The Daniel Family

Sleigh Ride

2011-12-15T16:11:00.000-05:00

Editor's Note: (This post has nothing to do with Sleigh Rides but the song was on when I titled it, so there you go...festive, huh? Also, I haven't proofread this so bear with me.)

So, I guess it’s time for a little update for the four people out there that still read this.

We’ve been in the Christmas spirit for the last few weeks. I read something recently (no idea where) that someone wrote about “producing Christmas” at their house and I thought it was a pretty accurate term. So much work goes into “producing Christmas”…and not even the over the top stuff (which I’m guilty of) but also into trying to make it fun for little ones and into activities that help us absorb the real meaning of Christmas…if any of that makes sense. I’m trying to make a point to slow down and enjoy my family and the season. Anyway, I know that you all tuned in to get my thoughts on Christmas but I’ll move on to the highlights of our life…bullet-point style.

-Reed has started basketball. It’s our family’s first organized sport. He’s had his first practice and games will start in January. Go Little Cheetahs! In other basketball related news, his uniform swallows him whole. I commented on how big it was only to receive a sharp reply from an unnamed member of our family that I could sign him up next time if I had a problem with it.

-Gaines has always been pretty spunky, but I constantly find myself telling him to get off of Reed. They are playing together a lot these days but mostly in a wrestling fashion. Not too long ago, I found Reed sitting on Gaines with a blanket wrapped around his head. We had a serious talk and some time-out time over that one but mostly it’s just Gaines tackling Reed when he’s not expecting it. Every time I pull him off he says the same thing, “Soddy Mobby” (that would be sorry mommy) but he says it with some sort of weird accent. Makes me laugh every time.

-Lord knows where it came from but, the phrase of the week this week is “Hey, watch it too-tall”. Reed says it to Gaines and then Gaines says it back and it goes on and on. It’s so fun to hear Gaines say it though. I forgot how funny it is to listen to a little one just learning to talk. And an update on that is that Gaines is talking ton…and we can understand most of it. He’s definitely a little mimic right now. There are something that we don’t understand but he improves every day.

-Side note, do y’all love that Christmas Canon song? It’s one of my top five favorite Christmas songs. Our church did it the other day as part of their Living Christmas Tree performance and it was so spot on. I almost cried. Ridiculous, but it was beautiful. I will tell you which Christmas song I could do without, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause”. I think it makes the mother look a bit like a harlot…for lack of a better family friendly word.

-We went to a NICU graduate Christmas party down here last weekend. It was so fun to see all the sweet nurses that took care of my littlest boy. I’m not saying that he’s a NICU superstar or anything, but there was a definite “Gaines” (think “Norm” from Cheers) when he walked in. I loved being able to show them how well he’s doing…and he is doing really, really well. Y’all keep all the families that are spending the Christmas season in the hospital in your prayers. I’m keeping up with a really sick local little girl right now and it brings back so many memories of countless doctors, scary nights, watching the numbers…just all of it, but it also reminds me of how good people are and how many people prayed Gaines home and (eventually) healthy. That will never be lost on me.

-I have recently refreshed myself on the proper times to use an apostrophe in “it’s/its”. I’m pretty pumped about this as I’ve just been guessing at it since people stopped grading my English homework. No worries though, comma splices and …’s still run rampant around here.

-We went to a Christmas Hayride last weekend where Gaines rode a horse for the first time ever. I could barely get him off. If only we had a place to keep a horse. I need a farm. Beau isn’t quite on board with my farm dream.

I think I’m just rambling now so I’ll stop. Maybe I’ll be back soon. I hope to be.

Merry Christmas and Love to All-

Brittany

My Boys

2011-11-15T13:12:00.000-05:00

Couple of quick things about my boys that I thought were funny.

I saw a big piece of paper hanging on the wall in Reed’s class that said, “What is your family having for Thanksgiving dinner?” Apparently Reed’s family is having fish. We don't even eat fish at our house for regular dinners. Like ever. Except one time when I tried to make it because Beau likes it. He loved it. I had pop-tarts for dinner that night. But all that was before Reed so he's never had fish at our house. Sue me.
Also, the other night, Reed got stuck in Gaines’ Cozy Coupe car and was yelling “Help, help!” As soon as Gaines heard him, he jumped off of his scooter and went running to Reed, “I comin, Ree, Ree…I comin”. SO sweet but hilarious at the same time. He LOVES his big brother.

In other news, I will continue my quest of taking a picture of both of my children looking at the camera and having some sort of smile on their faces. Although, at this point I'd probably just settle for all eyes open. I am seriously considering a Christmas card of outtakes.

Just wanted you all to know that we are still alive and well. (Although my Gainesy has two ear infections..."one good one and one massive one". Poor baby).

Love to all,

Brittany

Bossy

2011-10-19T16:13:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday morning (which happened to be Reed's birthday) we were all getting ready for church. I was in the boys' bathroom barking orders...probably trying to get their teeth brushed or something when Reed said, "Mom, do you know what bossy is?" I stopped in my tracks and stared at him. I said, "I do, do you?" He replied, "It means rude."

On another note, Reed is now finally 4, but he told me last night that he just really, really needs to be 5.

Love to all,

Brittany

Pictures

2011-10-15T16:14:00.000-04:00

These are from the 600 pictures that I told y'all were on my camera that needed to be uploaded to the computer. Hope you like them. Most of them make me laugh.

This is Reed during a "rest". All his animals are taking a nap.

Actually being sweet to each other.

These are Gaines' first day of school pictures. You can tell he was really excited for school. In case I haven't mentioned it, he goes to a mothers' day out one half day a week. Doctor approved.

I think this face is hilarious.

These next two make me laugh. Beau and Reed were working on something and had to wear their safety gear. Safety first!

My mom is going to kill me for this one but it makes me laugh so hard. This is her and Gaines having a parade. That stick in his hand is the Irish walking whistle that she brought him back from Ireland. Of all the things to bring back...

These skates are from about 20 years ago or more. Each of my cousins had a pair and we'd skate our little hearts out at my grandmama's house. She's been saving them all this time and the boys had so much fun with them.

Spaghetti-Os for lunch.

This was at a pumpkin patch birthday party. Beau and Gaines didn't get to go because Gaines ended up pretty sick after last year's pumpkin patch adventure and we didn't want to risk it. We think its the hay.

Reed and his buddies at the pumpkin patch.

Beach Pictures

2011-10-15T15:15:00.004-04:00

Pictures from our October beach trip. I told y'all I'd post pictures this weekend. I know you didn't believe me. Excuse the captions. They aren't doing what I want and I give up. This is Reed in his awesome shades. He reminds me a little of Tom Cruise here.

Matching pajamas.

Me with my sweet boys.

Gaines learned to tolerate the beach some...but this is how he felt most of the time he had an encounter with the sand.

Love this one.

This one is pretty indicative of our life most days. Don't worry. Reed was only hugging him.

Nonsense

2011-10-13T16:29:00.000-04:00

The thing I forgot yesterday was to declare publicly my love for Lay’s Jalapeno Kettle Chips. They make making your own lunch worth it.

I would also like to let you all know that I found a rotten pumpkin in the boys’ bathroom yesterday. Apparently pumpkins do not last if you break their skin by sticking plastic face pieces in them. It was really gross and my hand has been stained a little orange all day. Who knew that pumpkins stain? About an hour later I found a rotten banana. We seem to have a rotting produce problem at our house these days. I just needed y'all to know that.

Here's another human interest story for you, we’ve been going to Wednesday night church lately but I decided to let us skip last night. We’ve been going so much and just needed a night at home to be normal and it was rainy and I know that neither of those are good excuses but I talked myself into it. It's ok though because God punished me by having Gaines throw up...on me…in my work clothes. I swear He has a sense of humor.

Reed’s birthday is coming up on Sunday but he moved up classes at school on Tuesday so he thinks he’s already 4. That sweet baby just can’t wait.

In other Reed news, he made the real news yesterday. They had a fire prevention deal going on at school yesterday that involved a smoke house and fire truck. They interviewed Reed and while I’m sure he had some profound comments on fire safety, they only used the clip of him saying, “It was a little smoky”. I wish I could put a link of it on here but apparently CBS 8 doesn’t feel that cute little almost 4 year olds sharing fire prevention advice was a worthy enough story to put on their website.

I guess that’s about it for now. Two posts in two days and this is what you get. I’m trying to get better with the blogging. I really want to.

Love to all,

Brittany

Gaines' Big News

2011-10-12T13:37:00.000-04:00

First, my apoligies for dropping the ball right after I said I was going to post pictures. My dad ended up having pretty major surgery the next day and my little world and to do list just had to wait. We were at the beach the next weekend and just got back on Monday. Trying to do something like uploading pictures during the week just isn't going to happen. So, here's hoping that I get some up this weekend. I'm pretty sure I will but I'm just not going to promise any more.

A few other housekeeping details, you all need to have your skin checked once a year and wear SPF sunscreen. I had two moles "biopsied" last week and while thankfully they were ok and only "abnormal", the whole thing kind of shook me up. I'm not sure if you all are aware but I have a bit of a vivid imagination and it is not alwasy a good thing. Anyway, I wore sunscreen at the beach and the world did not end when I did not come back tan...weird. I also did not come back sunburned which was a nice change of pace. So, there is my skin care PSA. Take care of it.

I had something else riveting to say but I forgot it. So moving on to Gaines' big news...

Gaines' speech therapist did his 6 month evaluation the other day and he did so well! His score was 26 out of 29 months. The test has two different pieces, one that focuses on what he’s understanding, and the other on what he’s able to articulate. The articulation piece was 27/29 and the understanding was 26/29. I am really, really pleased with that.
I kind of kept it to myself before but, at his first evaluation in speech, that understanding piece was 13 out of 24 months. I knew that part of it was Gaines not cooperating that day (he’s just not going to do what he doesn’t want to do-working on that) but honestly, it also kind of scared me and I didn’t want anyone to know about it. So…I am super excited with this result. This score means that he no longer qualifies for Early Intervention and will only have one more session.

The therapist did mention that if we were still having trouble understanding a lot of what he says (like right now “mama” sounds like “baba” which is common in all kids) around the time he turns three, that we might want to have someone look at him to see if he needed help with his sounds. She said that right now he was too young for that to be a concern. We’ll cross that bridge when and if we need to but right now I’m just so excited that he’s catching up and understanding.

There have been a lot of unknowns with Gaines that we’ve had to be patient with and watch unfold…I mean, his sats were LOW (like do you want us to call in the chaplain low) the day he was born and he had to be resuscitated his first night…that doesn’t bode well for lots of things brain-wise. But y’all…he’s getting there and overcoming all the concerns one at time. First by holding his head up and sitting, to walking and now this. I could not be more proud of my littlest boy! God is good!

Love to all,

Brittany

This, that and the other...

2011-09-28T13:33:00.000-04:00

Hello world. Yes, we are still alive and well. Just busy living. I don’t know that I really have too much to say…but I’m getting harassed about not-blogging so here I am. I’m typing this during lunch so there will be no pictures…they are all on my home computer. Well, some are. There are about 3000 on my camera that need to make it over to the computer but who has time for foolishness such as that. My goal is to get that done this weekend. This week, I am getting ready to host a baby shower at my house. I love that I spend a week “preparing” for something that will last an hour and a half. There’s nothing like having strangers over to make you see everything that’s wrong with your house. Y’all want to see my to do list? Here it is…my goodness this is so boring. My commentary will be in italics.

To Do:

Wed church

Wed Dust-the whole house because I didn’t do the bedrooms last night.

Wed wipe down doors/walls-because my children obviously walk around with nasty hands touching things. People with small chilren, get on your knees and check out your walls, doors, cabinets and trim. I did this recently and oh my word.

Wed wrap gift-because when the girl offered to wrap it, I lost my brain and said, “No thanks”.

Wed Office-it just needs to be straightend up so I can open the door like we keep it open all the time.

Wed abstract, tax info (2 yrs), check-refinancing our house…rates are so low right now

Thurs TJ Maxx-got to return some sweaters I bought for the boys

Thurs Flowers-need to buy flowers for the baby shower

Thurs Decorate-this is obvious…but I hope my “vision” works out.

Thurs Wreath-with the decorating

Thurs laundry room-because people will be checking out my laundry room???

Thurs Dishes-got to pick them out and get them ready.

Thurs den arrangement-because the current greenery “arrangement” I’m keeping on the table is dead

Fri vacuum floors

Fri mop floors

Fri casserole together

Fri ice cupcakes-because according to my husband, I like to do things the hard way…instead of buying or using canned icing.

Fri cut grass

Fri kitchen clean

Fri front porch

Sat straighten up

Sat Febreeze-so people will think that my house always smells like clean linen.

Sat make beds

Sat casserole in oven

Sat light candles-because I’m anal enough to write this down.

There are a few other things like dentist appointments that didn’t make the home to do list (although I’m not sure why TJ Maxx did). Once all of that is wrapped up, I’ll move on to Reed’s birthday party. Which he was not going to have until I realized two days ago that there was not a good movie out on his birthday to take a few friends to. So, now…it looks like we are going to have a movie party at our house. I’m doing everything in my power to make it easy and simple…but I have a way of letting my mind get away from me and googling how to make popcorn cupcakes. You know, because I have so much time on my hands and Reed would really appreciate them (not).

But…I’m guessing you all aren’t here to read about the daily trials of Brittany Daniel so let me throw in a few things about my boys.

-Reed: In the car yesterday I told him I was going to a painting party and he said, “Mom, do you know how to say painting in Chinese?” Excuse me, what? I said, “No, do you?” and he popped out with something that sounded Chinese that I couldn’t begin to try and retype. So…note to self, too much Ni Hao Kailan.

That boy keeps me on my toes. He’s about to die to turn 4. He can’t wait. Lots of his friends are already 4 and its killing him. I hear regularly, “I just, really, really want to be 4!” Or, “Mom, you are not even going to believe it when I’m 4”.

Oh, we had to have a little talk 2 nights ago about letting Gaines do the wrong things is just as bad as doing the wrong things yourself. I went in the bathroom while he was in the bathtub (because the kitchen and their bedrooms are just right there and I can get that part of the house straightened up while listening to him play…not because I’m a bad mother and leave him unsupervised in the bathtub) and had to fish out a stuffed parrot, a baby pillow and a fire truck. The immediate response was “Gaines did it!” which lead to our little talk.

Gaines: Speaking of the Gaineser, that boy…I just don’t know. He is a mess, but he’s so sweet…I just don’t know how to describe him. He’s doing really well off his oxygen. I just pray that he can stay healthy this fall/winter and we can avoid a hospital visit. Gaines actually started school a few weeks ago. Just 4 hours a week that both doctors and a nurse practitioner approved. I don’t know that he loves it just yet but he’s getting there. I’ll try and post his first day of school pictures this weekend. He’s talking a lot more now and even says “I love you”. On Reed’s and my way of out the door this morning I said, “Bye Gaines, I love you” and he said, “I la you, Ree Ree”. At least he loves somebody.

Alright…I better run. I need to get back to work. Pictures this weekend!

Love to all,

Brittany

Gaines' Big News

2011-08-19T08:48:00.000-04:00

So, we’ve got big news! Gaines officially passed his sleep study (where he was monitored sleeping without oxygen)! That was the last step in weaning him from his oxygen and we are now OXYGEN FREE! Well, not totally oxygen free as that is what we all breathe, but you know what I mean. No more tanks, no more concentrators, no more cannulas, no more tendergrips on his precious face. This is what we’ve been wanting for the last 28 months but now that its here, it’s a little scary. The oxygen has been a thorn in my side for so long, but it’s also been a life preserver of sorts (not in the way that its was literally a life preserver for Gaines but a figurative one in like something you throw someone in the water…just to be clear :). We were able to test the waters on being without oxygen knowing that we had this life preserver if we needed it. Now, little Gaines is swimming on his own with no floats. I hope and pray that he’s ready…and that we are ready for this. I worry about colds this cold/flu season and we may have a set back, but that will be ok. We’ll make it through. Can you tell I’ve given myself this little pep talk a few hundred times?
I hope all of that doesn’t sound like I’m not excited. I totally am. I mean, this is a big deal for Gaines and our family. More than anything I’m so proud of my littlest boy. That child has more spirit and spunk that any other child I know. Its sounds cliché’ but he’s really come so far. I look back at old pictures of him and I remember the ones that I thought were “good ones” because you could see his eyes through all of his tubes. My eyes are tearing up just thinking about it.

He’s making major progress (in my professional opinion) of getting caught up in other areas too. You’ll be happy to know that is talking is coming along and that he now says his version of “Excuse me” after he announces that he pooted or burped. I’ll call that progress. :)

Thank you so much for sticking with us on this journey. Your prayers and comments have meant the world to us. Please continue to keep Gaines in your prayers as we embark on this new phase of his life.

Love to all,

Brittany

Birthday List

2011-08-04T16:45:00.000-04:00

Since Reed’s birthday is “coming up” in October, anytime he asks for something lately, I tell him that we should put that on his birthday list. I guess I’ve said it one too many times because last night he said, “Why don’t we sit on the couch and write down my birthday list”. So we did. I thought it was kind of funny.
1. batman watch

2. a star turtle that puts starts on the ceiling-his cousin had one this past weekend that he loved

3. kid scissors- I love that he requested “kid” scissors but asked why in the world he needed scissors. “So that I can cut things”. Obviously. I took that opportunity to discuss the fact that scissors are for paper only and that we do not cut our own or each others hair. People have to go to a special school for that.

4. a batman toy that is also a spiderman toy- I’m sure they make those.

5. a green puppy-I assume stuffed since he is quite the “pet” keeper these days.

6. a man toy-like a spiderman or batman toy, but just a regular man.

7. spiderman bathtub toy letters-????????

8. a pet raccoon-I don’t even know what to say

9. sunglasses

10. a toy tree-I asked, “What do you do with a toy tree?” “You just pretend that its real”. Duh.

11. spiderman shirts and shorts that he can wear to school-all of super hero garments are pajamas or costumes. He is so mistreated. It’s sad really.

12. a toy ear-again, ?????????

13. a toy helicopter- “But Reed, you already have 4 or 5 helicopters (including a remote one that really flies-thanks Babs and Pop)”. “But I just need one more”.

Love to all,

Brittany

Random Facts

2011-07-26T20:50:00.001-04:00

A few fun facts as of late.

-Gaines loves fried chicken. He doesn't totally understand the concept just yet though. I had to fish chewed up pieces of bone out of his mouth tonight at dinner.

-Reed told Beau tonight that he should buy me a new ring. I swear I have never said a word to Reed about rings. Reed thinks it should be pink. He's under the impression its my favorite color. I like pink and all, but if I'm getting a new ring, I don't really want pink.

-We are kind of updating our den at home right now. I'm having two chairs recovered in green velvet and I'm really nervous about it. I had a dream the other night that they looked like mud. Weird.

-Gaines' speech is coming along. His latest thing is to poot, laugh hysterically and say "Poot". Total boy.

-I got up and ran this morning (its just too hot at night). I wondered when I became a person that willingly gets up in the 5:00 hour to exercise.

-Did I tell y'all that my sister had a baby? His name is Aiden and he's precious.

-Gaines went to Pump It Up today with Kristin. He wore a pair of shark gloves and some frog rain boots. These are the same shark gloves that Reed wore to church a few weeks ago. In the dead of summer.

-I believe that I have seen every episode of The Fresh Beat Band 4000 times. I've had their song "Here We Go" in my head all day. I think I might start trying to learn their dances.

-In the car the other day I was talking to Beau and I guess I was kind of animated about whatever I was saying. Reed said, "Mom, can you just settle down?" He was totally serious. He had probably heard that same statement directed towards him about 700 times that afternoon. Boy's are wild. Did y'all know that? Cause I had no idea.

That picture kills me.

I really thought I had more to say tonight but I guess that's it.

Love to all,

Brittany

Reed's Trip Around the World

2011-07-24T17:23:00.001-04:00

We've been on an adventure this afternoon. While Gaines was taking his afternoon nap Reed told Beau and me that he was going on a trip around the world. We had a fairly lengthy discussion about how he was going to get around (walk), what he was going to eat (pizza), what he'd do if he got thirsty (he was going to take a "nice, cool drink of lemonade" with him) and what he was going to pack.

This question prompted him to get his little blue suitcase out of his closet. With our advice of not to pack too many books because it would be too heavy, he decided on: one book, baby jaguar (a stuffed tiger that we call a jaguar), 1 matchbox car, 4 pairs of "baseball shorts", a t-shirt and 6 pairs of underwear. He figured he'd only be gone 5 days, so that was enough. I asked where he planned to stay and he told me he'd just stay at the first good place he came too.

So, once he packed up I walked him to the door and kissed him goodbye. I watched out the window to see what he would do.  When he was halfway down the driveway I grabbed the camera and ran outside. He didn't know I was watching him as he walked up the neighbors' driveway and stood at their front door.  While he was figuring out what he was going to do, their dogs gave him away and our neighbor came out. She talked to him for a minute or two before I went over and suggested we go home for lemonade.  He wasn't really into that...he wanted to go inside. I mentioned their big dogs and we decided it was best that he move on. Some how he got it in his head that we needed to visit five houses.

So, with Reed in the lead and me following only to take pictures and keep him from getting run over, he stops at another neighbor's who is out cutting his grass. Reed told him what he was doing and the guy was nice but went back to cutting his grass. Reed approached him again and the guy stopped again. This time he turned the mower off and I heard Reed say, "Aren't you going to let me in?" Embarassed, I kind of excused us and suggested that we visit another neighbor out working in his yard.

He got invited in at this stop and was given a little snack for his bag. He discussed with both neighbors what he was doing for a minute or two before we moved on. All this time Reed has not been one bit afraid to approach these people.  We know them all, but I wouldn't have thought he would be this un-shy.  Anyway, after this stop, I suggested the lemonade again as I'm trying to wrap this little trip up. I didn't see anyone else outside and I hated to knock on someone's door. Sunday afternoon naps and all. So, I convinced him to go back home and take his daddy with him.

He and Beau left and hit neighbor number 4's house. She was in her backyard and came around and Reed filled her in on his trip and they moved on to house number 5. This part is hard for me to believe.  He and Beau just marched up to this older couple's house who we kind of know...but not really. Anyway, they ring the doorbell and the older lady invites them in. They march on in and sit down. Reed unzips his bag and proceeds to show her everything he has with him. All this time I was at home with Gaines and kind of starting to wonder where they were. Oh, they were just sitting in a semi-random lady's living room having a leisurely Sunday afternoon chat.

On the way back to the house, Reed looked at Beau after visiting 5 houses and said, "Taking a trip around the world sure is a lot of hard work".

Anyway, that's about the extent of it but I had to write it all down before I forgot. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Also, there is a post from a few days ago under this one that updates you on most of our goings own as of late.

Love to all,

Brittany

Catching Up

2011-07-19T19:10:00.001-04:00

Well hello again blog-world. I know…long time no post…it’s been brought to my attention several times. Life has been pretty busy the last several weeks. I’ve been out of town for work 25 of the last 35 days. Luckily, I was able to take Beau and the boys with me a couple of times which I’m not normally able to do. I don’t know that I would have made it if not. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a nice break to be gone from time to time but I do miss them terribly when I’m gone. I imagine they tend to think it’s nice to get a break from me as well since I seem to be a little heavier on the discipline than Beau. But anyway...June is always my busiest month so I’m glad to have it behind me.

Let’s see…I guess we can start with Gaines. I can’t believe I haven’t put this on here sooner but Gaines is off oxygen all day long and only gets it at night. Last time I updated, he was still on at naps but now he goes one really long stretch without. We’ve been pretty close to having him tested through the night, but each time he’s come down with a little cold and you can tell he’s not quite ready to give it up all together. Those two sick spells he needed a little help breathing and we were able to put him back on…if we didn’t have oxygen at home, he’d have had to go to the hospital. So…while I am ready to lose it totally, we’ll do it when Gaines is good and ready. And not having it during the day makes life SO much easier. I can’t even begin to tell you how much.

He has such the little personality these days...still plenty of Gaines attitude, but I’m starting to see his sweetness more and more. He LOVES to play with/wrestle with/pick on his brother…I just wish Reed enjoyed it as much as Gaines. He walks around the house calling him all the time, “Ree, Ree, Ree”. I found them this morning with Reed whimpering on the couch and Gaines on top of him laughing. He may be little, but he’s the toughest kid I know. He has been spending a good bit of time in timeout these days. Mostly just testing his boundaries I guess. You can kind of see it in his little eyes. Like, you’ll tell him “no” and he’ll sort of look at you like, “we’ll just see about that”…right before he does whatever he’s not supposed to be doing again. Last night it was banging his head into my face. He thinks it’s funny…my cheekbone and nose will tell you that its not one bit funny.

He is currently seeing a speech therapist twice a week and I can see improvements in his talking. I’ve noticed lately that he’s starting to put two words together, like "bye Ree" or "more please". Now, when I come home in the afternoons he comes running towards me screaming “Mommy, mommy, mommy”. So sweet. He’ll give you a big hug with the tiniest little pat, pat, pat on your back. It's a lot better than him just kind of glancing at you from in front of the tv becuase he doesn't want to miss one minue of Ni Hao Kailan. FYI...he's also learning to speak a little Chinese thanks to Kailan. I’d say his favorite word right now is “Whoa!” He gets so excited about things. Everything is "Whoa!" We are working on saying “Gaines” as right now, whenever he sees a picture of himself (or in a mirror for that matter) he said, “Ree”. He is a total MESS but I wouldn’t have him any other way.

Now Reed…I think it’s a good thing I didn’t type a blog there for a little spell or there might have been some not so pleasant things mentioned on here about that one. I believe that he has turned a corner but he just went through a tough testing his boundaries and my patience phase for a few weeks. Not listening, being defiant and disrespectful…things that are totally not like Reed. I can’t remember what he did but he got a spanking for something recently and he looked at Beau and said through his tears, “But I don’t normally get spankings!” Thankfully, he seems to be back to his old self, for the most part. There was a timeout episode last night for eating his corn with his hands after he’d been instructed to use his fork…but for the most part, he’s acting better. I didn't even so much care about the corn eating u

That little joker just has the best week of his life in Disney World. I had some work to do down there but had enough free time on this trip to take Beau and Reed with me. Gaines stayed home (well, with my parents) and while I felt SUPER guilty about it, it was the right thing. He is too little and it was too hot and crowded for him to enjoy it. Also, it let Beau and I spend some time with Reed which was so fun. He’s an awesome little boy. Disney is not quite as magical as I remember, but we had a great time and had so much fun. He and I loved the teacups the best I think…Beau not so much. He sat them out after the first time. We all loved the Thunder Mountain roller coaster that Reed was just barely big enough to ride. Reed is definitely his father’s child and asked for popcorn every time we saw it. He was really so good down there. Oh, he also loved the Pirates ride and LOVED the sword that we let him get. Luckily no one has lost an eye yet. We brought Gaines back a big Mickey Mouse to which he said, “Whoa!” He was so excited to see us…it was precious. He wouldn’t quit hugging us and when Beau went to load the car with his stuff, he climbed in the car and go in his car seat all by himself. He meant we weren’t leaving him again.

Here are a few Reed-isms of late:

“Plenty, Plenty, Please!”

“Mom, you are really pushing my buttons.” –because I was asking him to get dressed for the 400th time.

“Can I have my Silly Puddle, please?”

“Mom, why do mom’s and dad’s don’t have toy’s in their rooms?”

In a public restroom with Beau, the two urninals are being used and there are two stalls. One being used, one not. So they go in the unused stall and Reed says very loudly, “Daddy, it’s really stinky in here” (referring to the man in the next stall). Beau says something along the lines of “ok, lets hurry up” or something and Reed says, “I mean, it’s really, really stinky in here”. Beau said you could hear the guys at the urinal laughing. They got out as fast as they could. On another note, in a different public restroom on the same trip, Beau accidentally opened the restroom door on an older lady using the restroom. Apparently she forgot to lock the door. I find this hilarious and am very thankful that I have boys so that Beau has to handle most of the public bathroom mishaps.

After passing someone that was smoking. “That guy was smoking. That is SO yuck. Mom, if I ever see you smoking I am going to spank your hiney SO hard”. I guess he’s heard that a time or two.

Ok…I guess that’s about it for now. I am really, really, really going to try to keep this thing better updated.

Oh, and Beau and I are fine too.

Love to all,

Brittany

My Children Are Awesome and Other Facts

2011-05-18T21:19:00.001-04:00

Last night Beau had a work thing so it was just me and the boys. Earlier in the day I'd started thinking about turning off our tv in the afternoons and evenings. I don't know that the boys watch it too much...but it seems like its always on.

Anyway, Beau was gone and the tv was off so I made a point to not worry with getting the house straight or whatever else I "needed" to do and I just really played with the boys...it was so fun. They are such awesome kids! We had plenty of time because Reed begged for dinner until I finally gave in at 4:58...and to be completely honest, there wasn't much clean-up to our dinner of frozen waffles.

Reed and I played football while Gaines brought me every single book we own...which is a lot. Every time he's bring me a book he'd tell me "tan tu" (thank you). Gaines can be so sweet sometimes...and that boy loves his mama. He also loves to drive her to the brink of insanity on a regular basis but he makes up for it with his sweet smile and hugs.

Anyway, back to my fun night...Reed and I got into a pretty good rhythm with our passing and catching and we both declared that we were awesome football players. On the rare occasion that one of us made a bad pass or dropped one, he'd give a thumbs down and say "Wah, wah, wha"...you know what noise I'm talking about? It was pretty funny. After football we had a parade up and down the hallway and even had little Gaines marching with us. I had the drum and Reed played the bells. I can't remember what all else we did...puzzles, books...but I know we had a good time. I always do whenever I just stop what I'm doing and give them my undivided attention. Those boys of mine are awesome and I hope to make more of an intentional effort to soak them up while I can.

I'm going to list our other goings on in bullets. Y'all know I love a good list.

*Gaines is spending all waking hours off oxygen. That's pretty awesome news. He's still on during naps and at night but we are making progress.
*Gaines' talking is improving. He's now starting to use more words on his own and is also repeating more and more of what we ask of him. Tonight when I gave him a bath, I poured water on his head to wash his hair. I knew it was a little warm but he told me, "Ha, ha, ha" (hot, hot, hot). That's big for him.
*Reed asked me the other day if I knew why he wore his flip flops so much. I asked why and he said, "Because I look so awesome".
*Reed told my mom the other day that he and his friend got in trouble at school for spitting in the sand table (which I knew nothing about). His defense was that they were "pretending to be dragons".
*When we order pizza, Beau likes to open the box as soon as it gets in the kitchen (and sit it under the kitchen fan) while we fix drinks, get plates, etc. This drives me insane. I don't know if he just wants to look at it as soon as he can or what but he obviously doesn't understand that it will stay warm if you leave the box closed. Please pray for him. I need God to impart some wisdom on him in this area of his life.
*Gaines threw up tonight at dinner. Like all over the high chair, floor and dinner table. Luckily Beau and I were done. Reed was not so fortunate. I know it's because he's having to work a little harder to breathe since he's off oxygen so much right now. Its a pattern of his. Hopefully it won't last long. He was mad as fire though when I took him out of his chair to put him in the bathtub. I guess he wanted to finish his pizza.
*Gaines' favorite book right now is Brown Bear. We read it about 46,000 times a day.
*Reed told me the other day that he had been in timeout that day. I asked him why and he told me that he "had too much energies".
*I don't know if I was on a syrup high or what last night but this evening was not nearly as charmed as last night was. I think the whole throw up thing threw us off.

I guess that's about it for now.

Love to all,

Brittany

How I Woke Up This Morning

2011-05-04T21:20:00.006-04:00

Reed-Dad…dad…dad.

Dad doesn’t budge. I check the clock and see that it is 5:38 a.m.

Me-Reed go back to bed for a few more minutes.

R-I got to go potty.

Me-Well go potty and then go get back in your bed for a few more minutes.

Three or four minutes pass.

R-Mom.

Me-Yes?

R-I went potty.

Me-Ok, good…now go get back in your bed.

R-Well, I didn’t wipe my hiney very good.

Deep sigh as I rolled out of bed.

I love my children and do not want them growing up too fast, but I will be thankful when they can take care of that business on their own.

Hope this didn't gross you out.

Love to all,

Brittany

Two

2011-04-27T22:15:00.000-04:00

Well gang...our Gaines is two. I cannot even believe it. The first year of his life seemed like it took 10 years (and probably took 10 years off my life) but this last one has gone by amazingly fast. I'm starting to see him progress on a daily basis and the last several weeks and even months have been so good. I'm not going to lie...I love that child with all my heart, but his first year was H.A.R.D. and there were times this year when I thought I was going to pull my hair out but it seems like now we might have turned a corner. Don't get me wrong, he's two now and he has two year old fits and two year old power struggles but man...he is so enjoyable lately. I hope that doesn't come out wrong. Obviously I enjoy my children but the hard times with Gaines are fewer and fewer. And I can't tell you how awesome that is.

He's gotten so "big" lately and so grown up. I can't even really explain it. He's just doing more grown up things. He's been going to Gymboree this spring and is doing well there. He's been eating better now that he's not on his appetite stimulant anymore. He's also off his diuretics so maybe that's what it is. Who knows? At this point we are down to one medicine a day...well two I guess...Prevacid and Flovent (a puffer med so I don't really count it). If things continue to go well we will start pushing for 4 hours off oxygen this weekend. The 3 and 3 he's off now has also made such a huge difference. Not having to haul around an oxygen tank anytime we leave the house is so nice. I can't wait for it to be like that full time.

Tomorrow Gaines get's assessed to see if he qualifies for Early Intervention speech therapy. I feel pretty certain that he will. He's making improvements but he is still behind in his speech. I kind of think he'll end up getting it on his own...but if he qualifies for the therapy, I'll take any help he can get.

Oh...you know how I've said before that I love seeing Gaines do things that Reed does or has done? Well tonight Gaines was playing in the bathtub laying on his tummy...like Reed does all the time. It just looked so "little boy playing in the tub".

Anyway, we celebrated his birthday two weekends ago in Birmingham with Beau's side of the family and last weekend in Andalusia with mine...which was also Easter. The pictures below are from the past weekend.

In the swing at the Dream Park.

Loving life outside Saturday afternoon while Reed played in the sprinkler.

Not really loving life so much when the sprinkler hit him. Does it make me a bad mother that this picture makes me laugh?

Sweet brothers playing together.

Happy again. These pictures don't even do him justice...he is such a beautiful child.

Cooling off with a Capri-Sun.

Sans cannula with Grandaddy (well my grandaddy, his great-grandaddy) at his birthday party. I am loving seeing that whole face more and more.

Hunting eggs with cousin Sarah Anne.

My family with my grandmama. I wish I'd gotten pictures with my other grandparents!

Cute little family of four.

Ok...this took a million years to put together. I'm out for tonight.

Love to all,

Brittany

New Pictures

2011-04-18T22:21:00.002-04:00

Reed ready for his 1st Baseball Game.

Gaines in the backseat with his shades on.

Gaines didn't care for the Easter Egg Hunt, but loved the slide.

Gaines and Beau

Gaines chilling out in a rocking chair without his oxygen.

Gaines Walking!!!

Brittany & Reed riding a camel at the Zoo.

Reed and Beau

Brittany on the carousel at the Zoo.

Catching Up & Good News

2011-04-13T22:07:00.000-04:00

Well I'm back. Have you missed me? It's just been so busy around here the last few weeks.  Looking back I can't really remember what all we've been up to...but take my word for it, we've had lots going on. Since I last posted, Beau's been to DC and I've been to Chicago, Atlanta and Birmingham for work.  We've all been sick and this week we've been working on our taxes (nothing like waiting until the last minute!) and lots of other stuff that is slipping my mind. I really wish that there was some way for me to think things and it end up on this blog without me having to type it all out. There would be all kinds of profound and funny things on here. Maybe one day.

Anyway, I've got good news to report on Gaines. He had a pulmonologist visit on Monday...well, let me go back and start by saying that he's been going off oxygen 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon for the last few weeks. I am SO proud of him and let me tell you...it makes life SO much easier. But back to the doctor visit...they think that he has now clinically past the point of his diuretics (meds that keep him from retaining fluid which make it harder for him to breathe) being effective. Basically he's outgrown them. He's done it at a snails pace, but at least he's done it.

So, for the next two weeks we are to give him only one dose a day (as opposed to the two he's been getting). After that, if he's not retaining fluid or working too hard to breathe, we can stop them all together. Then, after that, we are to work on weaning him to the point of being off oxygen all waking hours.  Now, we won't know for a while if he'll be able to handle all this or how long it will take, but at least the doctors think we are to that point. Once he's off all waking hours, we are to let them know so that they can set up a sleep study and see how he does at night. I'm not sure what all that involves but I believe it will just mean a machine that will track him as he sleeps.  Once he passes that test, we are done with oxygen! I cannot wait!

Now, once again...this is a process and we don't know how quickly Gaines will be able to do it. He has really bad lungs...but at least we are to the point of trying. Can you tell that I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high? The doctor did go ahead and schedule his next appointment in four months for the BPD (bronchio-pulmonary dysplasia...I think!) graduate clinic because they think he'll be totally off oxygen and a "graduate" by that point. So, hopefully, we'll have an exciting and cordless summer. Your prayers for a smooth and swift transition would be much appreciated.

In other exciting Gaines news...he's a walker! I told y'all I just wanted him to be walking full time before his birthday (coming up in 10 days) and he is there. His physical therapist actually released him yesterday. It's been a pretty good week for the Gaineser.

We are still working on the talking but I believe that its coming. Its just going to take a little time. He'll be evaluated soon by Early Intervention and I think they'll recommend speech therapy. I don't know that he necessarily needs it...I think he'll get it eventually but, technically he's behind so I'm happy to have a little help with it. I can't even begin to tell y'all what a blessing Early Intervention has been. Free therapy that comes to your house. And the two therapists we've had are good people who generally care about helping Gaines. I mean, he's so cute that it would be hard not to want to help him but they really seem to care about his success.

Reed is still doing well. We thought he had chicken pox last week...he didn't. It was just some sort of skin infection that kept him out of school for two days. That's something we've been doing...trying to get our house healthy. The same week Reed had his deal, Gaines had thrush and a viral throat infection and I had strep throat. PS...I didn't know this but strep throat is more than a just sore throat...I felt like I had the flu for 3 days. Not cool. I ended up going to the doctor and getting a shot. I'm not impressed.  I mean, yeah, my throat felt better the next day but my backside was sore for a week! I don't know that it was a good trade.

In other news...
-I painted my toenails an awful color of pink but I'm too lazy to change it right now. So, if you see me out...just know that I know its bad.
-Reed wasn't feeling good the other day and I asked him what was wrong.  He said, "I think I drank too much bath water". At least he's listening!
-When Beau checked on Gaines tonight, he found him with no pants or diaper on. Just a little white hiney sticking up. I'd like to say this is the first time but its becoming a regular occurrence when he's not in zip up pajamas.
-When I came home from work last Friday, I open the door and stepped in about an inch of water. Reed had put too much toilet paper in there and it was pouring water. The hardwood floors in my hallway are still drying out. I really hope there is not permanent damage.
-Beau got a new phone today and he's driving me crazy with it.  We do not need this much technology in our lives!  I tend to live by the mantra, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. In all things really...I mean, this world is seriously getting out of control. What happened to the simple things in life? I won't even get started on that tonight but I could. Maybe another day.
-I do not love to fly. Also, I do not love that Atlanta's airport now has a "smoking" section. I don't care if you put up automatic doors, you can still smell it all the way down the concourse.
-Beau's birthday is tomorrow.  He'll be 32. Happy Birthday Beau! You are my best friend and I could not imagine life without you.  You are the best husband a girl could ever hope for and your boys love you as much as I do.

I think that's about it for tonight. It's been a long day (it's been a long year!) and I'm worn out.

Love to all,

Brittany

A Reed Post

2011-03-15T17:56:00.001-04:00

Just some quick things that I wanted to write down about bath time and some things Reed has said lately:

The boys were in the bathtub together and of course, Gaines was trying to drink the bathwater. I again told him not to do it and he again didn’t listen. He got a little choked and started coughing and Reed says “That’s what happens, Gaines”. Pretty sure he’s heard that before.

Also, I wanted to walk you all through Reed’s end of bath time routine. All of this is every night. Gaines has long been out of the tub as Reed likes to stay in and play for about forever. Finally, he’ll decide to get out and will let the water drain but he stays in until all the water is drained. He lays on his stomach head toward the faucet and holds all the toys back from the drain like it’s his job. He yells at the toys, “Nobody wants to get lost!” Once all the water is gone and the threat of losing a toy is gone, he stands up and stomps his feet in the tub as he yells, “FEE, FIE, FOE, FUM…I AM A GIANT. A SCARY, SCARY GIANT”. Then he gets out and runs in his room were one of us wraps him in a towel. Now he’s a bird in an egg. He stays that way until he’s warm enough and then he starts cracking. “Crack, crack, crack, crack” until his towel is all the way off. Then he runs around his room “tweeting” and flapping his wings until he is forced to put on pajamas.

A few other quick things…a couple of them are a little gross.

-We were all in the car over the weekend and Gaines was acting a fool like he does sometimes and almost under his breath Reed says, “What are we going to do with that child?” He might have heard that one before too.

-He likes to call Gaines, “Gaineser Waineser”. I’ve caught myself doing it some too.

-He told Beau the other day that he (Reed) needed to go on a jog so that he could be helpful.

-I caught him picking his nose the other day and told him if he kept doing it, worms would grow in his tummy. He said, “Well, I like worms”. Beau looked at me and smirked.

-I was using bleach in the bathroom the other day to clean something and he was right behind me watching. I kept asking him to leave the room because I didn’t think he should be inhaling bleach fumes. I told him to go in the den because this stuff really stinks and he said, “I know…it smells really, really yucky. It is making the boogers fall out of my nose”. I can assure you, he did not pick up that on from me.

I think that’s about it for now. I just wanted to get a couple of those written down.

Love to all,

Brittany

I Did It!

2011-03-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

I'm happy to report tonight that I am typing this blog instead of running. For the past few weeks I've been training for a half-marathon which means I was running 3 nights a week with long runs on Saturday mornings. The race was yesterday and I did it! I haven't mentioned it on here before because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do it...but I did. Now, yesterday I pretty much thought I was going to have to have orthoscopic surgery on my right knee even though I have no idea what orthoscopic surgery is...but I believe that I'm on the mend today.

So...that's where I've been. Running and running and running...which doesn't leave much time for blogging. Especially when you mix in all the work I had going on. Anyway, I feel like I have a whole new life starting today. The run was in Seaside so I took last Friday off and made a long weekend out of it. We shared a house with my friend that I was running with and had a great weekend.

The picture above was Reed and me after the run. I gave him my medal and he said, "I love my medal mama. Thank you for running so hard to get it." Melt. My. Heart.

Gaines didn't make the trip as he decided he'd rather spend the weekend in Andalusia with my family. He decided that by not being able to ride in the car for an extended period of time without acting absolutely ridiculous. That said, the last two times in the car he's been an angel so maybe he learned himself a little lesson.

Anyway, the Gainser is still doing well. He's walking more and more which is great and he's been pretty sweet lately. He loves to say "bravo" these days. Like, a song will come on tv and when it goes off, he'll clap and say "bravo". Also he gives himself a "bravo" when he does something good like walk across the room. Also, he likes to jam out in the backseat from time to time. On the way to Andalusia the other day the song Lean On Me came on and you would have thought he was at his own private concert with all the swaying and clapping that was going on.

Just because you never get Beau and Brittany pictures on here.

Reed's been good too. He had so much fun at the beach...except for the part where he fell down a flight of stairs. That was probably the only low point in a great weekend for him. He does have a little bit of a black eye but it matches the scar on that eye that he got at Christmas. I love the beach and I was so glad to see that he does to. I'm not so sure that Gaines will love it. I just don't see him and sand mixing.

Anyway, a quick story about Reed. He and I were on the way home last week and we had this conversation:

R: Mom, when we get home, you will go in the kitchen and fix me some lemonade.

Me: Umm...please?

R: I will say please and sir on Friday.

Me: No, you will say please and thank you and sir and mam everyday.

R: That's not what I said.

Me: Well, I appreciate your thoughts on the matter but that's the way its going to be.

R: My thoughts are not on the matter.

Also, the other day Reed was trying to have a discussion with Beau about why he didn't need to put his shoes away and Beau asked him "Reed, are you supposed to tell your Daddy no?" Reed huffed off to his room for a minute and Beau thought to himself...good, he's doing what I told him to. Reed came back a few minutes later said, "Daddy, I'm sorry I disobeyed...Can I have a gummy bear?"

That boy know how to work us.

Anyway, that's it for tonight. I'm still tired from the weekend. Thanks for sticking with me. Here's a couple of recent pictures.

Love to all,

Brittany

Pictures from the Weekend

2011-02-21T07:30:00.001-05:00

Hello World!

2011-02-15T20:00:00.000-05:00

Hello world. Yes, we are still alive and I do promise to quit starting off every blog post by apologizing and offering lame excuses for my absence…but not today. I’ve been busy! My work has been crazy busy but seems to have settled down some now. A whole week in the office feels like such a luxury. Anyway, I’ve been working away at work and then coming home and working away there (two small children, a husband, dog and house to keep semi-sanitary is not easy) and then running 3 out of 5 nights a week so, by the time all of that is done…I crash. It was so bad that I’d stop in the middle of the day and figure out how many hours until I could get in the bed again.

Anyway, I have lots to report. Item one…Gaines can WALK. Yes, as in the baby that might not walk or might walk funny, can walk across the room. Hallelujah, Praise the Lord! Now, he is by no means a walker and still much prefers to crawl to get around but knowing that he CAN do it, makes my heart so happy. I feel like at this point (and the therapist agrees) that he just needs to keep it up and get stronger and stronger. I hope to report by his birthday in 2 months that he is a walker. Prayers appreciated.

Item two…Gaines can say mama. Yep. He’s 22 months old and FINALLY says mama. I was starting to worry that he physically couldn’t make the M sound, but he can. I came home from being out of town for a couple of days and Beau told me about it. He “forgot” to call me the second that he said it but I won’t hold it against him. Now, another disclaimer, right now he just repeats the word as in, he doesn’t use the word “mama” in reference to the person who spent 6 weeks laying in a hospital bed, 4 months in a city 1200 miles away from everything she knew, countless hours at his bedside praying and watching and hoping; thousands of dollars living in a foreign city, paying for a nanny, medicines and doctors appointments; hundreds of days cleaning up the effects of his reflux, countless wet cat wrestling matches while trying to feed his tiny self, doing leg stretches after leg stretches after leg stretches and about 22 months worrying about how he’s going to turn out…but that’s ok…we’ll get there.

Gaines gained a pound in a month. That is AWESOME. Let’s hope he hold onto it.

I guess those are Gaines’ three biggies.

Reed is into Toy Story big time these days. He got Toy Story 1, 2 and 3 for Christmas and I don’t know that a day goes by that he doesn’t watch one of them. That’s not exactly true but he does love them. I broke down and got him his very own Buzz Lightyear “Actubater” (or and you and I know it, Action Figure). I’ve never seen such joy on the child’s face. Such a sweet boy.

Other items of interest:

-I currently rank 3 in Reed’s list of favorite girls. I’m behind two little girls in his class. Not too bad.

-I still have to remind both of my children on a nightly basis (multiple times a night) that we do not drink the bath water.

-Jack is getting very close to being free to a good home. It seems he has forgotten that is his house broken.

-If you put a little lotion in the palm of Gaines’ hand, he’ll freak out.

-I put lotion on Reed yesterday for the first time in a while and he told him he “felt fresh”.

-I have to put the toilet seat down if it’s up for Reed because it’s too loud if he slams it down (makes his ears bleed) and he’s afraid it will pinch him if he lowers it.

-Reed asked me to put the toilet seat down the other day so that he could “poop and frelax”. (That’s relax to you and me).

-When Gaines hides from you (a la peek a boo), he covers his ears.

-Gaines started Gymboree last week. He’s not really into the structured activities but loves to play there.

-Reed asked me the other day why his “sheeps” weren’t on the bed.

That’s going to have to be it for now but I promise to try and do better about updating.

Love to all,

Brittany

New Pictures of Gaines

2011-02-06T10:47:00.002-05:00

Worn Slap Out

2011-01-19T21:30:00.001-05:00

It's a bullet point kind of night. My work has been crazy lately and I've been running a lot more at night and on Saturdays and I've just kind of hit a wall this week. I am worn slap out. So if you want to read the innerworkings of my mind, you'll just have to read the bullet points. But thanks for reading!

-My boys are good. Both of them. If Gaines didn't have a canula attached to his face you'd never know he had health issues. We've got permission to wean oxygen up to 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours at night. I know that he can do 2 and 2 but really I haven't been pushing him. I'm focusing on fattening him up and I think him working to breathe burns more calories. His appetite stimulant has been increased and we are starting to slowly see him eating more.

-Yesterday we ordered a net type cage for Gaines' crib...to keep him in...because he is trying to climb out and is super close to making it.

-I can't remember the last time I cooked dinner. I'm pretty sure it was last week but I don't know what day ir was or what I made. I usually cook every night (except Friday night...that's pizza night) so that's kind of weird.

-Beau just made and brought me a hot chocolate...in a glass. I so appreciate him doing that but it cracks me up drinking hot chocolate out of a glass. It should be in a mug for those of you that may be confused. I'm particular about my drinkware...and dinnerware for that matter.

-A Beau highlight, his sweatpants bit the dust this week and I'm thankful for that. They are in a better place.

-Gaines is still taking good steps. He's getting stronger and stronger every day. That boy is super sweet 80% of the time and pure attitude the other 20%.

-I started watching Dallas (yes the 80's show) over the weekend and while I've only seen an episode and a half, I'm hooked!

-I am all for couponing and support the people who do it, but please, if it is going to take you 5 transactions to make your purchases at CVS and the nice girl behind you only has two things in her hands, let her go in front of you. I'm just saying.

-Oh, and I haven't been keeping up the blog so well because I worked so hard on that last post I did with multiple pictures and only got one little comment on it. Its boring to type to silence.

I'm out for tonight. I don't know if I've mentioned it or not but I'm really tired. Peace out.

Love to all,

Brittany

The Latest

2010-12-31T21:24:00.000-05:00

I'm back. In my mind I've got lots to say...lets see if I can remember any of it. I'll try and add some pictures too. I got a new camera for Christmas that I've been practicing with so maybe the pictures will be better. I'm going to try and add them myself. That will be a first. Beau usually handles the technical stuff around here but I just learned to upload my own pictures to the computer so things are looking up for me. I know that's crazy but I really did just learn.

Let's see...we had a good Christmas. Lots of traveling and Gaines was not super awesome but still a good Christmas. We left Wednesday after work and headed to Birmingham for 2 non-stop days. Back home on Christmas Eve. Santa excitement and a delicious breakfast Christmas morning before we headed to Andalusia for about 2 days. We planned to stay until Monday morning but we decided Sunday evening that we needed to get Gaines back to reality ASAP. Thank the Lord, he is back to normal now...a little better than normal actually. He had 4 teeth coming in and they must have all broken through now because we've gone from non-stop whining and crying to a pleasant and lovable child again.

See below for proof. This was Gaines checking out what Santa brought him. The second one cracks me up.

Beau's parents got Gaines a Cozy Coupe for Christmas and Gaines was a big fan. This is him trying to get in as it was being put together. This was actually a couple of days before Christmas.

And this is him fighting with Reed during Reed's turn. He was not really excited about sharing. As you can see, he's little, but he holds his own.

All in all we had a great Christmas. We got to see lots of family that were way too generous.

Let's see...what else. I went to the mall today. I don't really get to our mall a lot but it's always interesting to people watch. There are all kinds of folks in this world. Sometimes I just don't know...

Oh, check out these pictures I took tonight. Gaines actually has a little belly. He never has a belly. He's the only child I know with a six-pack so I was awfully proud of it. We had pizza and he ate a good little dinner tonight. I'm glad he's eating again because he barely ate anything last week with those teeth hurting him.

These are a few others from tonight. I mean I've just gone picture crazy in this post!

He was going sans oxygen for the bath. I am so ready to see that cannula free face all the time. This picture reminds me, does everyone else have to tell their children to not drink the bath water 400 times a night? Both of mine do it and it grosses me out! Tonight Reed said, "But I'm thirsty". Oh...well in that case...drink up.

Ignore his pizza face. He got a bath right after I took that. Yesterday he sat all those tools in the kitchen and told me not to touch them because they were "bery danger-ous". Also, I'm aware that he needs a haircut. It's on the list. Speaking of haircuts...I tried to fix a bad haircut Gaines got a few weeks ago and look what happened.

I have no idea how I managed that but I have been banned from using scissors on or near the children or dog.

One last picture and a shout out to my mom. (Beau makes fun of me when I say shout out but whatev). Check out these stockings she cross-stitched for the boys. She hopes I know that she "ruined her arm" doing it...but I so appreciate them.

Oh, and one real last thing. Gaines has an appointment with his pulmonologist on Monday. Prayers that he'll stay healthy, will fatten up and will get a good report would be much appreciated.

Peace out and Happy New Year!

Brittany

A Real Post

2010-12-13T21:26:00.001-05:00

So its been awhile...I'm sorry! We had Beau's side of the family here for Thanksgiving and then Christmas decorating, I had an out of town work event and then the computer got a virus...as my grandmother would say, its been first one thing and two.

My boys have been good. They drive me crazy and make my heart happy all in the same minute. Gaines is still taking steps here and there but still no "real" walking. I can see him getting stronger everyday and have a peace that the walking will come. We haven't pushed the oxygen weaning lately since its winter and right now he's got a cold but I'm ok with it. We'll have oxygen all winter so I don't see much of a reason to push it. He unplugs himself on a regular basis and we just let him go for a while. Knowing that he's ok for an hour or two makes life a little easier. That and the fact that Reed knows how to untangle and reconnect Gaines again.

Lately he gets into any cabinet that will open and feels the need to slam every door that he encounters. He's pretty ok with the Christmas trees but I bet I've picked up all the rolls of paper towels 4000 times since Saturday morning. Oh, he is saying "thank you" now so that's kind of nice.

The appetite stimulant is not quite the answer to the eating problem that we'd hoped but I do think its helping. That and a new attitude that I've taken of of not forcing him. I would literally have to overpower him to get him to drink his cup every night and it turned into a battle of wills that would cause me to be angry with him every night. I'm more relaxed about the eating these days and life is so much better. He's not exactly burning up the weight charts but he wasn't before either so I don't feel like it hurts. I'm hoping it will lead to him eating more food and depend less on the calorie loaded bottles.

OH...I can't remember if I've mentioned this or not but Gaines is sleeping in his own room now and it makes all the difference in the world. Our whole house is sleeping better.

Reed's been pretty great lately too. He's getting so excited for Christmas. I bought the Polar Express movie for him right after Thanksgiving and I don't think he blinked the first time he watched it. After it was over he said, "Mama, Santa will be here any minute". I laughed and had to explain that it would be a few weeks. I can't wait to see him this Christmas morning.

I've been trying to explain to him all along that Christmas is really Jesus' birthday but its tough to get him to understand with Santa and snowmen everywhere. Anyone with ideas on this...please pipe up.

Speaking of Santa, a few days ago we were sitting at the dinner table and Reed was talking to Beau and said, "When I get-fat like Mama..." I think Beau about choked on his drink he was laughing so hard. After I picked my jaw up off the floor I said, "Reed! Mama is not fat!" He said, "Yes you are...you are-fat like Santa". Completely serious. I couldn't believe it. Beau loved it.

Also, we were in Home Depot over the weekend and some lady had her little Yorkie with her. Reed saw it and said, "Look mama, a kitty!".

Ok...I better run for now. There is a piece (or eight) of fudge in the kitchen calling my name. It's been freezing down here so I might have to have a cup of hot chocolate too. Oh, here's a tip for you...McDonald's has great hot chocolate. Just wanted you to know. Peace out.

Oh and there are a couple of new pictures below.

Love to all,

Brittany

Pictures of the Boys

2010-12-12T12:23:00.001-05:00

Reed was Spiderman and Gaines was a turtle for Halloween.

We walked around the corner and Reed had pieces of toliet paper on the seat of the toilet like you would do at a public toilet...but this was the toilet in our house. I guess Reed thinks we need to clean a little bit better.

The boys in front of the Christmass Tree. We took a few pictures of Gaines with no canula...this was one of those pictures.

The Computer had a virus

2010-12-08T21:18:00.001-05:00

Below is what Brittany intended to post just before Thanksgiving. Then our computer got a virus. Anyway, the post is below and we will update on Gaines in the next couple of days.

I’ve been thinking that I should do a things I’m thankful for post and last night I guess I dreamed about it or something but I did not sleep well and woke up with it on my mind several times so in an effort to get a better night’s sleep tonight, here goes…in no particular order.

I am thankful:

-for a God who loves me no matter how awful I am and who listens to and answers my prayers. Not always exactly in the manner or timeframe that I want them answered, but answered nonetheless.

-for people who I know and do not know that pray for my family. Those prayers have sustained us for the last 20 months or so and I fully believe are the reason that Gaines is doing so well.

-that Gaines was off oxygen for 2 hours the last couple of days. 2 down, 22 to go.

-that my concerns about Gaines are so drastically different now than they were this time last year. Last year I was so worried that he’d never hold his head up and now…his future looks SO much brighter. He’s almost walking, he says new words everyday, the oxygen weaning is going well, he is on track cognitively…God is so good. I mean, this is a child that almost didn’t make it and he is doing SO well. I’d love to snap my fingers and “fix” him totally but watching this unfold makes me really appreciate the miracle.

-for Reed and the way he keeps me laughing. For the times that he wakes up hungry at 3 am because he didn’t eat his dinner and upon being sent back to bed says, “Will you sleep with me, mama?” For waking me up to fix his breakfast by playing his guitar in the dining room. For being so easy. For just being a precious, precious child 98% of the time.

-for Gaines and his sweet hugs…and the progress he is making on listening and minding.

-for a husband who loves me and puts up with most of my craziness, who doesn’t mind emptying the dishwasher (which I despise), and who is such a great dad to my boys.

-for my little family and my extended family. I grew up surrounded by my extended family and really took it for granted. The older I get the more I realize how much work it takes to stay a family and I’m thankful that all the facets of mine really put forth the effort to make that happen.

-for good parents.

-for my sister.

-for in-laws that I love and enjoy. Not everyone has that. Now, I’m not saying they don’t drive me crazy from time to time but so does the family I was raised with so I consider myself lucky.

-for my house. It will forever be a work in progress (and has been on hiatus since Gaines) but it keeps my little family safe and warm and dry. In a time of foreclosures on every street I feel blessed to have a little piece of this earth to create a home.

-for Jack. He’s pushing his luck these days but he makes me happy and he loves my boys…most of the time.

-for diet wild cherry pepsi. Now, the last time I mentioned this tasty treat on here, my grocery store ran out of it. I don’t think enough people still read this blog to make a dent in the diet wild cherry supply in town but it was certainly annoying. Please leave me a 12 pack next time!

-for pewter fingernail polish because it keeps me cool.

-for my job that I really, really enjoy. It is so nice to enjoy what you do and to work for a great company.

-for Reed’s school and Ms. Kristin. Knowing that your children are safe and taken care of by people that love them is such a blessing.

-for friends…old ones that get me and new ones that are still figuring me out.

-for our pediatrician and our pastor. Two of the only people whose advice I would never question…and that is really saying something.

-for Target and Publix. I just love them. They make shopping such a pleasant experience.

-for my Saturday Publix runs with Reed. It slows me down a bit but I love him helping with my list and his “signing” the items in and out of the cart.

-for having the job of taking Reed to and from school every day. We have the most interesting conversations on those rides.

-for having the job of putting Gaines to bed. It’s the sweetest part of the day with him.

-for Gaines SLEEPING IN HIS OWN ROOM!!! It’s been a week now and our whole house sleeps so much better.

-for the buffalo chicken dip that we eat every Saturday in the fall.

-for rosemary mint shampoo.

-for my new hair straightener.

-for cheese puffs, chocolate pop-tarts, oatmeal cream pies and all the other junk we use to fatten Gaines up.

-for fall.

-for good sunglasses.

-for my favorite gap jeans.

-for the silver necklace that I found at the Ann Taylor outlet and wear every other day.

-for the opportunity to set a pretty table (although I was told by my husband “You are setting a table for 8 people to eat dinner at Brittany , not for a magazine cover”) and decorate for the holidays.

-for the rare occasions that I get to ride in the car by myself with the windows down and the music up.

-for windows that open (they didn’t always).

-for lights on dimmers that help hide the dust.

-for couch cushions that can go in the washing machine.

-for break and bake cookies.

I’m sure there is more but that should be good enough to help me sleep.

Peace, love and happy thanksgiving,

Brittany

Three Items

2010-11-16T21:48:00.000-05:00

So, its not quite walking, but Gaines took two steps tonight! I am SO excited. I know it is just two steps but when you are told that walking could be a problem for your child, it is HUGE. I don't want to get ahead of myself because we still have a long way to go but TWO STEPS!! God is so good.

Also, just a quick note on my Reed. Tonight I was making a pound cake and I got the eggs out of the fridge without taking the carton out and Reed looked at me and asked, "Are there birds in there?"

And...because I know you all have been on the edge of your seats. I did paint my fingernails pewter(ish) and I'm pretty much twice as cool as I already was.

More later. Just wanted to share these three things.

Love to all,

Brittany

An Hour Off Oxygen

2010-11-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note to let y'all know that I took Gaines off oxygen for an hour this evening and he did it! I'm so proud of him. I just unplugged him and checked his sats every 5 minutes and he was above 95 everytime. Yay for Gaines. Well, let me clarify that, towards the end he'd be at like 93 but I'd hold him still for a minute and sing to him and he'd go to 95, 96, 97. I think that counts. It was probably my voice (its like angels) that pumped him back up...or more than likely, that he was actually still and we got a good reading. Either way, I"m pumped! We'll try an hour each day for the next three days. I'll keep you posted.

Love to all,

Brittany

Random Tidbits

2010-11-11T21:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I really don’t have too much to report. I’ve had a couple of sweet boys lately and we've just been sort of living and loving life.

Reed had a 3 year checkup this week. He seems to be in good health so that’s good news. Apparently when you turn 3 they like to get a urine sample (sorry for using the word urine so early in this post) and Beau says that Reed was not into going in a cup. This is the conversation that Beau relayed to me:

R-“Daddy, I not want to tee tee in a cup”
B-“I know buddy but just try”
R-“You go first”

No sample was produced.

I’m kind of thankful for that because you never really know how their little minds work and I didn’t want to catch him trying it at home.

In other news, we started Gaines on an appetite stimulant last night. I think it’s too early to tell if it’s working but I think he ate a little more today. Beau and I just decided we were tired of forcing Gaines to eat and getting him in trouble for wanting down at dinner or pushing his cup away. The child just simply isn’t hungry. I’m hoping this will help. We were having to physically overpower him to get cups into his mouth sometimes. He’d usually give in and take it but it was always a struggle. The good news in there is that he’s now totally on sippy cups and off of the bottle. FINALLY. It took a lot of tough love on that one but he’s doing it. He’s not stubborn at all, why do you ask?

Let’s see…what else?

-I’ve been running pretty steadily again so that makes it harder to keep this updated. My non-running nights are spent keeping the house together and running semi-smoothly.

-I noticed yesterday that Beau bought single roll toilet paper instead of double roll. I know it’s really not a big deal but it’s kind of been bothering me all day. The single rolls just run out twice as fast as the double which means people in my house leave empty toilet paper rolls on the holder twice as fast. I am apparently the only one in my house with the coordination and skill that it takes to handle that task. Sorry…got off track there.
-I have become a big fan of diet wild cherry pepsi. I went out on a limb and bought a whole 12 pack and Beau and I have been fighting over them. I had the last one today and I can’t wait to buy more. We will be drinking the diet mountain dews first though…we are not going to waste them.
-I love pumpkin spice candles during the fall. I believe fall is my favorite season.
-Lately, Gaines has been standing up in his high chair and saying “duh” (done). It’s pretty cute but I usually have to sit him back down and tell him that no, he’s not. He seems more and more little boy and less baby every day. He is the sweetest thing at night right before bed. So loving and sweet. I love it.
-Reed has had a hard time adjusting to wearing long pants and many mornings you will catch him trying to roll his jeans up into shorts. It looks really nice. Also, he pushes his shirt sleeves up to his armpits. Another good look.

-I'm super excited that the Pioneer Woman will be on Throwdown with Bobby Flay next week. Way more excited than I should be.

-I'm thinking of painting my fingernails pewter. We'll see how that goes.

-I think I might have a cookie addiction problem. I eat them A LOT. Like seriously a lot and its starting to become a problem. In my mind, it doesn't matter what I eat if I'm running...wrong.

-I am not editing this post. Deal with it.
I think that’s about it for now. Catch y’all next time.
Love to all,

Brittany

I'm Back

2010-10-28T21:08:00.003-04:00

Well…after a brief hiatus…I’m back, and I have lots to report. Aren’t you lucky? This could get long.

I’ll skip all the excuses about my absence for the last couple of weeks and just dive right in…except, I have been really busy and whenever I had the rare opportunity to do my own thing, I just tried to rest. I was worn out but I think I’ve rested up this week and kind of feel like my life is back in order…or getting there. You know how sometimes you just are so busy that you don’t have time to think? I like to think about things and decide how I’m going to address them or what my plan for the day is going to be…stuff like that. I’ve taken this week to think and make lists and organize and I have miles to go (I always will) but now I feel a little more together. So much for no excuses…moving on…

I have health news to report about Gaines but I’ll get to that in a minute. First, my little Reed turned 3! I cannot believe that we’ve had him around for 3 years now. He is so much fun. He’s so smart and mostly sweet…a little rough. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love that child. He was my bright spot on the hard days with Gaines and he keeps me laughing everyday. I love talking to him on the way to and from school. From what I can tell he never learns anything and most of the time he had no idea what he had for lunch. I’ll always say, “What did you learn at school today, what did you do?” and he’ll say “I rode a motorcycle…but I didn’t ride a motorcycle”. Ooookay…not sure how to take that. Or “What did you have for lunch today?” “I don’t know”. At least I usually can get a straight answer on who he played with that day. One day he told me who he played with but then told on himself and said, “But me and Chase did not listen at Jungle Gems”. Made me laugh. I tell him all the time that he makes my heart happy.

Back to his birthday. We kind of made a weekend out of it. My mom came up and spent the weekend with us so Beau and I left Gaines with her Friday night and took Reed to the fair. We wanted to do something with just Reed and really, Gaines has no business being at the fair right now. Reed had so much fun. He didn’t ride any real rides but he did ride the horses that they had. Really he was much more interested in all of the farm animals. He played a game and won a sword that is about 2 ½ times his size and we ate delicious fair food. When we sat down to eat, Reed looked at me and said, “Mama, thank you for bringing me to the fair.” Beau said, “What about me, Reed?” I looked at Beau and said, “Thanks for coming with us!” He is so good about telling us thank you for taking him places and it makes me want to say, “I’ll take you anywhere you want to go baby.”

Oh, he also fed animals in the petting zoo and gave money to a monkey in exchange for a post card. You know how sometimes you use a sentence that you never thought you’d hear yourself say? It happened to me that night when I said, “Here Reed. Do you want to give this money to the monkey?” I thought to myself, what am I saying? We also hit the little circus that they had there…it was pretty cute. Reed was in awe.

On his actual birthday, we all got up and went to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. After we ate, Reed and Gaines played on the play equipment and Beau and I smiled when we heard Reed say to Gaines “Come here little buddy”. Gaines was all up in that play equipment right behind Reed but he wouldn’t do the slide. Kind of strange for our little daredevil.

After that we went to the pumpkin patch and had a great time. I picked out a family pumpkin for us and we let Reed pick one for his room. He walked around for a good while looking for a “perfect pumpkin”. I’m pretty sure that by “perfect” he meant tiny because the one that he finally declared “perfect” was about the size of an orange. It didn’t even really have a stem. When he found it he said, “It’s perfect” and there was no convincing him otherwise.

We decided to do his birthday party on Sunday to avoid any football plans and it turned out great. My dad lined off our backyard like a football field and we had a football party. It was so cute. This is the conversation I had with Reed when he first saw the yard. Its so much funnier in his little exaggerated voice.

Me: What is this?

R: It looks like a swimming pool.

Me: I think it looks like a football field. I guess we’ll have to have a football party! Who do you think did this?

R: I think my pop did it.

Me: Why do you think Pop did it?

R: Because he really, really likes football parties.

Well duh…I should have known.

Switching gears to the Gainser. He’s had a couple of appointments lately so I have lots to report. First, his

hernia follow-up appointment went great (and lasted about 5 minutes from parking lot back to parking lot…I need this doctor to give the others lessons). He is healing nicely and the hernia has not come back. Good to know because I really did not know that was a concern in the first place.

We also met with pulmonology that same day…and of course, Gaines had a cold. Might have had a little something to do with the hay on the hayride at the pumpkin patch but we cannot be sure so no one put me up for mother of the year just yet. Because of this cold, they couldn’t really see how well that I think he is doing but agreed that he seemed to be doing great. He has outgrown one diuretic and is very close on the other so we’ll probably lose those meds after the next appt in January. Blue Cross probably has that date circled on their calendar.

He’d gained some weight but not as much as I’d really like so we are working on that. They did tell me that once Gaines was completely over this cold, we could try little periods of time off of oxygen. Starting with one hour and working our way up to 3 hours twice a day. Now, before we all breakout into song, I am almost certain that they do not think Gaines is ready to handle this and they only through me this bone because I kind of teared up over being so tired of the oxygen at the appointment.

The nurse practitioner was telling me that we’d lose meds first and then oxygen, especially this time of year and I told her that the doctor told me we could do oxygen first. She asked if there was any particular reason I wanted to do that and I just flat out told her, “Well, honestly, having a baby on oxygen kind of sucks”. I don’t normally talk to medical personnel that way but are you kidding me? Why? She’s a very nice lady and didn’t mean to upset me at all and I know that she empathizes but when I teared up and she said, “I understand…”, I said, “No you don’t…unless you’ve had a child on oxygen, you do not understand”. We deal with it and are used to it and answer strangers questions and untangle Gaines 895 times a day and we manage but there will be no tears shed when they come take this oxygen away.

All that said, I’ve come to realize that this is not the end of the world (take a trip to a Children’s Hospital and try and feel sorry for yourself) and it will be over one day but in that particular moment I was just so frustrated! I wanted a great report and I got a fine one. I had already decided what I wanted to hear so anything less was a disappointment. I did come to learn that day that Gaines’ BPD (his lung condition) was categorized as “severe” (as opposed to mild and moderate) when he first saw this doctor and that generally those kids are on oxygen until they are 3 (they think Gaines will be off next spring at age 2) and some are still on ventilators at this point. Kind of made me thankful for a ¼ liter of oxygen.

We got a great developmental report this week too. He was evaluated this week and was found to only be delayed in his Gross Motor skills (walking, basically) and borderline delayed in Adaptive Skills (feeding himself). The feeding himself thing is only because we don’t really let him try much. Every single calorie he gets is so important that we don’t really take chances with missing his mouth. The good news…actually I think its great news, is that he showed no delays in Fine Motor, COGNITIVE (!), Communication and Social/Emotional development. On some of those things he tested within his adjusted age and some he tested for his actual age so that is great. Everyday he seems more and more “little boy” to me. I’ve started noticing him doing things that Reed used to do and to me it means NORMAL ! Normal kids do that!

Now, if we could just get him walking. Please keep walking and weight gain in your prayers. I can’t wait for Gaines to be running around with Reed. Visions of two little boys running around our backyard kept me going when I was on bed rest and in a really, really low place. I know that God has that in store for our family. I KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that Gaines is doing this well because of your prayers. I’ve said it before, but Gaines was on his way out of this world and your prayers are the reason he’s here and doing so well. And that is the reason that while I might not do it everyday, I will keep this blog updated so that the people who prayed for Gaines can keep up with their miracle.

Ok…I’m out for now…I’ll try and be back soon because it takes way too much typing to catch-up!

Love to all,

Brittany

We're Still Alive

2010-10-04T22:00:00.000-04:00

We're alive and well at the Daniel house...just kind of busy. I think I'll update this in bullet points. It just feels like a bullet point kind of day. I feel like it gives me the ability to hop from topic to topic...as if I don't do that in these posts already.

-Gaines is still doing great. I'd say that he is pretty much healed from his surgery. All of his stitches are gone except for a few that are under some sort of tape that they said would dissolve. It hasn't yet and I'm not messing with it. He goes back in a couple of weeks for a check-up and I'm sure he'll get a good report.

-Oxygen update: Gaines is still doing great on the oxygen. He goes back for that appointment the first week of November and I'm hoping that we'll get to start trying periods off oxygen. The timing isn't great since we are getting into cold and flu season but I'm hopeful. I actually made flu shot appointments today. I can't believe its that time of year again.

-Still no walking for Gaines. I'm trying not to worry about this but I am a little. Actually that's a lie...last week I had a full blown meltdown over it but I'm at peace again (for the moment). I just SO want life to be easy and normal for him. I want him to be able to run and play with Reed and not have to sit on the sidelines. Ok...off that before I have another pity party. I swear part of it is just that Gaines doesn't seem to really want to walk. He's got a little stubborn streak in him and no matter how hard I try to practice, if Gaines doesn't want to, he doesn't. He and I tie up over this on a regular basis. It usually results in me stomping off muttering under my breath about him being so hard-headed. I really think I have a shot at mother of the year this year. Prayers for the walking please. You all know what your prayers have done for Gaines so far...they work.

-Along those same lines on prayer...I am just amazed on a regular basis how powerful prayer is. I mean, I know that God doesn't answer every prayer exactly the way we want Him to...sometimes he just has bigger plans for us...but it is just so awesome when He does. And it happens all the time if you watch.

-I don't know what it is about my boys and toilets but when Reed was little he was constantly playing in the toilet and Gaines seems to be following in his footsteps. Every time it gets quiet around here I realize where he is and I have to go pull him and whatever he's got out of the toilet. Last night it was Beau's shoe. Oh, and now that its long-sleeve weather this has become even more of a problem because now there is clothes changing involved. Did y'all like that segway from God to toilets? See, I can do that with bullet points.

-Reed moved up to the next class at school today. He is officially a Jungle Gem and he is SO excited. His teachers said that he did great on his first day. I'm so proud of him but I cannot believe how big he is getting. He will be 3 in less than two weeks and I just cannot believe it. This is the first time that I've really realized how much he's growing up and it makes me a little sad.

-We are big into zurberts (the sound you get when you blow into some one's stomach) at our house these days and today on the way home Reed said, "Mama...when we get home...I want you to give daddy...a zurbert". I just kind of laughed and said that I didn't think daddy would be home when we got there. A few minutes later he said, "But, daddy really doesn't like zurberts"...I just thought it was funny because he does not. I think it weirds him out. A few other Reed quotes of late:
"Daddy, we've got a problem."
"Gaines, that is not what we do".
"No, no, no Gaines!"
"Mama, look at what Gaines is doing".
In response to me asking what he did at school that day, "I rode a motorcycle...but, I didn't ride a motorcycle".
He hears Beau call me "Brit" some times and he'll copy him and call me "Drit"
At a red light this weekend on the way to a birthday party: "Mama, go! I gotta get to my party".
Oh, and this is so annoying but he copies me when I get him in trouble some times. "No Rweed"..."We don't do that Rweed". I decided today that's a timeout offense.

-I've started back running...which is part of the reason this hasn't been updated in a while. Tonight is an off night. I'm glad to be doing some sort of exercise again. I'd kind of given up for a while. Plus I don't feel so guilty for my eating habits.

-I am pumped about this fall weather we are having. Any chance I get I open the windows and light my pumpkin spice candle. I planted mums this weekend and pushed the season a little and made chili for dinner Saturday night. Loving it.

-OH! We were out at a store the other day and Reed and I overheard a little boy (about 7) telling his mother that he was going to "punch her in the face". Obviously I was appalled and quickly had a little quiet talk with Reed about how ugly it was and how we did not talk to people like that. But, my question is this...how do you handle something like that? That mother seemed to be ignoring it (and I'm not criticizing because I've never been in that position and different things work for different people and maybe that's the best way to deal with that) but I can't help but think that my child and I would have had a nice little "chat" outside. Makes me want Reed to stay 3 forever.

I think that's about it for now. I'll try and be back soon. In the mean time we'll be living and loving life.

Love to all,

Brittany

Frazzled But Happy

2010-09-20T22:09:00.000-04:00

Little Gaines seems to be healing with no problems. It certainly has not slowed him down one bit. I don’t think he had any pain medicine after Wednesday and before that he was really only getting Motrin. When we got home Tuesday, I fixed a little pallet on the floor with lots of pillows and toys all around so that he could play in one spot but Gaines was not having anything to do with that. He took off and has been crawling, climbing and cruising since then. I prayed for an easy and quick recovery but I would have never hoped for this. Oh…and he’s doing awesome with this oxygen right now. His next pulmonology appointment is in early November but if he keeps doing so well, I think I might call and see if we can wean something.

He was feeling so good that late in the week we decided to head to Andalusia to visit my family. Can I please just tell you how much I enjoy going down there? I just love being home and with all of my family. I didn’t get to see all of them this time (there are a lot) but I did see about half. There is just something about being with people that know your life’s story and still love you. Plus they all think my kids are as great as I do (or at least they are good at pretending they do!) so that doesn’t hurt.

I’m kind of taking it easy this week at home. Just trying to relax and get caught up on some things. I feel kind of frazzled at home these days. Not with my family…just lots of projects going on. I used to be so on top of things…Oh well…I’d rather have my children. Reed has a birthday coming up in a few weeks and Thanksgiving isn’t to far behind that and most of you will think I’m crazy but I’ve kind of started working on Christmas shopping. I haven’t bought much yet but I’ve got a budget going and lots of ideas that I’m putting on paper. I have to have everything on paper because my brain won’t hold it all anymore. Then later, I can just stare at my paper for a good 30 minutes and soak it all in, process it and work from it. Crazy…but it keeps me sane.

I think that’s about it for now. I’ll try and post more about the boys later. My brain just isn’t focused right now…things to do. Tonight’s projects are to dust the dining room, put all my fall decorations (hence the dining room dusting) and ironing clothes. Because you needed to know all of that.

Love to all,

Brittany

Home

2010-09-14T15:11:00.000-04:00

Gaines had his surgery yesterday and we are now at home. Everything went really well. The doctor said that his hernia was "huge" and he had to make two incisions but other than that, everything went as expected. He went on and came off the ventilator fine.

Poor Gaines is now in the recovery period. I think he's doing remarkably well considering his circumstances but he's definitely feeling it. They kept us in the hospital overnight and Gaines slept most of the day yesterday. He seems much more himself today. We get little smiles and he's playing some. Gaines on Loratab is not that bad of a deal. He's sweet and snuggly and not all of the place. I'll be glad when the real Gaines is back but I'm enjoying this snuggly one right now.

I better run, I just got up from a nap and its my turn to care for the patient. I tell you...this was one of the worst nights sleep in a hospital for me. None of them are ever good but Gaines slept so restlessly...it was rough. And I'd estimate that Gaines pulled my hair 837 times. By pull, I do not mean a gentle tugging, I mean he grabs a handful of hair and yanks with all of his might. We've really got to work on that.

Thank you for all of the prayers. Gaines did great and so did I. I know it was because of all the prayers yesterday.

Love to all,

Brittany

One Year Ago...

2010-09-11T21:54:00.001-04:00

We've had Gaines home for one year today. Sometimes it feels like its flown by and sometimes it feels like its been 5 years. Just wanted to let y'all know. He's come so far in the last year. I tell you...nobody makes me madder than Gaines Daniel (used to be my sister but she got dethroned when Gaines and his attitude showed up) but nobody loves that child more than me either...I'm sure Beau would argue with me on that but you know what I mean.

Hernia surgery is next week. Please keep Gaines in your prayers...and his mama. I was fine until anesthesia called last week and told me they'd probably have to put him on the ventilator. I am not excited about that at all. I cried...at work...it was lovely. I'm ok now but I know I'll be a nervous wreck the next few days. I just cannot wait to put this behind us.

That's all for now. I've got a football game to watch. Roll Tide!

Oh...speaking of. I proved myself as a good mother and wife yesterday. I went to a consignment sale and saw a little Auburn jersey (I'm a big Alabama fan while Beau is Auburn). I looked everywhere for an Alabama one and could not find one but I knew that Reed would think a football jersey was awesome so I sucked it up and bought it for him (I almost put it back two or three times). He loves it...but much to Beau's dismay, he kept calling it is Alabama football shirt. Anyway, it occured to me today that this experience is kind of like the first time you let your child throw up in your hand. You do a lot of gross things for your kids.

And he'll have an Alabama one soon. Reed and I were actually on the lookout for one today.

Love to all,

Brittany

Life Is Good

2010-09-07T21:31:00.000-04:00

So I'm back. I haven't actually gone anywhere...just haven't spent a lot of time on the computer outside of work. We had a good Labor Day around here. Beau's sister and her family spent the weekend with us and his parents spent all day Saturday with us all. We had a great time and actually relaxed most of the weekend...well, as much as you can with four kids in one house. There was a touch of fall in the air (although its gone now...I hate a weather tease) and college football started. Just a good weekend all the way around.

Life has been pretty good lately. The kind of good where you actually enjoy and appreciate your family. Its amazing what a long weekend can do for you. I think I'm still in a relaxed state of mind...either that or I am living in an alternate universe where I have time for painting projects, can't see the random toys strewn arouund my house, and oatmeal cream pies don't have calories. Either way, I'm soaking it up.

I got a renewed since of hope this weekend with Gaines' walking. Anytime he'd hang on my legs wanting to be held, I'd just take one of his hands and make him walk a little. He did great and its definite progress because he's never really been able to walk well with just one hand. So, I'm excited about that. Please keep the walking in your prayers...they are helping. Oh, also prayers for his hernia surgery. This time next week, we'll have that all behind us. I'm nervous, but ready to get it over with.

This weekend we got Reed's powerwheel Jeep out for the kids to play with. You may remember seeing pictures of it on here about a year ago. We put it up after its initial outing because Reed was just too little for it but got it back out this weekend. To say he loves it is probably the understatement of the year. The kids played on it all weekend long and had a blast. This morning, I saw Reed putting on his shoes (while still in his pajamas) and his "baseball hat" (which he likes to wear backwards ???) so I asked him what he was doing. He told me he "needed to check on something in the backyard" which is code for, "I want to ride my Jeep".

We talked him out of it this morning with a promise that he could ride if he had a good day at school. He did, and the pictures below are of Reed and Gaines this afternoon. It was Gaines' first time on the Jeep and I think he liked it as much as Reed. Just look at those faces.

I'm sorry, but have you ever seen two more beautiful boys?

Love to all,

Brittany

I'm Fine

2010-08-29T21:44:00.002-04:00

I don't have a lot to report tonight but I decided that I better get on here and announce that I'm back to loving my family again. This past week has been MUCH better than the week before was. We've actually had a pretty relaxing weekend (or as relaxing as it gets with small children) and I've gone to bed thinking how blessed that I am to have my little family. Its really hit me lately that no matter how hard the days or weeks are, they are nothing compared to what they were this time last year. Last year right now Gaines was STILL in the hospital. Kind of puts things in perspective. He's doing awesome by the way. He's still working on his talking and is an expert at getting into things he shouldn't be. What the appeal of my vase cabinet is, I will never know.

Let's see...what else? This weekend I got to utter the phrase, "Reed, we do not use mama's make-up brushes to clean the floors." His response: "Well, the floor was a little wet". Awesome.

Oh, Gaines flipped himself out of his pack and play Saturday morning. He sleeps in the pack and play in our room and pulled himself up on the side. He got a little top heavy and flipped out. We woke up to, Thud. "Waaaa!" That child is a M.E.S.S.

I fished a book out of the toilet this weekend. Thanks Gaines.

This is a random post so I'll end with a random question. Does anyone else have children that prefer not to wear clothes around the house? Is it a boy thing? We aren't home five minutes in the afternoons before Reed strips down to his underwear. That's what he wears for the evening...underwear. Oh, and sometimes, when he puts his underwear on himself, he puts it on inside out and backwards. I probably should help him fix it but most of the time I leave him alone just because it makes me laugh to see him walking around like that. Beau usually fixes it with a disapproving look in my direction but I can't help it. I'd post a picture of it but I'm guessing that's inappropriate.

All right, that's all for now. I'm out.

Love to all,

Brittany

Confessions

2010-08-24T06:57:00.000-04:00

I know it’s been a little while; I was informed on Friday that there had been no post for 8 days. We just had a busy week. Beau had after work things two nights and Gaines just didn’t really allow for much blogging time. He was in rare form last week. Thankfully he seems to be phasing out of whatever got into him but I tell you…he was rough. I wouldn’t blog at night because I was so physically, mentally and emotionally drained from him and I wasn’t really sure of what I might type about the little guy. I mean, I don’t know if I’m the only mother out there that feels this way and I probably shouldn’t admit it on the internet (or anywhere else) but there are times that I don’t really enjoy my children. Obviously I always love them and believe me I KNOW that I should appreciate them and just enjoy every little minute I have with them but sometimes it’s incredibly hard. That probably makes me an awful mother but it’s true.

I really struggled with that this week. I knew I wasn’t being the best mother and I felt guilty for not being more patient and loving with Gaines because you all know just how lucky we are to have him. I felt terrible for feeling the way I did but I couldn’t help it. I felt like maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a mother…I mean, a good mother is supposed to enjoy her children and sing songs to them in the bathtub and laugh and gently say “No, no” when they pull her hair for the eight thousandth time and carry her baby around on her hip just because he wants to be held and not get angry with them because they’ve just spit up (AGAIN!). Good mothers pat their child’s head and say “Poor baby, are you ok?” I get on here at times and I see all these happy blogs with the good mothers and happy children and I wonder if other people ever feel the same way.
I don’t mean to sound like I’m always frustrated with them because I’m certainly not. Most times I enjoy them but there are days (or a week) that are just hard. I’ve cut myself some slack because I’ve come to realize that I am a good mother. I love my children and would do anything necessary for them to be happy and healthy. And I know that it’s ok for me to have days that I don’t enjoy them all day long or need a break from them. They are precious and wonderful and bring so much happiness to my life but they aren’t always easy and I don’t think God intended for them to be. I can only figure that I’m supposed to be learning something from them on the days that I consider giving them away (that is a joke, please do not send child services to my house). My guess is patience. Why is that so hard to learn? There are days when I tell God, “Ok…I got it. I’ve been working on patience for over a year now…you can move on to someone else. Go ahead and “fix” my child so I can go about with my life.” I suspect He laughs at that.
This post has taken a whole different theme than I intended but once I started typing it just took on a life of its own. I REALLY hope that people reading this understand how much I love my children and that my brutal honesty here is appreciated and doesn’t make me out to be a monster of a mother. I’m not perfect and I’m STILL working on patience but I love my children and I love being a mother and raising my boys. Reed seems to have turned out ok so far (at the ripe old age of 2 ½) so maybe I’ll make it through this time with Gaines and he’ll end up alright too.
Other than my patience issues, everything else is going well at our house. Reed still cracks me up everyday and Gaines still gives the best hugs. Gaines is learning new words and picked up “ball” over the weekend. Still no walking but he seems to be getting stronger and if I get him just right, he can stand for 3-4 seconds which isn’t the goal but its better than he was doing 2 weeks ago. He also pushes around push toys but doesn’t walk on his own. I haven’t put out a prayer request in a while but I would really appreciate prayers for Gaines’ legs. I don’t feel a ton of pressure just yet for him to be walking but I do feel some and I know it will only get worse as the months go by. Please pray that his balance would get stronger and that he’ll be walking very soon. I know that his lungs will eventually get better but I don’t know for a fact about the walking so I’d really appreciate some peace on that issue.
I think that’s about it for now. I hope you appreciate the honesty.
Love to all,
Brittany

Life With Reed

2010-08-12T09:26:00.001-04:00

So many of my posts are about Gaines so I decided to do one about life with Reed these days. The first few things are little funny (to me anyway) conversations we’ve had.

Me: Reed, I am so ready for fall.
Reed: Me too.
Me: Do you know what fall is?
Reed: It what Humpty Dumpty Do.

Reed: Mama, can you help me put this crayon in my ear?
Me: Why in the world do you want a crayon in your ear? We don’t put things in our ears, Reed.
Reed: Like this. (He shows me that he really means over his hear like someone might put a pencil).
Me: Oh…you mean over your ear. Where have you seen someone do that?
Reed: The smurf do it. (Handy Smurf keeps a pencil above his ear and apparently Reed noticed.)

Me: Reed, you are getting so big. I don’t want you to grow up.
Reed: But I have to.
Me: Why do you have to?
Reed: Because I really don’t like being little.

Last weekend we went through all of the stuff the boys have outgrown so that we could get rid of it all…to purge as my dad likes to call it. I came across a little suitcase on wheels that used to be Reed’s. Reed saw it and fell in love with it. After he realized it wasn’t for him to get in (he asked me to zip him up in there) he started pulling it around and I heard him say, “Thanks for coming! Have a safe trip!” about 594 times over the course of the afternoon/evening. It was an afternoon’s worth of entertainment. I put it in his closet that night but the next day he was dragging it around again. He had it loaded up with some of his junk and was giving out prizes. He’d say, “Mama, I got you a prize” and it would be some random piece of plastic that probably went with some other toy. Great. Thanks. That went on for two days before he lost interest.

Also, the last two nights I’ve gotten in bed and I’ve felt something with my foot. Two nights in a row I’ve reached under the covers and found a small, wooden, toy ambulance. That must be where it parks.

My cell phone has been lost for the last couple of days. I wasn’t terribly concerned about it as the 3 people who actually call my cell phone also know my work and home numbers but last night I decided that Reed and I were going to go on a cell phone hunt and look for it until we found it. I searched everywhere and he didn’t hinder the process too much. I took all the couch/chair cushions off (with Reed’s help of course), I looked under the couch, chair and ottoman, I took all the toys out of the toy baskets, I checked all the riding toy compartments where the boys like to keep their treasures, the cabinet I caught Gaines trying to put the remote the day before (where we NEVER would have found it), under beds, behind furniture…everywhere. Or so I thought. Until I saw the little blue suitcase. And there it was. One cell phone.

In the process of the cell phone hunt, you will be glad to know that the following items also turned up under various pieces of furniture: 24 puzzle pieces, a golf ball, an orange foam fish, a yellow plastic fish, a toy ipod, 3 blocks, 2 coasters, a plastic cow from Chik-Fil-A, an elephant rattle, a thermometer, a singing bunny, 2 slippers, 2 fruit loops (which Reed ate before I could stop him), 3 writing pens, one rubber band and one bottle of water. Do not judge me.

Love to all,

Brittany

My Morning...

2010-08-06T11:05:00.002-04:00

I thought I’d give y’all a glimpse into my morning this morning. Beau had to leave at 5:30 today which meant I had to handle getting the boys and getting myself dressed for work by myself. Here’s how it went:

3:30-5:00-Gaines whimpered and cried about every 20 minutes. Finally at 5:00 he seemed to get back into a deep sleep.
5:01-I hear Beau’s alarm on his phone go off (he slept on the couch to try and not wake Gaines up so early). I grab Jack by the collar so that he doesn’t start stirring around and waking up Gaines. It’s happened before and it does not endear Jack to my heart. I will not be sad if Jack’s hearing fades a little as he gets older. That dog hears EVERYTHING.
5:01-5:45- I half-sleep with Jack’s collar in my hand knowing that if I dare to let it go, he’ll shake and the collar jingling will wake up Gaines or he’ll decide that he needs a drink of water and proceed to slurp water from his bowl as loudly as he can or he’ll hear Beau getting dressed and bark at the “intruder”.
5:45-Gaines wakes up and I remember that I normally shower at night when I have the boys by myself in the mornings but since Beau was home last night, I totally didn’t think about it. Awesome. I figure if I have to shower, we might as well get the day started so I get Gaines out of the bed. Reed is still asleep.
5:47-I’m making Reed and Gaines’ breakfast with Gaines screaming at me because I’m not holding him. Gaines gets a few choice words from me on what will happen if he wakes up his brother. He doesn’t care and continues screaming…not crying…screaming.
5:49- Reed wakes up and proudly tells me that his pull-up is dry. Its not.
5:52- The three of us sit down for breakfast. I give Gaines a peanut butter cracker. He throws it on the floor to Jack. I tell him he’s not getting anymore (he’s been on a breakfast strike lately but Kristin usually gets him to eat it later in the mornings so I know he’ll just eat it later and don’t feel too bad about taking it away).
5:57- Reed says, “I gotta go poop”. Awesome. There is more to that story that I will not go into but suffice it to say there was more to it. Somehow, on his way to the bathroom, Reed locks himself in the laundry room. Not sure how that happened.
6:00 or so I get in the shower. I have to lock Gaines in the bathroom with me because he cannot be trusted to roam the house alone. He’s not a fan of this and gets between the shower curtain and clear shower liner and screams at me to let me know that he is less than pleased with the arrangement.
6:10-Jack pushes the door open (the door doesn’t exactly latch or lock) and comes in and somehow shuts he and Gaines in the bathroom together. There is some commotion going on out there and 2 seconds later, Jack jumps in the shower. 4 seconds later he realizes he doesn’t like water and that I didn’t exactly welcome him in and tries to get out but cannot get much traction on the enamel tub. Plus Gaines is standing right where he is trying to get out. You can see Jack’s mind turning trying to figure out his plan but he eventually gets out and manages to stay out of Gaines’ reach.
6:20-I get out of the shower and hear Reed tell me he is done with his breakfast and needs his hands washed. He’s on a peanut butter bread kick for breakfast right now which is great but a little (or a lot) messy. Reed likes to eat the center of the bread first and ends up with peanut butter all over his face. I go to the kitchen to clean him up and see that he has brought his plate to the kitchen (which is his new responsibility). I’m not really sure why, but his plate is on the counter and the crust from his bread that he decided not to eat, is on the counter beside the plate. I roll my eyes and clean up the breakfast mess.
6:30-I’m trying to put makeup on and have two little helpers in the bathroom with me. I beg Reed to go play cars in his room with Gaines because by this point, I’m a little overwhelmed. I get overwhelmed easily and these two at my feet are stressing me out. Oh, somewhere in there Reed locks himself in the laundry room again. Anyway, Reed tells me he wants to play trucks. I say great. Go do it. He goes in the den and proceeds to throw every toy he has out of the toy basket. I go to the den and tell him to clean it up. He doesn’t and I don’t have the energy to fight it so I take him and Gaines to his room to play with the blocks. This plan works and I think have about 5 minutes to put on make-up in peace but Jack in knocking his water bowl around which means he is out and wants more water.
6:40-Reed runs to the bathroom to show me something. An Easter egg that he found. Cool. He runs back.
6:42-“Mom! Jack pooped in Gaines’ room!”
6:43-Poop cleaned up…I’m drying my hair.
57 seconds later (I know because I counted to see how long it would take Gaines to get across the house once he heard the hair dryer) I hear Gaines screaming because he’s run out of cord for the 187th time that morning. I find him in the dining room with his little face stretched backwards like he got a really bad face lift or something. I get him straightened out and my hair dried and fixed with my two little helpers back in the bathroom.
Somewhere in there Reed pulls every couch cushion off the couch. He does this every morning and every afternoon like it’s his job. I’m guessing it’s a boy thing but its super annoying. Nothing makes your house look neat and clean like couch cushions (not just throw pillows) strewn every where. I tell him to put them back on. He tells me to put the big ones on and he’ll do the little ones. That the big ones are “too big of a job for him”. I tell him if he can get them down he can put them back on (I’m so mean). I walk off to his protests of it being too big of a job for him and when I turn the hairdryer off, I hear him say, “This is too big of a job for me Gaines”.
6:58-I decide that Gaines is irritable because he’s hungry and I decide to give him he medicines and fix a bottle for him to feed himself…he prefers to have you hold his bottle so that he can twizzle his hair (I’ve been telling y’all…the world revolves around Gaines) but there is just no time for that this morning. He is not so impressed with this decision either and lets me know it. I tell him fine, he can wait until Kristin gets there at 7. We always try and get her to come in early when it’s just one of us in the mornings.
7:oo or so Kristin arrives and takes over Gaines. I brush Reed’s teeth, wash his face, get him dressed for school and tell him to put on his crocs. As I say it I remember that one croc was missing last night so I tell him to go find it. He tells me he’ll just wear his flip flops. I hate Reed’s flip flops. I don’t know why…I just do. Might have something to do with the fact that he likes to wear the strap that is supposed to go around his heel, over his foot like a third strap…it looks real cool. I don’t have the energy to fight it and I really don’t have time to search for a croc so he wears his flip flops.
7:10-I send Reed to hang out with Kristin and Gaines in the den (which still has couch cushions and toys strewn around) while I finish getting ready. A minute later I hear Kristin tell Reed that she’ll pickup the big ones and he can do the little ones. Couch cushions. Little weasel got out of his “big job”. Another minute or two later I hear Reed say, “Ms. Fristin, can you put those trucks in the basket”. I intervene on that one and tell him to do it himself. He does.
7:22-We have it all together and walk out of the door. I’m worn out and have barely started the day.

Love to all,

Brittany

Pulmonology Update

2010-08-04T17:29:00.003-04:00

Ok…I haven’t had a ton of time lately but here is a quick post about Gaines’ pulmonology appointment this past Monday. I think I’ll do it in bullets. Like a list. I love a good list.

-We got permission to turn Gaines' oxygen down to a quarter of a liter. He seems to be doing great on it so far. His sats have been great and we even see 100 (perfect) from time to time. He’s been breathing a little harder than normal but that is to be expected until he gets used to this. My only slight concern is that he spit up last night (his reflux tends to flare up when he’s working harder to breathe) and he hasn’t been super excited about taking his bottles. I’m hoping that gets better as he gets more used to less oxygen. We are trying to take it easy with him on the eating but you all know how important weight gain is for his lung health so we do still want him eating well. It would make no sense for him to be on less oxygen if he is taking in less calories and burning more calories to breathe. I’ll keep you posted on this but I THINK he’s doing pretty well on a quarter liter.
-Weight gain-18 lbs 12 oz. AWESOME. So proud of Gaines. The doctor and nutritionist were very happy as well. The doctor even said that he was starting to worry about Gaines’ weight but not anymore. Yay! Now we just need to keep it up. His new goal is 1000 calories a day. That is 83 cheese puffs. Kidding. It is actually 83 cheese puffs but 720 calories a day come from his pediasure. He eats peanut butter now so that is a big help in getting him healthy fats/calories. I just don’t feel right dumping melted butter on everything he eats. I’m afraid he’ll have a heart attack at age 8.
-Hernia Surgery-Not looking forward to this one but I am looking forward to putting it behind us. Its been hanging over our heads forever now so I’m ready to mark it off the list. I am TERRIFIED to have Gaines put under anesthesia but I know it has to happen at some point. His lung doctor assures me that he is ready (and I’ve threatened him with his life on this) and the urologist thinks we run a risk of something called constriction (I might be making that word up but something along those lines where the intestines would be stuck down there). Not good…SO, we’ll be doing that in a few weeks. I’ll keep you posted. It will be mid-September so we do still have a little while.
-No medicine changes but the doctor remarked how small the doses are now compared to Gaines’ size so I take that as a good thing.

I think that is about it medically.

Gaines has a pretty good bruise on his forehead and a busted lip but I take those as good things. He’s learning to come down the brick stairs in our den and loves to climb on anything he can. Reed kept a bruise on his head about this age.

Reed is still pretty sweet although he did get sent to timeout yesterday for hitting me with a golf club. Thanks mom…those were a great idea. He did a "candid ball" off the diving board yesterday and also helped me put the "sheeps" on his bed.

Love my two little boys!

Love to all,

Brittany

Haircuts

2010-07-31T21:50:00.001-04:00

Both boys got haircuts today. Not a big deal except this was Gaines' 1st haircut. Below are some before and after pictures. There is also a video posted below of Reed playing his keyboard...he calls it "putting on a show".

This is Gaines before the haircut (notice the curls).

The two pictures beloware after the haircut. He looks so much older.

Reed putting on a show.

Back To Reality

2010-07-26T21:41:00.002-04:00

Beau and I left last Thursday headed for Texas for the wedding of a close friend of his that I've grown to love. We had a wonderful time and had a nice break from home. Three mornings of sleeping late, meals where you can have an actual conversation, reading magazines by the pool, exploring a fun city, shopping without a purpose...so nice. Obviously I was super excited to see my boys Sunday afternoon but the breaks from reality are not lost on me. I appreciate every moment. A huge thanks to my parents who came to Montgomery and kept the boys while we were away. From what I understand, Reed was an angel and Gaines was Gaines...a handful....a precious and loving handful, but a handful nonetheless. He's just non-stop and "spunky".

I had the boys to myself tonight while Beau was working and it was so neat to watch them with each other. Reed would be playing with something and Gaines would be right there beside him trying to get into whatever it was. I go back and forth on trying to teach Reed to share and trying to teach Gaines that he cannot have everything he wants the minute he wants it.

And I tell you...Gaines has gotten himself a little attitude lately. He is as pleasant as can be as long as he's doing what he wants but if you try and keep him away from a puzzle Reed is working on or out of the dishwasher or whatever, he starts these sort of convulsing fits. I have to just lay him gently on the floor and walk away. I guess that's the best thing to do about them at this point.

He's a pretty determined little fellow too. Don't think if you tell him no one time that it's going to work. He'll try something 100 times. I can't decide if this little streak he's on lately is from no real structure in his day (ie, the world revolves around Gaines), if its a second child thing, or if Reed was the same way and I've just forgotten that they grow out of it. I'm hoping its the latter.

Other than all of that, Gaines is doing awesome. He is so fun lately and has the biggest smile. He'll come crawling around the corner and get this huge grin on his face when he sees you. He gives you the biggest hug everytime you pick him up. He plays so well and I can see him kind of transitioning from baby to a little more on Reed's playing field. He jabbers and talks a good bit. We get a lot of "Jack" and "Bye"...some "Dada"...still no "Mama". I feel like I hear him repeating lots of words but unless I hear it consistently I don't count it. Like, I think I hear something similar to bottle sometimes and I swear he said "Out" when he was ready to get out of the tub tonight.

Reed has been pretty angelic lately. I swear he's such a good boy. I get frustrated with him from time to time but all in all...he's just a good child. Or maybe that's just compared to the handful Gaines has been lately...hmm...I'll have to think on that. My poor children...they get such a bad wrap on here sometimes. Truth be told, any less than positive attitude or stubborness or I'm going to throw a fit because I can't have my own way...can be directly attributed to me. At least they get it honest.

Last night Reed and I were doing a puzzle and he said, "Give me a hamp, Mama". Of course I ask, "What's a hamp?" "A hamp. Daddy always give me a hamp". I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what I'm not connecting and it finally occurs to me...a HINT...daddy always gives him a HINT. It is so funny to me the way they misunderstand words and totally think they are saying the correct thing. Beau and I were both confused the other day when Reed kept asking for his "Nims"...what in the world are his nims? Apparently nims are an alternate pronunciation of mittens. And don't even ask what he wanted with mittens in July.

I guess that's about it for now. No real structure or point but I guess that's pretty much my style these days. We've had a crazy June and July and I am so looking forward to a non-eventful August where we can get back to real life.

Love to all,

Brittany

Gaines Update and Two Funnies (to their mama anyway)

2010-07-20T13:50:00.001-04:00

Poor Beau. All that typing and only one little comment. If you haven’t read Beau’s post below about our crazy weekend, you should its pretty funny. I just wanted to post a quick update about the Gaineser. He gets called Gaineser fairly regularly these days. Hopefully that won’t stick but I think it kind of makes him sound larger than life…which he kind of is…he definitely thinks he is anyway.

Sorry…tangent. I took both boys to the doctor Monday morning and out of 4 ears, we had two infected and two full of fluid. Two prescriptions and two co-pays later, I think the boys are on the mend. Gaines actually slept until 6:30 this morning. Awesome. As awesome as that news is, this is the real awesome news and the reason for this quick post: Gaines weighed 18 lbs 9 oz at the doctor Monday. Granted he had on clothes and a dry diaper but those cannot weigh that much…maybe an ounce each? At his last weigh in at the end of June, he was 17 lbs 6 oz (naked). That’s more than a pound in less than a month. YAY! He is still not on the growth chart scale (even for his adjusted age of 1 year) but hopefully, if this keeps up, he’ll be in the 3rd percentile by his next official weigh in August 2. Thank you for all of your weight gain prayers and please keep them up! It was such a relief and (takes some pressure off) to see some good improvement.

I’ll try and get back to regular posting. Summer has just been so busy but I think August brings us a little break.

Oh, and to answer the two comment questions…Beau went to high school in Montgomery, his parents moved to Birmingham after he graduated. And we have no idea when Gaines will get off the oxygen. I’d hoped by now but I think the weight slump was slowing him down. I HOPE to get the ok to go to a ¼ liter at his next appointment. I think he can handle it. The doctor’s plan has been for him to get off diuretics first and then worry about oxygen but I hope that he and I can have a real heart to heart about that. I know that I’m not a pulmonologist and I do not want to risk Gaines’ health in any way but I feel like the oxygen could be holding him back in other areas like socialization, sleeping issues (he STILL sleeps in our room), some discipline things, etc.…I could be way off but, we’ll just see what we work out. Its worth a conversation to me.

Oh, and can I please just tell you something kind of funny? I try to be patient and understanding when people ask about Gaines’ oxygen, especially when it’s another child that just doesn’t understand (I have no patience for any adult that asks things like “What’s wrong with him?” That’s a good way to get punched in the face, FYI. Questions are fine, “What’s wrong with him?” is not…sorry, just had to get that off my chest). I don’t love all the questions because really, no one wants their child to be any different than any other, but I’d rather people ask so they can be informed instead of ignorant (can you tell this is a touch subject for me?). Kids are especially curious and the other day at the pool, one little boy asked, “Does that help him swim?” I had to laugh. It was just too funny to me.

One last funny thing, I’ve always told Reed how cute his little hiney is and lately he’s actually started listening. Last night I was giving Gaines a bath and Reed was taking his clothes off to get ready for his turn and he came in the bathroom and said, “Hey mama…I got a prize for you!” He then turned around and said, “Cute hiney! Cute hiney!” I just loved that his prize for me was his cute hiney.

Love to all,

Brittany

The Perfect Weekend

2010-07-18T15:46:00.013-04:00

Brittany and I visited my family in Birmingham this past weekend. We visited her family in Andalusia a few weeks ago. The trip to Andalusia was the first time Gaines stayed any where overnight (other than a hospital). The trip to Andalusia a few weeks ago went unbelievably smooth...so we figured the trip to Birmingham would be the same. Boy were we wrong.

The trip to Birmingham started just after work on Friday afternoon. Brittany buckled both of the boys in their car seats as I loaded the car with bags, oxygen tanks, concentrators, etc. After getting everything in the car, I went back in to the house to turn on the alarm. After I set the alarm and as I was locking the front door, I heard Brittany yell "Gaines is throwing up". Great.

Brittany took Gaines in to the house to change his clothes and wipe him down while I proceeded to remove the car seat full of throw up from the car. After removing the car seat, I quickly cleaned the upholstery in the car and then switched the car seat from my car and put it into the car that was packed for Birmingham. About that time Brittany emerged from the house with a clean Gaines. We buckled Gaines in and were off to Birmingham...only 20 minutes behind schedule. Crisis averted.

Twenty minutes later we were just north of Montgomery when Reed stated he was hungry. The delay from earlier meant there was no way to make it to Birmingham for dinner so Brittany gave Reed some goldfish crackers. Gaines started to make noise as Reed was eating so my lovely wife thought "Gaines probably wants a goldfish cracker". I couldn't believe it either...she gave Gaines a cracker. And yes, with 70 miles left in our trip Gaines threw up again. In retrospect, we should have seen the signs from God and turned the car around at that very moment. But instead, we wiped Gaines down as best we could and continued our journey.

As soon as we arrived in Birmingham, my mother took Reed from the car while Brittany immediately took Gaines to the bath tub. My brother in law and step father were gracious enough to unload our bags, oxygen tanks, concentrators, etc., while I removed a second car seat full of throw up.

After getting everything in the house I went to make sure all oxygen tanks were properly stored and concentrators were working. As I sorted through all of our stuff, I thought "I wonder where the boys' bag is". I asked my brother in law where they put the big blue duffel bag. And yes, he said "What big blue duffel bag". Unbelievable...we left Gaines and Reed's bag 90 miles away in Montgomery. We had no PJ's, no clothes, no tooth brush, and then it hit me...no SAT monitor for Gaines.

For those of you who don't understand the severity of this situation, let me explain. Gaines tends to move in his sleep and sometimes wiggles the oxygen prongs out of his nose. His SAT monitor measures the oxygen saturation levels (SATS) in his blood. When he wiggles the prongs out of his nose, his SATS drop and when they drop below a certain level his monitor starts beeping. The beeping wakes Brittany and me up and we simply put the prongs back in his nose. Thus, no SAT monitor means no way of knowing if his prongs are in his nose throughout the night. So you see the predicament...we must have a SAT monitor.

We considered everything. We called our home health supplier in Montgomery to see if they had a "sister" company in Birmingham that could loan us a SAT monitor. No such luck. We called home health companies in Birmingham and explained our situation...no luck. We called Children's Hospital in Birmingham and explained the situation. The hospital suggested we call a home health company. Long story short, after various phone calls and various favors we were loaned a SAT monitor from the NICU of Brookwood Hospital.

After the trip to the Brookwood Hospital NICU to get the SAT monitor, I arrived back at my parents house around 10 PM Friday night. We hooked up the SAT monitor and immediately went to bed. We quickly discovered the SAT monitor we were given was extremely sensitive. Every time Gaines rolled over the monitor would lose its "reading" and the alarm would go off. Brittany and I got a terrible nights sleep.

Saturday was a new day and would surely be better, or so we thought. My mother and Brittany went shopping Saturday morning to buy the boys clothes (remember we left their bag in Montgomery). After shopping, we all met for lunch. Of course, we forgot to bring Gaines anything for lunch. Luckily, Brittany found some snacks in the bottom of his bag. Believe it or not, lunch was pleasant.

After lunch we took Reed and Gaines to visit my grandmother. Both boys had a great time...there are finches at my grandmother's nursing home. They loved watching the birds. Soon it was time to go and we took the boys to their cousin's 3-year old birthday party. The party was at a church gym. The kids roller skated and there was a blow up "jumpie". Everybody was having a great time when Gaines threw up. Yes, that's the 3rd of the weekend if you're keeping count. Right in the middle of the birthday party.

Long story short, we finished the birthday party, ate dinner, and were getting the boys ready for bed. After putting Gaines to sleep, I proceeded to hook up the SAT monitor. his SAT's were in the 70's. Not good. Brittany and I quickly tried everything we could think of. We switched his probe, switched the oxygen line, turned up his oxygen. Nothing worked. As a last resort before taking Gaines to a Birmingham hospital, we switched him from his concentrator to an oxygen tank. As soon as Gaines was put on the tank, his SATS were in the high 90's. Of course, a fitting end to a wonderful weekend...Gaines' concentrator was broken.

Luckily we had enough oxygen tanks to make it through Saturday night and to get home on Sunday morning. Once we were home, normalcy began to set in. Thank goodness the weekend was over.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that both boys were sick all weekend and we are taking them to the doctor first thing Monday morning.

One Year Ago...

2010-07-06T20:57:00.005-04:00

Sorry for the hiatus. I've been out of town. I had a conference in Perdido that I had to be at for a few days and once I got back...well, I really wasn't in the mood for blogging...just wanted to soak up my family. We've had quite a few developments in the last several days so I think I'll post them in a list format.

1. Gaines now has his own room. He's had his own room all along but he couldn't reach his room as his concentrator had been set up and he can't really sleep in there yet so his home base was our den. Like, his clothes and all his belongings had been stored in various hiding places in the den for almost a year so I'm pretty pumped to have all his stuff where it belongs. We did some maneuvering and now Gaines can access his own room. He can't sleep in there yet but we are actively trying to find a solution to that. I'm thinking it will involve a video baby monitor rigged up so that we can see his sat monitor. If any of you have any thoughts on video baby monitors...please let me know. They are kind of expensive and I want to make sure it will work before I actually buy one.

2. The Gaines is getting a little tough love these days on taking naps. Until the last week, he'd been held to fall asleep (naps only...he goes to bed at night well) and then he started not sleeping so great at night. Long story short, our pediatrician thinks he needs to learn to start putting himself to sleep so that he can put himself back to sleep at 4 a.m. (when he's been making up). Basically its the cry it out approach. Its not going so great at the moment...fingers crossed that if we are persistent it will pay off. He's taking little 30 and 45 minute naps and I know he not getting rested. I'm giving it another week and then we'll have to reconsider. I'm all for the tough love because Lord knows, Gaines could use a little discipline in his life but he needs to rest too. Thoughts on this one???

3. We are pretty much t.v. free at our house right now. Beau and I decided over the weekend to really cut back on it for the boys and ourselves. Reed now gets 30 minutes a day (Wonder Pets right before bed to help him wind down) and Beau and I are trying to cut back too. I like it. We actually spend time as a family...a novel concept, I know. Puzzles and books and dance parties...Reed turned on some music tonight and started dancing and wanted everyone to dance so I played along. Beau walked in right after we had done the "Go Reed, Go Reed, Go, Go, Go Reed" and the whole "Go Mama" bit so we started up with "Go Daddy, Go Daddy"...expecting Beau to join in. I wish you could have seen the look on his face. He just froze and stared at us. I know its not funny to read but it was hilarious. There was no convincing Beau to take his turn in the spotlight.

4. Did you see the sunglasses Gaines was wearing in the last post? Well, Reed fell in love with them and wore them to school every day for a week. He even told me that "glasses make you cool". Two days ago they were in the floor and I stepped on them and broke them. I put them away and prayed that he would forgot about them. That lasted until our next trip outside when he asked for his "glasses". I had to tell him they were broken and there was a whole conversation that went something like this:
R-Did I break them?
Me-I don't know...they are just broken.
R-I broke them.
Me-No you didn't baby...
R-Who broke them?
Me-It doesn't matter who broke them...they just broke.
R-I broke them (sad face here)
Me-No Reed, mama stepped on them and broke them on accident. Maybe you and I can go buy you a new pair.
R-But I only want my blue ones...
Knife in my heart. I felt terrible.

5. Reed loves baseball and got a new t-ball set this weekend. I don't know who was more excited, Beau or Reed. I know I'm his mother so I'm biased but he's really pretty good.

6. Also, can you believe that one year ago yesterday we got the phone call that Gaines was getting transferred home. That was such a good day. I cannot even tell you the weight that was lifted off of me that afternoon. I felt physically lighter. Also, tomorrow is the day that Gaines should be a year old. He's doing so awesome right now. He pushed a push toy across his room today. He's been walking on furniture sideways for a while now but this is actual one foot in front of the other. I cannot tell y'all how proud I am of that boy.

7. Gaines went to church for the first time this weekend. Technically his second time if you count his baby dedication but his first time in the nursery while we went to church and Sunday School. Yay!

Ok...I think that's about it. I'm going to try and get my assistant to post pictures soon. I'll be better about the blogging but I'm tired now. Peace out.

Brittany

Beads, Crazy Hats & Sunglasses

2010-06-27T17:30:00.009-04:00

This past week I spent a couple of days in New Orleans on business. Bless my wife, she kept both boys by herself. When I came home on Saturday Reed immediately asked for the "prizes" I promised to bring him. Reed loved his hat and beads while Gaines loved the sunglasses.

My Boys

2010-06-24T15:13:00.003-04:00

My little Gaines has been quite the handful lately. This child is into everything all the time and no matter where you are going or what you are doing, he’s right behind you. I tried to paint my toenails last night and got about half a toe painted and guess who showed up? Turn on the hair dryer and 3 seconds later you’ll see a little head pop around the corner with a big ole smile on his face. Don’t even think about loading or unloading the dishwasher. If he hears water running or dishes clanging, Gaines will be there. I seriously have to be very careful not to let the plates or silverware hit each other if I’m trying to put something in the dishwasher. That, and I do it very fast because I know if I stand still too long he’ll catch up to me. If he’s around, I’ll only open the dishwasher a crack and shove whatever it is in there. Kristen told me yesterday that she went to rinse off a dish to put it in the dishwasher and by the time she turned around, he was standing on the open door holding on to the top shelf.

Gaines loves to be held and feels like he’s entitled to be held 100% of the day. If he’s not being held he’s either begging to be held or asleep…and honestly, he takes the best naps when he’s being held. Lately, we’ve been trying to not just immediately pick him up when he wants…at some point he does need to learn that the world does not completely revolve around him, but that usually doesn’t go very well. He’s taken to gagging himself if he doesn’t get his way. I think it’s because when his reflux was so bad, anytime he’d gag we’d immediately quit what we were doing to attend to him. He knows what he’s doing. We’ve been working on understanding the word “no” and that screaming at the top of your lungs (no tears, just screaming) to get someone to pick you up is not acceptable. Usually it’s just an Ahhhh! scream but sometimes you get a high pitched girly scream. It’s lovely.

The good news is that he still gives his good hugs and is the best snuggler. He loves to put his forehead to yours and smile. It pretty much melts my heart. He’s also gotten a lot more fun with his inquisitiveness and since I can remember Reed being this way, I’m a little relieved that he’s doing “normal” things. Plus, Reed was a big fan of putting things in/playing in the toilet and thus far Gaines hasn’t seemed that interested in the toilet (other than flushing) so I guess I have that to be thankful for…or look forward to since I probably just jinxed myself.

Reed is still pretty well on a good streak. Deep down he loves Gaines but he’s not really a big fan of the way Gaines plays right now. Reed is a rough little boy but he doesn’t appreciate Gaines’ roughness when he’s trying to watch cartoons or something. Plus Gaines is a bit (understatement of the year) of a hair puller and I feel Reed’s pain on that one. I can barely be around Gaines without my hair in a pony tail.

Yesterday Reed was in the bathtub and Gaines was at his perch tub-side watching. I was in the kitchen (where I can see both of them) and I heard Reed telling Gaines “No, Gaines…that’s not the right thing! That’s not the right thing!” I went to check on the situation and Reed was upset with him for knocking his one of his “boys” (three plastic fish) from the side of the tub into the water. You know, a major devastation. However, there have been a lot of nights when Reed will entice Gaines over to the tub…Really sweetly he’ll say ”Come here Gaineser…” and when Gaines gets there, Reed makes a big splash and gets Gaines all wet. Which of course Gaines thinks is hilarious and encourages Reed all the more.

My sweet Reed has also started either repeating his prayers after me or saying them on his own and hearing his sweet little voice say his prayers is precious. And if he feels led to thank God for his Spiderman stickers some nights, it just makes me smile all the more.

That’s the update for now.

Love to all,

Brittany

Gaines Fish

2010-06-22T21:49:00.003-04:00

Tonight I was giving Gaines a bath and Reed was "helping" me. He was holding Gaines' oxygen line and told me he was fishing...like Gaines oxygen cord was the fishing line. All of a sudden he looked and me all wide-eyed and said, "I got somethin'...Its a Gaines-fish! I caught a Gaines-fish mama!"

I just thought it was cute and clever.

Love to all,

Brittany

Gaines Eats

2010-06-20T21:19:00.003-04:00

So, guess what. Gaines eats now. We've only been stressing about this for how long now? All of a sudden, he acts like he's been eating his whole life.

Earlier this week we decided to cut back from four 195 cc bottles to three 240 cc bottles (and yes, we still measure his bottles in ccs...a nod to the NICU days) and have tried to make up the missing calories with real food. The nutritionist/pulmonologist want him having so many calories a day and since his pediaure is the best way to get them (just a lot of calories in them) they've been pushing those but they keep him from wanting to eat real food which the pediatrician/therapists/myself think he needs to be eating. Basically we kept him so full of pediasure that he never got hungry. So far, I think he's making up more than enough calories with this new plan and it has made life so much more enjoyable.

Now, I do feel like I'm setting him up to have terrible eating habits later in life because we feed him all this junk food (higher calories than the healthy stuff) but whatever it takes to fatten him up. Cheese puffs are the current favorite...and side note, I forgot how delicious they are. He also eats these pound cake muffins that I found, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, crackers with butter, carrots cooked in butter and sugar, cookies, brownies, french fries, peaches (that's healthy), etc. If any of you have any ideas of foods that are high calorie and easy for a 1 year old to eat, please, send them my way. I think peanut butter would be good...I just don't know that he's ready for that yet.

The hard part is feeding Gaines the high calorie stuff and not feeding it to Reed. Or trying to cook fattening things for Gaines that won't fatten up the rest of us. He doesn't eat huge quantities so it doesn't make since to make a whole chicken and rice casserole for just him...which means we will all be eating chicken and rice casserole tomorrow night...and I will be going on a run...and I guess the Gaines will get all the leftovers...for the rest of the week. I've just been trying to cook a little lighter now that its summer.

I'm sorry this post is so random. I'm just typing.

This morning Reed gave Beau a card that he made him at school. In the card was a picture of Reed wearing a maroon t-shirt and a cowboy hat. I asked the teacher what that was about and she said they let all the kids choose from the play clothes in the "home-living" center and told them to choose something their dad would wear...or something like that. Now...I've known Beau a good 7 years now and I have NEVER seen him even think about wearing a cowboy hat but apparently, that's how Reed pictures him. Beau looked at me this morning and said, "What does he think I do?" It was all pretty funny. I love Beau but he's not exactly the rugged cowboy type. Later in the morning Beau asked Reed what daddy's job was and Reed thought for a minute and said, "Cutting the grass". I'm trying to teach him to say that daddy is a businessman. I think that's hilarious for some reason.

All in all we've had a good day and a good week. Gaines eating makes life so much easier. Less bottle fighting and less stressing because he won't eat "real" food. Next step...sippy cup.

That's all I've got for now.

Love to all,

Brittany

Still Alive

2010-06-14T14:09:00.002-04:00

Ok…I know that I’ve been a total slacker on the blog as of late but I have very good reasons for that. 1. I was out of town for a week. I tried to update at night from my hotel but my work computer wouldn’t allow it for some reason. 2. Once I got back I had trouble getting on the Internet the two times I tried. 3. I finally got the Internet working and typed a long blog only to lose it when I tried to post it. 4. After that devastation I just gave up for about a week. I’m re-inspired today though. I have lots to report. This might be long.

First, we tried Gaines on only half of the diuretics he was used to but that didn’t last long. He started breathing harder and quit eating because it was hard for him to do both at once. We took him to our pediatrician and he felt like the diuretics were the problem. He’s back on them now and is breathing much easier and eating better…he never eats great but definitely back to normal. I was pretty devastated over that whole business…to say the least. Beau took Gaines to the doctor that morning as I drove to my out-of-town work thing. When he called to confirm that the diuretics were the culprit (as we were expecting) I pretty much lost it. I was/am SO ready to put this whole oxygen thing behind us. That day I’d just had all that I could stand and cried my little eyes out as I drove. As I cried I begged God to just make him better. Told Him I’d learned all that I needed to learn, that my patience had been tested enough, that I’d been positive for long enough, that I was ready to be done with all of this.

Somewhere along the way I dried it up and came out with a better attitude. I realized that once things get to going better, I start thinking that I’m in control and that I’m handling my life. This little episode was on a much smaller scale than the whole DC experience but I realized it was God breaking me…again. It was his way of reminding me that He is in control and that I can either do this the easy way and let him handle it while I just keep the faith and get out of the way, or I could cry and kick and scream and complain about doctors appointments, and not eating and weight gain and dragging around oxygen tanks and every thing else that comes with it. I decided to make the smart choice and quit worrying and trying to “fix” Gaines myself. Sometimes I get so focused on the destination that I forget I’m worrying my life away. As cheesy as it sounds, I always blare that Miley Cyrus song whenever it comes on…something about mountains…The Climb maybe? I don’t have it on cd or anything (do people still buy cds?) but I definitely sing my little heart out when it comes on the radio.

So…Gaines is back on diuretics and we are focusing on weight gain. I will not bore you with all the details of that but basically our pediatrician/therapists and pulmonologist/nutritionist are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to what they think we should be doing. Awesome. Have I told y’all my thoughts on doctors lately? I appreciate all of them individually…I really do but this business about not being on the same page…annoying. I tell my mom all the time, if any of them knew the right thing to tell us…they’d all be telling us the same thing. So, my solution is to take both sets of advice (and lets be honest…that’s all it really is isn’t it?) and coming up with my (our) own plan. It changes daily…pretty much based on Gaines’ moods…and the moods that I’m in based on his cooperation level. That child is lucky he’s so cute and sweet (90% of the time) and gives good hugs. He’s a lot of work…good thing I love him.

Let’s see…what else? Beau and I celebrated our 6th anniversary. It was nice. I’m pretty lucky to have him. I could not have made it through this past year without him. It’s been a hard year. Not just on each of us individually but together. He might not like me admitting that on here but its true and I’m trying to be honest. When we were in DC, it was he and I against the world…you know-we were together and focused pretty much on one thing…Gaines. Now that we’ve been back, we have life to contend with and haven’t had a ton of time for each other. We are getting better at that. I’m thankful for a sister who baby-sits and for life getting a little easier and allowing for time to just sit on the couch and watch TV together. I’m also trying to make that more of a priority than my daily to do list.

My birthday was this past weekend. Beau has been trying to make fun of me for being old but it really doesn’t bother me. I made up my mind a while back…probably when I turned 22 and in my mind, “adult”…that I wasn’t going to be worried about how old I was. I am 29 years old and have the life I’ve always wanted. A wonderful husband, two beautiful boys, a great dog, a house I love when I’m not pouring money into it, a job that I actually enjoy, a church that I love, good friends, good health (insurance!), a great extended family…and I could go on and on but you get the picture.

Reed has been pretty sweet as of late. Not sure what’s gotten into him but he’s just so lovable right now. Kidding…he’s always lovable but he’s on a good streak right now. Of course he tests us from time to time but no major issues. He told me the other night that he loved me “on purpose”. Not really sure what he meant by that but I’ll take it. Also, I tried on a dress for Beau last night that I’d just bought to see what he thought about it. Beau was kind of iffy on it but Reed said, “I love that dress, mama”. I just looked at Beau and smiled a smirky smile. Also last night I brought home McDonalds for dinner (which we do not do on a regular basis but we’d been out of town for the weekend and had not been to the grocery store), as I was getting it all set out Reed was saying “I can’t wait!” over and over. I think it was the Sprite. He loves a good Sprite.

The other day, Gaines knocked something over and it made a big crash sound. Reed looked and me and said, “Get him a big, giant spanking”.

One other thing about Reed. He said something about a sister the other day and I told him that he didn’t have a sister but that I did. That Abby was my sister. Reed thought for a second and said, “My sister is Pop (my dad)”.

Also, from time to time, Reed will do sweet things and I’ll tell him that it makes my heart happy. The other day he went to the bathroom came out with no underwear on. I asked where it was and he told me he didn’t need to wear his underwear. I asked him why not and he said, “Because it makes my heart happy”. He was instructed to wear it anyway.

Love to all,

Brittany

Good Day

2010-05-29T21:23:00.002-04:00

It's been a good day. Just an awesome Saturday. I got up and went on a run. Reed and I hit the grocery store and came home to Beau and Gaines in a morning nap. Lunch out and then swimming. Both boys napped...AT THE SAME TIME. They actually fell asleep in the car so rather than risk getting them both in the house without anyone waking up we just rode around. Grilled hamburgers for dinner and everyone just getting along with no major issues. An awesome day.

Sorry for the lack of posting this week but its been a busy week. I gave myself Tuesday off because I had such a blah day on Monday. I seriously did nothing. Wednesday I straightened up and made a cake for the next day's company. Thursday we had some friends in town that spent the night with us. I served them a fabulous dinner of Pizza Hut but I did at least make a cake. Friday we planned to go to an outdoor symphony picnic event in town but it was thundering shortly before we planned to leave so we decided to just have our friends that we had planned to go with come over (and I know that is a crazy run on sentence). Its been a busy week but a good one.

Sorry...I got off track. I started that to tell you about the changes in the latest Gaines plan. I called Thursday to schedule Gaines' hernia surgery because, go figure, the urologist office hadn't called me like they were supposed to. The surgery is scheduled for September 13 but will probably be rescheduled if Gaines is not completely off oxygen by then. The urologist's nurse told me that anesthesia will not let them do an unnecessary surgery to a child on oxygen. Which, for those of you who cannot remember...IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS SAYING.

Anyway, I called to let the pulmonologist know of this new development and find out what we can do to move forward with the oxygen/meds weaning. The new plan for that is to cut back on his diuretics from twice a day to once a day for two weeks. If that goes well, we'll cut them out all together. After two weeks of no diuretics, we can cut the oxygen to a quarter of a liter. That's as far as I've got right now but...the only thing to do after all of that, is to start with trials off oxygen. Please pray that this all goes well.

Also just a quick note because I know I sound a little jaded over all the doctor visits. I honestly, 100% appreciate each and every doctor and nurse that we see but I am just SO tired of the medical community as a whole. I mean every doctor tells you something different and you don't know who to listen to and doctors SPEAK TO EACH OTHER ON THE PHONE and then you go to schedule the surgery they discussed and...nope there was a miscommunication. And do not even get me started on billing and insurance issues. Do you know how many bills I would have paid that insurance covers if I hadn't been paying attention...or just given up on the negotiations between the insurance company and the billing department...because the two will not talk to each other. You have to be the mediator. Sorry for that rant...I'm just burned out on it all but certainly willing to do it. Have I mentioned how awesome Gaines is doing lately? He really is.

Man I'm using a lot of words tonight.

A quick note about Reed. He scraped his toe tonight and there was a little blood so we put a band aid on it for him. He immediately developed a limp.

Also...tonight he was in the tub and I heard him singing: "He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap"...Who knows it?

Eener meener! Beau didn't know it and I couldn't remember much more of it so I had to look it up. Its been in my head all night.

I woke up Sunday morning
I looked up on the wall
The skeeters and the bed bugs
Were playing a game of ball

I'll let y'all look up the rest of the lyrics if you care.

One last thing. I had to take Reed to the doctor Friday...because we hadn't been in a week and we couldn't let a week get by without a trip to the doctor...but we learned that Reed had two ear infections. Awesome. Anyway, he and I were in the waiting room and we were looking at the letters of the word "pancake" that was on some kids' magazine. I was going over the letters of the word with him and got to the second A and asked him what it was...thinking that seeing the first A might trigger the correct response. He thought about it for a second and said, "Ummmm...Monday?" I guess we need to work on letters.

Alright...y'all have a good holiday weekend. Sorry for the most random post ever.

Love to all,

Brittany

Blah Day

2010-05-24T20:49:00.003-04:00

Well...its been a day. Today was Gaines' pulmonology appointment and while it didn't go like we expected, it wasn't a bad report. I'm ok with it now but I sure wasn't when Beau called to fill me in...tears at work. Yeah...Here's the deal.

Beau took Gaines to his appointment today. With the hospital visit last week and some things we have coming up this summer, I just couldn't take off work again. Anyway, he called me pretty soon after they got to go back and let me know that not only had Gaines not gained any weight, he'd actually lost an ounce or two. Awesome. It was a let down to say the least. I knew he hadn't done great...but I didn't think he'd lost weight. And I know he's been sick and that's probably part of it but still...two months of no gain isn't great.

Luckily the doctor doesn't seem terribly concerned about it right now. Says he's probably just hit a plateau. The plan for that is to switch him from formula to Pediasure. Hopefully the extra calories will help. I've also got a side plan to get him to eat one sugar cookie a day. I think one Otis Spunkmeyer sugar cookie has 180 calories. That's kind of a half joke at the moment but I'm considering it. That would be huge for Gaines.

In other news...

We were hoping to lose diuretics today and that didn't happen. He didn't outgrow them.

We were hoping to get permission to cut oxygen and that didn't happen either. They don't want to push him too much before his surgery. Yep, I said surgery.

The hernia surgery that has been in the back of our minds for a while now but that I hadn't quite processed yet? Remember that one? I loved getting told today that my child was having surgery and I wasn't around to help make that decision. Felt like mother of the year over that one. Its not scheduled yet but it should be in the next 30 days. From what I understand its a minor procedure but before it happens, I will know every detail about what it all entails. For now, I'm still processing. For some reason, I was expecting this next summer...like when Gaines was off oxygen.

At least we are supposed to come up with a diuretic/oxygen plan a week or so after the surgery. Ughh...not excited about surgery.

Sigh...

So you see, it wasn't a bad report, but I was hoping for a great report and when nothing I'd hoped for happened...and I had a surgery sprung on me, tears at work ensued...and if I'm totally honest...five chocolate chip cookies with milk are currently being consumed...instead of the run that I had planned.

Prayers for weight gain and prayers for surgery would be much appreciated.

One last Reed thing. I was just sitting here typing this blog when I noticed that Reed was out of his bed. I told him to go back to bed and he told me he wanted to read his Bible. It was like he knew the one thing he could say without getting in trouble. He was sent back to bed to read it in the dark.

Love to all,

Brittany

P.S. Word to the wise...5 cookies is too many but it didn't stop me from shoving the last one down my throat. Now I feel gross. Great.

P.P.S. I'm not in some deep depression...just indulging myself in a blah day.

P.P.P.S. Someone get the cookies out of my house.

Dud

2010-05-23T20:50:00.003-04:00

Well...I don't have much to report. Its been kind of a low key weekend. Gaines has a pulmonology checkup tomorrow so say a little prayer that it goes well. We are hoping to lose the diuretics that he's on and get permission to cut him to a quarter of a liter. We'll also talk to them about an appetite stimulant. He's been doing better the last few days but I know he's not going to have gained much weight.

Like I said, he's doing better with the eating. He's still not consuming huge amounts but he's eating some without fighting and actually feeding himself some things. I learned today that he likes sugar cookies. Go figure. You can break a few small pieces off and he'll use his little pincher grasp (milestone...check) to eat them. No gagging at all. Makes me think he's been playing us this whole time.

Reed has been fun all weekend. Beau took him to a ballpark Saturday morning and he can't wait to go back. He just asked me as I kissed him goodnight if we could go to the ballgame tomorrow. Sweet boy.

Oh...one last quick thing. Reed and Beau went to church this morning. On the way, Reed said, "Daddy, you going to see Jesus soon". Say a little prayer for Beau. We'd like to keep him around for a little longer.

Ok...I know this post is a dud. Sorry.

Love to all,

Brittany

Come on Down!

2010-05-19T20:19:00.004-04:00

You know how you have some nights that just go how they are supposed to? We've had one of those nights tonight and I've loved it. There was no major commotion and the boys actually played together while I cooked dinner. We had a nice family dinner with Gaines in the high chair and Reed in a big boy chair. Usually Gaines is in the exersaucer while we eat but in an effort to get him more used to eating, we put him in the high chair with a small serving of chopped up spaghetti for him to "eat". He played with it, got it everywhere and even opened his mouth when I'd scoop a bite on my finger (he preferred my finger to a utensil and beggars can't really be choosers so I obliged). Again, he didn't consume huge quantities but there was no screaming involved, no clamping of the jaw and no trying to wedge a spoon in his mouth. I think this is progress. Maybe its just been the baby food he hasn't liked because this was a lot thicker with a lot more texture. I think we had one gag but everything stayed down. Here is Gaines after dinner tonight. He went straight from this chair to the tub. You can see why.

He really is a pretty happy boy...when he's getting his way. He screams like a girl when he's not. Seriously, this high pitched squeal. I wish you all could see him at home. He's a little thing but he gets wherever he wants and is always following someone around. He followed Reed and me somewhere this afternoon and I asked Reed what we were going to do with Gaines. I said, "Do you want us to keep him or do you want us to move him out?" Reed said, "Move out". Actually, he has been sweeter to his little brother lately. Reed hugs and kisses him before bed. You should see the giant smile on Gaines' face. He loves his big brother.

Also, we'll never have to discipline Gaines because Reed handles that for us. "No Gaines...don't touch that". "No Gaines, that mine."

On a seperate note, the video below is Reed in the bath last night. They have a "Watermelon Idol" (watermelon is his class right now) in his class where they each get to sing their favorite song into a microphone. Apparently, they get called to "Come on down" when its their turn.

I guess that's about it. Just a note on the questions about Gaines' breathing treatments. Right now he's taking albuterol treatments via nebulizer because our doctor thinks they are more effective. We'll stop those soon and are only doing them again because of the pneumonia. He takes flovent via the "puffer" with a chamber everyday.

I think its going to be an early night for me tonight.

Love to all,

Brittany

Wet Cat

2010-05-17T20:27:00.002-04:00

Giving Gaines a breathing treatment is like trying to bathe a cat.

The End.

Home!

2010-05-16T12:06:00.003-04:00

Just a quick post to let you all know that Gaines is home and doing well. He had a great night Friday night and they released him Saturday. We've had a quiet afternoon and morning with Reed in Andalusia but he's coming home today so life is about to be less quiet. Thank you for all of your prayers. I'll try to post more soon.

Brittany

Gaines Update

2010-05-14T22:44:00.003-04:00

Thanks so much for all of the prayers today. They've really paid off. Gaines is doing great. He's going to spend another night in the hospital tonight but I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll get to go home tomorrow. The little joker doesn't even act like he feels bad...

We took him to the doctor yesterday because his sats had been a little low, not because he seemed overly sick. Its crazy, I've taken him to the doctor before and been sure they were going to put him in the hospital. I would have never guessed that he had pneumonia. I think because we can watch his sat levels, we caught it early. A person not on a monitor would have probably waited until they started feeling bad before they went to the doctor but we were able to see on the monitor that Gaines' body wasn't doing what it should have been, before he started feeling really bad.

He's been on IV antibiotics and steroids along with lots of albuterol so he's been bouncing off the walls today. Totally pleasant and sweet...just wired. The good news is that he's asleep right now, back down to a half liter (he'd been up to one) with great sats. Please pray that it keeps up and he's able to come home tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Love to all,

Brittany

The Unexpected Lows

2010-05-13T21:12:00.002-04:00

The past couple of days Gaines has been SATing a little low (lower 90's) and his heart rate has been a little high. Brittany and I weren't exactly sure what was wrong but we weren't extremely concerned because everything would level out while he was in a deep sleep and he was still acting like himself. This changed this morning. He seemed very lethargic after waking up. He went down for his morning nap about an hour ahead of schedule. We called the doctor.

After a trip to the doctor, blood work, x-rays, and a conference call with his pediatric pulminologist, Gaines has been diagnosed with pneumonia. He was admitted to the hospital this afternoon. He has an IV giving him steroids, antibiotics and fluids. They have increased his oxygen to a liter (he has been at a half liter). So far he is holding his own. If everything goes well, he will be home by the end of the weekend. If he starts going in the wrong direction, the doctors have already told us we will be headed to Children's Hospital in Birmingham.

Please say a prayer for Gaines...a speedy recovery would be a blessing.

Three Things...

2010-05-12T20:38:00.005-04:00

I've got three main things to report tonight.

1. We've had a mini-victory tonight with Gaines. I put some of the Chicken Parmesan I made in the food processor and fed it to him. He gagged on the first bite so I stuck my finger in it and let him taste it. After that, he grabbed the spoon and pulled it to his mouth. He didn't consume a lot of it, but he was interested in having it in his mouth and was kind of getting familiar with the texture. I know it sounds small but it is huge for Gaines. Another highlight, he took two of his bottles today via sippy cup. Two tiny steps in the right direction.

This is still part of number one but I thought I needed a new paragraph. Someone mentioned in a comment today that Prevacid caused their child's appetite to decrease. Gaines is on Prevacid too so I researched it a little and called his doctor. He called in a new prescription to switch him back to Zantac and see if it helps his appetite. I think given today's tiny success, I might wait and see if we are on to something with "real" food but we are ready to try the medicine change if this doesn't get the ball rolling. Thanks for the tip!

2. I think Reed has an older child syndrome. He was spraying my flowers outside today with his spray bottle (best 96 cents I've spent in a while) and he said, "Am I doing it perfect, Mom?". Poor little thing already has a need to be perfect. Other older children will understand this. You rogue second and third children will not.

3. So, remember forever ago when we shot that footage for the 700 club? Well they discontinued that portion of their show but they are still airing them on their website. Here is the link if you are interested.

http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/vod/COW157v1_WS&search=700club&p=1&parent=1&subnav=false

Love to all,

Brittany

"Gaineser"

2010-05-11T14:04:00.005-04:00

I swear I had a couple of things that I wanted to post on here over the last couple of days but I cannot for the life of me remember what they were. I guess I’ll start with a Gaines update.

That child just has no desire to eat. He only acts hungry when he’s taking steroids for a cold. He does ok with his bottles once you get them in his mouth but he cries and fights you until you get it in there. We’ve also been back to pushing baby foods and I have to fight to get a half baby food down him. And by fight I mean either force his mouth open with a spoon or wait for him to cry and shove a bite in. I feel like that’s not the right way to be doing things but I don’t know what else to do. Now he’s taken to just leaving his mouth wide open with a bite of food in it. He’s kind of like, “Fine, you got it in but I’m not swallowing it”. It’s just a mess…I don’t know what to do. I know he needs to experience new textures to get over his aversion to them but it is just such a fight with him. I think we are both physically exhausted after each meal.

Other than the feeding, he’s a sweet and happy boy. He’s learning to clap and say and wave “bye bye”…I wouldn’t call them mastered tasks but he’s working on them. He was super happy to see Ms. Kristen yesterday after she’d been away for a week. I didn’t see it but Beau said he just loved on her and had a huge smile on his face when she picked him up.

Oh…Reed has taken to calling Gaines “Gaineser”. I’ve called him that here and there but now that’s pretty much how Reed refers to him regularly. He’ll say, “Mama, Gainser is touching me” or “NO! Gainser…NO!” because he’s touching his scooter or something. Also, all of a sudden, Beau and I are no longer, Mama and Daddy…we are now Mom and Dad. Beau was Dad first which I thought was kind of funny until I became Mom and then I wasn’t as impressed. I laughed so hard Saturday morning at him. Beau was eating breakfast and Reed crawled in his lap and said, “Dad, you wanna share your cereal with me?” Obviously Beau didn’t really want to “share” his cereal but due to the “share” word being brought out, he pretty much had to. I hurried up and ate mine because I really do not like to share my food. Happy to fix/order you your own, but don’t expect any of mine. And if I do decide to share my food with you, you better believe you are getting the lesser fries, chips, brownie piece etc. Not the premium ones. Is that selfish? Probably. We won’t dwell on that.

Look at this picture of my boys. People always ask who Gaines looks like. I think you can tell from this picture.

Also, you know how I said the other day that I had no problem getting Reed to go to sleep? Check out these pictures from last night. We found him asleep in his floor. Two nights before, we barely found him asleep under the dining room table. I’d been in and out of the dining room for two hours and finally saw two little feet sticking out. Reed was just as asleep as he could be.

Ok…I think that’s it for now. I’m not exactly posting these things every day but I’m doing better than once a week!

Love to all,

Brittany

Friday Night With My Boys

2010-05-07T20:31:00.002-04:00

Wow...lots of comments and good ideas. I'll have to try some of those. Y'all don't feel too sorry for me, Reed completely redeemed himself with the mother's day card he made at school. He drives me crazy but he makes up for it in so many ways and keeps me laughing all the time.

About the sleep, I don't have a problem really getting either of them to bed...its just the mornings. Reed goes to bed at 7:30. We had him going to bed later the last time we had this problem and his pediatrician said he should be in bed between 7 and 7:30...considering his wake and nap times. I know you can't do everything by the book/doctor but our pediatrician has never lead us wrong so I'm trying to stick to it.

Speaking of pediatrician, Gaines had his one year check-up today. They're going to let us keep him. He did not gain as much weight as I'd hoped...17 lbs 3 oz which means he's in the less than 5th percentile on weight. The good news is that he's in the 55th percentile on height. After talking to our superdoc today (I just love him), I've decided that I'm going to sort of change philosophies on Gaines. We are so nutrtition focused that we aren't letting him progress on foods. Because bottles have more calories, we'd rather him have those, and those are so concentrated and thick, he has no desire for actual food...baby or soft table foods. It's time that he's venturing into all of that. Plus feeding himself would help develop his fine motor skills.

I won't bore you with everything but I am asking for prayers on this. Its kind of a leap for me. The nutritionist and pulmonologist he sees every two months have him on all these extra bottle calories so they might not be impressed with the new plan but the way I see it is, what can it hurt. It's not like he's breaking the scales doing it their way. I guess he can always go backwards but that's where your prayers come in. Please pray for weight gain and interest in actual foods.

In other news, I took the afternoon off for today's appointment so afterwards we went to visit our old nurse friends in the NICU. It was so great to see them and I think they were all excited to see Gaines. He jabbers non-stop these days but he just stared at them in awe. I wondered if he knew where he was. Probably not I guess but it was still a fun visit.

It's been just me and the boys this afternoon so I've been a little bit of a supermom. It's crazy when you have them both by yourself but I love the feeling when they are both in bed and the house is in order. I feel like I accomplished something. Granted, we had a frozen pizza for dinner and there were no baths (Friday baths are not mandatory here...I'm sorry if you think that's gross) but I do have my sheets in the dryer and a couple other weekend projects in the works. I'm hoping to do some planting in my flower pots tomorrow amongst a few other things. Its my first full weekend at home in weeks so I plan to get some projects done and do a little relaxing. Beau informed me earlier this week that I had a problem just letting things sit "undone" and relaxing (he does not seem to suffer from this same disorder) but I plan to prove him wrong this weekend.

Oh...something I was thinking about earlier in the week. This will make up for my snide Beau comment above. I travel some for my work and people always ask me who takes care of my boys when I'm gone. Uhhhh...their dad? I continue to be baffled that I get asked this question ALL the time. I've always known that I'm blessed with an awesome husband but from these questions, I've come to learn that he's even more above average than I'd originally thought. I am very, very lucky to have a husband who is an active father/partner in raising two little boys and who I have complete confidence in when I'm out of town. I couldn't have my current job without him.

Now, nobody tell him I said that.

Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

Brittany

Roosters

2010-05-06T12:24:00.002-04:00

I just thought I’d give y’all a little peak into my morning today. This is the account (best I can remember) from 4:17 a.m. to 5:43 a.m. The sad part is, this sort of thing happens on a regular basis. If any of you know how to get my children to sleep later, please let me know. I’m in search of a wake/sleep clock for Reed. I was looking for a reasonably priced one but after this morning. I’m willing to pay a small fortune for one if it works.

4:17-Reed is at my door reading a book that makes noise.

4:18-Reed is back in bed with a threat on his life if he gets out of his bed again. He tells me he wants breakfast. I tell him it is still dark outside and not time for breakfast. I do not win points for this.

4:19-Back in my bed.

4:22-Gaines is awake and crying. Trying to be tough and let him cry it out but he’s right next to us and the pillow over my head is not cutting it.

4:32-I give up and move to the couch (Beau’s night with Gaines…my turn with Reed) but can still hear Gaines…through my pillow that is on my head again.

5:00 or so…crying stops

5:13-Reed needs to go potty.

5:14-Reed tells me he wants a banana next week. I say fine and don’t ask any questions.

5:15-I almost gave in and let him watch cartoons until 5:45. He wanted Berenstain Bears or Veggie Tales DVD. I offered Disney channel as I was not about to find and start a DVD.

5:16-Disney does not cut it and Reed freaks and cries on the floor. There are convulsions involved. I tell him fine…he can watch nothing and turn off the TV with as much authority as you can turn off a TV with one finger. I am the meanest mom.

5:17-Reed cries for a while…”I want my daddy…I want my daddy”.

5:18-I’m back on the couch pillow over my head again plotting his punishment if he wakes up Gaines.

5:26ish-The cries turn from “I want daddy” to, “I found money”…still crying. I don’t know why that was sad.

5:32- I realize that he is standing at our bedroom door in serious jeopardy of waking up Gaines…again.

5:33-I get off the couch and go get him and let him put the dime he found in his piggy bank.

5:34- Turn on the light and offer to let him read in bed. He wants to read his Bible. That’s awesome, but I can’t find it. He tells me he put it behind his headboard so I get on the floor and scrounge around under the bed until I find it.

5:35-I leave him in his bed “reading” and threaten his life again if he leaves his room in the next 10 minutes.

5:36-I am still holding strong on my new “Do not leave your room before 5:45 a.m.” mantra. I feel a little self satisfaction despite being bitterly tired.

5:43-I hear Reed in the dining room and give up. 5:43 is pretty close to 5:45.

Say a prayer for my sanity.

Brittany

Made My Week

2010-05-05T19:23:00.002-04:00

I've been out of town so I'm a little behind and will have a more extensive report soon but I had to share this quick conversation at dinner tonight.

I said, "Reed, who is your girlfriend? Do you have a girlfriend at school?"

He just pointed at me and said, "You!"

Made my week.

More soon.

Brittany

Some New Pictures

2010-05-01T20:18:00.004-04:00

Below are a few recent pictures of the boys.

Rock Star

2010-04-29T20:02:00.005-04:00

Reed has been taking music classes at school. He has become our little rock star. Below is a video of "Five Little Freckled Frogs", the Reed Daniel version. In case you aren't a parent with small children, the lyrics are below. Enjoy.

By the way, he is holding a bath toy in his hand and strumming it while he sings. He told me it was his "giddar".

Five little freckled frogs,sittin' on a speckled log, eating the most delicious bugs.

Yum! Yum!

One jumped into the pool, where it was nice and cool. Now there are four little freckled frogs.

Good Excuse

2010-04-28T13:17:00.002-04:00

Sorry...no post yesterday because my computer is sick and is in the hospital. Its just as well...yesterday was one of those days where your two year old throw major fit because you couldn't read his mind and know that when he asked for milk...he really meant lemonade (even though you thought you were being a nice mom by fulfilling his milk request when you originally offered him water).... And one of those days when your pitifully sick one year old isn't quite his usual sweet self because the steroids he's on have taken over his body, attitude and vocal cords.

Back to work...more when my computer has recovered.

Brittany

Poor Baby

2010-04-26T16:19:00.002-04:00

I had to take Gaines back to the doctor today. The poor little thing just did not seem to be feeling so well this morning. Basically he just has a cold that has triggered his asthma (gosh, go figure…Gaines has asthma…who’d have thought?). Usually a cold just has to run its course but with Gaines we try and be proactive. Because of his airways being tightened from the asthma flair up, fluid could get trapped in his lungs and it could turn into pneumonia (which I guess could have been the case with any of his colds) so he’s on a preventative antibiotic and a steroid…for whatever it is steroids do. Oh, and increasing albuterol treatments to every four hours during the day for a couple of days. Keep him in your prayers. I hate seeing him feel so bad. On the positive side, he gained 2 ounces in 2 days which is great. I swear we have the best pediatrician. He and his staff are just really great. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that their patient is so stinking cute.

Ok…now something about Reed. We were all in the car Saturday night and Gaines was just babbling away. Reed looked at him and said, “I not know what you’re sayin, Gaines”. And Gaines just babbles back at him and says something about “Dada”. Reed says, “I not know what you’re sayin. You want daddy? Daddy’s driving.” And on and on for the ride home.

Also, Beau took Reed to the bathroom at a restaurant this weekend and had him in the bathroom stall. As Reed is sitting there some other man comes in to use the urinal and Reed says loudly “Somebody else goin potty.” I think Beau waited it out before he and Reed made their exit.

So funny to me.

The Gaines

2010-04-25T15:52:00.002-04:00

I missed posting about Gaines yesterday on his actual birthday but I've got a good excuse. The poor guy has been a little sick. He had a 101.8 fever Friday night so we took him in to the doctor Saturday morning. Turns out it was nothing major...just a little viral infection but he hasn't quite felt himself so he and I took ourselves a nice little rest yesterday afternoon.

Anyway, back to my birthday post about the Gaines (I like to call him The Gaines sometimes...I just think it suits him). His baby dedication was today at church and it was so great. It was awesome to be able to have Gaines in front of so many people that prayed for him. We also had lunch this afternoon with lots of family. I would have loved to have invited about 50 more people but we had to draw the line somewhere.

I've been thinking a lot about Gaines lately and the journey we've been on the last year with him. Last night he crawled from the den, up two stairs, through the living room, down the hall to Reed's bathroom. It wasn't so long ago that I was worried Gaines wouldn't be able to hold his head up on his own and now he's crawling all over the house. He has just come so far the last year. I mean, from a tiny little thing on a ventilator to a crawler that only needs a little help breathing.

People ask me all the time if the last year has just flown by. I want to laugh in their face. No-the last year has not flown by. Parts of it have been faster than others but early on there were some very long, very hard days. Not just when Gaines was still in the hospital...although that was loooong and there were many, many days that I just cried and cried because I didn't know how much longer I could hold out. But even when he first came home the days and weeks were long. I was so worried about his devleopment and wondering if he would be "normal". It was hard for me to just enjoy him and not always be analyzing him. That's hard enough, but you top it off with him not eating as well as he should and spitting up multiple times a day (spitting up puts it mildly...whenever I say Gaines spits up, I mean he vomits large quantities). There were many, many days that I cried once he was home. And there were days that I yelled at him and got frustrated and had to leave the room...and then I'd feel so guilty for not loving him enough. I think early on I resented him some. There I said it. I know it sounds awful but I did. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved Gaines with all my heart but I couldn't live my life like I wanted to live it because Gaines couldn't go anywhere and Gaines required so much time, energy and money and Gaines was just SO much work...and I felt constant stress and worry about him not developing like he should. I faked it pretty well because I was supposed to be happy that he was finally home but it was a rough time for me.

I don't know what did it but I was able to finally snap out of it. I guess he just got easier and and started meeting some of his milestones and gradually I was able to relax and realize that he might not do things on my timeline, but he was doing them. I was able to actually enjoy him.

Lately Gaines has gotten so much fun. He's playing with toys and giving Reed a run for his money. He's got an attitude like you wouldn't believe. He is sweet as pie when he's doing what he wants to do but don't cross him. He was born with some fight him and its still there. There are times when I have to physically overpower him to get a bottle in his mouth. Or change his diaper. Or clothes or whatever I want him to do that he doesn't want to do.

But...he can be so sweet too. I love the way he grabs onto you when you pick him up. He just squeezes you and loves you. And he loves to laugh. He laughs at anything Reed does. He loves his big brother (and Reed tolerates him pretty well).

This past year with Gaines has been a roller coaster. We've had lots of dark, hard days, but we've also had lots of amazing ones raising two little boys. When I was on bedrest last year, one of the things that kept me going was bringing Reed home a little brother and the thought of being a mom to two little boys. It might have been harder than I'd thought (and required a little more equipment, medicine, effort, etc)...but we are doing it. It's been a crazy year but I could not be more thankful for it because it means we've got our little brother...and he's awesome.

Love to all,

Brittany

New Blogging Philosophy

2010-04-23T20:00:00.004-04:00

I think I’m going to try and post one quick post everyday and maybe one good long one a week. Both boys are just changing so much and are so funny right now that I want to try and remember as much of it as I can. So…this is my attempt to do that.

Also, I think I’m going to try and be more the “real” Brittany on here and less of the “sugar-coated, people I work and go to church and pass in the grocery store read this” Brittany. Not that I’ve never been myself on here, (Hello, you’ve seen me at my lowest lows and highest highs this past year)…I just sensor myself some because it might not be appropriate to mention things that regularly come up with my children or because I'm afraid that people might take me the wrong way and think I’m a bad mom or don’t love my children or whatever. Or, you just might not get my sense of humor. Just ask Beau…it’s weird. Very few people actually do get it honestly. If I’m going to keep this blog up, I want it to be an accurate depiction of our life. I’ll try and ease y’all in. Here we go...

I took some medicine over to Reed today at lunch before his nap because this pollen is really getting to him and there was a note sent home yesterday that he coughed all through nap (just call me supermom). I walked in and squatted down next to him at the table and talked to him for a minute. He promptly told me, “I not ready to go home yet”. I say, “That’s fine, you can stay and play with your friends for a while” but in my head I’m thinking, “Good, cause I’m not taking you yet”. Anyway, as I’m there all the kids are eating lunch and they think of course think I’m super cool (as I'm sure they do any stranger that interupts their day) and are talking to me and what not but I notice that Reed is being really quiet. I think he was embarrassed that I was there. Like I was cramping his style or something.

While I was there his teacher told me they’d just had “Wobbler Idol” where they each get to get in front of the class and sing their favorite song into the “microphone”. Reed sang his ABC’s which is in direct contrast to what he told me his his favorite song was yesterday, “O’Donald”…or as you may know it, Old McDonald.

One other Reed thing that is too funny but a little of my venture into what may not be appropriate. This morning Reed woke up at 4:57. This is the norm but I'm desperately trying to un-do it so I put him back to bed and told him I'd be back in an hour. Fifteen minutes later I hear, "Daddy, I pooped" over and over. I finally get up and go check on him (as it was my morning with Reed) and walked in the bathroom where he sat. You'd think he'd be thankful that I was there to help him but all he says is, "I was calling Daddy". I cannot tell you how close I was to getting back into bed and telling Beau that Reed needed him. I might next time.

Gaines is starting to get an appetite again thank goodness! Please pray that it keeps up. We need to fatten that boy up! Today’s Gaines anecdote is a sweet one. Last night Reed was going to bed and he gave me a goodnight hug and kiss while I was holding Gaines so he kissed and hugged Gaines too (he doesn’t usually) and Gaines got the biggest smile on his face. He loves his big brother. Made my heart smile.

Sweet boys.

Stay tuned for a Gaines post tomorrow in honor of his birthday!

I’m out for now…Brittany

Random...

2010-04-19T20:38:00.003-04:00

Let's see...what's been going on? Beau and I were able to get out of town for the weekend for the first time in...well I guess a year. We just went a couple of hours away to The Grand Hotel in Point Clear (LOVED it) but it was so nice to be able to have conversations and to not have a million things to do. I got to get a little (probably too much) sun at the pool so now I have a little pigment in my skin...which we can all be thankful for. I needed it badly. My parents came up and stayed with the boys...I think they enjoyed it.

Gaines has been having a problem with his reflux again so we've been dealing with that the last few days. I think I reported that in my last post but since then, its gotten better and then gotten even worse. My guess is that it's got something to do with his teeth coming in. The second one just broke through so I'm hoping it gets better soon. I got so frustrated with it all yesterday...I just feel so much pressure for him to gain weight and not only is he not doing great with it, he's doing pretty terrible. I think its (now bear with me...crazy talk about the devil here) the devil putting that in my mind so that I forget about all the progress that Gaines is making. He's doing great on his oxygen and developmentally he's doing awesome. Actually he pulled up to standing tonight (another milestone, check!)...so far he's done it 3 times so its not a fluke. I got off track there but the moral of the story is that I'm trying to focus on the positives rather than the not so positives...which only seems to be gaining weight at the moment.

Now that Gaines is a little more mobile with his crawling, big brother is having to learn to share "his" toys (of which, several belong to Gaines). I thought I might have to break up a fight over a dinosaur book tonight. We've also had a couple of instances of Reed watching cartoons in his little chair and Gaines crawling over to him and...get this...touching him...the nerve. Reed will sit perfectly still and call one of us in the room and say, "Gaines is touching me". If we ignore it and don't immediately move him, he'll tell Gaines, "Stop touching me Gaines!...Move Gaines!" And Gaines just laughs. He loves his big brother and deep down, Reed loves him too.

What else...Gaines' baby dedication is this Sunday...the day after his first birthday. I think the date is very fitting as he was originally dedicated in the hospital on the day he was born when they didn't think he was going to make it. I kind of feel like this is him coming full circle. His dedication is at the 11:00 service at our church and we are having brunch for our family afterwards.

But speaking of birthdays...can you believe that Gaines is going to be one on Saturday. It blows my mind. I'll have to do a special post dedicated to that but wow...a whole year of Gaines and all that's come with him.

I stayed home from work today because Kristen was sick and couldn't keep Gaines. It was kind of nice being a stay at home mom for a day. I'm pretty worn out but I got SO much done. My house is spotless at the moment but I bet it doesn't last very long. Either way, its a good feeling. A clean house with windows open and two sleeping boys. Life is good.

I guess that's about it for now. After all my scurrying around today, I'm going to relax.

Love to all,

Brittany

Happy Birthday Beau

2010-04-14T06:56:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, wonderful husband.

You all may remember that Beau celebrated his 30th birthday last year in DC. Thankfully, we will be celebrating 31 here at home.

Beau is the best husband that anyone could dream of but I think his best quality is how wonderful of a father that he is. I am so thankful that my boys have such a wonderful role model in their lives.

We love you Beau! Happy 31!

Brittany and Boys

Tooth

2010-04-08T21:51:00.004-04:00

So...guess who's got a tooth? Well, all of us I guess...but now that includes Gaines! You can't see it too well yet but you can definitely feel it. He's had a pretty good week the past week except with his eating. He's kind of been on strike and spitting up whatever he decides to eat...yes, the reflux is back. No idea what got into him but we started back on the breathing treatments in case there is something in that medicine tied to his appetite. Anyone got any ideas on this? I love that they day we hear he needs to gain weight, he goes on an eating strike. I'm this close to "medicating" him with some sweetened condensed milk 3 times a day for some extra calories.

Reed has been great this week too. In between a couple of tantrums that is. He is really such a good child and has not really been into this "terrible twos" business...until this past week. In he last couple of days he's thrown two fits that just came out of no where and were over the craziest things. One, because he couldn't decide if he wanted to run to the grocery store with Beau so Beau finally left him and the other, because he didn't want to leave school when I picked him up one afternoon. Both times it was constant crying and screaming, "I want to gooooo...I want to gooooo...sob sob sob...." or "I want to stay here....I want to stay here..." Falling out in the floor and everything. I ignored the one at home but didn't know what to do when he did it at school. I pretended to just leave him but he called my bluff and I had to go pick him up. Also, I wasn't sure if the other mothers were looking at me with a "Way to be strong" look or a "Do something with your child" look. One of them said, "Is he two?" How could you tell?

I'm sure those will not be the last tantrums I see out of Reed and I'm a little afraid of what is to come with Gaines. That boy has a temper. To say he's spoiled is putting it mildly. I guess the world (at least our world) has kind of revolved around him the last year so I guess it makes sense but wow...that child will let you know when he's less than pleased with you. Just try walking out of the room if he doesn't want you to. And don't even try to change his clothes. He won't have it.

I guess that's about it for now. I just realized that this kind of turned into a post about the flaws of my children. Sorry...just keeping it real I guess. As crazy as they drive me sometimes, I promise...I really do love them. Especially now that they are both asleep. Love me some sleeping babies and a still house.

One quick thing, speaking of driving me crazy. I told Reed this week (when he decided that it was hilarious to not wear his pants) that he drives me crazy sometimes. He said, "I dub (love) to drive you crazy".

Love to all,

Brittany

Beautiful

2010-04-04T08:22:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter! We are about to start our mad dash to get ready for church but first HAD to share these pictures. A friend with an incredible gift for photography (and taking pictures of children!) very generously offered to take some pictures of Gaines for us. Here's the link to the first three he sent us. I LOVE them.

I hope I can get this to work. There is probably an easier way but this is the best I can do. You know I'm not so computer savvy.

Go here:

www.britsnapphotography.com

Then scroll to the bottom of that page and click the facebook logo. Once the facebook page is up you can see the note Gaines-God's Miracle. Click on that and you can see three of the pictures that Martin took yesterday. I'd highly recommend him for anyone in the area wanting pictures done of their kids. He even got Reed to stand still for a few!

Happy Easter and Love to all,

Brittany

Big Day

2010-03-29T20:42:00.004-04:00

Before I get to Gaines' big day, I just wanted to thank all of you who still read this blog...even if you just check in from time to time and especially for those of you who have prayed for Gaines and our family. Today's good report was due to your continued prayers. Reed and I visited Andalusia over the weekend and actually got "out" a little. I ran into so many people...some that I do not even know well...that would ask me how the zoo was, or if Gaines was crawling yet. I was just amazed at all the people that actually cared about my little boy and family and were still keeping up with us. I tell you, there are a lot of bad and crazy people in this world but for everyone of them, their are five good ones.

Moving on...

Our little Gaines has had a big day. He had a doctor's appointment in Birmingham today with his pulmonologist (more on that in a second) and when we got home this evening...he crawled! I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I am of him. As soon as I saw (and confirmed that he was actually doing it...you know how I feel about giving him false credit) I got the biggest smile on my face. I have not been that excited in a while.

I know mothers are always proud of their kids' milestones but Gaines' are just extra sweet. There are so many things that we haven't been sure about for so long and to see him do something like crawl just makes me so happy. There is just no way to know if Gaines will have any sort of problems from his spells of not wanting to breathe correctly until he actually marks something off his milestone list. Let me clarify...he's not crawling marathons or anything, but he crawls a few little "steps" at a time. Beau got it on video...its at the end of this post. Also, I think he might be pulling up in the next few weeks. Things are just really starting to click for him and I could not be happier.

In medical news, Gaines had a great check-up today. We've been given permission to turn him down to a half liter on his oxygen. I'm waiting on him to go to sleep tonight before we do it. He's just still when he sleeps and we can get a good sat reading on him and really tell if he's handling it ok. Say a little prayer that it will go well.

The plan oxygen-wise is just to leave him at a half liter until his next appointment (in two months). Hopefully by then he'll have gained enough weight (he was 16 lbs 13 oz today) that we can cut his other two diuretics. Once he gets big enough, he'll have sort of outgrown them. I'm hoping that at his next appointment we can cut the diuretics and have a plan to wean oxygen over the next couple of weeks. They explained to me today how they will know when he is ready. I won't bore you with all of it but one part was by watching his carbon dioxide levels. At his first appointment his was at 39 and today it was at 33. When his is around 28, we'll know he's ready to go without oxygen. So...prayer requests, 1. Weight gain! We want to lose those diuretics. 2. Lower carbon dioxide levels and just all around lung development. All in all, his doctor only had great things to say and even commented on how well he was doing developmentally. A gold star appointment.

Oh, we've also gone to albuterol treatments as needed and not twice daily...yay! Hate it for you CVS.

On a more serious note...I never leave Children's Hospital without being thankful that we are only dealing with Gaines' lung issues...problems that will get better. There are so many kids at that hospital that would be grateful to have Gaines' problems. I mean, you see those little kids with bald heads and you know what they are there for and it just breaks your heart. Or kids in wheelchairs or you hear your doctor talk about his chronic ventilator patients. Everytime I'm in the parking deck there I think, everyone of these cars is here for a sick child...and that is just on one given day. Be thankful for healthy kids and please say a prayer for all of those that are not...and the ones dear to my heart, the ones who aren't born yet but are fighting to have a chance to try. Little ones like my Gaines who is not only trying but succeeding. Was that a little cheesy? Sorry...but he is. That little joker is a miracle.

Now...I hope you all appreciate the sacrifice I made for you tonight. I will wake up in the morning and my house will not be straight and no one's clothes will be picked out and I'll be rushing around with a little extra "my house is a wreck" stress but at least you all will be updated. Kidding of course...but my house really has been neglected tonight. Does my sarcasam come through or do I need to specify the kidding? Either way...

Oh...I turned Gaines down to a half liter and guess what? He's satting 99. Granted he's sleeping flat on his face which could account for a 99 but wow! Please pray that it continues.

Love to all,

Brittany

The Zoo: Pictures and a Video

2010-03-21T13:54:00.004-04:00

Yesterday the weather in Montgomery was 70 degrees and sunny. A perfect day to be outside. So, we made our first venture out as a family. We all went to the Zoo. This was one of the first times we have taken Gaines anywhere other than the doctor. Certainly the first time we have gone anywhere as an entire family. It was pretty funny, as we were parking the car Reed said, "Gaines is gonna stay in the car". I guess Reed just isn't used to Gaines going anywhere with us. Anyway, all in all it was good day and it felt so normal to be able to all go somewhere together.

Below are two pictures from the Zoo and a video of Gaines attempting to crawl. He is so close...he will be scooting around the house soon.

Our Family at the Zoo

Reed at the Zoo

Gaines learning to Crawl

One Year Ago

2010-03-17T22:20:00.002-04:00

Wow...so tomorrow it will have been one year since my water broke 900 miles from home and changed our whole world. I looked up some of our earlier posts just now and and I'm flooded with the memories. The posts that we made right after Gaines was born made my eyes sting. I guess the memories have faded but reading some of that brought it all back. I remembered how hard it was. How scary. How every day seemed like a week. How I just wanted to throw myself in the floor and give up some times. How I'd just cry and ask God why.

Its amazing what a year does.

Right after Gaines was born and was still fighting for the non-critical label, I wrote something about him opening his eyes and looking at us a few times. Now, that same baby looks at me and says "pllthtlth"(you know that noise) and laughs when I try and give him medicine or a bottle. Stinker. I tell you, Gaines is just so precious and I could not be prouder of how hard he's fought this past year. He's incredible. I just tear up when I think of all he's endured and pushed through the last year. Its been a looooong year but it could not have been more worth it. We have Gaines...and I know he's going to be fine. (I'll update more on Gaines later...I'm running out of battery).

We've been through the hardest year of our lives but we've come out ok. We have had incredible ups and downs the past year but we've made it. I would never ask to re-live this past year but I'm thankful for it. It has done so much for me and my family. We are stronger, we appreciate each other more, we take less for granted, we have more compassion for others...and I'm thankful for all of that. Thank you all so much for keeping up with us and praying for our family this last year. We love you for it.

Love to all,

Brittany

A Few New Pictures of the Boys

2010-03-13T20:18:00.004-05:00

Below are a few pictures of our boys being silly. In the next couple of days we will try and post a video of Gaines attempting to crawl. Also, if you haven't logged on to our blog lately, there is a new post from Brittany below.

Good Excuse

2010-03-12T21:20:00.003-05:00

I know its been awhile but I have a good excuse. Beau was out of town Sunday morning through Thursday afternoon so I've been a little occupied. My mom stayed with us and helped me with the boys for part of the time but it was still pretty busy around here. By the way...my mom is awesome. She's always willing to help us out anyway she can. Lots of people are actually but the list is too long...my mom just gets the credit right now because she just spent 3 nights with us.

Anyway...I was by myself Wednesday night with both boys and had a momentary lapse in judgement and decided to let the boys take a bath together. I figured...two birds with one stone. To say it was a disaster would be an understatement. We weren't 30 seconds in when Reed dumped a huge cup of water straight in Gaines' face. Of course Gaines screamed...and Reed got a spanking (he had just been told not to do it) so he screamed. Both of them were looking at me crying (Reed screaming "I want to get out!!!") and immediately I questioned my sanity for putting them both in the tub together. We made it through, but it wasn't pretty...and we won't be attemting that again for awhile. I told Beau later on the phone what I'd done and he said, "You did what?" Not my best idea.

Other than that things have pretty much just been rocking along. I had a cold last week which means Reed and Gaines had colds this week. We took Gaines in for a steroid shot/prescription yesterday just to get a head start on his cold. I think the key with him is just to not let the cold get ahead of you. He seems much better today thank goodness. We got the ok on Monday to discontinue Gaines' Lasix but I haven't done it yet. I want him to get over this cold first. I kind of feel like we'd be setting him up to fail if we did it right now. Please say a little prayer that he handles it.

In other news, our little Gaines is trying his best to start crawling. He gets on all fours and rocks back and forth. I even think he goes backwards a little bit. He has physical therapy again on Monday so please pray for another good report. He's really starting to be pretty fun...and he's definitely cute. He makes the funniest little faces. I tell him all the time that he's lucky he's so cute...especially when he's being a little "trying". Remember that fight that he had when he was born...fighting through all of is obstacles...yeah, he's still got it. Only now he fights taking his medicines, breathing treatments, leg stretches, etc. I'm trying to be thankful for it.

Reed has turned into quite the song bird lately. He was singing something about "way down yonder in the paw paw patch" in the tub the other night. I don't remember it but apparently its a classic. I must have been absent the day we learned that one because I don't believe I've ever heard it. He also sang our blessing tonight for us. Sweet boy.

I talked to Reed's teacher this week and asked how he was doing. She had all good things to say about him (obviously) and mentioned what a good eater he was. She went on to say, "he's messy...probably the messiest one, but he's a good eater". At least he's consistent...because he's pretty messy here too. Another teacher said this week that she wanted whatever I was feeding Reed because he just always had so much energy. I told her I thought that was just him being a little boy and she said, "Well, some boys are like that." Glad to know we ended up with one of the "active" ones. I wouldn't trade him for the world though. He has the sweetest spirit and is just always so joyful.

I guess that's about it for now. I haven't slept great the last few nights and it's my turn with Gaines tonight so wish me luck. I cannot tell you how badly I wish for a night of uninterrupted sleep.

Love to all,

Brittany

P.S. And how about some comments? What's the deal with the lack of comments these days?

Answered Prayers

2010-03-02T16:47:00.001-05:00

We’ve had a pretty good week this past week. Reed and I took a little trip to Andalusia over the weekend and I think we both gained about 12 pounds each. I’m sorry but my grandmother is one of the best cooks around. Not only does she cook delicious food but she cooks a LOT of it. We had a good time down there. Reed got to “drive” a few tractors which he loved. He’s the center of attention whenever he visits and he eats it up. Plus my sister was down there and that made it even better for him. I love being down there…it just makes me so thankful for my family. I can’t wait to be able to take Gaines.

Gaines by the way has been doing awesome on ¾ of a liter and we actually noticed last night that he somehow had gotten bumped down to a half liter. And wouldn’t you know that little joker was handling it fine! Beau was fiddling with the concentrator (turns room air into oxygen) and noticed that Gaines was only getting a half liter of oxygen. Now, a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have put it past myself to “accidentally” turn him down and ask the doctor if it was ok after the fact, but we really and truly have no idea how that happened, or how long its been like that. Now that we are actually in the process of weaning I’m a lot more patient with the process so I’m fine with going slow. We debated about whether or not to leave him alone or to put him back to ¾ and finally decided to go back to ¾. Only because we reduced his Lasix yesterday too and we didn’t want to push too much on him too fast. The good news is, when the time comes to cut his oxygen to a half liter, we are pretty confident that he’ll be able to handle it. And you can be sure that next Monday, once we are sure he’s handling the cut in Lasix, I’ll be on the phone with the doctor asking for the next step. How exciting for Gaines!

In other positive Gaines news, he had physical therapy yesterday and got what I think was a great report. His therapist was very pleased with the progress in his sitting and gave us some tips on helping him learn to crawl. She felt like he’d be crawling in the next month or two. We think it could be sooner than that. You can see it in his little eyes that he’s trying to figure out how to get his legs under him. Also, she was very pleased with the improvement in his legs and gave them an 8.5. Not quite the 9 I was hoping for but definite improvement. She told me that she “definitely saw walking in his future”. I was so glad to hear that! She said that at this point she couldn’t promise that it would be without a limp or something but until now we haven’t had a vote of confidence like that in the walking department.

Now, she felt like he wouldn’t be walking until September at the earliest and said that it could be next spring but that it would happen. She based that on the fact that she thinks he’s about 2 months behind his corrected age (which is 8 months…so she thinks he’s about a 6 month old right now…and p.s., according to my figuring that’s a little conservative…I’d put him at about 7 months but that’s just me) and that on average kids walk around one year (some earlier, some later) so that would mean 2 months after his due date of July 7 which is September. Now, the reason that I’m ok with that is this. They base preemies’ adjusted age on their due date which is about the time most preemies leave the NICU (their due date)…Gaines didn’t leave the NICU until 2 months after his due date. I just really don’t think that’s a coincidence. While the nurses held him and loved on him as much as they could (as did we on our visits), it’s just not the same stimulation, etc that he would have gotten if he’d been at home in July. Plus he’s progressing at a consistent rate so I’m happy with it.

AND…then there was this part. The therapist was showing us some new moves to do with Gaines to help with his balance when standing. She was explaining that when you lean him forward he should get on his tip toes to balance and that when you lean him back wards, he should flex or lift his toes off the floor. When she saw him do the toe flex business she was really excited for him and said that seeing that, she could give me even more confidence on the walking. She said that it showed his front calf/shin muscle (whatever it’s called) was working. She said that muscle was very hard to stimulate and that the kids who couldn’t really use theirs were the kids you see in leg braces…and Gaines can use his!

If you don’t believe that all of this is God answering prayers…then I don’t know what…I’ll have to call you crazy. I mean, Gaines should not be here and here he is weaning oxygen and medicines like a champ and making steady progress on his development. Every night I pray that God will make Gaines an example of His faithfulness, mercy and compassion and that people will see a complete miracle from Him in Gaines. I pray that Gaines will grow up to be as smart, active and verbal as his big brother. Getting these good reports just fills my heart with joy. Please keep him in your prayers as we continue down this road.

Love to all,

Brittany

3/4 Liter

2010-02-23T06:54:00.002-05:00

Gaines blood work came back yesterday and looked good so his doctor had us turn his oxygen down to 3/4 a liter. I was so nervous because I knew I'd be devastated if he couldn't handle it but he did awesome! His sats were 97-99 last night while he was asleep. Please pray that this "takes" and that he doesn't get tired and have to go back up. Also, if he's still doing well next Monday we'll cut his Lasix back to .25 ml. If that goes well I'm supposed to call them back in two weeks and we might make another cut before we go back for clinic at the end of March. I am cautiously optimistic about all this. Afraid to get my hopes up too high but so excited that this first step seems to be going well. Please keep Gaines in your prayers. Wouldn't it be awesome to have a cordless baby by summer?

Love to all,

Brittany

Physical Therapy

2010-02-17T20:03:00.005-05:00

Hello all. Gaines had a PT appointment Monday so I thought I'd update you on that and ask for a few specific prayers. Oh, and, PS...a huge thank you to all of you out there that still pray for our family and little Gaines. He is doing great and we are managing to stay fairly sane but there are days when we need lots of prayers...ok, maybe I'm the only one that needs them. You know I'm working on my patience (and doing fairly well if I do say so myself) but there are still days when I get overwhelmed...trying to be all things to all people. My guess is that a lot of you have days like that, I just had one today. When did life get so hectic?

Anyway...enough of that...back to Gaines. His therapist thought that he had a really good appointment. She loves how much time he's spending on his belly and was impressed with his arm strength. She got some new exercises to be working on. One that puts him in a crawling position (he does not love it) and one is just standing at the couch with flat feet and un-bent legs (he didn't seem to love that either this afternoon). When she tried it with him he wanted to be on his toes with bent knees. With some help he'd straighten out with out really fighting her, but that was still his go to position. We want to correct that.

I asked her how she thought his hamstrings were doing and she thought they were the best they've ever been. A good answer but I wanted specifics. I asked what she thought they were on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. She said probably a 7-8. Good, but not what she wanted yet. She said he probably started as a 5. That means he has definitely made progress but is not quite there yet. So, one of my specific prayer requests is for Gaines to be a good solid 9 by his next appointment. I know that with our prayers, God can make him a 10 (and he will eventually) but I'm trying not to be greedy. I just want a 9 for now. I'm really trying to do everything I can to get him there. I've increased his stretching and massage and using heat to warm his muscles when stretching. Gaines is not quite so crazy about my new determination but he'll thank me one day. I'll keep you updated.

My other prayer request these next two weeks is for Gaines to finally master this sitting up business. He is so close but according to his therapist, his back muscles are still a little weak. He sits up, he just doesn't sit up as straight as we'd like. Please keep that in your prayers as well. As I see it, Gaines has 4 big milestones left before I can breath a sigh of relief (if that's even a reality with children!)...sitting, crawling, walking and talking. I'd love to get that list down to 3 very soon. He has a big exercise ball that we use to strengthen his core. It's pretty tough to use but I'm starting to get the hang of it. Please pray that my determination continues. I love hearing from all of you out there have have dealt with these same frustrations. They remind me that I'm not alone in having to do this stuff. Some days I just want to crash on the couch but I know that Gaines needs me to do these exercises with him. Hearing your success stories or tips helps keep my head where it should be.

I really hope you all don't mind hearing my inner thoughts...I don't hold much back on here. I know I come across as complaining and probably ungrateful sometimes...I promise I'm not, I just try to be honest. Being a mom is hard sometimes!

Back to my boys...In other Gaines related news, he said Dada today. Not just Da...a full Dada. His poor Mama will probably have to wait a while to hear her name. I swear it took Reed forever to say "Mama".

Also, I haven't mentioned it in a while but Reed is pretty much potty trained. He only wears diapers at night. Every so often...like less than once a week, he'll have an accident but he has really done great with potty training. Honestly I feel like it's even less than that. Sorry...just had to brag on my big boy for a minute.

This is kind of funny...Beau just put Reed to bed and they said his prayers. They went through the list of thank you for mama, daddy, Gaines, Jack...Amen. Then Reed said, "What about my horse?" (his rocking horse that was the ONLY thing he told us Santa was going to bring him but that he never plays with), so Beau said, "And thank you for Reed's horse".
Reed: "What about my bike?"
Beau: "And thank you for Reed's bike."
Reed: "What about my scooter?"
Beau: "And thank you for Reed's scooter".

Then Reed got a big smile on his face and rolled over to go to sleep. His priorities might be a little skewed but at least he's thankful for his "bessings".

I'm out for now. I've got a boy out of bed that needs a talking to.

Thanks for keeping up with us. I mean it.

Pictures below if you haven't checked in in a few days.

Love to all,

Brittany

New Pictures

2010-02-14T18:16:00.003-05:00

We took the boys outside today for a very short walk. The weather was okay and the fresh air has to be good for Gaines. Here are a few pictures from the walk.

Randomness

2010-02-10T20:06:00.003-05:00

I don't have too much too much to report tonight. Both boys are doing really well...Reed has been recovered and Gaines is almost totally clear. Thank goodness. Friday we'll go to have some blood work done and will find out what the plan is as far as weaning medicines and oxygen. Gaines' RSV kind of put a kink in the original plan.

We are all hanging out watching Charlie Brown Valentine tonight. Reed doesn't understand the commercials. Every night we let him watch Backyardigans from 7-7:30 to sort of wind down before bed and there are no commercials on Nick Jr. So, we get lots of whining every time it goes to commercial. We'll have to work on patience with him...poor boy...he get's it honest.

Let's see what else...I think Gaines may be teething. We cannot keep his hands or oxygen cord out of his mouth. Oh, I think he's saying "Da" now. We've been getting "Boo" for a little while but now we've moved to another consonant. That's a good sign for his verbal and cognitive development. All these therapists have warped my mind. They ask all these questions and now I overanalyze every little thing. They'll ask something I've never thought about so then I start watching him like a hawk looking for whatever it is they've asked about. In this case, is he babbling consonants or vowels?

Reed is so funny these days (do I say that in every post?). He asked me the other day if I wanted to get my face painted at the circus (like he just did a few weeks ago). Also, he must be picking up on Valentines Day because last Sunday we were eating lunch and he said, "Mama, what about Val-tines Day?" I didn't know what all he was asking about but I told him a few things and that maybe I would make pancakes for breakfast on Valentines Day. He said, "Oh, I yove pancakes".

Another day I told him that a shirt he wanted to wear that had a stain on it would have to be a Saturday shirt. He said, "Oh, I yove Saturdays".

One last Reed story...this one is really sweet. One day I said, "I love you Reed" and he said "I yove you Mama." We went back and forth a few times (me loving every minute of it) and finally I said, "I love you the most". He said, "the most?" like he didn't know what that meant so I explained it. Now when I say, "I love you Reed" he says, "I yove you most". I love it.

I guess that's about it for tonight. I told you I didn't have much.

Love to all,

Brittany

P.S. During the typing of this post I've learned that deviation from the usual routine of Backyardigans is not the best idea. We had a major meltdown after Charlie Brown. Not worth it.

The Miracles in Everyday Life

2010-02-04T20:46:00.002-05:00

Brittany's last update on the boys was Tuesday night. We were fighting RSV, 4 infected ears and 2 infected eyes. We went to sleep Tuesday night prepared for the worst. The plan was for me to wake up at midnight to give Gaines a breathing treatment and for Brittany to wake up at 4 AM for another breathing treatment. We were also prepared to wake up to find Reed with his eyes matted shut.

Well, we both woke up at our designated times for the breathing treatments and were pleasantly surprised when Gaines slept through the night with very little coughing. Wednesday morning I immediately went to Reed's room so he wouldn't be scared when he couldn't open his eyes. I was shocked to find his eyes to be normal. I kept looking at him and asking to see his eyes...I was sure I was somehow missing something. I even asked him if his eyes hurt and he very quickly responded "No, they're feeling better".

Long story short...both boys are on the road to recovery. Reed acts as if he is fully recovered and Gaines is getting there. It will take Gaines a little while to get over the RSV but I think he is holding his own right now. It was amazing to go to bed Tuesday night fearing eye infections for one child and a possible hospital stay for the other...only to wake up Wednesday morning and for Reed to be well and Gaines to be much better. Sometimes the miracles in everyday life go unnoticed.

By the way, for those of you who like irony:

This journey started last March when Brittany went to Washington, DC on a 4 day business trip. I just found out that I will be leaving in March on a 5 day business trip to...Washington, DC. Weird.

Four Infected Ears, Two Infected Eyes and a Case of RSV

2010-02-02T20:24:00.002-05:00

First of all, let me just tell you that the four warm chocolate chip cookies (with milk!) that I'm eating right now are delicious and well deserved. It has been one heck of a day. I'll start from the beginning.

When I woke up this morning I thought Gaines was almost fully recovered from his cold. He slept all night without coughing and when he woke up for his usual 4:00-4:45 (A.M!) play time (he likes to wake up around 4, play for a little while and go back to sleep until 6...I love him but it is a touch annoying) he was just awake and playing...no coughing which had become pretty standard the last week. When I left for work he was playing on his mat and I was not worried about him at all. He still had the occasional coughing fit but they were fewer and fewer each day.

Fast forward to 11:30. I'm working away getting ready for lunch and my phone rings. It's Reed's daycare. Deep breath before I answer. They think he may have pink eye and I need to come pick him up. Awesome.

I quickly call Beau since he is at the doctor's office with Gaines for Gaines' 9 month check-up and monthly synagis (RSV vaccination) shot. He calls me back on my way to get Reed and tells me to bring him on, the doctor can squeeze him in too. We hurry to the doctor and find the exam room. The scene is not what I expect. Everyone seems kind of worried about Gaines and Gaines does not look like he did when I left him. Beau tells me that as they were getting in the car he started a coughing fit and his sats dropped and he was obviously not feeling well at all. Beau even turned his oxygen up some.

Long story short, both of Gaines' ears are infected (even though he's on antibiotics) and he has RSV. (Yes, even though he's been being vaccinated for it the last 5 months and despite the fact that he comes into contact with very few humans). The doctor thought he should be admitted to the hospital and was trying to decide if Gaines should go to Children's in Birmingham or if he could just stay here. He called and talked to the pulmonologist in Birmingham and somewhere in that conversation they decided he could be treated at home. He responded well to an albuterol treatment and had come back down to a liter of oxygen with good sats so they both felt pretty good about it. He got a steroid shot in addition to the oral ones he's been taking for a week. We have been giving him breathing treatments every two hours this afternoon and will be going to every four after the 8 p.m. one. That means we'll be waking up at midnight and 4 a.m. but at least we are avoiding the hospital for now.

He seems great right now. That's the thing. He'll seem totally fine rolling around and really playing but then he starts coughing and it takes him a few minutes to get over it. It obviously hurts him to cough and his face turns red and he gags and it's just bad. You feel so sorry for him. Anyway, right now he seems to be doing well so please pray that he gets over this without a hospital visit. He goes back to the doctor tomorrow for a check-up. Pray that it goes well.

Someone asked the other day what all medicines Gaines was on so here is the current list. Keep in mind that the antibiotic and steroid are only temporary. Here goes. Lasix, Diuril, Aldactone (all diuretics to keep him from retaining fluid), Baclofen, Prevacid (both for reflux), Vitamin D, Sodium Chloride (both supplements because of all the diuretics), Orapred (steroid), Augmenten (antibiotic), Albuterol via nebulizer (usually just twice daily), IP Bromide via nebulizer and Flovent. I can't decide if CVS loves us or hates us. Either way they definitely know us.

As for Reed, he does not have pink eye. He has two infected ears that apparently can cause eye infections. I've never heard of this happening until today but it seems that it can. He's not contagious so as long as his eyes aren't all matted shut tomorrow he can go back to school. I'm just not sure they aren't going to be all gross tomorrow. His eyes did not look good when he went to bed and are both of them are looking goopy now. Hasn't slowed him down though.

Actually, I was at CVS with him this afternoon picking up his medicine and ran into a lady that works at my company. I don't know her well but well enough to speak. She asked if Reed was mine and I looked at him with his crazy hair from his nap, crusty nose and swollen and running eye (let's just say he was not looking his best) and said, "Yes, but he's normally cuter than this". Does that make me a bad mother? Oh well if it does.

I washed my hands like crazy before I took my contacts out but I still cringed as I did it. Reed isn't contagious but it still grossed me out touching my eyes right after I wiped nasty goop out of his.

I guess that's about it for now. I've got the 4 o'clock shift so I'm headed to bed. Please keep my little patients in your prayers.

Love to all,

Brittany

Life This Week

2010-01-28T20:43:00.002-05:00

Life this week has been a little on the rough side. I think Beau thinks I'm probably overstating things but I am just slap worn out. The nanny (who will now be referred to as Kristen. "Nanny" sounds a little pretentious to me...we are not "nanny" people) and I took Gaines to Birmingham for his pulmonologist appointment (more on that in a sec) on Monday and didn't get home until 7:00. This might not have been quite so bad if a large portion of the time from 4-7 had not been spent stuck on the interstate with my sweet angel "singing" in the back seat.

Beau went out of town Tuesday so I had the boys by myself Tuesday night, Wednesday morning and Wednesday night. Let me just say right now that Beau has me trapped. There is no way I could be a single parent. (That is obviously a joke about being trapped...sometimes I feel like I have to clarify my jokes on here...Beau and I are very happily married...99% of the time...another joke...I'm on a roll tonight...we are always happily married) ANYWAY...back to the point, the two nights were constant but doable...Wednesday morning killed me. I hadn't been so happy to see my desk chair since we got back from DC. Gaines' cold didn't help because it meant he had to have a breathing treatment first thing which means 30 minutes of me just sitting there with the nebulizer. In the mean time, my angel Reed climbs into my bed and has an accident. Awesome. Strip the bed, start the laundry...Oh, Jack has thrown up four times on my rug. Double awesome. I'll spare you the rest but suffice it to say, it was a long morning.

So, Thursday rolls around and Gaines' cold is in full force. I mean he's pitiful...not eating, wining, sleeping and I can tell that Kristen is worried about him so I leave work early (where I had plenty to be doing) and come home to check on him. Thankfully since the pulmonologist had just seen him he called in a steroid and antibiotic for him. I was so stressed and worried about him (he's really pretty sick) that I called Beau right at 5 and begged him to come home. He does and by the time he gets there, the little joker is all smiles and bouncing in his jumperoo. My only guess is that the Tylenol had kicked in (and yes I got permission to give it to him, I would have never just done it with all the other meds he's taking). So, being the total loser that I am, called my friend I was supposed to work out with and begged out of it. I really did (and still do) have a terrible headache...I'm typing through the pain. Your welcome.

So, now that I've filled you in on way too much of my week...Gaines' appointment. Gaines had a great appointment! He was a touch sick but I think the doctor was able to tell that he's improving. So much so that after this cold, we are going to try and turn his oxygen down to 3/4 liters! Now, I'm trying not to get too excited because he may not be able to handle it but at least the doctor thinks its worth trying. Also, after about a week of that, we are to get some blood work done and if that looks good we can cut back on the Lasix to .25 mL. So, please say a prayer that all will go well and that he'll be on less oxygen and medicine soon. He also said that if his weight gain and labs look good when we go back in 2 months, we can come up with a plan to start really weaning oxygen and meds! AND he reconfirmed my hope of Gaines being off oxygen by June...at least during the day. I'm so trying not to get my hopes up about it (Beau thinks it will take longer) but wouldn't that be awesome? Also, we are increasing the volume of his bottles in an effort to help his weight gain...it was good this time but not quite what we'd love. I was not surprised being as it is next to impossible to go 24 hours without some sort of spit up. We did however just up one of his reflux meds so maybe that will help.

Just a side note, I normally hate saying things like meds instead of medicines (don't even get me started on AC and OJ...I almost couldn't marry Beau over those two) but I've just given up on un-shortening things. I only have so much time in the day.

Oh, this is kind of funny. Reed finished his milk at dinner the other night and asked for water so I gave it to him. This was a night I was home alone with them so he was eating while I was tending to Gaines (I normally prefer family dinners but you do what you can when you're a single parent). I went back to check on Reed and he had spit water all down the front of his shirt. He looked at me and said, "I spit up".

Reed also likes to test his boundaries these days but I hadn't realized how much "discipline" he was getting until the other day I heard him talking to his truck. He said, "You do NOT do that. Do you need a 'pankin, truck? You go to timeout." He really is a sweet boy, just being two and trying to figure out what he can get away with.

I think that's about it for now. I'm tired. Please pray for our little Gaines and that he gets over this cold quickly and that he can handle 3/4 liters.

Love to all,

Brittany

Two New Videos

2010-01-23T11:05:00.002-05:00

Reed has learned his ABC's and Gaines' physical therapist said it was okay for him to use his jumperoo...He loves it.