Christmas, Christmas, time for broke bones :-(

The Cox Family Christmas Picture

Well now... just after I sealed my last Christmas card with our annual newsletter Jadyn went and broke her right wrist. Of course she is showing preference to her right arm too. It would figure! Nothing goes truly smoothly in the Cox household but... as I look at it... there is MUCH worse that can happen so I'll gladly take a broken wrist and cast for 3 weeks compared to anything else we could have been given. I guess that's always one way to look at things that happen. :-) I'm not usually a positive thinker but sometimes I surprise myself, hehe.

So yes, Jadyn has a small buckle fracture on her right wrist that happened at our friend's house on Sunday during the Raven's game. No one really know what happened since it was just Jadyn and little boy in the room. We'll never know. We didn't know right away the issue but once she woke up from her nap and wouldn't use her right arm and cried every time she did try to use it... we rushed off to Patient First and the x-ray confirmed it. Thankfully we got a quick appointment on Tuesday for casting. We go on January 3rd to get it removed and I PRAY it's healed. The doctor seems to think 2 weeks could do the trick but just did 3 to be safe. What a Christmas, birthday and new years, huh? That's our girl... always keeping it lively!

She has done very well with her cast though. We spent 2 days in a split which was only a board and ace wrap. That wasn't flying with her. She pulled it off 5 times in a matter of like 3 hours. On Monday she only pulled it off 2 times. She did get during the casting procedure but we had to wait over an hour to be seen which was the pits.

I had to cancel her lovely bounce birthday party scheduled on 12/31. We rescheduled through for later in January. We'll just have a small gathering of family members on her actual birthday, 30th. At least this way she can spread her birthday present out :-)

I've been really bad with updating since over the summer but there just wasn't much to say. Jadyn has started talking very well. She is putting lots of words together and most of it makes sense. Her love is Elmo but she is now also loving Caillou and the Wiggles. Ugh, the Wiggles just started two weekends ago. I'm not sure where they came from but I'd love for them to go back there! Something just isn't right about 4 grown men acting like that, lol. However, for the money they make... I'd probably do it too.

I should be in bed but that's the story of my life these days. I guess pushing her birthday party back was a blessing in disguise. It's been really busy around here esp. with Christmas coming so very soon. I started talking some cake classes that I had been meaning to do for a very long time. I took Wilton Course 1 in November on the weekends and then I am finishing up my Wilton Course 2 on Saturday. I'll start another in January if the schedule permits with our busy January schedule. We have birthday parties almost every weekend in January so I'm not sure I'll be able to fit the course in just yet. I do plan on continuing though. It's good practice and new learning too. I made LOTS of good ol' DQ cakes in my day but regular cakes are a little different.

Jadyn's birthday is Elmo themed since that is what she loved a few months ago. She still likes him though so that's good. I sure hope so since all her birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy have Elmo on them!

I can't even believe it's 1 week away from Christmas almost. I even rescheduled Jadyn's 2nd year pedi appointment because I was worried her 2 year shots would cause issues for her party. It's already rescheduled for early January but too bad I can't get that appointment back! She was 35.6 pounds at Patient First on Sunday. But... she also was fully dressed, tennis shoes and sweat jacket on too. I'd estimate around 34 or so pounds which is why I can't really lug her around anymore. Jay even struggles... but he won't tell you that. The casting doc thought for sure she was 3-4 years old. He was very taken back. I'm not sure how she got so big... but.. she is.

She has a new found love for "choc-it" which is chocolate. Mom-Mom Troxell bought her an advent calendar and we decided to go ahead and let her have the 1 piece of chocolate each day. She LOVES it... but really, who doesn't? She asks for it usually during breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's hard to explain to a 23 month old that she only gets 1 piece her day, lol. Might as well talk to Jake!

We branched out this year and got professional photographs taken through a deal on those discounted websites. They didn't turn out excatly as I wanted them too but we got a few really good shots. If anyone gets a christmas card from us... two of the pictures were used for the card. Thank goodness Christmas and Birthday pictures were over before the Raven's Purple Cast came about! The pictures I'll post are from my iphone so they aren't great but you'll get the idea of Jadyn wearing a cast (hold that thought-it's not working on this computer so I'll try tomorrow).

Jadyn was a monkey for Halloween. The outfit fit her perfect since she sometimes acts half monkey and crazy. She was really cute. Thanksgiving was here before we knew it and now it's December 16th to be exact! I'm almost finished shopping. I have a like 2 things to get and that's it! I'm very excited to NOT be shopping the week of Christmas this year. It's a big improvement from last year.

I guess that's about it in the past couple months. I'll post after Jadyn's cast removal and her 2 year pedi appointment. We have no neurosurg appointment yet for after 2 year follow up. I'm not really seeking it out either :-)

Happy Holidays. Enjoy the time with your friends and family.

Go Ravens

Jadyn had her 6 month follow up neurosurg appointment yesterday and it didn’t turn out as well as we liked but continue reading… it gets better. J
The doc’s Physician’s Assistant came in to check Jadyn out… measure her head and check on her development. She measured accurately (going off of previous measurements) and put it on the growth chart. She then asked us some questions… played around with Jadyn and that was it. Dr. Ahn then came in and said Jadyn’s head continues to grow bigger and there is a jump so he thinks we should get another MRI after her 2nd birthday. After he said this I was floored and just couldn’t understand how it could be. I keep very good track of her head growth and we were just at the pediatrician a month ago and it was fine. I’m not sure why I didn’t question his word “jump” but I didn’t. I just wanted to get out of there and look at my own growth chart. So, I did just that. Jayson took off with Jadyn and I went back to work and plotted this growth. It was NORMAL. There was no jump. It was on the same 97 % line it had been for over a year. I ended up emailing him asking him to double check the chart because I believe there was an error. So, after waiting 24 hours hoping there would be a change…. Ahhhh, I got a reply. He said it was doubled checked and I was correct (YES!). So, there will NO sedated MRI at 2 years but just a regular checkup. Thank goodness! We’ll go back sometime in January probably for another clinic visit. Hopefully everything stays the same… or grows accordingly J

We went on our family vacation to the beach last week. I can say it was anything but relaxing, lol. I guess that comes with having a 19 month old. However, it was nice to be away from home and work for a week and enjoy our time together. Jadyn wasn’t quite a fan of the sand for the first 20 minutes on Saturday and again on Sunday but warmed up to it and even decided to have it for lunch one day J I should have taken a picture of her shovel of sand going in her mouth a couple times but I missed it. She loved to be on the beach with her buddy, Bryce. She now won’t stop saying his name so she must have had a LOT of fun with him, lol. Jay and I got to sneak in some fun too thanks to the grandparents help a few times.

Thanks for checking in.

18 months and some

It's been busy the last month but I meant to update after Jadyn's 18 month pedi appointment. Obviously, I never got around to it. I'm waiting for my Target coupons to print so I figured I'd do this real fast. By the way, do you know that Target accepts their coupons they put on their website paired with the manufacturers? It's a great deal. :-)
Anyway, Jadyn is doing well. She is hitting some terribly twos situations early like throwing her sippy cup off the high chair, taking fists full of food and dropping it over the side of her tray, begging to be held for no reason, a couple hits have been noticed, not wanting to take a mid-day nap, crawling out of her pack and play and attempting the crib, etc.... All the fun stuff of toddlerhood. She didn't gain any weight from 16-18 but she did grow 2.5 inches. She is a tall one already. Her food intake has decreased because everyday she likes or doesn't like something. Tonight was hotdogs and mac and cheese. She LOVES mac and cheese. Ate it for three lunches in a row a few weeks ago. Did she eat it tonight? Nope... wouldn't take a fork full at all. So whatever... she at least ate her entire hotdog, cut into tiny pieces of course ;-)
It's been a hot week in Baltimore. Tonight its like 98 degrees and 90% humidity. It's nuts.
We leave for our annual family trip to OCMD in the next few weeks. We are looking forward to it but I'm sad it's coming up so soon. When we return from the vacation it seems summer is only a few weeks left. I hate the cold and winter...however, I'm not really a fan of staying indoors because it's 101 degrees outside either.
We have Jadyn's next neurosurg appt on Tuesday, August 9th (I think that's the correct date). I'm anxious already. I just hope it's a quick head circumference check, development is in check and out the door with a follow up appointment in 6-12 months. That's wishful thinking but it could happen. She is doing great. No issues from the pedi except we need to work on 2 work phrases. She talks a lot and has a fair amount of words but doesn't put two words together. I try to get her to say them before giving her sippy cup or anything else but she doesn't. She will say "sippy" and then I said ok, say please... and she'll say please. I'll try to say ok, say sippy please and she says something that MIGHT sound like it but not really, lol. I'm not sure what else to do at this point besides continuing working with her. I guess she'll start when she is ready.
Other news in our world is someone convinced me to buy a boat so the Cox's are offically boat owners. I'm not sure what kind of magic Jayson worked on me but I'm still questioning if I actually said "sure." It's nice but a lot of money goes into it not to mention the 3.50 a gallon gas these days. We haven't been out on it too much b/c July has been busy but we did get out last week for an event called Aquapalooza which was fun. We are heading out this weekend too but not too far... just for some lunch and some water relaxation. Jadyn isn't too hip on it yet and is a little too small to enjoy the day so she will stay with her grandparents for a few hours.
Well my coupons are done printing and I'm beat from getting up so early so it's time to turn in. Hope everyone is having a fabulous summer.

16 months and growing like a weed

Jadyn turned 16 months on Saturday, April 30th. Time is sure flying, as always. Not only can’t I believe she is 16 months old now… but it’s already MAY?!?!?!?! I’m happy the weather is getting warm and I’m excited for a fun-filled summer but really… I can wait a little bit longer.
April went by too fast for us. We celebrated lots of birthdays including my Dad’s, brother’s, grandmother’s, grandfather’s and Jay’s grandfather too. Talk about an expense! We went to Opening Day on Monday, April 4th where the Baltimore Orioles shinned. They continued to shine for a minute before they went back into their old ways, lol. What else is new? Thank goodness for the Ravens J
Jadyn picked up some speed in April and started some running. She still is wobbly a bit on her feet and running scares me! I just know sooner or later it’ll be a really bad tumble. She looks like a little tomboy with all the bruises, cuts and scrapes she has on her legs from playing outside at Na-Na’s. A couple bumps to the head too here and there.
Her 2nd Easter came and went. It was such a gorgeous day in Baltimore. We started off with our 1st egg hunt with Bryce at Na-Na’s and moved to our second at Jay’s parents house. Jadyn wasn’t too much into it once she heard the change in the first egg. She just rather shake one egg than get any more of them. We visited my family for dinner and ended up at Jay’s grandparents. Needless to say, another busy holiday it was. Jadyn collected presents everywhere we went and ended up with MORE stuff we don’t know where to put J. I busted out the spring/summer clothes and washed them up for the rare days it gets to the high 70s/80s. She has a couple 2T outfits but for the most part, I went with 3T so it’ll last us the summer.
She visited the Zoo last Friday for the first time and didn’t seem to be too impressed. Anything that causes her to fit in the stroller for a long period of time doesn’t interest her. She wanted to run free. We have a membership for the year so we’ll be visiting quite frequently when the weather gets a little better here.
Her 15th month well baby appointment was actually at 16 months. She had two shots which she did great with b/c she was reading a book, lol. She weighed in at 30 pounds 6 ounces, length is almost 34.5 inches and head circumference was about 97 or so, where it has been staying. I was a little worried about the head circumference because that is our determining factor of surgery these days. Her soft spot has almost completely closed so that kills me too. I have checked that spot everyday for 16 months and now it’s so small to check. Everything is proportionate so nothing is really concerning. Although the doc did mention checking her growth hormone in the future if she continues to be THIS large. I wasn’t concerned because I know Jadyn isn’t really abnormal. She doesn’t look like the Green Giant but I decided to take a poll on my mom chat board to verify I wasn’t the only one with a large toddler. I was correct…. Jadyn actually seems slightly small compared to some of those other toddlers. I took it with a grain of salt and told Jayson to do the same thing. I refuse to have her stuck for blood when I don’t think it’s necessary.
We are visiting my aunt and her family in Ga. in the middle of May. We are all looking forward to a little vacation and family time. We have plans to visit the Atlanta Zoo , do a little shopping and get in a Braves game too. This trip is LONG overdue as it was planned when I was 20 weeks pregnant which was right after I found out about Jadyn’s health concerns. We had to cancel it to take care of issues at home. Unfortunately, it has taken us a long time to get back but we are.
Jadyn is definitely increasing her vocabulary. She repeats a lot of words you say to her and most seem correct, lol. It’s cute.
Hope everyone have a fantastic May! Happy Mother’s Day.

14 months old

Sorry I am slacking in the updating from Jadyn's neurosurg appointment. I passed along the good news to some friends/family and that was the end of it. Yes, good news, thank goodness. Jadyn's fluid remains stable...still there though. No changes in head circum. so that's goood. She is developing as she should. So with all that said, we'll go back in August (2nd Tuesday) to get a head measurement and continue to keep an eye out on any signs of increased pressure. We were pretty happy with that outcome.
She had her 1 year well baby/child appointment last Monday and she checked in at 28 pounds, 11 ounces and 32.5 inches long (both are over 97 percentile, as she has been for many months). She is just a large child. Our pedi thinks she is doing great so we'll go back in two months for our 15 month appointment. Our appointments were a little behind so our 15 will actually be 16 months. She got three shots on Monday so she was not happy about that.
We went to Vegas on Wednesday night for Jay's 30th birthday present. Yes, I know.. he is a lucky guy. Of course, Jadyn got sick on Thursday. She has been diagnosed with bilateral pink eye and now strep throat. She just started on her antibiotics for strep today and eye drops were started on Friday. Guess the grandparents weren't anticipating that type of babysitting job :-)
It made for a worrisome trip but I still managed to get some fun in. The daytime weather was such a nice change to Baltimore. I didn't even gamble 1 penny... isn't that crazy? I did manage to find 22 cents on the ground throughout the 4 day trip so I feel like I was in the green, LOL!!!
I can't even believe it's March already. It's really, really crazy.
We booked a vacation to Georgia in May to visit my aunt and her family. We are looking forward to it but not the plane ride with Jadyn. It should be rather interesting trying to get her to sit still for 2 hours while on an airplane. She isn't into cartoons really so I don't even know what to do. I guess feed her cheerios for 2 hours and hope that works?!?!
That's about it since I last posted about Jadyn's MRI. No news is good news to me but doesn't make for anything interesting, lol.
Happy St. Patty's Day, soon.

1st MRI

HI Everyone
Jadyn's sedated MRI was yesterday, Wednesday and it went well. She was sedated with an oral medication and did not need an IV, which was great. It took a bit to get her to sleep finally because she wanted to explore the MRI suite but she finally passed out and we got breakfast during her scan. We took her home where she slept on and off most of the day. Today she was back to normal.
Now the wait comes... our follow up neurosurg appointment isn't until Tuesday, Feb 1st so it's a LONG time from now. I'm trying not to worry about it. Jadyn is doing great. She started walking on her birthday and has taken off from there. I keep track of those milestones considering her brain issue of course. She is doing awesome though. We couldn't ask for more :-). I also did a very good job not measuring her head every month. I took a two month break. I measured it at 12.5 months and it was slightly above 97 where it was back in November so we seem to be on the same track.
Jadyn switched to whole milk about a week after her birthday. It wasn't an easy transition but now she drinks it down in one gulp. She is such a good eat and good drinker. I'm dreading when the doctor tells us we have to start weaning from the bottle. She LOVES the bottle. She gets excited when she sees it. She always has! She likes to eat.. who can blame the child?!?!?!
We had a nice vacation but it was too long without Jadyn. It was nice to sleep in, hang out together and have someone else cook but we missed our little lady. I was happy to be home plus the weather wasn't great so it wasn't totally horrible coming home. Although we did come back to Baltimore with snow on the ground and another round coming for us. We also came back to watch the Raven's totally lose it to the Steelers. What a let down!
Anyway, keep Jadyn (and her parents sanity) in your prayers for good news on Tuesday. I'd LOVE to be released from the neurosurg for more than 2-3 months at a time. It'd be wonderful.
It's time for bed so I'll try to get a birthday picture on here sometime this weekend.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know... it's been a long time. Life has been super busy in November and December. Before we knew it...it was Thanksgiving. Then it was Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, Christmas, Jadyn's 1st birthday, New Year's and then Jadyn's birthday party. Yes, beyond busy!!!

Jadyn is doing well. She started taking a couple steps toward the end of November or beginning of December (I should written it down!) so we thought for sure she'd be walking by her 1st birthday. Well she didn't really progress throughout December. She just kept doing her 4 steps and either falling or sitting down on her own. She progressed a few times to 6-7 steps and that was about it. On her birthday though she was walking all around... 10 steps was her max but she is now starting to try to walk wherever she wants to go and when she falls, she just crawls the rest of the way.

Christmas was nice but too busy for a almost 1 year old. Our Christmas Eve is always busy with many houses to visit. Jadyn was up until 11 pm and had a rough sleeping night. Christmas Day was much more relaxed and easier although she doesn't like to nap at others houses when people are around... I guess she is too nosey!

After going back to work a couple days, it was Jadyn's 1st birthday on December 30th. She spent the day with me and Jay. We took her to get her 1st birthday pictures at JCPennys and then to "That Bouncy Place" in Forest Hill, Md. She had a good time there. In the evening we had the grandparents, great grandparents and the Durbin's over for cake and ice cream. Jadyn wasn't too into the cake. She had a couple bites of it and that was about it.

We decided to stay home on New Year's Eve and had a few friends over. With Jadyn's 1st birthday party the next day, I wasn't about to stay out all night long and not feel well the next day. I'm happy with my decision... I think Jay might still be upset about it, lol.

Jadyn's birthday party was nice...busy for me, but nice. I thought it was getting ready to turn into a disaster as the party started at 5 pm and at 4 pm I had two crock pots of frozen meatballs and three pans of frozen bake ziti. And we had planned to be at the hall ready to go at 4 pm, lol. Thank goodness for friends and family to help get the last minute details together. We decided to buy a moon bounce for the party and for Jadyn to have. I hate renting things that we wouldn't be able to use again. It seemed to be a big hit with the kiddos. Jadyn was a little scared because there were too many kids in there but later on when it cleared out, she had a fun time.

That about sums up the end of our year. It was a great year for the Cox's. We are really, really blessed. Mom and Dad need a vacation after Christmas, New Year's and Birthday so we leave on Friday for vacation. I'm already sad that Jadyn won't be joining but I really need this vacation, lol. We'll be cruising out of Fort Lauderdale on Saturday to two spots in Mexico and Haiti.

Jadyn's 1 year appointment is on Wednesday, Jan 19th, her sedated MRI is Wednesday Jan 26th and her follow up neurosurg appt to review the MRI is Tuesday, Feb 1st. Already dreading the MRI because I just don't want her to go under anesthesia if it's not necessary but I don't have too much of a choice I guess. I told the doctor that if he feels it's necessary then I guess we'll agree to it.

Well, Happy New Year to all our friends and family. I hope 2011 treats you great.