Updates after surgery

Even though Stephanie will be staying at the hospital I will be coming home every night.  I plan on posting as much as possible during Braden's hospital stay.  I really hope to do like we did when he was in the NICU - a daily post showing his progress and status updates. We want to thank you in advance for all of the prayers for Braden and our entire family during this time.  There have been so many people who have come up to us letting us know he is in their prayers.  We can't thank you enough and ask that you say a special prayer on Monday for a successful surgery.  It is currently scheduled for around 1:00 on Monday afternoon and will likely last 4-5 hours.    

Just one more week.....

Just one more week till Braden's surgery.  We are so anxious to get this over with...:-)  Glad it's here but will be happier when it's all done.  This will most likely be my last online post till we get home from the hospital.  I will be doing short post from my phone.  I will do my best to update daily.  I cannot post pics from my phone.  So if you want to see pics and additional updates and have a Facebook account please add yourself as a friend.  The icon to our facebook page is to the right of the blog.  If I do not know you just leave me a message as to who you are and your interest.  That way I will know to add you.  I can do adds from my phone.  So don't be afraid to ask... :-)  Braden will be in good hands at Vanderbilt Children's.  His Doctors are Dr. Goudy and Dr. Wooten.  Dr. Goudy's Nurse Practitioner is Kimberly Huffman.  We love her... she has really been helpful in getting this surgery scheduled. 

We are all doing good right now.  Braden is walking up a storm.  Even climbing the stairs regularly.  I let him just grab him when he goes too far up.  We are so glad that he has learned to walk before the surgery.   Grayson is also doing well.  He is grabbing things now and trying to hold on to things and move them around.  He is eating more and his weight has improved. 

Wednesday we meet with the school board to discuss transitioning some of Braden's therapy to the school system.  Preschool will begin when sick season is over.  I can't even imagine dropping him off.  ugh!!! It'll be a hard day for all of us.  But a great milestone.

Oh and one more thing I did sign up to sell Scentsy.  Here is my website for orders.  If anyone locally is interested please let me know.  I obviously won't be doing much this next month but hopefully if all goes well starting November I will be ready for business.  :-)  https://stephanielharris.scentsy.us/Home

At peds office. Grayson's weight is back up. He is now 12 lbs 11 ozs. Hooray!!!

Both boys slept till 6 am this morning. Braden has been climbing stairs constantly. Grayson is starting to like his activity center.

Hair cuts and CT scans

Happy boy ... first haircut

Braden is on the move ;-)

Somebody is ready for his own chair.

This week all three of us got our hair cut. This was Grayson first hair cut and he did really good. I think it helped us with Braden. He did really well getting his done again too. :-) I figure it was a nice thing for me and the boys.

Braden is walking really well now. He had his Dr.'s appt. with Dr. Mencio this week just a check up. His hips look good. Hoping that continues and our next visit will be in 6 months. Still wearing the brace at nite but I put it on after Braden is asleep so it really doesn't bother him. We also started Braden's TOBI treatments this past Sunday. He will be on that up to surgery day. It'll be here before we know it.

Grayson had his CT Scan early Thursday morning. I thought he would be a real pill not getting to eat and all. He actually did very well. He didn't get flaming mad till about an hour before the scan. So 30 minutes of crying then sedation meds and he was out. After observation he ate like a champ and slept on the way home. I am very glad he did well. We should get results sometime early next week.

Both the boys have been doing new things. Grayson is getting really good at lifting his head off the floor during tummy time. Although he HATES tummy time and mostly screams the whole time. He last about 10 minutes so we do it in intervals. He is also getting more comfortable with the bumbo seat. His head control is great. He is super smiley and definitely a morning baby. Braden is as I mentioned walking everywhere and he is into more things. His biggest trouble now is pulling plugs out of the electrical sockets and pulling the actual safety plugs out of the wall. He loves pulling things out of the cabinets and drawers but we am happy to see it.

Nice weekend

We had a really nice weekend with Floy and Vickie. We were able to run the roads a little too. Both Grayson and Braden had appt.s with the pediatrician. Braden went for a flu shot and Grayson went for a check up. He will get his shots on the 24th. Grayson is 24 inches long and weighs 12 pounds. They said he hadn't gained since last visit. Which is hard to believe because he wears out my arms. lol We also found out Grayson will definitely have to have a helmet. It'll be sometime in the next few months.

Braden started his TOBI treatments on Sunday. We can hardly believe he has just three more weeks till surgery.

I can now post up to 150 characters from my phone. Will be able to post from Vandy next month. Yay!!!

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend did not start out right. Friday mid morning Braden lost another cap due to a broken tooth. Same tooth just opposite side. I just about broke down over it. Stephen and John were just coming in from hunting and met us in Murfreesboro to have the tooth pulled. We had to drive out there because of the holiday and our other dental office was closed. Fortunately, Braden's dentist was working the Murfreesboro office that day. Bad news is it took them 15-20 minutes to get the tooth out. Me and Pop John both just about died having to watch poor Braden try to scream. It was the worst thing I think we have had to endure in a long time. All the other things Braden has to deal with he is knocked out and usually on good pain management. But this is something he had to endure awake. Not only that he has to have shots to numb the pain and can't have the happy gas that most kids get. I sincerely hope he does not have to go thru this again.

So the rest of the weekend was saved by a visit from Stephen's sister and her family. We actually went to dinner at Steamboat Bill's Saturday nite. It was our first indoor family dining experience. :-) We picked this place because it is never packed, the tables are far apart and there is plenty of room for Braden to stay in his stroller. It was perfect. Then Sunday we all went to the zoo. It was packed but we still had a really good time. It was so nice to have a normal family weekend. It's the first we have made for ourselves since this crazy journey began. As Stephen put it this month is going to be the month of fun. We want to have as nice a time as possible before Braden's surgery and our long term camp out at Vandy.

Great News

Braden is officially having trach reversal surgery on October 4th. We have several mixed emotions but we are very happy for Braden. We know this is going to be scary at times but the overall end result will be so rewarding.