6 Months

So I'm terrible at getting these up on time, but better late than never right? So our little Bruiser has turned six months old and those four weeks from 5 to 6 months have made a HUGE difference.

For one thing, he's weighing in at 15lbs and 25inches. That means he has doubled his birth weight and grown 5 incredible inches.

He laughs at more than just being tickled which is really sweet. He likes to hang on like a monkey and watch everything that is going on. Most mornings you'll find him in his bumbo seat watching me put on make up or washing dishes. Whenever my hands aren't free and I can't "wear" him, he's in that little seat watching watching. Like this picture when I was setting up Monk's slip and slide.

He's also rolling over all over the place. He could do it last month, but decided he didn't really like it all that much. Now he's everywhere. He especially loves to play with his toys so rolling around come sin handy with him. It's very sweet to hear him playing in his crib at night and in the mornings. It's even sweeter when I don't have to wake up because he's up.

His bottom teeth will be coming in at anytime. So I think. I wish I could freeze frame my boys at this point in time. They are so precious to me, as I say every time. And he's a picture of Monk because I don't want to leave him out.

Give Away

Love this girl and Love her blog. AND I really love this giveaway because I LOVE that dress!

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Introducing our New Addition to the Family

Our 18.5 lb and 44.86 inch bundle of joy! Living room, three bedrooms, office, stairs and hallway are all grateful and have never felt better. Or looked better. My old piece of junk will live out its useless retirement years in the husband's Jones office where it will never need worry about fruit loops, crackers and mystery substances ever again.

A couple more reasons why I love this man...

I like the way he talks. He's so funny. He was standing in a back alley waiting on a friend he was helping move when a group of guys approached him and it looked like it could turn into a scary situation.

1. "Hey, you got any money?"
2. "Nope, sorry."
1. "What, you got a problem with Mexicans?"
2. "Dude, look at my skin. I'm portugese. You can't EVEN play the race card with me."
1. "Haha, ok man, ok. You want us to help you move? Mexicans are good a moving. We'll do it cheap."

He just says things that crack me up, because I probably wouldn't have been thinking along those lines. Then a couple days ago he told me that every time he sees vultures he thinks they should have Italian names like Tony and Guido. If this is what my husband is like now, imagine my children. GEEZ. I will ALWAYS be entertained.

It's not MY fault!

Yesterday we drove down to Bruiser's special Hemo doc for the second time. We met a special dentist, physical therapist, social worker, geneticist and of course the normal two nurses and doctors. I like that along with Dr. Kerlin, we also have a specific nurse we work with each time, Charmaine. She is really sweet. We also met the other nurse, Claudia, for the times that Charmaine is on vacation.

Bruiser is up to almost 15lbs and 25". What a big man! He's in perfect condition and we got his blood drawn again bc often times infants' percentage levels go up a little bit. The husband said he did pretty well with getting his blood drawn and his immunizations. Monk mysteriously needed taken out of the room each time Bruiser was poked. Mysteriously...

ALTHOUGH, I would have had to have Monk removed anyway, as he got super protective. He heard when Bruiser started crying for the bloodwork and got really upset. "Coley's cryin!! Coley's crying!! I go to Coley!" He didn't calm down until Bruiser came back out happy as can be. When Dr. Kerlin came in for the examination Monk goes, "Don't TOUCH him!" Maybe he was thinking about the last time he had to go to the dr for glass in his foot. I'm glad he's looking out for his baby brother anyway. He felt better because Dr. Kerlin held and cuddled Bruiser saying they were friends, then pulled a silver dollar from Monk's ear. This man is an AWESOME. We're fortunate to have a great doctor.

Dr. Kerlin looked at Bruiser's shoulder and the new mark that's creeping up the back of his neck and has decided that they are NOT bruises or bleeds of any kind and are NOT hemophilia related. That means it's not my fault my sweet little baby is all marked up! What a relief! Now I don't feel bad every time I look at his back. He says he believes they are called Mongolian Spots, which is runs in 90% of Native AMericans but less than 10% of Caucasions, so he obviously gets it from Daddy's side. Ninety-five percent of Mongolian Spots go away by puberty. We just need to go to a dermatologist to confirm.

The hardest part about these visits is sitting in the waiting room. Not that it's a long wait, but because the Hematology ward shares with the Oncology ward. Dr. Kerlin does both. So I see these sweet little children who are going through chemo and I can't imagine watching my child suffer. One little girl got to ring the special Remission Bell since her cancer is in remission for now! Her family was taking pictures and the doctors gave her a gift and I got so teary eyed watching her. The moms in the waiting room all know each other and they asked the girl's mom what they would do now and the mom looked like a weight had just dropped off her shoulders. "Nothing for now! We'll test every now and then!" Then I saw a young couple carrying their tiny tiny little boy who had just received chemo and my heart broke all over again. I'm grateful it's just Hemophilia. My baby just bruises and I can deal with that.

My family is so blessed and I'm so grateful for my boys!

Just kidding folks!

I need to edit the post I made about 20 minutes ago. He's a roller! back to belly to back! Woohoo! (although I'm still hoping he'll be a very VERY late walker).

Yesterday was 5 Months

5 months old still seems pretty little right? I still see him as this tiny thing. I hope I'm not getting that "Mommy's little Baby" syndrome.

This month, my little Bruiser, you have fallen in love with your feet. In fact, you can fit almost the entire first half of your foot in your mouth. You are by far the most flexible baby I've ever seen. You can roll over from your belly to your back, but once on your back you just want to chew chew chew. You also like to kick really hard and I'm impressed with how strong you are.



You have the most beautiful soothing voice my little Bruiser. I might repeat myself every month, but you still don't like to talk unless you have something to say. Then you are very loud! I love listening to you squeal and coo. You have a huge beautiful smile.

You're teething still, right now. And if you catch hold of a finger with those tiny baby hands you put in your mouth before anyone can blink an eye. Your family is so in love with you.

Aw Geez...

So I'm doing a March of Dimes walk tomorrow and I'm really excited about it. However, I thought I'd try and raise $100 but have only raised $5. Embarrassing right? So if anyone is PLEASE PLEASE feeling generous, click on the huge pink March of Dimes icon on the left hand side and donate a couple bucks. THANK YOU!

Lament of a Bruiser's Mother

Beautiful isn't he? We were out and about all weekend long, which means my house didn't get dirty and I didn't have to clean it today. So I had some free time to play on picnik.com with this photo.

I'm so greatful that my little baby only has moderate Hemophilia B. It could be so much worse, like Hemophilia A or severe Hemophilia or most anything else. I have him and can hold his tininess in my arms and adore his little smiles and rolls. I get to be frustrated if he doesn't feel like going to bed at night (or early morning.)

But that doesn't mean I don't worry about him. He was born with a little hemangeoma on his leg. I probably spelled that all wrong, but it's just a small strawberry that should go away. A couple weeks later, I noticed at the doctor's office that he had a large bruise covering his entire shoulder and part of his tiny back. It hasn't gotten bigger and hasn't gone away, so the Hemo doc said it's probably a birthmark. Then yesterday, he was sitting on my lap and I saw a bruise on the nape of his neck that went up about two inches! To add insult to injury, my parents said they had noticed it two weeks ago. Where was I? Why didn't I see it as anything other than a shadow up until last night? I felt horrified!

Because of his type of Hemophilia, I really only need to worry about bleeds in the muscles and joints, not silly surface bruises which my father kindly reminded me so I didn't freak out too badly. (I can't believe I didn't notice!?) They went through this with my accident prone brother- sorry bro, but you know neither one of us could ever be mistaken as graceful. So my parents knew it was no big deal.

So where is the line? I want to not have a panic attack every time his beautiful baby skin gets discolored. I want to NOTICE is something is amiss so I can calmly and efficiently react. And I want to not worry about him playing with his big brother who seems to so far have inherited our "ungraceful genes". (He's a toddler. There's still hope for him.) Monk loves to play with him so much and I don't want to yell at him everytime he gets to close. Geez.... I could vent forever. I guess all I can do is my best. And accept that I'm just going to worry. Sometimes I'll over react and I'll make mistakes. Which stinks.

I really want to join a chat room or forum for moms with children who have Hemophilia, but I haven't really found one. Anybody know of one? Then maybe I can get my freak outs out one at a time instead of all at once.

First Cereal Box Toy!

Come on, you know that's exciting. Which one of us didn't try to get our mom to buy cereal based on the toy. I never look anymore, but imagine my surprise when my Monk one morning shouts, "Mom-Mom! A car! A car!" He was so excited. I mean, look at that little face.