Thursday, January 10, 2008

Grayson's 2007 Year in Review


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Its hard to believe that another year has passed and soon Grayson will be two! We have had so much fun with him.....he continues to amaze us, entertain us and keep us on our toes. Grayson is such a good little boy....we are truly blessed to have him in our lives. I thought I would take the time to make a collage of 100 pictures from 2007 and review all of our excitement. I kind of got a little misty going through some of the old photos.....time has flown by...next thing we know he'll be starting school! By the way....I mainly did this recap for myself just so I would have record of things. So, if you get bored....sorry!



January:

We attend Uncle Gary's retirement party at the Lodge.

Grayson starts crawling towards the end of the month.

Mom and dad start the Capital City 1/2 Marathon training group (pushing Grayson)


February:

We get snow! Grayson enjoys going on walks with mom and dad down to the lake.
Happy 32nd birthday daddy!

March:

Cailen lets us borrow her backpack carrier....this frees us up to do more hiking.

Grandad comes to visit early in the month. Grayson hangs out with Grandad while mom and dad do their training run.....this is good bonding time for them.
Mom turns 30! Mojitos for everyone!
April:

Grandma Tammy comes during Easter time. Grayson gets good and spoiled from Grandma!


We spend Easter at Papa's house...we actually get a little sun for awhile.

May:
*This was a big month.....hence, the novel.
Grammie comes to visit for Grayson's birthday. However, the week she comes, Grayson gets really sick with impetigo and a systemic Staph infection (Scarletina). This was the scariest thing we've gone through with Grayson....since we didn't know what was going on it made it terrifying. We all thought he was having an allergic reaction to something until it the rash on his face kept getting worse and went on for too long. Slight rash (looked like eczema) started on a Wednesday evening.....I called the pediatrician Thursday....she had me use hydrocortisone on it. We continue to treat it like an allergy/eczema but by Saturday afternoon Grayson was really not doing well. I told dad to come over Saturday evening to look at him because I thought it looked like puppy strangles (which is a Staph infection puppies can get). Dad agreed and said he would be going to a doctor's retirement party....and would ask the doctors there. By the evening time Grayson did not want to be picked up at all....was really painful.....sunburned looking skin....hot to the touch....and overall was miserable. Me being the freakazoid researcher I had to get myself all the more worried by finding all sorts of horrible diseases that it could be. Dad called me later and said that the doctors thought it sounded like impetigo and for us to go into the walkin clinic the next morning. I couldn't wait till morning, so I called the pediatrician again and got the nurse on call from the hospital.....she went through all the symptoms with me while we tried to "diagnose" or determine if we needed to go to the ER that night or not. She was having a tough time with his symptoms since he didn't have any fever.....most of the diseases (Scarlet fever, etc) come with a high fever. So we waited and went through another horrible night of sleeping (or not) and got to the walkin clinic before the doors opened....we were the first to check in. The doctor there agreed with impetigo and prescribed topical antibiotics (no orals) but believed the "sunburned" red skin was an allergic reaction. Both Heath and I didn't feel real confident about not going home with antibiotics, but trusted her judgement. However, by that night I wanted to kill that doctor and we decided that we would go in first thing to our own pediatrician. We totally did not believe we were dealing with an allergy. All through this I kept making myself more crazy by doing more reading on diseases.....and came up with Toxic shock syndrome.....yikes! By the way this was the day that we were to have Grayson's first birthday party....which also happened to be Mother's Day. Heath felt bad that he didn't get anything for me....but I told him that all I wanted was for my baby to be well. The next day we went to our doctor and she concurred with our thoughts.....she believed he had a systemic infection. She took a sample of the yucky crusts that had formed on his face to see if it was Staph or Strep. She prescribed us a kick-ass antibiotic (Clindamycin)....which tastes like crap, but is a great broad spectrum antibiotic. By that evening we started thinking that Grayson was feeling a bit better. This whole time he had to be held and rocked and just tried to help him feel better. The next day we went in for a recheck and by then our doctor felt that he was looking better. We thought so also. The culture showed that he had a Staph infection (which is consistent with a Scarlett Fever that doesn't have a fever....called Scarletina). By Wednesday he was playing, smiling and was acting more himself.....probably about 90% better. This was our deciding point at this time on whether or not we would keep our trip to Oregon for my cousin's graduation. Our doctor said that as long as he was doing well, she saw no reason not to go. I believe we left on Thursday and flew down to Oregon. Our poor little boy was by then peeling on his face from healing and was starting to peel all over his body (again...like a sunburn). We were very glad to get out and go do something fun...Grayson had a great time with all his family too. Poor Grammie didn't get to celebrate Grayson's birthday with him. We were really glad she was with us during the sick times though...she was a wonderful help!
Grayson has his first birthday party (on May 18th) while we were in Vale, OR. He eats cake for the first time!
Cousin Lee graduates from high school!
Grayson's birthday party (in Yelm) was rescheduled for Memorial Day weekend (Sunday). He has many family members and friends to share his day with. He gets to eat more cake....but really didn't get very messy. He gets a lot of good gifts....including a custom made toybox, a bike carrier (for mom and dad to pull), books, toys and clothes.
Oh.....through all of the chaos when Grayson was sick, he took his first steps on his own. He actually took a good tumble and fell on the coffee table, scraping up his head....adding to the lovely looking impetigo. By the time we were in Oregon, he takes several steps on his own.
June:
We all attend our annual Pacific Crest Endurance Weekend in Sunriver, OR....for races.
Grayson and mom join the Olympia mom's meetup group....we start going to meetups at the parks.....making new friends (for both of us).
Grayson is walking very well through the month of June.
July:
We all attend cousin's weekend at Whidbey Island. Grayson gets to play with his cousins who are his own age....this is the first time meeting.
Annual clinic beach party at Pacific Beach. Grayson loves playing in the sand....and eating it!
August:
Many summertime activites continue....playing at the lake, outside in the water...inviting friends over for trips to the Farm, etc.
Mom does her first triathlon!
September:
Mom and dad celebrate their 5th anniversary....by doing a triathlon (in the freezing cold)!
Grayson and mom travel to Texas at the end of the month to visit all the family.
Grayson meets his Grannie and Bibi for the first time. We had a terrific time!
Grayson gets his first cold while in Texas which made the flight home pretty interesting.....remember the puking incident!? (if not.....go back to my Sept blog)
October:
We all travel to Portland to cheer on Jim and others for the Portland marathon.
Grayson plays in his first street band!
Grayson picks out his pumpkin in Papa's garden.
We enjoy wonderful sunny weather this month!
Grayson dresses up as an injured dog for Halloween.
November:
We travel to Vale, Oregon for Thanksgiving!
December:
Read below :) Whew...I'm done! Its hard to go back and try to remember. I think the key is to write in a journal or something. Wow...what a concept!


3 comments:

Brian & Kara said...

Not at all boring...I just about died laughing at the nose-picking picture! I'm so glad you put that on there.

Brian & Kara said...

p.s.~ I didn't know you did a triathalon. Do you think you'll do more or stick to running? How was the swim in the cold weather? I think I would have crammed into a dry suit and just floated along with everyone elses momentum.

The Brights said...

I was really nervous about doing a triathlon...with the swimming part. But once I got into a wetsuit and swam in that I felt better. Then in the race it ended up being my favorite part....I came out of the water smiling. The water in the first one wasn't really cold, but the 2nd one was in Enumclaw at the end of sept and it was so bloody cold! I won't do that race again....too cold in the water and too cold outside! I was numb until the 2nd leg of the run. But, I did kind of get used to the water during the swim after the initial shock. Anyway.....once I've done them, I'm totally hooked and plan on doing a bunch this summer. The ft. Lewis ones are great because they aren't too long and it was warmer out.