Sittin' up all by Myself

This has been a busy week!  We had therapy two days and a cardiology appointment one day and on Thursday Aunt Nelda and Kate came over to play.  Kate was visiting from Franklin, TN and she and Jax have a blast together.  They threw water balloons, played indoor soccer, played outside some and ate pizza.  Aunt Nelda and I visited and played with Hoss.   After he had eaten a little baby food and been allowed (by me, don't ask) to fall out of his highchair and consequently checked all over (I could have used a cardiologist for me. He was fine.) it was time for Hoss to go to bed and have his regular feed.  Usually I plug his tube in and turn on his lullabies and as he begins to get a full tummy, he's like everybody I know after Thanksgiving dinner...OUT like a light!  Lately, he has begun to roll and squirm around in his bed and manage to get his tube to play with.

Thursday afternoon when I put him down, he was so sleepy that I was sure he'd go right out even though Kate and Jax were still in the house playing and making some noise.  After about 10 minutes, I could still hear him making noises and babbling.  He didn't sound upset, but I still decided to check on him just to be sure.  I headed back to his room expecting to find him still lying in roughly the same place I had laid him down, plugged him in and tucked his blanket around him.

Here is what I actually found!

Yep, he had figured out a new way to get to his tube!  I was so excited!  Ms. Kilbrey, his physical therapist has been working so diligently with him to get him up off his back.  He's been able to sit up for a while once we got him in that position.  He's never been able to sit up by himself.  Now we just have to get him to realize he can use his hands as well as his core muscles to keep himself from careening to the floor.  Sitting up is all fun and games until you crack your head open when you don't "stick the landing".  Today, however, we are enjoying this little victory.  

Don't Tell Me I Can't Eat

Hey everybody.  Hoss here to update you on my progress with eating.  You see, they told my Mom that I aspirated and so I have this feeding tube.  I keep having swallow studies, but they keep showing that I still aspirate.  Not as much, each time is better, but Mrs. Denise keeps telling Mom to steer clear of liquids, just in case.  I've never had pneumonia and aspirating can really cause that in kids like me, so why force the issue until I can learn how to swallow properly.  But Mom keeps wondering how I'm supposed to learn to swallow if I don't ever practice.  So at my well check up last week (I weighed 16lbs and 8oz and was 27 inches long) Mom talked to Dr. Peep about how to go about practicing.  I've been practicing with baby food for a while now, 8-10 bites at a time two or three times a day, but no liquids practice.

Dr. Peep and Mom feel it is reasonable to go ahead and try some liquids since I have not ever developed pneumonia with the things I have been eating.  Dr. Peep said that teaching a kid to eat who has been solely dependent on a feeding tube can take an act of Congress.  In other words, it don't come easy.  He assured her that we would both certainly get frustrated with eating food before I was truly eating.  But, since Mom's goal is to get the feeding tube O.U.T. she decided to jump in with both feet.  Also, I have a cardiology appointment next week and they will do a chest x-ray so we will know if my aspirations are setting me up for pneumonia or not.  On one hand, I hope my lungs look as good as always, but can you imagine how much she's going to push me if I'm still all clear?

First she started me with bananas.  Now keep in mind I've tried lots of things, but just a few bites.  Bananas were the first food Mom decided to substitute for a feeding.

Take that aspirations!  I ate the whole tub!!

Next she worked in some higher calorie foods that I just adore!  I can't get enough of Turkey and Rice, Chicken and Vegetables or Vegetable Beef.  I really love the more savory type foods, but that makes sense.  That's what Mom craved when she was pregnant with me.  Heck, she ate so much Japanese food I'm surprised my name isn't Toyota!  You can see I REALLY enjoy my meats!

Mom's also introducing some non baby food things, like yogurt.  My big brother Jax loves yogurt and it's supposed to be good for you, so why not.  Guess you could say it's a hit as well.

Most recently, she's been feeding me in more of a traditional meal setup.  You know, more than one thing at a time.  I think she needs to work on her combinations a little bit (tonight it was strawberry banana yogurt with sweet potatoes and corn...I would be rolling my eyes if I knew how) but it's good for me to have different textures and temperatures.  So far, I don't seem to have any real aversions, thank goodness.

We've also been working with a sippy cup.  Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but she puts chocolate milk in my sippy.  I know that will stop once I get the hang of it, but for now, I've got her convinced that I need that extra treat to get me to drink.  Today, Mom took the handles off my sippy cup and it made it more like a bottle.  Very quickly I figured out how to hold it myself and even can put it in my own mouth.  I mostly am chewing on the nipple rather than sucking it, but that's ok for now.  I don't get tons of milk to swallow at one time that way.  Sometimes I cough a little like it's trying to go down the wrong pipe, but mostly I swallow it.  Yumm!!

I'm telling you what, I am so proud of myself!  Sometimes I kick my feet and flail my arms and hit the spoon headed towards me and sling baby food all over me and Mom and the kitchen.  She doesn't care, it'll all clean up when we're through!

I'm also developing my own cues for Mom.  This is my, "No Thank You, I've Had Enough" face.  Sometimes she doesn't get them the first couple of times I show her one, but eventually she catches on.

I guess that's all for tonight.  I best get to bed, after all, who lets a baby stay up past 9:30?  Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!  But if they do, hit 'em with a shoe and tell 'em I don't want to sleep with you! Thanks Uncle Gil!

First Time for Everything

I knew this day was coming.  I've known all along.  I thought I was prepared.  I thought I would react appropriately and handle things with a "Cool Mom" attitude.  After all, I'd survived the first busted lip..

I'd survived the first day of preschool..

I'd survived the in-home treasure hunt that resulted in red magic marker X's all over my walls and furniture..

Not to mention all the stuff I've handled with Hoss in the last year.  So, when this day came, I knew I would handle it with grace, remembering that he is my precious boy and there are so many more important things in life.  I knew I would be calm and firm, but loving.  I was wrong.  I failed miserably.  Apparently, this one event was my breaking point.  I yelled.  I didn't cry or spank, but, oh how I fumed!  

Yes, my breaking point came when my precious four year old cut his own hair.  He cut a nice gap right down the middle of his head and a good swipe up the side of his head.  

In the midst of my ranting, I asked him what he thought his punishment should be.  His answer, through sobs, "Don't make me show GrNanny".  Now I don't know what he thought she would do, but in my anger (I'm woman enough to own it.  I was Angry!) I promptly marched him next door to Mom and Dad's house (we were actually going over anyway to eat burgers). Dad was grilling on the deck when we got there and just said, "Hey Buddy, did you get a new haircut?"  Thanks for fueling my fire of overreaction, Dad.  Once I finished rehashing and reloading my angry guns, I marched him onto the screen porch where Mom was reading a magazine.  Even though she was only 15 feet away when I assaulted Dad with my telling of the event, I proceeded to unload my woes to her as well.  To which she calmly reached over, patted my knee, told me to calm down and "get over yourself".  Apparently I'm not the only Mom whose precious child has done this.  Apparently, he was destined to do it because it's in his genes. Apparently his GrNanny did the same thing when she was a child.  Apparently it is just hair and it will grow back and apparently, I overreacted.  (This is the point at which my brother will audibly mumble while he's reading, "imagine that".)  So, I calmed down, we ate a burger and headed home.  Vince cleaned up the hair and put it in a ziploc for me to put in Jax's scrapbook and I snuggled my precious boy with a terrible haircut and asked his forgiveness.  He gladly forgave me and promised to never do it again.  Like I'm going to let him have access to scissors before he's 25.

The next day, the question was what to do about the self haircut.  Vince wanted to get it buzzed off, and that was my initial reaction too. GrNanny offered the suggestion that being asked about it a gazillion times might encourage him to not do this again.  So, since we didn't have a wedding or family pictures or anything major going on this summer, we're letting it grow.  When people ask Jax who cut his hair he now tells them it was an  unlicensed stylist and we still spike it up only now it spikes more into two peaks.  So, we've nicknamed it the no-hawk since there isn't any hair in the middle to make it a mohawk.

Let's just say I think he got the message and won't try that again...but if he does, I'm prepared and I know it's just hair and I know I won't overreact again to my adorable and precious boy.

  

Hot Rod Hatmaker Boys

So Uncle Bubba has built a T-Bucket.  He started with boxes, bits and pieces and an engine from an El Camino.    He managed to turn it into a really cool toy.  Since then he has become involved in the National T-Bucket Alliance (NTBA).  Back in June, the NTBA had an event week in the Chattanooga area.  They drove the Dragon's Tail, went over to the Jack Daniel's Distillery, spent a day driving to the Gordon Lee Mansion in Chickamauga and they came to the Mom and Dad's farm for a cookout.

Uncle Bubba's Hot Rod

Let me just tell you about the hot rods.  These were some SERIOUS hot rods.  They were loud, and custom painted and had enough chrome on them to open a store!  Some were two seaters, one was a four seater, some had roofs, most did not.

This is about half of the cars that came to the cookout.

There were flames, an engine out of a viper a pink one and one with working beer kegs. We didn't see that one in action, just took the guy's word for it...unless you can get diet coke out of a keg, we're not takers.

Anywho, Jax isn't a huge fan of the Unc Bubba's hot rod because it is so loud.  He always wants to see it, but never wants to hear it.  So I headed to the hunting department of Academy Sports and bought him some ear muffs to muffle the sound.  Then I decided I'd best go ahead and get some for Hoss since his ears are one of the few things that seem to be 100%.

Dressed and waiting on the first Hot Rods to arrive.

Jax headed to the pasture in his Gator.

When it was time to party, we got our ear muffs on and headed to the pasture.  Hoss loved them and Jax did to although by the time the evening was over, he had decided he wasn't afraid of the noise anymore.  He sure did enjoy looking at the cars and telling everyone about his Uncle Bubba's hot rod, but he didn't want to have anything to do with riding in them.  I'm ok with that since most of them don't have any form of seat belt, much less a five point harness, side curtain or any other air bags or any form of head protection.

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Hoss rode int he car with me and Daddy down to the campfire.  He's still too "bounceable" to ride that far with Jax.

It was a fun evening and not something that every 4 year old gets to experience.  We roasted hot dogs over the bonfire, made s'mores and told and heard lots of tall tales (It was a pasture full of car guys.  Let's face it, there were definitely some tall tales.).I'd say a good time was absolutely had by all!

We even had Jax's pedal Hot Rod on the table.

Summertime and the livin' is easy

We've been taking it easy this summer.  We haven't had any major medical issues except for the feeding tube coming out and having to be replaced.  Hoss has therapy two days a week and a third therapy every other week, so that has kept us busy.  We've been hanging at the house and taking it easy.  Here's a picture recap!  Enjoy...

Aunt Audi got a dog.  She named him Panda. He's cute and fluffy and she and Jax adore him!  

We've tried Mississippi Mid Pie and loved it!

Then we stripped out of those "muddy" clothes and loved that even more!

Jax had his end of the year program at preschool. 

And he got to wear a goofy hat.  It was supposed to be a beret, but he wouldn't wear it that way.  Nope, no beret for him, he went for the shower cap look.

We said goodbye to Mrs. Melissa.

and a favorite friend who's moving to Nashville.

We have celebrated Uncle Bubba's birthday.

and helped blow out candles.

We had a FIRST birthday celebration for Hoss.

and had a blast with cousins. (I do think it would have been easier to get a school of fish all facing the same direction for a picture).

We've worn silly hats that Mama will use pictures of for blackmail in 20 years.

We've played in the sprinkler

and under the sprinkler.

We've impersonated Gene Kelly (singin' in the rain?).  Of course he was probably singing Country Girl, Shake it For Me.

We've attempted to make homemade ice cream

only to discover that the freezer was broken and it was a swing and a miss.

We went to see some fireworks

and they will both need counseling someday because their awful parents terrorized them by taking them to said fireworks.  Terrified doesn't begin to describe it for Jax, and Hoss was tired and not feeling the Tot Rod.

Jax has mastered swimming with no swimmies and is a little fish.  He actually has a tan line for the first time ever and that's with faithful sunscreen application.

Hoss has cruised around the pool a few times...this was the first time he wasn't screaming.  I think he's finally getting used to it!

Granddaddy put Jax's old swing back up on their screened porch and when it's not too hot, Hoss does love to swing.

And, last but not least, Jax and Vince went to see the imagination movers Live in concert in Atlanta.  This time, we splurged and bought the back stage passes and it was TOTALLY worth it!  He got everything you can think of autographed and I believe he would have brought them home with him if he could.  He had a blast.  If you have kids in your life, check out the Imagination Movers!!

That's all for tonight.  That's enough isn't it?  Whew, before I wrote this, I was thinking we hadn't done much this summer, but somehow I now feel like we need to slow down a little bit!.  I can't believe Jax starts school in about 6 weeks.  Where does the time go?  

Back to the Blog

Hey y'all!  Many of you may remember my blog from when Jax was little.  He often wrote to let you know of his many adventures and first time experiences.  Then, I got pregnant with Hoss and we moved and life got a little hectic for the last year or so.  You know, two open heart surgeries, esophagus surgery, and 9 gazillion Dr.'s appointments will keep a mama preoccupied.  

However, now that we have settled into our new normal, I think it's time to fire this baby back up!  Don't you?  Some of you are our old friends and family, and some of you have found your way here from Hoss' facebook group.  Whatever reason you're here, Welcome!!  This is the place for me to tell you how wonderful my boys are and the brilliant things they are doing now days.  I will still post all of Hoss' medical updates and any prayer requests on Hoss' Facebook group page for those of you who don't care to follow the blog, but if you want to know what fun things he's up to and see some pictures and the occasional video, this is the place!

I'm going to try to get some pictures uploaded tomorrow with an update of the summer's activities so sign up to be a follower of this blog and it will send you a notification anytime I post.  I think.  I'm still learning all of the in's and out's of blogging.  

So, Goodnight or as the boys sometimes sign off...TTFN (TaTa For Now - don't you know your Tigger quotes?)