Live Love Laugh: September 2011

Today I am kind of a mess....

For Book Club this month we are reading The Giver by Lois Lowry. I read it last night in about 6 hours, I could not put it down! Then toward the end something happened (I won't give it away!) that made me sob uncontrollably until I finished the book and then after. I cannot stop thinking about it. It has traumatized me a little. In fact it catches me off guard and I start crying again. I was worried I would have nightmares all night and would not be able to sleep. I didn't, but I woke up thinking about it again. Let's just say that I am grateful I live in reality and not that world.

To make matters worse, today is the 10th Anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and we have been watching the memorial happening today and the footage taken on that day. My already fragile state has caused me to cry again and again every time I watch. I was a Junior in High School when this happened and I remember watching the second plane hit and the towers fall thinking it must be a movie because thinks like that didn't happen in real life. It wasn't a movie and it was and is real life. I am so proud to be an American. We will never be torn down as long as we come together as we did that day.

On a happier note! Callum had his 9 month appointment on Friday and here are his stats:

*He is 18lbs 14.5oz; 25th percentile

*30.5 inches long; 95th percentile

*His head size in in the 75th percentile

His doctor is very pleased with him. She said that she is happy with his growth and that as his peers begin to slow down, Callum will catch up in his weight. He is so skinny because he has a higher caloric output thanks to his heart.

She also said that he must have been Einstein because he is advanced for his age, which makes him SUPER advanced for his age being a Heart Baby. He is such a clever boy!

In fact, Brigham and I started to teach him how to wave "Bye Bye" just a few days ago and we were at my parents house yesterday to watch the Utah Football Game (what a disappointment by the way) and when we were leaving we were saying "bye bye" and he said it!

He started to wave and say bye bye! I couldn't believe it! He is so smart!

I love him so much! I am such a lucky momma!

Once again I am a terrible blogger... So here comes another novel to fill your days :)

Callum 9 months old! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He has gotten so big and he is so fun.

As previously mentioned, Callum had to have a stent placed in his heart to open up his right pulmonary artery, on June 30, 2011; Happy Birthday to me! That was on a Thursday, and due to my swimming schedule I could only afford to take one day off, so I asked Brigham what day he would like me to take and he asked me to take off that Friday, July 1, since that was the day he was going to come home. He had to stay in the Hospital overnight. Hindsight is 20/20. Brigham had his hands full at the Hospital on Thursday getting him ready and taking care of him until I could come up and relieve him.

They arrived at the Hospital round 8:30am and his procedure was scheduled for around 10am. So Brigham had to get him in, get him changed, wait, and haul him and all his stuff around all by himself. But he did a good job.... other than he did not take many pictures. But that is okay :)

Waiting.... Callum likes the paper on the Doctor tables

Saying Bye Bye to daddy until after the procedure

The procedure took about an hour and half and they put the catheter up through his groin to reach his heart.

Side Note: This procedure was a pretty big deal,

but it did not hit Brigham that it was until he got to the hospital

and they were telling him what they were doing, and the risks and all that jazz.

I knew it was a big deal.

Any surgical procedure, no matter what it is or how routine it is on adults,

is a big deal in a 6/7 month old infant.

I just tried not to think about it too much so that I would not freak out.

Though I did cry almost all that day at work.

Callum made it up to recovery around noon and Brigham then got to hold his leg straight for 6 hours! For those of you who know Callum, you can imagine how fun it was for him to have to be still and flat on his back for 6 straight hours! And how fun it was for Brigham to be the one to hold his leg straight. When I finally made it up to the hospital, Brigham was DONE! So I took over.

I think it is funny that he has a binky here.... He does not like and will not usually take a binky.

He had to have all his monitors on him all night

I gotta tell ya though, Callum is such a good little kid. As much as I know he hated it, he hardly complained at all. He was mostly happy and chatty. Boy do I love him :)

Callum had to stay in Recovery overnight, just so they could monitor his vitals signs to make sure that he was going to be good; again, this was a big deal, so they had to really watch him that first night to make sure nothing would go wrong. Now from previous experience of having Callum stay at the hospital, I was not expecting that one of us would have to stay at the Hospital with him. When he was in the CICU before and after his surgery, we would come and go as we pleased and we would sleep at home in our bed. Granted, in the CICU he had his own nurse 24 hours a day to take care of him, but regardless of that, I translated that experience into this one. I was wrong. When Brigham asked the nurse if one of us needed to stay the night with him she looked horrified at the idea that we might not. So I got to stay the night (John did stay with him while I went to Book Club though, he is such a good Father-in-Law!). That night was not fun.

Sleeping with his monkey over his head... we didn't even think about bringing extra bedding for him. It was real fun getting him comfortable.

Callum moves a lot in his sleep (rolls, spins, sleeps on his stomach), and he had to have all the monitors hooked to him all night, so every time he would move he would get stuck and he would wake up and cry which means I got up and readjusted him. Every. Hour. All. Night. So fun. Needless to say neither of us got any sleep that night. Oh, I also got to sleep on a body width pull out chair. Really comfortable.

My super comfortable bed for the night

The next morning I had to go to swim practice, and again from previous experience, I was not expecting him to be discharged until around noon. Again I was wrong. He had some x-rays at 6:30am to check that the stent stayed in place and then I left at about 6:45am to get to practice and Brigham was not there yet, but I told the nurses he was on his way (I found out later that he didn't actually make it up the hospital until almost 8am!). Before practice was even over at 8:45am Brigham and Callum show up on deck! They rush rush rushed them out of there! I could not believe it. AND I had the car seat, and Brigham had the Motorcycle so he had to walk holding Callum from Primary Children's to the JCC. I think this experience was harder on Brigham than it was on Callum :)

Callum, obviously, did not get much sleep that night so pretty much the instant we got him in his car seat he fell asleep and he stayed asleep for quite a while. Brigham and I went to the The Point Cafe at the Huntsman Cancer Institute for breakfast and then we went home. Callum slept through that and then he went back to sleep when we got home and were able to put him in bed.

So tired...

It is amazing how resilient these little people are. If you didn't know that he had to have that done, you would not have known. He was pretty much fully recovered in just a couple of days, and those days he acted really normally, if a bit more tired. Such a wonder.

The following pictures are all from July 1, 2011; the day he came home from the Hospital.

He likes the Football

Two little teeth

Eating lunch at Paradise Bakery with Grandpa Forrest

After we had lunch with Grandpa Forrest we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and did a little hike and saw how overfilled the river was. It was really beautiful.

He loves his daddy

*Some Fun Things*

Callum had his first 4th of July this year and I was worried that he would not like the fireworks, but he was fascinated by them! He just sat and watched them, even the loud ones! It was also fun to see Brian and his kids too; they came up to spend the holiday with us.

Cousins! (From Left: Kelsy, Maddi, Olivia, Aly and Callum)

Aly loves babies :)

The Fam, ready for Fireworks

Max is upset, because he has a blanket just like the one Callum is wrapped up in, and he thought it was his... He wanted it

Tired baby... Long day of party, family and fireworks

There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby

The stunned look is my favorite

We were lucky enough this year to go up to Bear Lake with my family a few times and Callum got to go on the boat more. He seems to like it (he just doesn't particularly care for the life jacket, but he is fine as long as we are moving). He likes to watch the water; he would stand up and hang over the side of the boat to see it, so we had to keep a really good grip on him.

A blast from the past! This is the Cruiser, my favorite childhood boat. It was so fun to get to ride on it again. Probably for the last time.

This is what we like to affectionately call "Old Man Talk"

Sun-screened and ready to go on the boat!

Grammy loves Callum

This picture makes me laugh... Grammy has her four favorite things; two dogs, one baby and one book

More Cousins!

I love that he is scowling at the sunlight in his face

Power slide and amazing water

Callum and Papa

This picture also makes me laugh...

He is curling his toes at the cold water

My sister also came out for three weeks this year and that was really fun. We were able to go up the Bear Lake twice with her and her cute kids. I love having them here! Someday I hope they will live closer (hint, hint April).

While April was here she took some pictures of Callum. She is amazing! She has become such a wonderful photographer. She has some of the pictures posted on her photography blog so you should go and check them out. Then visit her fan page on Facebook and "like" it! www.AprilNewmanPhoto.com.

My last week of swimming (July 25, 2011-July 29, 2011) was the craziest week of the summer! So Brigham was invited to go and spend the week with his brother in Denver. Callum and John flew; it was Callum's first airplane ride and John said he was really good! The only baby on the plane that did not cry the whole time. What a good kid. Brigham drove out with Erin, Claire and Duncan. I missed them a lot, but it helped me so much not to have to worry about them while I got my work done. And they had a really good time there.

Callum learned to clap by himself to patty cake (which is now his favorite thing to do).
He likes muffins- this was big because before this I kept trying to feed him foods like this and he would just gag and throw it up.
He really really likes dogs- not really new, but fun nonetheless.

Grandpa Forrest feeding Callum Ice Cream

Eating a Muffin

Big lips

"This is what happens when he is surrounded by girls..." -Brigham

Callum started to army scoot/crawl in the beginning of July and he was pretty fast. But not too much longer after that, in fact I think it was when they were in Denver, he figured out the hands and knees crawl and he is even faster! He is so funny; when he is going for something, especially something we have told him not to go for, he will start crawling really fast and breathing really hard with a big smile on his face like he is going to make it this time! It makes me laugh every time.

Now he can pull himself up on anything and he has started to "cruise" around the furniture and every now and again he will let go and stand on his own... so that means he could be walking any day now.

Danger Dan standing up in his crib

He still really likes his "My Baby Can Read" videos, and he is starting to learn some of the words. Whenever the words "clap" or "clapping" come on he will start clapping before they even say the word! So cute.

He can click his tongue, which is amazing to me because he picked it up just by watching Brigham and me do it, AND he can sometimes do it better than we can! Babies are sooooo amazing!

For a long time Callum did not perform for the camera, picture or video, but now he is such a ham! The second I put the camera up he gives me this squinty eyed grin and comes at me. It is so funny.

Two more funny things.... he likes to have his tongue wiped when he is done eating; when he is done, he wants to be ALL the way done with no food left in his mouth! It makes me laugh. He also likes to have his teeth brushed (he has four! Two on top and two on bottom). He will open his mouth and just let it happen, it is so funny.

That is pretty much all that I can think of. He is growing up so fast! It is so fun to watch him grow, even though I would love for him to stay little :)