Which Outfit Goes Best With Jaundice?

I haven't felt well for a couple weeks now. Since Thanksgiving weekend. I figured it was something I ate, then I thought it was a stomach bug. A couple people who knew about it all asked if I was pregnant. Absolutely not. So this past Thursday after I got out of the shower I looked in the mirror and got a little scared. I called Nate into the bedroom and I asked him if my skin and eyes look yellow to him. He kinda made fun but quickly stopped when he said "Umm...yeah, you're yellow." And then the fun began.

That day I went to just a general doctor who threw every scary possibilities at me (including pancreatic cancer) and took some tons of blood. Then he sent me for an abdominal ultra sound to check for "blockages" which of course made me think they were going to find all kinds of tumors and I was going to die (the doctor actually was hoping for a gall stone stopping up my plumbing). Nothing. Ultra sound was clean except for a "slight" inflammation of my liver and spleen. So Friday I went to a gastro guy who once again took my history and ordered more blood tests. And then an MRI of my abdomen on Monday.

I'm not a claustrophobic person...but that MRI tube gave me some anxiety. And I left there once again feeling like they were going to see something awful. Nope. Clean. What to do, what to do? How about more needles? But let's make a big one. So Tuesday, I had a liver biopsy done. "Don't worry," the nurse at my doctor's office said "It sounds scary but they'll sedate you. You won't know what's going on. You'll just need to have someone there to drive you."

Liar.

They most certainly do not sedate you before shoving a large needle into your troublesome liver. And honestly it wasn't too terrible. But they SHOULD sedate you before sending in the socially awkward nurse to attempt THREE TIMES to start an IV. She eventually gave up (after bruising me in all three places) and someone else - much more friendly - came in and got it on the first try. Just start with him next time. So they did the biopsy and I was sent off to recovery to lay still for two hours with Nate to keep me company (who refused to give me my phone to play with).

No joke, I look like I've taken a position
at Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

So at this point it was about 3:30 in the afternoon and I'd had nothing to eat all day (finally had something to drink when I got to recovery and it was the best tasting ginger ale I've ever had!). The very sweet nurse was going to bring me some graham crackers but on second thought brought me the hospital menu and ordered me a sandwich. I went with grilled cheese thinking it would be easy to eat from the above position. I wasn't sure how my stomach would handle it but I took one look at it and it was gone in about 3.2 seconds. I was starving. After that I was discharged and took yesterday off as well to rest up. I'm not allowed to lift anything over 20 pounds - and that includes Grant - for 5 days. On the off chance my liver decides to spring a leak. 

This morning it was more blood work and tomorrow another follow up with the gastro guy. Next week I go to Chapel Hill to see another specialist who, I'm told, should have my biopsy results. The doc seems to be leaning toward a virus but it apparently could be related to medication or an autoimmune thing. They've ruled out the big bad stuff so we're all very relieved about that.

 Regardless of the outcome, I will be very glad to have this all over with (I'm so tired of needles)! It's put a huge kink in all my Christmas plans (and my Christmas baking!)

Look At Those Legs

Raise your hand if you think your little one is the cutest thing ever. Yeah, me too :) And I have to say...as adorable as some chubby cheeks and chunky thighs are on a baby...I love how scrawny my little man is. And he is scrawny. Grant does have a little belly on him sometimes but for the most part he's a little stick. That's not to say he doesn't eat. He totally eats. I think he's made of 85% pasta. Maybe he just burns it off while he's bouncing off the walls. But anyway, I frequently let him run around in just a onesie because I loooove to watch his tiny self running around with those skinny little legs.

Pictures were taken with my phone while trying to capture a moving
subject. Please excuse the blurriness. However, you can
clearly see those silly skinny legs.



Seriously, it makes me smile every time :)



Crazy Hair

I know that everyone wakes up with bed-head. I took these pictures the morning of Thanksgiving because while Grant has always had a rather severe case of Crazy Hair...this was quite possibly the craziest that it's been.

Nate and I have mentioned to each other several times over the last month how Grant is overdue for a hair cut (not that his previous haircut cured Crazy Hair). But we're definitely going to have to find them time to do it this weekend.

*Side note: I forgot to mention in my 15 month post that Operation: Bye-Bye Paci is in full swing and we managed to go about 90% of this past weekend without the pacifier. The exception being nap time and bed time. But so far, we're very encouraged by the progress!

15 Months

Seriously this was the only picture I managed to get of
him sitting still and that was only for a second.

At Grant's 15 month check-up on Tuesday we learned that he is 21 lbs 13 oz and he's 31.5 inches tall. So pretty much tall and skinny. The big news from that visit...*drum roll please*...we've been given the green light for Grant to go forward facing in the car! Yeah, I know - it's the little things, right? I've been looking forward to it for a while (more about that later probably).

Grant seems to be crazier every day. I don't mean like the "committed" kind of crazy. I mean the 100% little boy kind of crazy. And it is so entertaining. When he's not sick (and sometimes even when he is) he is wide open all the time. It seems to be Grant's daily goal to make as much noise as possible before he retires for the night. His favorite toys right now are anything he can stack. He loves his wood blocks, mega blocks...and when he's my kitchen helper he loves to get into my baking cupboard and stack my canisters of various supplies. It's actually kind of impressive - maybe because I'm his Mom - because he almost always manages to get them stacked largest to smallest. And then he usually puts them away.

Grant, for a while now, has been all about some books. His board books are his favorites, of course, because those are easier for him to turn the page. If he's not playing with his toys then you can generally spot him with a book. Before bed he gets at least two stories but it's not unusually to read four or five. He gets so excited about them that sometimes you just have to keep going :)

Grant is doing a little talking. "Dada" is the most used but I get an occasional "Mama". "Uh oh" is runner up for most used. And now he's even saying "Hey" and "Hi" too. The other day he laid down on the floor, looked under the bed at Brodie, waved at him and said "Hi!". It was pretty cute and Brodie even wagged his tail (The whole Brodie & Grant friendship is improving, by the way. Brodie has even allowed Grant to give him some hugs!)

So that's that for now. Hopefully I'll be able to get some other stuff posted in between getting ready for Christmas!

Self-Feeding: Step 2

At Grant's 15 month check-up on Tuesday (which I will update about if I ever get around to his 15 month post) the doctor asked how he's doing eating with utensils. I told her it's something we've been working on sporadically and that he was adjusting to it. She seemed encouraged by that answer.

The other night we all had breakfast for dinner. Grant had two pieces french toast (I have to say I make some pretty yummy french toast) and peaches which, of course, require nothing - for him - other than his hands. But he was still hungry. So I busted out some yogurt and one of his "learning" spoons. I helped him on the first couple spoonfuls and then I decided to see what he could do on his own. My big guy ate the rest of the container of yogurt all by himself! I even tried to take the spoon to help at the end but no dice. He cried and had a death grip on the spoon. If I was going to take the spoon, I think I would have had to just take his whole arm. Mr. Independent!

I'm not going to lie. It makes me a little sad when I realize how much Grant's growing up. But I also know that when he gets better at eating that way we can finally all sit at the table and eat dinner as a family (no more eating in shifts in front of the TV!). I'm really looking forward to family dinners.