OUR BABY ODEE J.: May 2010

Oden was privileged to be in a wedding two weekends ago, May 15 2010. For those of you that recall, he was part of a proposal a while back for Jess's cousin Jen and, her now husband, Ian. Shortly after the acceptance of the proposal, they asked if Oden would be their ring bearer. We gladly accepted. After accepting, I pretty much had anxiety about it up until it was over. Sure a 2 1/2 year old would be adorable in a tux walking down the aisle, but getting a 2 1/2 year old to do anything YOU want them to do is basically impossible. As the day grew nearer, all of the details made us more excited and more scared at the same time. We thought about cutting off is mohawk for the occasion, but just couldn't actually do it. However, we did take him for his first professional haircut the weekend before the wedding. We wanted to make sure it looked flawless. Twenty dollars later we realized, it wasn't a better haircut than I could've given him myself. We took him to one of those specialized kids haircutting places. He sat in Lightening McQueen, and got to watch TV during his cut. Needless to say, with those distractions he did really good. Attempting to try on his tux was a multiple day process. He is not a fan of getting dressed. So, one day I tried on the top half and the next I tried on the bottom. Everything fit perfectly. To complete his wedding ensemble, Jen bought him a pair of black Nike gym shoes. They matched everything perfectly, and they were exactly Oden's style. The Friday before the wedding was the rehearsal and dinner. He was very crabby because he had taken a late nap and we had to wake him up to go. As soon as we arrived at the church, his attitude took a complete turn. He was great! Everyone was teaching him to run up and down the aisle (to make him more comfortable with the church). When it was time to practice, he did his job. We were lucky that Papa Joe was a groomsman because we just told him to go find Papa. We just had to cross our fingers that things would go as smoothly for the actual ceremony. Jess and I derived a plan to keep Oden behaved and on track for the big day. We bought a train with two pieces. When it was time to put on his tux and get ready to go we told him about his new train and that if he was a good boy he could have it. About half way through getting him dressed we let him hold the train in the package. Then we kept telling him to be a good boy and Papa would open it later. When we got to the church and saw Papa, he immediately asked to open it. So we gave him one piece and had Papa hold the other piece at the end of the aisle. Sure enough, when it was time to walk down the aisle he held onto his train and went to retrieve the other half. He walked like an angel!! He didn't even run! We did forget to give him the ring bearer pillow to carry, but at least he walked down well behaved. Then, he came and sat by me and Gramma Dee Dee. About 5 minutes into the ceremony he climbed on Gramma Dee Dee and fell asleep, for the remainder of the service!! It was unbelievably perfect! It was a perfect wedding for a perfect couple. Jen and Ian looked amazing, and the ceremony was beautiful. For the rest of the day, Oden was awesome. We came back to our house for a while and he did not want to even take the jacket of his tux off! I think he felt fancy :) Then we went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Linda's to hang out before the reception. He just played foosball, and trains until it was time to go to the reception. Oden stayed for about a half hour at the reception, and just basically danced and ran around the whole time. Then Gramma Dee Dee came and picked him up so we could relax and enjoy the rest of the night. Overall, I would say that the day couldn't have gone any better for Oden and us. All that anxiety and worry was for nothing. I guess Oden is just a good boy! The reception was equally as awesome as the rest of the day. Everything was beautiful, and tons of fun! Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Jones!! You guys make an amazing couple. And thank you for wanting Oden to be a part of it. We created some of my favorite memories of all time.

Our family picture, at the reception just before Oden left.

Papa Joe talking to Oden about this whole walking down the aisle thing....

My new favorite picture of all time. He's a little stud.

Papa Joe, Oden, and Jess. Three Hogan generations.

The Bride, The Groom, The Ring Bearer, and the pillow!! LOL!

Mr. and Mrs. Ian Jones, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

April 2010 is going to go down in our family history as one of the longest, and most trying months EVER! For those of you who are unaware of the story, I am going to tell it in the 'nut shell' version.

Jess has had digestive issues since birth. Prior to this incident, he had already undergone 2 surgeries throughout his lifetime for bowel obstructions. He is always in pain after eating, and unable to hold a healthy weight because of his health problems. The Saturday before Easter he started to complain of a very intense pain in his stomach, and decided it was time to go to the ER. They admitted him to the hospital that night. For a week after he was admitted he went through a bunch of tests and then our specialist final decided it was time for surgery. He went in for his first surgery on Sunday April 11th. He had a very rare condition called intestinal vernacular hypoplasia (sp?), which was corrected when the surgeon removed the affected area in this surgery. The doctor also cleaned up his scar tissue and assured us that everything looked great. He was released from the hospital the following Friday. Then Sunday he was having severe pain again, so he was taken back to the ER. During testing in the ER they noticed a bowel obstruction and Jess had to undergo emergency surgery. After this second surgery and another 5 days recovery in the hospital he was released on the following Friday. Two days later on the following Monday, he was having horrible pain again and was admitted directly into the hospital, bypassing the ER this time. At this point he was not reacting to his medicine well, and was on the verge of dehydration. He stayed in for a couple of days this trip, and I am happy to say that his last day in the hospital was Tuesday, April 27th. He is recovering and we hope there are no more trips for him to the hospital, EVER (or at least any time soon). Jess basically spent a whole month in the hospital.

Oden did OK throughout all of this. At times it was hard for him to adjust to bouncing around from place to place. But overall, I think he did great. He is very happy to have his Daddy home! Every time Oden would talk to Jess on the phone he would say, "Come home Daddy!"

We are all happy to have Jess back home.

In the meantime we have been preparing for baby Ramsey. I think Oden is starting to kind of understand what's going on. He has been very nice to me lately, and has eased up on the wrestling and kicking. He also kisses my tummy and calls it baby Ram! It will be interesting to see how he reacts to a new little one in the house :)

Here are a few new pictures. Things have been so crazy lately that it's easy to forget to pull out the camera. I want to remember to take more so I have record of his cuteness!

I keep telling everyone that this will be the summer of injuries. See the huge bruise on his head? He has had many just like that already since the weather has warmed up!

Playing baseball. He's pretty good at throwing, catching is another story....

This was one of our final days hanging out with Maddie :( bittersweet.

My friend, Sonji, threw me a 'Baby Sprinkle' on May 1st. This is Oden fake crying because he didn't want to share with the other kids while opening presents. Sharing is definitely a challenge!