30 Months and a Secret

Happy Summer! Jadyn turned 30 months which is 2.5 years old on June 30th! She had her 30 month pedi appointment to check on her development, height, weight and all that good stuff. It went well. She of course is staying in the larger percentiles, like 97? for height and weight but thankfully not off the charts like she had been. We didn't get any lectures this time about overeating or anything. We found out she is a rather smart cookie but we already knew that. We discussed in detail potty training. Jadyn showed interested in using the potty many many months ago. So, we bought her a potty seat and she used it like 2-3 times and never would touch it again. I wasn't really pushing the issue because there wasn't a huge need only being like 2 years old. Somewhere in June I did start getting irritated at her though because she would tell me AFTER she soiled her diaper that she had peed or pooped. We can always spot a poop because she is a famous squater. I finally took her diaper off and left it off and we had several accidents 1 day so I put it back on. I tried another day and it didn't work either. I decided to just wait it out a little longer. After her pedi appointment I stopped in the ladies room for myself and decided I would see if she could try too... wouldn't hurt and sure enough.. she went! Later in the day she actually told me she needed to go and so... she went again on the potty. That day, Friday July 6th started Jadyn's offical potty training. We just passed the 2 week mark last Friday and it's going rather well. I'm happy to be only using diapers at naps and bedtime and sometimes-very rare but still... she doesn't soil the diaper! I haven't really looked at this process like wow... my little girl is growing up until right now. I guess it's bittersweet that we've moved out of the diapers but it's something that has to happen.

As mentioned above, there is also a secret to tell. Yup....there it is. Mama is pregnant with Baby Boy Cox due October 26, 2012. What a big decision to make to have another child. It's exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I was 26 weeks on Friday. I actually couldn't remember if I was 25 or 26 because I haven't been keeping great track of it. I secretly want to forget about it for awhile because I'm overwhelmed with everything we have to do before baby which is probably why I lost track of my weeks. The problem is he is a little kicker and mover so I don't forget about it too long and the growing belly doesn't help either. I'm trying to get in all the sleep I can. Jadyn hasn't been helping me with that either. My little sleeper has been waking up earlier and earlier every day. We talk about her baby brother and I try to get her to feel him kick but she puts her hand on my belly for a quick second and says "He kicked me" laughs and moves it. She really won't talk about it unless someone brings it up. She just wants to climb all over my like she is used to and doesn't care he is in there, lol.

We took Jadyn to Disney World in June. We weren't really sure what to do for a family vacation and Disney kept sending me emails and mailings about free dining if we booked before a certain time so we ended up heading to Orlando for 5 days. Talk about a HOT week. I thought we'd be spared a little bit because it was early June but it was one hot week in Orlando and of course-rain came everyday. Jadyn enjoyed the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. We bought a park hopper for 4 days thinking we'd have lots of time but that isn't the case with a toddler. We only got to 2 parks to really do stuff and we swung into Hollywood Studios one evening after a rainy day for basically dinner and to watch Fantasmic show.  I got some really great pictures of her with some Disney characters. It wasn't all fun though... she of course was your average 29 month old in 90 + degree weather who got cranky, impatient and everything else. Although we had a fairly decent time, we'll probably not take our 2nd Disney trip until little buddy is at least 3 years old. we'll try to avoid a summer month too.

2nd Year Neuro Follow Up

A lot has happened since Christmas and New Years. Jadyn got her cast off on Jan. 3rd and that was great. Thankfully it only had to be unraveled instead of being cut. We made sure to pick that cast because that saw would scare anybody. Her wrist was healed enough for the doctor to leave off the cast so off we went being very careful but Jadyn didn't even miss a beat. Never knew she had it on and never talked about it again. We had a busy January between birthday parties almost every weekend. One of them was Jadyn's bounce party rescheduled. She had about as much fun as a 2 year old with a 104 degree temperature would :-( I know... our luck stinks, lol. On Friday afternoon before her party she woke up from her nap with a high fever but not really feeling bad at all. Saturday was a different story. Snotty, congested, coughing, and fever. You could tell she didn't feel well either. I loaded her up with Motrin and Tylenol because the party had to go on and off we went.
That weekend we had bought tickets to the Raven's game in New England (horrible and very sad loss) so Jadyn stayed with her grandparents while we made the 6 hour drive to Boston. Her fever didn't really go away the entire weekend so we had to make a trip to the doctors when we returned and she was diagnosed with RSV. Her first diagnosis with RSV-not too bad. She ended up getting better and things were back to normal.
I had never gotten an appointment in the mail for her 2 year old neuro check up so I decided to email the doc to see what was the deal. I ended up making the appointment but it wouldn't be until March.
In the meantime, Jadyn did have her 2 year old pedi appointment and that went well. She was on track/target with all her developmental milestones. She is tall, heavy, and just an overall large child. We did get a small lecture about her weight but both Jayson and I knew the tech did not get an accurate weight so we weren't really that concerned. We don't feel her every second of the day-although she would be in heaven if we did. We cut back on milk and switched to 1-2% depending on what we buy.
Can't remember much of Feb. I guess it was rather uneventful. On came March and not much happened there either, lol. We finally had her neuro appointment on March 20th and it went well. Our doc was very pleased with Jadyn's progression and thinks she is doing well (obviously-that isn't even a question!). Her head circumference is fine and he doesn't think another 6 month visit is really necessary as long as we stay on top of any signs/symptoms of increased cranial pressure-which is always in the back of my mind. I'll have to make an appointment after her 3rd birthday to visit the clinic again.
We booked a Disney vacation for the 2nd week in June. I'm excited to go since we haven't been since 2005 when just Jayson and I went. I know Jadyn will really enjoy the trip although she'll only be 2.5 years old. We are staying at a Disney value resorts and bought 4 days worth of park tickets. I sure hope the weather is nice.
We are looking forward to nice weather to stay around in Baltimore. Happy Easter!

Happy 2012 and Happy 2nd Year!



Christmas Eve 2011

So 2011 has come and gone in an instant. It doesn't even seem possible. I feel like once August hit I couldn't get it to slow down and I kept trying to stop the months from moving into the next. Didn't work :-) So, we had to welcome 2012 whether we like it or not. I prefer not to like it. I mean, 2012...how did it get here so fast? Geez... I remember New Year's 2000 when we thought nothing would work at 12 mn!
Anyway, I'll move on and share the exciting news that Jadyn is cast-free finally. She had it removed Tuesday afternoon. Thankfully a lot of healing had taken place in 3 weeks so she was free to leave without and has picked up where she left off, which is great. I was so happy to put her into the tub Tuesday evening for a nice long soak. The cast was so yucky and smelly. That is what happens when a 2 year old has a cast and shoves chicken nuggets and hot dogs down the top of it.


Christmas Day 2011
Showing off her purple Raven's Cast

The birthday party has successfully been rescheduled so that's a plus. Jadyn also turned 2 years old last week which was super exciting too! We took her to the Science Center during the day, had lunch at the Inner Harbor and had a small family party at our house Friday evening. Of course Jadyn was extremely happy to open presents once again. She got MORE stuff that doesn't have room in our house. Me and Jayson are slowly getting moved out because Jadyn's CRAP is taking over. Hopefully we'll get our basement room in order soon so it'll be our playroom.
I moved her 2 year pedi appointment from her birthday to another day just in case her vaccines caused any issues. I didn't want anything to mess up her birthday party scheduled for 12/31 (well... the cast did just that!). So anyway, we go next week for her 2 year old check up. I guess I should also say that we have not received our neurosurg follow up appointment for after her 2nd birthday. I've been putting it off but I guess I should call and remind them they forgot our appointment. All seems to be well though with Jadyn so hopefully they feel the same.
January is going to be over in a snap I know. We have every single Saturday booked right now with activities and now already the 1st weekend in February too.
I guess that's about it for now.

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.