4 Months!!

Max turned 4 months today! And it was finally warm so to celebrate we went swimming! Max LOVED the water just like he loves his baths. He did so well. I bought this tube that is for ages 1-2 years, but I figured since he is about the size of some of my friends 1 year old's... it would work. And it did! He loved lounging in it. (Look at his cute feet!)
I wanted to find a hat to shield his eyes and to protect his head instead of lathering buckets of sunscreen in his hair. I couldn't really find one, until I went to All A Dollar for some scrub brushes. There they were, cute as can be. Never underestimate the All A Dollar.

I love his lips!

Max doing his favorite thing... eating my hand and his!

We had a fun day with grandma. Little swimming, little lunch, little shopping. Then he rolled over to show grandma his skillz. I can't believe how fast babies grow! He was just a little peanut 4 months ago, and just 1 year ago we found out he existed! CRAZY! He doesn't have his Doctors appointment until late next week because I procrastinated in making it. So we will find out his stats then. He is so much fun and I love spending my days off with him.

Keep on Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Max has been turning to his side for about a week now, but couldn't quite figure out how to get his body all the way over. He would try and try, but couldn't figure out how to get his hand out of the way. Well today he yet again was turning to his side.

And then all of the sudden...

He made it to his belly!

About a week ago he had rolled from his tummy to his back randomly and hasn't done it since so I thought THIS was jut a random incidence. But then he did it again! And AGAIN! So I started taking some videos.

I couldn't get my video's to upload to blogger, but I posted them on Facebook. So go HERE and HERE and HERE to see him in action!

I'm so proud of my little boy! Even if pretty soon I am going to wish he would just sit still for once. I can't believe how big he is getting!

Update

Warning: May contain content you just don't wanna see!

I PASSED MY KIDNEY STONE!!!! After 4 weeks of worry, stress, and fear... I finally passed it. My urologist said to give it 3 weeks, and if I didn't pass it, that we may have to do surgery to get it out. This was a problem because maternity leave left me with no PTO so I couldn't miss any shifts at work and I am to my max sick calls. So I had no idea when I was going to be able to have this surgery.

Well, I waited 3.5 weeks and then called them. I told them that there were 2 times I forgot to filter my urine, so they decided to do an x-ray to see if they could see the stone and if it had moved. The day I got my x-ray I was very uncomfortable and had a stomach ache all day. I told Chris the pain felt like the day I had to go to the ER, but like 10 times less. I almost took a Percocet that day because I was uncomfortable. I was hoping that we wouldn't end up in the ER again.

The very next morning as I was filtering my pee for probably the 100th time, there it was! A small little stone. It was like Christmas Morning. I called Chris, my urologist, and my mom and proudly proclaimed that I passed my stone. No surgery, no time off. So happy. I took a picture of it so I could remember it always. Who knew something so little could cause so much pain, grief, fear, and anxiety!

We blessed Max at Church on May 30th. Chris did an amazing job and is an amazing Dad. I regret to inform you that I didn't take many pictures because I was visiting with the many people who came and supported us, and getting my house ready for the get together, and making food. After we got home, we didn't leave Max in his adorable suit too long, because he wasn't a fan of it. But here is our handsome little man.

Chris sister came into town for the blessing and a visit, so we spent some time with them. Max and I went to the zoo with my sister-in-laws and mother-in-law. His first little zoo trip. He didn't really know any different. As long as he got his naps and bottles he was a happy boy.

Josh and Melanie

Max is doing great! I can't believe he is going to be 4 months tomorrow. He rolled over for the first time today (blog post to come... I just can't get the video to work). He will stand supported and he sits supported. He has decided he needs to wake up during the night, but it is usually only once. He just shouldn't have spoiled us in the first place, because we are disappointed when he doesn't sleep all night. He is adorable and I can't help but smother his cheeks in kisses.

Then and Now

I was looking through Max's pictures and I can't believe how big he has gotten! He is as big as some peoples 12 month old's. It's crazy. So here is a little comparison to when he was 1 month or less, and now.

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now:

Then:

Now: It's CRAZY how fast he has grown!!

Rolling Stones

So. It has been a rough week.

I was recovering from my first cold in OVER A YEAR, I was mad sanitizing my hands whenever I coughed, sneezed, blew, or even touched my nose to prevent Max from getting sick. Even though I had to take care of him while Chris was at work.

On Friday morning, Max woke up at 3:00 to feed. This was and odd hour because if he wakes up it is usually at 2:00 and lately he has just slept until 5:30 or later (I know I'm lucky). But I think he may be going through a growth spurt, that or he is getting sick. So here I am up at this odd hour. I was feeling very sleepy because I had been coughing for the past few nights and kept myself up, so I had taken some NyQuil the night before.

Then at about 5:00 I kept waking up, tossing and turning. My stomach ached. Like really ached. I thought maybe I needed to poop. But after doing that I found no relief. So I tried to go back to bed. But the pain was getting worse. A constant dull ache in the pit of my stomach. By 7:00 when Max woke up to eat again, I was writhing in pain. I couldn't sit still. I started vomiting, even though I had nothing in my stomach to vomit. I couldn't believe this was happening. On the morning of Carries funeral. I had so wanted to go and show my love and support, and to help be at peace with everything. But the pain was hard to bear. So I told Chris we needed to go to the ER.

The drive over seemed like an eternity, even though we live about 5-10minutes from IMC. When we checked in I was pale and shaking. I told them I was having severe abdominal pain as I clutched my puke bucket with the contents deposited on the way to the hospital. They took one look at Chris carrying a infant car seat covered with a blanket and said, "How many days postpartum are you?" I was like "What?" "Oh, he's 3 months". It seemed like they took a breath of relief. I couldn't figure out how many days that was, but it seemed to be far enough out for any complications from that. I could barely sign for them to treat me.

They whisked me back and started taking vitals and drawing blood. I was trying to answer all the questions through grunts of pain. I couldn't believe how much pain I was in. They gave me some anti-nausea meds through the IV that they had place as I was now pretty much constantly vomiting, or at least trying to, because nothing was really coming up. They couldn't give me pain medication until the MD saw me. So I had to wait for him. I was tossing and turning in my stretcher trying to find a comfortable position. I started to feel like I would never have relief. And I was still throwing up despite two doses of nausea medication. I was miserable.

Finally the MD came in and through grunts of pain I answered his questions. The nurse finally came in and gave me some Dilaudid. The first dose made me dizzy, and helped the pain to lessen, but it was still there. And I was still throwing up. The second dose made everything better again. AHHHHHHHHHHHH RELIEF! Something I had thought was not possible.

They took me to get an ultra sound to check out my ovaries to see if it was an ovarian cyst that burst. Then they found red blood cells in my urine so they opted for a CT. The CT showed... Kidney Stones. A rather large one on my left side. There is no known cause, but it seems that lots of women get them either while their pregnant or shortly there after and can be brought on my dehydration.

So now I am at home waiting to pass my large stone. I am on a medication that relaxes my ureter and some pain medication. Both make me dizzy and sleepy and I'm not supposed to drive. And I get to filter my pee (fun fun). So I hope it passes soon because I can't lose any more hours at work, and I've got my starving-probably-going-through-a-growth-spurt-or-getting-sick son that needs to be taken care of.

Why oh why does this crap happen at the most inconvenient times?

Wish me luck that it will pass soon and I won't be in unbearable pain when it does!

Loss of a Friend

One of my dear co-workers was diagnosed with leukemia in December of 2009. This was not the first time she had battled cancer. I had talked to her a week before and she had been feeling a little sick, but I had no idea. She had struggled earlier that year with kidney stones, and surgery with complications. She had just barely had her daughter about 18 months before. But she was always positive. Even when she was explaining to me all of her complications she did it with a smile on her face.


That is how Carrie was. Always positive. Everyone at my work can always find something to complain about. Whether some resident didn't listen to you, or that crazy parent who is doing something crazy! But if Carrie ever complained, (rarely) she turned it around to make it absolutely hilarious that would leave you rolling on the floor.

She was an excellent nurse. She treated her patients and families with so much love and respect. She was our "Nurse of the Year" one year and probably would have been every year if we didn't have to let everyone else have a chance. I knew I could go to her with help and suggestions whenever I needed them. She was the type of nurse that when you had a difficult patient family you could assign her to them and they would be singing her praises by the end of the shift. She was a "Primary Nurse" (a nurse who takes care of the same patient frequently because they are in the hospital for a long time) to a lot of patients and got to know so many families.

Even though I didn't really hang out with her outside of work, I consider her a dear friend. We had always planned on going skiing/snowboarding together, but she was on maternity leave, and then I got pregnant so we missed out on a couple of seasons. But, we would hang out and talk all the time on the Pods at work when we weren't busy. Her laugh and sense of humor was infectious. She always had the cutest scrub tops on! I was always asking her where she got them because they were always so adorable. When I had my bleeding scare with Max, she wrote me the sweetest e-mail, and when I struggled with breastfeeding and postpartum depression, she left words of encouragement in a comment to me... probably while she was sick in a hospital bed getting bone marrow transplant after bone marrow transplant after chemo therapy. She was that good of a friend to everyone. She was one of my favorite people at work.

And now she is gone.

She lost her battle on Sunday. Something I didn't think was going to happen. How can such a positive, perfect person who has already struggled with cancer and beaten it, not beat it again. Someone with such faith, love, support. It is just not fair. She leaves behind and adorable 10 year old son and almost 2 year old daughter. And an amazing husband that has gone through a lot. Here is her obituary:

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/deseretnews/obituary.aspx?n=carrie-carroll&pid=142902213

I am so sad that she is gone and I won't get to see her for a long time. But I am grateful that families are eternal and that she is no longer in pain. She will be greatly missed. She was too perfect for this world.

Some Recent Video's

So I was thinking about it, and I realized that I've taken gobs of pictures of baby Max, but haven't taken much video. So here is a couple of video's. Pardon my voice, I have been sick all week and you have to talk in a high pitch baby voice to get a reaction out of this boy. Plus, you just can't help it!

The first time is right before bath time. He giggles and smiles when I undress him for his bath. So I grabbed the camera, but of course he stopped loudly giggling, but at least I got a couple of cute smiles.

This video was during tummy time. He was talking to me.