2 Brothers Layne

The internet is down in the home front again, so you are forced to hear from me today. Tanya went to a get together at Hill Field AFB to learn about how to navigate the Tricare (our insurance) system, and also what is available for military families. She told me all about it and it sounds like she has a wealth of knowledge and a good idea how to do things once I am full blown in the fleet. Jonah was pretty good for Mamaw today. He got a little fussy when he was tired and after his nap was our happy little boy again. Mommy said Jonah was pleasantly surprised to wake up and see his mommy home!!! It is quite enjoyable to watch him on the web chats we have, but it also breeds sorrow because I miss holding and playing with him. As Easter approaches it brings families together for meals and good times. This is another hard pill for me to swallow because I miss being with my family, not just Tanya and Jonah, but all of them. It was difficult for me to miss Brittney's wedding a co...

Jonah seems to be making new discoveries every day. Most are very small and I'm sure I'm the only one who would notice since we are together all day everyday. It makes my heart light to see that although Jonah has limitation he is still able to push beyond people's expectations to achieve new heights. He is such an inspiration of diligence, trust, and finding joy in everything. I am truly blessed to have been given the opportunity of raising such a remarkable boy!

Jonah made a new discovery today... biting his toes = Pain! When I put him down for his morning nap he took it as an opportunity to play. He messed up all his covers, threw his toys to the corners and removed his sock. An hour later he was bored and wanted to play with Mom. We went to play in the family room and I neglected to replace his sock. Before I knew it he was pulling his his bare toes to his mouth and then he decided to taste them. He stuck in his big toe and bit down! His eyes welled up and he looked at me with the expression of , "Why didn't you tell me that would hurt!?" I picked him up and he was quickly comforted. ---Silly Boy!---

So not much happened today. A calm Sunday. Jonah was able to use his adaptive mouse to color a picture for our Sunday lesson. Other than this it was a pretty normal day. On a very exciting note, Jonah has learned to pucker up!!! He is very particular to whom he gives these little prizes to and so far it has only been mommy who recieves these pucker kisses!!!! Go mommy go!!!! How awesome is the internet!!! Problems arose in Utah so Tanya called me up and asked if I could help blog. Together we managed a meager blog. As for me if any one is wondering I am doing well. I am biding my time to wait for classes to start. In the mean time I clean, wait, clean, exersize, and clean some more. Easy money. The Navy is treating me good, and we are happy. Although I do have times when I miss my family dearly. It helps that we are able to video chat so I can see my family!!! I laugh a lot because Jonah tries to climb through the screen to get to me. I love it. Jonah has progressed ...

This is our new favorite mode of transportation. I try to take Jonah outside for a bit everyday (weather permitting) to help him get use to the bright sun light and fresh air. These are two things he has had very little experience with in his 18 months of life. The past few days he hasn't been terribly excited to be outside but today he showed marked improvement. He talked and talked and flapped his arms (Jonah's way of telling us he is very excited about something). If you look closely at the sheep in this picture you'll wonder what is going on... This Ewe is having issues will allowing her son to eat. My parents are keeping a very close eye on this pair and have had to resort to laying the ewe on her back so that the little one can get a meal. Just chillin' with Mamaw in the noisy barn. This was my entertainment tonight. I put Jonah on a blanket on the floor in his room so that I could fill his meds for the next 24 hours. Before I got started I pulled some toys...

So today Jonah felt like a pretty "Normal" kid. We woke up and fed Jonah then we went out to help Mamaw with the sheep for a while. (Don't worry Jonah was all bundled up and we weren't out too long.) Then we had to take a baby lamb over to the Pali Residence. The mommy sheep didn't have enough milk to support both babies so Matt and Maddy will raise it from a bottle. After that Jonah took a nap and we played the rest of the day away! ---Love it!

As you may or may not remember Jonah had a swallow study done the end of February to determine if he aspirated as he drank/ate. The study showed that he does aspirate thin liquids and nectars. At the conclusion of the study I was instructed to discontinue giving Jonah sips of water (which, by the way is the only thing he will take by mouth). I was very disappointed that we had to stop and come to find out Jonah was too. He demonstrated today how much he really enjoys drinking water. This morning while I was bathing Jonah he got this sparkle in his eye that tells me he is trying to figure something out. As soon as I laid him down he started to turn his head to the side very slowly. Then he put it back up straight. Then he turned it again to the side only this time he opened his mouth and turned just far enough to let a little water in. The he promptly faced forward, swallowed, and smiled! He thought he was pretty hot stuff getting a drink all by himself. Try as I might to sto...

I can hardly wait for the warm weather to be here. Jonah and I are getting restless being indoors all the time. Today the bright sunshine was too much to ignore so I bundled Jonah up and we went exploring. It would have been a perfect afternoon if it weren't for the wind. I've borrowed a front-pack from my sister-in-law and I totally love it! I've used is a ton since she brought it over. So today I loaded Jonah up in it and hooked him up to his portable oxygen and out we went. We walked all over the yard to see the baby sheep and the ewes. Jonah enjoyed being outside but he had a hard time with the bright sunshine. I plan to try again tomorrow but this time make it a long enough walk that I get some much needed exercise!

Our outing to the doctor's office was a huge success. Jonah was a champ during the ride to Ogden. The visit with the Doc went pretty well. She was quite impressed with all the progress he is making. The only concern she had was the fact that Jonah's head circumference has not changed in a few months. It may be nothing, but just to check our bases the next time Dr. Null checks his electrolytes Dr. Stokes has added a few extra blood tests. Jonah still has a sore throat and his cough is picking up again. We left with a prescription for Amoxicillin. Jonah slept all the way home and this evening has been nice and quite.

Jonah continues his recovery from the crazy wedding week. His nap today was over 2 hours! WOW! Jonah has worked hard on therapy today and he is making great progress. He never ceases to amaze me. I'll try to get some video of his new skills tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, Jonah and I will be in for a whole new adventure. Jonah has an appointment with his pediatrician tomorrow and we will be going alone. This will be the first time I've taken Jonah outside the Tremonton area alone. I'm excited for this new adventure and to add a milestone in our journey with Jonah!

Mamaw caught Jonah and me taking our Sunday afternoon nap. We were both out for over an hour. I'm sure grateful for a nice quiet Sunday afternoon. All our company from the wedding has left and the house sure feels empty. Jonah seems to appreciate the peace and quiet that he is use to. Things are going well for Daddy down in Pensacola Florida. He says he is always cold. Cold in Florida??? He says there isn't a shortage of sunshine but that there is always a wind blowing in off the Gulf of Mexico that makes it chilly.

A beautiful Bride and her adorable niece and nephews! It was quite a circus trying to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time. Thankfully there were very few tears shed throughout the picture taking process. We were definitely missing Daddy, but it was so nice to have Jonah out even for an hour. At the conclusion of pictures I whisked him away back home for bed. I was very impressed with how well Jonah was able to cope with all the noise and people. By the end of pictures he was feeling a bit overwhelmed and he was ready for some peace and quiet. Jonah and my grandma "Nanny"! Jonah and my Grandma Selman Jonah and my Grandpa Selman We had a very busy morning of cleaning up from the wedding but this afternoon was relaxed. It was nice to finally take a minute to breath.

It has been a very loooooong day. The wedding was lovely and the reception was beautiful. I'm sure glad to have it behind us now. Tomorrow will be a big cleaning day to get everything back in it's proper place. I'm falling asleep at the keyboard so you'll have to check back tomorrow for a whole bunch of very cute pictures!!! A big thank to Nana Layne for watching Jonah this morning for the ceremony and again this evening so I could attend the reception!

I realize that this is probably a no no but I thought it was soooo funny. Jonah has spent a significant amount of time in his Bumbo Seat today so that I could keep an eye on him and help with the last of the wedding preparations. At one point this box of tissues got slid next to Jonah's chair. Next thing I know Jonah has pulled out two or three and is doing some investigating. He decided to take a taste and realized that spit and tissues don't mix. He got a little nervous when the wet tissue stuck to his finger. After that he decided that it was way more fun to just yank more tissues out of the box then throw them around the counter. There is never a dull moment around here! Oh YA... Jonah has made a new discovery. For a couple of months now we have been trying to teach Jonah to make a long o sound while we tap his open mouth to create a funny sound. He finally understood what the point of all the tapping was last night. He thinks it is a pretty cool new trick and he...

Jonah's speech therapist came over today to play. Jonah always clams up when Miss Kelly is around and so I think she thinks I'm crazy when I tell here all the things Jonah is doing. FINALLY today he showed off all this vocalization skills and nonverbal communication. Kelly seemed quite impressed with the vast amount of progress he is making. I told her that whether by coincidence or on purpose nearly every morning when I'm getting Jonah ready to bath I coach him to say Ma Ma Ma. He looks at me and smiles and says Da Da Da. What a silly boy!

This is how I found my sweet son this morning. What a silly boy! I never know where he will be when I go to get him out of bed in the morning. Jonah was long overdue for a haircut. With the wedding coming up this Friday I finally got my act together and got it cut this morning. What do you think? I think it makes him look a little older. Jonah had another great day. He played hard and worked hard... what more can a mommy ask for?

Jonah is a huge fan of having his cousins around. We had an impromptu cousin gathering this afternoon for a while and Jonah was in heaven. He demanded to be in the same room as the commotion. Since all the cousins are mobile the party moved from room to room and when the room became quiet Jonah would start to scream to tell us that he was missing out and needed help catching up with the kids. Once he was amongst the chaos he was very content. Poor guy is going to get very attached and then it will be time to pick up and move to some place new...

Here is the finished product from our Primary lesson today. Jonah's OT would like to see him scribbling with markers so this is our first attempt. 95% of all the lines were done hand over hand (AKA with Mommy's help). Toward the end Jonah did make a couple of lines independently. He would rather eat the marker or throw it off his tray rather than hold it and make a mark on a paper. ...Oh well, this too will come with time.

Check it out! Jonah is standing at his table all by himself! He is getting so much stronger. This is Jonah loudly exclaiming that he is absolutely and totally finished with this activity! He is developing a mind of his own and he knows just what it takes to get people to listen to his side of the story. This was our favorite activity today... chatting with Daddy on Skype. It sure does help Florida seem a whole lot closer when we can see Daddy while we talk. Jonah gets so excited to see his Daddy and I think Daddy is pretty fond of seeing his son! Gaga and Mamaw returned this evening after battling the horrible snowstorm in Central Utah. Jonah was nearly beside himself with joy to see them again.

Jonah hit a cognitive milestone today! We've been working on helping Jonah understand that just because his toy is covered with a cloth doesn't mean that has ceased to exist. This has been quite a challenge but today he has conquered! We played for over 10 minutes with me covering his favorite toys and he quickly pulled off the cloth. I was elated! We got a visit from our Up to 3 Physical Therapist today. It has been a couple of weeks since she saw Jonah and she was pleasantly surprised with his progress! He is standing more and more independently. He will stand at his little table with NO SUPPORT from me for 20-30 seconds. Outstanding! I'm helping him learn to army crawl and it's coming along well. Hooray for Progress!!! Another hooray for a quick outing today. Jonah and I got a little cabin fever with the beautiful weather we had today so we escaped to Nanny and Papa's house in Bothwell. The cousins were there for a bit and Jonah was in HEAVEN! He loves watchin...

I think Jonah can sense the change around our house today. Gaga and Mamaw left early this morning and won't be back until Saturday evening. He has been a little cranky all day. Finally this evening Daddy was available to Skype with Jonah and that made all the difference. Jonah instantly stopped screaming (which has been all I've heard all day). Then Jonah proceeded to attempt to crawl through the screen to get to his Daddy. It was awfully cute. After that Jonah wasn't nearly so cross and he shortly fell asleep. Sure am grateful for Dave and the fact that we can talk every day.

Jonah is definitely feeling better today. He is finally back on his schedule and thriving! He is doing so well, in fact, that I have caught him getting into mischief twice today. I know that most Moms would think of this as a bad thing... not me. I was thrilled that Jonah finally has enough mobility to get himself into the things he shouldn't. For example, this morning I left him lying on the family room floor while I got his feeding ready and when I walked back into the room Jonah had rolled across the floor to Mamaw's mini computer and was munching on the mouse cord. I was so excited that I finally had a reason to tell him no. Then later this evening He was left to play on the floor while I put more cookies into the oven. Before I could get back to check on him his feeding pump was alarming that something was wrong. I came out to find Jonah was checkin' it out and in the process of his investigation he had tipped over the feeding pump bag causing the pump to suck...

It seems that Jonah has learned to share better than I'd originally planned... Now I have the stomach flu. Oh well, this too shall pass. Now at lease I have an idea of what he has been feeling the last few days. Poor Kiddo! Jonah seems to still be on the mend. He is progressively returning to his happy easy going self. This whole ordeal with Jonah being doublely (I realize that's my own made up word) sick has me in total amazement. Last fall when Jonah got the rhinovirus (AKA the common cold) it was truly scary. We were calling Dr. Null with updates every two hours for a 8 hour span. We were inches away from needing to have him admitted to PCMC because he was so sick. Thanks to many prayers said in our behalf Jonah eventually overcame and never had to leave the house. I was prepared to fight that same fight with this round of illness. Yet, Jonah has proven that he is healing on the inside. For him to battle though this virus and the stomach flu simultaneously withou...

We had a better night last night. I actually got to sleep about half the night in my own bed! This morning he was pretty irritable but he seems to be feeling better and better as the day goes by. Jonah has not had a decent nap since he got sick but today he had a 2 hour sleep! And he actually went to bed tonight at the usual time without needing to be rocked. He has started jabbering again which tells us that his throat isn't quite as sore as it has been. His cough might be a bit worse but everything else is improving! Hooray!

As close as we can figure Jonah has not 1, but 2 illnesses he is dealing with. The first is the virus that Dr. Stokes saw on Wednesday evening. The second is the stomach flu that Mamaw had on Friday and Saturday. He has been pretty miserable today. After a nearly sleepless night for the two of us Jonah just wanted to nap but it seems that every time he'd start to doze he awake with screams of pain. The best that we can figure is it was stomach cramps. If Jonah hadn't had the Nissan surgery he'd probably have been puking all day, but as such puking is no longer an option for him. So to try to ease his discomfort we cut liquid volume intake in half and that seemed to help. Tonight when he receives his continuous feed I'll move his volume up to 75% and tomorrow we hope to be back to normal. Even though Jonah is completely miserable his lungs and body are handling the illnesses surprisingly well. We are so pleased and relieved. Dave has had a very busy day. He re...

Today has been very laid back. After a very lazy morning and a late brunch in Chicago we went to the aquarium. It was very cool! My favorite things were the penguins and the sea otters. Jonah seems to be over the worst of the sickness. Last night Mamaw only had to attend to him twice. The only thing is that she started in with this same illness during the night. She tells me that Jonah has been a real trooper if he has felt as crummy as she is now feeling. I'm sure glad that they could just relax and and comfort each other while Gaga kept the house running. I got a call from Dave this evening, which will shortly become a daily occurrence, he reports that he made it to Florida safe and sound. I will be sending his IPod and cell phone out to him on Monday!

I could not have wished for a better day! The day started early here in Lake Forest IL at the Ferch residence. We filed into the Jeep around 7:15 and headed North East to graduation. The graduation didn't start until 9:00 but with the throngs of people converging on the same event I wanted to be there early. We were there in time to get a decent seat and after a very nice ceremony Dave was officially on liberty! We chose to spend the day at the Ferch home and keep things low key. This was Dave and I Skyping (a webcam chat) with Jonah and Jaxton. Jonah was so cute. He kept trying to climb up to the screen where Daddy was. It was like he thought he could fly into Daddy's arms right through the screen. I was so glad to see that Jonah had not forgotten. After our conversation with our son we had a wonderful home cooked meal and then took a snooze. We watched a movie, had an incredible dinner, and played some funny card games. This is moments before we left the house to r...

Hello Friends and Family! Today has been a pretty good one for the Layne family. Mommy and Daddy are in the same state and only 30 minutes apart! Jonah is in good hands in Utah. Mamaw reports that all in all it has been a good day (although that may be her way of putting my mind at ease as I have had some separation anxiety leaving my greatest treasure at home). No major issues with Jonah's new illness. Nana came over this evening to play while Mamaw took a break to get a few things done. Hooray for having two wonderful grandmas! Jonah is very blessed and so am I. Well, tomorow we leave the Ferch residence at 6:30 am to go to Dave's graduation! I just may not sleep tonight!

We had a very looooong night last night. Jonah started running a fever and was miserable all night long. This morning he started desaturating (his body wasn't maintaining enough oxygen in his blood) causing his monitors to alarm. Then he had numerous coughing spells. He has had a bit of a cough for the last week but it sounds so much like his super sensitive gag reflex that I didn't think too much of it until today. So when we added up all the changes we decided that it was time to see the Doc. After a blessing from Papa Layne and Papa Anderson I called to see if Dr. Stokes (his Pediatrician) could see Jonah today. I was told that she was booked but that an associate in the Layton clinic could see him. I then had to call our case manager for Tricare to see if we could see another Dr. ...Well to make a long story it took numerous phone calls and nearly an hour before arrangements were made for Jonah to see Dr. Stokes in the after hours clinic this evening. We had a low k...

Today Jonah had an appointment at PCMC to see his cardiologist. Our last visit with Dr. Day was ok but not great. Last time he didn't see any regression but also there was no improvements made. So we were hoping for a little more progress this time and we got it...at least a smidgen. Each visit they do an ECG. We compared this visit's to last and in two areas we saw a slight improvement. It was a little baby step in the right direction but it was a step nonetheless! This afternoon I got a phone call out of the blue from Dave!!! Awesome! He said that everything is going well. Our call lasted nearly 15 minutes. That is the longest continuous visit I've had with him since he left on the 5th of January. He reported that it is not allowed to hold my hand while in his "Dress Blues" (his dress uniform). I was a little bummed to hear that since he is required to remain in his uniform the entire visit. He quickly stated that no one can stop him from holding my...

Hooray for a Cousin with cool toys! Jonah's cousin Oakley has spina bifida and as result she collects cool equipment like Jonah. Oakley has out grown her stander and so she passed it on to Jonah. This is a pricey gift! We are very grateful for their generosity. This will replace the little red monkey stander we've been borrowing from the up to 3 program. It took nearly 30 minutes for Mommy and Jonah's physical therapist Ann to get it adjusted to fit Jonah. We started with all the components slid as far down as they would go. By the end we had moved everything up significantly! He is really growing in length!!!