark & I are super excited, as we have decided that TODAY IS THE DAY we are going to start feeding lowell baby food! It will start with some rice cereal and prunes. Since he gets backed up really easy the doctor said it would be a good idea to get him on prunes. :) I cannot wait, today is going to be a great day!!

Overall Lowell has been doing wonderful. He holds his bottle a lot, but when it is really full he can only hold it for a brief amount of time. If we cut his feeds in 1/2 to two 4oz servings he can hold his bottle a lot better. He loves to roll around but we have discovered that he like rolling to his left side (from back to tummy) better than he likes rolling to his right, so we watch him everytime he is on the floor and try and make sure he is rolling to his right as well! He is such a light to our world. Even though lately he has been really crabby, and whines a lot, we still love him to pieces. He must be teething! He also is starting to understand what things are, when we eat and he is with us he gets really upset! It is sad but funny all at the same time. He is such a great baby, I feel so blessed. Here is to the past 9 months of our lives, may we have many more wonderful memories to come..... :)

.....soooo many pictures to post, like always i will post them all within the next few days! (sorry again in advance!)

CUTEST LAUGH EVER!!!

2009-01-18T23:35:00.000-08:00

So Mark is REALLY good at making Lowell laugh, but I'm always forgetting to get it on video.. I FINALLY did tonight, you guys are going to LOVE THIS!!! :)

Loving to Roll Over!

2009-01-18T22:40:00.000-08:00

Rolling over is Lowell's "new thing". He always was very selective as to when he wanted to roll over but as of last week he now is rolling over EVERY chance he gets. He loves to be on his belly!! :) He also is just starting to straighten his arms completely straight and move like he is wanting to start crawling. Can you believe it? He is growing up waaay too fast!! He also is becoming super interested in his feet, today is the first day he actually looked at them and realized what he is seeing he is also feeling in both his hands and feet. Lowell is becoming so smart! :) These past few months have been the best, I have LOVED watching him grow and become his own little-self! I think he is going through another growth spurt because he is eating about 8oz ever 2-3 hours and sleeping a bunch more. He must be well over 16lbs now, and I'm dying to know how long he is.... Maybe Dr.Gate's office can measure him on the 28th when we go in, if now we'll have to wait for his next ped appointment which is for his RSV shot on the 5th of next month.

car ride to southern california

he enjoyed watching a little bit of a baby dvd

at great-grandma's site
(lowell came home from the hospital 1 year
after she passed away... wow!!)

cousin stephanie holding lowell

almost all the boy cousins

"hurry up mom"

at the new eye doctor's office

passed out on his mommy

one of my all time favorite pictures
I LOVE MY TWO BOYS!!! :)

our little hoopster ;)

finding his feet!!

first time on the hardwood floors
without a blankie underneath him

laughing at his dada

what he's good at.. striking a pose!

wanting to crawl!!!! :) ahhhh

busy past week

2009-01-15T23:09:00.000-08:00

This past weekend has been a busy, but tough one to get through. From meeting all the family down south, to having a death of a close family friend, we have been tired to say the least. Lowell had a great time seeing everyone down south, he went by his great grandpa's (my mom's dad) grave site & his great grandma's (my dad's mom) grave site! it was a very good experience! then after getting home on Monday my friend Shannon went into labor. She had her baby the next morning at 554, I got the honor of being in the room when she had him. It was such an amazing experience!! A few hours later I found out our really good family friend Todd Stuart passed away the day before! This was very hard!! I've been trying to keep my head up about it! The next day (Wednesday) Lowell & I traveled to Sac because he had an eye doctor appointment with his new opthomioligist dr. o'hara (still connected with UCD)! I LOVED THEIR OFFICE!! We had a great experience! The doctor said his eyes look great, he is not near sided or anything! We don't have to go back for another year. & if in year his eyes look fine, he will just have to be followed by his pediatrician. After that appointment we went by the NICU to visit the nurses & my friend Cassie who has her baby Nevaeh there! It was great seeing her little girl, she is doing amazing!! It's funny because she is in one of Lowell's old bed spots! :) We also got to see our favorite nurse Allison!!! Aww we miss her!! Well after that we went to the airport and picked up my grandma..... Finally Lowell & I arrived home! It's been about 20 something hours in a car in a matter of 5 days... whew! thats too many! haha well once I upload all the pictures from our trips on the computer I will post them! until then all I have is a few that I forwarded to my email from my phone... :)

watching a little bit of a baby dvd

at great grandpa's site

getting better (updated with pics)

2009-01-08T21:31:00.001-08:00

Horray!! Lowell is getting better! Thank goodness!! We were almost having to reconsider our trip to Southern California that was planned for this up coming weekend. On Tuesday the doctor called us to check back up on Lowell & see if he had gotten any better and of course our answer was "no" he still could barely breathe, had a hard time eating and threw up every time we went to burp him. :( so she proceeded to say it was our choice if we wanted her to admit him to the hospital or not, I asked where & said to the local hospital in Chico.. Enloe. I said No Thank You!! As for the near fact.. Well I guess I haven't heard the best of stories about that hospital and also... You can't blame me for wanting a "NICU" type treatment when it comes to my baby! I honestly am scared to have anyone else take care of him! But I also am HORRIBLY scared that I could possibly have him in a NICU setting rather than a PICU (neonatal -vs- pediatric) setting which to mean means I don't get to sleep bedside! That is a humongous fear of mine, leaving him at the hospital at night again! If we ever have to go to the NICU again I think I will be a walking zombie not wanting to leave Lowell's bed side! But I also know that at his age a NICU is better than a PICU. Well anyways, we don't have to have the thought of either of those places, sooo I will move off the subject! :) Yesterday was Mark & I's anniversary, we had a great day together!! Oooh yes & I got a diamond ring for Christmas which means soon to be engagement sometime, orrr so we have talked about it! We really just want to make sure our marriage is in the best interest for not only us but Lowell! We want to be together forever and we are realizing that we make a great family, at first we just didn't want to RUSH to get married like lots of couples do after they find out they are unmarried and expecting (which ive seen leads to lots of divorces). Soooo I guess now all we have is time, sometime someday it will happen for now I'm not concerned about it I'm just focusing on my son & his needs. Well here are some pics from the last.. well almost month! (including xmas!!) These pics go from most recent to least recent... also there is a video of him from tonight talking to himself & well.. his little frog friend. haha

((after uploading all these pics I have decided that my baby a little, or well REALLY off balance in his head! these steroids are REALLLLY getting to him & he goes insane if I am a little bit off giving him his dose... screaming and kicking his feed & basically doesn't know what to do with himself :( poor kiddo!! Thankfully tomorrow is the beginning of 2 doses a day.. we are slowly weening him off of them!!))

...Lowell Tonight...

Lowell & his little Nikes! :)

Passed out

cute

being silly :P

just rolled over

hangin out on the bed

great grandpa holding lowell

look how big he's getting!!

grabbing for his face

soooooo happy!!!

my best friend Brittani & I on new years

Me & Lowelly!

Laughing waaaaaay too hard... haha

Little giggles

leaning on a toy

last family pic of '08

christmas day at grammy bears house (12/26)

just the two of us... ;)

Little Mr Santa & I on Xmas night

I LOVE HIM!!!

Auntie Brit (my sister jen's best friend)
playing with Lowell!!!

doggie bella & lowell

(MATCHING.. too cute!!)

Lowell, Brit & I

Brit, Me, Katie, Lowell & Jen

Brit & Lowell

Lowell fell asleep on Mark's Auntie...
with his new seahorse present... haha

Opening presents w/mommy christmas day

x0x0x0x0x0x

Auntie Amber & Lowell
(mark's sister)

Mommy & Daddy's BEST present EVER!

Lowell in all the presents

precious baby boy

awwwww... cuddling with his monkey blankie

all bundled up with his mommy

2 weeks have gone by...

2009-01-06T00:53:00.000-08:00

SORRY EVERYONE! I know I haven't posted anything for TWO WEEKS! You are probably dying to hear some news of our little boy!! He is growing like crazy, went to the doctor's today and weighed in at... *drum roll please*... 15lbs 10oz!! :) Of course that was with his clothes & diaper still on.. so that's roughly how much he weighs, but that is still insane! He is getting to be so big! Well on the subject of today & his doctor visit, it went.. well worse than expected! :( He was supposed to be going in for an RSV shot, but last night came down with a horrible congestion in his chest! Its to the point he is not breathing a normal breath at all. Its a tight, loud, wheezing. They tested him again for RSV but it came back negative. I gave him 2 nebulizer treatments dismorning b4 his appointment & then they gave him another two at his appointment. They also gave him decadron which is an oral steroid that will help open up his airway. We will continue steroids for the next 9 days, 3 times a day for 3 days, 2 times a day for 3 days, and then once a day for 3 days. He will continue his neb treatments every 4 hours, & if he proceeds to get worse or not get any better I will convert to going to doing his treatments every 2 hours, which then will probably mean I will have to take Lowell back to the... hospital! :( YES, the word we all never wanted to hear again! His pediatrician said that the hospital will be the best route, beacuse Lowell will get over this sickness quicker & also we would be getting NO SLEEP if he goes to getting the nebulizer treatment every 2 hours. Hopefully all this is making sense, because at the moment I am sooo drained I can barely think! All night I was scared frantic that Lowell was going to stop breathing so I was woke up so much listing for his wheezing, which every time wasn't good enough so I'd walk up to his crib and look at him breathing! Needless to say we've had a busy last couple of weeks, right when I thought all the craziness ended, I was wrong! ... I just feel so bad for Lowell right now. His cough is so horrible, and every noise he makes sounds like he is whining!! :( Also when he eats & I go burp him, he will burp & then throw up! I am dreading going back to the hospital, of course we would request to be sent to UC Davis, but who knows what will happen. I'm just so sad at the thought we might not get to stay the night with him. Well lets hope for him to be at least a little better by tomorrow. Sometime this week I will update you all about the exciting events from the past 2 weeks, for now I need to get to bed! Keep Lowell in your prayers!! Thanks everyone!

oh yeah also I took a video of him at the doctors right after they checked & listened to his chest. IF YOU TURN UP UR VOLUME YOU CAN HEAR HIM WHEEZING/BREATHING IN THE BEGINNING, THEN HE STARTS KICKING THE PAPER ON THE TABLE & THEN YOU CAN AGAIN HEAR SOME WHEEZING & FINALLY HE TRIES TO EAT MY PHONE.. HAHA :) ENJOY!!