19 months old

I feel like I post about Mason all of the time, but I realized I haven't posted about all the great things that are going on with him. I have dwelt on the negative things lately and haven't even mentioned what he is up to these days.

Mason is about 19 1/2 months old right now. At his 18 month check up he was 23lbs (33%) , 30 1/2  inches (47%), and his head circumference was 49 cm (89%). I think he's in a growth spurt right now actually. Most of his progress lately has been with speech and some communication stuff. He has learned some new words and understands a lot of words too. I can ask him where his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, head, hair, hands, belly button and toes are and he will point to them. He likes having the fan on and he will ask me to turn it on. (fa on?) He still calls me dad, but when Malone refers to me as Mom, he knows who I am. He just won't say it, the stink! He likes to watch TV, even though I know I should be discouraging it at this age. But he'll ask for a "no?" for show ( and he does this thing where he puckers his lips when he says it, it's so cute). He will give me kisses and hugs when I ask for them, and he is such a good hugger! He will lay his head on your shoulder and pat your back and just stay there. He is such a lovey kid! There have been days when I will be crying about something and he will be so concerned and give me a hug. I love that he is so compassionate! He still does the knuckles thing with everyone he sees. He even gives Malone knuckles before he leaves every morning, as part of his routine. He waves bye and will say it too whenever someone or he goes out the door. Of course he's at the age where he is wanting to be independent but struggles to communicate what he wants. He gets very frustrated and will have a fit. But slowly we are making progress with the communication.

As far as physical progress, Mason is getting braver about standing and walking. He will grab my fingers and encourages me to walk with him a lot. So we will walk together and he loves walking around and exploring outside. Outside is his favorite place! I work with him trying to get him to walk holding just one hand and also stand without holding on to anything. He can do either one for a few seconds. His feet and legs tend to trip him up because his foot turns in on the right and the left one is starting to turn out. It's a muscle imbalance in his lower extremeties. Some muscles are stronger than others and those muscles will pull harder when the ones that would balance those ones out lack the strength. We are looking into figuring out a way to help with that. In the mean time, we are currently waiting on a walker for Mason. It should hopefully be here next week. We are eager for this next "step" for him.

I have to mention that he does this thing where he'll say something like, Oh no! And he'll put his hands to his cheeks. And also, he loves loves loves babies. I have a couple friends with little babies and Mason wants so badly to hold them and pat them softly. He will make an excellent big brother some day. Sometimes on TV when someone is sad, he will say Oh no! and sometimes he will even start to cry. I tell you, he is very compassionate!! And he loves playing with other kids. He plays well with them and just wants to do what they're doing. Because he isn't walking on his own yet, he often gets left behind a bit. But he just crawls along behind them anyway, it doesn't seem to bother him usually.

Mason is such a good boy. He has his moments that frustrate us and we frustrate him probably, but overall he is such a doll. I love snuggling with him (when he lets me!) and spending time with him. He makes me laugh a lot and knows he's funny too. He truly makes our lives wonderful.

Sick Baby

Since Masons surgery is during the time we were planning on going home to Idaho to visit, we decided to go early before the surgery. We wanted to get there in time for Memorial day weekend. As soon as we made the decision to go, things seemed to just spiral into craziness!

This past Friday we noticed Mason had a little fever, about 99°. I figured he was probably just really constipated so I gave him a laxitive. The next morning I noticed some bumps starting to form on Masons tummy. He'd had some bumps similar on his back recently but the Dr said it was just irritation. So I figured it must be that. By the afternoon Mason had broken out in a red rash all over his torso, bum and groin area. We had been in and out of the car that day, I thought perhaps he got too hot in the backseat and got some heat rash or something. It was a really hot humid day.

Masons Rash

That night Mason had a fever again. I gave him Tylenol. We kept him home from church the next day and just let him be in his diaper all day, hoping the heat rash would go away. Again, a fever that night.  I knew something definitely wasn't right. We decided I would take Mason in to the doctor the next day.

The next morning (Monday) I changed his diaper and I could smell that he possibly had a UTI going on too. He has never had one before, that I know of. After dropping Malone off at work Mason and I headed straight to the doctors.

Sure enough, this was no heat rash. Turned out Mason had strep throat, in this case Scarlet Fever. He also tested positive for UTI. The doctor prescribed him a strong antibiotic and said they would call me when they get the results of the culture from his urine. The preliminary results of the culture indicated there was an E. Coli bacteria growth in his urine.

I had to cancel his appointment to see his urologist and physical therapist for Tuesday. I wish he could have seen his urologist because of the UTI stuff going on but Mason was contagious with the strep and it would have been wrong to take him out like that.  We won't be able to get in to see the urologist for another month. I just hope there isn't more going on with Masons urinary system, like his bladder not functioning right or kidney infection or something.

We leave for Idaho tomorrow and all the stress and anxiety of dealing with a sick baby, plans for surgery, dealing with doctors, and planning a trip to Idaho ( with a sick baby) has been exhausting. Hopefully all will go well and we can enjoy some vacation time with family and friends. I seriously can't wait to go home.

MRI Results

Mason recently had a follow up MRI. It was an extremely long day. We were at the hospital for about 5 hours total. Mason's MRI took about 2 hours and he was sedated for it. I hate having to sedate him but it's better than the alternative; a screaming 18 month old strapped to a table for 2 hours. We finally got him back and were headed home. All seemed well until he started throwing up all over himself. The next day he ate some breakfast, had a nap, and after lunch he threw up again. Sunday, threw up again (luckily we had him home from church). And come Monday he finally kept his food down all day. Come Tuesday he was able to keep his food down again, but has been pooping like crazy  instead, like all day. Malone took time out of work to go with us to Mason's appointment to see the neurosurgeon to find out the results of his MRI. We waited in the 90 degree waiting room for an excruciating two hours. Meanwhile Mason was going through diapers like crazy because of his wild BMs. We ran out of diapers AND wipes within the two hours of being there. I ended up having to ask the nurses for diapers and Malone had to go to the pharmacy for wipes!

There is good news and bad news with Masons MRI results. The good news is  his brain is looking really great, thanks to his shunt that was put in last year. The bad news is unfortunately Mason has fluid building up in his spinal cord. Fluid building up will cause big problems in the future. There are two possible reasons this could be happening, we don't know which it is or if it's a combination of both. One, the MRI revealed he has a tethered spinal cord which could be causing it. Or two, his slight chiari malformation in his brain is creating the problem. In order to get the fluid back under control we have to do surgery. We will be doing surgery on the tethered cord first to see if that will solve the problem. If the doctor feels it isn't enough, he will also do a malformation decompression. Mason will be in the hospital for three days to recover. And he will have a follow up with his doctor within 2-3 weeks.Surgery is scheduled for June 30th.

While Malone and I know in this case surgery is needed, it is still very difficult having to put Mason through another surgery. Especially when he is doing so well otherwise. He is walking and showing no signs of problems whatsoever, to the surprise of his neurosurgeon. We have  fears of what repercussions could result from this surgery. The only thing that we can hope and pray for is that this surgery will be all he needs to fix the problem and that he will be able to recover, resume life normally, and continue to make progress. Please, keep our family and especially Mason in your prayers.

Easter and Malone's Fitness Challenge

We celebrated Easter this year, but it wasn't much. We didn't make it to any Easter egg hunts or have one of our own. Mason got an Easter basket with some books and toy cars that he loves to haul around. He also got an Easter outfit, plaid shorts and a shirt. On Easter we went to a friends house for brunch and to watch the first session of conference. Mason got to play with a bunch of kids and we got to visit with friends which was nice. We had planned on doing an Easter egg hunt, but it was too rainy and wet outside.

The weather here has warmed up considerably but has come with quite a bit of rain and severe thunderstorms. Our area had many tornado watches over the past few weeks and apparently southwest of Fortworth was the worst of it; tornados, wind, hail, you name it. Luckily we only got rain and some lightning and thunder, and I guess a flood warning or two. But it could have been worse!

Earlier this month Malone had the opportunity to participate in this company fit challenge. A few teams of his coworkers got together and competed in a series of fitness challenges. Malone got to be on a team with some friends of his and had a really great time. It was a really hot muggy day and the grass was wet and soggy from the rain the night before, which made for some muddy conditions in some areas of the field. They ended up placing second in their division! 

Malone, Ethan Mabe, Duncan Tyler, and Mike Mabe

Getting ready to run a couple miles

All the people who participated from Malone's company

Dirty, sweaty and tired but still smiling!

DFW Car Show

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Dallas/Fortworth Auto Show. I bought Malone some tickets for Valentines day and we finally went! We were really looking forward to it. There were a LOT of cars there, of course. All brand new 2015 cars to see from every make and model there is. And you could get in them and sit in them, look at them from top to bottom. It was fun to see all the new models of cars. We even shopped a little for ourselves! We enjoyed looking at the foreign cars as well as the really expensive cars you never see!  We also saw a few vintage cars as well which were pretty neat also. Mason loved the car show and would point at all the cars. Many cars he wanted to sit in the drivers seat and "steer" the steering wheel. Malone got to go for a ride in this cool virtual car racing game.  I can't really describe it! But it would spin around when he'd turn the wheel and everything. We all had a really great time and spent most of the day there.

17 Months old

Mason is 17 months old. It has been over a month since Mason got his AFO braces and it has made such a difference! He is much more confident about standing up and walking than ever before. He is able to stand for longer periods of time and is standing straighter. Before he just didn't have the strength to stand long and tended to hunch over because he used a lot of upper body to help hold himself up to things. Mason is able to make laps around the house with his walker toy ( with some help with navigation from me) and can transfer from the walker to furniture and back. And he is finally cruising along furniture, which took some time and training for him. I love seeing him more independent and able to get around with less help. He loves it too. He is so proud of himself. Malone and I are so happy with his progress.

He continues to challenge me when it comes to eating healthy. I offer him lots of fruits and veggies and it has made a little dent if any in his picky-ness. I constantly worry if he is getting enough nutrition, but I guess that is normal for this age. Mason is finally weaned from nursing completely, which has been nice. 

Mason has quite the personality. He always tries to be funny. Still such a happy boy all the time. He knows how to do a couple actions with "itsy bitsy spider" and "popcorn popping". I catch him doing the actions by himself all the  time. 

He has gotten into mischief a little with the toilet paper, completely emptying the roll on the floor. And he likes to empty the DVD cases and get into my cupboards. Typical toddler stuff. Even though it can be annoying sometimes, I am thankful that he can get around. There were times in the beginning we didn't know what he would be capable of, if he would even be able to walk or crawl. He has definitely exceeded all expectations and we are thrilled! While he is able to get around pretty good, he still struggles with weakness. Malone and I have noticed his right foot (which has always turned in a little) is turning in so much that it gets in the way when Mason walks. His feet are so awkward that he just gets hung up when he walks. Lately he has been stubborn about getting up and moving so I have to constantly find ways to motivate him to stand and cruise around (it is hard to do day after day!) . 

Mason loves cars and makes the vroom sound when he plays. He will point out all the cars when we go places and he likes the movie "Cars". He will sit quietly and watch the entire movie.

Another update with Mason

This is just a quick post about Masons recent appointments this past week or so.
Mason was finally fitted for his AFOs which are way cool. Mason doesn't seem to kind them and he is already showing improvements in his standing and walking ability. He is more confident about standing and trying to walk which tells me he is getting stronger already. We still have a little issue of his right leg turning in. All this time I thought it was just his weak ankle but its also a knee/hip weakness because even with the brace on he sort of twists at the knee  sometimes ( its totally freaky). Hopefully in time we will strengthen these muscles needed to straighten things out there.

Mason is walking with his walker! He needs a little help getting his feet in the right position and tends to drag them with his shoes on, but he is able to walk halfway across the room almost unassisted!

Mason also recently had to do a urodynamics  study to test his bladder pressure to see if there were any issues there. Turns out he is just borderline on unhealthy pressures, but the doc says that as long as his kidneys are healthy and he hasn't had any UTI's he should be okay not to cath. And according to his renal ultrasound his kidneys are healthy and we have no problems with UTI's so far. It was such a relief to walk out of this appointment knowing we were still in the clear and that Mason is doing well.

We are so so grateful for Heavenly Father's blessings as he watches over our family. We continue to see Mason perform miracles everyday as he meets his milestones. When we learned of Masons condition we didn't know if he would ever walk. And yet here he is walking across the room smiling at us like its no big deal! I cannot deny the tender mercies of Heavenly Fathers hand we witness on a daily basis.