Family photos and an interest in T-ball

So after Jack's birthday party weekend, we decided to have our family photos taken. I had booked a professional photographer several months in advance. The plan was to have an outdoor shoot with her but long story short, she cancelled on us the day of the shoot. Frustrated, I decided to call a portrait studio and book a session. Jack wasn't really liking the fact that we were taking pictures of him or the fact that we were even in the studio. I think he was a little scared by the whole thing. He eventually warmed up a bit and we ended up with some good pictures from the session. Here's a few of the best ones.








Mike had some things to finish around the house this last weekend, so Jack and I decided to go to my niece Quinlan's t-ball game. Jack was very excited to see everyone and was definetly excited to try to play t-ball himself. He put on a helmet and decided that he would wait his turn. The tee had to be taken home so Jack didn't get a turn, but he got a tee for his birthday so we eventually got that one out. He had a very good time for the few minutes he played before the rain started in. He was swinging the bat with one hand. I gave him some pointers and he got the hang of it. I can't wait until he can get into more activites. I don't want to see him grow so fast, but I can't wait to see him do more things. Our family especially loves baseball!!








Mike working on Mom's Jeep. Yes, I said MOMMA's Jeep. Don't let him tell you any different. :-)

Prep work, Pirate cupcakes, and Jack's 3rd birthday party

So when I deceded to do a pirate theme for Jack's party, I was contemplating what to put on the cupcakes. I saw a picture of the pirate faces on the internet and thought, I could probably do that. It entailed making fondant which I have had NO experience in. I've heard of it before from people talking about it and seeing an occasional Ace of Cakes. I had never made it nor worked with it in ANY form. I did a little research online about HOW to make it and it's actually simple. You take marshmallows and sprinkle a little bit of water on them (1-2 tsp), then heat them in the microwave until they start to expand. Take them out and with a WELL GREASED spoon, stir in a lot of powdered sugar. Once the batter starts to become like dough, (keeping you hands well greased) you start kneeding the dough, adding powdered sugar until it's not sticky any more. Viola'!! It's that simple. The dough is better if you use it the next day or later. It stays fres for a very long time in the fridge and it even can sit out for a few days before the consistancy changes at all. That's a great feature for busy moms. I made the faces several days prior and kept them in the fridge for assembly on the day of his party. Score!



It's amazing to believe that the picture above turns into the picture below. (with a little added coloring)

















Unfortunately since I took this weekend off, I did have to work on my munchkin's actual birthday. I worked Thursday night into Friday morning. After I worked a 12 hour shift, I had to run to the store for a few last minute items. Once I picked them up, I headed home to make the cupcakes. I was a little worried that they would get stale if I made them ahead of time, but I don't think I had any other choice at this point. The flavors I made were chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and Creamsicle cupcakes. I took chocolate cupcakes and filled/frosted them with a homemade peanut butter frosting recipe I also found on the internet. For the Creamsicle cupckaes, when I was blending the french vanilla batter, I added some orange extract to it. After the cupcake were all baked, I finished up a few last minute items in prep for the party. By the time I was cleaning up my mess after it was all done, it was like 4pm. Ouch! That's a 24+ day for me. I was feeling ok, but I know the pain that comes with staying up that many hours. I ran to pick-up Jack and Jeffie, then this Momma went to bed. Even though I was so very tired by that point, my mind was still racing about all the things that I needed to remember to bring. I slept a few hour but then woke up thinking that I needed to make the frosting. I was planning on making the frosting in hte morning just before using it but I'm glad that I didn't. I don't think that I would have had time. So at midnight, I started making the frosting. I made the peanut butter one first. It went really smoothly but the flavoring and consistancy was off. I winged it a little and when the frosting was fluffier and lighter in taste, I set it aside. For the Creamsicle frosting, I did use store bought frosting as a base but didn't like the texture of it either. I added a few things like orange extract, butter, and cream to make it smoother and lighter in flavor. Then I added a bit of color to both batches and was finished. The frostings got wrapped and put into the fridge overnight. I then headed back to bed to try to get a liitle more sleep. That IS what I got, a LITTLE more sleep. I slept from about 1am until 5am when I woke up with my mind racing, again. After resting in bed for a little bit longer, I got up and started filling and frosting the cupcakes. Jack woke up early and came out to help me. He did a few but when he realized that he wasn't going to be able to do it ALL BY HIMSELF, he lost most interest. When I finished up with the frosting, I pulled out the pirates, placed them on the cupcakes, and was finished. YEAH!! I love Jack and wouldn't have changed anything about today, but it was a huge relief to have the cupcakes finsihed. We loaded up the car and headed to Roundtable. A quick set up of decorations and the party was in full swing.



I think Jack had a good time. He got to play with friends that we haven't seen in awhile d/t illnesses, ect. He got lots of cool gifts AND he finally got to eat one of the cupcakes that he had been asking about for days.



Happy Birthday, Jack!! Some pictures of the birthday fun....
















Once the hustle and bustle was over, we headed home. I had no idea how truly tired I was. I ended up falling asleep in the chair, then going to bed early. I guess that wasn't the smartest idea because it's 2am and I'm now awake, but what are ya goin' to do? It gives me quiet time to blog, right?

Here's to Jack's birthday. May there be many more to come, and may Momma keep coming up with cool ideas for them.... ;)

Jack celebrates his birthday at school.

Jacke celebrated his birthday at school today. We brought in cupcakes with green frosting for the kids to enjoy. I think all of them enjoyed the sugar rush and I enjoyed creating it and walking away..... Jack was very excited about being sung to and getting to blow out his candle. That's all he talked about when he got home after school that day. He told me "Momma, sing Happy Birfday again?" holding the candle out. Well, alright. Just for you cutie.....



Billy decided to let Jeffie go to school with Jack on his birthday and that didn't go so well right at first. He was fine after we left but many tears fell before we hit the door. Jack's teacher said the boys did really well together. They said when one of them would get upset, they always comforted each other. All in all I think Jack had a fun birthday at school.

Happy St Patrick's Day to one and all!!

It's early morning in the Lowmon household. Really early. Insomnia struck again. It am starting to think that my body knows when I need quiet time to do things so it wakes me up early..... Its about 5:45 am. Exactly 3 years ago right now, Dr Hitchcock came in and asked me if I was ready to meet my little boy. I was more than ready. A short hour later, a bouncing baby boy was delivered weighing in at 8lbs 6oz. It changed my life forever but I wouldn't have it any other way. It's been a long 3 years that has gone by so fast. He's growing up as they all do, but I still can't believe it. 3 years. Where does the time go? Yesterday I was feeding him a bottle. Yesterday, I was watching him croll over fot he first time. Yesterday, he was just a wobbley toddler, and now he wants to run everywhere. I guess it wasn't yesterday, but it feels like it. My baby isn't a baby any more.


There is a great big world out there, Jack and Momma knows that you're going to capture it. Just remember, you'll always be my baby.





NO. MATTER. WHAT.

Jack's surgery aftermath......

The days that followed Jack’s surgery was not fun in the least. We knew that the recovery was going to be a hard road but both Mike and I were pretty surprised that is would be this difficult. Jack had been sick for a while and we had been giving him medicine since the middle part of January. He normally takes Ibuprofen or Tylenol with no problems, but after surgery his tune changed. Starting from right after surgery, getting Jack to take any medicine was a struggle that I was not winning. I knew that if he took the medicine he would feel better but how do you communicate that to a stubborn 2 year old. Jack did most of the recovery from surgery without much pain medicine at all. I could occasionally slip a med into whatever beverage he was sipping on through the day but the little smarty got wise to my plan. He would start watching me pour the juice and if it was out of his sight at ALL, he wouldn’t drink it. Really?!!? We tried every idea we could think of trying to force him to take his medicine. We pinned him down, shoved the syringe in his mouth, and then proceeded to get sprayed with spit and medicine as he fought so hard to not swallow. Most of the time I ended up washing the medicine off my face and then consoling him for the trauma he just went through. We did this for the first week, and then Jack spiked a fever of 104. We called the surgeon’s office and they told us to bring him into the Emergency Dept. We brought the pathetic little guy in and they fixed him up. They gave him IV fluids, pain medicine via the IV, Tylenol suppositories, and some steroids to decrease the inflammation in his throat. After a few hours there, they sent us home to carry on the battle. Jack eventually did get better but it took almost 2 full weeks. That was longer than I anticipated, but worth it in the end. I’m sure there will be a time that the trauma of the recovery will fade (for him and I) and that the only thing I will remember is that it brought better breathing to Jack. I’m sure that will be a year or more down the road, though…

Jack's Surgery.....

5:30 am came really early this morning. We had to be at Mary Bridge at 7am and with an hour ride there, we didn't want to be late. Jack wasn't impressed with being woke up that early and was pretty cranky most of the morning. We headed into the hospital shortly before 6am and arrived on time. Jack got dressed into his hospital gown and pants. (He wasn't impressed with the clothing change.)



We took him to the play area but wasn't in the mood. I think that he could tell something was up. We finally got him to settle down watching Finding Nemo in his crib.



Shortly after he calmed down, the nurse came to get us to her pre-op assessment. That brought on more tears and fighting. Thankfully the assessment didn't take too long. We found out that Jack weighs in at about 40lbs and is about 3'5". (I thought that he was getting taller.) To help with the transition of the day, we bought 2 gifts for Jack. One present to open up before surgery, and one for after. No, I am NOT above bribing my child when it comes to things like this... After the pre-op assessment, Jack was pretty upset so we decided to give him his first present. He opened up a set of mini skateboards. Jack has had one of these contraptions floating around the house on and off for some time now, but now he has 4!! Super cool. He was very excited about them.






Shortly after opening his present, the nurse came in with an optional pre-op sedative for Jack to make the transition to going in for surgery a little easier. Do they have one of those for Moms? Mike and I talked it over and decided that the sedative would be a good idea. With as stubborn as Jack can be and as upset as he had been, we wanted to make it as easy as possible for him. They gave him Versed, which is a sedative with an amnesiac (won't remember) property. It takes effect fast and within about 10 minutes, he was definitely feeling the effects of the drug.



Once they called him for surgery, we went into the OR waiting room. We met with all the doctors and the OR nurse. We had a very short conversation about the surgery and were given reassurance that everything would be ok. It doesn't matter how much they say it, it still doesn't stop the worrying. They took him from my arms and carried him to the OR crying for me. That was one of the hardest moments for both Mike and I.

The surgery went well with the exception of placing his IV. At Mary Bridge, it's their policy for day surgery to administer gas to put the kiddos under BEFORE they attempt an IV site. Yes, I said before. Jack was asleep for the whole thing, which in this case was good. I counted after we got home and there were 10 IV attempts. Some with bruises, some without. 10, yes 10 attempts. They finally got one in his upper arm that worked. It was a pain in the behind because every time he bent his arm, it would alarm the IV pump. They finally gave up and just let it run to gravity.




He wasn't interested in drinking ANYTHING after surgery, not even eating a popsicle. After a dose of IV pain medicine, he slowly came around. We bribed him with the 2nd present to get him to take Ibuprofen in the vain attempt to keep the pain at bay. HUH. Little did I know what was to come. After he took the medicine, they observed him for a short while longer and then discharged us home. Mike and I both realized that neither of us had eaten much so we stopped by McD's on the ride home. Jack had fallen asleep the minute the car was in motion but in his Fentanyl induced daze woke up and said 'Burger. I need burger.' We were just happy that he wanted to take in ANYTHING so we stopped got him a burger and chocolate shake. Poor thing couldn't stay awake long enough to eat it, but by God he was going to have that burger. He did end up eating a few bites and drinking a little bit of the shake, which we were happy about.



Once at home we tried to get him settled in for some rest, but it was becoming all too clear that I was coming down with Strep throat. Compliments of being a Momma. Jack had it, and passed it to me.... Lucky! I started running a fever earlier that day and now was having body aches that were unbearable. I didn't want to drag Jack out of the house after he just had surgery but he wouldn't let me go anywhere without him. So, all 3 of us went to the doctor's to find out that yes, I have Strep throat. Duh, I could have told you that one. I got a prescription for antibiotics and we went to fill it at our Pharmacy. Once we got home, everyone (Daddy included) took a nap.



That's when it dawned on me that he hasn't been choking while he was asleep. He hasn't been snoring as loud as usual. By God, I think that they fixed him. Wonderful!! At least all of this work will be worth the fact that Jack can now breath.


Jack's first meal post surgery. Strawberries and candy, yummmm.


This face was the theme for the next 2 weeks of our lives. He was NOT a happy guy.

A very long road....

Happy day before Valentine's Day to everyone. I hope that this post finds you all well.

I'm up in the middle of the night yet again, contemplating and worrying about things...thank you insomnia. As most of you know, our poor Jack has been sick for a while, now. He has had more doctor appointments in the last month than I think he has in his whole life. It all started with a cough. He had it before Christmas but after the New Year, it got worse. I didn’t want to rush him into the doctor’s so by the time we did go to the office, the cough been around for the last 3 weeks. Jack was diagnosed with a sinus infection and was given Amoxicillin for it. During the worst part of the coughing, Jack was staying in bed with us and at night, I realized just how BAD his breathing had become. Now mind you, Jack has snored since the time he was born and he hasn’t always had the most even breathing at night. This was something entirely different. This was much worse than I ever imagined. Now being a nurse and having pediatric experience I have a lot of guilt surrounding this. Shouldn’t I have seen this a lot earlier? Should I have made a big deal about the small interruptions in his breathing that had been going on for probably 18 months? When you are a nurse and a mom, you walk a fine line. Some times a little knowledge is too much knowledge, but then you kick yourself for not talking about things that you think aren’t that troublesome when you find out they are. Guilt, guilt, and more guilt. Those small interruptions in breathing had led to full on choking and apnea at night. After one particularly bad night, Mike called me in the morning concerned. I called and made another appointment with the Pediatrician and Jack was referred to an ENT doctor. They would evaluate him for possible adenoid and tonsil removal. After leaving the pediatrician’s office, I called and set up the ENT appointment. The referral appointment was less than a week from when I made the appointment, so I was pleased at how fast we got into see Dr Erwin. When Dr Erwin evaluated Jack, he said that he thought removing his adenoids and tonsils would be a good idea, but he also thought that Jack needed tubes placed in his ears. That one took me by surprise. I had several sets of tubes when I was a kid and didn’t have any problems but that is a very different story for my brother-in-law. Billy had surgeries on his ears multiple times and during one of the surgeries, they broke one of the small bones in the ear. He is now deaf on that side. Needless to say, Mike was not happy about the idea of tubes. He still isn’t fond of the idea. I keep telling him that it’s not Navy doctors performing the surgery but I don’t think it matters. He is afraid of re-living what happened to Billy with Jack. I can’t say that I blame him. We scheduled his surgery as soon as we could which was Valentine’s Day. During the course of Amoxicillin prescribed for the sinus infection, Jack broke out into a bright red rash. The rash looked like one I had seen when I worked at Mary Bridge called HSP but it had been so long ago that I wasn’t positive. There was a concern that he might be allergic to the Amoxicillin, so we stopped the medicine and waited for the rash to go away. After 2 days off the medicine, the rash was still there. I was advised to come into see the doctor so back to the pediatrician’s office we went. This time he was diagnosed with HSP. Momma’s hunch was right. HSP is short for Henoch Schonlien Purpura, which in short is a vaculitis of the small blood vessels that can show up in a characteristic rash, joint pain and swelling, and can also cause complications such as kidney damage and bowel obstruction. These are rare complications but nonetheless, they could happen. So, away we left from the doctor’s office with a new thing for Momma to worry about. With his surgery coming up and the HSP on my mind, I was getting a little stressed but nothing I couldn’t handle. We were also hoping that this would be the last illness before surgery. It had to be right?!? You don’t know how wrong I was. The rash that Jack had came and left pretty fast which IS unusual for HSP but I thought that maybe he just had a very mild case. I wanted to make sure that the sinus infection was thoroughly treated so when we found out that the rash wasn’t a reaction to the Amoxicillin, we finished the last 3 days. No rash came back, so we were golden. A few days later, Jack complained of some abdominal pain and told Mike that he didn’t’ want to “go shopping”. That’s pretty unusual because this kid LOVES to shop. I didn’t think too much of it until a few days later when Jack’s daycare called Mike concerned because he hadn’t moved from the spot where Mike had set him down when he dropped him off. He also wouldn’t let anyone touch his stomach and wouldn’t stand upright. He also felt really hot and refused to drink anything. I was at work when all of this happened so Billy thankfully was able to pick up Jack from school and met me in Tacoma. We got into see another Pediatrician (mind you of all the doctors we’d seen so far were ALL different) and said that she has been seeing a lot of nausea and vomiting coming through the office but because of Jack’s history, they wanted to watch him a little bit closer since he hadn’t had any vomiting. Ok, sounds like a plan. They brought me a container for him to pee in so they could check his urine for blood, and then he vomited. Perfect. At least it was happening 5 days before surgery and not the night before. Glass half full, right?!? At that point, I was exhausted because I worked the night before and I just wanted to take Jack home. They gave him a dose of Zofran and away home we went to push fluids. Apparently the illness that was running through the office lasted about 6 hours so I assumed that was probably will happen with Jack. That would give him plenty of time to get over this bug and heal in time for his surgery. No problem. Then the fever started. Jack literally felt like he was on fire. His temps got up to 102.6. I thought that was awful high for a simple stomach virus, but nonetheless, I was NOT about to run back to the doctor. When Jack still had the fever on Friday (it started Wednesday) and with his surgery scheduled for Monday, I hung my head and called the doctor’s office, AGAIN. Thankfully we were able to see Dr Ayer who is Jack’s primary pediatrician. I also noticed that Jack was sporting yet another rash. It looked like Scarlet fever to me but I never was good with rashes. Once we saw Dr Ayer, he said that it looks like a strep rash. OK. He did a rapid strep culture and it came back blaring positive. My 2 year old has Strep throat. Awesome. I asked him if the rash together with the Strep infection was Scarlet fever and he said that it was indeed. Great. Now, he’s getting more antibiotics the Friday before his surgery. Come on, kid..... After leaving Dr Ayer’s office to pick up his medicine, I called Dr Erwin’s office to talk to them about if this would cahnge the surgery date. No doctors or nurses are in the office today. Huh?!? Then why is the freaking office open? Deep breath. The instructed for me to call Mary Bridge short stay and talk to them. After one of the nurses discussed it with an anesthesiologist, the verdict was if it were his son, he would wait but it’s my decision. Great. I talked to Mike and we had decided to reschedule the surgery. When I called to cancel the surgery, I talked to the nurse who said 'we can’t tell you to cancel the surgery, it’s your decision.' I WAS aware of that, thank you. She also said that we could wait until Sunday night or even Monday morning to see how he’s feeling. Yeah, let’s do that instead. I had this gut feeling that if we canceled the surgery, the little booger would be fine by Monday and I would be kicking myself until he actually had his surgery. Since my gut instinct was right 2 times before I decided to go with it on this one. I was finally able to talk to the on-call ENT and he said that we should go in on Monday knowing that there is a slight chance they might cancel, but he thought that Dr Erwin would still perform the surgery. We started the antibiotics Friday afternoon, got 2 doses in, and his fever didn’t come back. He’s starting to eat again and is drinking a lot. NOW, I will not say or even think that nothing else will happen before surgery. NOT GOING TO DO IT. I’m going to wait patiently with both fingers and toes crossed that his surgery will go on as scheduled. I am starting to get a little nervous about his surgery, though. I know it needs to happen but I’m just not looking forward to the recovery that it will bring. I know there will be a lot of pain and fighting about taking medicine, but this is what we do for our kids. I have to be tough, I have to be strong but I feel like I just want to curl up in a little ball with him and cry. I have an internal struggle going on that I think most parents who are healthcare providers deal with. On one hand you’re a nurse and you know that tough love is a must when kids are sick but on the other, it’s YOUR child. It’s your flesh and blood that you are forcing to take medicine. To hear him cough and gag because he’s being too stubborn to take the antibiotic without a syringe shoved into his mouth. It’s the baby that you cared for since the day he was born. You cried when you heard him take his first breath. It’s JACK.

You have to be TOUGH. You have to be STRONG. It’s what’s best for him and that’s all that matters. That’s ALL that matters.





I will keep you all posted on Facebook the day of the surgery and blog about it when I’m able. Yes, I will be taking pictures. Wish us luck for no more sickies before surgery and for a swift and uneventful surgery and recovery.