2 Brothers Layne

It's been a very nice sabbath. With the exception of the three hours of church Jonah and I have been far from alone today. Mamaw got a call this morning to see if she could take Matt and Maddie to church today then shortly after that she got a text from Brittney (my youngest sister) asking if she could bring a few extra bodies to church and then to Sunday dinner. Mamaw checked to see that there were enough potatoes cooking and told Brittney they were all welcome. This ment that Jonah would be staying out of the excitement to try and minimize his exposure to germs. Jonah doesn't seem to mind watching from a distance. He just loves to watch. Jonah's left leg seems to be almost back to normal. He spent over 30 minutes in his jumper jumping full force! I've only seen him favor his sore leg once today. All good signs that he is healing.

Can anyone guess that caused these welts on my cheek? Nope... not a pinch. Nope... not a slap. That's right! Jonah's sharp little chompers! Why you may ask was my cheek near his teeth, well, Jonah gives the BEST open mouthed kisses. He was full of kisses this afternoon but he got a little over zealous and bit! My immediate reaction was to flinch which pulled my skin through his teeth. OUCH. It's not the first bite, nor the last I'm sure! In hind sight it was really very funny! Dave's division earned a phone call home this week so I got to talk with him for almost 10 minutes. He is doing well. The doctor thinks he has a stress fracture in his foot. This has Dave really worried because it will take approx. 2 months for the fracture to heal during which time he would have to be in light dudy at basic training. This would prevent him from doing most physical activity including the necessary tests to graduate. So basic would be 4months long rather t...

Molar number 3 has arrived! Jonah is now the proud owner of 10 teeth, 4 on top and 6 on bottom. He is rather protective of showing it off. It has probably been through the gums for a few days now but today was the first time in a while that he actually let me see inside his mouth. He has been surprisingly happy through the whole process. I got two letters from Dave today! He sound like he is doing better and better. Don't get me wrong, he isn't having the time of his life, but it seems like he is adjusting to basic training. He has been relieved of his Master at Arms position. He seemed to appreciate the responsibility being passed on to someone else. This also gives him more time to study. He has finally been allowed to read all the letters that have been sent to him. He was relieved to know that all is well here at home. He appreciates everyone's thoughts and prayers in his behalf.

This is our room in the ER yesterday. Jonah was such a trooper! Notice anything different? That's right, Jonah took off his canula. This was the second time in less than 5 minutes so I decided to take advantage of his tape free face and snap a few picts! What a handsome kiddo! I think he looks more and more like his daddy. Oh, YA! I forgot to mention that before all the action yesterday I gave him another haircut. Dave would call it "high and tight" meaning that it is quite short on the sides and the back with enough left on the top to comb. The first video I finally caught Jonah talking to his puppy (not really a puppy at almost 5 years old) Jaxton. As long as Jonah doesn't know that camera is running he'll talk and talk and talk. But the instant he sees the camera it's all over. The second one he pays as much attention to the camera as he does Jaxton. Jax is very patient and tolerant of Jonah most of the time.

It has been a long afternoon. At 1:15 this afternoon I was supporting Jonah's legs so that he could stand at the couch and play with his toys. He was doing a great job of keeping his balance and he was really enjoying being on his feet. We called Mamaw into the room to see what we were doing and not a minute or two after that Jonah started to loose his balance. I thought, "Oh, he is a little off to the left, his core strength has improved so much that he should be able to straighten himself out. I'll just give him a minute to try." A split second later he was falling to the left. I let go of his right leg to try to grab his little body (which I did) but not before I felt his left leg POP in my hand. Jonah started to sob and I was just sure that I had caused my son to break his leg. I gave him some Tylenol and called Dr. Null and explained the incident. He said that we could stop at McKay-Dee but if it were broken they would probably transport him to PCMC an...

Over the past 2 weeks I've accumulated a significant amount of paperwork and phone calls accumulate to today was the day to try and get caught up. I started while it was just Jonah and I and decided that it was going to take a significant amount of time so we called in reinforcements... Nanny (My mom's Mom). Nanny came over after work at 2:30 and played with Jonah while I was on the phone and filling our paperwork for 2+ hours! I told Nanny that I would love a secretary. We both had a good laugh at that. I very much appreciate her help today! Everyday I find another reason to be amazed that Dave managed everything so well for 5 months. What a great Daddy, husband, secretary, dishwasher, house keeper, laundry doer, etc. I am so very BLESSED! Jonah has been very agreeable today. We had a virtual home visit with the OT. The last time she saw Jonah was just less than a month ago and she was blown away with his progress! It is so nice to hear that he is moving in the right...

We did a quick photo shoot just for fun! Here are a few of the picts... We got a call from Dr. Null today giving us Jonah's blood test results. He was very pleased with what he saw. He said that everything looks normal. So normal in fact, that we were able to ween on his Arginine CL from 3 times a day down to 2! Hooray! The day has just flown by. I guess that is because I spent the morning at Hill Air Force Base getting my Military ID and checking out the Commissary. Then this evening we made an appearance at Uncle Mitch's birthday party. There were only a few family members there so we figured it was pretty safe. Jonah just loves watching his cousins run around.

The weather has been BEAUTIFUL today here in Elwood! The sun was shining and the temp was around 40 degrees. That's pretty warm for us. Not only was it sunny outside but the mood was very sunny inside! Jonah had a great day. He is rolling all over the place. It is so much fun to see his increased mobility. It was pretty quiet around here, as usual.

"Oh, MOM! I don't think I can do this!" "It's not so bad if it only touches my teeth!" "That's all I can handle Mom. I am finished!" This Jonah's defensive stance. He is pushing my hand away while covering his mouth. This is a very typical reaction to tasting food. "I love it when you make silly sounds Mom. It always makes me so excited!" "Oh, that's sticky!" We continue to try tastes of different foods. Today's taste was a strawberry dum-dum. Jonah was obviously not terribly impressed! This is what a great problem solver Jonah has become. The whole purpose of this scooter is to get Jonah to spend more time on his tummy to help build up his arm and shoulder muscles. We will now have to attach some sort of wings to make the scooter wide enough to not tip over. Guess what I got today...? Not one but TWO LETTERS from DAVE!!! What a great surprise. He says that life there is rigorous. He is the Master at...

I am feeling so very grateful for all of my help and support here at home.  There is no way I could do what is required of me without the help and support of my wonderful families (Selman & Layne).  I've had a long day... Jonah was really clingy and cranky and I was really missing my sweet husband.  Just when I thought I could do no more my parents arrived home and swept Jonah out of my arms to give me a break.  Then again this evening my Mom watched Jonah while my Layne family took me out to dinner.  What a nice evening.  I returned home feeling refreshed and ready to take on what ever comes my way. Still no word from Dave.  Hopefully next Wednesday's entry will be titled, "Finally a letter!".  I'll keep my fingers crossed.  I heard from Dave's recruiter yesterday, she reports that she is hearing good things about Dave at basic training and he should be right on track to graduate on March 5th.  ...If only there was a way to attend ...

This is such a fun video of Jonah's new skill. He is finally rolling 360 degrees! The first time he cheats and uses my finger for a bit of leverage. The second is totally Jonah! Today has been an interesting one. We've received 8-10 inches of snow here in Elwood. Gaga and Mamaw left to take Grandpa Selman to SLC for heart surgery. The procedure went well and they all should be home tomorrow. So we had Nanny and Papa Anderson over for a few hours so Mommy could get his medications all drawn. Then Nana and Papa Layne came to have a sleep over just to give me the piece of mind that if I really zonk out and don't hear him there will be someone available to help. I'm so grateful for my wonderful families!

Another successful day at PCMC. Today's agenda included a Virtual Home Visit with our Physical Therapist, then at PCMC blood work and the dysphasia clinic. The PT made some great suggestions on how to use the new scooter and the baby walker. I gave the scooter a try this evening and Jonah tolerated it well. On to the blood work. It has been a while since Jonah's electrolytes had been checked, so today was the day. He was such a champ! Not one tear or whimper. He sat there like he totally understood the procedure. He seemed more like a brave 8 year old rather than a 16month old. The phlebotomist was amazed at how grownup he acted. Last but not least was the dysphasia (feeding/eating) clinic. After a 45 minute wait we visited with an OT, Nutritionist, Psychologist, and the Dr. Everyone was pleased with his progress. The only thing new is to do another swallow study to make sure that Jonah is not at risk of aspirating PO feeds. That will be coming up in February. Tonig...

Today is day 1 of 2 for visiting Primary Children's Medical Center. We started our visit with Dr. Day (Jonah's cardiologist). Our first stop was a chest x-ray, then an ultrasound of his heart, followed by an echocardiogram (EKG/ECG). After all of that was completed then we got to visit with Dr. Day. He was pleased with the physical changes in Jonah (taller, slimmer cheeks, bright alert eyes, lots of vocalizations, etc.). He said that will all the test that had been completed previous to our visit it seems that his heart is not getting any worse... but it is also not getting any better. Only time will tell whether Jonah's heart will make a complete recovery or not. After our visit in Cardiology we went to the 4th floor to the NICU to see Dr. Null! It is always good to visit with him and hear his encouraging words. He too was pleasantly surprised with Jonah's physical appearance and his developmental progress. We discussed that in a couple of weeks if Jonah is st...

Jonah has new wheels! This is a homemade scooter we've constructed to help Jonah gain tolerance for laying on his tummy. He seems to tolerate it but he is not necessarily happy. o Eventually we hope to help him understand that he can use his legs and arms to propel himself around the house. There have been many therapists suggest such a contraption but today we decided to do something about it. Gaga and Mamaw and I put our heads together and this is what we came up with. It looks like it will do the trick... now to convince Jonah... We realized that Jonah has added another word to his receptive vocabulary (words that he understands the meaning of). I was helping him stand when the therapist said jump, jump, jump, and Jonah did just that. It was amazing to see that light turn on and as he proved to us that he understood the word jump. Much of the credit for this one goes to his jumper that he loves so dearly and the fact that every time he is in it we all label his action wit...

What a CHEESER! This little guy got all dressed up for Mommy's Primary class today. He is wearing the belt that Gaga tooled for him for Christmas. It isn't actually done up because Mommy has too busy to mark where the holes need to be punched. This is an action shot of Jonah being very excited. He has been in a great mood most of the day. We spent close to a half hour today working on Jonah's rolling. He is so close to rolling from his back to his tummy independently. It is so fun to see the lights going on in Jonah's head as he grasps new concepts. What a miracle!

It was a nice easy day today. We played hard and laughed a lot. Jonah got to play in a little bit of water while in his stander this morning. He wasn't so sure that water belonged anywhere besides the bathtub. I'm still feeling very relieved that I got to hear Dave's voice yesterday. Can't wait for that first letter to arrive!

After making a whole slew of phone calls I got my banking OOPS sorted, info sent to Medicaid, and arrangements to have Mamaw watch Jonah while I went to Hill AF Base to get Jonah and I signed up for Tricare Insurance. The insurance process went smooth at silk. That's nice change. I talked with someone about getting Jonah qualified for a program called Exceptional Family Members (EFM). Through this program the Navy will be required to take into account Jonah's special medical needs when they go to assign us a permanent station. Qualifying for this program will require me to get all 8 of Jonah's Specialists to fill out an 8 page form about Jonah's medical conditions. It will be a process to obtain all the correct paperwork, but very worth it in the end! I got a wonderful surprise today... I received a collect call from Dave this evening. It was very brief but wonderful to hear his voice! He called because he was very concerned that Jonah and I were unable to get T...

This is the new stander I mentioned in yesterday's post. Jonah seems to really like it! In the second picture (a view of Jonah's back) you'll notice t 2X4s under his feet. That is because this is the smallest stander that they could find and my son's legs are still too short! This is one of my very favorite pictures! he looks so surprised that his bowl is empty. My kiddo loves to ham it up for the camera. You'd never know that Jonah got his second H1N1 Vaccine this morning. He has had a great day and been very smiley. He even had 2 decent naps! Still no word from Daddy. I'll keep you posted! The first video is Jonah telling Daddy a story. (Dad will love it when he eventually gets to see it!) The second is Jonah in his new stander.

Daddy gets an A+ tonight for all the progress he and Jonah made over the last 6 months. We had a fun visit today from our Up-to-3 physical therapist and our service coordinator. out PT brought Jonah a stander to start using to help build his leg and hip muscles as well as to regain his bone density. The service coordinator came to update Jonah's developmental testing in preparation for our Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) meeting next month. The following are her results. Gross Motor - 7 months (1-2 months) Fine Motor - 9 months (3-4 months) Cognitive - 8 months (3-4 months) Language - 6 months (.5-1 month) Self Help - 7 months (0 months) Social Emotional - 7 months (2-3 months) Allow me to interpret. What this says is that the gross motor skills that Jonah has developed are NOW equivalent to those of a typically developing 7 month old. In parenthesis are his scores from 6 months ago when we got him home from the hospital. What a HUGE improvement! All my praise and...

I'm such a proud Mommy today, My son has received his first A+. Today we went to PCMC to visit with Dr. Such-Neibar. She works in rehabilitation. The last time she saw Jonah was a week before he was discharged from the NICU. She was astonished by all the progress he has made in the last 5 months of being at home. I've always harbored the feeling that Jonah would probably require a wheelchair for a while until his gross motor skills could catch up. After today's appointment I am hopeful that we may be able to bypass the wheelchair altogether. That would be awesome!!! After the appointment Mamaw and I had a few errands to run so we took turns sitting in the van with Jonah. By the time we left Ogden Jonah was tired and mad, but Daddy saved us again. Before Dave left he recorded 5 one minute clips of him talking to Jonah. I played Dave's prerecorded messages over and over all the way home and as long as Jonah could hear Daddy he was fine. When Daddy would say good...

Jonah has made a new discovery.... drum roll please!.... He has a nose! You guessed it, he figured out that his skinny little fingers fit up there perfectly. So, I'm sure Dave would be having a hey day with this one. He'd probably write a novel on the finer art of Jonah's nose picking and it would be very witty and everyone would laugh and there would be 10 comments by this time tomorrow... however; since it is mommy and she severely lacks Daddy's quick whit this is bound to be very dry. I have yet to capture this discovery on camera, but I'll not give up yet.

I had a very sweet experience today. As you know Jonah and I are not attending church due to the germ factor, so I've started having a very modified version of Primary for Jonah on Sundays while Gaga and Mamaw are at church. Today we looked at a picture of Christ and sang "I'm Trying to be Like Jesus". Jonah was captivated by the picture and kept grabbing the picture and kissing his face. It was like Jonah recognized Him and was so excited to see Him. I was moved to tears to realize how thin the veil still is for my little boy. Overall it was a pretty low key day!

Today has been a very laid back day. We invited ourselves to breakfast at Nana and Papa's house. Then attempted to have Jonah's morning nap there on the couch. Jonah informed me that naps are for home NOT Nana's house. We have a busy week ahead with an appointment at PCMC and a bunch of therapy visits. I finally got Dave's address at basic today. I was so excited to be able to send all the letters that I've been writing since Dave left. Hopefully they will arrive the beginning of next week and find him in good spirits!

Today had been as good as yesterday was bad. I arrived at work this morning and brought up my concerns with having a lack of Insurance for a period of time. My director brainstormed what options I would have for the next half hour then told me she would make some phone calls to see what she could do. I went and talked with HR and found out that my best option was to buy a month of Cobra insurance until the Military coverage got all sorted. This would mean I'd have to come up with an extra $800 dollars to pay for the cobra coverage. That sounded better than no coverage at all but I was still at a loss as to how I would come up with the funds. What I didn't know was that at noon today a staff member caught wind of my situation and started going from room to room collecting donations, and at 3:00 this afternoon I was handed an envelope with nearly $700 in it. I was so humbled to see the kindness and generosity that abounds at our little school. Then by 4:00 my director pul...

Today we started the day with Jonah's Monthly Synergist shot. It is a very thick substance and very painful, according to Jonah. After that the day was filled with phone calls. I was trying to be proactive in getting Tricare up and running so that Jonah doesn't have to miss any Dr. appointments. I thought I was really getting somewhere when my progress was quickly put to a stop. Then from there it was two big steps backward, some tears, stress, and a few prayers. By then end of the night things are better. Not totally fixed, but better. I sure am glad Nana and Papa Layne stopped by with a Cherry Coke for Mom! Jonah sure enjoyed the visit. He even showed off his new sounds for them! Tomorrow I go into work for my last day. It will be bittersweet. I have been treated to well there at the school for the deaf and the blind!

Jonah and I have been home all day by ourselves and we are no worse for the wear. We had a virtual home visit with the speech therapist and she was very surprised and excited with all the progress Jonah is making with his speech. Our new assignment is to over exaggerate facial emotions and sounds like Ma, Da, and La. Jonah is doing really well with imitations. Jonah will get his Synergist shot tomorrow... Shhhhhh tell Jonah. The highlight of the day was when Daddy called from the SLC airport. He reported that he had a 4 hour wait until he was to board. He reported that there may be a way for us to get our Tricare card by the beginning of next week rather than the standard 2-3 week wait. What is our hurry, you may ask. Well we have a number of different agencies that provide continuous care four our little guy and they all want to know where to send the bill and until I get that card those bills will come to me. In the end (after a bunch of phone calls) Tricare would take care o...

Congratulations! ( Daddy! ) Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're NEVER Alone . And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go. OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO! You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights! You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights. You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed. You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest. I love this book by Dr. Seuss, and today it helps to sum up my feelings. I have, of course, made a couple of minor adjustments. This is our whole little family preparing to send Daddy off to basic training. Even Jaxton got to be a part of the goings-on. We had a chance to ask Dave's recruiter some que...

This is a before picture of Jonah. The after picture. Jonah looks like a little boy with this hair cut. I LOVE IT!!!! So, things around here have been pretty quiet most of the day. I have been busy working on last minute Honey-dews: Laundry - check!!! Truck emptied out - check!!! Dinner made - check!! Cabinet fixed - Check!!! Documents faxed and readied for me to take to basic - check!!! Jonah said, "DA" - BIG CHECK!!!!!!!! made my eyes tear up, and when I was alone, I cried. Jonah got a hair cut to match the one that I will be getting in basic - Check!!! House sold - NO CHECK!! Truck sold - No check!!! Finish Christmas gifts for the Reynolds - No check. Ordered all of Jonah's medications before Tanya's insurance runs out - Check. The OT from the UP to Three Program came by for a therapy session. She is always very pleased with the progress Jonah is making. Grandma Rain is very enthusiastic about a comment the therapist made. "Jonah nervous system i...

Today has been a pretty good day for Jonah. It seems the screaming episodes have passed, we hope. Except for a small moment, that probably seemed like eternity to Grandma Rain, when Jonah has some gas issues during his 5 pm feeding. Today was the monthly Layne family dinner, it was very good. Tanya and I were both able to attend this months thanks to Mamaw. My brother made garlic burgers!!! Delicious!!! Time is short, I leavthe on Tuesday. I am a little nervous, but all will be well. Tanya will have a lot of help at her hands, if she needs it. January is going to be a busy month for Tanya and Jonah. The first 3 weeks in January are packed full of Dr.'s visits and therapy appointments. Tanya said this will help to keep her busy while they both adjust to being alone. At the family party Tanya was asked how she was doing. My dad piped up and said, "Call her on Friday and ask her that." Tanya responded very sternly, "Do not call!! I will not answer!!...

Today went well for Mom. I left early this morning to take care of some errands in Ogden, and didn't get back home until around 2 pm. Tanya said, it was a pretty good day. Nana and Papa Layne came over for dinner, brats and sauerkraut. Delicious!!! Jonah is starting to lean toward mom more for comfort. Just before dinner mom had Jonah and he would not go to any one, even me, that is a first!!! So the relationship between Tanya and Jonah is where I think it should be, that is one less worry for me as I will be away.

I must say YUCK to snow. I don't mind the beautiful mystique it has upon the land though. I guess most people would reply, "If you don't like the snow, then move!" Well, I am working on that. This weekend has started out a little rough for our little family. Both of our stress levels are raising and with that comes impatience. We have both hurt feelings and had to apologize. But never-the-less, we are marching forward with hand-in-hand, with faith. Jonah has been amazing today. The progress made on a day to day basis blows my mind. He, Jonah, has started to make audible "Gu" sounds, and a few "Ya" sounds. I, we, love to listen to Jonah talk and jabber. He likes to sing to his Hadi doll, Jax, himself, and each and every living and in-adamant object . Jax is so very patient with Jonah. Jax lays by Jonah chewing his bone and allowing Jonah to pull on his ears and grab his fur. This is good rolling practice for Jonah. Therapy wise, Jonah...