Brock's Doctors Appointment

As some of you know, Brock has had some trouble gaining weight. That coupled with a large posterior soft spot, the doctor was concerned about his thyroid. Two weeks ago she had that tested along with a CBC run. The thyroid was normal and Brock is now gaining weight at a great rate. However his CBC came back with some hinky results. Our pediatrician discussed it with a pediatric hematologist who wanted us to come in. He wanted to see Brock's blood himself to double check the results. They got us worked in and our appointment was today.

The main concern the pediatrician had was his white blood cells and platelets. Well today his white blood cells and platelets were normal. However, his hemoglobins were still high. Brock has had circulation issues from day one which are not uncommon for newborns. However, it should be gone by now. While the doctor was examining Brock today he noticed that Brock's hand was purple and he has some circulation issues in all his extremities. So he has decided that Brock has polycythemia. Basically his blood is a little too thick. This would explain why we have been having to wake him to eat. He rechecked his hemoglobin level- it should be 10, his was 19 two weeks ago and was 17 today. It is headed in the right direction. If it would have been a 19 today then he would have drawn some blood out and then given him an IV of saline to help thin his blood so we were happy it was down.

So of course our next question was what is causing this? There could be 3 things. The first and what we hope is the problem is that before they cut the umbilical cord they try to push the blood back down the cord into the baby to help give them plenty of blood and the good stem cells. He may have gotten too much blood and is having to work through that. This of course would be the most benign reason and what we hope is happening. The other two reasons could be a lung or heart issue. He does consider him at risk for heart issues because of Peyton's arrhythmia.

Of course there is a battery of tests that could be run on Brock at this point. He does not want to wait and just see if it works out, the levels are high enough that he wants it checked out now. So the office is scheduling Brock for an ultrasound of his head, a chest x-ray, an abdominal ultrasound, an EKG, and echo-cardiogram. Of course Brian and I were shocked and a little overwhelmed that our baby boy who is 4 weeks old today is going to be getting all these tests. However, the doctor then tells us that these are the non-invasive tests and he wants to exhaust all those before we move on to the more invasive tests such as liver and kidney functions, skin biopsy nor does he want to expose him to the radiation for CT scans. Well then we felt a little better about the testing we were doing and made us like the doctor even more. The tests he will be getting will not hurt him, make him mad- yes but hurt no.

Brian and I were very happy with the Pediatric Hematologist and felt very confident in him almost immediately. He is concerned enough to recommend the testing but not so gung ho that he is doing a lot of invasive procedures on a 4 week old baby. The goal is to get the testing done in the next two weeks. We will see him again on February 1st. Of course Brian and I worried but we are not panicked because there is still a plausible benign reason that could be causing the polycythemia. We ask that you keep Brock in your prayers. I'll keep you posted on the status of his testing.

Brock's Christening & My Picture Dreams Fade

Today we had Brock's Christening at Church. Brock cried just enough to have the devil driven out of him (old wive's tale) and then slept for the rest of the service. We were blessed to have most of our family with us for the baptism. Of course like with most family events, the goal at the end was to get a few good pictures. I had the girls in matching dresses, Brock in our family Christening gown, and 3 freshly washed beautiful faces. It should have been the perfect setup right- of course you have already figured out the answer is Wrong! The kids were all tired, everyone was hungry, and Brock had had enough. So sit back and enjoy the best of my pictures from the day.

















So we made it through and got everyone loaded up and headed to the restaurant. Of course they lost our reservations and we had to wait. We were all a little tense and on edge but once we got food and drinks we were okay- well the Craft side was not real impressed with the Cowboys game (the Thompson side was Thrilled with last nights game). We had a great meal and were sad to watch the Crafts leave and I'll be sad to see my crew leave tomorrow.

I know there were 6 cameras out at one point today so if anyone else has better pictures from today, just send them my way.

Let's try this again

Okay so over 4 months is a long time- but we've been busy. I was you know growing lungs, fingernails and parts for this precious boy.

Brock James was born on December 21st at 10:49AM. He was 9lbs 6 ozs and 20 3/4 inches long (however the next week he stretched out to 22 1/4 inches long- hey I'm short and he was squished). He is so sweet and we adore him. Peyton could hold him all day long and Landree wants to be involved for all diaper changes. Weeding through all the pictures from Christmas is overload for me today so I'm posting ones since. Besides the Grandparents were here through Christmas and I know they are anxious to see pictures of the last few weeks.

Here is his first bath

Including the paparazzi. Aunt Cathy bought cameras for Christmas and the girls love them. We'll be lucky if poor Brock can see from all the flashes. Ignore all the junk on the countertops.


He loves his swing. All three of our children have spent plenty of time in this swing.


He loved looking at the lights on the Christmas tree. However, I could only handle looking at the Christmas stuff for so long so Brian got it all put up.

We got the family all ready to watch LSU in the Capitol One bowl. LSU disappointed but we got a few cute pictures.


He cracks me up in this picture because he is rolling his eyes like he has had enough of all the picture taking.
And this is what happens when Mommy and Brock are up too long at night, the Tigers are losing, and Landree decides I need to use her Snuggie.


Brian decided he needed to start Brock early and watched the National Championship Game. Even with the Texas Quarterback excitement, Brock wasn't too interested.

Thank heavens for school

The girls both woke up about 45 minutes early and crawled in the bed with me this morning. For some reason I thought I might get to sleep until the alarm went off but of course that didn't happen. They poked and bugged each other. I then heard Peyton say, "Landree, you should treat others like you would like to be treated." Landree's response, "Ok, I'm going to treat you like a donkey."

Well people as you can imagine it just went down downhill from there. I got Peyton out the door and to school and Landree is now "illegally" playing Peyton's DS. It's a short moment of peace and quiet and I'm going to take it. It's days like these that I am thankful that I have the opportunity to send at least one of them to school.

Blog Back from Hiatus- Kid pics of course

I haven't posted on this blog in quite awhile. I've kept up with Facebook but the blog seemed too overwhelming. I survived the hottest summer in San Antonio history with the worst 24 hour a day morning sickness of my life. We did find out that we are having a baby boy in December so there is a level of excitement in this house.

So today is Peyton's First Day of First Grade. We started the day off with Chocolate Chip Pancakes and Bacon. Yes I know that is not the best of breakfasts but I only make it on the first day of school and on her birthday and every other day she has normal much less sugary meals- unless Daddy makes it. Now any of you who knows me as a mom knows I have some control issues. I am trying to work on that and let Peyton pick her own outfit for the first day of school. She even picked her own shoes and hairstyle and bow. While it is a cute dress and I even bought it, I would have probably picked something a little more practical for the first day. But she didn't want to wear what Brian and I picked out or any of the rest of our fashion suggestions so we just let her run with it. She was very excited but you can tell here she is nervous by how she's grasping her hands.

And since I failed to post pictures of all of her lost teeth, here are two close-ups. She has lost 6 teeth (4 of those this summer) and only 2 have come in. She pulled two out within ten minutes while waiting in the car at HEB one Sunday a few weeks ago.

Landree wanted music for her ride to school. She has had a few crying spells around not wanting her sister to go back to school
We started our walk to school and I asked her to stop and look back so I could take her picture. Her response was, "Really Mom."

Grandma- I put this picture up for you. she looks just like Brian when he gets uneasy and starts licking his lips.

She finally gave it up when I told her we weren't moving until she cooperated
Are you noticing all the drought ridden grass. We've had 25-26 inches of rain since September 2007 and are on water restrictions.

Normally when you visit school, they scan your driver's license and print out a sticker with your picture and name and where you are cleared to visit- to have full access to the school as a parent, you have to have a background check. Normally they wave this procedure for the first day of school. Well they must have been told that security was more important this year because they decided to make all the parents sign in today and failed to warn us. So when we came around the corner, this is what we sawWe got closer and realized there was not just one line but there was also a second line on the other side of the building. We knew we would be there awhile. And this was about 25 minutes before the first bell rang so needless to say the line just got much longer behind us. You gotta know that last week there were 1191 students enrolled so it's a lot of parents.

I did try to get her to go to the flowers and pose for a picture but the sun was in her eyes and she didn't cooperate. In the background you can see one of the playgrounds and the canopies the PTA put over a some of the play equipment last year. Since today is supposed to be our 55th day over 100 degrees this summer and there is no relief in sight, I'm sure thankful they are there for this school year. After over 30 minutes in line we finally got into the building. She saw her Kindergarten teacher in the hallway and got to say hi to her and then we were off to her room.

Luckily we had met her teacher and had gotten all her school supplies put away last Friday night at Open House. She is very excited that she now has a desk and not just a table. We got her settled, gave her a kiss and a hug, took a picture, and left our baby in the hands of a stranger. Yes I know I was that stranger to other parents for many years but it still doesn't make me feel better today.

We made the walk back home, kissed Brian bye, and I'm now trying to get things accomplished with Landree in my lap. She's a little extra clingy so I might have to spend extra time snuggling today- oh the horror-hehe.

Here we go again

So I thought that my next blog post would be chronicling some part of my pregnancy. Well I was wrong. Tonight we did a shrimp boil for Father's Day and we had a complication. Peyton refused to eat anything because it was too spicy and Landree ate hers and Peytons because it was so good. We noticed Landree's face turning red but we weren't alarmed because she sometimes turns red when she deals with spices because her skin is so sensitive. Well it got worse and started spreading so I pulled her out and washed her down. Then the hives popped up and I gave her benadryl. She started complaining that her face was getting bigger but we didn't notice a difference. She did start coughing and that was when I made sure the epi-pens were out of the package and waiting. Luckily the benadryl worked.

So here is what we had for supper
Shrimp
Red Potatoes
Corn on the Cob all boiled in a pot of Zatarain Boil. I then added some of her safe butter to the potatoes and corn.

I rechecked all packages and Brian knows we didn't have any cross-contamination since he cooked it all. So it's looking like we might have a new allergy. Shrimp of course is the obvious suspect. It could be a random spice but I'm really hoping not because food companies are not required to list individual spices. Our allergist had us wait until she was 3 to try shellfish and fish and so far she has been okay. This was her 3rd or 4th exposure. But I also know it can be the 1000th exposure before someone shows a reaction too. I'll call the allergist in the morning and see where we go from here. We have an appointment the last week of July so I'm sure we'll just wait until then.

Here is the only clear picture I could get of her tonight. I had to use a flash because neither one of us could seem to stay still so the color in the picture isn't quite as red as it was in person and this was before the hives started. I like to take pictures as we go along in a reaction so I have a better perspective because sometimes in the moment they seem worse than what they really are.
Ignore the tongue

Announcement with a TMI Warning

Okay so a couple of days after my last post, Brian and I found out we were expecting a new addition to the family. It was a very unexpected development in the Craft house especially having been told at one point by doctors that we may never have children. I just hadn't been feeling well for over a month and had even told took a few tests over the Easter Holiday. Of course they were negative but I just couldn't shake the exhaustion and nausea. I even told a few friends if I didn't know better, I would swear I was pregnant. Well I obviously didn't know better because I was pregnant. About a week after I found out I started my normal 24 hour a day morning sickness. I didn't plan to tell the girls until I was out of my first trimester. We didn't with Peyton when I was pregnant with Landree and I just wanted to protect them as long as I could. Well that only lasted until I started puking and Peyton decided I had the Swine Flu and of course Peyton is a worry wart like her momma and decided I needed to go to the hospital. So after we saw the heartbeat on ultrasound, we went ahead and told the girls. They are excited and all on board now. Landree named it Baby Bob- no we don't know the gender- and everyone else has picked up on the name. The girls kiss and hug Baby Bob every night and Landree asks every day if the baby is big enough to come out yet. December will be a long way away for poor Landree.

Yesterday we went for another doctor's appointment and she asked if we minded waiting to see if the ultrasound tech could get hearttones. I wanted to say Lady, I would sit here all day for a chance to get a glimpse of Baby Bob. She said that since I was past 10 weeks (I'm 11) if we got a heartbeat then we had a pretty safe and secure pregnancy. Well we saw a heartbeat so I feel a little more secure and was able to breath a little better.

Unfortunately I am in the First Trimester slump still. I am exhausted and puking a lot. Okay so here is where the TMI starts and I'm warning you if you read the blog for the next year or so you will be getting TMI about me and the baby I'm sure. I somewhat thought I was coming out of it towards the end of last week but I was wrong. Sunday night I had really bad heartburn and Brian remembered I used to make and drink a glass of chocolate milk before I went to bed when I was pregnant with Peyton so I tried it. At 3:30 that morning, I woke up puking. Ugh- who does that and it was certainly a first for me. Yesterday evening I somehow puked some through my nose and then had to deal with a nosebleed for awhile. Note to self- stomach acid is not meant to go through the delicate passages of your nasal cavity. See I warned you- TMI. My prayer is that this follows the girls and my puking rally will be done by 14-15 weeks.

We do plan to find out the gender if we can but that won't be until sometime in August probably. The girls are going back and forth whether they want a boy or a girl. Brian of course would love a son but also says he knows what to do with girls so that might be easier. I really don't care. I would love for Brian to get to experience having a son but then again he is such a great Daddy to our girls that I would love to see that big ol' man wrapped around another baby girl finger.

So I hope that explains my absence for the last month or more. I have been tired but I also didn't want to put it all over the internet either if something went wrong. Some of our friends know but a lot didn't until yesterday. So if you're just finding out here, don't be upset with us because we really weren't telling everyone yet- pretty much just family and those that might have to deal with my puking.