Our Sweet Little Boy

Laughing, Smiling, a baby with love and joy. He is a joy that I never new would make me smile and laugh so much everyday. The Lord blesses us everyday with Seth progressing into a littlle young man.
5 months old

Jake and Hannah
Laughing at mommy

Watching Jake and Hannah play in the tank


My little Bradley

He starts out on the frog mat and wiggles down


Enjoying his new toy we got him!!

Seth Matthew 4 1/2 months

It has now been 3 weeks since his surgery and he is doing great. The stitches in his head have came out and his little tummy has healed well. He had his 4month check up on Monday and Dr Watts said he is doing great. He had to get 4 shots. Not fun!!
Weight 16lbs 2ounces
Height 26 1/4 inches

He is rolling over from his tummy to his back and sucking on his thumb, fingers, and whatever else he can get to his mouth.
He loves:
to be rocked and sang to
his jumper(sometimes even jumps himself to sleep)
laying on his play mat
his portable crib with a frog that sings and lights up
to listen while you talk
laughing at everything even out loud giggles
and attention he does not like when you walk out of the room

He is starting to squil very loud. Bradley and I are hoping it does not last long.

Bradley and I are doing great. Bradley is very busy which we are thankful for in his type of work. I am loving staying home with Seth. Sometimes would like a break, but am very thankful that I can stay at home with him he is our little blessing.

Our Awesome God

On January 21,2011 Seth had a little cough and stuffy nose. Bradley and I decided I needed to take him to the doctor to make sure he did not have anything more than just a cold before the weekend came. Our appointment was at 10:30 to see Dr Watts here in Granbury. Seth weighed 16lbs and just had a little cold, but Dr Watts said she wanted to measure his head. It measured 47.5 in circumference and at 2 months it had measured 42.5. His head had grown tremendously since his last apt. Dr. Watts told me not to worry, but she wanted to send us to Radiology at Cooks Children's in Ft. Worth. So I called Bradley and he picked us up and we headed to Cooks. They did a sonogram on his soft spot, and then we waited in the waiting room for about two hours anticipating the call from Dr. Watts. She said that Seth had fluid on his brain and a Neurologist would be coming down to talk to us shortly. They would probably be admitting him and do and MRI and surgery to have a VP schunt put into his brain to drain the fluid. When the Nurse Practitioner of the Neurologist came in she said that he was not showing any signs or symptoms of this so we would go ahead and do a MRI and schedule the surgery for Tuesday morning to have the schunt put in. Seth did great for his MRI he slept thru the whole thing Thank you Lord for that. The MRI did show that there was blockage where the fluid could not drain down his spine so the schunt was what he needed.
After making calls to the family we went home and kept a close eye on Seth all weekend hoping for no symptoms before Tuesday. Dad, Mom, Charles, and Pam all headed this way, and we all spent the weekend loving and spoiling Seth. Monday we had Pre-op at 1:00. They did blood work and his vein rolled so tried again and got it. Poor Baby! The surgery was going to be at 7:30 so we needed to be to the hospital at 5:
30 to get an IV started so antibiotics could run for an hour before surgery.
It was a long night for everyone just waiting for the alarm to go off. We left Granbury at about 4:20 and headed to Cooks Children's. They did an IV in his right , the vein rolled again. Tried the left hand and started IV. Seth has started sucking his thumb so when the IV started he went to suck his thumb and it was taped down. Broke mommy and daddy's heart. A hungry baby with an IV in his hand waiting for surgery. At about 7:20 they took him from me and rolled him down the hall. He was hungry and crying and I just wanted to go with him. Bradley and I went to the waiting room to wait with family. Every second praying for the Seth, the doctors, Nurses, and anesthesiologist. Bradley and I could not stand being away from our baby. Dr. Roberts came and talked to us at about 8:50 and said the surgery went great. Thank you Lord! We would be able to see our baby soon. About 15min later they called us back to recovery and Seth was slowly waking up. He tried to eat a little, but was to sleepy so I just held him and we rocked. The hospital was overflowing with patients so they put us in the NICU overflow hoping we would get a room that afternoon. We did not get a room. It was a long night of walking and rocking he was very sore. The schunt went in behind his ear down his neck and chest and ended in his abdomen where the fluid will drain. It is all right under the skin. Two incisions one above his ear and one on his tummy. Dr Roberts came in Wednesday morning at 7:00 and said we could go home, but before he let us go he wanted us to speak with a Neuro-Oncologist. On the MRI it shows the blockage, but since his brain is still so small they are not sure what it is that is blocking the valve. It could be brain tissue or possibly a small benign tumor. So the Oncologist came and showed us the MRI. As Seth gets older we will have MRI's and CT scans to watch for this and hopefully it is just tissue. We got home around 12:00 and rested the afternoon. Seth is doing Great! Everyday he is getting better. Laughing, Smiling, and enjoying being home. Now we just watch him for any signs that the shunt gets infected, or stopped up. Hopefully this schunt will last forever with no blockage. Everyday Bradley and I pray giving this to Lord knowing that he has a plan, and his hands are all over Seth. We thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers. So blessed that he had a little cold and we caught this before there were any symptoms. We Love you all!

Venison in the making

Last Saturday Bradley went hunting and killed a doe. Every year Bradley kills a deer so we can make some good venison sausage. Last night we had a venison making party. Chad, Laura and the kids came over and we chopped up cheese, jalapenos, bacon and venison and made sausage. It was a long night, but we had fun. Alexis my oldest niece was great with Seth and helped out so much. She fed him and then got him to sleep. What a good cousin. Hannah and Hayes watched movies and were so good while mommy and daddy helped us. Hayes wanted to hold Seth and it was so sweet. Hannah was watching tv and did not ask to hold him until he had gone to sleep so next time she gets to hold him first. It was a long night, but we have good venison sausage to show for it. Thanks Chad and Laura for your help.

Visit from Grana

Bradley's mom came down last weekend to see Seth. We had a good weekend just hanging out around the house. Pam fed Seth some yummy cereal. Then later we put him in his entertainer and he went to sleep bouncing. We had a good weekend. Thanks Pam for coming to visit

Loving some cereal

Seth is growing up so fast. Our pediatrician wanted us to introduce a spoon to him before we came to his four month check up. Considering that is in two weeks we decided to see how he would do. He did great we made a mess but he got the hang of it.
We have been doing some tummy time trying to start rolling over. I took a picture of him holding his head up while doing tummy time and right after the picture was taken he turned over mommy was very proud of him. He is very vocal cooing and awwing all the time. He loves to talk to you for long periods of time and loves attention.