Update on Maverick

I haven't posted an update on Maverick in a while which is a result of 2 main things: no real news and lack of time on my side. He had his last clinic day back in September and his next one is in January. We did have an appt with neurosurgery in November with another quick brain MRI to monitor his ventricles. They remain on the larger side of normal but don't warrant any intervention at this point. He also had a sedated CMG right before Christmas to see how his bladder is doing in terms of volume and pressure. We won't get the results until next week sometime but the medicine he's taking appears to be helping as the volume was significantly higher than in June.

Our main focus right now is on developing some core strength to help Maverick sit up unassisted, roll over and eventually get up on all fours. We have an Occupational therapist come to our house 2X a month to review and provide us with good exercises to incorporate into every day routines. I can see progress already!

Merry Christmas!

I realize that I haven't updated in a while so I promise to do that next week when I'm off work. For now, I'd like to wish you all a merry Christmas!

All I want for Christmas

All Jaeger wants for Christmas is his front tooth back!


Thursday evening we were getting ready to go to Jaxons Cub Scout meeting. I was changing Mavericks diaper and Jaeger was excitedly talking to me about coming with. He was standing on a plastic bin for his cars and as I reminded him that he may get hurt doing that and he should stand on the floor, the bin tipped and he fell forward. He caught both front teeth on the drawer knob which pushed them out, almost perpendicular to normal position. Lots of blood, some tears and Josh eventually pulling one tooth out. I took him to dentist first thing Friday morning and while there is nothing to do now, we should expect the other front tooth to eventually die and need to be pulled. Jaeger will have a few years before his adult teeth come in so he's going to have to figure out how to bite/eat certain foods in the meantime. Poor guy told me his teeth were broken when he was trying to eat Thursday night!

Networking

In Wisconsin, there is a group called Spina Bifida Family Network. They organize various social gatherings to allow families to connect and hang out together. We went to our first event, a weekend away at a hotel in Oshkosh (about 100 miles from us). It was really nice to meet other families and see kids of all ages. Jaxon and Jaeger had fun swimming, but Maverick was not a fan of the echoes in the pool area. Instead we hung out in the main room meeting new friends.



Quite a few of the events are just dinner meet ups so we are looking forward to attending more!

Faces of Fetal Surgery

A fellow fetal surgery mom put together a video with 150+ fellow fetal surgery moms and kiddos.  Maverick and I appear around the 6:30 mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYyT2IBBLQ4

While this is not a journey anyone asks to go on, it helps to have great support structures once you're on it.  These families make up a facebook group that is a fantastic place to ping and get understanding and help from!

Getting so big!

Time flies by, as evidenced by Maverick turning 6 months old a couple weeks ago. He's definitely gone past the premie little boy and become the chunkiest kiddo out of all 3 boys. His doctor suggested we start solids and get him eating in a high chair (hopefully to help him work on his core muscles some more). We started with oatmeal and the response was initially excited and then "meh" on the actual food.



Apples was next on the menu and those ones were gobbled up :)

Spina Bifida Awareness Month

October is Spina Bifida awareness month and so in honor of this cutie, I ask that you wear yellow on Oct 25!!

Family of 5

We had family pictures taken over the weekend and I may be biased but my kiddos are pretty stinking cute :)

Tiger Scout!

Jaxon joined Cub Scouts this year and is officially a tiger scout 😀



It's only just started but he seems to enjoy it. The only fundraiser they do is selling popcorn which began yesterday. We spent some time at the local grocery store yesterday and even in that 90 minutes, it's great to see his confidence go up in talking to people.

Best Season

I just love football season, in particular Iowa Hawkeyes and the Vikings. I like to pass on that love to the boys and start with appropriate clothes on game day and teaching them to cheer!!

4 months old!

Today Maverick is 4 months old and I did a little comparison to his brothers....

Mav - 17 lbs 3 oz and 24.2" long



Jaeger - 16 lbs 13 oz and 25.5" long




Jaxon - 16 lbs 3 oz and 26.25" long




It's a little mind blowing to think that although Maverick was more than 3 lbs lighter than Jaxon at birth, he is the heaviest out of all 3 at 4 months! And yes they are all mini Joshes :)

Rolls for breakfast?

Maverick has got some chunk and I just love it! Such a cute kissable smooshy face and cheeks:)

Generations

There are now 7 grandchildren on the Roos side - and it's impossible to get a good pic of them all!

Okoboji Fun

We spent last weekend in Okoboji and had such fun with family, including new baby Owen! The 6 hour drive wasn't too bad as maverick slept the whole time and we just stopped for gas and food for all!

First clinic day

Maverick had his first all day spina bifida clinic a couple weeks ago (I know, I'm very late in posting this). The day started at 8 am and ended around 2 where we hung out in an exam room and the various specialists rounded throughout the day. He also had a brain MRI done to monitor ventricle growth. From neuro perspective, all is good right now. He had a CMG done back in June and we reviewed the results with the urologist. This test measures bladder pressure while it fills up. His bladder is essentially small and doesn't stretch much so he's now on some medicine that will help relax the bladder to let it fill up more. Well repeat the CMG in December and evaluate how the med is working. He also saw ortho and various therapists. They gave us some exercises to help strengthen his neck muscles and stretch out his right foot. But all things considered with SB and premie, he's doing great! Well go back for our next clinic day in September (except urology who we don't see until December!).

Triple the cuteness

Maverick had spina bifida clinic day today - I'll post more about that in another post. For now, here's 15 lbs 7 oz of cuteness ( yes, that's almost 3x his birth weight in 3 months)!

Growing up so fast

Not even 3 months old and already has quite the stache :)

Happy 4th!

This is the first year in a while that we haven't been at the lake for the 4th. The boys all had muscle shirts on and needed to show off their arms (Jaeger is still learning how to pose :)).











We skipped Jaegers nap but he just couldn't make it all day.


Maverick got in on the muscle pose.


Today was a day of laziness since we were up late for some fireworks.

I survived

First day back at work today. Said goodbye to this little man,


Wiped some tears off Jaegers face (he kept asking "jaeger go to mommy work?") and waved goodbye


I was greeted by close to 10000 emails which will keep me busy for a few days as I get up to speed and back in to the swing of things. When I got home, every one was excited to see me. Maverick did some cluster feeding plus he's mastered the grip, in this case my shirt.


The bigger boys also wanted some snuggles which I happily gave.

My last week off!

This is my last week off of maternity leave as I go back to work on Monday. I've been trying to enjoy all the little moments with all 3 kiddos.





















I'm pretty sure Josh is going to miss having me at home just as much as the boys. Naps will become no more for him :)




Happy 10 weeks baby boy!