Preemie Power Video

I know we've been MIA and I'm so sorry for that! This time of the year is always busy and we're hosting an open house for Christmas weekend so it's even busier than usual. BUT I'm not complaining because I love Christmas and all the family and friends that gather around.

In an effort to tide you over I thought I'd offer this wonderful video. It's a recap of the Preemie Power Photo Contest in which Bryce (aka the Amazing Bryce-anator) was named one of the winners.

The short video brought a smile to my face and I hope it will do the same for each of you!



Thanks for continuing to support us! And check in on us! And we'll be back in full blogging force before you know it!

Much love and happy holidays to you all!

It's that time of year

I just love this time of year! I have many fond Christmas memories from my childhood and I never knew how much it would mean to me to begin to build memories like those with my own family. I feel especially blessed this year to have Bryce to share the season with. And this year we're beginning a holiday tradition of opening our home for Christmas weekend to ALL of our friends and family. I'm so looking forward to a house full of family, friends, food and laughter - what more can you ask for for Christmas?!

One of my fondest Christmas memories from childhood is our annual trip out to Elgin, TX to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm. This year, on our way home from a great Thanksgiving trip to Louisiana and then Houston, we made our little family's first annual trip to the very same farm from my childhood. So much of it was just as I remembered, from the hay rides to the hot chocolate and eventually, after much searching, walking and deliberating, to the discovery of the "perfect" tree.

We opted to carry Bryce (poor decision?) so he could be a part of the action. He really seemed to appreciate it, despite the wind and chill, as you can see here.

And after a long, long hunt - we finally found it!

And so Caleb went right to working cutting it down for us.

And Bryce and I snapped a quick picture with our tree before Caleb hauled it back to the farm entrance so they could shake out the loose needles, bag it and measure it. At 8' 6" it fits perfectly in our living room and it may be a little crooked and have a couple bare spots but the memory is just perfect.

So now the endeavor to get the tree decorated, the outside lights up and the indoors festively adorned has begun. I'm determined to take it slow and enjoy every second.

In the meantime, I also had the opportunity to get our Christmas cards ordered today. We ordered them from shutterfly, who have some great designs at pretty reasonable prices. I can't wait for them to arrive - not only so I can turn them around and get them right back out - but so I can see them too! Here's a sneak preview:

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

I am forever indebted to Candi (Candi Coated Photography) for the adorable pictures on the cards. She did an amazing job of capturing our family despite unruly wind and a cast of clowns. If Candi hasn't taken a picture of you and your family yet you're missing an opportunity to capture a moment in time perfectly. You can check out Candi Coated Photography on Facebook too! Thank you, Miss Candi - we love you!!

The Amazing Bryce-anator!

We are thrilled to announce that Bryce won the Preemie Power Photo Contest today from Hand to Hold!! I'm not even completely sure what all he won but here he is at the event in his new cape flying above his bounty of loot!

Bryce was such a good boy! He met his first clown and got his first balloon animal, a courageous orange lion. He also met lots of other preemies who were cute and so amazing - little babies who've been through more in their short lives than most people will ever have to endure. I'm grateful for this wonderful organization which will provide Bryce a community of others he can relate to as he grows up and finds his way in the world.

Thanks again for all of your support and I'll be sure to tell you all about his many prizes once we've had a chance to go through them ourselves.
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Oh the Anticipation!

Today is the day we find out how Bryce fared in the Preemie Power Photo Contest. No matter what the celebrity judges think I know Bryce is, and always will be, our super hero!

Don't forget that November is National Prematurity Awareness Month. Which is why Hand to Hold is hosting the Preemie Power Photo Contest. The idea is that we can help raise awareness about prematurity by celebrating some of our local preemies, our "preemie superheros."

Today is the Preemie Power Event which is celebration of Hand to Hold's first birthday, a family friendly fall festival and where we'll learn the winner of the photo contest.

Thanks to all of you who support us by keeping up with the blog, sending us sweet comments, voting and spreading the word about prematurity. I can't imagine where we'd be without all of the support of our friends, family and friends of friends, family of friends, friends of....well, you get my point.

Check back later today for the final results and have a wonderful Sunday!

Final Plea

Okay, so today is the last day to get a vote in for Bryce as Super Preemie...and it's the easiest vote you'll ever cast! Promise.

Literally two clicks is all it takes. No sign up, log in, survey or any of that junk. Just click the link and then click the "Vote" button.

You don't have to have a Facebook account and you can vote from every computer, cell phone, Ipad and Iphone you can get online with. But you can only vote from each once per day and today is the last day.

Bryce was stuck in 8th place for the first week or so and then bumped up to 7, back to 8 and now has been steadily in 6th for the last couple of days. But there are winners for 3 age categories and those categories are all jumbled up in the ranking on the website so we're not sure just how close Bryce actually is to winning.

Please take a second to vote for Bryce and raise awareness about prematurity at the same time. Heck, it can even be your good deed for the day!


Here's the link:

http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/65899/voteable_entries/9898644?ogn=website&order=votes


And finally, here is your prize for your much appreciated vote(s):

Bryce's First Year in Images

I'm working on a video for Graham's Foundation to demonstrate the meaningful work they are doing to support the parents of micro-preemies. A lot of organizations do work for children, babies or other worthy causes but few, if any, concentrate only on micro-preemies.

Needless to say, as Bryce himself was a micro-preemie, this is a cause near and dear to my heart. And I'm so happy to have the opportunity to do something for them.

While familiarizing myself with the cool online software they have available to them, Animoto, I took the opportunity to quickly put together a short video about Bryce's short life.

Bryce Alexander - Bryce's First Year in Images

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. I tear up a little every time I watch it. It's funny how time heals even the deepest wounds. I think I've mentally blocked so much by patching up those wounds with the sweet kisses and toothy grins I'm blessed to now be able to enjoy every single day.

NICU Reunion

Well Thursday marked Bryce's one year anniversary of when he finally came back to the place he was born - home.

Man, time flies.

The NICU seems all at once a lifetime ago and just yesterday. And we've come a long way in that time. Bryce was on oxygen, a pulse oximeter to monitor is oxygen levels and a nasal gastric feeding tube to supplement breast feedings with tube feedings. We were on strict lock down - no visits out unless absolutely necessary and few visits in but no children (aka little germy people) inside our home, period.

All of that is a thing of the past and although we have many struggles and hurdles yet to face we can look back and see that whatever it is, we'll figure it out. I'm one proud Momma of one amazing baby boy.

And what a better way to celebrate all of this than to attend the Dell NICU reunion yesterday? Bryce commemorated the event with his first tattoo - a "Proud to be a NICU graduate" tat on his bicep, of course.


It was a beautiful day and we had a great time visiting with all of our old nurses, respiratory therapists, neonatologists and friends of the NICU. It was really awesome to see some of Bryce's old NICU-mates too. Jaden has gotten so big that I thought at first he was someone else's kiddo - way to go Joanna! And Luke was sans helmet and as cute as ever! The Whitakers are one amazing family!

I also finished up my training to be the Dell NICU's March of Dimes parent-to-parent volunteer. I need a TB test, shot record and badge to finish up preparation for this exciting new role. I'm planning to make weekly visits to the NICU where I'll visit with any family on the unit and offer an "I've been there" ear. I just know that this would have been a priceless asset while Bryce was in the NICU and I'm so looking forward to the opportunity to do that for someone else!

There are only three more daily opportunities to vote for Bryce and spread the word about prematurity. Then we'll find out if the celebrity judges also agree that Bryce is the super hero we think he is at the Preemie Power Family Celebration on Saturday.

Please take a moment to click here & vote for Bryce.

Preemie Power

Hand to Hold is a new non-profit doing something few have done here before, offering parents of preemies other parents of preemies to connect with. It's a simple idea with a profound possible effect.

My mentor is a woman named Stephanie with a tiny miracle of her own who has now grown into a charming and handsome little boy. They've encountered many of the same hardships as we have and are living proof that you can make it through. It's funny because although Stephanie and I have still not had the chance to meet face to face I know she's there for me in a way my oldest and truest friends simply can't be.

Of course those old friends are cherished and invaluable in helping us to normalize after the trauma of a premature birth and the ensuing emotional roller coast ride that is the NICU. They remind us who we were before and help us find our way back to that center, in whatever way that we can.

November is National Prematurity Awareness Month and many organizations across the country are doing hard, valuable and never-ending work to help more babies be born at term and healthy. And to help the parents of the children who aren't to cope and to navigate the world of having our tiniest, most fragile and helpless people depend entirely on us.

My wonderful friend Mary and I are looking forward to putting together our first fundraiser to raise money for Bryce's March for Babies team, team BAM!. Funds raised will help further the groundbreaking research that the March of Dimes continues to do and has done since FDR founded it in 1938 to find a vaccination for Polio. You'll be hearing much more about that in the coming months.

And then there's the Graham's Foundation, who sends out NICU care packages to parents whose babies are in the NICU. We received one completely by surprise while Bryce was in the NICU. It had some activity books, hand sanitizer, snacks, a Target gift card. More importantly though it contained a personal letter from the founders who had walked in our footsteps and taken the time to prove to us that we weren't alone in a world that felt so distant.

So in honor of National Prematurity Awareness Month Hand to Hold is hosting a Preemie Power Photo Contest. The idea is that we can help raise awareness about prematurity, the number one killer of infants in the U.S., by celebrating the astounding stories of some of our local preemies, our "preemie superheros." We've entered Bryce and coined him "The Amazing Bryce-anator!" His super powers include his inexplicable ability to overcome adversity and his use of slobber as a weapon against the evil tickle monsters of the world!

Please take a moment to vote for Bryce. You can vote up to once per day until November 10th when local celebrity judges will choose the final winners in three different age categories. We'll find out if they agree that Bryce is the super hero we think he is at the Preemie Power Family Celebration on Nov. 14 at Covenant Presbyterian Church on 3003 Northland Dr. in Austin. We can hardly wait!

Help, Please!

Bryce has recently had the epiphany that his glasses are ever so conveniently omnipresent on his sweet little face. Which means anytime there is or isn't something else to chew on he may be inclined to swiftly reach up, pull down and insert said glasses into his mouth.

I know, it's cute ... the first time or twelve he does it before ...breakfast! But after that it's just a pain. They're not nearly as easy to pull up over his cute little nose and both ears to properly readjust for their actual purpose - seeing. And trust me, I know. I know because I do it countless times every single day.

And much to my disgrace yesterday I finally said a strong no with an ever so slight tap of the hand as he reached to pull them down. And he cried. And then I cried. And it wasn't pretty.

So what is a mom to do? How do you begin to say no to your child? Especially when they're ridiculously cute and sweet and pretty much perfect in every other way? I know, I know but I'm biased and rightfully so.

Anyone out there deal with the glasses issue with their little one? What's the trick? Please, please share!

Stander

We had ACE medical equipment supply out a couple of weeks ago and they measured Bryce for his sit to stand stander. They also came out the week before last and brought him a loaner stander which he very much enjoys. Here he is on his first outside adventure while standing.


The therapist and medical equipment specialist said that it is especially good for him to go outside in the stander where there are bumps to provide vibration to his joints while he is bearing weight on them.

It just so happened that the stander was delivered on a Friday afternoon so Bryce was lucky enough to have his Abuelita, Daddy and pretty much the entire neighborhood out cheering him on as Abuelita wheeled him back and forth from stop sign to stop sign.

We've been trying to get him outside for walks in the stander as often as possible but it's really a two person job. The stander has four casting wheels on it and long metal bars that stick out in the back which makes it difficult to navigate, especially over those joints in the sidewalk that are so helpful.



When we can't venture outside Bryce enjoys reading his daddy's Car & Driver magazine before Daddy steals it away because it ends up slobbery and torn.

Okay, so he can't really read ... yet. But he loves to slobber on pretty much anything and next to that throwing things on the floor also provides lots of entertainment. As you can see happened to his lady bug book in the picture above.

All things eventually just get swept off to the left, but we are seeing marked improvement in his use of his right hand. Above you can also see that it tends to stay fisted closed, but it's no longer always with white knuckles and very often he opens it to attempt a grab at things that are closer to his right side. It's progress we're happy to take!



Bryce is really enjoying his new perspective on the world and Mommy is grateful for the good naps he takes after an hour of standing ;-)

Sweet Berry Farm

Last weekend we took a short drive over to Marble Falls with Abuelita to visit the pumpkin patch at Sweet Berry Farm. We had a great time!

We ate fresh, homemade ice cream, bought the most perfect pumpkins of varying size and spent the better part of an hour picking beautiful zinnias for only $2/cup. If one is so inclined, which mom and I most certainly were, one can fit a LOT of flowers in a 12 oz. plastic cup!

Here's Farmer Leroy, he drove the tractor that took us from the pumpkin side of the farm to the flower side...

And here's Bryce amongst the pumpkins, he's the one with the blue glasses ;0
Bryce didn't see any reason to look up for a single picture, he was way more interested in investigating these strange new objects...
And here's a baby donkey that Caleb insisted I simply could not bring home with us...
And last but not least, here's Caleb and Bryce picking zinnias...


We had a blast making a day trip of the the farm and eating at the famous Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls with Abuelita. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a nice opportunity to get some pumpkin pictures of their little ones. We'll be making the return trip in the spring to pick fresh strawberries - I can't wait!

Equipment Woes

We've had our fair share of not your usual new baby stuff. There was the crazy traumatic birth and the five months in the NICU, with all of its unique NICU kind of crazy.

We've also had some equipment to contend with. There was the oxygen concentrator that hummed all day and night while Bryce was tethered to it for the first months we were home. And the tiny but mightily awful NG tube. NG as in nasogastric tube. As in you hold him down while I shove this tube down his nose and try not to land it in his lungs but rather in his belly and then let's make an educated guess as to which it did land in, all while he screams and I cry.

But back then we were more accustomed to how unusual our lives were. Everything in our lives was upside down. We didn't live at home and then we did but it didn't feel like home. Our old friends were new friends and our new friends (nurses, doctors and therapists) were old friends. Upside down was very much right side up to us at that point.

We discovered that if everything seems like its falling apart it probably is but if you try hard enough, cry long enough and pray loud enough you can probably survive it.

And slowly but surely our lives began to resemble those of other new parents, despite us having been parents for nearly half of a year. We returned to home and then to work, we went through the day on only a few hours of sleep but were rewarded a million times over by the joy of a baby finally in our home, in our bed, in our lives and forever in our hearts.

Then around thanksgiving Bryce smiled and our worlds changed forever. Every day every thing that we did was to illicit a smile from his sweet face. And everything else was to pass the time until we could return to his smiling face.

Sure we've had more tough times since Bryce came home last November. We endured emergency brain surgery, returns to the hospital, a scary Cerebral Palsy diagnosis and hundreds of sleepless nights worried the latest teething jag was actually a shunt malfunction we might be missing.

But we also had the home medical equipment company come take away that annoyingly loud and large oxygen concentrator, along with all of the superfluous tubes and tanks accompanying it. And the NG tubes are long lost history. Thank God. We now have a house full of toys, high chairs, walkers, jumpers, bottles and baby food. We love it.

And then we go to a mom's group or a Gymboree class where all the other baby's are sitting, saying words, eating table food, crawling, walking and using their hands equally. And we can't help it. We don't say anything, we diligently smile through but we both feel it. The sudden realization that our baby isn't normal, that he's so far behind even his adjusted age that it can't be ignored. It's like being kicked in the stomach. We spend so much time with just us and Bryce that we are used to him, he's just another baby. But then we see babies in Vail half Bryce's age toddling around happily while playing with the shooting streams of water and bounding back to their parents with huge grins on their innocent faces. And just like that our bubble is burst.

And we come home to therapy appointments galore... but it's okay because we are so lucky to have Bryce in our lives. We know this.

Then the therapist says we need equipment. We need a stander, maybe a sitter/stander that is a "substantial piece of equipment." Because by 18 months babies need to spend several hours a week standing in order for their growth plates to properly respond, otherwise his legs won't grow long enough for his body and he'll have new issues to contend with. And since he's not going to be standing on his own by 18 months we have to get a $3000 - $4000 piece of equipment to strap him to every day so that he'll bear weight on his legs.

And by the way, we also have to get him a SPIO suit because his body isn't giving enough bio feedback. He forgets sometimes that he has a right arm and he should try to use it. So maybe this compression garment that he'll wear every day will remind him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have a therapist to inform me of these things. And happy to have the resources to get these things for him. Sometimes though you just want your baby not to need them.

Practice Cake Eating

Saturday is Bryce's due date/supposed to be first birthday so we're going to have a couple friends over to celebrate. I wanted to do a cake (low sugar, high fruit content of course) because he's a little more of a mature eater now then he was on his actual birthday. We had some left over cornbread from the chili we made this week so Bryce is practicing eat cake this morning with cornbread "iced" in organic banana raspberry oatmeal ;-)

As you can see he is taking this task very seriously...and making a serious mess too!


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Colorado Vacation, Part I

Our flight arrived in muggy Austin last night at about 11 p.m. and by the time we got the car packed we were covered in sweat for the first time in almost a week. Home sweet home.

We had an amazing time. One that I feel is best expressed through pictures.

_______________________________________

We were more than nervous about how Bryce would handle flying but as he does with most challenges, he smiled and charmed his way through without a hitch. There were tons of babies and little people on this flight, many of them cried some or most of the flight, but Bryce just took these cute pictures.

On our first day out and about we visited Estes Park, which was beautiful and charming.

Caleb enjoyed trying on all of the hats and posing for funny pictures while I found the cutest little "flapjacks" for Bryce. Once I've gotten them washed I'll post a picture of him in them and until then I'll just let your mind wander.

The next day we drove out to Beaver Creek but made a day trip of Mt. Evans, the highest continuous road in the United States. The top five miles are already closed but we drove as high as we could, up to Summit Lake which was one of the scariest and most beautiful places I've ever been.

It was really cold up there but we bundled up and took a walk along the lake, as you can see we all three really enjoyed it!

The view from the top was incredible!

Check back tomorrow for Colorado, Part II

On top of the world!

We're loving our day in Vail!

The Oktoberfest is happening, the shops are selling the neatest bowls made of old juniper wood, the fall colors are already showing and the gondola ride was gorgeous.

Oh and did I mention the 70 degree, bright and sunny weather. If we can't find a place to buy before Sunday then we'll probably be back Sunday night, ha!
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Moving on...

We've seen Louisville and Boulder, visited Estes Park and Waterloo and so now we're on the road again. After breakfast we're heading to Mt. Evans, where we hope to see some amazing scenery and big horned goats, on our way to Beaver Creek.

We're excited to kick back at the resort in Beaver Creek/Vail, where "the streets are paved in gold," according to the Insolroll guys, before heading out to our cabin in the "wild West," of Kremmling.

Bryce had some trouble sleeping our first night on the road but he slept soundly through the night last night. He's not all that interested in the scenery but is of course eating up all the adoring attention of the many new friends we're making along the way!

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YUM!

Yay! Bryce loves asparagus!! Just like his mommy!

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Just Landed

The Moline family just landed in the mile high city for its first family vacation!

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How Blessed Are We

It can often be too easy to slip into a pattern of self pity, well at least Bryce pity. Especially on days like these when he's undergone yet another surgery and is enduring yet more pain. But as I silently plead, "why, hasn't he been through enough?" to the universe I'm reminded of how lucky we are to have Bryce with us today.

There is no question that being born four months early, at home without medical care and weighing only 1.5 pounds meant that Bryce's chances of survival were slim. But as you spend your days, weeks and months in the company of other sick babies, life saving doctors, nurses and specialists it's all too easy to expect the most, the best, the miraculous.

The sad truth is though that many of these families eventually go home without their babies. And sometimes it's only after much suffering and valiant fighting that these tiny souls return to their beginnings. We find solace in the belief that they go on, they find peace and comfort. But my heart aches for the parents they leave behind.

Yesterday I prayed for one such tiny preemie, whom I have never met and whose parents I have also never met, but who was introduced to me only yesterday morning by a friend's prayer request. Later in the day I learned that that baby passed away during the night the day before.

Many months ago, when Bryce was fighting for his own life a friend of a friend told her little girl, Hayley, about Bryce's struggle. Hayley herself was very sick and spent many of her days at Dell Children's fighting for her own life. But countless times I was told that she prayed for Bryce often. Hayley passed away on Friday, August 20th and though we never got the chance to meet this special little girl, I will always have a place in my heart for her and her family.

This Saturday there will be a benefit to raise money for Hayley's family to pay off her many remaining medical bills. If you can make it please do, it'll be at the American Legion Hall at 1000 Georgetown Street in Round Rock from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow. There will be family activities and bar-b-que. If you can't make it but would still like to make a donation you can send it to Randy Batten c/o Jeff Uhrig at 519 Virginia Dr, Round Rock TX, 78664.

We are planning to try to stop in and make a donation tomorrow morning, as long as Bryce is feeling up to it.

Post Surgery...eyes

I wouldn't even consider showing you Bryce's boy business and let's just say you're better off not seeing it anyway as it's pretty awful! But here are some pictures of his after surgery eyes:



You can see the red in the middle corners of his eyes but today being day three I'm surprised by how much better they already look. The first day we came home and he was in a lot of pain he was crying tears of blood while looking up at me pleadingly with these huge, blue bloodshot eyes - let's just say it broke my heart.


We're so used to seeing Bryce's eyes misaligned that we were shocked by how odd we found his correctly aligned eyes. It was an immediate change that we're still getting used to.


He's still not quite himself but I promise he's not as sad as he looks in these pictures. I took these this morning as we were going out for a walk and much as I try to make him like the outdoors he is simply not a fan.

Pre-Surgery Pictures

Bryce and Daddy waiting for surgery.

A last look at Bryce's misaligned eyes. (If you look closely you can see his two bottom teeth in this picture too. He also has one on the top left and one about to break on the top right.)

Our perpetually happy baby boy with his favorite toy, the octopus pirate.


I'll take some pictures today and post them later so you can see the post-op difference.

Holy Hurt

My poor Bryce! We'd heard horror stories from our neighbors who have boys about the aftermath of a circumcision and the care and cleaning thereof but nothing could have prepared us for the world of hurt Bryce was in yesterday afternoon.

It was a long day of Bryce crying - not like his usual cry which is actually just a whine, but full on sobbing and staring at me like how could you did you do this to me, which of course means that we were both crying. It was just awful and the only thing we could do was hold him and rock him and try to get him to sleep.

We finally called the doctor's office and his nurse suggested we try Motrin, which seems to me to be some sort of undiscovered miracle drug because we had it right here in the house and it could have saved us hours of misery. At any rate, we eventually got Bryce's pain to a manageable level with a combination of Vicodin and Motrin late yesterday afternoon and just in time for him to go to sleep at his usual 7:30 p.m. bedtime. We woke him a couple of times to give him his medications but otherwise he slept through to 7 this morning.

And now we have our Bryce back - he woke up happy and playful as ever! I'm trying to get him to take a nap right now because I'm scared he's trying to do too much and will end up hurting again.

We're hoping today will be a better day!

On Our Way Home

We never thought we'd be home for lunch today but Bryce surprised us all, again. His discharge nurse was so impressed with him as he played and kicked his legs despite the epidural numbing his bottom half, she said he never even cried. He's asleep in his car seat now and we're all ready to get home, get some food and crawl back in bed!

Recovery

Bryce is out of surgery and off the ventilator. I just traded out with Caleb as only one of us is able to be in the recovery room at a time. Once he wakes up a little more and can take a bottle then they'll move him to a post-op room where we can all be with him. The doctors said we'll probably be in that room for a couple of hours and then should be on our way home.

Bryce looks pretty tired and is a little whiny, they said the chordee repair is probably going to be pretty painful when he first pees. It looks absolutely awful and he also has a separate incision where the hernia repair was done.

His poor little eyes (both) are bloodshot and goopy. Apparently it will be 2-3 weeks before the redness goes away and he will have bloody tears for a few days.

Our poor baby went through a lot this morning but we're hoping this will be the last surgery for a very long time.

Once he is out of recovery I'll update on how he is doing.
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Surgery Tomorrow

Sorry for the late post regarding surgery happening in just a few hours but I think I thought that if I ignored it perhaps it would just go away. Note to self, not an effective coping method.

When Bryce was discharged from the hospital last November we knew that this surgery would be necessary so it comes as no surprise. Bryce was never circumcised (more pressing issues took priority at the time) so that is one of the procedures the urologist will perform tomorrow morning. He'll also be correcting Bryce's chordee - see link for explanation. And last, for urology, they will may be surgically repairing a hyrdrocele - once again, see link.

Bryce also has strabismus and so his optometrist will be doing an eye muscle surgery on at least one of his eyes as well tomorrow. She said that once Bryce is fully under anesthesia she'll be able to freely move his eyes and will decide at that point whether she'll need to correct the muscles on only one eye or both.

We have to get Bryce up super early so we can give him his nebulizer treatments and reflux medicine and be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. There will likely be a lot of answering medical history questions (again) and waiting, waiting, waiting until sometime around 7 a.m. when the surgery is scheduled.

I was informed that the doctors reserved the OR for 2 hours, 15 minutes so we should hopefully be meeting Bryce in the recovery room sometime during the 9 a.m. hour. I'll probably update the blog via my phone so anyone wanting updates should please check back.

We are on the books for outpatient surgery so we are fully anticipating everything going well, Bryce having no trouble coming right off the ventilator and being home in time for his bedtime at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow night. Of course, my worst fear is that his fragile lungs will make extubating after surgery an issue. But we have been prepping them diligently every day with nebulizer treatments for weeks. And we have the encouraging memory of how quickly and easily he came off the vent after his emergency shunt revision surgery at the end of May.

As always, thanks for taking the time out of your day to check in on us via this blog, to think of us and to say a little prayer for our precious little Bryce.

Too Much Fun

Can you tell how much Bryce enjoys the swing at our neighborhood park!?

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Pals

Bryce and Poppa hanging out this morning, it's hard to tell but Bryce's new shirt says, "Grandpa's Little Allstar."

Today they discovered that Bryce thinks being held in the air by his feet and then flopped down onto his tummy is great fun. The way he excitedly kicks his little legs afterward looks like he's saying, "again, again!"


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Messy Eater

You can always tell how hungry Bryce is and how much he likes whatever you're feeding him by how much of it ends up all over him. Yesterday Abuelita (my mom) was feeding Bryce and he thought it was play time.

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mmmm...Puffs!

In a bid to overcome Bryce's extraordinary gag reflex we are letting him have Puffs (though they are the all natural white cheddar version). His is a fan, as you can see.

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