July, August, September, October... where has the time gone?

I have been TERRIBLE at prioritizing my blog so I'm going to try and give a synopsis of the rest of summer and into fall...  here goes!

July:
We started July by heading to Minnesota for our annual family vacation.  The first week was spent with my family.  We enjoyed 4th of July together at mom's house, a baseball game for our 7th anniversary, indoor play area, Minnesota zoo, seeing an old friend from Colorado, and horse races at Canterbury.

Week two was spent with Andrew's family. We did lots of hanging by the lake, celebrating Beau's cousins who are due in November and January, and seeing college friends with their kids.

Unfortunately, Beau was sick our whole vacation.  We made an ER visit on day 5 of vacation for an ear infection and returned the following week with a miserable cough and he was treated for croup. :( He slept terrible the whole two weeks which didn't give us a very relaxing vacation. We were all happy to be home and slept like a baby!

We spent much of the rest of the month having play dates.  Beau also had a swallow study and was cleared to start liquids and any foods by mouth at his tolerance!

August:
We spent most of the month trying to keep Beau healthy for his urology surgery at the end of the month.  We did enjoy a baseball game with the local Down syndrome community, we had a few play dates (not as many as I would've liked being that it's summer) and celebrated Beau's "graduation" from the early intervention program! This means as soon as he begins preschool in September, his at home therapies through the EI program will stop.

After having a persistent cough since our ER visit, in mid-August we saw his pediatrician who confirmed he has reactive airway allergies (asthma).  She gave him a course of albuterol and put him back on his daily inhaler and voila!  No more cough and sleeping sweet :) Thanks to those of you who mentioned allergies to me!

Beau had his urology surgery on August 28th.  The surgery was a long 4+ hours but it all went well.  The management of his "site" was a little unbearable at first and definitely a two-person job but Andrew and I handled it as best we could.  He also got ear tubes and a hernia repaired which both went perfectly!

September: 
We celebrated my 31st birthday on September 2nd and Beau's 2nd birthday with friends on September 6th.  We had a small gathering at our house and celebrated Very Hungry Caterpillar style!  We opened presents as a family before Andrew headed to Florida for the rest of the month.  Beau and I tried to keep busy with play dates, doctors appointments, Down syndrome community picnic, and the international sandcastle festival!

Beau had his urology appointment two weeks following his surgery and bad news, the entire site of his reconstruction busted open.  I was crushed.  I was set on this being his last surgery for a while, when in fact, he will now need two more for complete reconstruction. :( So he needed another two weeks of healing before preschool can begin!  I'll be honest, we've gone through a lot of heartache at the hospital but this was one of the few times that I left the hospital in tears, so devastated.

We spent Beau's actual 2nd birthday having a morning brunch date with some of our favorite girls Elizabeth and Helena.  After naptime we met Laura and the kids at the zoo!

Beau had his 2-year well check with his pediatrician.  He is 33.5 inches and 26+ pounds, growing into a big boy! He had his yearly cardiology check as well.  We didn't get the greatest of news, a pre-existing defect causing trouble and a new heart complication.  She assured us it was nothing to worry about just yet... trusting the Lord will protect his heart until his cardiologist gets another look at the end of December.  I walked out of the clinic and headed to our second appointment that day with a quiet prayer of "This is in your hands, God"... the same prayer we have used for 2.5 years over our sweet miracle boy.  Of course no mother (or father) wants to hear that more heart surgeries could be on the horizon but we serve The Awesome God, Our Protector and Our Provider.

At the end of the month Beau had another sedated hearing screening (ABR - auditory brainstem response) and GUESS WHAT?  He can hear PERFECTLY in BOTH EARS!!!  HALLELUAH!!  I can't be thankful enough for those ear tubes. Within a week of placement back at the end of August, he was willingly walking with us or with a push toy (which he used to fight us on)! Makes us wonder if he was dizzy or unbalanced before?!  He also screams now when the vacuum is on (which he'd never done before!) so we knew something was working!!!

And the biggest news of the month, Beau started PRESCHOOL!  My 2 year old took the school bus to the preschool!  He is in a class with 6 other students ages 2-4, two of which are model/"typical" students and 4 with special needs. The first day on the bus was brutal, he stared back at me with sad eyes and once the doors closed it was all out sobfest! Day two was better with no tears and by day three he was happy as a clam to go! They transport him around the school, to and from the bus, in an stroller, he has special seating to keep him safe, and the classroom assistant attempts feeding him daily at lunch time. He comes home happy, often paint covered, and ready for a nap each day!

October: 
October has been filled with FALL!  We enjoyed some fall festival events, the annual Step up for Down Syndrome Awareness Walk, Beau got his 2-year/famly photos taken, family apple picking, and Nana came to visit so Andrew and I could take a weekend to DC as a couple. We said our goodbyes to our dear friends Andrew, Laura, Isaac and Siena as they move to California. Our month ended with Halloween festivities - a school fall festival, truck-or-treat at church, and trick-or-treating at a few houses in the neighborhood.

On the medical side, Beau has a busy month as well.  We had an ER visit for flu-like symptoms on the 10th which kept him from fall fun and school for a few days. He saw his aero-digestive team (ENT, GI, and Pulmonary) and they gave us the OK to start feeding him milk back to the stomach by adding on an hour each day! baby steps :)  Beau had ANOTHER sleep study.  This time we slept in the adult bed together and he did so much better, lots of moving but not crying all night like last time. (Still waiting on results)  Lastly, Beau had his first dentist appointment.  As expected, he screamed much of the time but they said he did awesome, haha! He has 9 healthy lil teeth, x-rays show he has adult teeth - woohoo, and now he just needs to learn to like the toothbrush!

It has been a fun four months.  I am thankful for all our time with friends and family, soaking in every moment before this next season. :)

I will add photos later but I'm done for tonight!

June

June 3- New favorite photo of my lil guy looking so big!

Beau is bear-crawling all over the house!  He does this little head tilt that makes me smile every time!

June 6 - Time well spent with our friends. We could not get a photo of them both smiling, never can!

June 7 - We went to the Harbor Festival with the G family. 

June 9 - Auntie J came to town for a week to spent the weekend in DC with friends.  We got to find a few new mermaids, watch Andrew play softball, and play lots of Ticket to Ride!

     

June 13 - We went down to the pool for the first time this summer!  Once Beau warmed up to the water he was LOVING it!!  We just might have a water baby :) He loved splashing!

Beau Mav, you are my sunshine :)

Practicing his reading. We have been so unsuccessful feeding him anything but yogurt is hit or miss.  Like most days, it ends up bring "sprayed" all over his face!

 June 19 - Summer official began today and we spent another day at the pool with the G family and Beau picked up a new skill - CLAPPING!!!  I was clapping and the water would splash up and that's all it took (after months of practice hand-over-hand) to get him to catch on!

   

June 21 - We spent father's day morning at church and then Andrew chose to relax at home and grill out a nice steak for dinner.  Beau made him a special card, too!  

June 22 - Nana got Beau this cute hat and he will not keep it on his head!

NO hats. NO yogurt!

June 23 - Keeping cool at the pool!

Finally went to the Slover library with Krissy and her boys! The boys loved the interactive floors and climbing area.

Love this photo of Beau raising his hand, practicing to be a pre-school boy this fall. 

"Excuse me teacher, Braedon took off his shoe in class!" 

   

Facial mask brought to you by Yoplait Greek 100!

He got this dino ball-popping toy for his 1st birthday and has finally figured out how it works!

June 29 - I attend a group with other moms of children with special needs.  We had our end of the semester picnic tonight.  Beau loved their swing, though it was a lil big for him!

June 30 - Beau had a quick procedure this morning to switch out his GJ tube before we go on vacation this Friday.  He was in and out within a few hours but looking cute as aways at the hospital!

May Moments

 May 2 - We spent a Saturday morning at the ocean for the March of Dimes walk 

and enjoyed some of the kite festival!

May 3 - A haircut and some daddy-Beau bonding :) 

May 6 - Practiced a little bike riding today during PT.

May 9 - A rare moment where he kept his hearing aid in his ear! 

Walking at Mt. Trashmore with our friends.

 May 10 - Mother's Day.  We spent the morning at church and then went to the Norfolk Tides baseball game.

     

Nana came to town on May 19th to watch Beau while daddy had a class for 2 weeks (so we both worked days) and we had all sorts of fun.  We went to the Strawberry Festival, Virginia Aquarium, played checkers at the Cracker Barrel, and walked Colonial Williamsburg. 

       

Friday May 29th - Beau has a follow up sleep study - post tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.  It was a serious disaster, he cried so much, got himself all congested and didn't sleep more than an hour at a time. I have no idea how they got any results! They saw that though he was having 1/3 the amount of apnea events, he was still measuring in the severe range showing both central (where the brain doesn't trigger an inhale) and obstructive events (inhale with an airway blockage).  They are going to start him on a few airway medications and get recorded pulse-ox overnight to see if his normal at-home sleep shows the same drops in his oxygen saturation.

We ended our month with a play date with Beau's buddy Isaac and a family pizza night at Cogans!

All about April

April started out with a fun visit from my dad and step-mom!  We took several walks and made two attempts to go to the beach but it just wasn't warm enough for our little man yet. 

     

Their visit fell over Easter so we got to paint Easter eggs and enjoy a nice ham dinner together as well.  Beau was thrilled about his Easter basket!

    

Doing some oral stimulation ... crayons :),  frozen yogurt :)

 This smile MELTS my heart... daily <3

Beau got his SureStep orthotics April 14th.  However he doesn't like them at all!

Not getting used to grass very well but caught this SMLE!  He does like ice cream though!

     

Saturday April 25th Beau enjoyed his first parade, except for the loud bands.  

We spent the evening with some of our favorite friends!