Am I a slacker?

Oh no.. I fear that I am slacking in this whole blogging stuff. I hope hope hope I can keep it up! We have had a BUSY week. We went to two different MOMS groups this week, had a fun dinner/ playdate with some friends, saw my grandparents, hungout with my mama, the list goes on... Ryder had an xray and blood work on Monday and it all came back NORMAL! I am SOOOOOO beyond happy, he is such a trooper. 

Saturday we went down to Jimmy Macks downtown for Marks 50TH Birthday!! It was a lot of fun, we brought baby along with us.... 

So I am currently in the Christmas spirit. I usually don't get like this but I think with having a new baby it makes it that much better. I have broke out SOME decorations (not many) and even got Ryder an ADORABLE santa hat!! 

My grandparents came by on their way to the beach on Monday, then they came back by today on their way back home... here is a picture of Ryder and his great grandpa!!

Latest happenings...

Well, not much has been going on around here. That isn't necessarily a bad thing in my opinion. On Tuesday we stayed home ALL DAY and did housework and laundry. We did 10, yes ten, loads of laundry. Every single towel we owned was dirty and ALL of our clothes. I can now say though that laundry is done, folded, put away and our house is CLEAN! Ryder had an X-ray on Monday of his chest. It came back CLEAR yay! I was so shocked and surprised, but thrilled! He is such a strong little bugger. Goes to show the power of prayer! :)   

Love this picture of Ry... He is so stinking cute!

Yesterday we went to our MOMS group i Newberg. We have been going to the one in Sherwood on Wednesdays but Ryder has been sleeping in past the start time haha. So we tried out Newberg. There were two dads there! It was fun but we like Sherwood's group better :)  had to run a bunch of errands and stopped by my mom's office for lunch. It was nice seeing her, we love her SO much! Here are some pictures we took while we were there...

BIG BOY

Ryder and Grandma

~Mommy and Ryder~

This picture is funny, if you can see in the background on the computer screen is Ryder :) His grandma sure does love him!

Happy Halloween!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Uncle Travis and Auntie Stacey came over last night and brought their girls to trick-or-treat and say hello! It was so nice to see the girls dressed up in their Halloween costumes. I even got "stung" by little miss Pey's stinger ;) Alex was a cat, Maddy was a flapper, Peyton was a bee, and Ryder was the U of O mascot Puddles. We attempted to get a cousins picture, they turned out cute despite everyone looking in opposite directions :)

(Ryder has lipstick lips mark on the side of his head from Maddy!)

 More kisses for the baby...

Uncle Travis and Austin were in the new "theatre room" discussing the platform and design of the room. We did get a picture of Uncle Trav and Ryder.. they were both Duck fans for Halloween! Well, actually they are both always Duck fans!!

Can you tell they are related!???

We spent our first Halloween as a family passing out candy to the neighbor kids, making dinner together, hanging out with some family... we were going to make carmel apples but we kinda forgot so we will make them tonight! I LOVE LOVE LOVE carmel apples and I can't believe I forgot about them last night! Today is a "fun filled" day of housework... lucky me! Maybe I will post a blog update about my wonderful day of housework... I know you all wanna read about that! HA

Date Night... Family day... Duck game!

DATE NIGHT! Yes, you heard right, Austin and I went out last night! It was the first time since Ryder was born that we left him :( My mom came over and spent the night and we left him with her. I was super nervous but we managed! Needless to say we left AFTER Ryder was sound asleep in his crib but still! We went to a new bar in McMinnville, Oak and Ivy. It was a lot of fun and a very cool bar. It was nice to get out and enjoy some time away from all of our recent stresses in life. I am glad we went out but don't think we will be going out again anytime soon... we are both exhausted today!! 

Right before we left to go out, Bruce wanted to be in the picture-- Austin did NOT want to take the picture haha

Our good friends Josh and Tara came over for the Duck game, we had pizza and just hung out. My mom was still here and my grandparents showed up. Then my little brother, who is almost 20 by the way, showed up too. It was a full house but a lot of fun. I haven't gotten to spend time with my mom and brother at the same time in a long time. We are all currently sitting on the couches on our laptops and Ipads... like old times! Brings back memories. I love those two more than they know :)

 Baby Ryder looks SO big in this picture! In his christmas jammies from Auntie Stacey

My doodlebug! Love the bink in his mouth!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

Johnson Family Photos!!

On Sunday the 9th of October, the day we took little man to Doernbecher we had family pictures taken by the wonderful Heather Thayer! They turned out great, I only wish that Ryder would have been feeling better. We were so lucky that it didn't RAIN! 

Enjoy:

The "Johnson gang"

My little family. I love these to boys SO much!

Mr. B sitting so nicely! 

The Johnson's--Christmas card?

On of my favorites, I wish little man was feeling better :(

The grandkids! SO adorable :) Ryder has got a lot of girl cousin lovin

Duck fans??

All I've got to say is HAHAHA!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Ryder's 1st trip to the Pumpkin Patch. We feel so blessed to have been able to take sweet baby Ryder to the pumpkin patch. We were unsure a few weeks ago if we would be able to take him because we were in the hospital. We had so much fun. It was just our little family, it was so nice to be able to spend time just the three of us! We rode the little train, hay ride, corn maze, picked the perfect pumpkins, got apple cider, and enjoyed the beautiful weather! Couldn't ask for a better day :)

UPDATE: Ryder had his first appt with our pediatrician since we got out of the hospital. He had an xray of his chest and blood work done. I was SO nervous about the blood work because it was so hard to get in the hospital. He did FANTASTIC, he didn't even cry and just smiled at his mama the entire time. I was so happy and relieved he wasn't screaming. He of course did great for the xray as well. He is such a little trooper! I have always said that I learn more from children than any adult I have ever met and this little boy is confirming that! I am so proud to be his mama and couldn't imagine my life without him. :)

Ryder Johnson's Recent Adventure...

POSTING OLD UPDATES FROM CAREPAGES.COM---

Care Conference:

UPDATE: I will give a better update tomorrow, I am super tired and need to go to lay down on my chair that turns into a "bed" for the 11th night in a row! We had our care conference today with all the teams of drs. We have decided to go a lymphatic mapping test and that will be tomorrow at 9am. They have NEVER done the test on a 10 week old before. They reassured us that it IS safe, they are just unsure of wether or not they can get good images. The test involves injecting a VERY small amount of radioactive dye in-between his toes to see what his lymphatic system looks like. The test can take up to 6 hours. Please pray that we can get the images we need from the test and that the test shows us something that can be FIXED and that nothing is missing in his lymphatic system. Tomorrow is going to be a LONG day. Thanks for all the support and I will keep updating tomorrow!

Lymphatic Mapping:

UPDATE: Sorry it has been a few days. Yesterday was pretty rough and I didn't feel like updating, sorry! SO yesterday our day started at 9am. We went over to OHSU to the basement, yes the basement, to the Nuclear Medicine department. There Ryder had a very long 7 hour test done. It started with injecting a small amount of radioactive dye between his toes and then having pictures taken ever 15 minutes to see where it traveled to. Well after 7 hours the results were not so good. THe dye NEVER LEFT HIS FEET. This could mean a few things, 1. He has no lymphatic channels in his lower legs, or 2. He has very small lymphatic channels in his lower legs that move VERY slowly. We are most likely going to repeat the test in a few years when he is bigger. SO not much information was given from that test. There is discussion now about doing the same test but injecting the dye in between his fingers to see the upper lymphatic system. We haven't decided anything about that yet.

He has been having daily xrays on his chest to watch for fluid accumulation. Today the xray looked better than yesterday's xray which is good. The hope is that the rate that the fluid is accumulating will be slower than the rate in which his body reabsorbs the fluid. I pray that with this new diet change that the fluid accumulation will decrease. Only time will tell.

We are beyond ready to go home and live a normal life again. Who knows how much longer we will be here, it could be a week or weeks we are unsure. It is all dependent upon how Ryder does over the next few days. We don't aways understand why Gods plan is the way it is and why he does what he does but we have to trust he will take care of everything. We have to have faith that he will help us understand and except his plan. God is good and he has shown us multiple times since we have been in the hospital that he is here and he hears our Prayers. So please, continue to pray! We thank you for all the love, support, and prayers. :) We love you all!!!

-The Johnson's

WE ARE HOME!!

We are finally HOME! After two VERY long weeks we got to sleep in our own bed. I am so happy :) We feel so blessed that we are home as a family right now. We are still unsure if the fluid will continue to accumulate or not but for now it is a waiting game. We are continuing to pray and put or trust in God. We hope you will do the same. Monday we have an appt with our pediatrician, xray and bloodwork. I am NOT looking forward to blood work, I hate seeing my baby in pain. But we have to do it to keep him healthy! Last night was his first night in his crib. He did great, woke up at 2, 6, and 9:30... Yes we got to sleep in till 9:30am! I will continue to update because our journey is not over. Thank for you all the love!