She's here!

Meet Marley! We picked her up last night from a nice man down near Lousiville, KY. She is an 8 week old toy poodle, and already has us completely smitten. Even Trenton! He calls her "Pu-PAAY," in a southern, Forest Gump-ish style accent. It's adorable. The whole ride home, he enjoyed reminding us that we had a Pu-PAAY in our car with us. He loves to pet her, but isn't always happy to actually hold her, and lets us know when it's time for her to get "OFF!"

Weans, caths, & perhaps a puppy!

Well, our 5 day wean is over, and we are considering it a success! He continued to experiment with different foods and actually enjoyed it! We are all so amazed at how much progress he's made. He even showed improvement while eating with his therapists this week. We are continuing to give him foods whenever we can, and today he even asked me for some of my pudding! He accepted a couple of bites from me and then stole my spoon to do it himself! That is a true and honest miracle if you ask me. :) We will be talking with his feeding specialist about future weans, so we'll keep you updated!

His next "test" will be his Cardiology appointment on December 4th. There is a chance they could schedule another heart cathaterization surgery to get a closer look at what's going on in his heart. He's had at least 5 caths already, so they don't seem so scary to us anymore--but it's still surgery. We'd rather just avoid it altogether and get a report that they are pleased with how his heart is functioning, as shown on his painless, routine ECHO testing! :) Either way, God is in control, and we trust that He will take care of Trenton's heart.

On a lighter note, Trenton just might have a new playmate very soon! No, no babies are on the way. We are thinking about adopting a puppy! Karie's yorkie, Bella, is so great to have around, and Trenton just adores her. He loves to pet her, follow her around, and he yells, "BEH-AH!" in anticipation whenever we arrive back home in the driveway. He's at the perfect age to start understanding how to treat animals and really enjoy them. Long ago, I'd given up the idea that dogs would be in our near future, but somehow Bella, along with Ryan & Steph's dog, Olivia, have also won Matt's heart over--he had the idea of buying a puppy as a Christmas present for Trenton and me. If you know Matt, you'll know this is a big deal. Either he really, REALLY loves us, or he's secretly wanting a puppy for himself, too. Or maybe it's both of those. :)

Wean: Day Three

We are more than halfway through our five day wean! Trenton's again making some great progress and is so surprisingly tough!! He's been so happy (even giddy at times), and seems so much more comfortable with the idea of putting food in his mouth. Since Friday, he has bitten into a cookie, a few pretzels, and a won ton! He isn't swallowing the bites yet, but we cannot believe that he's brave enough to try using his teeth for the first time! He's been happy to lick foods like cheese, bread, candy bracelets, crackers, etc., too! WOOHOO! Usually he'd just hand the food back to us or not even touch it.





The poor little guy got pretty cranky a couple of hours before bedtime tonight. He snapped out of it a little as he dipped his spoon into some banana pudding (much to Matt's disgust, I'm sure) and licked it off! He loves yelling "Off!" as he realizes he has some sort of dip on a spoon or cracker. I had to remind him to take the spoon out of his mouth so that he'd actually swallow the pudding (can't forget the whole goal of this weaning fun!) instead of letting it drip back out of his mouth. He even licked some crumbs off of a strawberry wafer cookie (again, to Matt's disgust) and really seemed to like it.

I am praying that he will wake up his giddy little self tomorrow rather than the obviously hungry, cranky child we saw tonight. More importantly, I am praying that he somehow begins to make that association between the hunger pangs and relief when he swallows some food. We are SO proud of his successes so far, and cannot believe how far he's come in such a short time! More to come soon!!!

Dance Party

Trenton's cousins Garrett and Gabby came to our house today along with John (our usual cousin playmate!). We had a little dance party-slash-photo shoot, which turned out to be really fun! Here are some photos!

Healing Along . . .

This pic is from the day after the nose incident (Sunday). Still swollen, definitely bruised! And there are some scratches on his face we didn't notice before!

This one is the next day (Monday)! Swelling still is going down! It's not looking crooked, so I think his nose will look normal after some more time. Aren't those the cutest p-jots ever? :)

Of Eating and Noses . . .

WHEW! The wean is over! We'll be filling his feeding pump with only formula in a couple of hours! Trenton did such a great job this weekend. We have been so amazed at how happy he has acted, despite his hunger. I definitely expected him to become cranky and whiny at any moment, but it never really happened! He didn't eat very well today, but he did have fun playing with some goldfish crackers and Cheez-its (guess he likes cheesy foods!). This is an improvement in our eyes, since he often refuses to even touch some foods (a.k.a. fear of messes and crumbs!).

We thought we'd try a meal with him at O'Charley's tonight, since things were going so well. While we were waiting to be seated, Trenton was squealing in delight as Matt held him upside down and tossed him around. When Matt tried to set him back on his feet, Trenton somehow slipped and landed flat on his nose. His nose quickly started bleeding, swelling, and bruising right away. Miraculously, my doctor (who also delivered Trenton!) was getting into her car as I was frantically holding napkins to Trenton's nose outside the restaurant. Pride aside, I ran up to her and asked for advice. There is always extra fear with bleeding because Trenton is on a good amount of blood thinners. Dr. Kinnaman said that unless he continued bleeding for over 20 minutes, we wouldn't need to take him to the E.R. So we gave up on the O'Charley's plan and headed home to eat! :)

Now here's the crazy part: He actually ate better after the nose incident than he had all weekend! He licked a couple of Cheez-its without any coaxing or bubbles for a long time (Don't worry, I checked him for a concussion multiple times--it was just too good to be true!)! Moral of the story: Broken noses help kids eat. Or something like that. :) Anyway, it is honestly amazing how high a pain tolerance that boy seems to have! Judging by the size of his nose I am positive his entire head had to be pounding, and he was still able to smile and even make some eating progress! What an amazing little boy we have.

Again, thank you so much for your prayers and encouraging messages this weekend! It was a success all around, and we are much less stressed about the 5 day endeavor we will begin next weekend! :)

Look at that swollen, bruised nose! And he's eating anyway! :)

He was only unhappy here because he wanted to look at pictures of "baby" (himself) on the camera I was using! Good shot of his poor little nose, though.

Halfway through!

It's Day 2 of the weekend wean, and we're all smiles!! You'd never know this is the face of a hungry boy, would you? He has taken a couple bites (more accurately, licks) of a few things like pudding and spaghetti sauce. Our biggest success so far has been his 15 minute interest in a lollipop! Not many calories consumed, but we'll take what we can get. :) You can see his "breakfast" on the table behind him--ginger snaps, butterscotch pudding and some bubbles for motivation. Most children would dream of a breakfast like that! Thanks for your prayers, and keep them coming! We are hoping Day 2 will continue with smiles and some more successful eating!

Park Pics

We took Trenton and his cousin, John to the park today, where Karie took some awesome photos of the boys playing! Enjoy!

They loved the tubes at the playground! Too bad we were holding up all of the other kids who wanted a turn! :)

Leaves everywhere! I love this one of John! He is throwing leaves into the air, I believe.

Karie and Trenton looking at "waa waas" (Ducks)!

The Dreaded Wean

This weekend we will need a bit of prayer! Any heart moms reading this will sympathize when I say that we are about to start a "weekend wean" with Trenton. Weans are very difficult and emotional for all of us, and honestly, it could probably even be considered cruel and traumatic for Trenton!

Here's what a wean is all about: Because he doesn't eat, Trenton is fed formula through a g-tube in his stomach about 6 times a day and continuously by a feeding pump throughout the night. Because of this eating schedule, we are confident he doesn't understand the feeling of hunger, which will be a vital lesson along his journey of becoming an eater. Sarah, his feeding specialist at Riley, helps us come up with safe ways for him to learn all about this strange hunger thing! So the plan is to replace his daytime formula feeds with the same volume of water (that way his stomach will not "shrink," and he will still be getting the fluids he needs), and replace his nighttime feed with a half formula, half water mixture. We start the wean tonight, and it lasts for two full days. Needless to say, our sweet little boy will be a cranky, hungry child for a couple of days! Along with the weaning of formula, we'll be sitting him down more often to eat regular foods (about 6 times a day), with the hope he'll start to associate eating foods with eliminating his hunger!

You may already be figuring out how difficult this is! Even on his best "non-wean" days, Trenton rarely wants to eat anything. So imagine a cranky, hungry kid 2 year-old who has no concept of how to fix his hunger pangs -- the last thing he wants to do is put some scary, strange food into his mouth. It's honestly an entire weekend of tears (for all of us!), frustration, and exhaustion! We have tried weans in the past before his last surgery, without much progress made, so we are praying that this one will be different. I have hope that with the help of Matt and Karie (and even Trenton's cousin, John!), we will have some success.

With or without success, we are scheduled for a 5 day wean starting next weekend. Yes, FIVE DAYS. I shiver just thinking about it! This learning-to-eat thing is going to be a long journey. I am confident that Trenton will not be a teenager feeding himself by g-tube while his friends eat pizza! I am just not sure what it's going to take to get him there. Lots of patience and prayer, I guess!

Here's Trenton showing off a ladybug sticker. His mic-key button below (where he is fed by tube into his stomach) is just a normal part of his life!

The Elves of Magnolia Drive

Has anyone else noticed anything strange going on in your homes? It's been a few weeks now that I've suspected we have little elves scurrying around the house when we're not looking! They seem to enjoy a clean, nice-smelling house. I know this because glasses and plates somehow make their way into the dishwasher (There goes one now, as I type!), our garbage gets taken out really often, and candles always seem to be lit every time I turn around!

Don't get me wrong, I love having a clean house. I even love it more when I'm not the one doing all of the cleaning. My elves can stay with us as long as they'd like! So if you have one you're not particularly fond of, send him our way--we'll keep him busy! And if you're thinking about getting yourself one, I think my sister might be able to point you in the right direction. Somehow she's the only one who ever actually SEES the elves doing all the work. Hmmmm . . .

Love you, Jean! We are glad you're here (Even if you didn't help keep our house cleaner than a museum)! :)

Halloween

It took us at least an hour to get this costume on our apparently fabric-sensitive son! We had to put pajamas underneath his outfit so that the costume material wasn't directly touching his skin. Next, we all had to take turns wearing the knight chest plate so that Trenton wouldn't scream when we put it on him. Well, that wasn't as successful as we'd hoped--you can see the joy in his face once we put the chest plate on him! Eventually, the tears passed, and we were able to get a pose with Snow White before we made our trick-or-treat tour to family and friends!

Animal Buddies

Trenton has had a ball with my sister's yorkie, Bella, since the two of them moved in with us a few weeks ago. Bella is so great with Trenton--she's always eager to give kisses despite his sometimes terrorizing ways toward her! We catch him chasing her around the house, trying to grab her with both hands or walk over top of her. He loves to pet Bella, and definitely gets excited when she walks into his room after he wakes up from a nap. "Beh-ah" is a great new buddy!

The same week Bella and Karie came, we'd finally filled Trenton's fish tank with some fun fish. Well, you know how it goes--some go belly up before you know it! So Karie and I took Trenton to the pet store last week to buy some more fish for his tank. While the fish were entertaining to him for a few minutes, we quickly learned that Trenton had a different agenda. There was a huge cage of birds that absolutely captivated his attention more than anything I've seen in a long time! He ran from cage to cage yelling "Birrrr!" over and over for about 20 minutes. He loved watching them fly around and kept trying to touch them. Once we'd said goodbye to the "birrrs" and left the store, he asked for them the entire ride home. I suspect there will be another trip to the pet store in our near future. :) Let's just hope this mom has the strength to leave the store without another pet for our house!