Baron's surgery!!!!!

What a day. Again, I have to say it just one more time; He is such a friggin trooper. Dr. Newman, one of my most favoritist peoples in the world, sat us down (again) and told what was gonna happen and what to expect and all that what-not. Said the procedure should only take about an hour. Well, when we were waiting, in the waiting room, we watched an hour go by. And then fifteen minutes more and then five minutes more and then minute after minute clicked by, each one infinitly longer than the one before. And then we heard the pager go off on the receptionists desk and we held our breath as she looked at the message on the pager, put it down and started to get up as she looked our way and saw all five of us (myself,wifey,sis,momanddad-in-law) staring at her from across the room with expectation in our eyes. She told us we could go back and see him in about ten minutes and when I heard that, it felt like I'd won the lottery there for a second. Christina went to Baron and I talked with Dr. Newman and he told me a bunch of stuff that was way over my head and I can't remember crap anyway but the gist is that Baron had an odd hernia. He said he'd never seen one quite like it.
That's my boy.
I could go into some specifics, but I don't think I need to. He's put back together. He's going to be more sore than the average baby after this type of surgery because, well, Baron just can't do anything like a 'normal' child (I recognize that there is no such thing as a 'normal child'), but he's on some good drugs and even though I'm no advocate of the fix-everything-with-a-pill mentality I won't mind him being doped up for a few days if it will keep him from hurting.
Damn, I hate to see my son hurt. It almost puts me in a panic. It gives me a near unstoppable urge to rip the world apart to find a way to make the pain go away. Is that bad?
So, yeah, the next few days will be like the old days, when he first came home and I was up every night, all night long just watching him. Hours at a time just watching him breathe in and out, making sure that he never stopped. Yeah, maybe a little extreme but I'm not an out of control parent yet. Yet. But please, keep an eye on me and let me know when to ease up a bit. Thanx.

And now; The Moment You've All Been Waiting For....

Little bear goes in for surgery today at eleven oclock. We've waited quite a while for this moment and now that it's here I can feel the cold fingers of nervousness and anxiety tickling the back of my brain. Nothing too bad though. I have such complete confidence in Dr. Newman and that really is sooooo much piece of mind, to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is in the best hands possible. Still, I know he's gonna be scared and he's already really hungry because he's had to fast since last night so he's going to be in a bad mood no matter what. He's just like Daddy when he's hungry; A big baby.

So much has happened lately. His first fang appeared last week and is getting larger and sharper by the minute. He can stand for almost a minute without anything to hang onto. And now that cold and flu season is winding down we've taken him to a few public play areas, much to his absolute delight. His first time was at Jantzen Beach, on their little car rides. You'da thought he was in Disney Land from the smile on his face. Then Mom and I took him to the play area at Clackamas Towne Center. THAT was quite the experience for all three of us. He crawled on the outdoor playground equipment at the Community Center yesterday. His climbing abiltiy is astounding.
Well, I guess I need to start getting ready for this. Wish us luck!!

Slowly but Shirley. And don't call me Shirley.

He's doin better. So far, so good. I'm not sure what day it was, Tuesday maybe, but he threw up a lot and we were gettin worried about him again but we've remained incredibly diligent and have givin him formula or pedialyte whenever he wants, as much as he wants. Yesterday was really good. He ate every hour or hour and a half and only took two to three ounces, but he kept it all down and his diarrhea is lightening up a bit. That was becoming a major concern too. But, I just fed him some applesauce mixed with formula and oatmeal flakes and he took a couple ounces of that. His first solid food in several days. The first solid food he kept down in almost a week. Yeesh. Fear not, though! The little warrior Bear has maintained his jubilatious attitude through it all, as he always does. GAH!!! I can't say enough how much I love that nasty little monster!! I just wanna gobble him up!!! He just blows my friggin mind. He goes through so much, and he keeps on truckin. Both figuratively and literally. From the obvious big stuff like his initial surgeries to how he tackles a stack of toys that might block his path. He takes it all head on, and he keeps doin it 'till it's done. He doesn't get that from me, I can tell ya that fer sure. I may have helped with his sunny disposition but I do not posses his tenacity and will, and that part of his character puts me in awe. He's not even twenty pounds and I admire him. I'm gonna be such a terrible father when he gets older, I'll let him get away with everything. Fortunately I know Mommy is aware of this and is already pretty good at sniffin out my brand of trouble. She's got that natural mommy instinct but I think that the year or so we lived together before Baron was born really helped prime her for the things that are to come.
Like a storm boiling on the horizon.
Joyous trouble.
Mayhem and mischief.
Dark glee.
Hide the breakables.

The truth revealed..

Well, we haven't heard back from his doctor yet but we're pretty positive Baron just had a little flu bug. We came by this decision after Christina got it on Sunday and I got it on Monday. It's totally weird, we had the same symptoms he had and it only lasted one day. Thank goodness too, 'cause I shouldn't downplay it's possibly deadly potential by calling it 'a little flu but'. Mom and I took it okay, but he really was pretty dehydrated and not doin so good. It's a good thing we took him to the ER when we did. But, we're all feelin good now, so let's watch out for the next one. Yup, there's always a 'next one'.

Our first trip to the ER!!

YAY!! We got to go to the emergency room on Friday night because Baron was really cranky and didn't look good at all. Mommy was worried so we loaded up the car and headed up to the hospital with stress and expectation in our hearts. His mood seemed to improve after we got there, and we waited. And we waited. And we waited. We arrived at the ER about nine and they took some x-rays and took some blood but we wouldn't know anything until his surgeon, Dr. Newman showed up later Saturday morning. Until that time Baron was miserable. He cried and cried, probably for four or more hours straight. We just didn't know it he was crying because he hurt or because he was hungry or something else altogether. It was very frustrating. That's an understatement. Mommy and I were getting pissed. I'm not going to go into detail about it now, but we just weren't happy with way things were set up and how things were being handled. I always give the benefit of the doubt, especially to hospital ER rooms, because I have no way of knowing what kind of emergency could be happening right down the hall, what horrible calamity might have befallen some poor stranger on the floor below. All the same, my boy was in pain and in need and I needed to do something about it.
. He devoured a constant stream of grape flavored pedialyte and has continued into today. He's only getting clear liquid for the next day or so and then he can start having formula again. Solid food is a couple of days away. His doctor looked at him, looked at his x-rays and still doesn't know what the problem is. He still needs to look at the labs and stool samples (RAD!), but even then he may not know. He thinks that it's more than likely that he just got a little flu bug that is moving through him. It's the not knowing that bugs me the most. But really, we're just happy he's home now and looking and acting like himself again. He's resilient, he can take it.
. I was talking with Papa and Nana about the collapse of the Arctic Shelf and the freezing temperatures assaulting China and told them that someday Baron will be Chieftain of the Northwest Tribes after the Earth wins its battle with our overpopulating tendencies. He will stand on the cliffs of the Gorge and feel the wind as he surveys his domain. He will be a mighty chief indeed, who lead his people to safety and prosperity. He will wear the skins of the beasts he has bested in fair battle. The wolf, the mountain lion, the bear. And I will be proud of him. Nana and Papa thinks the flash is out in my camera, if you know what I mean.

First words...

The wife and I are in agreement; Baron said his first words today!!!!!! He's been workin on da-da for a couple of days but today he did it over and over until it sounded right, like he was sayin Dada. So friggin cool!!! And I don't care that he said something in reference to me, I'm just thrilled that he said something. And he's not just saying it, he's repeating it back to us. He is amazing. Spoiled, but amazing.

New Year with the Lil' Bear!!

Well, well, a new year. The Mentzer unit spent the last week watching over Casa Del Fix while Andy, Kim and Ollie the ogre slayer visited their fans back in Michy. It was a nice little vacation for us, we wallowed in the wondrous sensation of living on our own again. But, their house can get COLD on the main floor, so we spent almost all of our time upstairs where the heat is. We watched a little tv, played on the floor quite a bit (as we always do) and enjoyed the company of their cat, Havarti. He is awesome, and the spitting image of my beautiful little Smoke, the cat I had way back in '99 and '00 and he's amazingly cool with babies!!! He totally got up in Baron's face, which Lil' Bear was completely unprepared for. He's used to the mangy ol' curmudgeon of a feline that sulks around Nana's house; Mo. Mo don't like no kids. Havarti, on the other hand (paw?) let Baron get right up to him and pat him up a bit and even tolerate a bit of hair pulling and the whole time Havarti did nothing more than bat back at him, claws sheathed. Great cat.

. So, Baron was counting sheep upstairs in his crib and I was scrounging through Andy's kitchen, taking bites of things and putting the rest back when I heard Da Bear start to cry upstairs. I new he was going to wake up hungry so I got a bottle together, heated it up, slammed the nipple back on and headed up the stairs. He was crying pretty good, but he does that sometimes. I reached the top of the stairs, walked up to his crib and peeked my head over the side to see his sad little face look back at me as he let out a fresh wail. I set the bottle down and reached in to gather him and I brushed a little string that was on his left bicep. But it didn't move so I pinched it with my fingers and pulled and it was stuck. Baron screamed. I looked closer and realized to my horror that a thread hanging from the edge of the blanket that I put over the edge of his crib to block out the light had wrapped around his arm and it was TIGHT. I gave another little tug while I tried to determine which way it was twisted and there was no give. His scream intensified. I didn't panic (much to my surprise upon reflecting back on it now) but I was struck with a deep urgency to do something to stop my sons' pain. I immediately remembered the finger nail clippers I had just used that morning and I ran over, grabbed it and tried to calm Baron as his struggling was just cinching the little string tighter, like a tiny python. I dove in, got the string, clipped it and it mercifully released. I scooped my Lil' Bear up and held him as close and a terrified parent can hold their child when they're hurting. He stopped crying after a couple of seconds and was smiling again in a minute or two but my heart was galloping for a bit longer than that. I felt so bad, so, so, sooooooooo bad. What if I'd taken the time to make a fresh batch of formula? What if I hadn't heard him right away? I know he could have suffered damage to his arm if it had taken me a few more minutes to get to him than I did. I checked his arm after five minutes or so and he had a thin, deep red ring all the way around him arm. He'd already moved past it by that time, it wasn't sore to the touch or anything. But I learned another major lesson while dodging a bullet.


I also learned another important lesson about always bringing food for him whenever we leave the house, no matter how short a trip I think we might be on. We went to pick up mommy from work a couple of days ago. Left for Beaverton about two in the afternoon to make the twenty minute drive. Everything was fine until we reached the top of the Sylvan hill on highway 26 and small flakes began to fill the air. Ten minutes later mommy was in the car and white stuff was everywhere. We headed back on 26 and then saw it was backing up so we got off to go on Burnside. We sailed past St. Vincent's, headed up the hill and then BAM! We were stopped at the cemetery, an uneven line of cars blocking both sides of the road ahead. An armoured car in front of us was sliding inevitably towards the ditch every time his tires began to turn and an old man coming towards us in the other lane at a snails pace, his old foot pushing all the way down on the accelerator as his screaming tires slowly, oh so slowly fishtailed within inches of my drivers door were just the tip of the iceberg in what was to be a very long evening. Everybody was sliding all over the damn place. Nobody knows how to drive in snow around here. Everybody has these lead right feet that either slam down on the gas and make them lose traction and go all over the place or slam down on the brake and make them lose traction and go all over the place. Come on, people! You gotta squeeeeeze that brake, squeeeeeze that gas. Maybe it was the season I spent driving a beat up Ford Taurus with bald tires up Mt. Hood everyday to work at Meadows, maybe it was growing up in the sticks, I don't know. But, I do know how to drive in the snow. For the first time in our relationship Christina was singing praised about my driving. It took us FOUR AND A HALF HOURS TO GET BACK HOME TO ANDY'S!!! THAT'S NOT AN EXAGGERATION! FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!!! I couldn't believe it. But the worst part of the whole cluster f%$# was our starving little boy in the back seat. Again, I felt so, so, soooooo very bad. He was miserable and with every cry I wanted to get him home that much more. Never, ever leave home without baby food. You never know when everything is going to go all 'The Day After Tomorrow' on ya. AGH!!! Maybe I could offer classes for driving in the snow?

. Anyway, I learned two big lessons at the close of the old year so that I could enter the new year armed with knowledge and experience with which to help me raise my son. In one piece. Cross your fingers.......