The Karnes Family

A Whole Lotta!

2011-10-29T09:28:00.001-07:00

We have had quite the amazing summer that seems to have flown by.

Vinnie turned three June 29th and has started preschool. At the three year mark his weekly therapy sessions discontinued and we enrolled him in special needs preschool. This allows him to have 16 hours of learning and therapy with specialists a week rather than just 3 hours a week. The goal is to catch him up verbally and socially to his age. Therefore he would be able to begin kindergarten with children his age. If he doesn't make it by then that is a ok. Thankfully now days there are plenty of options to assist him through school!

His teachers are amazing and he loves it so much. On the weekends he will even bring his backpack to us because he wants to go. For the first school year he will go Monday through Thursday in the mornings. The preschool follows the same schedule as the K-6 classes so it is a good adjustment for Joe and I to prep for the long haul. When Vinnie first started school in August I was not your typical mom saddened that my baby was going off to school, but was mostly concerned about the bus ride he would be taking from school to daycare! Needless to say adventurous Vinnie loves the bus ride and his bus driver is really great.

Vinnie is still not talking yet, but has started learning sign language. So far he has please down the best, but we are also working on eat and more. We'll continue down the path of learning sign for now to better communicate with him, but will continue to work on verbal skills also.

Health wise he is doing very good! We were somewhat apprehensive of putting a permanent shunt in, but are so happy that we did. He has really advanced since having the surgery a year and a half ago. He will likely need several revisions in his lifetime, but after he is fully grown he will probably only need revisions once a decade.

Also, in new news we were happy to announce in July that we are expecting Karnes baby #2! My due date is March 18th, but I will actually deliver in the end of February (between 36-37 weeks). I will spare you the minor details, but basically since Vinnie was so early I had to have a classic C section during the emergency delivery. With subsequent pregnancies I will have to always deliver between 36-37 weeks to avoid potential health risks to the baby or me.

This weekend marks 20 weeks along with baby Karnes the second. My water broke at 19 weeks with Vinnie so I am very happy to report we are past that point and all is going very well. The only intervention I am having is weekly progesterone shots and I will likely have one extra ultrasound than a woman would typically have. So I don't have to go back to the doctor every week for the shots Joe went through training with nurse practitioner on how to administer the shots. Thankfully he is pretty good at it!

We feel very blessed with how this pregnancy has gone so far and are thankful we were given the chance to expand our family more.

It's been a while!

2011-02-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

Vinnie's don't drink and drive campaign.

Ok ok ok. So I'm a slacker. Maybe it would help if I told you the reason I have not posted in so long is because we've been having just too much fun with Vinnie Joe.

A lot has changed with Vinnie in the past few months. He has walking down to a T and has mastered running now. To be honest it scares the heck out of us. His favorite way to run is as fast as he can full speed ahead while looking sideways. His other favorite thing to do is to spin in circles as fast as he can. Our next major investment may be a line of helmets for him.

Last May Vinnie had his permanent VP shunt placed to reduce his hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain). So far we have only had one scare where I thought it was malfunctioning.

This past winter he went through a phase where he was really tired for a days. He was sleeping more than normal. His daycare called me during that time and said he could not seem to keep anything down one day. (Both were signs of a shunt malfunction) I think I was out the door and driving by the time they said "Ms. Karnes? This is ......." On the way to get him I called his neurologist who told us to immediately go to the emergency room. If you know me then you know I am typically a calm easy going person, but when it comes to Vinnie in the danger zone I turn into the hulk. If you have a vivid imagination then you can picture me pulling up to the LeBohner emergency room and not being able to find a parking spot. Then you can also picture me doing the only logical thing which was parking right out front in the tow away zone and rushing inside like my pants were on fire, but that's another story. Let's get back on track here.

We ended up staying the night at LeBohner to complete a full shunt survey (where they check the function of the shunt through cat scans, x rays, etc) Turns out the shunt was 100% perfect and Vincent's parents ah not so much :) Final diagnosis: stomach bug/cold. Good dry run people!

The day after Vinnie was released from the hospital was Halloween. There was no major trick or treating in store for us, but I could not let his super awesome lion outfit go to waste. I pondered on what Vinnie was going to be for halloween over the course of a few months. I looked for his costume at the store for about an hour. He was the cutest lion for 2 minutes and 42 seconds. Just enough time for a few pictures to capture this treasured, joyous moment forever:

Even the costume looks sad. The mane on the lion is supposed to be standing up.

So we are up to Halloween 2010. The next blog addition will cover our trip to New Mexico, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years! You don't want to miss it! Never a dull moment :)

Help me reach my goal!Sponsor Me at March for Babies!

2011-02-16T17:50:00.001-08:00

Vincent turns 2!

2010-07-09T05:05:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it because I sure can't!!

For Vinnie's birthday this year we decided to keep the celebration down to the good stuff. You know cake, pizza, presents. Does it get any better than that? In normal fashion he was spoiled rotten with gifts from his grandma's, aunts, and uncles. I think we are going to have to build on to our house to make another room just for all of his stuff :). No matter what toys, books, etc we get Vinnie his favorite things to play with is still the simple stuff. His favorites are remote controls, kitchen items (spoons, measuring cups) and homemade bottle shakers.

A month prior to his 2nd birthday Vinnie finally had his VP shunt surgery. If you recall about a year ago he went to his first neurologist appointment since his head was growing faster than normal. They discovered he had hydrocephalus.

For the past year we have been monitoring the fluid on his brain with frequent appointments. At his last appointment his neurologist said he did not see any improvement and suggested going ahead with the shunt placement. Of course I was reluctant at first as it is a life long man made machine that will require maintenance and can lead to further problems such as brain infections. At his appointment his doctor took me to the area they view CAT scans. After researching hydrocephalus on my own and viewing his first scans compared to the ones he was showing me their was no decision to be made. Vinnie needed it. In the scans you could tell most of his head was fluid and could see where the fluid was putting pressure on his brain tissue. His scan revealed he had about 55% fluid and 45% brain tissue.

It has now been just over 2 months since his surgery and he is doing very well. In very exciting news the week prior to his surgery Vinnie started taking his first independent steps and never missed a beat after the surgery. He is now a full on walker and even runs too! He also seems to be into discovering more at home and loves the outdoors. His daycare teachers report that he is more interested in different toys and activities. His physical therapist let us know that she will only be visiting once a month now since Vinnie is doing so well. He will still receive speech and occupational therapy. No words yet, but I think we are on the brink!

In other news Vinnie moved up to the next level room at daycare this week. He has more room to run and will work on eating at a table, with silverware, and soon we'll we on to what I am sure is the grand world of potty training.

Enjoy the pictures! He is growing so fast!!!

Rained out

2010-04-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

Our March for Babies walk was canceled yesterday due to severe weather. The tornado sirens were going off and we were getting golf ball size hail. Needless to say it would have been more like swimming the 4 mile walk.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored us! Joe and I still plan on completing the 4 miles at Shelby Farms perhaps next weekend. Heck it may produce more entertaining pictures.

So what to do on a stuck in the house Saturday? Play with this little guy of course.

Vinnie has taken a liking to sitting on our regular couch rather than the hardwood floor. Can't say I blame him. Although he has also taken a liking to attempting to head dive off of our couch. He's wild. We thought it best to get him his own little couch. If he decides to take a dive we're talking a belly flop at best.

He was soooo excited when we took it out of the box yesterday. He just sat on it and giggled and would get off of it and back on just giggled the day away. Oh the smallest things are always the funniest. Who knew someday we would be entertained by a 2 year old having a hay day on a backyardigans couch :)

One Small Step For Man, One Giant Leap for Vinnie!

2010-04-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

I am proud to announce Vinnie has officially taken his first steps. At his physical therapy a few weeks ago (his therapist goes directly to our daycare) she sent home a note that said "Vincent took two independent steps today." Her hand writing was a little jumbled so of course we thought can this be right as we have been working and working with him with no avail. Sure enough though! She gave us some tips to help him out such as putting his back against a wall standing where basically he would have no choice but to step. It works!!! I officially think that their needs to be a parents handbook of tips.

In other news even though Vinnie is not walking completely yet he is moving around quickly and getting into everything. If you are a parent you know at times this can be funny and scary all at the same time. For example last weekend Vinnie was playing on the floor in the kitchen while I was cleaning up lunch. I saw our dogs come in to get some grub out of the dog food bowl and heard them clanking around. I guess when our pups left the kitchen Vinnie thought he'd get in on the action. I turned around and sure enough it was not the dog anymore, but Vinnie trying a piece of dog food to see what he was missing out on! It must have been some pretty good stuff because he threw a fit when I took it away. Eeek! Other times he will be right in front of you and then off like a race horse. His most common spot to run off to is the washer and dryer show as we call it. He is fascinated by these front load machines. Oh the things that entertain them now. Before I know it he'll be asking for a car. Maybe I'll suggest to him that the washer and dryer show is still playing instead?

We're gearing up next weekend to go to the March of Dimes fundraiser March for Babies. This will be our second year participating. Thanks to everyone who sponsored us! We're so blessed to have such great friends and family who support us in our endeavors. We'll get our walk on for ya!!! In addition to the walk for babies I have joined forces with my family in Nebraska in support of the American Heart Association in remembrance of my father. My hope is through our work we can help even just one person get the preventative or life saving care they need even if it is someone we will never meet in our lifetimes. My dad never came across a stranger, just friends he hadn't met yet. It's important for me personally to carry this frame of mind on and general support for everyone; even people I do not know.

Enjoy the new pictures! We took the Vinmiester to the zoo for the first time last weekend. He had a blast. I think it will take up about 4 trips to make it through the whole zoo so we signed up for a membership. He was so excited he crashed after an hour. Ok, so maybe we were so excited to show him everything that we tuckered him out :) We also took him on his first adventure to a hibachi grill. The chopsticks were the highlight of his trip.

Vinnie is growing up so fast. He is moving out of the baby stage and is starting to look more and more like a little boy everyday. I typically don't see this until I look at pictures because I think I will forever have engrained in my brain that little 2 lb 10 oz baby. Of course Joe thinks I will hinder him by spoiling him, but I just think he'll be a momma's boy. What's wrong with that?!? I can't believe he will be 2 in a little over 2 months. What a journey it's been! Stay tuned!!!

Happy two year anniversary to my wonderful husband! I must have done something very good to deserve a grand husband like you ;)

Uncle Jeremey Says So!

2010-02-28T04:05:00.000-08:00

After the persistance of Vinnie's uncle Jeremey reminding me that we are quite over due for a Vinnie blog here we go! It is only appropriate that I highlight a few of the good times those two have together.

Vinnie doing the heisman!

Vinnie and Jeremey's breakfast extravaganza.

Vinnie's super awesome hat from the one and only Uncle Jeremey

To say the least a lot has happened since my last Vinnie post! Looking back at the pictures on my last post he has grown up so much.

Luckily this winter we have been pretty lucky sickness wise. I think daycare (although terrible at first since he was out sick more than he was there) has helped build up his immunity. Our biggest scare was in Decemeber when Vinnie got the virus we don't speak of RSV. If you recall it was life threatening to him when he was an infant. Now that he is older it just seemed like a bad cold. Besides that he has had a few infections and that's about it!

Vinnie now has about 12 teeth. His eye teeth just came in these past few weeks and boy was that fun. I imagine no one warned me how bad those suckers were going to be since it was probably tough for all you parents too and you put that memory in file 13! :)

He is getting very close to walking and our goal is to have him walking by 2. He finally was approved and switched over to Mississippi Early Intervention. We have a team of three therapists who visit him once a week at daycare. He sees an occupational, physical, and speech therapist.

At his 18 month appointment Vinnie's pediatrician said he was showing the early signs of Autism. We will continue to work with him the best we can, but it is still too early to be diagnosed for sure. I wasn't surprised to hear this as his lack of eye contact for example was something I always noticed. Who knows, he could be a late bloomer. Worst case senerio we will work with it. I still feel blessed everyday to just have him here. I think back to those long nights in the hospital asking god to just help him make it here and then when he was in the NICU to just give him enough strength to make it through. I would take any challenges that came with and I meant it. To me he is just amazing and wonderful in every way!

Vinnie is now 20 months old and is doing all sorts of new exciting things! I laugh when I write that he is 20 months because before I became a mother I thought it was silly that people told people their childs age in months after they were one. It is hard to believe in a couple of months he is going to be 2 (then I can drop the month talk right?)!

After months of playing pat a cake he learned to clap this past weekend! It was hands down the most impressive thing I have seen all year :)

I have so many pictures to post which I will put up soon!

Goodbye Dad

2010-02-07T06:43:00.000-08:00

On November 27th, 2009 my father Calvin Bahns returned home to God after having a massive heart attack at the age of 56. The previous day on Thanksgiving he spent one final Thanksgiving with my family. He was in good spirit and had a wonderful final day on this earth. He did not verbally or physically show any signs of strain through that final day and the cherished pictures I have seen from that day show him happy and loving life as he normally did.

I have wrote this post several times over the past few months and often stared at the blank page wondering how I write this. How do I sum up my father in one blog post. It came to me today (yes it took over two months) to realize it can not be done and shouldn't have to be done in just one! I think of him everyday. Every time I see a classic car, someone tells me a fast random fact, and every time I talk to my family.

It is still hard for me to believe that he is truly gone. He was a terrific father, friend, and mentor. He was kind and respectful to everyone; even people who had wronged him. Thinking back to I can not remember one time, not a single time he has said anything bad about anyone. I really did not realize this until his wake when his friends also recalled the same.

My dad was a very hard worker. You would have to twist his arm to take a day off and no matter what he would go to work even in bad weather or if he was under the weather. A few winters ago he insisted to go to work during one of the worst snow storms in Nebraska that winter. On his way home (midway) there was a white out and the roads were too covered with snow to drive. He pulled his car up beside a building that afternoon and waited until the next morning. Finally the next morning the snow plows came through and the roads were drivable again (at least somewhat). Rather than going home after his night roughing it(which he should have!) in the freezing cold with no food, water, blankets, etc he scooped off his car and returned to work for his next shift. Of course my mom was extremely worried about his where abouts. He called her when he got back to work the following day. Mind you my dad was a simple man when it came to modern technology. He did not have a cell phone or a credit card at the time. Needless to say that following Christmas we gave him both!

My dad taught my siblings and I so many life lessons. He was well rounded in current events and random facts. He loved to read. While living at home I always knew when I came downstairs for breakfast on the weekends I would find my dad sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. He would talk to us those mornings about all sorts of things. From local news to global, cars to football, and random fast facts he had learned that day. My mom would get on him about cutting out articles from the newspaper before she had a chance to read it. Upon returning home for the first time after he passed I looked through a book my mom brought downstairs from his room. It was amazing. My dad kept a journal through the years that I never knew about. It was packed with so much stuff and was such a blessing for us to have. It had articles from the dam being built in Leigh, articles about the pope, and coverage off 9/11. He had notes with his thoughts, things people had told him that inspired him, and entries of those he had loved and lost through the years.

My father made me well rounded. He showed me how to treat others how I would want to be treated. He taught me how to be a good person, a hard worker, to be family oriented, and to take things one day at a time. At his funeral I found myself having such great sympathy for his friends and family he was leaving behind. After the wake my sister Audrey and I were talking and saying "Did you see ______. I felt so bad for him/her. They are taking this really hard." It is still a little crazy to me because there we were grieving over the loss of our father, but still not having great amounts of self pity and being there for others. I know this was because of him. Even in his death his final lesson to me was how to say good bye (for now) to someone you love and how to be strong and comforting to others no matter what the situation is.

I am so thankful for such an amazing father and so grateful my son had the opportunity to meet his grandfather before his passing. (My dad met Vinnie a for the first time the month prior.)

I love you dad and will see you again someday. Each day that passes is a day closer to seeing you again, but until then I promise to live each day to its fullest, remember your life lessons, and carry you with me always. You will be dearly missed by many.

"We little knew that morning that God was going to call your name. In life we loved you dearly, in death we do the same. It broke our hearts to lose you, you did not go alone; for part of us went with you the day God called you home. You left us peaceful memories, your love is still our guide, and though we cannot see you, you are always by our side. Our family chain is broken and nothing seems the same, but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again."

Sponsor Me at March for Babies!

2010-01-26T21:05:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday!

2009-11-12T04:10:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. Birthdays everywhere in November!!! Grandma Joan's was the 4th, Grandma Vicki's was the 8th, Joe's was the 10th, and Grandpa Don's is the 17th! Happy Birthday Everyone!!! Vinnie was very excited for this too as one way or another he is getting some cake :)

Vinnie was under the weather for halloween, but we still put his awesome glow in the dark skeleton pajamas from grandma Vicki on him. He had a cold, an ear infection, and a double eye infection. He is prettty much over it now, but it sure lingers on. We got quite our share of trick or treaters in our new neighborhood. When we lived in midtown we had one maybe two max! Luckily I did not have to eat all the candy this year :)

Tuesday I took Vinnie to his neurologist Dr Boop for his monthly check up. Dr Boop was confident his hydrocephulus had receeded enough that he does not need to see him again for six months! He will have another cat scan then just to make sure the fluid in his brain remains at a normal volume.

We also went in for his 15 month wellness check up. He weighed in at 23 1/2 pounds! It was the fastest appointment I have ever taken him to. I was talking to the nurse and there are so many sick kids right now. They are trying to get everyone for wellness checks in and out. They even offer to allow you to wait in your car and call you when it is time to come back to your room vs sitting in the waiting room. They were actually our of flu shots so Vinnie will get one when he goes back for his checkup (from being sick). Unfortunately Vinnie was denied this year for Synagis the RSV shot. They feel his lungs are no longer at a state where it would be life threatening although in some situations it can be to the healthiest child.

We will be traveling to Florida for thanksgiving this year. Vinnie will be going on an airplane for the first time. I hope he does well. I am currently accepting all advice for taking an infant on a plane :) We are excited to go. Vinnie will then officially have met all his aunts and uncles!!!

Vinnie is moving along in the food and drink world. He likes noodles, pancakes, french toast (ok anything that involves syrup), corn dogs, peas, PB&J, amoung other things. We are working on the sippy cup. He actually drank half a cup out of one a few weeks ago, but not much luck since. I was taking him over to his godmother Kristy's house last weekend and decided to give the sippy cup a whirl while in the car. Bad idea. He managed to spill the spilless cup of juice all over his shirt. Like anything we'll keep at it.

Last weekend Vincent also had his first official sleep over with other kids! He stayed over at my friend Alison's house with her kids who are 4 and 2. He had a great time and was tuckered out. Thanks again Alison!

For some reason blogger does not like it when I rotate pictures so you may have to look sideways for a few. The second picture is Vinnie's "stop taking pictures of me" face. :)

We have lift off!

2009-10-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

Vinnie is starting to get a hang of pulling up to standing! He has done it a few times this week. Luckily (and unluckily just joking)I was on the phone with his uncle Jeremey when he was pulling up yesterday and he reminded me CAMERA!

Also enjoy the many faces of Vinnie during our never dull dinner time :)

Crawling!!!

2009-09-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

Vinnie is officially crawling. He has really taken off since his last surgery in September. He is starting to pull up also so I am sure we are in for some walking action by the end of the year! In his new mobile ways he is exploring more and more. I don't think I will ever get used to the head bumps and tip overs that come with this. Joe won't let me put padding on our floors and furniture so for now I'll just have to ease up a bit. :)

We have been through what I hope was the worst of teething. If I haven't it's ok to lie to me and tell me we have. He has 8 teeth now. Four on the top and four on the bottom and he knows how to use them! We've weaned him out of trying out his new chompers on us. His favorite foods currently are muffins, cheese sandwiches, peas, yogurt, and cheerios.

Last weekend we traveled to Nebraska by car for my friend Kim's wedding. It was offically our first family road trip. Naturally I was nervous about taking Vinnie on an 11 hour car ride. He did great though. We loaded up with toys, bottles, and backyardigans!

We had a great time at the wedding. The wedding was beautiful and perfect. I'm so glad we could be there to witness my friend of over 20 years tie the knot!!! My parents, sisters, brother in law, and niece Tru met us in Lincoln on Friday. My dad, sisters, niece, and BIL Doug finally got to meet Vinnie. It was great. Tru spoiled Vinnie all weekend by holding his bottle and giving him her toys. It was so sweet. I had the chance to see people I have not seen in 10 years. Thank you Kim for having all us there and it was a privalige to be your Matron of Honor!!!!

Of course the camera was in constant use :) Enjoy the pictures!!!

Pictures Everywhere!!!!!

2009-09-12T07:28:00.000-07:00

Night and Day

2009-09-12T06:50:00.000-07:00

It is one week since Vinnie had surgery on his throat. The only way to describe how he is doing now is amazing. He was happy before, but he is constantly laughing and babbling now. With the cysts removed he is much more vocal. In the pictures of his throat they were just behind his vocal cords slightly pressed again so I am sure that had an impact. When we first saw doctor Bowen we went through the prescreen. I had to go into detail about Vincent's past medical history which is a laundry list not to mention I think my mind forced some of his first months medical events to file 13 in my brain. After I wrote his book for the doctor we talked about the medication Vincent was currently on. It was none and he found this hard to believe considering the novel I had just laid out for him. This rarity in his eyes made us feel extremely lucky.

We go back to Little Rock mid October for his follow up appointment. His surgeon will take another look with the less than pleasant, but necessary camera through the nose. He said the chance of the cysts returning is 20% up to age three. After age three he has never seen them return.

We've been very busy with working on our house in Midtown to sell, our jobs, and the plethora of doctors we do regular check ups with.

Next weekend Joe and I are taking a much needed weekend away (ok we're only going about 20 miles from home:). Joe is entering a craps tournament at Goldstrike in Tunica, MS.

In three weeks we will be going on our first family road trip to Lincoln, NE. My friend of over 20 years Kim is getting married. I am her Matron of Honor. We are very excited to see everyone and more so looking forward to two of the finest people on the face of this planet tie the knot!!!

My patents are going to the wedding as well and my dad will get to meet Vinnie for the first time! My father works extremely hard and is very dedicated to his job so getting him away from work is somewhat of a rarity. His birthday, holidays, his days off, you name it and he probably works it!

More pics to come from Vinnie's surgery, the big bad first Husker game, and as always eating time. I swear some of Vin's funniest moments are when that kid is in a highchair! Enjoy!

What a week!

2009-09-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Vinnie and I are currently watching Backyardigans at the Arkansas Children's Hospital. What turned into a minor illness ended up revealing a larger problem!

Two weeks ago Vinnie was diagnosed with croup. Not a big deal in itself. He was still little wheezy on Friday of last week so I took him back to the pediatrician. She wanted to get a X ray to make sure there was not a small object lodged in his throat. The xray revealed a mass in Vincents throat. We would not have any answers as to what the mass was until he saw an ear, nose, and throat doctor on Tuesday. You can imagine how anxious we were all weekend.

On Tuesday I took Vinnie to see Dr Klug at the Midsouth ear, nose, and throat clinic. He put some numbing solution in his nose (you can imagine Vinnie was less than pleased about that). He then took a camera through his nose to see his throat. He saw what looked like scar tissue taking up part of his airway. He immediately said he wanted to send us to Little Rock to see Dr Bowen who is an ENT (ear nose throat) surgeon. Memphis has some of the best doctors in many areas, but ENT is not one of them. He said if he sent me to any of the they would want to put a trachea in Vincents throat. He said it was urgent, but not a life threatening emergency at that time.

I received a call Wednesday that we needed to see Dr Bowen in Little Rock on Thursday. Grandma Vic and I left bright and early to make his appointment at noon. Dr Bowen studied medicine under the number one throat surgeon in the united States. He is also a very kind easy to talk to person. We instantly felt confident and at ease with him. He also looked at Vincent's throat with the camera through the nose. he saw what looked like a cyst and also some potential scar tissue on Vincent's vocal cords. The cyst was taking up a portion of his airway. He suggested surgery asap.

Today (Friday) Vincent had surgery to remove the cyst and exploratory surgery to have a better look at the area while Vin was under. When he got in there he found 4 cysts in his airway. He said they were taking up somewhere between half and 2/3rds of his airway. They were removed. His vocal cords look pretty good. One looked like it had slight scaring. Vincent will follow up with Dr Bowen in Little Rock in one month. He will then see Dr Klug for the next year to ensure no cysts return and track his verbal skills.

These types of cysts in the throat typically only occur in children. Among children it is usually those that have been on a ventilator for an extended period of time like Vinnie was. For my preemie moms I highly suggest getting this checked out if your child was on a vent and is wheezing. Better safe than sorry. He said it is quite common among these children and can be very dangerous as the cysts grow larger blocking the airways.

I almost hate to say it, but we were fortunate that Vincent got sick. If he didn't I'm afraid of when/how this issue would have been found.

Vincent is sleeping now. He has been recovering well, but it has been a tough couple of weeks for him. We should be going home tomorrow as long as he is keeping everything down and breathing well.

I will post more details and some pictures soon.

Crazy Two weeks

2009-08-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

Let's start with some pictures!!!

Peas and cheese sandwich time!

Vinnie likes to use his feet as his bottle holder :)

The sick boys.

Cheetos!

Our nanny Brittany.

We've had what I would classify on an eventful August so far.

Our nanny Brittany returned to college the second week of August. I guarentee there is not a better caregiver out there. She was always early, helped us out when ever needed, stayed after we got home if she was in the middle of playtime or working with Vinnie, and was just an overall good fit Vinnie. It is comforting to know there are still people like this out there after our less than pleasant experience with our first nanny. We'll miss you Brittany!!!

That being said Vinnie started daycare on August 10th. The daycare he is attending is also a learning academy so he would be able to attend preschool there as well if we choose. The staff so far has been great. You can tell when you first walk in the door that everything is well structured and secure. We can watch Vinnie in his classroom via webcam, sign him in and out daily with fingerprints, and you must be buzzed in the front door to enter. Also at this daycare we see the director AND the owner daily.

We knew that Vinnie would eventually get sick when attending daycare. Also more often. We just were not quite prepared for it to happen after the first week! At the start of his second week Vinnie had a mild cough every once in a while.

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning it became full fledge. Unfortunately I was leaving for a business trip to Nebraska this morning and would be gone until the following Monday. I discussed with Joe and we decided I should still go. We looked Vinnie's symptoms up online and croup was the closest fit. Joe took Vinnie to the pediatrician that morning. She confirmed it was croup and put Vinnie on a three day steriod treatment. I almost think it has been harder on us than Vinnie. He has still been happy while recovering and eating/drinking well. If you have ever heard the cough assosiated with croup it makess you cringe everytime.

The following day after Vinnie was diagnosed with croup Joe got sick as well! Luckily I was able to come home on Friday rather than Monday to help Joe out so he could recover as well. Knock on wood I have not caught anything yet.

Croup is:

Croup is a condition that causes an inflammation of the upper airways — the voice box (larynx) and windpipe (trachea). It often leads to a barking cough or hoarseness, especially when a child cries.

Most cases of croup are caused by viruses. Those involved are usually parainfluenza virus (which accounts for most cases), adenovirus, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Croup is most common — and symptoms are most severe — in children 6 months to 3 years old, but can affect older kids, too. Most cases of viral croup are mild and can be treated at home, though rarely it can be severe and even life-threatening.

Vinnie is recovering well. Today (a week later) he just has a little bit of a weeze and a normal cough that is not so high pitched.

Grandma Vickie returned from Michigan late last week. It went fast since we were keeping busy, but Vinnie just smiled when he saw her Monday. Of course she spoiled him with all types of goodies. He also got birthday gifts from his great Aunt Lynn and Aunt Mary Beth. It was Christmas at our house on Monday :)

We've been trying one new soft solid food a day. Amoung Vinnie's favs are peaches, cheese sandwiches, and peas. Not making the top three were spagetti O's and hot dogs. In fact he made the "This is the most awful thing that I have ever tasted. Why are you giving this to me? Are you nuts?" face. He has four teeth now. Two on the top and two on the bottom.

Vinnie is gearing up to go on his first out of state travels. In October we are going to Nebraska for my friend Kim's wedding. We are still undecided if we will drive or fly. In November we are going to Florida for Thanksgiving to visit Joe's dad, step mom, and his little brothers and sisters. Vinnie has not met his uncles and aunts yet so we look forward to it!

Uncle Bryan and Aunt Frankie

2009-07-28T16:59:00.001-07:00

Visitors visitors!!! Vinnie has been spoiled in the past weeks. His great Aunt Frankie came to visit the week before last from Michigan and his Uncle Bryan (my brother) stayed for a long weekend this past week from Nebraska.

His aunt Frankie met him for the first time when he was in the NICU, then when he was 8 months, and now almost 13 months. He just loves her and I'm certain the feeling is mutual. He also went over to Grandma Vickie's house for a day while she was here and spent the night.

Bryan was very excited to meet Vinnie in person for the first time. He has seen what I am sure was hundreds of pictures, but they really do not do Vinnie justice for his phenomenal in person cuteness. I'm not just saying that because I am his mother, it is a well known fact. :)

Vinnie went in for his 1 yr appointment and weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds even! I was excited and clapping with him. Then his doctor gave him the grand prize of his 1 yr immunizations. Argh. Breaks my heart every time. He is doing very well though. We are slowly introducing him to soft solid foods. His favorite so far is the Gerber puffed cereal. He is so cute when he eats them. He grabs them as fast as he can and then slowly puts them in his mouth. Other than those we have not had a lot of luck with other foods so we'll try one new one a week.

He is sitting up unsupported well. He still topples over every once in a while, but has made a vast improvement in the past few weeks. His max sitting alone a few weeks back was only a minute or two and now he can go 10 minutes easy.

August 10th we will say good bye to our much loved Nanny Brittany. She's wonderful, but goes back to college then. Vinnie will then start daycare at Kids R Kids in Horn Lake, MS. (horn lake is actually connected to Southaven). Since he is physically behind he will start off in the infant room, but I expect him to be moved up to the toddler room rather quickly. We are of course nervous about having him at a public daycare germ wise, but are excited for him to be able to interact with other kids. I think he will enjoy it.

The daycare appears to be exceptional. I was very picky and we had actually been looking at day cares outside of our home for much of this year. They had been booked full since March and I was lucky enough to get the one spot open. The daycare also has cameras in every room that you can log onto from any computer. I had never heard of this before and love it. I'm sure Vinnie's grandparents will enjoy being able to peek in on him as well!

More Pictures!

2009-07-02T04:55:00.000-07:00

Birthday Pictures

2009-07-01T05:27:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Vinnie Joe!!!!!

2009-06-29T16:59:00.001-07:00

Today is Vinnie's birthday! What a journey it has been. We are so proud of him, more than words can explain.

To start off I thought we would take a blast into the past from Vinnie's birth post to see how far he has come:

June 29th, 2008..............

"Our beautiful baby boy Vincent Joseph Karnes joined us on June 29th at 12:34pm. We appropriately named him Vincent meaning "the conqueror". He was 2 lbs 10 oz and 15 inches long.

It was confirmed that I was having contractions at about 6am Sunday morning. I was running a low fever of 99.5 so my white blood count was tested around 830a. It was at a 13, so somewhat high. Average is about 10 and I had been at about a 7 for the past 5 weeks I had been in the hospital. The increase meant I was fighting an infection. They tested again about an hour later at 10am and I had gone to a 16 already. This is when they decided I may deliver. By this time my contractions were becoming stronger but I was not dilating at all. Infections are very common in pprom mom's since there is no longer a barrier keeping infections out. I was grateful to make it the 9 weeks without having to deliver. Every day really counted. Only 10% of women who experience prom make it past the first 48 hrs. For those 10% who make it about 7 weeks is the average amount of time they make it.

Around 11:30a it was decided that for my health and our baby's I would need to deliver quickly. Little did we know that with in the next hour little Vinnie would be here with us. Everything went very quickly as you can imagine and before we knew it Vinnie was born via emergency C section and he even let out a little cry. The largest concern when he was born was if his lungs were developed. It was very comforting to hear his cry although I admit it was shocking to actually see how little he was. Joe did a great job getting a video and pictures. I only got to see Vinnie for about 15 seconds after he was born as they were wheeling him out so I was glad to have these pictures! Joe was fabulous as usual. He did a great job keeping me calm, updated on what was going on, and I have never seen a father who was more proud or thankful to see his son!!! It was so sweet. He's going to make a terrific father.

We have truly been blessed with this tiny miracle. "

July 3rd, 2008:

Every once in a while I read the following blog. Vincent's birth was many things on so many scales. Exciting, scary, amazing, terrifying, joyful, etc. Never take anyone for granted and never ever give up.

"Vincent is currently having the most issues with his lungs. On Sunday night he was maxed out with the machines and breathing they could do for him. He was up to 100% oxygen and high pressure. We breathe 20% oxygen. They added Nitrogen Dioxide to help stimulate his lungs. This was our biggest scare so far. The NICU doctor came to my room and asked where my husband was (Joe had ran home to let our dogs out for a bit). The doctor told me that we needed to come see Vincent as soon as possible and that he was not doing well. This was the first time I was able to see him besides for a few seconds in the OR. Joe hurried back. They did let Joe and I touch him this night. He is early so he doesn’t care for any rubbing or touching, but I got to hold his little hand for a few minutes and Joe cradled his little head earlier in the day. He had one more episode during the early hours of Monday morning.

Since Monday morning he has been stable!!!! His oxygen has been between 30-50% ranges. They adjust it based on his needs. Today he was down to only 2% Nitrogen so they have almost weaned him from that which is fantastic. His pressure has decreased to 22. It was 34+ in the days prior. Our nurse said the highest she has seen a baby have is 36. They have to be very careful with these machines as to not damage his lungs further. So he is not great in the lung department yet, but a definite improvement.

He is currently on a machine that gives him up to 600 breaths per minute and as soon as he is ready the next machine will give him up to 60 per minute. After that he would go to a CPAP. This machine would allow him to breathe on his own and would only give him breaths if it senses that he stopped breathing.

Currently Vinnie is receiving all hydration and nutrients through an IV. As soon as he starts to become have less issues in other departments we will introduce milk to him, starting with only about a teaspoon and working our way up from there.

Joe and I learn a little more from our nurses every day. The staff in his NICU is very informative and they make us comfortable. They allow us to come anytime besides shift changes whether they are doing any types of procedures or not. We are always welcome to be there. He mainly needs rest right now. His nurse said it is good for him to hear our voices as he will recognize them from listening in the womb. We are very proud of his progress so far. He is doing a great job and he is really a little fighter.
Tomorrow I will be discharged from the hospital after six weeks of being here. I thought that I would be sooo ready to go home, but I know it will be hard to not be staying here with him. Luckily we live about 15 minutes from the hospital and his Grandma Vicki lives about 10 minutes away on the other side of the hospital. I will still be with him often. In a few more weeks I should be able to be more involved with diaper changing, sponge baths, etc.

In his three days on this earth he has already taught us so much. We have learned to be very patient, slow down to enjoy the small things, good things really do come in small packages, and now we both believe in love at first sight :) "

We are winding down our 3 day celebration. Saturday we had the big birthday bash with friends and family. Vinnie was partial to the cake, but we gave it another whirl on his birthday. Still no go, but that's ok. Guess he is a meat and potato boy like his dad.

My mom made the main cake and I decorated Vincent's. It was the first time I have tried my had at that. My mom thought I should and bought me a decorator kit to have at home. If you know me then you will also know that things like baking cakes to decorate cakes really is in left field. I liked it though. Especially eating the frosting :) It's a family tradition though. My grandma Lucy was excellent at making cakes and she taught my mother.

Vinnie got many excellent gifts and is currently using them to cut his top teeth! He likes toys, but at the current time he looks at them for about 15 seconds and then straight to the mouth. His top teeth are getting close and I expect them to pop through soon.

Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes to Vinnie and/or coming to his party. We had a great time and are thankful for family and friends like you.

Happy Father's Joe!

2009-06-22T04:33:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Joe's first fathers day! As you can imagine he was very excited and proud. How could you not be with a son like Vinnie. :) I'm not sure how he did it, but Vinnie bought his dad a new grill. He gives the best gifts.

Tuesday Vinnie went in for his monthly follow up appointment with Dr. Boop his neurologist. He though his right eye still looked like it had pressure on it and wanted him to see a pediatric opthamologist right away. We had an appointment set up to see the opthamologist he suggested a few months ago, but their soonest appointment was not until August. Talk about being booked. Dr. Boop was able to get him in right away. Needless to say Joe and Vinnie's 1/2 hr appointment turned into half of the day. They fully dilated Vinnie's eyes and took a look. They said everything looked great and did not see any pressure or the off alignment like Dr. Boop had. Hooray! We have dodged the bullet again for now. Go Vinnie!

Vinnie will be 1 yr old on Monday. Unbelievable. We'll be celebrating on Saturday with a few friends and a lot of cake!

Grandma Joan (my mom) has been staying with us since June 1st when she came down from Nebraska. She will leave on Tuesday. We did find a nanny who will start on Monday. She is in college currently for early childhood development so it is perfect. She does go back to school mid August so my search for the perfect nanny is not over yet. I seriously am thinking about producing a reality TV show to find a nanny. It would probably be faster than months and months of searching I've done. Perhaps I'll name it "Who's your nanny". :)

We are more than settled in our new house and loving it. Meanwhile our other house in Memphis has been on the market for 3 weeks. We've had about 6 people look at it already. Three were the day after we listed it. I guess if it doesn't sell by the end of the summer that will have to be the prize I give away on my show.

Tuesday Vinnie went in for his monthly follow up appointment with Dr. Boop his neurologist. He though his right eye still looked like it had pressure on it and wanted him to see a pediatric opthamologist right away. We had an appointment set up to see the opthamologist he suggested a few months ago, but their soonest appointment was not until August. Talk about being booked. Dr. Boop was able to get him in right away. Needless to say Joe and Vinnie's 1/2 hr appointment turned into half of the day. They fully dilated Vinnie's eyes and took a look. They said everything looked great and did not see any pressure or the off alignment like Dr. Boop had. Hooray! We have dodged the bullet again for now. Go Vinnie!

Vinnie will be 1 yr old on Monday. Unbelievable. We'll be celebrating on Saturday with a few friends and a lot of cake!

Grandma Joan (my mom) has been staying with us since June 1st when she came down from Nebraska. She will leave on Tuesday. We did find a nanny who will start on Monday. She is in college currently for early childhood development so it is perfect. She does go back to school mid August so my search for the perfect nanny is not over yet. I seriously am thinking about producing a reality TV show to find a nanny. It would probably be faster than months and months of searching I've done. Perhaps I'll name it "Who's your nanny". :)

We are more than settled in our new house and loving it. Meanwhile our other house in Memphis has been on the market for 3 weeks. We've had about 6 people look at it already. Three were the day after we listed it. I guess if it doesn't sell by the end of the summer that will have to be the prize I give away on my show.

Quick Post!

2009-06-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the updated pictures of Vinnie!

We have officially moved to our new home in Mississippi. I will post more picutures and more of an update soon. We have been super busy in the Karnes household as you can imagine. Vinnie is adjusting to his new enviroment and doing well. He will be 1 yr old in a little over 3 weeks! Can you believe it?!?!

MOVING!

2009-05-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

We are moving in more ways than one. Vinnie has started scooting. Although he still does not favor being on his stomach he has started scooting on his belly about half a foot to get to toys! He has mastered the art of professional rolling as well.

We will also be moving to our new home in Southaven, MS at the end of this month. We have been looking since the beginning of this year. We went back in forth for over two months on the first house we had found. We were a little discouraged after putting in multiple offers and then being out bid in the end. We waited a few weeks and then started looking again. We found the house we are moving to on a Sunday (the first day we started looking again) and our offer was accepted that Wednesday. The process was much smoother the second time around needless to say. We are very excited about a bigger yard for our furry kids and more room for Vinnie to romp. Also the schools are better in Southaven then Memphis. Yes we are thinking far ahead, but i know Vinnie will be starting preschool and kindergarten before we know it! You are all more than welcome to help us move :)

Vinnie went back to see his neurologist Dr Boop this past week. He said the swelling was still down and his head had only grown 1/2 and inch which was considered normal. He did mention that he would like Vinnie to start seeing a neuralgic opthamologist He is concerned about the movement of his right eye. His right eye is just slightly off from his left. Hopefully we can avoid having the shunt placed, but for now his hydrocephalus looks good.

We had a wonderful mother's day. Grandma Vickie and Uncle Jeremey came over and Joe made ribs and a plethora of other food. I also got to sleep in :) Although my sleeping in consists of getting up at 8am. Vinnie managed to make it to Kay's and surprised me with some beautiful earrings. He's amazing---not sure how it did it lol. It was a great mother's day.

Enjoy the pics! We have taken a ton since my last post!

March For Babies: We did it!!!!

2009-04-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

We sucessfully completed our 4 mile March For Babies walk. I am proud to announce team inVINCEable finished the walk with out the use of one of us being carried or short cuts :). It was a beautiful day for it. It was about 85 degrees and sunny. The turn out was huge. Much larger than we expected. Myself, Joe, and my friend Erin were on our team. We were just one team among hundreds. Thank you to everyone who sponsored us or gave us words of encouragement. It was a great experience.

It was wonderful to see so many people supporting a great organization. After reading many other stories at booths today it reminds us of how we too are blessed personally to have organizations like the March of Dimes. I read one story that really made me realize how fast technology/research is coming and how lucky we are because of that. For example when Vinnie was born he was completely maxed out on O2 and on the highest level the ventilator could be set on. The only thing they could do for him at that point was add nitrous oxide which is relatively new according to his doctors. Not all NICU's have this yet. We saw a drastic improvement for the next days and I truly believe that made all the difference. We went from having our doctor calling me in my room 3 hours after having vinnie telling us that we better get to the NICU because he did not think Vincent would make it much longer, to having a happy healthy 18 lb baby boy. Bottom line if organizations like the march of dimes can help save one baby, support one family going through the loss of a child, or be a helping hand with parents who have a child in the NICU than it is an organization well worth having.

After the walk we went over to grandma Vicki's. We grilled out and enjoyed some pool time. Vinnie took a dip in the pool for the first time!! It wasn't for long as he got tuckered out pretty quick, but he had fun!!! He's a little water baby.

Enjoy the pictures and thanks again everyone!!!!!!!!!!

Finished!!!!

I will chew on it.......

2009-04-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

We are in full fledge teeth mode in the Karnes household. This consists of the baby oragel, lots of slobber, and Vinnie chewing on anything he can! (and I mean anything) Even when I am giving him a bath he tried to chew on my arm, the side of his tube, or the wash cloth. Hopefully soon I will be able to tell you that he bit me. hehehe

Vinnie had a pretty eventful past week. Grandpa Karnes from Florida visited earlier in the week. We were glad to see him. Vinnie will make his first trip to Florida this thanksgiving to meet his Aunts and Uncles (Joe's little brothers and sisters)

Saturday we grilled out. Vinnie's godparents Kristy and Justin came over, Ben, and Cassidy. I don't think he knew what to do with himself having all that attention!

Vinnie has been going through sleeping and eating spurts lately. He is up to 6 containers of level 2 baby food per day and rice or oatmeal. Last weekend on my journey to buy the store out of babyfood I found level 2 meat baby foods like chicken noodle soup, beef stew, etc. He is not too sure about this yet. He just stops in his tracks like "what is this stuff?" I think Joe was just excited that his boy got to have some meat. He is also doing well on the regular formula. Sleep wise he has decided lately that it is a good time to wake up at 1 in the morning and stay up until 3, then wake up again a few hours later. He always seems to fall back asleep when you decide to just start your day and make some coffee, the point of no return :)

This Saturday we will be participating in the March for Babies walk at Shelby Farms. It is a four mile walk. Thanks again to all our sponsors!!! It is greatly appriciated. We will be sure to send you pictures! Vinnie will go over to grandma's house during the walk, but we are still brining the stroller. One of us might not make it all the way and need to catch a ride. hehehe.

My brother Jon is still staying with us until May 11th taking care of Vin. They have been having a fabulous time.

Medically Vin has been doing well. Quiet and boring just the way we like it. He goes back in to the neurologist early may for a follow up cat scan.

Our Easter Miracle

2009-04-14T04:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we arrived at Lebohner Children's hospital bright and early for Vincent's shunt placement surgery. Vinnie went through the regular prep process. We met with the anesthesiologist, admissions, vitals, etc. When we were getting ready to move back to the OR waiting area the two members of the neurologist team that would be in on Vincent's surgery came in to answer any additional questions we had. Shortly after they left Vinnie's main neurosurgeon Dr. Boop came in to our pre op room. Normally you do not see the doctor until you are in the the OR waiting area. He felt Vinnie's fontanel (aka soft spot on his head) and said the swelling had subsided as it was no longer bulging out. It had returned to normal (soft and slightly in). He decided there was no need to place the shunt yesterday!!! We were so relieved not to mention thankful the surgery was not the Friday before. For the next couple of months Vinnie will be monitored via CAT scans every two to three weeks. Dr. Boop said that he possibly may be starting to reabsorb the fluid on his own. He did prepare us though that he could still need the shunt placement. It could be a few days or a few months. It just depends on how he does in regards to the levels of fluid in his brain, the pressure, and so on.

Saturday Vinnie ran a pretty steady fever of 101.8 all day and was very miserable. His soft spot was really bulging this day so at this point having the surgery could not come fast enough. We did everything we could to break his fever (thank you google) and he was finally more comfortable in the early evening. After a good nights sleep he was a brand new boy Sunday.

We are now more knowledgeable on what to watch for, warning signs, and at home tests we can do (such as checking the soft spot and watching his eyes) to monitor if he is having issues related to hydrocephalus.

Thank you everyone for all your thoughts and prayers for Vinnie! We are truly blessed to know so many wonderful people who care so much about him.

In other news we had a great Easter. We went over to Grandma Vicki's house and Vincent even went on a Easter egg hunt! Vinnie got wonderful Easter presents from Grandma Vicki, Grandma Joan, and Aunt Frankie. Vin even got a visit from his uncle James this weekend. He was excited to see him, but even more excited to try and eat his hand :) We're expecting a tooth to pop through any day now!

Preparing for surgery Monday

Grandma and Vinnie on Easter Sunday

Chew chew chewing away on anything even in his sleep. C'mon teeth!!!

Chewing on Uncle James

Vinnie's sweet summertime hat from Grandma

Hanging with Grandma

Joe and his brother Jeremey (who will kill me for posing this picture) on Easter

Vinnie's cold press for breaking his fever. Worked like a charm!

Watching baseball with James

Too funny. Vinnie likes to kick the arm up in his tub now and really relax at his personal spa :)

Hanging out with uncle Jon.

Monday Monday

2009-04-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

We've been putting Uncle Jon to work right away. He's been having a great time with Vinnie. I am officially out numbered now in the male female ratio department however! (Now I know how you feel Misty lol) We've been excited to finally be able to take Vinnie out and about in the world but the pollen has just been too bad here for us to take him out. There is a green film on everything. Thank you claritin!

Ok, I'm just procrastinating by talking about claritin. Now for the news I would rather not have to deliver..........

Last week as per my previous post Vinnie went in for his 9mth check up. His head was growing faster than the rest of his body. Naturally we thought it was because Joe was abig headed kid :)

They did an ultrasound the next morning just in case due to Vin's track record. If you recall when he was in the NICU he a grade 3 brain bleed. The ultra sound showed that the ventricles in his brain are dialated. They are holding too much spinal fluid. How much was the question.

We met went to a neurologist Tuesday and he had a CAT scan. This revealed his ventricles are 8-10 times the size they should be and he currently has more fluid in his head than brain
matter. My stomach turned when I saw the pictures of his scan. Although I am not a doctor I have seen enough head scans from the plethera of medical shows I watch.

In layman's terms the excess fluid is shoving his brain up against the skull from all the space it is taking up. In our brains you would see two small black spots on the CAT scan of this fluid. Your brain does need a certain amount of this fluid to surround it and "float" in. The tissue in his head is not absorbing the fluid like ours does. Probably because he had the brain bleed when he was born and the tissue is used to absorbing red blood cells.

Monday he will have surgery at LeBohner Children's hospital (where he had his hernia repair surgery) to place a shunt in the ventricle of his brain. A small hole will be drilled in his skull to place the shunt. The shunt will drain the fluid out of his brain through 1/8th inch tubing that will come out the back of his skull down his neck, across his chest, and into his abdomen where it will be reabsorbed by his body. The shunt will be permanent, he'll have it for the rest of his life. It is programable to pace the amount of fluid it will drain. We'll just have to keep him away from high magnetic feilds so it doesn't reset. I will ask more questions about these fields he has to stay away from. I did some research online with people who have shunts. Most of the time it looks like they really only reset during MRI's and things of that magnatude. There were some reports of resets due to microwaves, fridges (with many magnets on them), security checks such as metal detectors, etc. This sounds somewhat shady to me, but of course I will double check what they recommend him staying away from.

Here is a great link to learn more about hydrocephalus. The site also has a picture of what a normal MRI looks like and one of a hydro patient. It is similar to what Vinnie's looks like. :

http://neurosurgery.seattlechildrens.org/conditions_treated/hydrocephalus.asp

As a baby you will be able to see the tubing. As he grows more it will be less visible. As a toddler you probably will not be able to see it unless someone would point it out. As an adult if it is visible at all it will just look like a vein. He will also have a valve that will be on the outside of his skull right under the skin on his head. This is so if they ever need to take samples of the fluid for infections or just to test it they do not have to put him under and go back in. They can just take a sample via a syringe extraction.

Although it is frightening to imagine having this permanent man made device in my child, I am very thankful that their is an option to treat hydrocephalus.

You can't be scared and brave at the same time so we will be brave for Vinnie. He's such a trooper.

Please pray for Vinnie that he has a quick uncomplicated surgery and a fast recovery!!!!

Elmo

2009-04-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

Too funny. Vincent is finally not scared of his Elmo Live he got for Christmas. He loves it now and just laugh when he sings or tells stories. Vinnie has made another friend lol

No Peas Please!!!

2009-04-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

There is a craft to feeding our son sometimes. If you are having a fruit and veggie definately do the veggie first followed by the good stuff (the fruit) otherwise you're done for. Today he started his dinner with a delicious blend of strawberry, bananna, applesauce. Shortly to follow was a tasty spoonful of sweet peas..........or not so much to Vinnie today. The pictures are priceless :)

But we switched back to the fruit and things got better.................

Between my big spring cleaning weekend we got some good play time in and lots of practice rolling and pushing up! Vinnie even got to play with the dogs. They loved him and I think the feeling was mutual.

We've also been working on using the sippy cup. It will take some practice, but so far so good!

At Vinnie's last doctors appointment on Thursday he was a whopping 17 lbs 3 oz! His doctor said he can come off the higher calorie preemie formula now to any kind of regular formula. I'm so thankful the preemie formula was available to him. I truly believe he had great benifits from it. Hopefully he will like the regular formula too. His doctor also said she felt comfortable with not giving him another RSV shot this season so he is officially done!!! She said RSV was not bad at all this year and saw very few cases among all the doctors in the clinic.

After the awful pollen settles a bit here we will get Vinnie outdoors more. Right now we are going through the green soot of pollen over everything outside while the trees and plants are blooming.

Vinnie is 9 months old and our wedding anniversary

2009-04-02T05:12:00.000-07:00

For our 1st anniversary Joe and I celebrated in Cancun. We left Wednesday the 25th and got back to Memphis on our anniversary Sunday the 29th. They offered us many things to go out and do when we were there such as swimming with dolphis, sight seeing, boating, etc. but after the past year we opted to do the most obviously choice. Sit on the beach and eat a rediculous amount of food!

The resort we stayed at (The Royal Cancun) was wonderful. They had a show every night ranging from Mexican dancing and we even saw them doing a show one night with an Elvis impersonator and jail house rock dancers. Ahhh, The King follows us where ever we go. We did catch the Memphis game Thursday night although it was broadcasted in Spanish. We followed enough to get the point though. We posed with live trained parots for some pictures also one day on the beach. Joe manged to get bit lol. Unfortunatly we do not have any pictures since they were the kind where the photograher at the resort takes them and you have to go pick them up and pay for them. Nah.......that was too many pesos to count and got forbit we walked an extra 30 feet than we needed to.

The 4 days (sunday was traveling from 8am on we finally got settled in at home around 7pm) we were actully at the resort was plenty as we both missed Vinnie terribly! He stayed with Grandma Vic and Uncle Jeremey. He told me they all had a fabulous time and Uncle Jeremey didn't teach him anything too bad!

Unfortunately the week before we left we had a less than pleasant experience with our nanny. So we were nannyless the Monday before we left. We're back to nanny hunting. Grandma Vickie has been helping us out putting in some major overtime needless to say. My brother Jonathon will be coming to Memphis Monday and staying through the second week of May. He'll watch Vinnie during the day for us while we continue the nanny search. We're going to talk to his pediatrician too. He may be ok to start daycare although we would really rather not do that until he is 2.

Aunt Frankie is coming to Memphis today. She came to visit last year also when Vinnie was in the NICU. We're excited for her visit and to get to see Vinnie now! He's changed just a bit! When she was here last time he probably weighed about 4 lbs. She had bought him a limited edition sleeper. It was 9 month old size. At that time he probably could have fit into one of the legs, but it fits now!!!

Vinnie officially turned 9 months old on our wedding anniversary, March 29th. Today he is going to his 9 month check up and will also receive his final Synagis (rsv) shot for the season. He has been recieving them monthly since October. I don't think he'll miss the monthly shots and we certainly won't! Since he's getting bigger so has the shot and they had to start splitting it up into two shots, one in each leg. Poor bub.

Vinnie was just over 16 lbs at his last appointment so I expect he will be around the 17 lb mark today. He's growng quickly even more so in length! He is starting to roll over even more, pulling to sit, and gibber jabbering more. When he wakes up in the morning he doesn't cry to alert the world he is awake any more. Instead you will hear him "talking" to himself probably self preparing himself for the exciting day of baby food, Backyardigans, and Bumboing ahead. :)

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-03-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

A little messsage from Vinnie to his Uncle Jon:

Chatting With Daddy

2009-03-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

We always sit down with Vincent when we get home from work and talk about how his day was. He'll tell us all about it. On this occasion Joe and Vinnie where just telling each other hi before they got into some serious conversation :)

I had to stay off to the side when recording otherwise Vinnie got too distracted by the lady with the camera.

Cool Dude

2009-03-14T06:00:00.001-07:00

It was finally warm enough to take Vincent out and about for a while. It was also sunny enough for him to sport his cool shades from James. He actually liked the sunglasses and didn't try to take them off.

The first picture is Vincent's new favorite way to sleep. Everynight when we put him to bed we place him on his back. When we check on him 20 minutes later he has rolled over to his side.

He has been rocking and rolling a lot more. Our nanny put him under his gym and he rolled all the way off about 3 feet away. I guess he was on a mission. He is also becoming more vocal. At first it was hard to depict whether he was fussing or just chatting because he has found his screetch!!

Funny Video

2009-03-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

We finally caught Vinnie laughing on video. It is so funny and cute. He's the best :) Please excuse my performance on the video. It's baby talk with a little bit of cheesy goodness hehehe.

I found my feet!!!

2009-03-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Vinnie has just recently learned he has feet. Here is a little video of his discovery!!!!!

Rockin', Rollin', and Walkin'

2009-03-07T07:24:00.000-08:00

Vinnie is now big enought to debut his rolling stones onsie he got for christmas (thanks grandma). So as usual we had a little photo shoot. I know I have (litterally) thousands of pictures at this point, but Vinnie has become so acustomed that one of his favorite poses will forever be named "The Vinnie" pose. (see pic below)

Our March for Babies (march of dimes) walk is quickly approaching next month. Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has sponsored us so far:

Grandma Vicki
Uncle Jeremey
Phyllis
The Bott Family
Peggy

If you would still like to sponsor us or walk with us please go to www.marchforbabies.org You can search for our team "inVINCEable" by using our last name. The walk is April 25th at Shelby Farms.

He is loving the new highchair and his peaches of course :)

The true rocker spirit. Peace!

"The Vinnie" pose

Moving on Up

2009-03-05T19:58:00.000-08:00

I am so very happy to announce Vincent has now fully recovered from his bronchiolitus. It was a rough one, but he's a trooper. Hopefully he has boosted some immunity out of the whole ordeal.
Last week I took him in for his next to last Sygnis shot for the RSV season. He was supposed to get them monthly from Oct to March, but his pediatrician wants to be on the safe side and do one more just in case.

We are down to only a little over two months until we can take him out more in public. I think we'll always still be those germaphobe parents through everything, but their is worse habits than excessive Purell usage. I look forward to being able to do simple things like run to the store and not have to have someone over to watch him! I can't wait to show him the world generally :)

It seems like everyday he is doing something new! He's a pro at holding his little bottle now and we even saw him sleeping on his side which is extremely rare for him. It's so funny when he wakes up sometimes too. I'll take him to the changing table and he will be awake but have his eyes closed while adjusting to the light, but he'll have the biggest grin on his face.
We got the last and final piece of the "Vinnie's collection". His high chair arrived yesterday so we gave it a test ride today. He loved it!

Under The Weather

2009-02-15T06:16:00.000-08:00

This past week was a toughy for Vinnie. Last Thursday morning when we got up I noticed he had just a little cough. Being the parinoid person I am when it comes to my son I called his pediatrician. The pediatric group I take him to is a terrific group of doctors who each specialize in different aspects of preemie care. (one is cardiology, one lungs, etc) They were able to get us in with in the next hour.

When grandma vicki and I got him there he still wasn't too bad, but was a little more congested and his cough was getting raspy. Dr. Boone could hear congestion in his chest. They ran blood tests and a swab test for the dreaded RSV virus which would be most detrimental to him. Luckily his RSV test came back negative. She said the shot he receives each month, Sygnais, must be doing its job. His blood test did come back positive that he had a common virus which effects children with fever and congestion pretty much a cold. Since Vincent is a preemie his airways are smaller than a baby born at full term so even a cold is dangerous for him. Dr. Boone decided that he should have an x ray done to look at his lungs. Before that she had us give him two breathing treatments with a nebulizor of albuterol sulfate to see if that would help. She then listened to him each time after. It helped a little, but not enough. With his raised concern she sent us straight to Lebohner's Children Hospital Emergency Room. When I heard emergency room of course I had a slight moment of panic.

When we got to the ER people were waiting in line to park as the parking lot was full. Can you beleive it?! Later one of the nurses told me they have been extremely busy for the last two weeks with children coming in with symptoms like Vinnie. I pulled up to the front door and grandma Vic was nice enough to wait with the car for parking to open. We were able to get in rather quickly, but I was amazed by home many children were there. Naturally this made me parinoid though because I am a germiphobe and they could have something much worse than what Vinnie had and could give it to him. Everyone at the children's hospital was great and it was one of the shorter waits we have experienced. When we got back to the ER care area Vinnie was put in another one of the tiniest patient gowns in the world, was suctioned, and was put on oxygen for a little bit. He was already saturating 100%, but they put him on just in case since he was running a fever or 101.3, his breaths per minute was 65 (normal for his age is 28-36), and his heart rate was pushing 200 bpm. I think he was having flash backs when he was hooked up to all the machines. :) We took him in for the xray which was an experience I would never like to relive if possible. Now that he is older an mobile they have a device to hold babies still while taking the xray. It looks like a little tiny metal bicycle seat inside a ring. Two plasic peices then come around him while he is upright which is the length of his body and his arms were placed in the air. A strap is then secured to hold him in placed. He did not like this to say the least. His xrays came back and the ER doctor said that they looked pretty good. Nothing too threatening. They released us late that afternoon and told us to keep and eye on him and if he got worse to bring him back. The ER doctor determined he has bronchiolitus which is often paired with RSV but thank god he did not have RSV. He said since we caught is so early we were only into day one of the virus and it would get worst over the next 5 days and then should plataeu and start to get better over the next couple of weeks. It was amazing just through the day how fast his symptoms were progressing.

Saturday we took him back to his pediatrician as he was still breathing rather heavy, pulling hard with his chest, running a low grade fever, and his cough was REALLY raspy. She sent us home with a nebulizor. We give him breating treatments every 4 hrs, but other than that there is no medicine for a virus. He will have to fight it off himself. We do give him tylenol and motrin to control his fever. Our doctor told us that the office was packed all week with kids who had the same symptoms as Vinnie so it is definetely going around.

He's been doing pretty good all things considered. I keep telling him he's been through worse and to show that virus whose boss!!! :) Hopefully if he gets anything out of this it will be a little immunity. We have learned that no matter how much lysol, steam sanitizers, hand washes, purell, staying out of public, and so on that we do Vinnie is not completely exempt from getting sick.

In other news................

Vinnie will be 8 months old at the end of February. His consult with TEIS (tennessee early intervention services) went well to the point that after her evaluation she had to ask me where I thought he was lacking. He is almost caught up in many areas. Really he just needs more work with getting on that tummy so he can work on pushing up and eventually crawling in the next few months.

He is still on the preemie formula which has added calories. Since he is on the charts and is 16 lbs I imagine he will come off this soon and switch to regular formula. The preemie formula is not any more expensive than regular formula, but it only comes in the small size. He goes through about two of these a week. Even though he has been under the weather he has still been eating like a champ. His new favorite is peaches. He eats three to four containers of baby food a day along with his formula, juices, and now under the recommendation of his doctor water. He's pretty close to being able to hold the little bottles we use on his own.

6 month old clothes are fitting him nearly perfect now. The 6/9 month clothes fit him, but are a little long.

Our 16 pound baby

2009-02-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

Can you beleive it? Vinnie Joe is officially 16 lbs! His new fav is looking at himself in a little toy mirror we got for his crib. He likes to lay in there and have long conversations about life with himself. His reflection must tell jokes too because he is laughing also. He is starting to giggle not just screeches anymore. It is so cute. when I capture it on video I'll add it to the blog.

Joe and I will be embarking on the fine task of house shopping soon. We are busting at the seams and running out of nooks and crannies in our current house to tuck things away. Our living room has been consumed with the fisher price jungle collect of a bouncy activity chair, the gym, the bouncy chair, and the swing. It is quite the sight to see. It's vinnie's little gym :) We will be looking in Southaven, MS.

Other than that Vinnie has just been doing what he does best. Being cute and rediculously good looking!

We found a new home.....at blogger :)

2009-01-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

Whew! It has been a very busy new year at our house. Unfortunately my posts on this blog has suffered the brunt of our busy schedule
Little Vinnie is not so little anymore! He is about 15 and 1/2 pounds now. At his 6 month check up he officially made it on the charts. This means he was in the area for weight and length with full term 6 month olds even though he is gestationally 3 months younger than them. He is in the tenth percentile on the charts.
The “percentile” for babies is similar to BMI for adults. It is a way of telling you if your baby is a healthy weight and also if they are growing properly. Babies should not go below the 5th or above the 95th percentile or risk major health problems. The growth charts show us the statistical distribution of weight, height , etc. in a particular set of babies (or children or adults). So if a baby is in the 50th percentile for weight on the CDC charts, it means that half of the babies of the same age in the US are heavier and half are lighter; if a baby is in the 10th percentile for height, then 90% of babies of the same age in the US are taller and 10% are shorter. What doctors are generally looking for on a growth chart is that baby stay relatively consistent in their growth pattern.
Joe took Vincent to his 6 month check up so when our pediatrician told him Vinnie was in the 10th percentile he thought this meant he was in the Top 10. It was cute. Neither of us really knew what it meant until we did our research. Oh the things you learn with children. Vinnie is still #1 in our book though
Vincent is still going to physical therapy at Baptist Pediatric Rehab. On Monday a pediatric physical therapist from T.E.I.S. (tennessee early intervention system) will be coming to our house for a consult and evaluation. After that she will then come to our house once a week to work with him. He has already made great progress with his current therapy, the work we have done with him, and the work our nanny has done. I know with the addition of TEIS he is just going to take off.
My mom left in December to go back to Nebraska. We were sad to see her go after her three month stay and nervous about having a new nanny. I am so very happy to report Kristen has been nothing less than excellent. He is always happy to see her and they get along so well. She works with him daily on his motor skills, reads to him, and makes us feel at ease leaving our little angel with her. Vinnie’s grandma Vic watches him on Thursday’s and Friday’s. She does so much for us too. If I started naming off everything you would be reading this blog all day. She spoils him rotten.
This month I have had to spend extended periods of time away from Vinnie. My grandfather (my moms dad) passed away in the beginning of January. He was a wonderful man who lived a long life with large loving family. He had nine children, too many grandchildren for me to even count right now, and 6 great grandchildren including Vinnie. Although he never met Vinnie in person I sent him pictures often and he was in Memphis while I was about three months pregnant with him. I was lucky to have a grandpa like him and will have many stories to share with my son someday. The last time I saw my grandpa Clete was at our wedding last march. It was a wonderful way to remember him. We had our last dance and he still had the moves too! He is now in heaven with my grandma who he missed so much. Their lifetime of love is such an inspiration to me. You will be missed Grandpa Clete.
I was in Nebraska for 5 days. It was great to see all of my family, but I missed Vinnie (and Joe) terribly. I would call and Joe would put the phone up to Vinnie so I could talk to him and he did his little coo’s for a bit, but mostly just slobbered on Joe’s phone. When I got back I was in Memphis for 6 days after getting back from Nebraska and then headed to NJ for 5 days for work. Vinnie is getting tired of my millions of kisses already.