Surprise Utah Trip

Just as I was running out of things to do around the house, a friend had the brillant idea to go to Utah for the week.  I wasn't too thrilled about being in a car for 10 hours with a 2-month-old so I splurged and used all of our credit card points!  Being on the plane with Sam wasn't too bad...I sat by a Mexican cholo that turned out to be the sweetest teddy bear and couldn't stop talking about his family.  I also sat by a fancy-schancy hipster gay guy that definitely did NOT like Sam.  First thing he did when he sat down--put down the arm rest and took a fake nap.  Haha whatever.

We visited a whole bunch of friends and Sam may have been slightly overstimulated/cranky from all the different sounds and people but he eventually got used to it.  It was so fun seeing my sis-in-law Evelyn and her family.  Her kiddos are so cute and they couldn't wait to meet Sam.  When Evelyn first told them about Sam's dwarfism, Natalie asked if he was gonna be bigger than a stick of butter!  Maybe she thought he was gonna be fairy-sized? Haha I love it.  Evelyn says Kai prays for Sam at night asking that he won't get bullied.  Awh...I can tell they love him so much already.  We're so blessed to have such wonderful family members!  

Speaking of family, my dad and stepmom could not get enough of Sam.  They were trying to put Sam to bed one night and it became a joint effort with my dad holding and patting him and my stepmom holding his pacifier and stroking his head (picture below).  It was too cute.  It made me happy seeing them so happy.  They both got teary-eyed saying bye to Sam when we had to leave.  It made me stop and realize how important our family relationships are and how essential it is to nourish those relationships.  It's so easy for me to get wrapped up in school, work, friends, whatever but when I remember to spend time with those that know me best, I always feel centered again.    
   

First Appointment

We took Sam to his first appointment with a skeletal dysplasia specialist at Cedar-Sinai.  They measured him and charted him on a special growth chart for kids with achondroplasia.  He's at about the 65th percentile for both head circumference, weight and height.  The head circumference is something we have to monitor regularly because there's a higher chance to have fluid buildup in the brain (hydrocephalus).  The opening at the bottom of the skull where the spinal cord goes down (foramen magnum) is a lot more narrow in people with achondroplasia so we have to make sure there's no warning signs that his brainstem is being pinched.  She checked his fontanelles, muscle tone, breathing, reflexes, and veins on the forehead and didn't see anything abnormal so she's happy that Sam is doing so well.  She says we may want to get a CT or MRI to assess his brain but CT exposes him to radiation and MRI requires sedation which can be risky so for now we'll just watch him closely.  We asked her about this bump in his back and she said it was a gibbus and fairly common in achon babies.  Once they develop better muscle tone and trunk strength, it should resolve on its own.  She also noticed Sam has torticollis which means his head tends to turn right more than left.  Babies can get this because they're lying on their backs all the time and don't get enough head movement.  She told us to stretch and turn his head side to side everyday and it should go away.  That was pretty much it for his first appointment.  We'll go back when he's four months just to make sure everything is going ok.

He also just got his 2 month vaccines a couple of days ago...poor baby :(  When we got home after his shots, he was in the best mood for some reason so I of course had to take pictures.  I love this little guy.    

I'm two months old!