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.

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.

Good News to Report

Jadyn had a great neurosurg appointment on Tuesday. The fluid remains stable so she will be followed back up with after her 1st birthday. Really though... her 1st birthday is right around the corner. Ugh... I can't even believe it. It has gone by way too fast. She did great with the sono... rolled over three times but was able to settle back down.
Thanksgiving is in to weeks and before we know it, Christmas will be here. Wow...
No new pictures since last post. Talk to you all soon!

10 months old

I haven't wrote in a while so I figured I'd update while I "have time." It's about 10:38 pm on Thursday night and I really should be in bed but it's a mad rush to do everything I wanted to do after Jadyn goes to bed for the night. I end up staying up way too late and being tired the next day. I'm not sure if it's worth it but I can say I did get a couple things done tonight....so that was a plus.
Jadyn is doing so well. She is trucking along.... She will walk with you if you stand behind her and hold her hands. I say "one, two" and she moves her right and the left and we continue. She is standing on her own for a couple seconds which is cute. Last night you could see in her face and body that she wanted to take a step forward but seemed like she wasn't sure about it so she just fell back on her butt. That's usually what happens. Lots of times she will control herself to a sitting position. We catch her all the time playing with her toys or music table without holding on to anything. She is already into everything so I'm not pushing the walking just yet.
She has some badness in her though. Don't let the smile fool you. She loves Jake's food and water bowl. She goes after it all the time even after being told NO ALL THE TIME. She even gets yelled at and cries but continues to go back 5 minutes later. I'm not sure why she can't get it! LOL After so many trips chasing her, we finally put up the gate that separates the kitchen from the living room. It's not worth my time or energy to keep getting up and bringing her back to the living room. So, for now... three gates on the main floor, hehe.
Jadyn's 9 month neurosurg appointment was rescheduled and then again rescheduled. It's finally approaching on Tuesday and I'm a nervous wreck. Yes, I'm like this every single time but it's my duty to worry. I was a little relieved last time because Jayson took her and I didn't have to sit through the sono and wait the 2 hours before the appointment. I had no excuse not to go this time so I have to. Perhaps anti anxiety pills will be in my future :-)
Her 9 month well baby visit went well. She is growing like a weed. I can't remember if I posted something on this but she was off the charts for weight and length. She is big! The doc classified her as an average 21 month old at 9 months old, lol. Crazy!
She got her first tennis shoes. These were a must because she doesn't like to leave socks on. I needed to get something to keep the socks on during the cold so these seem to be helping. On another note... cold... it's turned cold here in Baltimore and I am not loving it. I feel like summer left so fast and winter weather is here already. I'm not sure where Fall went but it's over!
We did get some weekends to enjoy the weather and the pumpkin farms. We visited Weber's and North Run with the Durbin's two weeks in a row. It was nice. We took lots of pictures. Jadyn seemed to have a good time. Her favorite things were the wood scenes that you put your head through the hole. I have no idea why she loved them... but she did. Hey, whatever floats your boat.
Halloween has came and went. Jadyn dressed up like a Lady Bug. It was a very cute and simple outfit. Next year we'll get a little more extravgant. This year we just visited family for pictures.
I can't believe Thanksgiving and the Christmas season is around the corner. I know, everyone says time flies but it REALLY does.
Good news to report on babies... our friend Lori (co-worker too) had a litle baby girl on Halloween and our friend Kelly (and Steve) had a little baby girl yesterday, November 3rd. Jadyn has more friends on the way too. Congrats to them!
No more teeth since the last time I posted. I keep feeling for uppers but nothing yet. My new plan is the figure out how I can teach Jadyn to drink from a straw. I bought sippy cups with straws. Jadyn hasn't mastered the art of tilting her head back to get the milk/water out of the bottle or sippy cups so I thought a straw might be better but then I couldn't think of how I would teach a 10 month old to suck this straw, lol. We'll work on it.
We booked Jay's new FOP lodge for Jadyn's 1st birthday bash. We have to have it on New Year's Day evening but it's a Saturday evening so it'll work out. I can't even believe two months and she'll be 1. Are you freaking kidding me?? 1 year old. I was just pregnant. No wait.. I don't even remember being pregnant it seems so long ago, lol.
I've rambled enough. Please keep Jadyn in your prayers for a great appointment on Tuesday. Include me too for my sanity. :-) Enjoy the pictures

We have TEETH!

As you can see from the picture, Jadyn is doing a great job pulling up on things. She pulls up and even let's go for a couple seconds. I can't even imagine her walking. We are still weeks to months away from that but I know it'll be here before we know it. Mid September I found a tooth (bottom) in Jadyn's mouth and 1 week later a second one sprouted. She looks super cute with her two bottom teeth poking through.

8 months was such a busy month for us... crawling, clapping, teeth, pulling up.... so much!

Jadyn's neurosurg appointment was reschedule and yet again, rescheduled. We don't have an appointment until November 9th now which is 1 week after her 10 month birthday. Thank goodness she is doing so well so I don't feel uncomfortable waiting until then. Technically she was supposed to get follow up on at 9 months. I guess the neurosurgery business is busy these days.

October brings a little chaos to our lives for a couple weeks but it's not for too long. I start working 4 days a week starting on Monday. It's PPD and flu shot season. Make sure you get your flu shot!!! We are excited for Jadyn's first halloween but I don't want to rush October by.

Tomorrow is Jadyn's 9 month birthday, 9/30. Can't believe how fast it flew by...

Crawling and Clapping at 8 months old

I haven't updated lately because everything has been fairly ordinary but for those who still check in from time to time I figured I would update a little bit. Jadyn turned 8 months on August 30 ,2010. On Sunday, August 29th she started crawling. She worked on this crawling thing for a month or more. She would roll and scoot everywhere but didn't understand the crawling business. Last week she finally got it and then she started clapping to go along with it. Now she doesn't open one of her hands but I still consider it clapping. It's cute. Whenever I tell her no, she goes into a clap. She likes to divert the "no" into something good I guess so I'll forget about the "no." Smart cookie!

The first week in August we took our first (and only so far) family vacation to Ocean City, MD. We go every year with friends around the same time. Jadyn seemed to have a good time in the sand and water. Thank goodness for her kiddie pool which she spent most time in. I did let her into the sand a bit but she just wanted to get her hands sandy then eat it. Once she started coughing, I decided we were done with the sand. We visited the boardwalk twice and got her first OCMD t-shirt.

I'm playing single mommy this week as Jayson has left us for OCMD (training?? he says!). Thank goodness it's only two full days and he'll return on Friday sometime.

Jadyn is sleeping and I feel like I should be too but I go back to work tomorrow after having a nice 5 days off. I took an extended holiday weekend which has been nice.

We took Jadyn to Honeygo Park yesterday and she had her first experience on the swing. They have two baby/toddler swings with that wraps around the front of the kid too. It was great. She loved it. I decided that both sets of grandparents will now need to get her a swing since we don't have a backyard for it.

Our next well baby appointment for 9 months will be here before we know it... Oct. 4th. I start back to work 4 days a week for Oct/Nov and probably some December . It's the busy season at KKI. Jadyn next neurosurg appointment is Oct. 12th and I'm already (yes, as always!!) dreading it. It's been so nice to have 3 months off and I know we still have 1 month to go but it's more than half way there so I guess my nervousness is starting to kick in. She is doing so well and even ahead of some other kiddos her age so we are blessed by that.

6 Month Neurosurg Appt.

Hi Everyone
It's late.. yes, 9:10 p.m. is late for us around here so I'm going to make it short. I do have pictures to post but I need some time to upload them to the computer then to here. Anyway, Jay took Jadyn to her head sono and neurosurg appointment today. I couldn't get off work but they did come and visit me in between appointments. Anyway, so far so good. Her fluid is stable so we are released for 3 months since it's been that way for awhile now. We will visit around her 9 month birthday. Dr. A told Jay that if things are still the same around 9 months, then at her 12 month visit, we'll get an MRI instead of head sono. The MRI would def. consist of sedation because I doubt she'd sleep through it. That oughta be interesting but we still have some time for that. Just wanted to get something posted for anyone that has still been checking in. Have a great night and I'll around to posting some holiday pictures soon.
By the way, guess who turns 30 on Thursday? UGH! Let's not talk about it.

Happy July

We can't even believe it's going to be July on Thursday. Where did June go? Holy Cow! Jadyn turns 6 months on Wednesday, June 30th. 1/2 year has gone by that quick. Before I know it she'll be walking into pre-K! Whew... I'm getting old as well. I turn 30 years old on July 8th and although I'm not dreading the fact that it's 30 this year... I am dreading the all around fact that I'm getting older and time isn't slowing down. 1 week before Jadyn turned 5 months she started rolling and about 1 week or so before 6 months she is sitting up on her own. It's great. It seemed to happen overnight. She is doing a great job with it and rarely needs assistance. She does pretty good catching herself but she isn't 100 percent stable so she is always has someone very close by, if not right behind her. She is still sleeping in the co-sleeper next to me and I KNOW I need to get her out of it but it's just so hard. I'm just dreading getting up in the middle of the night for a pacifier run or whatever. Her dear father could sleep through a natural disaster right in the bedroom. I sometimes can sleep through a lot but when it comes to Jadyn making noises or waking up, I seem to wake right up. We have a lovely video monitor we received at our baby shower so I'm hoping it'll do the trick for us overnight. I had plans on getting her out of the co-sleeper last week but that never happened. I read though that technically she can stay it in until she starts pulling up and standing. I believe we have a little while on that.

As of tomorrow, it starts my 1 week count down to our next neurosurg appointment/head scan. I'm very very freaked out on this one. I just feel that surgery is approaching soon and sooner or later it's not going to be "see ya next time" response from the doc. I also get this feeling from our previous appointment where the fluid slightly increased. Ugh... I have nothing else to even say about it. I know there are MANY other things to worry about and MANY other issues that are a greater concern that people are going through... I just try to think of that. PLUS, I also try to think about how well Jadyn is developing compared to what could have been....

So anyway, it'd been awhile since I posted so I wanted to share these pictures and post an update. Hope everyone have a great holiday weekend. We are really looking foward to it. Jadyn has all her red, white and blue clothes washed and ready for wear.

We have a swimmer!

We have a swimmer ladies and gentlemen. Jadyn's first trip in the pool was Memorial Day at her Nana's house (Mrs. Tina her sitter). She had a ball in the water. I figured she would like it from her enjoyment in the bathtub. She was kicking and trying to swim. Above is one of my new fav pictures. She is such a cute little chub! I also wanted to post that we received our next neuro. and head sono appointment for July 6th... yup, Happy 4th of July to me and while we are at it... Happy 30th Birthday too! Ugh... I was hoping for the full two months which would be the end of July but for some reason they scheduled us like after 5 weeks. I'm calling on Thursday to figure out if there was an issue for late July. We might just take the July 6th. I'm hoping that either 1)things are stable and we get released toward the end of the summer or 2) if sugery does have to happen, we can get it over with before our summer vacation. I like option #1 the best but we will see. With the last increase in fluid, I have a funny feeling we might be looking at surgery sooner than later.
Well anyway, I'd like to forget about all of it until July 6th so I just wanted to post that picture. We'd also like to give a shout out to the Aunts of our family and say Happy Birthday Aunt Cindy and Auntie (Aunt Lisa). We hope they both have great birthdays this week.
Good Night!

Almost 5 Months/Neuro Appt. Update

Hi Everyone

We had Jadyn's head sono and neurosurg appt today. She did really well during her head sono. Last time she slept which was great but this time she was wide awake so I was curious how she'd do but she did fine. It's a very simple procedure of some gel on her soft spot and a small probe that just rolls over it back and forth as the sonographer takes some pictures and puts the pieces together. She was more concerned about playing with the lady's lab coat and cord than what was going on. She did very well. Based on the picture the sonographer left on the screen, I thought the fluid looks bigger on one side but for the most part, looked pretty stable. Obviously the doc has the final say. Her actual appointment went rather well. We didn't get the exciting news that the fluid went away or shrunk but we are surgery free for another 2 months so that is a plus. Her fluid has very slightly increased but there is no increased pressure in her head at all. They measure that during her sono by the pulsation in this vein. The doc explained that this time which I hadn't heard about in her previous two head sonos. Her soft spot remains soft. She is developing great and obviously eating like a little pony.

We were happy with the news but I'm a little sad that we were only released for another 2 months and our next appointment falls probably right before our beach vacation at the end of July. We are just staying positive and keeping track of everything.

As for Jadyn, she is working on rolling over. She rolled almost all the way over at Mrs. Tina's (her nanny) and today a couple times. She just needs to figure out how to move the arm that gets stuck under her body and she'll be all the way over. She loves to lay on her side now and she likes being on her belly for awhile. That's a plus. Once she gets on her belly she just kicks her legs so much I think sooner or later she is going to take off!

On aother note, Jadyn has a slight cough with some congestion that her mama passed along to her. I called out last Tuesday with a horrible, horrible head cold. I haven't called out in 2 years almost it seems. I was so ill. I knew I'd pass along something and I did. She started with a slight cough two days ago and it's gotten a little worse. She is still acting normal, eating fine and no fever so no need to worry but just keep a close eye on her.

Everyone else is doing well. Jake is being Jake.. the dog. We've had a busy May with 1 free weekend which was last week. We have another busy holiday weekend again. Since I have off on Mondays now it's not so exciting for the holiday but still nice for Jay to be off with us. We will be starting cereal on Monday. I'll take lots of pictures. I'm excited. I thought it'd be hard to wait until 5 months but I swear, the last 4 weeks have flew by, I didn't even have time to start cereal any earlier!!

Jadyn's 4 Month Check Up

Jadyn's 4 month well baby check up went well. She was a gem, of course. Her length is 26 inches which is off the charts... they marked her at 97 percentile but it's just slightly past that. She is 16 pounds 12 ounces which is again off the charts at 97 percent and her head circumference is 42.5 which is 90 percentile. I measured her head the other day and only got 40 cm but I guess everyone does it slightly different but still no reason to worry right now. Dr. Lee just said she is a large child and she'll eventually slow down at some point! lol She also did some tricks with her like turning her on her tummy and she lifted her head as high as she ever has and started moving her legs back and forth like she wanted to crawl. She said based on how she is moving now.. she might be an early crawler because she is doing the moves. It was cute. She almost looked like she was swimming. She was very smiley and did really good with her two shots she had to get today. Her head is still a little wobbly but she is still working on that.

She said we can introduce rice cereal anytime between 4-6 months but she recommends trying to push it more toward 5 months rather than 4. I'm not sure what we'll end up doing but I guess for right now, we'll hold off a little longer. She technically isn't 4 months until next Friday the 30th, 1 more week.

Her head still remains a little lopsided but it's always been like that. Dr. Lee said she'll just continue to watch it but it shouldn't really be any concern.

I dressed her in a Carter 6 months outfit today and her pants are tight, ugh! Looks like we might be going through our 6 months clothes faster than we thought. I doubt they'll last through the summer at this rate, lol. Perhaps it just shrunk up a lot in the dryer?? That's what I say about my clothes.

I guess that's it. I was a rather short appointment it seemed... discussed what she is doing developmentally... any concerns... talked about eating... physical exam and then some shots.

Our neuro appt. has been pushed back 1 week so we now go on May 25th. That's out next big appointment. Already getting nervous about that one.... I have a long month ahead of me!

I'd post more pictures but I'm using our new laptop and I don't have anything saved on here. I also didn't bring the cord up to transfer the pics from my camera. I will post more soon. We have a busy month ahead of us... our only free weekend in May is the 22/23. Thank goodness for 3 day work weeks so I feel like I have some time to hang out with Jadyn and get things done around the house.

Good night!

Happy Easter

Hi Everyone

Happy Easter to all! Hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful day with friends and family. We did.

Not much going on to post but I thought I'd share the cute Easter picture we had taken on Friday night at the Picture People. Jadyn was a doll and cooperated so well! There were many good ones but Jayson reminded me we can't buy all of them because there will many more holidays! I don't even have one picture we purchased at her 8 week session in a frame. I don't even know where to hang it and now I have her 3 month pictures done and still no room! I need to figure this out!

Time is flying. She is 13.5 weeks already and doing well. She is very smiley and interactive. My transition back to work has gone well. It seems like I never left the joint! Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday work weeks fly by like crazy. By the time it's Monday night.. it's pretty much Thursday night again. It's nice but it just shows us how fast time flies. Before we know it, it'll be time to walk her into pre-k! We certainly aren't ready for that yet!

We have our next neurosurg appointment on Tuesday, May 18th. I'm already getting nervous because I just don't know what this time will bring or the rest of the scans (if we have to keep doing this). She seems to be doing well still so that is what matters right now. She is just too cute for surgery, don't you think? ;-)

Jake wore himself out today running around at Jayson's parents for a bit and then my parents the rest of the afternoon/early evening. He had a good time and has been passed out since we got home. Jadyn had a couple cat naps so of course she passed out in the car ride home. I'm hoping she sleeps through the night. It's really late so I should be in bed already to get the most sleep. She started sleeping mostly through the night on Jay's birthday, March 24th. It was great! She has an off day here or there and wakes up around 2-3 to eat but she usually goes through until 5 am. Jay goes to work tomorrow but I have one more day. Mondays are usually catch up day from what I didn't do over the weekend. I get laundry done and some cleaning but mostly just hang out with my girl. I get everything ready for the three 10 hour shifts ahead of me too.

Jadyn received WAY too many Easter presents today but we are thankful for all of them. Lots of cute things like sunglasses, hats, stuffed bunnies, outfits, diapers, rice cereal (yes, we start next month!), and more. Me and Jay didn't do too bad either... it was the year for Olive Garden! Jay's parents and my parents both got us gift cards to Olive Garden. We love it there but the cards can also be used for Red Lobster, Long Horn or Bahama Breeze. I love not cooking!

Welp, it's almost 11 pm which means I've missed out on 1.5 hours of sleep already. Jadyn went down at 9:30 which is when I should have went to bed too. I'll be sorry tomorrow! It's going to be a lovely day in Baltimore so I hope I can get out and enjoy it.

Happy Spring to everyone! =)