Dancing Grant

This morning Grant and I had our own church service. Here is a video of Grant praising God.

Chest x-rays

We just got back the results of Grant's most recent chest x-rays. Unfortunately, they are unchanged. (ie. still not good)I am both surprised and disappointed by this news. I really thought they were going to tell us that his lungs were healed. He looks so healthy and he weathered his two colds this winter so well. So, as for now we continue with the breathing treatments and continue to be careful of germs.

Originally the doctors thought Grant could leave the house by now to play with other kids because flu season is typically over. (I guess the cold/flu germs are what are most dangerous to his compromised lungs.) However, the doctor told me that she saw one case of the flu this week along with a case of RSV, so she wants Grant to continue to stay away from people until the flu is officially gone for the season. So, we continue to wait. It feels extra hard to wait right now because we are so close, but yet so far.

Thankfully, we've had a few warmer days lately so we've gotten outside to play. Grant doesn't know how to do sign language for "outside", but he knows how to sign "drive the car," so when he wants to go outside he does the sign for "drive" because he knows that the car is outside and if I just open the door he can escape. Last week I opened the door and before I could get my shoes on he was running down the sidewalk toward the park by himself. :)

Boy or Girl?

Today's appointments at U of M could not have gone better. The ultrasound was very detailed and showed every part that was supposed to be there (or not be there, as in our baby girl's case). The purpose of the echo was to rule out some major heart defects, but they warned us in advance that the chance of being able to see the veins was very small.(This was what caused Grant's defect.) In the end they were able to see 3 out of the 4 veins(the 4th is probably there, but they just couldn't find it) and they all had a great connection to the heart and good blood flow. They told us that it would be very rare for something to be wrong with the baby's heart after the great pictures that they got!! We are so relieved and thankful. Thank you for all of your prayers! It was great to know that we had so many people praying for us today.

Puerto Rico

We're back after an amazing time in Puerto Rico. Grant was an angel for grandma and grandpa. Here's a picture Jim took of my 21 week belly. We head to U of M on Wednesday for the echo on the baby's heart and to find out the sex.

Bye Bye Grant!

Grant, mommy and daddy are off to Puerto Rico for the week and for our first extended time away from you since you were born. Be extra sweet for Grandma and Grandpa. We'll miss you more than you can imagine! Love you, little buddy.

Giggling Grant

Turning the Corner

It looks like Grant has successfully battled his second cold of the winter. He got sick last week with a cold and cough and we headed right in to the doctor. She said his lungs sounded clear and if he doesn't run a fever and his cold stays out of the lungs then we have nothing to fear. So far, so good. Unfortunately, he passed on his cold to his mommy and as of today his daddy too. I'm told that the winter cold usually peaks at the end of February, but this year it is still going strong at the end of March. We can't wait for spring!! Grant gets chest x-rays next week and we meet with his pulmonolgist on April 11 to find out how his lungs look. We're praying for total healing so that we can not only leave the house this summer, but next winter as well.

Just another work day..

Outside Pictures

Our sweet neighbor, Antonio, took these of Grant outside this weekend.

Doing Better

We're so thankful for this blog. It seems as though every time I post something requesting prayer God is so quick to answer it. Grant had a much better day yesterday and seems to be back to himself today. Thanks for praying!

Where's my boy?

Grant has not been himself since the incident with the vaccine. It's been a week now and he's still bumping into walls (his ears are fine), is really moody and doesn't want to eat. Please join us in praying that Grant gets back to his normal self soon and that no damage was done.

Fun Grant pictures

Grant waiting patiently by the door for me to come put his snowsuit on.

He is really into cars right now. You can find a race car under any couch, chair or bed at our house.

Grandma and Grandpa giving Grant good-bye kisses before they head back to Florida.

Vaccine horror story

Grant had a very bad reaction to his vaccine on Friday. By Friday night he had over 104 temperature. This caused his heart to beat very fast which was extra scary with Grant's history. With the doctor's guidance at 2am we were able to get his fever down to 100 through Motrin, Tylenol and luke warm baths. Actually, they were pretty darn cold baths. If you know Jim then you know he sometimes takes things to the extreme. He kept reciting, "better to have him shiver than have brain damage." Once Grant started feeling better he decided that he was rather happy to have both mom and dad playing with him in the middle of the night and we even heard a few giggles from him. He is almost back to normal today except for one weird thing- his balance. He has been running into walls and falling down a lot while walking, which is not typical for him. Please pray that he would not have any damage or lingering affects from this vaccine.

15 month check up

Today Grant went in for his 15 month well visit. It was overall good, but he experienced it as bad. Well, let me back up...Yesterday the visiting nurse came to the house to give Grant his two shots for RSV that he gets every month. But, she accidentally hit a vein on one of them, he bled a ton and was a lot more upset than normal for the rest of the day.

He woke up fine this morning and we headed to the doctor's. This may seem weird, but he normally loves the doctor's office. He loves seeing other kids in the waiting room and from the minute the doctor walks in he is smiling and trying to grab all of her fancy tools. But, today when the nurse walked in (different nurse than yesterday) he freaked out. She didn't even do or say anything. He started screaming, "mamamamamamamamamama" and was clinging to me with huge tears streaming down his face. He would not even sit on the scale for her to weigh him. Then he started thrashing around and tried to head-butt her when she came near. It was the weirdest thing. I have never seen him so scared in his life. He cried through almost his whole appointment until I sat him in the stroller and told him we were leaving. Then, he stopped crying.

I am hoping that he was just having an off day and did not decide to hate doctors, because we have to see them quite often. I wonder if it was the visit from the nurse yesterday or the fact that whenever I do his breathing treatment I tell him that the doctor is making me do this. :) I have to- he cries through the whole thing and I don't want him to think it is my idea to torture him everyday. Either way, the more he understands the harder it is to subject him to pain. When he was a baby it was hard, but in a different way. I've talked to other moms who don't wince at all when their babies get immunizations. I'm near tears every time they poke him. Perhaps it is because I've seen him go through more pain than any child should have to. Or, maybe I'm just emotional and pregnant. I think about how this summer he has to be sedated for his echo and it makes me cringe. He's not old enough to reason with, but he's old enough not to like what's happening to him. When he looks up at me screaming, "MAMA!" I just want to take him and run away and not let anyone poke him again.

Okay, now I do sound emotional and pregnant, so I'll get to the good news before I start crying. :) The doctor said he looks great! She can't believe how far he as come and seems to be on target for all of his developmental milestones. It is really a miracle. We give God all the glory for our joyful, healthy boy. Next appointment: pulmonolgist in April. That's a big one. I'm hoping for a "get out of jail free" card. (ie. permission to take Grant out of the house.)

Fast Facts

Grant has his 15 month check up on Friday, and as I've been thinking about what makes Grant who he is at 15 months, I jotted a few notes down:

# hours of sleep a night: 12-13
# of naps a day: one (1-3 hours)
Favorite breakfast food: eggs
Most frequently spoken words: mama and hot (not used together)
Most frequently signed words: help and cracker
Least favorite times of the day: breathing treatments and diaper changes
Favorite times of the day: morning bottle with mommy (I sing in the rocker while giving Grant a bottle and he either claps or tries to cover my mouth, depending on the day and song. Really.) and evening wrestling with dad
Favorite movie: "Baby Signing Time"
Most likely to throw a fit: when mom is talking on the phone or cooking
Favorite activity: sledding, swinging or playing in the dishwasher
Biggest smile appears: around dogs
Item we can't live without: pacifier attached to his bib
Funny morning routine: Every morning when I go into Grant's room he starts doing the sign for "help." Then he points to all of his stuffed animals that he's thrown from his crib and I have to pick up each one and make the animal noise before putting it back in his crib. If I don't make the noise, he throws it back out and I have to do it again.I get rewarded with a big smile each time I do it correctly. It's worth it!

Family Fun Day

Every Sunday at the Niedzinski's is family day. We try to think of something Grant would like to do and we make sure we are all together. Our choices are somewhat limited in the winter. Today the three of us went sledding. It was nice because it was 40 degrees out, but there was still enough snow to make it work. We saw lots of ducks and dogs and Grant tried to talk to both of them in animal speak. It sounded like a cross between a "baaaa" and a "quack," and came out kind of like, "baaack! baaack!"

The Noises of Grant

Grant is enjoying exploring sound. He loves to roar like a lion. He especially associates this sound with dad, so when Jim walks in the door from work Grant goes running to him with a big roar. I need to catch it on video. It is adorable. Grant has also developed a fake laugh. He loves to look at pictures of himself in his book that grandma Niedzinski created for him. When he sees pictures of himself smiling in it he does his fake laugh. He's also learning how to sniff. I have some flowers on the counter that my friend, Louise, gave me last week and every time we pass them he tries to smell them. But, the noise that actually comes out is more like a panting noise. :)He's working on it.

What we did while dad was out of town

Played with the tupperware, played in the tent (yes, it's pink) and played in the freezer...

Back to the snow

We played outside for the first time today since we've been back from Florida. It's 21 degrees out. Grant learned how to open doors at grandma and grandpa's house and he's been trying to get outside ever since. So, today I finally gave in and we put our snowsuits on and went out. He was very happy running around in his boots although I think he prefers the sand over the snow, even if snow does taste better.

We went back to the doctor's yesterday to get Grant's ever lingering yeast infection (on his face) checked out. The doctor is keeping him on the same medications to treat it, but said it may not go away until it gets warmer out. Yuck. Summer can't come soon enough.

We have discovered a few new indoor activities that are keeping Grant busy. He loves to stack up paper plates and bowls. He enjoys unzipping the zippers on all the jackets in the hall closet. Oh, and his favorite is throwing hangers over the babygate and watching them crash down a flight of stairs! Never a dull moment.

I'm 15 weeks along now in this pregnancy and woke up yesterday not sick for the first time in months. Yipee!

More Florida Pictures

Grant running on the beach
Playing in the waves with grandpa Koss

Waiting to feed the buffalo with grandma & grandpa Niedzinski

Looking for birds on the water with grandpa Niedzinski

Driving the golf cart with grandma Niedzinski