November 2012

Oh my goodness it has been way too long! There has been so much happen since I last posted that I don't think I could even fit it in one post, even if I tried. A short synopsis, I was pregnant for 9 months and had a baby girl, Gwenyth Elise Mattox on June 11th, 2012.  She is so precious and lots of fun.  The big thing with her is that we found out she has multiple atrial septal defects, (click here for an explanation) which means she has multiple holes in the atrium of her heart.  We found out August 29th, after she went to her two month old appointment and the pediatrician heard a heart murmur.

This is a picture of her the afternoon we found out... As you can see though, she's not too bothered about this whole thing!

I remember this afternoon like it was yesterday and so many things kept running through my mind, but this is also one of them,  and it gave me peace then, and still continues to.

To say that we were shocked, devastated, confused, scared, and/or hopeful would be an understatement.  We have definitely had time to come to grips with this and Gwen is doing well right now, so we are very thankful for this.  She was also approved for a Synagis shot, which is kind of like a vaccination for RSV.  This is a VERY expensive shot, so I am so thankful that she was approved and even more thankful that we don't have a copay for this.  Since this isn't a vaccination she has to get a shot once a month, which we had our first one in October, and go back for our next one on November 19th.  We will be going back to the cardiologist after Thanksgiving and I'm not expecting a change, but I hope that he will be pleased with her growth, which is one of the concerns with this condition. We call her "Chunky Monkey" and poor girl got mommy's cheeks and thighs!

January 2013

Update from the above post...We went to the cardiologist and Gwen is doing great! The dr still heard the murmur, which was expected, but did say he is very pleased with her growth.  He also said that she doesn't look like a "heart" baby and that we don't have to go back until June, when Gwen is one.
At that time the dr will do another echo-cardiogram to see if there are still holes, how many there are, and the size of them. He did say though, to continue to think that she will need to have these repaired when she's two, which will first involve a catheter procedure.  If they aren't able to repair them that way, she will require open heart surgery.  This is something that is difficult for me to think about, so we are just continuing with prayers of healing.
My 7 month old with two teeth (but still not wanting to eat!)

As you can see, no problems here with growth, which I am so thankful for!  If I could just get her to eat some solid foods, we'd be good.  She acts like I'm trying to give her lemons, and then squeezes her lips together and won't budge.  We can tell that we are going to have an opinionated, independent, and strong-willed little girl on our hands.  She is already "bossing" everyone around!  But how can you say no to this face?!

On to this little girl's handsome brother!  I cannot believe that he is 3 1/2 years old! He is turning in to such an amazing little person, who is also the best big brother any little girl could ask for.  He loves her so much, and tells us that regularly, which of course makes my heart melt!

He also loves to be silly, which is good for me because I'm not naturally "silly" and I love that he brings that out in me.

This picture was taken at his allergy Dr's office.  He now has to get allergy shots 2-3 times a week, which he has become a CHAMP at.  Again, I'm so proud of him!!  He handles it way better than his bullriding daddy :) We also found out that he is allergic to soy and have since had to completely change his diet.  This has made such a difference in how he feels, which means that he eats more, has more energy, and is generally in a better mood because he doesn't feel bad all the time.  It was so hard having him feel bad all the time and always complaining of his stomach hurting.  I thought for a long time that he was just saying it to get out of eating, but the day he turned down the cookie at the grocery store because he said it hurt his stomach, I knew something more was wrong.  It's amazing to find out how much they put soy in!!  He has learned to ask me before he eats something if it has soy in it, which also tells me that he can tell a difference when he eats it.
He also LOVES to play baseball, and I realize I'm a little bit partial, but he has a pretty good swing and loves to hit them over the fence and go get them.  His daddy and Papa have become pretty good pitchers too since he has them play all the time.  Crawford wakes up wanting to play and goes to bed wanting to play baseball!!

He said he wants to be a fire fighting - baseball player!! I've told him he can be anything he wants to be! :)

I am definitely going to be better about keeping up this blog, because I love looking back at it and want to be able to have these memories.

Stationery card

Modern Hello Girl Birth Announcement

To see Shutterfly's birth announcement designs, click here.

View the entire collection of cards.

An almost 6 month over due update!!

First hair cut by Daddy

We figured we could save some money and time by having Nathan cut Crawford's hair at home. It only made sense, since Nathan was the rodeo team's resident barber!

updates, updates, updates

I have realized I have two main problems when it comes to blogging. First, it's the time. When I get home in the evening, I rarely get out the computer, and writing is the last thing I want to do. Second, is getting the pictures on to the computer. I have TONS on my phone, but again taking the time to get on the computer is what I have a hard time with. Anyway, enough with the excuses! On to what's more important...


About a week ago I went to a friends' house after work, and Nathan sent me this picture while I was there. I laughed so hard because I guess that is what happens when Mom is gone. Also, I'm not sure if you can tell but he does have a diaper on under the underware. Last week too, Crawford would NOT take off his boots! Here is another outfit with the boots!


This is before we headed over to Marble Falls for the day and Crawford would not put on anything else, and I wasn't sure if we could get any more plaid in the outfit. We went over there to hang out for a little while and had a blast. Crawford and Granpa (Papa) did a lot of yard work, ok maybe not a lot, because Crawford kept asking to go in the golf cart. Then, they would head to the park. I think all in all, he rode in the cart 7 times and went to the part 4 times. He LOVED every second of it. He also loved riding on Teetee's (Mary) rocking horse from when she was little. He kept asking Nanno (Granna) to ride with him.


If you haven't noticed throughout this post that Crawford has "renamed" our family members. I think it's so cute to hear him say them too. On Tuesday night we were supposed to be going to dinner to see Teetee, because unfortunately, she found out she will not have a job next year because of the stupid state budget. We were going to also meet Nanno and Papa there, so all the way home from school, Crawford kept saying "Teetee, Nanno, Papa", over and over! We however, did NOT make it to dinner. Crawford felt a little warm, so I asked Nathan to stop at Wal-mart to get a forehead thermometer. After we checked out and were going to borrow a pair of scissors, Crawford lost his lunch all over Nathan and himself. It was so hard not being at home and then watching him be so scared and upset. He started feeling better Thursday afternoon and went back to school on Friday and hasn't slowed down since. Also on Thursday, Nanno & Papa called and asked if Crawford could spend the night on Friday. We of course let him, but then weren't sure what to do with ourselves. Teetee and Tutu (Mary's boyfriend Henry) also came over on Friday afternoon to see us, which was great! We did figure it out pretty quickly though, and headed downtown to 219 West. We had been a few years ago and had always wanted to go back, but it's not exactly somewhere that you take a baby. We had a blast together, just eating, drinking and talking! Then we went to 6th street, which I had never been to when I was legal. We quickly realized that it's not really our scene anymore. We did stop though at the Dizzy Rooster, which I realize is lame because I just wanted to go since the Bachelor Brad Womack owns it. We didn't last long there, but did take this cool picture.


Yesterday we went to the Goudeau's for dinner and had so much fun. We haven't got to hang out with them in a while, so it was nice to see them. They have a bubble maker that Crawford loved, and Addie was excited to share!

March was a great month and April has started out great as well. One tiny thing I did leave out though was turning 30!!!! We went to Vegas and had a blast. I've never had many birthday parties, and it was fabulous. I wish I was better, but I need to figure out the time to upload the pictures. Until then, my dear friend April, wrote a very sweet blog about my family surprise party. Click here to look at it.

Last weekend with Granpa at Opie's!! He's in love!

More Random in January

Our new favorite place is Chick-fil-a and Crawford loves it because of the playground. It's so funny how brave he is and will go up and down the slide all by himself and he LOVES every second of it. We can hardly drive by without him asking to go play.


For the last few years we have done Christmas with my mom's side of the family in January. This year we went to Garland and had it at my aunt's house and had a lot of fun. We did a gift exchange with the adults, and I ended up with a dart board, and Nathan got a bottle of wine.




When we were buying the gifts for the exchange, we found some crayons for Crawford in the bathtub and he loved them. They're already gone! A couple of weeks ago I had to stay late at school for science night (makes sense for a speech therapist right?) and this is what I came home to!


Crawford also had his first corn on the cob!! He likes corn, so the other night when we were eating dinner, he didn't want me to cut it off the cob for him, he wanted to be a big boy. At first he didn't get the concept, but a few bites in he got the hang of it! :)




Now to the not fun part...Crawford has been sick for a LONG time and we are praying that this is the beginning of the end of all this. Before Christmas he had strep, then croup over the break, and then two weeks ago he tested positive for the flu. When we went to the doctor he had a cough and a low fever, so when the doctor said he had the flu, I was SHOCKED to say the least, especially since he'd had the flu shot. That was on a Wednesday evening so Nathan and I stayed home with him on Thursday and his Granna came over on Friday. He loved all the attention from his Granna, and he didn't actually seem sick. Here is him and Granna watching videos from Christmas on her phone. He loves doing this.


To thank Granna for watching him, we went to dinner at Maudie's here at the Galleria and had a great dinner. We thought at first he might be able to sit in a regular chair but boy were we wrong. High chair for us!!!



He also wanted to wear his hat that night because his daddy does. It was sooo cute if I do have to say so myself. When we go outside, we also make him put his hood on, which he wants Nathan to do too. He's such a funny little boy!


His Granna also brought over a robe she had bought for him that he loves. Granna wanted a picture so I asked for him to stand there for it. This is what I got, not the most photogenic little boy, but I love him!


Now, we are fighting the FLU AGAIN. I don't know how this happened twice in TWO weeks. We can't seem to catch a break. Nathan's aunt Sharon come to visit last weekend and Nathan thought he had a spider bite, which turned into a staph infection in his arm. He spent three hours at the urgent care on Saturday, so on Monday we had to go back to see how to clean it out. I had been called that afternoon saying Crawford had a fever so we decided we should take him to the doctor at the same time. When the doctor said he was going to test him for the flu, I said "no don't worry about that, he just had it!". To say I was shocked his the biggest understatement of the year. Another round of Tamiflu it is!! We are thinking that he got it from going to the doctor last Friday. You might be asking, why was he at the doctor last Friday?! He fell at daycare last Friday and got a cut above his eye so the nurse at school thought I should take him in to get it looked at. Seriously?! One more thing?!


To say this week has been rough might just be an understatement, but I do have to say I am so thankful for an amazing husband who has helped so much with Crawford. We have taken turns staying home with Crawford and I appreciate it so much! I am also so thankful for Granna who helped with the last round of flu, and Granpa who came over today to help with this round. After Granpa left today we went back to the doctor because he seemed to be getting worse, than better, at least with his congestion. Nathan said this morning Crawford was pulling on his ear, and guess what he has an ear infection too!!!!!!!!! We are PRAYING that he gets better soon. I'm not sure how much more of all this we can take!!! I just hate seeing my baby sick.

So here is January/beginning of February in a nutshell (ok, maybe not).