Archer 3 months

So...  I am a little late on  updating Archer's 3 month birthday...but what can you do?  I think I have a pretty valid excuse.
Anyhoo, Archer turned 3 months on October 13. He is such a perfect, funny, and smart boy. As of today (Oct.24) Archer is 3 months 2 weeks (almost, 2 more days)

Here is what Archer has accomplished in his young and fruitful life so far...

-He has found his hands and loves to suck on them, grab things, such as his binky. He thinks its hilarious to grab his binky out of his mouth, fake cry and make you put it back in, which then he smiles really big like its the funniest thing hes ever done. Silly boy. He also loves to hold onto his bottle when you are feeding him. He has really good hand eye coordination. Such a smarty pants!

-As I said above he has a fake cry. He does it a lot. Basically he has found out his voice can do different things. If he cries, whether its real or not, he can get our attention super fast. He hates it when the attention is not on him. Haha He also found that he can talk. Sometimes I think he thinks that we can understand him. We can carry on a whole conversation together. Its nice having someone who doesn't judge a single thing you say, to talk to. Haha

-He is VERY close to rolling over. Seriously, any day now. Its exciting and scary at the same time.

- He also figured out he has legs. He can kick. What an amazing discovery. He likes to lay on his back a few hours a day, and just kick and kick. We think with how strong those little legs are, and how much he loves water, that he will be the next Michael Phelps. My little Olympian. 

-Archer loves to giggle and smile. He loves it when we sing and talk to him. He even laughs in his sleep. Its seriously the cutest thing I have ever seen!

-Archer LOVES the ceiling fan, mirrors and TV. His favorite show is white collar. He really talks and giggles at that show more than any other show. He has good taste. 

-He loves his swing. It has music and sounds too, and his favorite setting is the cricket setting....crazy kid.

So far in Archer's 3rd month of life he has made the transition to having is momma with him 24/7 and holding him all the time, to his Nana, Papa, Auntie, and his 2 uncles taking my place.
I can sometimes hold him, I try to hold him at least once a day. We usually fall asleep in the rocking chair watching cartoons.

He has left his daddy behind in Utah to move to Arizona with mommy to move in with Nana and Papa.

He is either teething or has his first cold....either way he is just miserable. Poor fella.

He has had his 2 airplane rides. And he didn't cry once. Good  boy!

He now has a nanny (Aunt Olivia) who can't seem to get enough of him. She has his crib set up in her room. She gets up to feed him in the night, she changes his diaper, and carries him around everywhere. She is basically a professional.

Archer and I miss daddy a lot. We skype a few times a week, and talk on the phone every day. We make sure to send lots of pictures and videos to dad too. We can't wait to see him for Thanksgiving!



Here are some pictures of Archer 3 months and other things...Enjoy!
Until our next adventure.......

He loves car rides

I love that gummy grin.

Olivia is the best Auntie in the whole world. She loves Archer so much and has deemed herself his nanny.

Don't mind the booger in his nose.....

Best friends.

Some Nights

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Hello blogging world. I'm back. And ready to start getting better. Maybe... I don't think there will be as many blog updates for a few months and I will go into why in just a minute. But for now I am just happy to be here typing away with my left hand. Here is a picture of the MRI of the mass in my right shoulder area.


Lets start with Tuesday night:


My Aunt Camille rode the shuttle bus down from Idaho so she could take care of the little fella Archer. My momma and daddy flew in from Arizona. Callan, my Grandma Gail, my parents, and Camille and I all loaded up our bellies with Chilis. I had until midnight to eat as much as I wanted. Haha We basically cleaned the place out. We were so stuffed we could hardly move! But it was a fun night of laughing and remembering old times and talking about new ones. After dinner my momma took Archer so Callan and I could get some rest before the BIG day.
It was my first night away from Archer, well first time away from him longer than 30 min. So I think the whole idea of me getting rested back fired. I was up every 2 hours in cold sweats and a panic looking for him. Haha Basically I am an over protective mom. Which I swore I would never be.

Wednesday: The BIG day....
We had to be at the hospital at 7:00am Which was awesome so I wouldn't be so hungry. Can you tell that's almost all I am worried about? FOOD!!! Haha Anyways, Callan and I met my mom and dad and grandma there. They took me back to the pre op room and had me get in my rockin' hospital gown and hair net. Which let me tell you looked pretty dannng sexy! My surgery, with how the tumors are all set up, wrapping around nerves and through the middles of them. All around the muscles and bones. This surgery was VERY risky and very difficult to preform. My Dr. asked his colleges and there was about 50/50 of them that would perform this difficult of a surgery. Anyhoo, after my surgeon came in to brief us (all 3 of the surgeons) one at a time...we thought that we were ready to go... Haha boy were we wrong!

Apparently my case was so rare and so complex all of the interns and other surgeons wanted to ''observe" haha and come take a look at who I was. Kind of like an animal in a cage at the zoo that people just come to look at. After a dozen or so people shuffled in and out, and after I had my IV put in it was time to go! It was about 8:30am when they wheeled me back.

My family went to breakfast. The Hunstman Cancer Institute where I had my surgery has the best food in the world. SO yummy. I guess they want everyone to feel more comfortable  Its also a beautiful hospital. My grandma says "The Hilton" of hospitals. Haha

They ate a big breakfast and they were ready to go to lunch when they were called back to counseling  Of course by now they were already so tired. And when people are called back in the middle of a surgery, that is never a good sign.They assumed the worst and started to prepare themselves for it. Callan told me he felt like he was having a heart attack and that he was going to die. After 20 or so minutes of making small talk a Dr. came in and said "Oh wrong family! We need the Nix family not the Nixons!" Can you imagine?!?

After that they couldn't eat, poor things. :( Callan couldn't move the rest of the day.His mama and Lester came at around 5:00pm after I got out and was in recovery to wake up.When I woke up I had 4 very tired looking, loving faces looking down at me. I was put in the ICU for pain management because it was going to hurt pretty dang bad. So I was only allowed 4 visitors at a time and No Archer. I cried and cried about that. All I wanted was my son. Melanie and Lester traded places with my mom, dad, and grandma to come see me. I was probably still sobbing about Archer... I was so grateful that I had so much family there to greet me when I woke up. It made me feel so loved, and helped me feel a little bit better about not seeing Archer.

Callan couldn't stay with me that night because he had to take work off for Wednesday, and because we used all of our vacation days for Archers birth, he couldn't take any more paid days off. And with our budget that just wouldn't work. Callan is probably going to kill me for saying this, but he wanted to stay so bad he was just crying. My poor hubby, he was so emotionally drained. He is such a kind man.
My mom and dad stayed the night instead to take care of me. I love my parents so much. I am so grateful for the love that they show me each day. I am so lucky to have such an amazing set of people to call my mom and dad.

Thursday:
The next day I spent sleeping, and crying about Archer (I'm such a boob) and I found out that I was going to have to stay another night in the ICU. Thursday was just horrible! I was emotionally hurt, and physically my pain was excruciating.

My right arm has lost complete function, and my arm is now paralyzed. The good thing is I can move my fingers. But not without a lot of pain. Which is good, because I need those fingers. Haha The Drs. have a theory that because the tumors were compressing on my nerves that helped my hand work for so long, that they had to learn to function on over drive basically.  And now that most of the compression is gone, the are so tired they just don't know how to work normally and they are just so worn out they are basically sleeping. But with a lot of determination and physical therapy we can get my arm back in the next 3-6 months. My best friend Emily came to visit that day too. Even though I was sleeping basically throughout her whole visit. I love that lady! :)

My amazing Aunt Camille and Grandma Gail had been taking good care of Archer, and sending me updates of what Archer was up to....
Here are some pictures...














He was in great hands and had such a fun day with his Auntie.

Callan came to the hospital after work to relive my grandma from her position. He was so excited to tell me that his boss wanted him to take Friday off and to let him know that he was paid for Wednesday and for Friday. How nice is that?!
I felt much better knowing my hubby would be there with me.
I think the nurse took pity on me and said that I could leave the ICU to go to the lobby for an hour to see my son. I almost died of excitement. Apparently you aren't supposed to be able to leave the ICU at all.
That was so kind of her. I had missed my boy so much.
                               

Thursday night after my hour was up, and I had to say goodbye, Mel and Lester came to see me. We had a good night just hanging out and laughing. Once again, I LOVE how wonderful my family is.

Friday:

Friday I got moved to the surgery floor, but not until later at night. Callans dad, step mom and step sister came to see us. My mom, dad ,Aunt Camille, and my 2 favorite boys were there too. It was good to see them and chit-chat a bit. I feel bad. I don't think they realized how extensive my surgery was. They looked a bit frightened. Don't worry you guys, I AM A TROOPER!
Friday night I think my nurse gave me a tad too much medication. I was very very loopy and crazy! HAHA We should have got that on tape. It was better than what I said to Dr. Randalls team who came to check on me though. Apparently I was ticked he didn't come himself (he was in a meeting  or else he would have)
and I said "so dr. randall sent all of little people?" haha poor shmucks. I don't remember that at all.

I got to go home, after much pleeding Saturday afternoon. YAY! I stayed at my Grandma Nixon with my mom and dad. So I had a lot of helpers to take care of me and Archer.

My mom and dad and Archer left today to head to Arizona and I will follow them on Thursday. I have to wait at least a week before I fly. So I am hanging out with my Melanie.

My grandma will come with me to help me out on the airplane on Thursday. My poor Callan has to stay behind and work until its time to leave for Basic Training. I am going to miss him. But we will fly up in November for the weekend and then again for Thanksgiving and to see him off to Basic.
We will be packing up my apartment then too.

My mom has a room all cleared out for me and Archer. I am really excited to be down there and have so much help and support. But, I am going to miss everyone in Utah like crazy.
Life is crazy and SOME NIGHTS I wonder what I did to deserve such an amazing life despite my trials.
I am so grateful for the amazing support system I have and all of my amazing friends and family. Without you guys I would be so lost.

Goodnight blogging world!
Until our next adventure......

When you wish upon a star....

Hello everyone! So, life got busy... and will continue to do so. I am updating now, because I don't think I will be able to in the next week or so, maybe longer. I am having surgery on Wednesday.
I am getting pretty nervous. Which is not like me. I never get nervous. I wonder why that is...
It also a very stressful situation.

A lot of people in my life don't see it as that big of a deal. And that is fine. But this surgery is a very major procedure. There are many things that could go wrong. Most likely, they will help me and get the majority of the tumor removed. But, they could also knick the wrong nerve, and leave my right side completely dysfunctional. It is an all day surgery. My last one took 7 hours. And this one is supposed to take longer. I won't be able to use my right arm for 6 weeks. So that means no holding my son, and no breast feeding. :( Its been pretty stressful trying to figure out what I can do and who can help me with Archer while Callan is at work.

I will be coming down to Arizona 2 weeks after my surgery. I guess it isn't advised to travel the day after a major surgery.... Who knew?

So I have to figure out 2 weeks of my life. Its starting to prove very stressful.
Going off breast feeding is horrible. I feel so bad for my poor little guy. He wants his mamas milk so bad. And it makes him so sad when I give him a bottle instead. Poor little fella.

Anyways, I am in Arizona right now at my parents house. I love being here. I just came for a quick visit. And I will be back again in a few weeks.

Archer is smiling all the time now, and laughing all the time.
He is just so stinking cute. He is almost 3 months old. He will be 3 months on the 13th, so in 1 week.
I can hardly believe how big he is. It is so strange that he has only been with us 3 months. I feel like he has been here much longer. I can hardly remember my life without him. All I know is it wasn't much of a life at all.

Right now I am at my parents. They are watching General Conference. Which happens twice a year. It is a big meeting the LDS church has. If any of you want more information on their church a helpful website would be  mormon.org or lds.org.


My family as you know is LDS. I don't consider myself a member. My family is watching General Conference right now. And they are so happy. Its such a cool experience to watch and listen to them as they are watching their church leaders speak. They love their church so much. And it makes them very happy. We all deserve to be as happy about something, and to love something in our lives as much as they love their church. For me, its my husband and my son. I love them both so much, they make me extremely happy. Having them gives my life meaning. I am so grateful for the life that has been given to me, despite the pain and trials I face each day. Because I have my beautiful, little family. Without them I would be lost.

Enjoy these pictures until my next update :)

A preview of our family pictures :) I can't wait to get them back so I can post them all.

The Nixon/Harding clan

Getting ready for the BIG move

On our 12 hour ride to Arizona. He is a happy little traveler. 

All of us cousins :)

Bahama BUCKS!

Olivia and me :)

Party hard!

Archer's baby blessing

snuggle bug :)

Anyways, I will update as soon as I am feeling better. I love you all and thank you so much for supporting me in my blog! 

Also, I am falling way behind on my video blog. Sorry! It will be up and running as soon as I can find the time. I have been getting a few emails on what you guys think I should cover in my vlog. Keep those coming. :)
aubrie.l@live.com

Stay tuned for our next adventure....