Thomas' First Birthday

My baby is one. I can't even believe it. I feel like it was just yesterday they pulled this little darling from my belly and Kraig whispered to me that he did have Down syndrome. All the emotions are still fresh, but they are so much more rich and full now that this little boy has blessed our lives for 365 days. I am such a lucky mommy to be the first to hug and kiss him every morning and the last one to kiss him at bed time. He brightens my life and spreads his sunshine to all who meet him. Strangers are drawn to him (don't touch, please!), and his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins dote on him. I am such a lucky mommy.

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We celebrated Tommy's special day a few days early so that he could party with his Grandpa Rencher (they are practically birthday twins). Thomas was a good sport and even smeared enough frosting to make for great photos (although he wanted nothing to do with the cake. If he hadn't have come from my body, I would have wondered if her were really my son. Cake. Mmmmm).

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In other news, I gave Thomas his first hair cut. As much as I loved his long hair, he looked like he had a comb-over. Now he's all trimmed up and handsome as ever. Me, on the other hand, I could use some obvious help with my hair.

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And just to prove once again that Andy and Joshy will do anything to be like their daddy, Joshy broke out in a "Non-allergic side effect" to the amoxicillian he was taking for strep throat. I don't know, you tell me. I think it looks pretty horrible, but it didn't itch or bother him at all. It was all over his chest, back, neck and face. And there was nothing we could do for it. Thankfully it was gone after 3 days. It looks a lot like the psoriasis we're battling on Kraig. Really, I just wanted to put a half naked photo of my husband on the blog. Oww! Oww!

Shark Repellant Bat Spray. I didn't even know they made that. Where can I get some?

Hang in there and watch it all the way to the end. The writing on this thing is GENIUS!!



So long. For a minute.

Love Potion #9

Usually for V-day I do something for the family like heart shaped biscuits for breakfast or heart shaped calzones for dinner. Not this year. I decided to just spoil my Valentine.

I got this idea from my friend Trish. I scoured the grocery stores to find 9 different kinds of root beer. Unfortunately, I only found 8 since I didn't want to include store brands. They were some unusual kinds we'd never tried before, making it more exciting. I left a note on Kraig's lunch bag after he fell asleep last night and then laid out each type of root beer for him to find. Kraig leaves at 6:30 each morning and there was no way I was waking up to see his reaction (let's just leave it at sick, crying kids all night long). But he did call to say thank you and that he loved it.

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I love my Valentine! Love Potion #9 is waiting for him when he gets home!

Just about ready to write the screenplay

Has anyone seen James Franco in 127 Hours? I haven't seen it, but apparently it's the true story of a man who was out hiking, fell, and had to cut his own arm off to get out. I think. Like I said, I haven't seen it. The other afternoon Thomas was making quite a racket during his nap. I ignored him, just thinking he would tire himself out and fall back asleep. After a while I went in to get him and he was missing one of his orthotics. Poor boy had his foot stuck out of the crib and cruel mommy just let him figure it out himself. I think he was just about to whip out his Swiss Army Knife when he popped his foot out of the orthotic and left it behind in the crevice behind his bed. Every man (or corrective footware) for himself, I say.

Super Granny

Sometimes our greatest burden is our greatest weapon.

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You might have to suffer through a commerical first. That's the problem with letting someone else embed a video on my blog. If, for some reason, the video that comes on isn't a handsome british accent narrating a jewelry store robbery, click on playlist to find it.

Chefs Webb

Friday night Kraig and I catered a wedding dinner for the daughter of a friend in our ward. The dinner took place up in a huge cabin up in Breckenridge, CO. There was a lot of menu changes leading up to the week before the wedding, but our final menu was lasagna, chicken Marsala, bow tie Alfredo, roasted veggies, Cesaer salad, and spinach salad. We also served a few dozen of my rolls. It was a huge success even though the mothers were causing problems for the bride. The bride ended up rearranging the schedule for the evening because people were having a difficult time getting up the mountain in the snow storm. So instead of dinner at 7:30 after the ceremony, she wanted to do dinner before the ceremony at around 6:30. Thankfully we were right on top of things and pulled it off.

All in all it was a fun experience that I never want to repeat. No more brides. Ever.

On the way out of town we stopped at the winter festival in Breckenridge to check out the snow sculptures. Amazing. Who says to himself, "Hmmm...college isn't working out for me, I'm going to try snow sculpting"?

The NOT Sleep Study

So tired. My eyes feel like I've been crying for hours, when in actuality I haven't shed a single tear in weeks.

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Because of the Down syndrome, Thomas has small nasal passages. He snores like an old man. It is pretty cute on his 18 pound body. Cute in the sense that I don't have to share a room with him and can admire his cuteness when I go and tuck him in at night.

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Well apparently it's not cute for 11 month olds to snore. We're talking, ENT specialists, talk of surgery, and last night, Tommy's first sleep study to see what is actually going on while he sleeps.

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It all started out innocent enough. Tommy looked cute in his two piece jammies and was having a great time flirting with the nurse and playing in his new crib.

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Then we spent 60 minutes trying to attach a bazillion electrodes, straps, tape, and wires to his little body. He didn't love that so much. They mummy wrapped his head so he wouldn't pull them off (he still managed to get two out of the gauze) and told me after 60 minutes of him fussing to try and get him to sleep. Um. Ok. My child falls asleep alone in his room listening to piano music. Mommy rocking him while his body is being unnaturally probed isn't going to cut it.

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But, finally the exhaustion wins over and he falls asleep (his exhaustion or mine?). This was around...I don't know...10:30 maybe? We'd been there since 7:15. Tom's normal bedtime is 7:30. Right now all you mommys out there should be nodding you heads because you know what's coming. The nice, patient nurse then comes in and tells me they have to put a cannula on his nose and an additional sensor over the cannula to measure his O2 intake and CO2 output.

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Here's a little side note: Do you remember when Thomas had RSV when he was 6 weeks old? Ever since that week we spent in the hospital being pinned down and having his nose suctioned by strangers the poor boy has serious issues with people touching/looking at/wiping his nose. I can't blame him. So inserting the cannula did not go over well. Not only did he not like it there, but the additional sensor made it impossible for him to suck his thumb (I know, I know. Don't talk about the thumb sucking); the wires made it impossible for him to sleep on his stomach; the beeping/noisy machines and VIOLA! we have a perfect recipe for a disastrous night.

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Long story short (really, my mind is just too muddled with sleep deprivation to form too many more sentences), we will be really lucky if there is enough collective data from which to draw conclusions.

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He hated the crib, so we tried putting him in my bed with me (read: taking over my bed so I sat out in the hall and read my book). I am pretty sure I have scarred my little boy for life. And unfortunately he will have a lifetime of doctors, hospitals, and treatments. Early analysis of his results tell us he's going to have to be on oxygen while he sleeps.

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Sigh. I'm tired.