Harley Davidson

We took a little trip to the Harley Davidson shop in American Fork.  Max loved watching the trucks pass by, and then was in Heaven when we walked into the shop.  He wanted to touch every single bike. 

 ^^^Look at that face.  Pure joy.  Watching trucks!

 Dexter loved all the buttons.

 Once we put him on a bike he got a little nervous.

A very successful trip!

Ice Cream

 I have a baby named Dexter and he is CRAZY about ice cream!  He can smell it a mile away.  He wants ALL of it.  He will share with anyone who is eating ice cream, and will get mad when it is all gone.  He is a boy after my own heart!!

 

 Look at this face.  The ice cream was gone!

My Brave Boy

Max got a thick splinter stuck directly in the bottom of his foot. 
It was very deep.
He had to get it cut out.
We love our pediatrician.  He is so gentle with Max.
Because Max has sensory issues, and his ASD causes him high anxiety he HATES people touching his feet.
They numbed up his foot, which was the WORST part, then cut it out.

And of course, Daddy makes EVERYTHING better.
Oh and Gerald and Juice too. 

Dexter's 12 month check up

Dexter is just a little guy.
Small Fry.
But such a happy little man.

21 pounds (38%)
29 inches (6%)
18 inch head. (30%)

Dexter is trying to walk

Dexter is trying to walk.  Max is "helping" and cheering him on.

Dexter turns ONE!

Dexter turned ONE on July 25th!
We didn't have a huge party for him.  (Yet)
We did sing Happy Birthday!
We did have a fun day planned for our little pudge!
And we did let him eat cake!

I am so lucky to be this little boys mom.  He is seriously the best.  He makes me so happy.  From his smiles, to his hugs, to his leg chub, to his snuggles he truly is such a great little boy.  He has had so many challenges this first year of life, but he got through them with a huge smile.

Dexter is still nursing.  He loves it!  And so do I so we have no plans on stopping.
We have been practicing with a cup and giving him a little whole milk daily. 
He loves solid food, and he will pretty much eat anything we give him.  He loves ice cream, and any sweet food, but will happily eat veggies. 
He says HI, BYE-BYE, MAMA, DA, UP and BA (bath)
He crawls like a champ and is actually really fast!
He is furniture surfing on anything he can pull himself up on. 
His hair is getting lighter in the sun, and actually has a tint of red in it. 
He LOVES Max.  He chases him everywhere, and loves his toys. 
He loves anything round.  Soccer balls, basketballs, baseballs, any type!
He has three teeth!  Teething is hard for this little guy.  He doesn't like pain at all. 
He is getting better at sleeping.  He will get better.  We are just needing to be patient.
He loves being outside watching people and smiles.
He waves hi and bye.
He is such a ham.  Loves hearing his name and will shoot you a perfect grin when you smile at him. 

I just love him!!

Dexter's Surgery

Dexter has been pretty sick since he was born.
He has always had breathing issues.
He has never slept through the night, and usually gets up 6-7 times per night.  Now you might think "boy those parents really need to sleep train him..."
But he was in pain.  He would comfort nurse all night.  And I recently learned breastmilk has a "pain medication" effect, so another awesome thing a baby instinctively knows "when I hurt please just let me nurse!"  Amazing!!  I also knew in my gut that just letting him cry it out was doing more harm than good. 

In November 2013 Dexter got his first ear infection.  At this point he has been having high fevers, he was in the hospital twice already for his high fevers and breathing issues.  He wore a breathing monitor at home for the first 6 months of his life.
Then right after Christmas we took him to an ENT.  The ENT we saw didn't take me seriously and sent us away to do a sleep study, which Dexter didn't need and just caused so much trama to our little 6 month old.  He was breathing awful.  Turns out he has what is tracheomalacia.  Which is a weakness and floppiness of the walls of the windpipe (trachea), which is present at birth.  So after we figured that out and learned that we just need to watch him and around 18 months get him checked.  He might need surgery but we are hoping he just grows out of it.

Then around the same time he started getting ear infection after ear infection.  He would get high fevers, very congested and be miserable.  From January to July he had a total of 12 ear infections.
No one was sleeping, and it was awful.  His throat was always red from crying, and he was constantly congested.  What a nightmare!

But - he was and still is SUCH A HAPPY GUY!!  It is a blessing he has always been so happy 

Right before his surgery.  He then threw up and got a fever.  But for a moment he was happy. 

We finally saw a wonderful ENT at Primary Chidlren's hospital in Salt Lake.  He scheduled Dexter for surgery immediately.  He said his ears would never heal on its own.  I am so grateful for this wonderful doctor.  Surgery was rough on Dexter.  His O2 levels were not great after surgery, and we ended up staying at the hospital longer than expected, but he is home now and on the mend. 

Dexter is now almost a year old and finally slept a good 6 hour chunk.  The first two nights after surgery he only woke up TWICE!!  It was amazing.  We are hoping getting TUBES and his ADENOIDS out will really help him. 

They give babies these MC Hammer pants to wear during surgery.  Pretty cute, huh?

So tired. So mad at the world.  But his hair, soooo awesome!

Snuggles after surgery.  He was not happy.

Finally home after a very long day