A nice cool weekend...

The air conditioner is in, and we are LOVING it! Why didn't we do this sooner?? It was in the 90's this weekend, but a nice 70 degrees in our house... pure bliss! I didn't even realize how hot it was until we stepped outside on Saturday to run some errands, and we quickly retreated back into the house as soon as we got back. It felt so nice in our house that I almost needed a blanket to snuggle under when Kyle and I were watching a movie! Very thankful :)

Payton didn't roll over for me this weekend, I was pretty disappointed. She rolled over a bunch of times when I was at work though of course! I had her on her tummy pretty much the whole weekend trying to get her to do it, and although she didn't roll, I was pleased to see that she's liking tummy time better.

Here is the story in pictures...

Laughing at daddy, he makes lots of funny faces!

Are YOU talking to ME?!

Whew, all this tummy time is really wearing me out...

...but then I see daddy again!

Mom is cheering me on, I look like I'm about to do it!

Oh wait, I found something to chew on!

Really mom? More pictures?

And... I'm tired again!

Payton finally got into Wee Care, which is the on-site day care at Providence. I applied for her to get in when I was 2-3 months pregnant, and she didn't get in until she was 5 months old, a whole year after I applied! Tells you how sought after it is... they're really great there, I have a friend whose daughter has gone there since she was a baby, and I've always been really impressed with all of the teachers, the facility, and how it's run. We don't need day care right this second, but we will soon, so I was relieved she got in. They said they would hold her spot for an employee for up to 12 weeks, so we're going to delay her starting until probably September. Kyle needs to start getting observation hours in a classroom, plus studying for all his tests and starting student teaching... he will be busy! We're going to see if he can work part time again at Sports Authority, which would defintiely help offset the cost. Kyle's really sad he won't be able to spend all day with Payton anymore, but now he knows exactly how I felt when I went back to work... it's really hard! I think the fact that we kept her out of daycare and home with one of us for the first 6-7 months is pretty good, our next child won't be as spoiled! :) The nice thing about Wee Care is I'll be able to visit her every day on my lunch hour, which will be nice for both of us, and I hope she will have fun doing different activities and interacting with the other babies. Hopefully she has a smooth transition!

Next weekend I'm going out with a bunch of friends from work for a bachelorette party for our friend who's getting married in August, which will be weird because I don't really spend any of my free time away from Payton... but it's been a long time since I've been out with my girlfriends, so I'm really looking forward to it! :)

She's rolling!

Payton started rolling over again! She rolled over right before she turned 3 months old, but we haven't been able to get her to do it since then... until today! She did it twice for Kyle, I unfortunately didn't get to see it in person, but Kyle got it on video! I promised I would get it eventually :) We're going to keep doing lots of tummy time, so hopefully she continues to roll... Enjoy!

Guess what?

Another update! :) Payton saw her dermatologist today, but we got to see him at a clinic in Beaverton this time, which was really awesome. They took her blood pressure and we chatted with the doctor, but that was about it! He said the dose she's at is the dose we will keep her at for a while, and that he could barely feel the hemangioma under her skin. It's making a lot of progress, which is great! He said the plan is to continue the medicine for the next 2-3 months, and then gradually start to taper the dose down. He will continue to see her though, to monitor for any regrowth. He said sometimes that happens, but if it does too much then she will just go back on the medicine. I asked him about the hemangioma potentially extending back in her skull, like towards her brain, but he said that is super rare for the hemangioma to extend past the orbital bone, which is by the eye. Not only that, but he said that the opthamologist would see abnormal blood vessels at the back of her eye on her eye exam, so it's very unlikely that is happening. If the opthamologist were to see that, then he said they would order an MRI exam to see the extent of it. But since it's shrinking, I'm confident we won't have to go down that road :) We're now going to do follow-up with him on a monthly basis, which means we get to take a little break from all the doctor appointments... very nice!

This weekend we're looking forward to relaxing in our air conditioned house... ahhh bliss :)

Girls weekend

Kyle went to Lincoln City this weekend for a "man weekend" with a bunch of his friends from college and from Albany... which means that I got to have a girls weekend with Payton! He's been looking forward to it for months, about 15 of his friends went!

This is a picture text that Kyle sent me from the house they stayed in... looks pretty amazing! He had a blast, but he was definitely glad to come home to his ladies :) We were glad to see him too, I don't sleep well at all when he's not home, I get really paranoid. I wake up several times thinking I heard something, and then freaking out, and going around the house re-locking all the doors, checking the windows... I think I've watched one too many Dateline specials. Anyway though, we missed him. Definitely glad he's home!

Saturday was pretty low key for us, we did a little shopping and went on a walk in the afternoon. My dad came down for the Portland Highland Games, and came over for dinner afterwards. It took him a couple hours to get here because of the traffic, so we just had take out at home since it was almost Payton's bedtime. We try to stick to a routine as much as possible with her, we like the fact that she sleeps all night long! It was really great to see my dad, even if it was only for a couple of hours. I miss him!

He drove to Pike Place Market in Seattle to get this onesie for Payton... Kyle absolutely loved it!

Sue has been training for months to ride the STP, which is an annual bike ride that goes from Seattle to Portland. They ride for two days! I read about it online, and there is about 10,000 people that do it, which is pretty amazing. We met her today at the finish line at the Lloyd Center. It is a huge accomplishment, we are so proud of her!

At the finish line!

It was crazy! There was food, a live band, not to mention hundreds and hundreds of bikers!

Sue and her friend Deb, they trained together. They were excited to be done!

I couldn't pass up a perfect photo opportunity... my sweet baby and I :)

Family

I forgot to mention that Kyle passed one of his social studies tests! He took it last month, but didn't get the results until last week. He didn't think he did well on it, but he worked really hard so he was pretty relieved he passed. I knew he would :) He takes another test next weekend, think good thoughts for him!

Payton has yet another doctor appointment this week, a follow-up with her dermatologist on Tuesday. As always, I will let you know all about it!

Oh and T-4 days until our air conditioner is installed! Can't WAIT! :)

Comparison...

I thought I would show you guys how Payton's hemangiomas have changed so far (she's been on the propranolol for just over a month)... they really looked different once I compared them! Especially when you consider they would be getting bigger and bigger without the medicine...

This was taken about 2 weeks before we started her treatment...

... and this was taken last weekend! You can see it's gotten smaller, and is definitely a less brighter red. I can't wait for it to disappear :)

The one on the back of her head looks a lot different too, this is what it looked like the day after we started her on the medicine...

I don't have a very recent one, but this picture was taken about two weeks after she started the medicine! When you look at it in person you can see it's smaller, not as raised, and a deeper purple color. It can also get really flaky, we put vaseline on it a couple times a day.

I'll do another comparison in about a month! Thank you so much for everyone's thoughts and prayers for Payton, we appreciate it so much. We are so lucky to have such supportive friends and family! :)

S**t happens!

Our little family went to Albany this weekend; Kyle wanted to golf with his brothers, and Sue and I wanted to see the new Twilight movie! They also happen to have air conditioning, so it worked out really well :) We had fun, and later that night Sue stayed with Payton while the rest of us went mini-golfing. I hadn’t done anything like that in a long time, and it was nice to get out and do something for a little while… keeps you sane! After Payton went to sleep we all sat around the fire pit in their backyard, chatting and making smores. It was a nice relaxing weekend!



I like talking, and I'm getting pretty loud!

It was a productive weekend too, when Kyle and I got home on Sunday we went about organizing Payton’s room and hanging the letters over her crib. I don’t know why we put it off for so long, it only took about 10 minutes :) They look awesome!

Yay! Finally!

We have lots of stuff hanging on her walls now...

Stained glass courtesy of Aunt Tanya!



Last week Payton was pretty constipated unfortunately, so we mentioned it when we saw the pediatrician and she suggested maybe putting a little prune juice in her bottle. We did and it definitely worked… a little TOO well! Tuesday morning I heard Payton stirring in her crib, around the time I leave for work. While Kyle was getting a bottle ready, I went in her room to say hello and get my baby fix for the day. She’s laying there cooing, and gives me a big smile when she sees me… totally melts my heart! I start to unwrap her swaddle to get her out so I can hug her, when I realize something’s not right… there is poop EVERYWHERE! Diarrhea all up her back, over the blankets, sheets, everything. I stood there with my mouth open for a minute, trying to figure out what I should do, where should I start, what did we do to our poor baby?! She was fine though, she seemed to think it was hilarious! I felt bad I had to leave Kyle with the mess but I had to go to work… he didn’t even know where to start! I told him there was no way he would be able to clean her up without getting dirty himself, so he had to just get in there and get to business! She continued to have messes like that for a couple days, but it definitely cleaned her out I guess! No more prune juice for Miss Payton :)

I'm really fun during bathtime! I love to smile and kick...

... and of course chew on my hands :)

Payton is getting better at grabbing things, although sometimes she will just stare at it and clench and unclench her hands. It’s like she wants to but can’t always figure it out! She has figured out how to grab her binkie though, and likes to take it out of her mouth. She tries to put it back in, but usually puts it in backwards… she tries to suck on it anyway though :) Everything that’s in her hands goes straight to her mouth, and she especially likes to suck on my fingers! She’s starting to put her hands on her bottles too, so it looks like she’s helping whoever is feeding her. She’s smiling so much lately, and laughing too. I love to hold her and look in a mirror, she loves looking at herself and grinning at the baby in the mirror, and then laughing. It’s so cute! She’s sleeping great, we put her down anywhere from 7:30 to 9:00 depending on when she gets tired (rubs her eyes, avoids eye contact, gets cranky) and she sleeps until 6:00 the next morning. She takes a bottle and then goes back down until 8:00 or 9:00! We’re still swaddling her too, I think I’m going to slowly start to leave an arm out, and then her legs, until hopefully she can fall asleep and stay asleep without it. I can’t believe she’s already going to be 5 months old in just a couple weeks… the time is flying so fast!

Payton says have a great week!

4 month well check

Payton had her 4 month check up at the pediatrician today, and it went really well! She weighed 15 pounds on the dot, and was about 25" long with a head circumference just under 17". Her doctor said she is the perfect weight for her height, just a little on the lean side. She also said she looks like she should be older than 4 months because she's so long! :) Weight was in the 50th percentile, height around 90%, and head circumference just above 90%... pretty standard for her :) We really like her doctor, she spent almost 20 minutes with us chatting and answering all of our questions. She said there are a handful of kids at that practice also being treated with propranolol for hemangiomas, so that made me feel better that it may not be as uncommon as I thought. She kept commenting about how strong Payton is, and said she is doing really great standing and holding her head up. She had to get three shots and an oral vaccine unfortunately, but I was actually able to watch this time. She amazed us, she cried for less than 10 seconds and then just stopped and stared at us, and that was it. No tears or anything! She's a little champ :)

Hope you all have a great (and cool) weekend!

4th of July weekend

This weekend both sides of the family made the trip up to Washington to spend the 4th at my parent's lake house. We left Saturday morning, and were relaxing by the lake just a couple hours later! We were nervous about the weather, it was supposed to be rainy and cloudy, but we definitely lucked out... it wasn't hot by any means, but we did see some sun and not really any rain. I considered it a success! I also happened to somehow get the most unattractive sunburn I've ever seen, patchy all over my chest and arms. I felt silly because I bug Kyle so much about putting on sunscreen... he didn't get burned of course! :) We spent the weekend eating, boating, intertubing, relaxing... basically just enjoying everybody's company. Kyle and I feel really lucky to have our families get along so well.

Poor Payton didn't feel too good this weekend though, we all felt so bad for her. She was really constipated, and you could tell she was trying so hard to go. Once she pooped though she was golden!

Hanging with daddy

This little girl is SO loved by everybody

My first swimsuit! It was too cold to get in the water this time though

Funny boys :)

Everybody loved my fluffy bear outfit!

Hanging out on the dock... this is where we watched the fireworks all around the lake, they were amazing!

Every year, Lake Nahwatzel does this thing where all the boats line up and go around the lake like a parade... and have a water fight! If you're on the dock you're fair game, and likely to get wet. The boys filled up a couple hundred water balloons, so we were ready!

They also brought this slingshot thing, which came in very handy!

We had really good aim! After all the boats went by we jumped in our boat and followed them with more water balloons, and also hit people on other docks. Even though I got wet (and it was pretty cold at that point!) I definitely had lots of fun!

Tanner was making all these funny faces and noises for Payton, and she went nuts laughing and smiling. I love a great photo op! Thanks Uncle Tanner! :)



So sweet!

He was making my daddy laugh too :)

The weekend felt too short, it flew by too fast. Happy birthday America!

Today Payton had another doctor appointment, this time at the Casey Eye Institute with an opthamologist. It was a different doctor than last time, but they're all really great there. They didn't dilate her eyes or anything today, which was nice. Just did a regular eye exam... he said that the astigmatism doesn't necessarily appear to be getting better, but it isn't getting worse, so that's good. He also said her vision is still pretty equal in both eyes. He wants to see her in another month to continue to monitor her progress. Since she's only been on the propranolol for less than a month, hopefully by this time next month it will have made a more drastic improvement. If not, that's when we'll talk about doing the eye patch thing, and maybe even giving her glasses. Can you imagine glasses on a little tiny baby? He said it's not uncommon though, and they even make contact lenses for some babies. Crazy! We're just hoping it continues to improve and doesn't come to that, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Whatever it takes for her to be happy and healthy! :)

I will let you know how her check up at the pediatrician goes on Thursday... hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Yet another update....

Sometimes I feel like all my blogs consist of are doctor updates! Payton went to see her dermatologist again today, and while he's pleased that the hemangiomas are changing, I guess they weren't changing drastically enough, so he doubled her dose again. He said we probably won't be upping it again though because she's pretty much at the max dose for her weight (which is 14 pounds 6.5 ounces, and 25.5 inches long! 75% for weight and 90% for height!). We go back to see him in 2 weeks, and then monthly after that. I asked him how long she could potentially be on it, and he said that for a lot of kids it's about six months. Basically, he wants her on it until it completely regresses, and then he said they will slowly start to lower her dose until she's not taking it anymore. So, since she's only been taking it for 3 weeks, looks like we have some time to go. We're ok with it though, we're fine with whatever it takes for her to be healthy :) She's going to see the opthamologist again on Tuesday, and next Thursday is her 4 month check up with the pediatrician. So I'll have more to update you on next week too I'm sure!

My parents bought Payton a jumperoo, but it's funny because all she does so far is stare at the toys :) I think she was a little overwhelmed by them at first because there are so many, she had to take it all in.
We can't wait until she figures out jumping!

I got a really neat charm necklace! It has Payton's name on one, and her birthdate on the other. I'm not usually one to wear jewelery, but I love having something that reminds me of her :)

I think it's pretty cool!

Saturday cannot come soon enough! One more day of work, and then a fun long weekend with family. We can't wait!

Oh, and if you thought Payton had big feet... let's just hope she doesn't get her daddy's! :)