Update

Brody enjoying the slide (Jim and I couldn't help but laugh at the static in his hair!)

I thought I would update everyone on what happened today at our MRI appointment. Once again we were sent home without the test being completed because of Brody's breathing. He started coughing yesterday morning and by the evening was wheezing. This morning when the doctor listened to his chest before his MRI appointment he said that it would not be safe to sedate him and that he strongly recommended we call our doctor soon. This of course scared me - I have a new understanding for the way health professionals communicate information - the doctor's tone and body language today made me feel that he thought Brody was really sick. On the way home I called our family doctor (one of the perks of working at the office). She was great and calmed my fears and called in a steroid for Brody to use for the next 5 days along with his breathing treatments - we saw a big improvement after Brody woke up from his 3 hour nap today! We are planning on starting him on a daily inhaled steroid to help with his breathing after he finishes the 5 days of his current treatment. I never knew how much I was going to have to worry about this little guy! We have rescheduled the MRI for a 3rd time but are planning on meeting with our doctor to see if we can just skip it if Brody's head size has normalized (now that it has been 3 months!) and he is developing fine.

Jim was pretty frustrated with the whole day, so after Brody woke up from his nap and was sounding better, he suggested that we head to the local park - as you can tell from the pictures Brody had a great time!

I know I am his mom...but isn't he the cutest little guy?

Finally a picture of Brody with me!

Brody loved the swing!

Brody got more confident in his swinging

Jim's addition to the Blog - he thought it was hilarious that the post office we tried to stop at after the park was just a random trailer - unfortunately we didn't get to see the inside because they are only open 8-2 every day!

Eleven Months!

COLLEGE FOOTBALL HAS STARTED!

Well I guess I should have realized the last time I posted that I would be an every other month blogger! I can't believe how busy life got and how little time I have had to actually sit down and work on something for more than a few minutes!


This could be a long entry because I have a month and a half of information to send! In the time since I lost posted Brody started taking his first steps, crawling and has had 8 more teeth come in (the first set of molars came in at the same time)! We have been camping a few times and also to Pennsylvania to visit Jim's family.

Brody's First Steps (Back on 8/14/08)

Brody on the move (he learned to crawl the week before Labor Day)

Everything has been going really well with us - it has been so amazing to see Brody transform so much in the last few months - I can't believe my little baby is only one month from being a YEAR OLD! It seems like he has grown up way too fast!!!

Jim's Mom had given Brody this Thomas the Train for Christmas - he LOVES to ride it around the house (but it kills our backs pushing!)

In the next few weeks we have a lot of doctor's appointments for Brody. He has to go for an MRI next Friday because his head was in the 110th percentile at his 9 month visit - you may remember that we had an ultrasound of his brain done when he was 4 months old (those results were normal). Since his head has continued to grow this will be the final test to show that everything is fine - they get worried when a babys head grows too fast/large because it could be because there is fluid collecting in the brain. Since Brody is developing normally that is very unlikely but of course we want to rule out everything. The worst part of Friday will be that he has to be sedated to undergo the MRI so Jim and I will not be with him for about 45 minutes while he is sedated...I think that will be the longest 45 minutes of our lives! The other doctor's appointment will be with the allergist. We tried to make an appointment with a pulmonologist back in May but when received the appt date it was in December. When Brody was suppose to have his original appointment for the MRI back August the doctor there recommended that we go to an allergist because Brody at that time had too much congestion to safely undergo the sedation. Our appt is in mid October so hopefully after that we will know whether Brody has allergies, asthma or a combination of both!

Brody and his cousins (Sydney and Dylan) taking a bath at Jim's Parent's House

Jim traveled for the first time in a while last week. Brody and I were on our own from Monday thru Thursday night. It was a big change from when Jim traveled and Brody wasn't on the move! I ate my dinner on the move pretty much every night - but we had so much fun! He is so fun to play with and ready books with! He was even nice enough to sleep in each morning until after I was ready for work!

Brody's 10 Month Pictures

I hope everyone had a great summer! Sorry for the delay in writing! My plan is to get back on track now that the weather has gotten cooler and we are only planning on going on one more camping trip this season.

We went camping this weekend (Yes in all the rain!). Brody and Jim made the best of it!

This was Brody shortly after the above video!

While we were unpacking the camper - Brody was unpacking the truck! Jim found his sitting in his carseat opening all of the buns!

Bath time is so much fun!

Nine and a half months

Some days I just like to sit and watch Brody (I just can't believe he is my son!)

I think it is time for me to accept that I will no longer be a weekly blogger - hopefully I can stick to an every other week blogger! We have been very busy in my defense!

Last week was my first trip away from Brody - I had to go to a meeting for work in Chicago and Jim decided to come along for the ride. Brody went and stayed with my parents from Saturday - Monday. My parents were VERY excited to have Brody for a few days and they had a lot of things planned to keep him busy! Here are just a few pictures documenting his busy weekend!

While I was gone I imagined Brody sitting around missing his mommy

But...He was having the time of his life!!!!

Uncle Neal was there to take him swimming (you can tell where Brody gets his expressions - look at Uncle Neal's face!)

Brody saw a lot of Grandpa's favorite things - ANIMALS!

And rode a lot of them!

Here he is riding Peanut - one of the ponies I use to take little kids around on when I worked at the zoo!

And then she took him on the camel rides (which I also use to run)! But I would never take him on a camel today because I have witnessed them attack (if you haven't heard the story I will have to share it with you some day)

By the end of the day Brody was believing he was part of the zoo!

Jim and I got back from Chicago late Monday night and returned home on Tuesday for a shortened work week. We barely had time to unpack before we left for another weekend of camping (it seems like we always plan our camping around our other trips!). We had a great time this weekend in Cadillac (it was kind of strange being back at the campground because we were there last year about this time when I was pregnant with Brody). It was just our family camping so we had a very relaxing weekend.

A picture of Brody on our first camping trip - he enjoys the relaxed atmosphere!

The family on the first camping trip - Brody is sleeping in the stroller!

We went walking along the nature trail that my brother recommended in Cadillac

The biggest news with Brody is that he now has 7 teeth total (2 fully in, 1 halfway and 4 others on the way). Today was Brody's 9 month check up at the Doctor's. He weighed in at 20lbs 6oz and was 29 inches long! My little baby is becoming a little boy! Jim and I have been looking at some pictures of him when he was 1 month old and we can't remember him being so tiny! Jim has continued to work with him to get him crawling - he is getting closer (video below!). I hope everyone has been having a great summer!

Watch at the end of the video how Brody responds to Jim's attempt to get him to crawl further!

Nine Months

Sorry for the delay in writing - it has been a crazy two weeks! I will first start off with your discovery that it was time to put away the bouncy seats (this is video Jim took one morning I left early for work). We also discovered the Teething Biscuits are loved by babies - but VERY messy! So now Brody only gets one on the nights before bath time!

He was so proud that he was so messy!

We started out the 4th of July week by going to visit Jim's family on the East Coast. His brother, Marty and family were nice enough to invite us to stay with them at their families beach house. When we arrived we were amazed by how close we were to the ocean - we only had to walk about a block to be on the beach! The water was very cold but Brody still enjoyed putting his feet in! I mistakenly asked to go to the Boardwalk - I'm not sure what I was thinking it would be like - but it ended up being my worst nightmare! For those of you who do not know I am afraid of pretty much anything with wings (ie. Seagulls!). It was a funny adventure for everyone else to witness me have a breakdown when the birds started diving in for our French Fries! Brody enjoyed the trip and even got to go for his first Arcade ride.

The Boardwalk did offer a good backdrop for pictures!

Brody had so much fun riding cars and swings!

Uncle Dave and Cousin Dylan

Cousins Amber and Jordyn

Uncle Brian - Aunt Kathy and Grandpa Raguckas

Grandma Raguckas - Uncle Marty and Aunt Gen

Cousin Nathan and Aunt Sue

My worst nightmare on the Boardwalk!

The family picture at the shore!

We left New Jersey on Thursday afternoon to head home and then left Friday morning to go camping in Harrison with my friend, Barb and her family. It was our first adventure in the new camper and we had a great time! The highlight of the trip was when my brother came to visit on Saturday and Jim, Neal and Kory (Barb's husband) managed to sink a 10 foot flat bottom boat in front of all of the people on the beach of Bud Lake! The only thing that would have made the event any better would have been being able to see it! Jim was the hero in bringing the capsized boat back in with him as he swam - luckily no one was hurt but fishing supplies were lost!

Our Camper

Brody enjoying the great outdoors!

Brody explaining to Jim how to keep a boat afloat!

Swinging with Uncle Neal while camping!

This week we have just been trying to recover from our week off and getting back into the swing of things. This morning was family haircut morning (only pictures of Brody's new cut included).

Brody looked like a little man getting his haircut! All his dark baby hair is gone now and he is now a blonde haired blue eyed cutie!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!