9 Months

Wow I didn't realize how long it had been since the last post! Guess I've been a little bit busier than I thought :) Let see... We have fully moved into the new place, everything is hung up and decorated and put away! Not even a month later and we are all set and ready to play! Little man has been crawling like a pro lately and keeping me very busy. He started army crawling before his surgery but perfected the practice soon after and has only gotten faster. He now tries to really crawl but only gets one or two before realizing sliding on his belly is faster. Funny thing though, little man hates our tile floors. What's funny though?! He like other peoples tile floors! I don't understand! He will crawl on pretty much any other tile and as soon as he is home and gets off the blanket or toy mat, he is not a happy camper; little booger is picky ha.

He has also been eating like a big boy and eating us out of house and home already. Dude, you are 9 months, slow your roll or we are gonna be livin on the streets! ;) just kidding but he really is chowing down on quite a bit of food lately. I'm assuming it's his lovely growth spurt of 9 months since Saturday he will be 9 months old!! I can't believe that my baby. My one and only little boy, will be 9 months old. It seems like just last week I was pregnant and craving tacos all the time. It seems like yesterday I was rushing to the hospital in labor waiting to meet him! Like it was a few hours ago holding him for the very first time. Loving on him and realizing that I had just become a mommy, but no, that was 9 months ago! Now we are planning first birthdays and more surgeries. Oh how times flies! In just 3 short months we will watch our silly boy smash into his very first birthday cake and smear it all over. I am quite excited for that moment, to capture it forever with a picture, to frame it and show his girlfriends down the road. Man... 9 months.

Here are a few pictures we have captured over the last few weeks :) Enjoy!

Happy 8 months little man! 

His aunt captured these lovely faces of his! Never a dull moment :) 

This was dinner time! 

He was helping mommy unpack after moving

First pool day at the new house! 

Have a Blessed Day!

1 down 3 to go!

Yesterday was the day. It was the day of our little guppys first surgery!

Short back story: we are moving and so all last week, leading up to surgery I was very preoccupied with packing. This made my life easier when it came to surgery because I didn't have time to think about what was about to happen to my little man. I didn't have time to think about all of the what ifs or possibilities. The only time I thought about the surgery was when someone would ask how I was doing, or when I would ask my husband how he was doing with it all. With that said, Monday morning came very quick. 

Before I knew it, it was Sunday night and I was packing all I needed and setting my alarm for the following morning. 4:45 am is when I would get up and start prepping everything for his surgery. The next few hours went by way to quickly for me! We packed some food for my husband and I and all of Jude's comfort items and left to make it to the hospital by 6:00 am. We got there and they prepped him and got all vitals and everything they needed, all while he cried because he was so hungry. I feel horrible that we couldn't feed him! Around 8 (his scheduled surgery time) they took us down to the pre op room and we talked with the doctors and nurses about what was about to happen. While down there Jude got extremely fussy because she was so tired and hungry so I put him in the bed and he feel fast asleep. The doctors came back in to take him back into the operating room. Aaron and I got to give him a hug and a kiss and they wheeled him on back. 

The next hour went by quickly and they soon came out to tell us all went well and he was in recovery! 

For those that don't know, he had his toenail removed from his right foot. This foot was affected by ABS and curves his toes so this was the only nail and it was growing sideways into his other toes. They decided to remove it so it wouldn't cause any infections or problems later on down the road. 

So they pulled us back into recovery where little man was screaming because he was so hungry! He hadn't eaten anything since 1:30 the night before and it was now 9:20! I got to feed him and cuddle with him for the next hour or so and then we went back to the original hospital room we were in in the beginning. We were there just to wait to be discharged! That process took about another hour or so. The nurse practitioner and other nurses kept coming in to tell us about the healing process and what to do and not to do. They were all so sweet and Jude was very happy now that he was fed! 

We were able to go home quite quickly where Jude took a nice long nap. When he woke up he was back to his normal happy self! He is a trooper; only had a few doses of Tylenol and had been off it all day today! He is crawling around and acting like nothing ever happened! We are super happy that it all went well and couldn't thank you all enough for the support you have given us! We know this wasn't the end and he will have more surgeries to come but I'm just happy that 1 is down and we only have 2 more to go! 

Few cute pictures for you guys from his surgery day! 

Right before they took him back for surgery

In his adorable hospital gown! 

Post surgery playing with his toys!

Have a Blessed Day! 

ABS vs Symbrachydactyly

NOTE** Not sure what's up with the white background... tried everything to fix it but it's not working. Hope you enjoy the blog anyway! 

This was a very interesting article that I read through The Lucky Fin Project. They posted this on their facebook group and I knew I had to share! It goes into the difference between ABS and Symbrachydactyly and why it is so commonly confused with one another. It was written by a Dr though limbdifferences.org. Awesome new site that I am going to play around on! I'll let ya know how I like it ;) 

Anyway!

A lot of times Symbrachydactyly is confused with ABS but the main difference that I saw was that Symbrachydactyly doesn't even let the fingers form. Whereas ABS, they are formed and then in the 3rd trimester are affected by the bands. Symbrachydactyly is often mis diagnosed with ABS when it's actually a totally different thing! Also, ABS can affect any part of the body and Symbrachydactyly primarily only affects the hands! Super interesting to read and I encourage you to look it over! It's not very long which is nice so it won't take much of your time :) The link is below! 

https://www.facebook.com/notes/lucky-fin-project/symbrachydactyly-vs-abs-what-is-the-difference/637487209601487

I also encourage any parents who read this to go to the Connect page on limbdifferences.org. There are so many different posts, articles and other parents with stories, encouragement or advice. I've been reading them for over an hour now and I can't stop! It's nice to see I'm not alone. (I know I'm not but sometimes you forget!)

Also, this is a cool page that shows the different names for hand/finger losses. Maybe you were given an iffy diagnosis; this can help you out! It's written by the same Dr who wrote the short article above!

http://www.netorthodoc.org/2LochnerCongenital%20Hand6UpForPrint.pdf

Of course I couldn't post without a cute little story ;)

So I was at my in laws the other day and Jude was playing with all his aunts and uncles (7 of them!). My mother in law was showing me how to recover some chairs that we bought for our new house. Anyway, they were in the living room and kept saying "give me a high five, give me a high five", and then you could hear them kind of stop talking and one of my sisters in law came in and said "what do we call it? He doesn't have five fingers! What about a high 2 1/2 and a high 3 1/2?" We all got a giggle out of it and my brother in law (who is 7) said, "lets just pound it!) Made me smile that they work with him on his little lucky fins :)

 Have A Blessed Day :) 

Two Stories in Two Days

So I have the pleasure of telling you all two wonderful stories about my son that happened within 2 days of each other. Here it goes!

Day 1:

My lovely husband and I are moving (as you may know) and so we decided to have a garage sale. Try and make a few extra bucks and sell a lot that we didn't need. Well, if you have ever done a garage sale you know how tiring they are! I told Aaron that I didn't want to make dinner because I was so tired and so we decided to go out and eat. We just went to a nice place right down the road from home and our course had the little squirt with us and as always he catches everyones attention. Well the waitress loved him from the beginning and he had eyes for her too! He would stare at her anytime she got close to us; it was quite funny. Now, her husband was 2 booths behind us and since our little man kept starting she told her hubby to look at this cute baby. He came over to see him and started talking with us about being parents and his story and kids and all that good stuff. About 7 minutes or so into the conversation Jude started reaching for this guys face and cross necklace and at that point he noticed Jude's hands and asked. Aaron and I looked at each other to see who would explain Jude's story and I got picked. I was able to tell this man all about ABS and about Jude. He stood there and talked with us for another 7 minutes or so and kept telling us that his hands and feet didn't matter. That Jude was a beautiful baby with a wonderful spirit and could make anyone smile and that's what mattered. After this man walked away I looked ay my husband, almost in tears over our son. The fact that we get to share his story so much and will get to the rest of his life. I absolutely love it and loving being able to tell people about ABS and hearing their responses. They're always so different but all end with 'he is a beautiful boy and his smile is contagious' or at least something along those lines!

Now for day 2:

We were now on our second day of the garage sale and exhausted to say the least. I hate haggling with people and getting up early... Why I do garage sales, I will never know! Anyway, Aaron had left to go play football with some on his friends so it was just me and the little squirt working the garage sale. I had him sitting next to me in a travel bassinet and some toys. Again people would comment on how cute and well behaved he was being. Well there was this one family who came up looking for electronics; they had a little girl about 7 or 8 years old... maybe a little younger (I'm horrible at guessing ages!) She gravitated toward Jude and he was just staring at her the whole time. She was playing with him and touching his hands and feet and immediately noticed his hands were different. The little girl came right out and asked what was wrong with his hands. Of course the parents were trying to hush her and apologizing for the lack of manners and I told them it was perfectly ok! Kids are kids and she wasn't asking to be rude or anything, she was genuinely curious as to why Jude's hands and feet didn't look the same. So I gave them my typical shpeal about ABS and both parents chimed in and were very curious. I bet we stood there and talked about ABS for 15 minutes! It was awesome and the little girl said that it didn't matter because he was the cutest baby she had ever seen. She proceed to ask if she could stay and play with him all day! Ha! Gotta love little kids :)


Needless to say we had an eventful weekend and Jude was able to share his story a little more. I hope that whoever read's this, you are able to see his journey and my journey as his mother. Maybe that can help you along with whatever it may be you are going though!

Have a Blessed Day!

Whirlwind!

The last week or so have been so crazy and busy! One of my best friends got married so that took up all of our time; naturally. May I just say that other than my own wedding, this was the most beautiful, Christ centered weddings I have ever been to! Not only that but the bride and groom were glowing with love! Look at how gorgeous they were!

Congratulations Matt and Mackenzie! I wish you both a lifetime of happiness! You both are amazing and I love you to the moon and back! 

Now, on to my lucky little fin :)

We are now coming up on his first surgery and to be honest... I'm freaking out! Pretty sure that's normal though considering he is the light of my life and he has to get surgery. I didn't even have surgery until I was in college and my husband has never had surgery. A lot of people go through their whole lives without being put under and yet my baby, my little 7 month old ball of energy, has to have surgery. Now, I try to count my blessings of my little man on a daily basis but there are days where I question. Why? Why him and why so young? 

As a mom, when you are pregnant, there are a million questions that go through your head and a million different thoughts. You start to wonder and think of all the things that could go "wrong." 

**Quotes because I think that nothing can go wrong, it's exactly how it is supposed to happen**

You think "maybe my child will have a disability, or a mental issue. Maybe they will come out with a club foot or cleft pallet. Maybe they will grow up and had ADD or something like that." Your mind wonders through so many different questions and ideas because you honestly have no clue. Yes, there is testing but I have heard so many mixed reviews that, why bother? Sometimes you take the test for down syndrome and it comes back positive so they do another test, all the while you are stressing about your first results to then see it come back negative. Anyway, with those thoughts, you also think, there is no way that my baby will have anything like that. He or she will come out perfect! In my opinion, all babies are perfect :) 

So as I was having all these thoughts I was looking around me and also thought that there is no way. What are the odds that my child would have something like this? Sure enough, he does and we have a long journey ahead of us. But! We are prepared as we will ever get and now prepping for surgery in June. My little guppy is strong and I know will have no problems! He is a champ and this is the first of many! Mommy loves you little man! 

Just a few pictures to update you all :)

Loves bath time and chewing towels

Bridal party imitating the groomsmen

Sitting up on his own

Bride on the left ! 

Have a Blessed Day! 

Count Your Blessings!

I am a part of a group on Facebook that is for breastfeeding mommies as well as mommy advice. There are over 26,000 members so there are A LOT of posts on there daily! Posts range from all over which is nice and makes for a fun day if I have time to look the posts over. Very entertaining!

Anyway, tonight I say a post with a picture of baby feet and I wondered what the post could be about so I clicked the picture. Well the mom was asking if her sons toes looked alright. That the second toe seemed to be shorter than the other toes. My first reaction was "Are you kidding me??!" To be honest I was a little upset that this mom had the nerve to post a picture about her son's almost perfect toes because one looked shorter than the others. I almost made a comment that was very rude and luckily I thought before I posted and decided it was a bad idea. I scrolled on and tried to forget about this mom's picture and question.

My night goes on and my son and I do our whole bedtime routine of a bath, food and then bed. Not once does this post cross my mind because I have forgotten all about it and moved on. Well I get on my computer after he is asleep and I am scrolling and there it is again!

** Let me just say, most of the time, I never see the same post twice from this group page because there are so many and that mixed with my friends; they tend to disappear. **

But! The picture was there and it had quite a few comments on it so of course I had to look. In my mind there was going to be a comment about how silly this mother was being and she needs to calm down. (Just being honest!) And there were no comments like that at all! Every mom said something about her son or daughters toes and there were quite a few pictures. At this point I got a little upset. Again, how could she worry about something so silly when my son doesn't even have toes! Maybe it was jealousy, maybe not, either way it upset me.

After thinking about how I could politely say that she is being crazy I commented on her post. I stated that she should count her blessings that her son has all of his toes and I posted a picture of my son missing his toes. Nothing has come of it and I don't expect it too with how people react in person but it just seemed silly.

Once I made the post I couldn't help but laugh at how silly this mom was! Needless to say I hope that my son having ABS made another mommy think and count her blessings that her child has all his toes.

With that said. I absolutely love my sons little toes and I went back into his room after all of this to just stare at his most perfect fingers and to give him a little kiss on his perfect little toes.

I have always heard "God only gives special children to special parents" and I hope that I can make that true. Maybe by calming down and making a light hearted post, my little guppy has changed another life. I know he sure has changed mine and I am forever grateful for that!

Just wanted to share a fun photo of my little guppy helping me with the laundry!

Have a Blessed Day! 

House Hunting!

Ugh. Over the last 5 years I have moved 11 times and now... we have to move again! Making this, number 12. I hate moving! It would be so much better if this move was going to be our final move and we would be done but nope! Not an option now so I just have to suck it up and move on! Needless to say, I have a fun story that comes out of this that has to do with my little guppy, Jude.

Today he and I had a full day of errands, lunch dates and other meetings which I dragged him all over town for. One of our stops was to look at some nice apartments that could potentially be our next home.

Side note: I have only been looking for the last 24 hours but when I get into something like this, I don't stop until my goal is complete so by this point, I'm exhausted.

We pull up to the complex and we are greeting by a very nice lady which my immediate thought was that she was just trying to sell an apartment to me which is why she was so nice. As we move into her office she boldly states that notices his fingers are different. I was a little taken-aback by this because most people dodge around or wait for me to bring up his perfect little hands and toes. She on the other hand dove right in! I of course tell her in a sweet voice that he was born with ABS and I explain all about what it is but how we are fortunate with how it affected him. Meaning, it didn't take his arm or leg or hurt him even worse.

After I tell her about this she continues on to ask questions and wonder about surgeries and how he will do growing up. I just want to say, I was almost in tears with how we were talking. She was so very sweet and encouraging through the whole situation. Most people ask and after I explain they want to move on, almost as if they are uncomfortable with the situation. This lady? Nope! Pressed on hardcore. Enough that I was able to tell her how we specifically prayed for his fingers and toes and were upset at God on why he didn't grant that. Come to find out that she is a believer too and that leads on to a whole other conversation!

All I have to say is that as much as I hate looking for a new house/apartment, this made it just a little bit better. Almost makes me want to live there so that I can talk to her all the time!

I just wanted to share this story because even in the crappy situations in life, believer or not, there's always some good either in the situation itself or right around the corner. The odds of us moving to this apartment are slim but it's still nice to know that there are people out there who actually care and are sweet when it comes to lucky fins.


Oh! I finally added his 5 month photo with dad :) Working on uploading his 6 month one before he turns 7 months! Life is crazy!

Just wanted to add an extra photo and show him off :)

Have a Blessed Day!