The Love Dare

A friend of mine is giving away a copy of "The Love Dare," a very powerful and challenging book. Check out her blog Simply Mel (Melissa Woolbright Meitzner on my blog list) and register to win!

Back to the Doctor

Quinton went back to the doctor today thanks to running a fever last night and coughing/being stuffy all weekend. I gave him Benadryl last night and that seemed to help clear him up some so I gave him another dose this morning. The doctor's office said because of his age and the fact that he had flu 2 weeks ago they needed to see him. Thankfully his lungs were clear, his ears were clear, and they figure it is just allergies. Just to be safe they sent us to get an x-ray of his lungs. They wanted to be sure that there wasn't any pneumonia hiding out in his lungs. Quinton got to have his first x-ray and did excellently!! The x-ray technicians said he was the best 1 year old they had ever seen!! The doctor's office called us back at about 5 to give us the results of the x-ray: No pneumonia!! He gets to take Benadryl for another couple of days and then we can give him Zyrtec if we need to.

Halloween Happenings

Quinton dressed up as Mickey Mouse for Halloween and went to the Fall Festival at North Richland Hills Baptist and then Trunk or Treat at Spring Valley Baptist (Gabe's parents' church). He had a blast and we got some great pictures. I will post some soon.

Swine Flu Strikes Again

Quinton has learned how to share. Unfortunately he chose to share the swine flu with me (Michelle). I am off work until next Monday due to contracting the swine flu from my darling son. He will be taking his last dose of Tamiflu today, while I only began mine yesterday. One of the side effects is dizziness and boy am I feeling it! Everything feels like it is spinning ever so slightly. Gabe went and got a pneumonia shot today in an attempt to keep himself from getting pneumonia if he ends up with the flu Quinton and I have. He is prone to pneumonia, so we pray this helps and that he doesn't get the flu anyway!

Swine Flu in the House

Quinton has the flu. He was fine this morning: a little whiney and messing with his head like he had a headache, but fine. He was fine through lunch according to Gabe. He played with his toys and his grandpa Guess. When he got up from his afternoon nap, however, he was running a 102 degree fever! Gabe immediately called the doctor and got him in within about 15 minutes. I met them at the doctor's office as soon as I left school. We told the doctor his symptoms, and he decided to do a nasal swab to test for Type A. 10 minutes later the test came back positive and the doctor said that generally means H1N1 (swine) flu! The good news is that Quinton's ears were clear and his lungs were clear (no crackling or wheezing) which means no signs of pneumonia or other problems!! He gave us a prescription for Tamiflu which the wonderful pharmacists at Wal-Mart were able to compound for us. Gave him his first dose tonight along with some Motrin to help with the fever. He is sleeping away. I pray that God watches over him and heals him soon and keeps this from developing into something worse. I also pray that Gabe and I don't get it!

Just a thought

With all the news surrounding the president's health care plan and the possibility of taxpayer money going to fund abortions both here and abroad, I got to thinking. So many people say that women should have a choice whether they want to terminate a pregnancy or not. If you don't want to get pregnant, DON'T HAVE SEX!! Really, is the concept that hard to understand? God created sex as a way to populate the earth, therefore, if you are having it there is a pretty good chance that you will end up pregnant. If people would just get this thought through their heads, there would be no need for abortions. I know people use the argument "What about rape, etc." Adoption is always an option, and a much better one than murder. I have seen 2 family members just this year lose precious babies before they had a chance to take a breath. How anyone could CHOOSE this is beyond me. I have seen their heartache and can't fathom that someone would intentionally make the choice to end a child's life. Gabe posted a video on Facebook tonight that drove the point home for me and absolutely broke my heart. A mother and father found out at 20 weeks of pregnancy that their unborn son had a genetic disorder called trisomy 13. The chances of him surviving the birth alone were slim, and even if he survived he wasn't guaranteed more than a few weeks. The couple was told that termination was probably their best option. They chose to carry their child to term. Instead of having baby showers and planning for the birth of their child and his future, they began the painful process of planning his funeral before his arrival! Baby Thomas lived for 5 days before losing his courageous battle. The parents relied on their faith to get them through what I can only imagine was the hardest time of their life (we have friends that go to church with this wonderful couple and can attest to their strength and faith). What a choice!! They chose to bring their son into this world knowing what lie ahead. They could have chosen the "easy" and "convenient " way out and terminated the pregnancy, but then they never would have known both the joy and sorrow of parenthood. So often we are thankful that we have healthy children (and we should be), but we forget to be thankful for those children God chooses to take home early. God chose for their short lives to serve a purpose whether it be to bring someone closer to Him or just for His glory to show through. I am so thankful that Baby Thomas, Baby Eli, Baby Thompson, and Baby Cadence each touched my life in a special way. Even though I did not get to meet any of you in this life, I look forward to meeting each of you when I enter Heaven's gates. You are all deeply loved and missed and I am so glad that each of your parents made the choice to let God decide how you would return to His loving arms. Children are truly a gift from God and "are fearfully and wonderfully made."
Sorry for the depressing post, but this was weighing heavily on my heart and I felt I needed to get it out.

Quinton's Walking!

Quinton has finally got the walking thing down!!! Last night he took 19 steps in a row before falling down!!! Every time he would stand up, he would attempt at least 5 steps or so. He is growing up so fast!!

Ir's Been A While

It has been a while since I posted anything so here is a quick catch-up of what is going on in the Guess world. Quinton is finally walking!! He only takes a couple of steps at a time, but he is starting to get the hang of it. We have discovered that he loves reading books. He doesn't necessarily want you to read them to him, but he will sit on the floor and flip through every page of one of his board books. We survived Quinton's first ear infection this last week. Luckily he never rans fever, and the antibiotics seemed to kick it pretty quickly. No more baby carrier for Quinton!!! He officially moved into a big boy carseat last week!! He is still rear facing since several safety organizations say that is safest until they are about 2, but he officially is too long for the carrier anymore!
The school year is back in full swing. I am back at school, and Quinton is back to the sitter's each morning. He loves playing with her boys!!! We had a rough first week, but I think the ear infection may have had a little to do with that!

Qman's 12 month check up

Weight: 19lbs, 12 oz (up to the 10th % from the 5th % at 9 months. YEAH!!)
Height: 30 inches, but he had his chin tucked so I really think it was more like 31 inches. (50-75th%. YEAH!!!)

Q screamed and cried so much when he got his shots and blood drawn this time that he almost had me in tears. Usually I am pretty strong at his checkups, but his cries and tears jsut about broke my heart today! I guess it is because he is starting to realize what is going on and I am not stopping him from being hurt. :( Once it was all over and I could give him hugs, he was much better!! At least we don't have any more shots until October!

Quinton's 1st Birthday Part 2

My baby is now officially 1! We had a great party last night with family and friends. He got lots of great toys. He did the traditional cake smash, only I think he only ate icing. My mom made his little smash cake and he loved it. The sugar kicked in about an hour later and boy was he wired!! It was a nice change from the little boy who nearly fell asleep at his own party!! We were all wiped out from yesterday's events (1 yr pics, picking up last minute stuff for the party, and the party itself). I'll try to post pics soon. A good friend of ours took some great pics for us, but they couldn't get them loaded on Gabe's laptop, so we have to wait for him to burn them to a cd.
I spent part of this morning taking all the baby clothes put of his dresser and closet to make room for some of his larger sizes. I definitely took out more than what went back in! How did I accumulate that many tiny outfits? They are now residing in 2 very large Rubbermaid tubs in the bottom of his closet. I don't know if it has set in that he is now 1! He seems to think he is big stuff today. He is standing on his own way more than he ever has before. When Gabe went in and got him up from his nap he even said, "Mommy"--not "Mama" like he normally does when he is looking for me!!

Quinton's 1st Birthday

My baby turns 1 tomorrow! Where did this first year go? It just seems like yesterday that he was born and we were bringing him home. He is growing up way too fast! He is almost walking, and he talks all the time. Granted we don't understand most of what he is saying, but he talks none the less. His personality is really showing itself now. When we tell him "no" he pouts his lower lip out and puts his head down. If he doesn't want to eat something, he clamps his mouth shut and shakes his head no. (Not sure where he learned that from.) He loves playing with his toys and his puppy dog. He gets more and more teeth all the time. I can't wait until next week when he ahs his 1 yr check up to see how much he weighs/how tall he is/etc.

On a related note, what were we thinking planning a huge party for a 1 yr old. Apparantly this is more for us than him seeing as the adults outnumber the kids about 2 to 1! Combining all the adults and kids both definite yes's and maybe's, we are planning for about 50 people! Oh the stress!!!

Life around our house lately

Quinton apparently no longer has a problem with crawling on the tile at our house as he ahs been all over it today! For those of you who don't know, prior to today, if we put Quinton down on the tile he would scream and shake as if terrified. He would crawl to where the carpet meets the tile and stop and sit there not daring to cross that line. Something changed today and he has been all over the kitchen and our entrance hall. Guess it is time to get some baby gates and put the locks on the cabinets! He also has added a new word to his vocabulary. This morning he finally said the word "puppy" and looked right at Hamlet (our cocker spaniel) when he said it. We got him to say it 2 or 3 more times to make sure he really was saying it. We would point to Hamlet and say "Who is that?" Quinton responded with "pup, pup, py." He can now pretty clearly say "mama," "dada," "uh-oh," "yeah," and "bye-bye." I think he is on the verge of saying "nana." I was talking to my mom earlier and had her on speaker phone and it sounded like he said the word "nana" when he heard her voice.
Quinton is also starting to hold onto things and walk. He can walk completely around our coffee table holding on. He also is standing up on his own a lot! He can maintain his balance for several seconds before he falls on his backside. He is doing it more and more. Walking can't be far off. Quinton is also turning into quite the little pig! Today he ate almost an entire kids meal at Whataburger by himself, 2 whole chicken strips and about 1/2 of his fries! You would think eating like that he would chunk up some. Nothing doing. He is as skinny as ever.
We are leaving for church camp on June 8 and Quinton will be going with us. Should be an interesting, albeit slightly stressful, week. I'll defnitely update when we get back and let everyone know how it goes.

New Quinton Update

Quinton has officially started crawling!! Last Sunday at church, he crawled 3-4 steps across the floor to me, and he hasn't looked back since!! He gets faster and faster everyday, and is now attempting to crawl up steps. Last Sunday night he also drank put of a straw for the first time on his own. He was a little fussy when we went to put him to bed Sunday night and when I looked, he had 2 more teeth in!! Mommy wishes he would spread these milestones out instead of having them all in 1 day! I can't believe my sweet little boy turns 10 months old today. Only 2 more months until he is a year old! Where has the time gone?

Quinton's Adventures

Quinton is developing quite a few interesting new tricks. He is still working on crawling. He can get one knee and a hand forward and then he either belly flops, scoots backward, or sits up. We think he is now getting 4 teeth instead of just 2!! He has been horribly fussy for a couple of weeks now.

We had to lower his mattress this last week in order to keep him from A) falling out of his bed & B)playing with his baby monitor. Today I put him down for a nap (I was home from school for lunch) and a few minutes later I heard banging on the monitor. I assumed that Quinton had figured out how to get the monitor off of his dresser again and was banging it on the dresser or crib. I went in to check on him and found him standing up in his bed near the end where his dresser is. He was grinning from ear to ear with a look that said, "I am up to no good." He, however, did not have the monitor in his hand. Instead I noticed that something large was missing from the dresser. I looked down and saw his ceramic piggy bank on the floor on the opposite end of the bed from his dresser!!! Somehow he either pushed it off the dresser or threw it, not sure which since we didn't see him do it. We have since moved anything that could potentially hurt him due to its weight or breakability and anything small enough to swallow off of his dresser as he has proven that he can get to it even when we think he can't. My child is way to smart/sneaky for his own good. I have a feeling he is going to get himself into lots of trouble in the years to come!

Quinton Sat Up On His Own!!

My sweet little boy just went from laying on the floor to sitting up all by himself!!!! He was rolling on the floor playing, and decided to get up on all floors. From there, he went to a sitting position!! He is growing up way too fast!!

Lots of Updates and a Good Laugh

Quinton had his 9 month check up yesterday. He weighed in at approximately 17 pounds putting him in only the 5th percentile for his weight. The doctor really isn't concerned because he has been in the 10-25 percentile for the most part since he was born. He was 28 inches tall. This dropped him from the 95 percentile down to the 50th. The doctor said he was perfectly healthy and developmentally right where he should be!! He also got his first polio vaccine and got blood drawn for an anemia/lead screen.

Quinton now has both of his bottom teeth and is apparantly working on getting a couple more. The first 2 came through with little pain. The one (or ones) coming in now have caused him to be really fussy most of the last week. He finally seems to be back to his normal self today! I love having my smiling, laughing, happy baby back!!

Now for the good laugh. As I was typing this post, Quinton was playing on his quilt on the floor next to me. I looked over and Hamlet had started to lick Quinton's hand and face. Quinton was rolling around on the floor and trying to pet Hamlet which was driving Hamlet crazy. On top of that Quinton had his little toy basketball between his knees as he was rolling around. The funniest part of the whole thing was that Quinton was growling at Hamlet, not the other way around!! I tried to get it on video, but naturally they both stopped before I could get the camera. I have such a sweet, funny little boy!!

It is hard to believe that Quinton turns 9 months old today. Time has gone by so fast! I can't believe that it is almost time to start planning his first birthday. I am so blessed that God chose me to be his mommy!

A New Tooth

Quinton had his 2nd tooth push through last night. He acted fine all day, not overly fussy at the sitter's or at church. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and so we brought in the car seat and let him sleep for a while. We had only been home for about 15 minutes when he started screaming. I mean blood-curdling something was really wrong screams. This lasted for about 15 minutes until Gabe handed him off to me for bath time. He seemed to calm down some, but didn't have as much fun playing in the bath water as he usually does. I got him out to get him ready for bed and the screaming started again. I finished getting him ready, and then decided to feed him and put him to bed a little early figuring the screaming was because he was hungry and tired. He ate fine and slept for all of about 20 minutes at which time he woke up screaming again. By this time Gabe and I knew something had to be wrong because Quinton was definitely not acting like himself. He wasn't running a fever and showed no other symptoms to give us any indication of what could be wrong. Something told me to check his mouth. That really made him mad and I knew we were on to something. When I was finally able to feel along his bottom gum, there it was, tooth #2! In fact it was through enough that you could actually see it! He now has both of his bottom front teeth! 2 teething tablets later, he was back to his usual self and has been fine since. I hope all of his teeth come in this way. From the horror stories I have heard, an hour of cranky baby is way better than days of a cranky baby who also runs fever, etc.

It's Been a While

So it has been a while since I posted an update. Quinton is finally rolling over from his tummy to his back! We knew he could because he would do it in his bed when he was going to sleep, but we hadn't actually seen him do it yet. Monday night he finally showed off for us, and Tuesday he showed off for the sitter. Yeah!!! He also has gotten his first tooth!! I thought it was coming through on Friday night because I could feel the little ridges. I got confirmation on Saturday when I was finally able to hold him down long enough to look. It is the lower front tooth on the left side of his mouth. Another big yeah!! He is taking to teething like a trooper. He only gets mildly fussy and no fever or runny diapers. What a blessing!!! He gets his last 6 month shots tomorrow and then no more until his 9 month ones in April!!! (He is on the Dr. Sears' alternate vaccination schedule.) I will try to post new pictures soon.
It is so hard to believe that my sweet little baby is now almost 7 1/2 months old. Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday he was this little bitty newborn who weighed less than 7 lbs and didn't do much except sleep, eat, poop, and cuddle. Now he plays and interacts, eats baby food, sits up on his own, and is well on his way to crawling and being mobile!! He still likes to cuddle and is still the best thing in the world!!

Quinton-6 1/2 months

Here is a quick update on the goings-on at the Guess household.
Quinton had his 6 month checkup this past Friday (we are about 2 weeks off because we have him on an alternative vaccine schedule). He was 27 1/2 inches tall which places him in the 95% for his height!! Unfortunately, he only weighed 15 lbs 3 oz.. This means he dropped from the 50% (at 4 mo) and is now only in the 25% for his weight. They aren't worried yet. He has until his 9 month checkup to beef up some. He is sitting up all by himself now and loves playing with all of his toys. He has started reaching for mommy and daddy which of course melts our hearts!! He can babble and blow raspberries (though not on command yet) and loves exploring everything around him (especially people's faces and hair). He has been rolling over from back to tummy, but had yet to go from tummy to back until today! Today he was mad enough and throwing enough of a fit, that he rolled over from his tummy to back!! YEAH!! We have worked our way through most of the Gerber Stage 1 fruits and veggies and so far he loves everything but bananas. He'll only eat those if we mix them with his oatmeal. His room is finally finished and he is sleeping in it full time now, although he still is not sleeping through the night. He is still waking up at least once to eat. We had 6 month pictures taken the day after New Years at Portrait Innovations and they turned out sooo cute!! I will be posting new pics soon (hopefully). You know how things are with a baby in the house!!!