Baby Carrot

I know that it has been awhile since my last post, sorry about that. Branden changed the website this weekend. Yes, that is a picture of Garrett’s trian table. It looks great!

I had a wonderful birthday! I received lots of great gifts! We had Abigail and Sydney earlier this month while Teri and Jeff went to Mexico. That was an adventure! Everyone was very well behaved, but anytime you get 3 kiddos together it can get crazy. I took them on outings everyday to get out of the house. By the time they left we had a great routine. The girls were here over Mother’s Day. So, I had a working holiday. We had a great day. My parents come over and brought my grandmother for lunch. The kids loved seeing her and took great naps.

We have had lots of things going on. It is crazy how things keep being added to our calendar. One thing that Branden and I are very happy to add to our calendar is the wedding of my dear friend Chantal. We saw her this weekend and she is so happy! I am happy that she is having the wedding in Cozumel. I am going to call our travel agent in the morning. Teri is going to be watching Garrett sooner than she thought! Garrett did spend the night at her house on Saturday. We had a wedding that night. It was great to pretend like normal adults. We slept in until 9am on Sunday. Woo Hoo!

I am still busy with fundraising for the 3day. I had an event on Sunday and was able to raise more money toward my minimum required. I am getting there. Thank you to all that were there. I hope that you had a good time!

I will get new pictures and new videos up soon! Just not today. We will see who gets whipped into shape.

Well, it was about time we change up the way this thing looks, and make it a little more unique! I ditched the old blog software, and dropped in some WordPress goodness. Should make Mama’s job a whole lot easier when it comes time to post. Yes, she knows she’s not updated you in a while, and there are many photos & videos that she needs to get up on the website. I’m going to whip her into shape tonight!

Enjoy the new look!

Dear Garrett’s Genes,

We have done what we thought was the best for Garrett to help sway you to be kind with our family history. But no you gave us a big kick in the pants this week. Garrett has the beginnings of asthma; thanks for that. At first I was blaming Branden for his crummy contribution of the asthma gene. But then he reminded me that I had some asthma symptoms when I younger. Whatever.

We have a lot of wonderful genes that you could have tapped in to and spare us and Garrett the pain that it is to have a child with this condition. You could have given Garrett Branden’s gift that allows him to pop his toes or my ability to touch my nose with my tongue. Yes, I really can do it. Just ask my father as he made me do it all the time in front of company when I was a child.

You have prompted Branden to ask me if we should have another baby as he is afraid to pass something else on to the baby. I told him that we are going to be irresponsible breeders and take our chances. If we were dogs with our family history you would not want our puppies. But we are not puppies, Mr. DNA. We are not going to stand for this, we are going to deal with what you throw at us.

Hopefully, Garrett will respond well to Singular and won’t need further treatment. You don’t scare me, there are far too many medical advances in asthma treatment for me to get worried. So, thanks for the reminder that life is full of challenges. Now get working on getting Garrett to touch his nose with his tongue. Someone needs to carry on the family tradition.

We visited the Easter Bunny today and Garrett told him all of his secrets. He was not scared at all. He is now on antibiotics to get rid of this cough. Hopefully it will work. Branden in already on antibiotics and I am going to the doctor tomorrow. I hope that you don’t get this virus. It is nasty.

Hope the bunny hops you way!

We went to the Dallas Arboretum today with our friends. It was a great day to go. The flowers are in full bloom, I love it! Garrett did okay. I took the freebee stroller that we got when we bought the new car seat to see how if I like it. It is alright, got the job done. He of course wanted to get out and walk with his friends, which he did but he did not want to get back in the stroller when it was time to move on. He saw the green grass and wanted to run! So, we had issues with that too. He had a great time looking at the flowers and running in the grass.

Branden finally go the Jeep last week. He is having a great time driving around town. Garrett loves riding in it! He is too funny!

Stop by, they will take you for a ride!

Check out the new pictures!
икони

I know that I am a little slow on this post, since Garrett’s birthday was almost 2 weeks ago, sorry about that. Each time I have a chance to sit down to write either I am too tired to think or I am not feeling very creative. I am handling Garrett’s birthday better than I thought I would. He is so much fun right now. We play, have conversations with real words and are best friends. For me the second year went by much faster than the first. If each year continues to go by faster than the first I will wake up tomorrow and will be getting ready for his High School Graduation.

But let’s not think about that right now. We did sign him up for preschool, he will start in September. It will be hard taking him to his class for the first few times, but then I will enjoy his time away. He needs to have something of his own. I am not expecting him to learn a lot academically while he is there, he needs to have social skills in a class room setting. He already knows what they are going to be teaching, but reinforcement will not hurt. Class will be two days a week from 8:30am-11:30am, not long at all. The school has a curriculum; it is not daycare or Mother’s Day Out. Branden and I were both very happy with the school and so was Garrett he wanted to go play with the kids that were in the class.

Back to the birthday…. Garrett and I went to help Nono on Friday, his birthday. She had minor surgery that week. We had been checking on her during the week and helping out around the house. Nono and Pop went ahead and gave him his tricycle while we were there. Garrett was very excited and is getting better at it each time he rides. When we got back home he received his gift from us, a train table and train set. I loved the look on his face. He was very happy. I will get those pictures up soon. We had a wonderful party on Saturday. We kept it close family and friends and we still had a houseful. To say that Garrett was thrilled to have everyone sing “Happy Birthday” would be an understatement. It was very funny. He received great gifts, but was much more excited to have all of his favorite people here at the same time. Sunday we had his buddies over from our playgroup. We loved having the little ones running around and chatting with the parents, who have become great friends. It was a great weekend and it went by very quickly.

We have been taking full advantage of the spring weather. He is going to miss our by-weekly visits to Nono and Pop’s house. He loves running around the yard, climbing the ladder and going down the slide. We go to the park but of course watch him closely and don’t let him get too far away. At their house he can go and I know that he will not be snatched up by someone other than Pop.

I posted the pictures from his parties. They are out of order but you will get the idea. We are currently in the “terrific two’s”, not the “terrible twos”. I am aware that it might change at any moment but right now I am enjoying my growing boy.

Not more elbow splints! Wahoo!!! He received a gold star from the plastic surgeon. We can now wash his ear with soap and water. The suture will dissolve so we will watch it and pull it out when it comes loose. He does not have as much snot running out of his nose and his cough is better. So all in all he is on the mend!!

Thank you all for the tremendous support that we received regarding Garrett’s surgery. We appreciate the cards, phone calls and visits, Garrett enjoyed them as well. He is doing better than he was this weekend. We have taken him off his Tylenol-3 and just give him regular Tylenol at night. He does have a cold and cough but that seems to be getting better too. We both have cabin fever! He has an appointment with the plastic surgeon tomorrow. Hopefully he won’t have to wear the arm splints after the appointment.

This experience has opened my eyes. Garrett and I went to Cook’s 2 days in a row. Both days I saw bravery and courage in the eyes of the children that were sick or there for procedures. They didn’t care what they looked like or that there was a tube coming out of their neck or stomach. They were happy to be going for a walk out of their room or that they are doing crafts in the lobby. One little boy had tubes and things attached to him but he had a big smile on his face as he was going for a wagon ride down the hall.

Why is it hard for us to find joy in little things and forget about what is going on around us? At that moment I envied that courageous little guy. He was in the moment and let everything else go.

I did see fear and love in the eyes of the parents. Some of them I could tell had been to the surgery room before and knew the drill. They looked tired, they needed a break. As a parent I wanted to give them a hug and tell them that it would all be okay. I didn’t know why they were there but I could tell that some of them had special needs children. The parents had it all together, they had a routine. I thought for a moment what I would do if we had a child that had special needs. After watching the other families I knew that I would do whatever I needed to do to be a good mom. Yes, it would be hard but what else could I do? There is no going back.

I will take a skin tag removal and hernia repair any day. We are very lucky to have such a wonderful little boy. I say all the time that we are blessed to have him in our life. But I have never asked why us? Why were we so blessed to have him in our life? Usually we ask why when something bad happens. Look around and be thankful for all of the things in your life.

Yesterday Garrett wanted to me to hold him. I sat down in the glider chair and held him close. He fell asleep; he hasn’t slept in my arms since he was a little baby. I closed my eyes and took it all in. I let the dirty laundry sit and I left the room a mess and held my baby. I stopped and listened to him breathe and snore.  He had a stuffy nose. Branden walked in and I could tell that he wanted to snuggle with Garrett too. He laid down on the sofa and I placed Garrett on his chest. They looked very peaceful. It felt good to take a moment and stop. Of course after awhile Garrett sat up and was off again.

Take time to slow down, you deserve it.

We made it to the hospital at 6:30am and they got us back very quickly. We got him signed in and changed his clothes. While we were waiting to go to the next stage he was able to play in the play area, which he loved. We left there and went to the induction room. Only one parent could go back so I went with G and Branden and Nono went to the waiting area. We went into a room with rocking chairs and monitors. We were there with 4 other kiddos and their mothers. Garrett was given his nose spray and started to get sleepy. He got a little antsy but that passed and he started to get silly. His nurse came to get him he was giggling and flirting with her. I asked him to give me a ‘high five’ and he missed my hand. He was a little out of it. I met Nono, Bert, Peggy and Branden in the waiting room. Branden brought me breakfast. We were constantly updated by the staff. It was very nice to know what was going on. When each doctor finished they came out to talk to us. His urologist said that the repair went very well, it was exactly what he thought it was and there were no surprises. We were only in the waiting room about an hour and a half, if that then Garrett was finished. He woke up faster than they thought he would. We were called back about 20 minutes after we talked to the doctor.

Branden was moving the car when we were called back to see the baby. I went back and found Garrett lying in a bed wrapped up in his blanket and had his bear. He was still very sleepy. He knew who I was and started to climb out of the bed. I held him for a little while. He still had his IV and his elbow splints. Branden made it back and Garrett was happy to see him. His nurse brought him a little cup with apple juice. He took a few sips and got the burps and started smacking his lips. I told his nurse and she gave him medication for nausea in his IV. He started to feel better. Branden sent in Nono and Garrett wanted her to hold him. They snuggled then his nurse brought him a Popsicle. He perked right up when he saw it. He gobbled it up and looked a lot better. Since he was able to keep it down we were able to go home around 10:15am. They took him down to the car in a wagon. I think that was the highlight of his day.

In the car he was singing and having a good time. He was having a little problem walking when we got home. But that did not last very long. He ate a good lunch and took his pain meds and he went to bed. He took a great nap and was still feeling good when he woke up. I think he still has some of the pain meds from the hospital in his system that made him feel good. I hope that he still feels this good tomorrow but I think he will be very sore. His incision is below his hip in his groan area, it is about 1 inch long. He has steri-strips on his ear that need to stay on as long as they can.

Tomorrow will be interesting. I hope that he isn’t too sore. He is such a trooper. Thank you for all of the calls and well wishes. Branden and I appreciate each of you! Give us a call and stop by. I know Garrett would love to see you!

I took 2 pictures of Garrett tonight after I gave him his pain meds. I asked him to smile when I took the second one and only got half a smile. He was feeling the meds!

Garrett and I went to Cook’s Children’s Hospital this morning for his pre-op check in. Everything went well. We have to be there at 6:30am tomorrow and his surgery will start at 7:30am. He will be the first surgery tomorrow. We are happy about that so it won’t be too late when we get home.

When we get there Branden and I will take him back and change his clothes, I’m sure there will be more papers to sign and get him ready. They will give him a nose spray that will run to the back of his throat, the nurse that I talked to today said it will make him, “as drunk as a skunk”. When he gets drowsy we will leave him. That will be the hard part. They will put a mask on him that will make him sleepy. I was able to pick the smell of the gas that they will give him, I picked strawberry. After he is under they will put in his IV.

When each of the surgeons is finished with their procedure they will come out and talk to us. He will have his skin tag removed first then hernia repair. The surgeries should only take about 30 minutes. When he is finished he will go to recovery where a nurse will be with him while he wakes up. They will wake him up slowly. He will go to another recovery room called step down. We will meet him there. He will only be able to have 2 visitors at a time. So, I will stay with him and others can rotate with Branden. He will have to eat and drink before he can go home. But the things he gets to eat are jell-o, popsicles, juice, sprite things like that so it shouldn’t be a problem. I was comforted by the nurse when she said that he won’t go home until he is ready and not until we are comfortable and ready to take him home. We are not going to rush him. The nurse also wants us with him so we can tell them if he is nauseous or in pain.

With that said, I don’t know when we will be home tomorrow, or how he will be when we get home. Knowing Garrett he will be running around playing with his cars. But who knows?

Kids are very resilient and I know he will bounce back very quickly. We will keep everyone posted on how he is doing.