Surgey blues!

Jamie had surgery on his arm on 1/25/10 to fix a non-union of the bone that was previously operated on. In October 2006 Jamie got in a motorcycle accident and miraculously only received minor injuries. He did not make it into the doctor in time so his broken arm had already started to heal incorrectly. The doctor decided to allow it to heal then perform surgery on the radius placing a wedge of bone from his hip in the side of the radius to correct the angle of the bone. This was performed in February of 2007. Last year Jamie went in to see the same doctor in order to have the hardware removed. It was then that we found out that the graft had never fully healed. He would need surgery again to re-graft the bone . This surgery that he had in January was even bigger than the last one. Over time the unhealed bone had started to colapse on itself and bow out. The bones in his wrist were not in correct alignment with the radius and ulna. The doctor suggested removing a short section of ulna in order to increase his range of motion in his wrist and decrease pain. After much prayer and fasting we finally decided the morning of surgery to go ahead and shorten the ulna. The surgery took about 3 hours when the doctor expected it to take about 1.5-2 hrs. It took almost an hour just for the doctor to cut through all the scar tissue and access the previous graft. It was in bad shape. One of the screws had broken and the other had worn a large hole in the bone. The hardware was replaced, the graft was dug out and replaced with more bone from his right knee(tibia) and the ulna was shortened about 5mm. He was so swollen after the surgery that the doctors had to place staples in place of sutures. It has been 12 days now and he is still swollen. They have now placed a temporary cast on his arm. It is great because you can remove it and shower. He will not be able to do anything with that arm for at least 6 weeks. He has been a good sport but he is in a lot of pain.

Back to work :(

I am sad to say that my maternity leave is officially over. I went back to work on Wednesday January 6th. I have to say it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was so hard to leave my little pumpkin. I planned it on purpose so that I would only have to deal with a half a week for the first week. I was lucky enough to convince my boss to let me work from home on Fridays temporarily. It will be hard but well worth it. I am so thankful for technology that allows me to work from home. This first week has been hard for me but Matthew has done great. Matthew is being watched by my sister Amy's Nanny Lillian. She has done a great job so far. One plus is that she will speak to Matthew in Spanish. I am excited for him to learn two languages.

Happy New Year!

Showering with Mommy

When we were out in Chicago we showered with Matthew because we didn't have a baby tub. It was fun. He is so cute. He enjoyed his showers but he was sure slippery.

Winter in the Mid-West

Well, while we were in Illinois/Wisconsin it snowed pretty much every day. On Christmas Eve we traveled into Chicago to find it raining on top of the snow. The water was freezing on the snow and causing a huge sheet of ice. The picture above is the curb next to where we parked. The picture doesn't do it justice but there is a sheet of ice on top of the snow and parking lot is pure ice about 1 inch thick. It was crazy weather.

More ice covered snow. I really like the ice on the trees. It think it is so pretty.

In this picture you can see the light reflecting off the ice on the snow. The trees are all covered in ice.

The tree was swaying in the wind

This is my favorite one. You can see all the ice on the tree so well.

Christmas with the Lucchesi' (i.e. the Lucchesis, the Gums', the Vaccaros, the Moylans, the Perrys, the Wagners, and the Huberts)

This Christmas was spent in Illinois and Wisconsin with Jamie's side of the family. It was really nice to see everyone again and for them to meet Matthew. Traveling was difficult however it was worth it. We visited the Vacarro's first in Madison Wisconsin. It was really fun to see how Jasper handled little Matthew. He will become a first time dad this spring and I could tell is a little nervous. It was funny to hear that he awoke Joanne in the middle of the night when we were there and Matthew was crying to tell her that Matthew wasn't sleeping. Joanne said something to the effect that that is what babies do and went back to sleep. He is really in for an awakening, literaly :) We then visited the Moylans. We enjoyed playing the Wii with them that evening and watching funny videos on you tube. It was great to see them again. We then got to spend some time with Mom and Lenny and Sean (Grandma and Grandpa Gums and uncle Sean) we spent the day shopping and making yummy Christmas food. On Christmas eve we spent the day down in Chicago with Grandma and Grandpa Perry and Dad and Denise (Grandpa and Grandma Lucchesi) We also go to see many of Jamie's Aunts and Uncles that we hadn't seen for a while. Matthew was the life of the party. He dressed up like Santa. Uncle Tony took a particular liking to him. Jessica told me that Uncle Tony always had a special feeling for Jamie. You can tell he really cares for him. Chrismas morning we spent some time in our hotel (it was wiered not having a tree on Christmas morning) then went over to Mom's house. The Vaccaro's were there in the moring and the Moylans in the evening. We also got to visit with Lenny's son's Cris and Colby. Grandma Hubert came over to meet Matthew and Jamie's cousin and parter in crime Eric Wagner with his wife and 5 kids came to visit also. The day after Christmas we spent the day in the airport waiting for a flight that was delayed for 6 hrs due to a huge snow storm. Each day we were there it snowed! Over all it was great to see everyone but I am glad to be home.

Matthew on Christmas morning with his presents for Daddy.

Christmas eve at Grandma Perry's Matthew dressed up like Santa. He was the life of the party!

Matthew and his daddy at Grandma and Grandpa Gums' house

Christmas eve everyone loved playing with Matthew, especially great uncle Tony. Great Grandpa Perry had fun with him too as you can see.

4 generations! Great Grandma Perry, Grandpa Lucchesi, Daddy (Jamie) and Matthew

Great Grandma Perry

Grandma Gums and Matthew.

Christmas day at the Gums'

Great Grandma Hubert

"Auntie cousin" Eric Wagner :) (his kids call all of Jamie's siblings Auntie cousin, Jamie is the only boy and lives half the country away so they have not come up with a name yet. So now Eric and Jamie are both "auntie cousin"

The Moylans (Jessica and Dan and their three girls Addison, Sydney, and Payton)

Jamie and "the red heads" Sydney and Payton on Christmas

The girls loved little Matthew (Auntie Jessie and Sydney)

The Vaccaros (JoAnne, Jasper, Cassie, and Abigail) Matthew will soon have another cousin. JoAnne recently told us she is expecting in June!

Cousin Cassie and Matthew, this is great practice for her!

Abigail loved holding Matthew. Cassie made him smile a lot.

Christmas with the Andersons

This year we were in Illinois/Wisconsin for Christmas visiting Jamie's side of the family so we had an early Christmas dinner/celebration at my parents home. Each year it is a tradition to act out the nativity. This year, because little Matthew was the littlest boy Jamie and I got to play Joseph and Mary and little Matthew was baby Jesus. This was a very special year for me. First off, let me give you some background. Last year at Christmas time my sister Meagan had just announced that she was pregnant after a long time of trying. I was very happy for she and Seth however after a couple years of trying ourselves Jamie and I had not been so successful at that point. Mom announced last year as we were planning the nativity that Meagan would be playing Mary because she was the newest mother. I know that it is just a simple nativity scene but that little moment hit me so hard. I was so jealous of Meagan for being pregnant. Earlier that year I had undergone a course of fertility treatments that, if it had worked, would have put me due exactly on Christmas. I could barely get through that night. I played a wise man. I couldn't even smile for the pictures. Afterward I went into the other room and cried while the family continued the Christmas traditions. Little did I know that only a few weeks from that time I would also be pregnant. This year was such a joy after what happened last year. I finally got the wish I wanted and was able to have my little boy play baby Jesus. To others this may sound cheesy but it meant a lot to me. This year I got the best gift I could ever get, my son.

Mary(me) and Joseph (Jamie) with baby Jesus (Matthew) receiving gifts from the wise men (Seth, Dylan, and Amber) and the donkey (Jared)

The shepherds (Jacob and Amy) playing homage

Our little Angels, (Isabel and Alexa)

2 Month Check up

Matthew had his 2 month check up and shots on the 15th of December. He did well until the shot part. That was so sad. He weighed in at 10 lbs 12 oz was 23.5in long and had a head circumference of 39.1cm. He is in the 75th percentile for height, 50th for weight and 25th for head. He is just perfect. The doctor told us that the strawberry mark on the back of his head will most likely stay there for life but the little red marks on his eye lids will eventually go away. We are so happy to have such a sweet perfect baby boy. I have been so humbled and thankful to have a healthy baby. I work with so many sick kids and their families. Also, my good friend Michelle Hiles has a baby girl that just had to have a heart transplant. What a miracle for her but I can't imagine the trial of having to go through that. Thank goodness she is doing well. At this time of year I can't help but be thankful for all of my blessings, especially my baby boy.