A Wonderful Fall Weekend in WI

This past weekend we took our last trip up to my families place in WI (the farm as we call it) for the season. Matt and I always love going up in the fall, and it has actually been 3 years since we have done so, it was nice to be back in the crisp fall weather with all the trees changing, and of course the yummy apples and apple cider that fall brings.

We left on Friday after Logan’s OT session, and of course after we were up on the expressway, luckily not to far, I had realized we did not have Logan’s Ducky, so back home we turned to get it. There was no way we were going to brave a weekend without Logan’s lovie! So we got up there later than planned but no worries.

Friday night was interesting however, Logan has been fighting a cold and it was in the coughing at night stage last weekend so with the heat and smoke from the fireplace and wood stove it was making Logan cough. He woke up at 2:30 I think and would not go back to bed, the coughing was keeping him up. So we bundled him up and ourselves and went out for a drive in hopes the cold air and the dive would put Logan back to sleep, which it did. Matt drove us all over, it was really foggy so we were glad we had our GPS or we would have been lost in the country up there. When we got back to the farm, we did not want to wake up Logan so we kept the car running and slept in the car for over an hour. I got to see the sun start coming up over the hills of our property which would have been romantic of Matt was up, but he was happily asleep next to me. Once we went back in the house Logan feel right asleep so we did get a little more sleep which was nice.

Saturday we picked apples from our own apple trees. Matt did most of it, and Logan was helping of course. Logan loves apples so he a few while the picking was going on. Logan loved climbing up and down the ladder, and wanted to get up in the tree with Daddy.

Later on Saturday we went out to Gays Mills, a town full of apple orchards, in which we stopped at two, to get some yummy salsa’s, cider, apple pie & other wonderful fall treats. Logan was sleeping through most of the fun though, but that is OK, he was tired.

Logan had fun being outside all weekend, running around, exploring, and doing some 4 wheeling! It was a nice relaxing weekend, after the crazy birthday weekend the week before. All good things come to an end though and Sunday we headed home, with a detour in Dundee so I could make my skating lesson, Logan got to watch some figure skaters and he seemed some what interested for a brief moment. Next year he can get out on the ice with Mommy!

Neurology Update

Logan's neurology evaluation will be November 3rd at 10am at Lutheran General's Children's Hospital. I was recommended to a great neurologist that works out of LGH by a Mommy friend of mine, but she was booked until December 15th, which was way to long for us to wait. Their next free appointment with another neurologist was November 24th, but as we were talking, she had a cancellation pop up for November 3rd with one of the neurologists from the practice that I was recommended to, so we took it. We are thankful that we won't have to wait too long for answers this time. People have been asking what the possible issues are, and the first issue which was brought up a year ago would be fluid on the brain which is called hydrocephalus. The other possible problems that were brought up were genetic syndromes and brain structure abnormalities. Logan's sudden jump off of his distinct head size curve along with his developmental delays are what is prompting the evaluation. Of course the two issues are most likely we hope, not related and Logan just takes after Matt in head size. We would have done this after his 18 month appointment but it was not seen as necessary at the time because he was still following his own head size curve that he had been on since birth. We trust Logan's doctor 100% and are very glad she is proactive about the situation. She was right on about his developmental delays, and was always mindful and making sure we were following up with Logan's former cardiologist. Several people have asked if we are going to get a second opinion, and the answer to that is no. It would always be in the back of our head and we don't want to live like that, always wondering what if. Please keep Logan in your prayers that the evaluation won't lead to a CT scan and if it does that nothing is found to be wrong.

Logan's 2 Year Check-Up

I took Logan for his 2 yr check-up today and other than his developmental delays that we know about, his doctor was once again concerned about his head size (for those that don't remember he has always had a large head but he has been off the chart since before he was a year) and he is no longer following his curve his head size jumped way up and off his curve at 53 1/2 cm. This jump in size along with his developmental delays is concerning her again and she wants him to be evaluated by a neurologist and let him/her decide wether or not he needs the CT scan to check for fluid/brain structure issues (which is what she wanted to have done after his 18 month if there was a significant jump but there wasn't)
She started asking me all these questions about my pregnancy/delivery with Logan and stuff about our families, so I know she is way more concerned than the first time she brought it up. She started talking about possible genetic issues etc, and then at the same time it could be nothing, since Matt has a HUGE head.
She told me the best neurologist's are at Children's Memorial downtown, but I asked her if there are good ones at Lutheran General as that is where he has always gone for speciality stuff and obviously was born there and I would rather keep all is medical information and care at one hospital. So we are going to give LGH a try first we have always been happy with the care both Logan and myself have gotten there and I know they have a great children's hospital and not to mention it's only five minutes away from us.

Please say a prayer for Logan, he doesn't deserve this or anything else he has gone through in his short 2 years.
Other stats: 31.5 pounds 37 3/4 height (she also made a comment about his height and was asking how tall Matt is and the men in our family are, he was 34 in at 18 months and I don't think this is right, I am going to try to measure him at home, because he doesn't fit in a bunch of 2T pants and if he is really that long he should fit in them.)
53 1/2cm head

I will update when we have more information about his evaluation.

Logan's 2nd Birthday

Our sweet little baby has turned into a fun, loving, busy two year old boy! We celebrated Logan’s 2nd Birthday this past weekend with a Monkey themed birthday party on Saturday and a fun day with Mom and Dad on Sunday (his real birthday). It’s hard to believe that he is two years old already, we really have no idea where the time went. I still feel like he was just born, yet I can barely remember what it was like to have a baby. Logan’s birth was nothing like we expected and the week following his birth was at that time the hardest week of our lives. When Logan’s birthday rolls around it brings back all those wonderful and scary memories but it was all worth to have our little man here with us. It has been a wonderful two years being parents and we are so greatful to have Logan in our lives.

I started planning Logan’s party awhile ago, I knew I wanted to do a monkey theme, I figured this would be the last year I get to pick the theme for his birthday party. I researched and came up with some fun ideas to make the party a smash!

My first project was making the monkey goody bags for the kids (the big kids also got one since everything came in a pack of 12 from Oriental Trading)

Next came the cake which my Mom helped me with since she is way more artistic than I. It took three cake mixes and a good six hours (and one shopping trip) to finish, but it was worth it, the cakes came out perfect!

I made monkey face cupcakes to go with the cake and we made a mini monkey face for Logan to eat.

I used lot’s of blow up monkey’s and a monkey theme birthday set I found on-line for the finishing touches.

I also made some yummy Monkey Munch (also known as Puppy Chow) for the party and for a favor along with a recipe card for everyone to take home.

I think Logan had a pretty good time at his party, he was excited that morning when he saw all the decorations and he kept yelling out “2” since they were all over the house. Of course being a big two year old he had his moments at the party but that was expected. Everyone has told me how nice the party was and what a good job we did, so I am glad it was fun for everyone.

Logan ate his cake after everyone left, he loved it of course!

Logan’s Favorite present was his new train table from Mommy and Daddy.

On Sunday which was Logan’s real birthday we took him out to lunch at the Choo Choo here in Des Plaines. It has been around forever, I use to eat there when I was little. It’s an old style diner and there is a train that runs around it and brings you out your food. Logan was feeling a little under the weather but he loved watching the train go around, but he didn’t want to eat much other than his chocolate milk.

We opened more presents on Sunday and then Logan tried out his new quad from Grandma and Grandpa Kois, which at first he would hold the button to make it go and run along side it, but eventually we got him on it and he loved it! We just need to work on steering now…

All in all it was a fun weekend and Logan had fun which is all that matters. Now on to birthday number three!!

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day

In Remembrance of our dear Peanut. With us for 9 Weeks and 5 Days.

Update on Logan's Therapies

Just wanted to update on how Logan's speech, developmental and occupational therapy sessions are going:

SPEECH: Logan has increased his vocabulary a lot in the 2+ months he has been in speech. He is saying new words almos daily, we are still working on putting together short phrases, but he is making his needs known using words more often now which makes everyone's life easier.

DEVELOPMENTAL: Logan is doing better at following one command direcetions we are starting to work on two command direcetions example: "Go get your shoes and bring them to Mom". He is starting to use imagnative play more, although we are still working on this. Logan can count to 5 and knows many of his shapes (although we don't really work on this during his therapy he picked it up on his own). We try to work with him to talk more durning play we have a goal of 10 animal sounds, right now he has 4.

OCCUPATIONAL: Logan is really enjoying occupational therapy, it gives him great ways to get the extra sensory stimulation he needs. We have started the brushing therapy where you use a surgical brush (soft) and you brush his arms, legs, etc. and then apply pressure to the joint areas, Logan loves it and it helps him calm down and focus which is our goals in OT. We do different activities with the therapist that are sensory based and it seems to be helping, Logan now can focus better and longer during his other therapies which all boils down to helping him speak more.

Logan will have his 2 year check-up next month and we will update after that!

Holland MI Trip

This past Sunday and Monday we were in Holland MI which is about 3 hours from home so not to far away. Logan and I tagged along with Matt on a mini business trip up there, so most of it was paid for by his company which was nice! We planned on going to Dutch Village on Sunday but they were getting pounded with rain up there, so we hung out at the hotel and went swimming (Logan LOVED swimming), checked out the mall and went to Walmart where Logan scored a new car and a Thomas Duplo set to play with at the hotel. We had dinner ordered in to the hotel room and we just relaxed which was really nice. Monday morning I dropped Matt off at the company he had to do his interview and factory tour with and Logan and I bummed around until he was done. Once Matt was finished we checked out and headed out to Downtown Holland. We looked around at the little shops, got some yummy fudge and Logan had fun playing in the toy store with the train table and had fun in the bookstore that had a bird, bunny, fish, and a guinea pig. Then we were off to Windmill Island and Gardens where they have a Dutch Village set up and a Windmill that is 240 years old from Holland and is fully functional. We had fun walking around but Logan was ready to go after awhile so we headed home. We had fun on our mini business trip and it was nice to go away just relax!