Tug of War

Tonight the dogs were playing tug-of-war with each other...until Justin got involved. They're so good with him! They'll play with him, but not too rough. And usually Justin ends up winning!

Sending love to Marquette & NY :)

This morning Justin and I went down to the riverfront park in East Peoria for the PKD walk. It was a beautiful, crisp fall morning and the walk was really nice. I learned a lot about PKD that I did not know before. I walked because I know how much it means to the Kimmes family - I can not imagine the strength it takes for them to get through this.



I met people who have had kidney transplants and are doing wonderful - they were there walking with their families. I also met people who were sitting on the benches along the route who were waiting for transplants and too weak to walk. It was really hard imagine what they were going through. I signed up to be an organ donor if something should happen to me. I have thought a lot about this and had feelings both ways....however after seeing how much hope a kidney brought to the Kimmes family, I would love to help multiple families get that hope in the event of a tragedy. I hope we don't ever have to worry about that, but if it happened I would want there to be a bright spot in the situation!
















Justin with the PKD bear....





















Mommy and Justin 2 miles into the walk...







All tuckered out!

He learns new things everyday!!!!

Here is his latest accomplishment...




It is SO MUCH fun watching him discover new things all of the time.

Walk for PKD

Many of you know one of my very best friends, Kimberly. Most of you probably know her as the infamous "Kimmes" :) As I had put in some blogs before, her dad recently had a kidney transplant. The reason he had the transplant is because he has a disease called PKD.

Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is one of the most common, life-threatening genetic diseases, affecting 600,000 Americans and 12.5 million people, worldwide-regardless of sex, age, race or ethnic origin.ADPKD affects more people than Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia combined. Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) is one of the most common, life-threatening genetic diseases, affecting 600,000 Americans and 12.5 million people, worldwide-regardless of sex, age, race or ethnic origin.ADPKD affects more people than Down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia combined.

Kimberly is doing a walk in Syracuse, NY where she lives on September 16th and Justin and I are going to walk here in Peoria on September 15th. Had I known that Peoria had a walk a little sooner, I would have signed up to have a fundraising page and such, but I didn't find out in time. However! Kimberly has a page and if you could spare a few dollars to support this cause I know that she would be very touched!

Here is the link -

http://www.pkdcure.org/site/TR/Events/SyracuseChapter?px=1410266&pg=personal&fr_id=1753

I will be sure to post pictures of Justin and I doing the walk on the Peoria Riverfront :)

Random happenings....

In no particular order....

*Justin is still teething, but he was in a better mood tonight! His daycare teachers said he had a great day and was not crabby at all - yeah!

*He had his one year doctors appointment today. He weighs 24 pounds 4 ounces and was 30 3/4" long.

*We found out that he no longer has a tube in his right ear - and has an ear infection in that ear. We have not even gotten the bill for his surgery yet!!! He had it in less then 2 months!!! I have a call into the surgeon's office that performed the surgery. I don't think that we should have to pay again if he needs to have it put back in. I am sure we probaby will, but I will argue until I am blue in the face to avoid it.

*We fired our pediatrician. Right there in the exam room - I told her what I thought. First of all, this was the 4th time we were at this doctor and the 3rd time in a row that we have had to wait over an hour to see the doctor. Today it was about 75 minutes. I was very annoyed. Then she comes in and apoligizes - okay; I'll let it go. However, we were just there LESS THAN A WEEK AGO and she did not even remember. Okay, I know she sees tons of patients in a week, but is it that hard to look at the chart for 30 seconds before you open the door? She said "oh, it sounds like he has a cold..." - yes you stupid doctor; that is why I brought him in less than a week ago. Whatever; we just wanted to get the appointment done and leave. She said that someone would be in shortly to do the immunizations. About 5 minutes later she came back in and said that they didn't seem to have Justin's immunization records. HELLO!!! I had them faxed over to them from our doctor in Chicago. I have a copy at home too if they did not have them. However, how am I supposed to know they didn't have them??? That was when I lost it. I was ready to start crying...my voice was wavering and it took all I had not to burst into tears. I was so mad and upset and everything else. Rob and I had just sat in a hot exam room with a crabby baby that we didn't want to let crawl around on the floor in his diaper for over an hour and didn't even get anything accomplished.

I told her that we have had enough and would be finding a new pediatrician. She apoligized and said that she would call our old doctor and we could come first thing in the morning. I told her no; we had both taken time off of work to come today - and then I told her that we were sick of waiting so long to see her every appointment, it was ridiculious that she could not look at his chart to see that we had just been there, etc. I told her that we would not be back and I did not want to see this appointment show up on our insurance as a claim. She then had the nerve to try giving us recommendations of other doctors - like we are going to take them from her???? Ugh!!!

*On a much happier note - JUSTIN SAID MAMA!!!!!!!!

*Here are a few pics from the last couple days....Rob and Justin playing Legos

Here is our little monster!!! This is his Halloween costume we got this weekend.

Teeth :(

Justin has been miserable for the last couple of days. He is getting molars on the bottom already. I thought this was not until he was older :( I feel horrible - it's a cry that we've never heard...you can tell he is in pain. I try Orajel, but it does not seem to help and when I do I can feel the teeth under the skin. It feels like 2 or 3 on each side, but I think it's just because the gums are so swollen. Is this normal with molars? Does anyone have any advice on how to make him more comfortable? He does not like teething toys or popsicles. He will eat a little bit of ice cream or smoothie. He is not eating much food either - table food or baby food. I just feel like there is something I should be doing :(

Oh and to make life even better for him, we have to go to the doctor tomorrow for his one year shots..... Poor baby. I wish I could take the pain instead of him.

Justin's Birthday (cont.)

Lunch at Hooters!!!

1 going on 16.....

Hey! Get out of my way pal!

Now if I could only figure out how to use the radio....

The petting zoo - Justin's favorite part of the Peoria Zoo.

I had to protect this poor horse - Justin kept beating on him :)


Justin and his friend Luke (Rob's boss's son)

Happy Birthday Justin!!!!

Rob and I can not believe that our precious little baby is ONE! I keep thinking about it and I get emotional. I can't believe how blessed we are to have such a perfect, happy, healthy, handsome little man. Every day he learns new things and it amazes us to watch him grow up.

I always knew that I wanted children someday; I just never knew how rewarding being a Mommy would be. It does not matter what happened at work, how dirty the house is, how much laundry I have to do, etc. - When Justin looks up at us with his toothy little grin, nothing else in the world matters.

We love you so much punkin! Happy Birthday Baby!!!!!

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for coming to my Birthday Party and for all of the fun presents - I love them!

I am lucky to have such great family and friends!!!!!

Love,

Justin (and my mommy and daddy, too!)

Justin's 1st Birthday Cake Experience!

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves on this one!!!!!