Life Lately

I noticed I had not updated the blog in a while, so I thought I would for all of you who are not on FB and may not know what all the Young's have been up to. Yesterday Luke had surgery in Huntsville. We are trying to get that ring finger on his right hand to bend down. The doctor had told us going into the surgery that he wouldn't know what he would have to do until he got in there. We know that he needs a tendon graph, but we didn't know if it would have to be phased (as in do some reconstruction first and then come back for part 2) or if he could do the tendon graph as is. Well, the doctor said he didn't have much of a "pulley system" in there and so he is having to do the phased tendon graph. He put the rod/pipe (whatever it is) in there yesterday and then we will go back in 3-6 mths and try the tendon graph. He will then have to do some therapy and hopefully be good to go after that. That is the plan at least. So, there is the update on Luke.

Andrew is doing just fine. We go to Chicago for his first surgery Jan 17th. (Exactly a mth from Luke's) Nothing new to report there. Here are a few pictures off my phone that I thought I would share.

This child keeps falling asleep in the jumper. Cracks me up for some reason. He will wake up every now and then and do a few jumps and back to sleep he will go. HA!

Luke fell asleep like this the other night. He was mad at me about something (OH, he broke a Xmas ornament and I fussed at him) and he was in the floor pouting and then I look over and this is how he was. This was at 5:00PM and he slept until 7AM the next day. He never woke up.

Lauren sent me this picture. I just thought it was cute.

I LOL Saturday when Luke came out of his room dressed like this. So I made him let me take his picture. Engineer in the making my friends!

We took Luke to his first college football game Saturday. We went to the division 2 national championship game at UNA. He loved it!

Getting him ready for AU football next year! (And Mimi says some UA football, yeah yeah whatever)

And here we are again. This was Sunday after church.

Luke before surgery. Thanks to Mrs. Blankenship for the AU football/tiger!

Killing time before surgery.

All dressed in the gown.

Uncle Charlie came to see us before surgery! Luke loves Uncle Charlie.

This was in the recovery room. Usually parents don't get to go in during this time, but since he was a "baby/kid" they came and got me and I was able to be there when he woke up. I know now why parents don't like to see their child wake up. It will break your heart.

BUT, it didn't take long and he was getting back to normal and we were released to go home.

Waiting for the nurse to wheel us down.

At home resting peacefully! He slept from the ride home (5:00PM) until 8:30 AM today!

He is doing great today! Hasn't even had to have ANY pain meds!! Go Luke!!

Luke's First PE Program

Luke had his first PE program last night. The K4 group did great! I said last night, this is what we are going to be doing for the next 18 plus years! I LOVE to go to events that Luke does. To see the joy on their faces when they get to be the center of attention for a few minutes is priceless! You could tell they all thought they were the stuff. Luke said last night, "Mommy, there were waaaaay more people than I EVER thought!" Cracked me up! Here are a few pictures from the night.

Walking out to the music playing

Getting in position

Still getting in position

Part of the routine

Walking back off the court after it was over

Apparently Luke is still clapping for himself! Cute!

Andrew is just happy to be there. (Probably thinking "I wish this would hurry and be over so I can have another bottle")

K4 class waiting for the next group to come out.

Juju and Luke after the show

Mimi and Luke after the show

Grandaddy, Mimi and Luke after the show

Showing out

Andrew went to sleep during the program.

Yes, me and Jud were there also. LOL! Here is the picture to prove it.

Happy Halloween!

I was just going to share with you all something I read about Halloween. I get the weekly e-mails from Scott Stoner at the living compass. This week it had this little paragraph in there that I thought you all might find interesting. I didn't not research this, so I am just assuming it is correct. From Scott:

Some people may not know that Halloween has a religious origin.  All Saints Day is a Christian holy day that is celebrated on November 1 every year.  It is a day when the Church celebrates the lives of the great saints who have been exemplars of the faith.  All Saints Day has also been known as All Hallows Day.  The word hallow means holy or sacred, as in the line from the Lord's Prayer, "hallowed be your name."   The word Halloween, then, is a contraction of the words "hallows eve."  And so Halloween always occurs on October 31, the eve of All Hallows Day, of All Saints Day.

The first few weeks with Andrew!

I was looking at some pictures on my phone and thought I would put some in a blog. These are pretty much just some pictures I have snapped over the past few weeks. Andrew is a good baby for the most part. He only wakes up once during the night to eat. Usually around 3:30 or so. Then he gets up around 7:00ish to eat again, but we get up at 6:00 to go to work, so it's no biggie. His fussy time is at night. For some reason every night around 7:00-10:00 he is fussy.

We have his first surgery scheduled for January 17th in Chicago. This will be to put his first set of tissue expander's (TE) in. We will probably be in Chicago for about 2 weeks and then we will come home. He will wear these TE for 12 weeks, with us filling them each week. Of course this is assuming he doesn't have any complications during this time and we have to go have them taken out. From what I see in the support group that I am in is that there is hardly ever a round where there are no complications/problems. We just hope that we can work though whatever comes up and we don't have to have the TE removed. Wish us luck! Also, his next surgery is already scheduled for April 8th to take the TE out and begin removing the nevus. That is where we are right now with the surgeries.

He will have his MRI in November sometime. That will put him at 4 mths old and they want you to be between 3-6 mths old. They will have to put him to sleep for this and it will probably take about 1.5 hrs to do all the scanning they have to do. It takes 45 min just to scan the brain. Then they have to scan the spine, bump on his nose and fatty spot on his back.

Some of you have asked about having his finger and toes surgery, the doctor wants to wait until he is around a year old. I am not sure when we will be able to "squeeze" that one in. We will just have to play it by ear and see how the TE is going. I hate to put him through another (BIG) surgery during his 4 mths off from TE, but I also don't want him to be 4-5 years old and still have his fingers and toes stuck together. They like to do the surgery while they are young before they start using their hands a lot. Luke's surgery was done at 3 mths old, but I am NOT doing Andrews that young. That was too young in my opinion looking back. SO, check back on the finger/toe surgery.

Speaking of Luke, he is going to have another surgery on his finger that doesn't bend. We are going to do a tendon graph and see if we can help him bend it. It is a "good" finger, but doesn't have the tendon needed to bend it. We have been to the doctor and we are good to go whenever we want to. Jud and I think we will try and do his surgery over x-mas. We want to get it done before he starts K, but he is in pre K right now and has already had a cast on for 5 weeks. The surgery will be on his right hand, so it will be cast back up for who knows how long. If we can do the surgery over x-mas break, maybe that will help some with pre K. Plus, I don't want him to have a cast on during the summer b/c he can't swim or anything.

I hope that I have updated you all. That is all I can think of at this time. It is easier to write a long blog than to have to repeat it 100 times. HA! Keep us in your prayers!

One of my new favorite verses:

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

 Taken after Andrews first Sunday AM at church

 Luke's first time to hold Andrew in the hospital

Just hanging out in our bed one AM

 My first time to hold Andrew

Daddy and Andrew in the hospital

Just getting fatter and fatter! LOL!

Brotherly love!

Bear hug!  :)

After a bath

Thinking "yeah I'm that cute!"

War Eagle! Andrew and AU have been doing the same thing during the games this yr! (sleeping!)

Lauren on a stroll with Andrew

Andrew's Arrival and What is a Giant Nevus?

Andrew was born on July 18th, 2012. Everything went great. It is much easier the 2nd time around since you know what to expect.  Andrew was born with what is called a Giant Bathing Trunk Nevus, with additional satellite nevi. He is one in half a million. We had NO idea he had this. You cannot see it in an ultrasound. There is nothing that they know of that causes it, it is just a (or one in half a million) chance that your child will have it. There are many words you could use to describe how we felt (worried, shocked, disappointed, scared, etc) when we found out, but I will just use the word SHOCKED! We may still be a little shocked to tell you the truth. At least I am.

I knew that something was wrong as soon as Dr. A pulled him out (I had a c-section). No one was saying anything. I kept saying why isn't he crying (which turns out he did, so that was no big deal). But Jud wasn't answering any of my questions and everyone was just quiet. The anesthesiologist kept telling me "you have a beautiful baby boy" over and over. I asked Dr. A if he had syndactly (which we expected since me and Luke both have it), and he said yes, so I just thought all the quietness was people looking at that.

Now remind you, I had a c-section so all I can see is a blue sheet in my face. OK...so I hear Dr. H (the pediatrician) say to Jud "I don't know I have never seen this before!" That is when my heart sank. He has been doing this for 20-30 years and he says that! I knew then it was something big. FINALLY, Jud came over and told me "he just has a large birthmark across his waist." That is about all I remember because I think the anesthesiologist knocked me out at this point b/c I went to sleep and slept during the rest of the c-section (which I didn't do for Luke, I just layed there and talked to the doctors during Luke's).

So, there is the short story of the arrival. I have since made some friends whose kids have nevus's as well and are going through the removal process. I am attaching one of my (new) friends blog post she did explaining what a nevus is. She did a much better job than I could. The picture at the end shows part of Andrew's back. It wraps around to his stomach as well. He also has lots of additional satellite nevi over his entire body.

So here is my friends post. She wrote this when her son was the same age as Andrew. Her blog is http://journeyswithjoshua.blogspot.com/ if you want to see her son now:

Mommy and daddy spent the first couple of weeks after I was born seeing doctor after doctor so that they could learn all about my condition, and determine if it could be treated. They are happy for me to share the information they have learned with you.

So, by now you're probably asking, "Exactly what is a Congenital Melanocytic Nevus?" Mommy and daddy certainly were, because they had never heard of it before I was born either. Indeed, this condition cannot be predicted in pregnancy, so the first they learned of it was when I was born. Well, I'm about to give you all the goods on this special skin that I was born with, and just to satisfy your curiosity, I'll include a picture. Mommy says to warn you that it is rather graphic, being on my rear end and all. So I'll put the photo at the bottom of this post in case you'd rather not look.
Ah ha! Caught you -- you looked! Well, let me first say that it's not as bad as it looks. First of all, it doesn't hurt me. Second, no, I don't mind you looking. When I go to the doctor, a bunch of student doctors come in just to check out my behind. It makes me feel so special. And how else will you learn about CMNs if you don't know what it looks like? Finally, I feel very fortunate, because my CMN is small enough to be removed. There are lots of others out there with a CMN over a much larger part of their body, and those cannot be treated.

Ok, so now it's time for CMN 101. A CMN is basically a giant mole. It is dangerous because it could become malignant, developing melanoma. As I said before, my CMN is borderline between the Large and Giant classification, which has a 0-10% risk of melanoma. That is why it is so important that I get it removed. No one knows exactly what causes it, either. Now, here's some shocking information -- a Giant CMN only occurs in 1 in 500,000 births! See how special I am? I'm 2 in a million!

A CMN has several parts. There is usually the large part, like the one on my back and bottom (although it can be anywhere on a person's body). My dermatologist calls this "the mothership." Then there are "satellites," which are (on me) the smaller circular sized ones above the mothership and on my thighs. I have a lot of satellites, and most of them won't be removed. So far, the majority just look like little freckles, and I hardly notice them.

Then, there is a much more difficult aspect of a CMN -- a condition called Neurocutaneous Melanocytosis (NCM), which is a serious neurological disorder. This happens when satellites develop on the brain and/or spine. We won't know if I have this until I undergo an MRI, which the doctors won't do until I am three months old because they have to put me under general anesthesia. My MRI is scheduled for August 5 -- concidentally, my three month birthday. If you'd like to throw an extra prayer my way, I won't mind. But so far, the doctor has no reason to believe I have NCM. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and prayers going, though.

Here are a few other interesting facts about my CMN:

* I have TWO, count 'em TWO, DNA profiles -- my regular one and my nevus one. Bet you didn't think that was possible!

* I have no sweat glands in my nevus skin. So mommy has to watch that I don't get overheated, especially living in sunny Arizona.

* My nevus skin is very delicate and can easily get hurt so I have to be careful with it. Good thing it's mostly on my bottom!

Ok, now the question is, "How does a doctor remove this thing?" You won't believe it! The science behind the surgery is so impressive, and I am excited to be a part of medical history here. The process is called Tissue Expansion. First, "expanders" will be placed under my skin in a couple of places (probably over my lovehandals -- even though I technically don't have those yet!). The expanders are like balloons, which my mommy and daddy will slowly fill with saline over 12 weeks' time. This will stretch my good skin out nice and far. When the 12 weeks are over, the doctor will take out the expanders and cut off part of the CMN, stretching the new skin to cover it. Isn't that amazing? The doctor says I will probably have to repeat this procedure at least twice, and then will maybe need some reconstruction after that. So, it's looking like 4 surgeries for sure, probably 5, and possibly 7. Let's hope for no more than 5! The good thing is that the first four should be done before my second birthday, and I'll never remember them.

Well, that is a lot of information for me to share right now. I hope you have enjoyed learning about it as much as I've enjoyed teaching you. I am so blessed, because my mommy and daddy found me the best surgeon in the world (that is no exaggeration), and they will be taking me to his hospital in Chicago for my surgeries. So don't worry too much about me ... I'm in excellent hands.

New Car and Pool

On Tuesday we bought a new Honda pilot. We are getting ready for Andrew's arrival! Jud drove a truck and two car seats would not fit safely in it, so he is going to drive the accord and we will sell the truck. SO, if anyone is interested in buying his truck let us know! Below are a couple of pictures I took when we went to pick Luke up at Judy's. Luke loves the new car b/c it has a "climber" (aka step stool to get in). HA!

Luke LOVES to play outside! I'm just glad there is a fan on our porch outside because I think I would die otherwise. We go play about every day when we get home from daycare/work. Someone left this kiddie pool at our house and I will be john brown if it is not Luke's favorite thing to do these days! Isn't that how it goes, you spend all this money on toys and then they like the thing you would least expect. Anyhow, below are a few pictures from playing last night. He runs and jumps in the pool as you can see in the first picture.

Happy 4th Birthday Luke!!

We had Luke's birthday party at Forrest Jumps last night. He was beside himself all night. He would never go to sleep for wanting to talk about it and play with all his toys. The was by far the best age so far for a birthday. He knew that it was all about him. Here are a few of the pictures from the night. 

His cake that JuJu (Judy) made

Cupcakes that Mimi (my Mom) made

Ashley about to drop Colt down the slide!

There he goes!

This picture cracked me up! Not sure what Griffin thought about the slide!

Luke and Max

Lane looks like he is singing!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday!

Blowing out candles. Looks like Max is helping also.  :)

Family photo at the end of the night. Luke is in heaven and the rest of us are just wanting to go to bed! LOL!