Sammy and his friends

So, this is all about big boy Sammy! Yesterday and today our house has been quite the happenin' place. Well, at least in the front yard. I thought that it wouldn't be like this until Sam was older...but...it's already happening. We had a cluster of neighborhood kids playing with Sam in front of our house. We rode bikes, scooters, played baseball, blew bubbles, and more. It was crazy and they ranged in age from 5-11. Oh, and Sam, he's only 2. Luckily they are really great with him (most of the time). It is weird to have so many kids here, and quite exhausting. I finally took off after a few hours, and went to my mom's house to get a break. LOL. Thad said as soon as Sammy left they took off.

One of Sammy's new favorite things is using Michael's scooter. He's one of our neighbors and always lets Sammy ride it over and over and over again. Here is a little video of him. He talks a little in it ("I crash") and I think that it's fun. Enjoy!

"Hah Sauce!"

One quick cute, funny, sad story...I wish that I had a pic, and believe me, I thought about it but I decided against it. I was running behind (like always) because we ate dinner at Grandma's house and I needed to get Sammy home and in bed. When I arrived at our house it was sooo windy so I called Thad and had him come and get Sammy and the baby. I then parked the car but had to run and get something out of the car. When I came back in from the car I started to run when I heard Sammy scream in pain. As I turned the corner and looked in the room I thought that I saw blood all over Sammy's hand and started freaking out...but then I got closer and could see and smell hot sauce, and then heard Sammy say, "Oww! Hot!" Once I realized that it wasn't blood, I wanted to grab my camera to document it but I thought that would be awful. Sammy was in pain and he had Taco Bell hot sauce in his mouth, and all over his hand (somehow it didn't get on my bed--Daddy had left his Taco Bell bag with extra hot sauce on the bed--how exciting!) I told him to drink his milk that I had just gotten him, but it kept burning. I ran and asked Thad, half sad, half laughing, what to do. He told me to give him ice cream, so I did that and besides the fit that was thrown after that (because he wanted more ice cream) he didn't complain about the burning. He did learn a few new words/associations. He knew how to say hot sauce before but now he knows what it is, and he knows that it's "spicy hot". I still wish I had the picture. It would have been a classic...

P.S. During the middle of the full-fledged tantrum I sent him in to ask Daddy if he could have more ice cream (thinking that he would say no,) but when he asked Daddy if he could have more, Daddy said that the ice cream was only to help his mouth stop burning and that he could only have more ice cream if he had more hot sauce, and that if he wanted more hot sauce that he had to ask Mommy. Next thing I know Sam was asking me for more hot sauce--apparently he'll do anything for ice cream!

P.P.S. If you want to see something hilarious, check out this guy's blog and his "Holy Hot Sauce" that I found while googling for hot sauce packet pics!

Keep praying--miracles do happen! :)

We went to our appointment to see about Nathan's head yesterday and it went really well. We are grateful for the great insurance that we have and that it only cost us $5 to see a geneticist and a plastic surgeon who specialize in infant craniosynostosis. :) When we arrived they were both really friendly and so great with Nathan. They felt his head and told us that it looks like his head is normalizing and that they don't think that he has craniosynostosis--hooray--but they are going to watch it (but hopefully no surgery!). They said that if he did have it, his head would have a raised seam that you could feel with your finger. We have an appointment with them again the third of March to make sure that it continues to get better and not worse. They also told us to call if we noticed any changes. :) We're soooo happy and hope that he continues on this healthy road! Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes--keep praying--miracles do happen!

p.s. New pics on Smugmug --> Boys Dec 2007 / Christmas Pics

Merry Christmas to All

So, I finished the Christmas letter last week, but haven't gotten it sent yet. I will send it, but until then, here it is in .jpg (click on it to see it big).

:) Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Love, The Marcrofts
Thad, Allie, Sammy, and Nathan
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dggmpd7_0dkhch7f7 - page 1
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dggmpd7_2gd48vxgw&hl=en - page 2

Almost there...

:) Just a quick note since I haven't blogged in a while (it's been a crazy week--I had school up until Friday, but it can only get better...I have two weeks off!) We haven't gotten any more news on Nathan. We went to see the neurosurgeon last week only to be referred to a plastic surgeon who specializes in infant cranio-whatchamacallit. Our appointment in West LA is this Wednesday (thank goodness--they first said they could get us an appointment in mid January--no way Jose!) Other than that, Sam continues to show us that he's two and his fits are getting bigger, more violent/dramatic, and are so not fun! Christmas Eve is tomorrow and we're excited to spend it in our own home and we're excited for "Sah-Sah" to come to visit. I've had fun buying a few things for Sammy... I'll post more after Christmas with the two families and especially after Wednesday!

Papa's Shop and the "beep beep"

Sammy was so excited today when Daddy took him to "Pa-pa's shop" because he likes the big machines and loves the "beep...beep...beep" (aka forklift). He jumped on it like always and wanted to drive it. Then Daddy helped him "drive" it for real. They even got to lift the forks up and down.

Cranio-what?!

So, I have been putting off this post, but I guess that I should write about it. A little over two months ago when we went to Nathan's first appointment our doctor said that his head was a little funny shaped, and that the bones in his head looked like they were fusing prematurely. He also told us that they were going to monitor it until his 2 month appointment. Well, last week when he went to his appointment the doctor referred us to a neurosurgeon! Yikes!

So, today we went to the neurosurgeon and he took his hands and felt his head and said that the plates aren't all the way fused together (a positive thing) but that it is some type of craniosynosis (the premature fusion of plates in his head). He has now referred us to a plastic surgeon/craniosynosis specialist in West LA. We don't have an appointment yet (hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to call and get one) but we'll keep you posted.

It's not certain that he'll have to have an operation to fix it, but if they do they'll cut his skull open and make it so that his head can expand and he won't have brain/eye problems! The positive side of all of this is that they have found it early, and the websites say that it's best if it's found and operated on before 3 months of age when their heads can make bone and repair themselves!! After the operation he'd probably have some kind of protective helmet to keep his head forming correctly...

:{ It sounds too scary and crazy for my sweet little Nathan who doesn't look like he needs a neurosurgeon!!!! At least he's happy and healthy (well, besides the head thing) and eating--he looks like a normal baby I think!!

I'll keep you posted...until then, keep us (especially him) in your prayers. We need all the help we can get!

Here's a little video of him...he loves to coo and gurgle and talk to you. It's quite fun! :)

"I Hap-py"

I'm going to tell a cute little story about my little Sammy. He's been getting up really early lately (earlier than his normal 6 or 6:30 am) and we've been talking about the sun being awake when we get up so when he slept until almost 7 am I was super excited. When I went to get him out of his crib (yes, he's still in his crib and is still pretty happy there so why change something that's not broken?!) anyway, I told him that Mommy was happy that he slept until the sun woke up. He repeated like a little bird, "Mommy hap-py" and smiled and gave me a hug. I was running late for work, as always, and Thad was feeling awful and flu-ish, so I turned the movie Cars on. I sat Sammy on the bed to watch and he turned to me and said, "Thank you Mommy, I hap-py" and smiled really big! It made my morning :) It was so fun to hear him use his new word (happy) to describe himself. They learn so quickly!!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Our Mt Lowe Excursion

So....where do I start?! It never rains in southern California, right? Wrong! Friday we woke up in the morning it looked gloomy, and then it started raining! We scrambled outside to cover up Thad's tools in the backyard that were already getting wet. We found the wood and stucco/cement mix was wet (and ruined) and tried to cover anything else that might get ruined! Needless to say I was late leaving and got to school 8 minutes before the bell rang--oops! Hope nobody needed help! Anyway. It was a crazy, wet, cold day and the rain continued to pour down! Sammy enjoyed it and after his nap he ran outside to jump and splash around in the mud and rain (even threw his little white lamb in the mud--nice!)

We were supposed to be going camping with Thad's parents in the mountains (just overnight) but I thought that there was no way we'd go in the wind and rain...but...we did. It was an adventure and I was cold...we had tons of blankets and were pretty warm, but we lost the baby's bottle in the middle of the night (ahh!), and then when we woke up in the morning it was even colder and mistier than the night before..and the sun refused to come out from behind the clouds. Sammy had fun in the mountains, Mommy and Nathan survived (I think Nathan's only problem was that I had sooo many blankets on him that he was sweating and then I kept having to change him because he was wet.) Sammy got to meet Smokey the Bear and although he was apprehensive at first, he ended up giving him a high five and then a kiss on the cheek! My favorite part was that when he finally was brave enough to go up to him the first thing it did was point to the "Y" on his hat and say "Y". Hooray..he loves his letters! :)

All in all it was a good time, just cold! I think I finally defrosted about 9 pm last night. At least we're back in the sun down here. I am glad that we went. If you want you can See more pics @ Smugmug




p.s. I did learn a few things...1) bring 2 bottles along with your pre-measured water (we had that-but without a bottle it was useless, and no, a sippy cup won't work just in case you try that with a 7 week old), 2) Bring extra clothes for your 2 year old, he will find anything wet/dirty etc within a mile radius. 3) Don't forget your flashlight (you might need it in the middle of the night) 4) Pack snacks for you, not only your kids (I got hungry too!)