Shaken Baby Syndrome

I read an article today about a 7 month old baby boy who passed away this week from injuries consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome. Investigations are underway, but initially everything points to the unlicensed daycare provider. Out of respect for copyright - I did not include his picture, but he's one cute kiddo!

Before becoming a mom, an article like this would have touched my heart and made me sad for a few moments. That sounds terrible but now, being a mom, this article has stopped me in my tracks, my chest literally hurts, and tears coming streaming from my eyes. This is heart-breaking.

I cannot imagine what Leyton's parents are going through and honestly, I don't want to imagine it. Leaving your heathly, happy baby boy with someone you should be able to trust so you can go to work is hard enough. But then having this happen, getting that phone call telling you to go to the hospital. I don't know what that day looked like for his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles - did they get to interact with Leyton, tell him they loved him, hold and cuddle him. And then, being told your baby is brain dead and having to make the choice to take him off life support. It would kill me.

I recently had to live through taking a loved one off life-support. I haven't shared it here, I've started a post, but haven't finished it. The pertinent information here, is that my Boo slipped and hit his head which ultimately resulted in him being brain-dead. My Nana did the hardest thing in the world (and the right thing) to choose to take him off life support. I was there. My family was there. My Nana, aunt, mom, sister, and I never left his side. We sang to him, talked to him, and loved him. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. Once we took him off life-support, it took 2 hours for him to pass. The hardest 2 hours ever. We were assured that he felt nothing and there was no pain, but it didn't sound that way. It sounded like every breath was hard. In reading this article, I have the comfort knowing that Boo lived a full, happy life.

According to the article, Leyton survived for a week without machines before passing.

A week! A week of the unimaginable. A week knowing that your babies current breath could be his last. A week thinking of all the moments you'll never get and all the moments that you didn't hold dear enough. He didn't get that full life that Boo did, but I hope and imagine that it was a happy life. From the pictures included in the article, he sure looks happy.

I don't know his family, but I want to wrap my arms around you and love you. So consider this a virtual hug. I know that no words will comfort you and any words will just sound trivial. So, I am crying with you and for you. I'm praying for you. The next few minutes, hours, days, months, and years will be hard - lean on those who love you and take life moment by moment. Even if it is just to remember to breath in, then tell yourself to breath out. 

Walking

Quick Blurb...

Last night at Nana's, Adrian took his first 4 steps unassisted on 4/4/13!! Such proud parents we are!

Lunch with Nana a few weeks ago

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Originally written on Feb 11 - but not posted

Yesterday, we celebrated Adrian's first birthday and we spent the weekend re-living his birth. "It's 730pm on the 9th, do you remember what we were doing?"

I started the day by singing happy birthday to him when I went to get him out of his crib. He had no idea what was going on, but enjoyed the attention.

We spent a good portion of the day party prepping. Thanks to my amazing family for all their help in the prep, set-up, and host category. We could not have done it without you all.

Adrian loved the party, the CAKE, and thought the new toys were pretty cool.

Stats -
- 18lbs, 8 oz (10th percentile)
- 30.5 inches long (75th percentile)
- Crawling everywhere! Adrian has mastered going up and down the stairs. He pulls up whenever he can and will balance for a few seconds. He started a new crawl where he is up on his feet rather than his knees.

- Wants to eat anything that we're eating - and if it's off my plate (rather than his own), all the better
- We think he may have a dairy intolerance, but not sure yet. I can drink milk and it doesn't affect him.
- Still breastfeeding. He knows where the milk is and has started to pull on my shirt when he wants milk.
- Loves trucks and music.
- Wears size 9 mth and 12 mth clothes
- Wears a size 3 diaper

- 7.5 teeth
- Says "Dada" and "Mama" but not really specific as to whom it gets said to
- He has a noise for the kitties and he loves them. The noise scares the kitties :)

- Still napping 2 times a day and goes to bed at 730pm - 6/630am!
- Love to read with us.
- Loves bath time and still loves to splash like crazy
- Loves to open and close door and cabinets. Sometimes he'll take items out of the cabinet and put it back in. Just like Mom and Dad!
- Loves the washing machine and helping us do laundry. He sits on top of the washing machine (with us making sure he doesn't fall) and rotates the knob. When he hears the water start to fill, if he's not already there, he crawls right over and needs UP to see :)

- Loves to sit in the front seat of the car with us in the garage. He pushes all the buttons and steers (Vroom-vroom)
-Loves to swing!

11 Months!

Our little man is not so little anymore and he's now 11 months.

Helping Dada with laptop

Before I forget, here's what he's up to:
- Wears size 3 diapers (we just switched to Target brand to save some $$)
- Wears size 9, 9-12, and almost 12 month clothes. There are some 6 and 6-9 clothes that still fit, but not many. Adrian is long and lean like Dada!
- He's entered his "Dada" phase where everything and everyone is Dada.
- Baby jabbers
- Crawling everywhere
- Fell down the stairs for the first time, but was a champ and only had to cry for a bit. No injuries, just scared him.

Playing at the mall

- He only wanted Mama for a while and is beginning to loosen up a bit with that.
-Fascinated with the washing machine when we're doing laundry. He wants up to see and wants to touch the water flowing in

Christmas service @ Flatirons

- Still kicks his legs when he's happy / excited!
- Great sleeper! He sleeps on his tummy for about 11 hrs a night. Not so great at napping some days.
- Loves all stuffed animals and hugs them when he sees them

Brushing teeth

- Getting really good at pulling himself up to a standing position.
- Ticklish!
- Best laugh ever! (I may be biased here, but it's one of the best sounds)
- Feeds himself his bottle and now eats Cherios, baby puffs, and other self-fed snacks.
- Thinks he needs to eat when we eat.

Practicing hockey skills

- Still breastfed. He eats 20-25 oz a day, 2 fruits, 2 veggies, and 7 Tbs of mixed grain cereal. On weekends, we give him 1/4 of a frozen waffle for breakfast as well.
- Overall super happy baby!

10 Months & Thanksgiving Recap

For Thanksgiving this year, my mom took us with her to Mexico! We loved it. Different from our previous beach vacations but great none the less. We chose to stay on Denver time rather than fight the time-change with Adrian. We spent our vacation relaxing and quickly settled into a groove. Every morning, we'd eat a quick breakfast of eggs, then head off to the beach with an hour before nap time. Adrian loved playing in the sand, surf, and the foot-washing area.

After his first morning at the beach he was hooked! The second day he immediately started crawling towards the ocean and wanted to play. We quickly learned that his favorite part was washing off afterwards. They have a foot washing station that is just his size to stand in the running water. We'd wash him off and head back to the unit for a better bath and nap. Sadly, Richard still had school work to do while in Mexico, so he stayed in the unit with Adrian, and I went either back to the beach or pool to get some reading in.

After his nap was lunch time followed by pool play time. By the end of the trip, he had mastered blowing bubbles and loved his pool time. Sadly, another nap was needed every afternoon, but we always had a good dinner with the family.

10 Month Stats:
- Wears size 3 diapers
- Wears size 6, 6-9, 9, and 12 month clothes. He's slender (like Dada) so 6 month oneies still fit. Anything with pants and arms are too short now.
- Naps 2 times a day
- Started swim lessons!! Nov 17 and he loves it!
- 4 teeth - 2 top, 2 bottom. Working on another top tooth.
- Loves eating! Not great at feeding himself, but we're working on that.
- 11/17 - had a reaction to yogurt... eye swelled shut. So we won't be trying it again anytime soon.

That's it for now, I'll add some more later.

9 Months!

Today, our little man is 40 weeks old! (Thanks to the weekly emails otherwise I wouldn't know the week count!) Which means, he's almost been outside as long as he was inside. Since he was a week late, we'll celebrate that next week... by taking him to Mexico. Just kidding, we're going for Thanksgiving!

Since I skipped the 8 Month Stats, let's do those first. So at 8 months, Adrian:
- wears size 2 to 3 diapers
- wears size 6 mth and 6-9 mth clothes
- discovered his high pitch squeal (and shared it with everyone on the plane)

- rocking back and forth on all fours and would really like to crawl
- took his first flight (Sept 30th) to San Francisco for Aunty Grace's Wedding to Uncle Kyle
- went to your first wedding (Sept 29th) Jason & Melanie
- got your top tooth - mid Oct and now your second top tooth is coming in as well.
- First ear infection :( a small one

Okay, it's a small list, but that cover the 8th month!

9 Months!
-18.2 lbs (24%) and 29" long (78%)
- Wears size 3 diapers
- Wears size 6, 6-9, and 9 month clothes
- Eczema is finally under control!! Medicine then Aveeno lotion, then vasoline. His elbows are the best they've look in months!
- CRAWLING!! Started on 11/4 by crawling a few inches to Momma, now if he wants to get somewhere he will. Mom and Dad are really having to watch him since we haven't done all the baby-proofing as needed.
- Dying to stand!
- Loves his bath and is now experimenting with putting his face under water. We start swim lessons tomorrow!

- He's mastered his growl and is always jabbering.
- Very inquisitive. We can tell when he's thinking hard about something or trying to figure something out.

- Eats 2 veggies and 2 fruits a day in addition to wheat cereal and ~25 oz of breastmilk!
- Starting to show some stranger anxiety and a preference for a parent at specific times.
- Awesome kiddo!

-No longer being swaddled to sleep but still loves Monkey. We's started sleeping with a blanket at night to keep warm since the temps are beginning to drop.

Halloween 2012

I know.. I missed the 8 month old post. But I have a list of things Adrian was doing at 8 months and I'll just combine 8 and 9 months into one post.

A few weeks prior to Halloween, we went to the pumpkin patch near us (an annual tradition) and picked out the pumpkins. A got the play in the dirt, explore pumpkins, and overall have a great time!

Raspberries with Dada

Picking his pumpkin!

Halloween 2012 = awesome! I had not been this excited for Halloween in a while. My mom made Adrian's costume and as usual, she's amazing!! Adrian was a dragon! We worked on his "ROAR" for weeks and he got pretty good at it, but didn't share it with anyone on Halloween.

Costume debut at Fall Fest

Our church hosts Fall Fest every year for kiddos, so we took Adrian. He was a bit to little this year to participate in many of the activities, but next year will be great! Jumping castles, train rides, truck or treat, games.. etc!

Laughing

I carved pumpkins the Sunday prior while A was napping and he got to help me finish. He thought using the pumpkin pieces to chew on was pretty great :)

First Pumpkin... "1st Boo"

All the pumpkins.. a bat, traditional face, and "1st Boo"

Greeting the neighborhood kids

Halloween night we took him to a few neighbors to say hi, but didn't trick-or-treat. He helped us answer the door and greet the kiddos in the neighborhood.