Just updating

Per the request of a few people... I am updating the blog with some new pictures and info:

First off, I absolutely love this picture taken of me and sweet baby girl Sunday before church at Grannie Betty's...

Lauren's tests came back fine. However, after bragging to the dr. about how well she was doing, we have hit another rough patch. It was a very sudden change, all last week she slept all night several times, and was a much happier baby. Call it 'New Mom' syndrome, but I am taking her back to the dr. this afternoon to have her ears checked, just to make sure it isn't an ear ache. Starting friday night, she has gotten extremely fussy and won't hardly sleep. We thought maybe she was teething, and I'm sure she is, but now her reflux is bad again. And on top of that she has been running a low-grade fever. She absolutely cannot sleep longer than two hours, myabe three at the most. And during the day she's getting maybe 30-an hour at a time. It makes for a long day.

Second, tonight we are going to Hobart to get her picture taken with Santa Claus, and do some Christmas activities with our healthy families case manager. Every year they host some kind of holiday party. This year it is at the public library.

Tomorrow night is something I am definitely looking forward to. It is Levi's company christmas party at the Flying W Guest Ranch... http://www.flyingwonline.com/ A friend from church is keeping Lauren, so I am really excited that we will have a real date for the first time in so long.

Spending some quality time with her two favorite boys... and in the below picture you can see jsut how cute her dress, tights, and mary jane shoes were. She definitely got a lot of attention at church, all the little ladies just cooooed and aweeeed over her. Also I took a picture with her Grannie, we don't have very many yet...

Other than that... I'll leave everyone with a video of Lauren trying her best to roll over. I was wrapping some gifts on teh florr beside her, and noticed that she was trying to roll from her back to her stomach. By the time I got the camera out to take some video, she was starting to get mad... I was too afraid to put her back on her back for fear of her giving up. So this is what I got. She is very upset, and can't figure out how her arm is blocking her.... enjoy!

Sweet Baby Lauren

I finally got the pictures back from Lauren's two-month shoot.

<--- This has to be my most favorite picture from the shoot. It truly captured her expression, she is always 'talking' to us with this face. The shoot worked out so good, the people who were after us didn't show up, and so we kept shooting in their time slot.

When we were done, the photographer asked me to sign a release so they could use some of her pictures for advertising if the chose to.














And oh my gosh, I fall in love more and more everyday with our baby girl. And I know a big, 6'4" mans-man, who does too. Our hearts are completely wrapped up in her. She's getting more and more fun everyday.

I got some more video, I will post later, of her attempting to roll from her back to her stomach. Only she can't figure out her arm that is blocking her accomplishment, and she gets very mad.

She is growing up so fast... I pulled out a newborn diaper last night, and Levi and I were in disbelief that she once wore that tiny size...





Because I left our rings at the house the first time we took pictures. I definitely remembered them this time. The feet with the ring picture reminds me so much of what our love has accomplished... Our beautiful baby girl.

I also have some wonderful video of Hunter and Lauren laying in the floor together watching t.v. I have asked dear 'ol Santa to bring me a digital video recorder so I can quit using my crappy digital camera. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have, but the video quality isn't that good, and I now have to buy a program to convert those files in order to put them on a dvd.

Lauren's appointment got cancelled Monday due to our icy roads. We stayed in... but it is re-scheduled for Friday. The dr. hasn't called us, so I'm sure if it was something too important he would have already called. No news is good news.

Other than that, not much else to report. Life is good here. Lauren has continued to sleep through the night a couple of times. Last night was not so good, but not terrible either. Things seem to be going good with daycare. Lauren is a happy baby and gets alot of attention there.

Below is a video of Lauren and Levi playing...

Well, We hope everyone is doing good, and staying safe during the weather and the holidays!!!

We send out our love to you all!

Levi, Shannon, Hunter & Lauren

Oh happy day!!!

So I may be going out on a limb and jinxing myself here... But miss Lauren actually slept the whole night last night!!!

This is my victory dance time!!!!!

We did our whole night time routine; bath, playtime, and finally a bottle with oatmeal as usual. But she went down kinda early, it wasn't quite 9 and she didn't drink her normal 3-4 oz's. She only drank about 2 and I just knew she would wake up anytime and be ready for round two. Most nights we have to put her back down 2 or 3 times.

Finally I gave up at 11, and went to bed myself... I woke up several times wondering if the monitor was broke, and I just couldn't hear her... Oh, for those that don't know, she sleeps in her own crib the first part of the night, and then I nurse her in our bed to go back to sleep...

Dixie let me know at 3, that she needed out, so I got up, let her out, and checked on Lauren. Still sound asleep, but she had moved her head... hmmmmm... I let dixie in, and back to bed we went.

5 came, and my alarm went off, and I realized, she still hadn't woke up. I went back to her room and checked; still asleep. So I went back to bed myself, feeling quite tired, and slept another hour. Then she woke up, I nursed her back to sleep, and I got ready for work.

I still can't believe it!!!

Lauren is so ahead of her time... she has already rolled over twice, from her stomach to her back/side. She can sit up pretty good in our hands. She has wonderful head and neck control. She likes to use her legs alot to 'stand' in our hands. And now she has slept her first night through...

I am so proud!!!

She has a dr. appointment monday to follow up with the tests... I am anxious to see if anything was discovered.

Other than that, not much is going on here. I thought I would share the picture of her and Hunter from our first JC Penney's shoot. I hope everyone is doing good!

Well, the tests today went quite well... better than I expected. First thing at 9 this morning was the pyloric stenosis test: Pyloric stenosis is a narrowing of the pylorus, the lower part of the stomach through which food and other stomach contents pass to enter the small intestine. When an infant has pyloric stenosis, the muscles in the pylorus have become enlarged to the point where food is prevented from emptying out of the stomach. She was not allowed any food three hours before the test, so she hadn't ate anything since 5:30 this morning. After the test, the informed me that she could only eat about two, maybe three ounces, and then nothing again until 1 p.m....

So we ventured to Rebecca's house of Coffee, I got a carmel vanilla cappuccino, and her a bottle, and we sat there for a while. After she ate a few ounces, we ventured off to finish the rest of our christmas shopping. Yes, I said the rest... other than Hunter, we are officially done.

We did some shopping, called Levi, met him for lunch, and that's when I thought it all was going to break loose with Lauren. She started fussing, then crying, so I propped her up in the cradle of my leg crossed, and gave her a pacifier. Lo and behold, she actually stayed pretty calm, and I was able to eat one handed.

We left there, and went on to wal-mart and she fell asleep, which was perfect because we only had 30 minutes to go. Finally we made it back to the hospital for the last test... delayed gastric emptying. Gastric Emptying Study: The baby is required to ingest a small amount of radioactive material which is followed by a special machine as it empties out of the stomach. This test will determine the length of time it takes the material to move from the stomach..

Basically to see how long it takes her stomach to empty it's contents. They place her up on a, for a lack of a better word, a platform that is about 2.5x2.5 feet. They put some of the radioactive substance in her bottle, and while she eats, the machine immediately begins to take pictures. All you see is a small white dot on a black screen that represents the radioactive material in her stomach. Over a period of 2 hours, the machine continually takes pictures, and gives a percentage of how much fluid has left her stomach. Ideally they want 50% gone after one hour. At one hour she was 44%, so nothing too drastic or slow...

Oh, and for those wondering, the radioactive material is very safe, in fact it's supposed to be better than if they had used the x-ray machine for that many times.

So I'm pretty sure she just has GERD, Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease... I'm anxious to talk to the dr. and see what the next step is.

I have a lot of people ask me what are her symptoms, why am I so worried... So I thought I would make this post very informative... Below are 23 of the symptoms listed for GERD, Lauren has at least 12 of those that I know of (I marked them with a red *) ... and just like with adults, if you don't treat this, it can cause damage.

Some symptoms of reflux or GERD include:

• constant or sudden crying or colic like symptoms *
  
• irritability and pain *
  
• poor sleep habits typically with frequent waking *
  
• arching their necks and back during or after eating * (this is most likely because the milk burns as it travels down the esophagus)
  
• spitting-up or vomiting *
  
• wet burp or frequent hiccups *
  
• frequent ear infections or sinus congestion
  
• refusing food or accepting only a few bites despite being hungry or the exact opposite requiring constant small meals or liquid *
  
• food/oral aversions
  
• anemia
  
• excessive drooling *
  
• running nose, sinus infections *
  
• swallowing problems, gagging, choking *
  
• chronic hoarse voice
  
• frequent red, sore throat without infection present
  
• apnea
  
• chronic ear infections
  
• respiratory problems—pneumonia, bronchitis, wheezing, asthma, night-time cough, aspiration *
  
• gagging themselves with their fingers or fist (sign of esophagitis) *
  
• poor weight gain, weight loss, failure to thrive
  
• erosion of dental enamel
  
• neck arching (Sandifer's Syndrome)
  
• bad breath

If anyone is interested, there is many websites that are informative to the disease, one I used to get the above information is http://www.infantrefluxdisease.com/gerd-overview.php

Well, I will leave you now this this horribly lengthy post, and get ready for bed.

Hope everyone is doing great!

Shannon

Santa Claus

Every year our small town does an "Old Fashion Christmas" night. The festivities starts at 5 with cheap hot cocoa at the stores, Santa Claus at the library, and a huge drawing on the street. They started giving everyone tickets everytime you made a purchase in town over the last couple of weeks. Then at 7 they started drawing tickets... lauren won two hotwheels (that will go to bubba), a $10 gift certificate to our local cafe, and a coffee mug. Then I won a free dinner basket at the other local cafe, and a plier tool set.

Well, I have to take Lauren to the hospital monday morning to have some tests ran on her stomach. one will check to see if her opening from her stomach to her large intestine is working properly, and the other will see how long it takes for her stomach to empty the contents. If these test come back normal, then we will move on to see what else we can do. Thursday night was another horrible night of spitting up and sever tummy problems. Then Friday morning, she only ate an ounce all morning. So we know something it hurting at times. This weekend has been better. I have given her formula during the day, and only nursed at night. Since doing that, she has been a happier baby, but still has had some moments.

Well, better wrap it up for now. I hope everyone is doing fine.

We got Elfed!!!

This is quite funny, especially Levi, so make sure you watch him...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9636366032

Not much going on here... just a slow Thursday. I managed to play around with some digital stuff, and created this avatar. I use it for one of my digital scrapbooking boards. I have to pronounce my love once more for digital scrapbooking. I am completely and udderly hooked! It satisfies my need for crafting (to an extent).

Our Healthy Families case worker came by yesterday. She brought by a fun activity for me to make Lauren a sandwich baggie book. She stressed on the choking hazard, but it is a fun activity. I am learning so much about how babies learn, and about their 'windows of opportunities'. I'm glad I was asked to join the program, it has been an awesome learning tool.

I realized I haven't posted on Lauren and how things are going at the daycare. First off, let me say, Lauren loves Andrea. And Andrea has a little girl, I believe she is four or almost four, and Lauren loves her as well. Which is great for Andrea, because her newest baby (7 weeks) does not like her big sister! hahaha! People keep asking me if it was hard to go back to work... I keep saying no, not really. Don't get me wrong, a big part of me would have loved to stay home and play with her all day. But another big part of me didn't want to stay home with her when she's fussy, just teasing. But in all reality, It's kind of nice to have a break, and I think it makes my evenings more enjoyable with Lauren. Plus it's good for Lauren to get interaction with other children.

Well thats about it for now... I'll see what I can do for tomorrow.

all is well...

Well, all seems better... Lauren is much more like her normal self now. Unfortunately Levi and I both now have whatever she had, and we are sick, but managing. I'm just glad my baby is better, thats all that matters.

I really don't have much to post... I finished our christmas cards today, so folks can be expecting those around the second week of December.

I had to stay home with Lauren this morning, daycare was temporarily closed, but I took these pictures of her playing with her floor 'barn' mat. It's cute, a cow head swings a baby chick and plays old mcdonald had a farm and a few other songs.

I'll post more tomorrow (maybe)

Shannon

My First Digital Freebie

I made my first digital freebie for those that are interested...

Down load here ---> http://www.4shared.com/file/30647019/1bc7117/Red_Chipboard_copy.html

If you download it, please leave me some love and tell me what you think!

Our Holiday

This is one my latest digital creations... a picture I took of Hunter a few weeks ago...


Wow! What can I say about the last three days? They have been a roller coaster for sure!!! First off, Wednesday I took Lauren to the dr. for her 2 month check-up and shots... The shots were horrible. She cried; I cried; it was definitely an ordeal. That baby was mad!!! While I was there, I did get my flu shot with hopes that it will help with my sinus/allergies/asthma...

Then Wednesday night, Pa and Grandma came over to watch Hunter and I deorate the tree. Of course the majority of the attention was on the princess... but nobody but Dixie seems to mind! hahaha...

(<------ Here is a blended picture of her first ornament and our actual tree... look to the left, and you will see the full size. Also the ornament with the mother and daughter was a gift from my friend Dana)

Thursday wasn't much of a deal. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at Granny Nadine's. Darlene brought over Riggs, who is nine days older than Lauren. Lauren was so interested in him. She just smiled and cooed at him, and didn't seem dissapointed when he didn't reciprocate. He was more interested in eating and sleeping.

(<----- This is from Wednesday night, Lauren was talking to Grandma.) Now Friday is where it got hellish. First off, we made a mad-dash to Wal-mart at 5:30 in the morning to get a Cricut machine for Grandma on sale. Then I decided to take Lauren to daycare, since I'm paying for it, so I could get some things done at home. I called to check on her aroun noon and Andrea (the day care lady) said Lauren had projectile vomited after eating only 2 ounces. Now remember Lauren has acid reflux. So I chalked it up to that, or the fact she had just had her shots, and might not be feeling so well. However when I picked her up at 3, she said she had gotten extremely fussy, wouldn't sleep and wouldn't eat anymore. She also was having some episodes where she was acting like she was choking and couldn't breath. So I thought I would go home and call the dr. Guess what? Dr. office was closed. So I called the hospital, and the recommended that I bring her in to have her checked out. It was coming the weekend, and I wanted to be sure.

Grandma rode with me, and we took her to ER to see the on-call dr., dr. Hall. Dr. hall helped me with my tachycardia when I was 18, he's a good dr. She did one of her epsiodes, and he immediately said it was her reflux. If I had to guess, I was giving her motrin for the small fever from her shots, and it was probably messing with the effectivness of her acid reflux medicine. He sent us home with a sleep apnea machine, but we didn't use it. And she didn't have any more episodes. She barely slept last night, off and on and she only had one small episode this morning. Since then, she has slept much better, and is back to her happy normal self.

1. Wednesday night in Pa's arms

2. Aunt Judy holding her while she played with and talked to Riggs.

3. In her moma's arms after dinner. (you can tell here she was starting to not feel good)

So thats pretty much it. Today has been quiet, the boys went hunting. And me and Lauren are relaxing in front of the computer... the hardest part of my day is going to be deciding what I want for supper.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!!!

Lots of Love!

Shannon and Lauren

First day...

So today was my first day back to work... it was pretty easy; so easy I'm actually posting this while at work.

What?!?! It's only 30 minutes til quitting time.

It's not like I spent all day goofing off! ~ahem~

And I only called to check on Lauren twice. I think thats pretty good for the first official day back. Plus I really don't want to look like a complete idiot to the daycare lady! Levi left us at 4:30 this morning to go to deer camp. Poor boy couldn't wait, he was so ready, and I know he needs it. He spent $200 in supplies to feed him and his friend. Which I figure is a fair trade, since his friend brought the brand new travel trailer for them to stay in.

I am still enthralled with the world of digital scrapbooking. So I'm posting one of my absolute favorites:



Aren't they precious!!?!?! I just love both of them so much!

You will also be proud to know that all of my 'Thank-yous' are done... I did a count, and it was 90 something, but I realized I still need to write 3 more. Like DeLeta said, that just goes to show there are a lot of people who really love us! They are in the mail, and on their way!

Well, not much else to say... I have more pictures to show, but that may have to be for tomorrows post.

I hope everyone is doing good!

Lots of Love!
Levi, Shannon, Hunter, Lauren and Dixie too!

PS!!! If you read this blog, and you get an update, can you please send me an email... I lost all of my email addresses and so I can't send out an update. I'll continue to send to those that I have regained, but if you don't get an update, you know why! Thanks!

Sooooooo much to post...

First off, let me apologize for not having updated for a week. My computer was invaded by a virus (completely my fault) and so it's been getting an over-haul. So in between trying to download/install all my old programs, I thought I would take a minute to give an update...

Here is another one of my digital scrapbook layouts:



Below is another picture from our first shoot... I took Lauren back to JC Penney's today to have her two month pictures done, and finish up those "baby" pics. It was a wonderful shoot; The people after us didn't show up, so that extended our picture time. We got some shots with our rings on her toes, some sleeping pictures, and even the cutest naked butt picture! I can't wait to see them... But I have to admit, I am disappointed in myself. Usually I shop around, and now several hundreds of dollars in portraits later, I find out that SEARS offers your portraits on a cd... I could do so much more with the ones off the cd. But you can bet, we will be trying SEARS for her 6 month pictures.

I took these in the yard the other day. The hat Hunter is wearing is an old one of Levi's that he just had to keep. It really is too big for him, but I couldn't resist taking some pics. I am quite please with his solo shot. When we were done, he asked if he asked if I wanted a picture of me and Lauren, and of course I couldn't day no... Hunter is very good with a camera, and can take some decent pictures. He took one of my favorites of me and Levi at the zoo when he was only 4 years old.

I am including a short video of Lauren smiling. Grannie Betty came over the other day, and I was able to get a few grins on video... I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up. She already holds her head up well at 7 weeks, and is wanting to talk so bad. I swear yesterday I got what was probably the start of a laugh. Soon it will be laughs and more coos and giggles.

Like I need a hole in my head...

I needed another reason to sit at the computer all day about
like I needed a hole in my head... but alas, I have found one!!!

Digital scrapbooking!

It's not at all feasible right now to try and drag out all my traditional scrapbooking stuff. But I have become the master of 'boppy computer time' with Lauren. And today, I found all kinds of digital goodies. So I played around a bit. This is another picture from our photoshoot, our second only family portrait.




I could almost justify switching over to digital scrapbooking only... however I just invested in to a expensive die-cutter for my real paper, so I better stick with it for now. I also have to say I have missed my 'hands-on" crafting therapy, so I doubt I jump that fence just yet.

Everything else is good here... not much to post...

Mommy and Me

I finally just got the JC Penney portraits I ordered almost 4 weeks ago. I was so excited to post this one of me and baby girl. I NEVER take good pictures, so when I saw this one, I was quite pleased! She couldn't decide if she wanted to cry, or be happy at the time... I'll post more later.



The dr. called me last night with my ultrasound results... I have gallstones, and when I asked him what the next step was, he said surgery to remove my gallbladder. But I'm not to that point yet. He said there is a chance the further out from my pregnancy I get, the better it could get. So for now I'm taking my chances. I have several reasons:

• I don't want to be restricted on picking up Lauren
• Me and anesthesia DO NOT get along
• and, in a perverse way, it's something that might keep me eating healthier
  

Lauren seemed to do pretty well at Grandma's yesterday. I know I burned up her path to her hone. I must have called a million times. In a sad way, I enjoyed my first day in six weeks all to myself, but still thought about her often and found myself missing her. I can't explain the love I have for my baby girl! I can't imagine mother's just ditching their children like some do. I know it will not be a habit for me. Part of me is ready to get back in the work world, and part of me dreads leaving her at a daycare. But in the end I know it will be best for us both. It will teach her some independence and how to be around other children. And for me, I need the adult interaction and to know that my day was productive (right now, it is not productive, unless holding a baby all day counts as something! hahaha)

Well, thats all for now... I'll add more pictures later.

Lots of love!

Happy Halloween

Here are a few pictures from halloween night... Lauren and I passed out candy to all the little trick-or-treaters. It was fun, but she bailed on me early and slept most of the time. All of our neices and nephews came by to show off their costumes.

Well, I have my post partum checkup on Monday. But I had to go to the dr. today last minute. I have been having these attacks in my stomach and right side area. After some discussion with the dr. he thinks ( and I think) it's my gallbladder. So I have an ultrasound scheduled that morning at the hospital. So for the first time, Lauren will stay with grandma all day... it will just be too hard to do everything that day lugging her along.

Well, thats it for now... check back later!

Catch up!

I have so many pictures to post from the last three days. And I could stand to post more, but I won't right now. (I'll have more from tonight, hehehe)

First off is Lauren asleep in the car last night on the way to Hunter's school play, 'A Salute to Oklahoma'. Some may know that we are celebrating our 100th year, and yes Lauren is a centennial baby. She started loosing her pacifier, so I grabbed the camera and got this with the setting sun light.


Next: Everyday, Lauren becomes even more alert, and her most recent milestone, she found her mobile in her swing. Sometimes she will watch it for a long time, it's so cute. I can only imagine what she is thinking.

Here are two snapshots from Hunter's play. One during, and one afterwards... He was so proud!

Finally, today Grandma and I took Lauren to Hunter's Halloween party at school. They are never very exciting, they weren't even allowed to wear their costumes. Which stood for a lot of mad and dissapointed kids. Hunter begged to hold Lauren to show all the kids his little sister. He is so proud, like it's his accomplishment!

I'm making this short and sweet... Tonight we are passing candy out at Thomas and DeLeta's... I'll post some pictures for sure, lauren has a cute Halloween onsie to wear.

I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween tonight...

Awwwwwwe, such sweet boys...

Both of these boys are wrapped around Lauren Nadine's little finger! Hunter has been a wonderful big brother. I'm thankful he is the age he is; he can hold her, and I don't worry as much. And he loves to hold her, all the time. If she goes to squirming or fussing, he's there before I can turn the corner. Then Levi has to talk hunting business, but only with his future hunting buddy napping on his chest.

Last night, I fed Lauren some cereal, and a bottle of formula, and put her down to sleep in her bassinet. She woke up only minutes later, so I rocked her back to sleep, but this time, I tried the belly again, and guess who slept from 9-2 all on her own in her bassinet. I actually got to enjoy my side of the bed last night for a while. It was sooo nice. I hope to eventually have her sleeping there all night.

We had a wonderful baby moment today. This one is big enough to make note of... sitting in her daddys lap today, mommy bent over her and made all those disgusting baby talk sounds and faces... and Lauren just grinned real big, and talked back. She actually cooed and kept smiling. The more I did it, the more she grinned big and jabbered. Levi and I both couldn't stop smiling. Especially daddy. And no, I didn't have my camera handy, and once I did, she was done. But all in due time, I will be able to catch it on film.

Last night the youth at church went trick-or-treating for UNICEF... the kids had a lot of fun walking the streets and seeing their boxes fill with money. This wonderful idea was brought up by one of my newest friends, Shena. She's my age, and is very active in our church. She makes me want to do more. I wanted to walk with them, but at the time, Lauren was having nothing to do with that... After the walking, they came back for snacks and games. The first was wrap the mummy, and Hunter got to be the mummy. He had the most fun busting out of it once they were done.

Well, I think thats pretty much it for today. Hunter has a school play tomorrow night, 'Oklahoma'... I will try to get there early and get a seat so I can get some decent pictures... last's years Christmas play was terrible, we sat way in the back.

Well, hope everyone is doing great, be sure to email us or drop a comment.

The Fry's