Potty like a rockstar

I have decided to print my blog very soon and I feel the need to document such a momentous occasion.. in MY opinion, of course...Mason peed on the potty!!

I do feel like I need to disclose that in no way, do I feel like Mason is even close to being potty trained. In fact, I think we just got lucky and set him on the potty when the water was running and he felt the urge. I really don't plan to push the issue either..at least until I get back from my vacation in a couple of weeks. Who wants to be traveling while potty training....NOT ME!!! In case your wondering, Mason got a Caramel filled Godiva chocolate for his potty treat. I think Eric about cried when I told him there was only enough for Mason. He was green with envy.



I included some other recent video as well in case you care.

Mason's 2nd Birthday

Since Mason spent his entire birthday in the emergency room, I am so thankful we decided to have his party early when family was in town visiting. The theme was "cows" since he adores them so much. When we are driving down a country road and he sees cows, he gets so excited that sometimes I think he's going to cry tears of joy. How could I not do a cow theme?

My good friend and almost relative, Audrey, who has a growing photography business, came to capture the party. Didn't she do an amazing job?

Official 2010 Post by Eric

Rachel says that I haven't blogged in a long time and we've lost readers, so I have to say something.  I can't think of anything to write about, so I'll just talk about some random thoughts.

• I'm convinced no one in my generation knows how to grow grass.  I need to wear a mask at this time of year so that I don't pass out from the dirt storm.  My dad and father-in-law know how to grow very nice yards, but they haven't shared it with me yet.
• Speaking of grass, I hate yard work.  Every year, I think I like it until I start hating it again.  I think I would like it if my grass was thick and green and free of weeds.  When it's like that, I feel like I'm vacuuming it rather than mowing and it's more fun.  That grass at the top of the blog looks good.  I'd like to mow that.
• A couple of years ago, I paid to get sod in my yard.  Wow, it looked awesome for about 2 months.  It's embarrassing to have all of your sod die right in front of your neighbors.  It's like cheating on the test, but still failing. 
• Is the title of our blog supposed to have an apostrophe on the end of our last name?  It just doesn't feel right.
• Literally, why can't I stop saying 'literally' when it's not needed?  It's like 'like' for teenage girls.
• We went to Costco tonight.  As a treat for going shopping, I got a hot dog, slice of pizza, and a huge container of pub mix.  I was just going to get a hot dog, but for some reason it's hard for me to reason that $1.50 is enough food to get full.  Well, it's more than enough and I feel gross now.
• The only time I've ever thought Whoopi Goldberg was funny was when I saw a clip of her talking about how she threw her IPhone out the window.  
• I think that all bills that pass through congress should be required to be 10 pages or less with 14pt font.   Anything longer than that will always be filled with pork because they know most people won't read it.  
• Last week, I had my yearly viewing of Sneakers.  Love that movie.  I still laugh watching the blind guy driving the fan down the hill and then running into the side of the building.  
• USA, I'd like to introduce you to Greece.  You both have a lot in common.
• Mel Gibson, if I didn't have this plank in my own eye, I'd smack you across the head with it.
• I'm in the middle of reading about 6 books right now.  I just can't get into anything lately.  I think I just need to start looking for very short books. 
• The NAACP decided this week to condemn "racist" elements of the Tea Party, while failing to show any actual evidence. What a silly attempt to shade a negative light on a national movement that has nothing to do with race.
• Last weekend, I went to see the movie Grown Ups with a couple of friends.  But, for some reason, we ended up watching Eclipse.  That was one of the worst decisions of my life.  When it was over, we ran out quickly before the lights came on.  Please don't ask me any questions about it.  I'm going to deny it from now on.

Have a good weekend - Eric

Hopefully the final update!

The last couple of days have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. On Tuesday, I sent Mason to Mother's Day Out so I could get back to work and catch up on things. When I picked him up they said he didn't have a good day and actually tripped and fell and was crying about his neck. Eric and I went into a little bit of panic mode since he just wasn't seeming to get any better. I called the doctor on Wednesday morning and requested that we go ahead and start physical therapy as soon as possible. That way, after a few days, if PT wasn't helping at all we could move onto the next thing to try to figure this out. When the Dr. called back he actually recommended that we go back to Vanderbilt for a Bone Scan.

It was at the end of the day on Wednesday when I was speaking to the nurse about preparation for the scan the next day. Mason and I happened to be in the mall, so I stopped at the indoor play area to let him play while I took down some notes from the nurse. As she is telling me that he will be sedated..again.. and will have to get an IV...again.. I am watching Mason tear up the playground. He was going down the slide, under tunnels, climbing up and down off the bridge. While still a little stiff, his neck movement had definitely improved. His appointment for the scan wasn't until 4:00pm today (Thursday) so I decided to observe him and make my decision this morning. I really made it earlier than that.

Last night Eric took Mason's head and moved it in the down motion and he didn't cry at all..in fact he kept a smile on his face the whole time. I called this morning and cancelled the scan with a confident feeling that he is finally improving!! I sent him to school today and they said he did much better. His neck is slightly stiff but his personality is back to normal and it's not even really all that noticeable anymore. No diagnosis was ever made but most of the specialist we talked to in the end say it was most likely a pretty nasty musculoskeletal spasm. A diagnosis doesn't really seem important anymore now that my baby is better. However, I do believe it definitely could have been more serious than that had we not had the unbelievable amount of prayers being lifted up for Mason. This has been a very scary 2 weeks for us but your prayers and encouragement have meant the world to us. Thank you!

Back to normal...almost

Life is starting to feel back to normal around here. Yesterday, we went to the pool and I even took Mason to the gym nursery while I worked out. Today we went back to the gym and he did wonderfully with no complaining of his neck hurting. Mason still will not moved his head to the down position....at all. He is adapting great though. Instead of playing with a toy on the floor he will put it on the table or couch to play with it so it is at his eye level. The massage therapist came out last night and I felt like it was a complete waste. He would barely let her touch him. I can't blame him after all he's been through with doctors, I wouldn't have let her touch me either. We have a chiropractic appointment on Wednesday so hopefully he will be loose enough for an adjustment. If he shows no improvement by then, our pediatrician has suggested Physical Therapy.

He still has a slight fever which tells me there is still some type of infection in the body trying to be fought off. It feels good to be back to normal activities but we are still hoping he moves his neck soon.

I will leave you with some pics of some of Mason's better moments of his stay at VCH.

Starting to feel a little full from the cupcake.

Weekend

Today has been a great day for Mason. He slept until 8:00 and layed in bed with Lazy ME until 10:00am. While I went to the gym, Mason and Eric went to hang out on the farm with Mimi and Big Daddy. I didn't want to him to play too hard so they pretended to ride the mule and according to Eric, he had a pretty good time. Mason played outside for a little bit while I got the weeds in my yard under control and then he took a three hour nap, thanks to our good friend, "Benadryl".

Most of the day he had been in a great mood and only when we moved him the wrong direction or when he trys to play a little too hard does he grab his neck in pain. We have kept him on Motrin/Tylenol most of the day and he had a slight fever tonight before bed. I can definitely see lots of improvement in today compared to the previous days.

Tomorrow we are planning on taking him to the pool in the morning and then tomorrow night, he has a massage therapist making a house call to hopefully loosen his muscles up so his neck can relax. Mason is still having decent range of motion moving his head from side to side but has made no improvement looking down. I will try to take some video tomorrow because it's interesting watching him play. If he drops something, he will squat down and keep his head tilted back and feel with his hands on the ground until he finds the item he is looking for (Similar to someone that is blind). Walking has been a challenge too and we have to try to keep the floor picked up since he isn't able to really see if he is about to trip over something.

Today is Brooke's birthday and since Ryan had to work we went to her out to her favorite restaurant: Suzy Wongs House of Yum. We didn't tell Eric until we got there that he had to walk through the gay bar "Tribe" to get to it. He was a little weirded out by that but the food made up for it. The name is correct. It is YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Happy Birthday Brookie Poo! We love you!!
BTW- These next two pics are Harper's photography debut! Great pics Harper- doodle!

Follow up with Doctors

We all had a great night sleep last night. Mason and I had a full nights sleep for the first time in about 10 days. I woke up this morning and still felt like I could have slept for another day.

This morning, Eric headed back to VCH to pick up our records and images of Mason's MRI and CT scans. We headed over to Franklin Orthopedic to have Dr. Cook take a look at the images. We don't doubt that Vandy couldn't find anything but we felt like a fresh set of eyes and someone that specializes in musculoskeltal system couldn't hurt. As we kind of expected, he didn't find anything new but he did think whatever pain Mason is feeling is muscular and would hopefully work itself out in the next week or so. We left that doctor with another reassuring yet frustrated feeling.

From there, I decided as a last-ditch effort I would call my chiropractor, Dr. Berger, and see if he could take a look at him. When I got there Mason was whining and in some pain but tolerated Dr. Berger pushing on him a little bit. Dr. Berger felt around on Mason's neck and back (way more than any Dr. at VCH did) and told me he could definitely feel one particular muscle that was tight. He worked on it a little bit but told me that no real adjustments should be made until that muscle has relaxed a little bit. He is referring me to an infant massage therapist in the meantime to help Mason relax his muscles a little bit. In addition, I am giving Mason benadryl which is the closest thing to a muscle relaxer that a child his age can have.

All in all, if we go back and look at Williamson Medical Center's diagnosis of Torticollis, I think they came the closest. So.... two CT scans, an MRI, spinal tap, 4 IV's, and multiple blood draws later we are back where we started....HOWEVER, I am SO relieved to know that my child is perfectly healthy otherwise. I just wish he didn't have to endure all that to find that out.

Where we are right now...
Mason seems to be in a moderate amount of pain today. Running from Doctor to Doctor today has exhausted him and probably not helped his pain at all. He is happy laying on the couch watching TV. As much as I hate the amount of TV he has consumed this week, I am letting it go and will break him of this once he feels better. In the last few hours he is really grabbing and complaining of his lower back..right about the spot of the spinal tap. I am just going to assume he is still sore from that. Since he is on Benadryl he is getting great sleep, it just takes him a while to get comfortable and settle down. We saw Mason's pediatrician today (yep that makes three doctors in one day) and he has ordered Mason to get as much rest as possible so I think we are in for a low-key weekend hanging around the house.

I just want to say thank you once again to everyone that has been praying for Mason. I wish I could have responded to each message individually but we are so blessed to have so many great friends and family checking on us and letting us know they were praying. I am so humbled by your response. THANK YOU!