General update

Sometimes I forget that not everyone who reads this blog is a "friend" of mine on Facebook so I figured I should probably put an update on here as well about Miles' condition. He is doing much much better, but it was a little scary for a day or two. The culture from his nose sore swab came back late last Tuesday afternoon and it was positive for MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) which is a difficult to treat staph infection. The physician's assistance was ready to admit Miles to the hospital to treat him with IV antibiotics, but his actual physician was a little less ready to admit him. He thought that since Miles didn't have a fever that the infection probably hadn't spread to his blood yet which was a very good thing. He said that the antibiotic that he was on had been tested with Miles' MRSA and that it was effective in killing the bacteria so he sent us home and told us to continue the oral antibiotics (which Miles HATES by the way, such a struggle) and to bring him back at the end of the 10 day course of medicine. We take him back on Thursday. He gave us signs to watch for, but so far Miles just keeps getting better and better so I think all is well. The swelling, redness, and sore have all healed up and Miles' cute personality has returned. I'm so relieved!!!

Dave is almost done teaching for the year. He has one more week left. I think he is ready for a break from teaching, but not sure he is looking forward to his busy summer. He will finish his masters degree at the end of July which means the next two months will be devoted to finishing his thesis. He also got a summer job and will be stocking shelves at Target in the evenings. On top of all of that he is going to help at the high school he teaches at with making/designing/putting together (not quite sure???) packets for the students to work on. I'm not sure when he is going to have time to sleep!

I'm home alone this weekend, the boys went to Idaho for a wedding, and have been busy getting caught up. The blog is now officially caught up. Yea! This evening will be devoted to catching Miles' baby book up. AND I've been trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. I'm still working full-time from home and continually learning how to juggle being a work-at-home-mom. Now that Miles is mobile, he does better at entertaining himself while I work, but he also is so curious about everything that I spend a lot of time trying to keep him safe. I found him making his way up the stairs the other day, he was only on the first step, but my heart stopped beating for a second or two!

Lily's blessing

Last Sunday we went to Tremonton for Lily's blessing. I think it is so neat that Miles has a cousin close in age that is fairly close in distance as well. I hope they get to spend a lot of time together as they grow up and that they are best buds. Lily is growing up so fast, just like Miles, and is so stinkin' cute!

Grandma with the special girl (not a great picture of either one of them, Dave took it, I will not be blamed...lol!)

He loves being outside!

Dave's brother's kids (we haven't seen these kids in years, so good to see them!)

Grandpa & Miles

Grandma & Miles (he is starting to develop what Grandma Dorothy calls mom-itis, but I think it is more of dad-itis)

Another trip to KS

The day after Miles' blessing, Miles and I found ourselves on a plane heading to Kansas again! This time we were going back to help my mom move from Kansas to Utah. We knew that my mom eventually wanted to move to Utah, but figured it would be later in the summer or we might have planned our trip to Kansas a little bit differently. I think with BYU's semester ending and students going home for the summer we got lucky on finding her a great little studio apartment that would allow her and her doggies for a very decent price. When we found this place, we felt like we had to jump on it 'cause we've found out that Utah County isn't a pet friendly place for renters! Mom wanted to be moved in by May 1st. I thought it would be helpful to have me and Miles around, but I'm not so sure that was the case especially since Miles started crawling the week before we left. LOL!

Hangin' out in the Denver airport again!

Laiken sending Uncle Dave a text saying "wish you were here."

Miles & the girls

I didn't take one picture of the actual moving process which is not typical for me. Normally I have to take pictures of the loaded truck, etc. I just wasn't in a picture taking mode I guess. LOL!

Miles' blessing

After we got back from Kansas and felt settled again, we started planning Miles' blessing. We found out that Dave's brother and his family from Alaska were going to be in town on Sunday, April 25th. So, it made sense to plan the blessing for that day so that most of Dave's family would only have to make one trip to Provo to see Miles' blessing and also to see Dan and his family. There were entirely too many people coming to have the blessing at our house and they weren't going to make it in time to do the blessing at our church so we asked Dave's boss if we could have access to the high school for the afternoon and she agreed. We had a BBQ before the blessing and then Miles was blessed by Dave at 2 p.m. that afternoon. It was great to celebrate that day with friends and family we hadn't seen in a while.

Dan & Dave grilling up some hot dogs and hamburgers

Enjoying the sun

Grandpa, Mom, Grandma, & Miles

Dave's family that could make it

We forgot to get a picture of Miles in his sealing/blessing outfit earlier in the day, so after everyone left we put him back in it and did a photo shoot in his bedroom. He wasn't too cooperative, but that was understandable. In this picture his outfit looks huge on him, but to me it never seemed too large in person. Too funny!

Spring break Part II

We spent the first part of Dave's spring in the Wichita area seeing friends and family there and then for the last part of the week we drove up to the Kansas City area to see friends and family there. We then flew home on Sunday, April 11th. We had a GREAT time in Kansas and I'm glad we were able to see so many people in such a short time period. I wish we would've had more time to see more people, but maybe next time.

Relaxing on Great Aunt Cathy's deck. The weather was perfect!

Great Aunt Cathy & Miles

Mom & Miles

One of my friends from high school had a bunch of us over for a BBQ. I didn't do such a hot job at taking pictures, but he got this picture of his two kiddos and Miles. It was good to see old friends!

We went to an arboretum to see the spring flowers. It was a little bit too early in the season, but we still had a nice time wandering around.

Always a happy boy!

This shot didn't quite turn out the way I had envisioned it, but he is still a cutie pie!

Dad, Mom, Grandma, & Miles

Great Aunt Cathy, Mom, Grandma, & Miles

On the first flight home, happy boy!

Hanging out in the Denver airport.

On the second flight home, happy boy!

Impetigo

So, about a week and a half ago Miles' nose starting running and it ran pretty much constantly for that entire time (I figured it was due to teething). Towards the end of last week he started getting VERY protective of his nose and refused to let us wipe it for him. He would scream bloody murder if we tried. On Friday I noticed that the area directly below his nostril was getting a little red and thought it was just irritated from all the wiping. Yesterday we traveled to Tremonton for Lily's blessing (pictures to come later) and over the course of the day a "whitehead" formed and gradually got bigger.

Then this morning I found him in his crib with a blood streak on his sheets and this is what his nose looked like:

I was reluctant to take him to the doctor, but decided it probably wouldn't hurt to have it checked out. They worked us in right away and boy am I glad we went. He has impetigo caused by a staph infection. Because of its location, on his face and close to his eye, they almost admitted him to the hospital to treat him with IV antibiotics. The nurse practitioner called a pediatric ENT specialist to get their opinion and decided he could be treated with a shot of antibiotics and then sent home on oral antibiotics. He has had a couple of doses of antibiotics now and I think his sore looks much better. We'll see how it looks in the morning. He has a return appointment tomorrow to make sure it is responding to the antibiotic like the doctor wants it to.

If you look closely you can see his swollen face next to his nose and under his eye on his right side. Apparently that is where the infection is and the sore just happens to be where the infection is draining from.

The nurse practitioner thinks he must have had a little scratch on his face and when his nose started draining, bacteria from his nose worked its way into his skin to cause the infection since neither Dave or I have had strep throat lately nor do we have nasty wounds with staph infections (those are the two main sources of staph infections).

Lovely, huh?

Eight is great!

Miles turned eight months old yesterday. Below is a list of what he is up to these days.

• He has mastered the art of crawling. It has allowed him to get wherever he wants when he wants and forced mommy and daddy to do a tad bit of gating and moving some prized decorations to higher ground.
• He also has shown the ability to climb stairs (please see gating above).
  
• He is able to pull himself up to the standing position.
• From the standing position, he has the ability and bravery to just let go and land squarely on his toosh. Quite funny to watch really.
• He likes to grab on to things and hang from them. A bit scary so we don't let that go for too long. He has very strong arms.
• He can use his thumb and forefinger to grab objects. Of course these objects go straight to his mouth. It is called the pincher grasp (one of us says it is technically the pincer grasp, but to the other one it is like pinching someone, so it shall be heretofore called the pincher).
• He is very active, strong, and now very mobile. Likes to get into just about everything especially if he isn't supposed to.
• He still says dada a lot, but doesn't use the word correctly. Dad still hopes and dreams, but deep down knows it is without meaning. ONE DAY!!! Dad has still earned the honor of most coveted, but that has waned in the past little bit. Mom is earning her way back up the covet list.
  

It has been fun to see him develop and grow so much this past month. It has also been stressful at times as he continues to develop and grow. I am sure the next month's post will provide insight as to why.

Spring break (finally!!!) Part I

I've been SO bad lately at keeping our blog updated. The month of April is a complete blur because it came and went so fast! On the first day of the month we had Miles' adoption finalization and then our sealing ceremony in the LDS temple later that afternoon. Then, the very next day we left for Kansas for a week. It was Dave's spring break so we took advantage of his time off and went back to see family and friends. We were home for about two weeks and then Miles and I were headed off to Kansas again. This time it was to bring my mother back with us permanently. She decided she couldn't stand to be so far away from Mr. Cutie Pie Miles and made a HUGE decision to come live in Utah after living the majority of her life in Kansas. Since then I've been busy helping her get settled and learning all about living with a completely mobile kiddo! Miles started officially crawling on April 20th, only two days after he figured out the caterpillar move!!! Below are a ton of pics from our trip to Kansas (and this is only a few of them, there are more to come in a 2nd post).

We rode to KS with my mom and this is mainly how Miles reacted to the entire two days of driving! I can't believe he was so easy going and happy about spending so much time in his car seat.

Miles was showered with gifts and new toys. He LOVED this piano!

Grandma got him a chair to sit in so now he has his own special chair at Grandma's house!

Hangin' out on the deck at Grandpa's while Great Grandpa "supervises."

Great Grandma helping Miles drink from a big boy cup. This "event" was hilarious to witness, one of those "had to be there moments" I'm sure.

Cousin Keaghan giving Miles love! She loves her new cousin and kept saying, "Baby Miles, he's GREAT!" She is adorable.

Miles, Keaghan, and Laiken. I love how all three are very focused on the toy that they are individually playing with!

Grandma and Miles

Uncle Dave being the great uncle that he is, tossing his nieces high in the air!

Meeting mom's friend, Jill, from high school.

More time with Great Grandpa (the only Great Grandpa Miles has).

Trying to gnaw on Grandpa's hands while Grandpa is helping him stand.

Happy Mother's Day Love!

Holly is a mother on this Mother's Day. How wonderful it is. She is such a wonderful mother. She will never admit it because that is how she is. I know how wonderful she is. Miles also knows how wonderful she is. She has made sure that Miles is loved and taken good care of. She loves him with all of her heart and would do anything for him. When he hurts, she hurts, and likewise when he is good she is good. It is this love that I see everyday.

It is this love that I have longed to see her exhibit to a child for what seemed like forever. It was an agonizing 9 years of being without a child. Every Mother's Day would come and go with dread and anguish. Now that is no more. She can rejoice and celebrate motherhood.

What a wonderful mother she is! She is the love of my life. I am so proud of her.

Honey, you mean everything to me and I am so glad you are the mother of our precious little Miles. You are a great example to me and Miles. He is so lucky to have you in his life. HAPPY Mother's Day!!!