Urology evaluation

Yesterday mom and I took Brant to Children's to meet with Urology for an evaluation. Brant is not circumcised yet. They wouldn't do it in the NICU because his other medical issues were more pressing. They also wouldn't do it while he was on oxygen in fear of having to intubate again. When we got referred to Urology and I called to make the appointment I was told that they typically don't do voluntary circumcisions but given his circumstances they would at least do an evaluation and if they decided not to they could refer us elsewhere.

They decided they would go ahead with the surgery and because of his medical history they wanted him to be seen in the Pass Clinic by an anesthesiologist before surgery. The urologist we met with saw how far we had to drive so she got a hold of an anesthesiologist for us who agreed to squeeze us in later the same day. That was really nice of her but made it one unexpectedly LONG day. We had about an 2 hours to kill before we had to be seen in the Pass Clinic and Brant was SO tired. The anesthesiologist went over everything with us and we got the surgery scheduled for July 25. I can't wait to get this done, over with and behind us!

Checkups with UW and Children's

Mom and I took Brant to UW Medical Center for his latest development check-upon the 21st. It went really well. We first met with Development Pediatrics. The only thing they wanted us to work on is his speech. They told us that he should have a few words by now. I wasn't concerned by it though, he jabbers a lot so I'm sure it'll just come with time. They said to read to him more so we are doing that.

We next met with Audiology. They stuck Brant and I along with a medical student into a sound proof little room. She stuck me and Brant in front of mirror and on either side of us were speakers and then 2 blacked out boxes on each side. Inside the boxes were light up toys that made sound that were controlled by remote. The medical student had headphones on that the audiologist was giving her instructions through. She would get his attention in the center and when he looked whichever way the sound was coming from they would activate the toy in the box on that side. I always wondered how they checked hearing in little ones.

He passed with flying colors in the audiology department. After that we had an hour lunch/nap time break. Brant wouldn't go to sleep so we went up to the NICU for a visit. One of our friends sister has twins in the NICU right now and she was there that day so we got to visit with her for a while and also got to see a couple of Brants nurses and his physical therapist which was great. We learned that a couple of our favorite nurses he had aren't at UW anymore which was a little disappointing since we haven't seen them since we left.

Brant and I headed to Children's on the 29th. I was a little nervous about taking him down by myself... he doesn't do too well in the car. I think he gets bored and when he gets bored he gets crabby but he did great. We met with pulmonology and they did an evaluation and it went great! They graduated him from the clinic and won't need to see him unless we feel like there is an issue they should be aware of. She did say he is at high risk for asthma so we will need to watch that carefully.

Sick kids suck!

Last week Brant was REALLY sick. He had a really high fever all weekend and and wasn't sleeping. The only place he would sleep was if I was holding him in the recliner. Monday morning I brought him into the doctor and we spent 2.5 hours there. His doctor figured it was a viral thing so there really isn't anything she could give him. Just to be sure she wanted to get x-rays done to rule out pneumonia. We went to Mt. Baker imaging and had those done then back to her office to get the results. Those came back clean (well clean for him). She also tested for strep and that came back negative. Finally by Friday he was feeling better but that whole week was MISERABLE for all of us.

Iowa Trip

Back at the end of March I flew out to Iowa for a few days for the Waverly Draft horse sale and met up with Grandpa Pete, Grandma Joyce and Amber. I flew out Tuesday morning from Bellingham and arrived at the Waterloo airport about 9 p.m. Iowa time. I had such a good time. Wednesday morning we were up bright and early, dropped Joyce off at the sale and Pete, Amber and I headed an hour out of town to an amish farm to load horses and haul them to the sale. It was about 17 degrees and WINDY. Wednesday at the sale was just the horse preview. There really wasn't much for us to look at all. There weren't many horses to begin with and even fewer belgians. SO Amber and I decided to grab the keys to the truck and take off for the afternoon. We had such a good time. We went to Hazleton and they have the cutest little amish farms. We visited a bunch of their shops and just drove around checking it all out. We timed it perfectly too and saw all of the little kids going home from school on their little buggies. SOOOO stinkin cute. Didn't come home with any new horses but it was an experience and I want to go back so bad. Its definitely more laid back there, and open. When I landed in Chicago for my layover I wanted to hop back on the plane and go right back.

First Haircut

Brant had his first haircut this past thursday. I held out as long as possible! Darren finally told me that if I didn't make an appointment he was going to buzz it off. So I called Jana that night and made an appointment! 

before on Grandma's lap

not too sure about it 

He did great! 

And after!!! He looks like such a big boy now! 

Throwback to the boys' birthday!

Finally found time this morning to upload all of my pictures off my camera and realized I never posted pictures from the boys' birthday party! So here they are... It was Seahawk themed since it was the same day as the super bowl 

Had to test out his new four wheeler from Grams and Grandpa 

Brant and Bode were twins that day 

The Moment We've All Been Waiting For!

AH I know its been a while since I posted, it seems like life is just flying by!!! I've been extremely busy. Darren was working in Sunnyside for 2 weeks, he came home last week Friday morning and headed back over on Monday for another week :( Its hard without him here that's for sure! All my single mama friends I give you props! It is not fun!

2 weeks ago we did Brant's 2 night oxygen sleep test. I was very nervous and up literally all night both nights checking on him. From what I could see he was doing just fine. It took forever to get the results back from Children's. That was a very frustrating process but I finally heard back from them on Friday.... AND....... HE IS DONE WITH OXYGEN!!!! (unless he gets sick)

13 Months later and we are done with medical equipment.

13 Months later and no attachments.

OH HAPPY DAY. He sleeps much better without it. He actually slept through the night 2 nights in a row, I didn't think I would ever know what a full nights sleep felt like again!

fun in the snow a couple weeks ago! 

That's one way to use your dump truck! 

Bath time hair!