Halloween Festivities

Today we had a very fun day packed with Halloween festivities. Cole was so excited to wear his costume to preschool for the Halloween party, and I have to say he was a very cute pirate, even if he insists that he is a naughty pirate. At the end of the day the kids put on a little performance for the parents with all of the songs they learned this month. Cole loves the Halloween songs and tends to sing some of them all year; it was pretty adorable to watch. After the songs they hit a pinata and Cole got his first installment of Halloween candy.

Next we headed to the pumpkin patch and Cole had so much fun picking out his favorite little pumpkin and Grant was excited to get his first taste of straw. I had a blast taking a million pictures of the boys playing with the pumpkins.

Later we celebrated my Dad's birthday, which was the 29th. It was absolutely freezing outside, but we had a good time carving pumpkins; as usual Romi and Jason showed everyone up with professional looking pumpkins with characters from Where the Wild Things Are-they looked pretty amazing. Cole helped me carve pumpkins a little, but mostly had a blast running around with Caden and hanging out in front of the fire. He told some "scary stories" in front of the fire, which were pretty hilarious and of course they were about animals. Grant looked like a little pumpkin in his orange sweatshirt and little beanie.

Cole had such a fun day, and he hadn't even gone trick-or-treating yet; its no wonder Halloween is one of his favorite holidays.

Christopher Creek

We went Christopher Creek with Derek's family for the weekend and had a really great time. It has been over a year since we have had any sort of vacation and it was very much needed, even if it was only a few days. Two or three months ago I would not even consider venturing with Grant hours away from a large hospital; it was pretty amazing how comfortable I felt traveling with him. It really shows how far he has come in the past months. Cole was looking forward to going to "the woods" and was asking for weeks in advance about all the animals we would see. I am embarrased to say that our poor boy had yet to visit a forest, and he was so excited to spend some time with the primos (aka his cousins Dakota and Caden) and to go fishing for the first time. I was suprised by how much Cole enjoyed fishing, and was very good at casting his own line. It was freezing cold at the lake and we didn't catch a fish, but it was still a great experience. Cole is looking forward to fishing again.

Hopeful News!

Yesterday we got some more great news and another answer to prayers-Grant is definitely a little miracle. On his prenatal ultrasounds we noticed that Grant had a cyst in his abdomen. In March before he was discharged from the NICU he had an ultrasound to try to figure out what it was. It was pretty large on the ultrasound; if I remember correctly it was about an inch wide, which was big considering he was only about five pounds. The radiologist and the surgeon weren't sure what the cyst was, but they hypothesized that it was a bowel duplication cyst. These are rare cysts and can be dangerous if they rupture. The surgeon had planned to remove the cyst when Grant is about a year old, but on his follow-up ultrasound yesterday they couldn't find any cysts in his abdomen. The radiologist said that we will probably recheck in about six months or do a CAT scan, and hopefully they still will not see anything. The thought of Grant going under anesthesia, being intubated again, and having his perfect little tummy opened up was terrible; not to mention the risks of having to remove part of his intestine. I am so excited that they did not see anything yesterday, and I hope and pray that the cyst never reaapears so Grant will not have to undergo any surgery.

A Regular Baby Now

A few weeks ago we took Grant to his pulmonologist and something he said really stuck in my head. He told us Grant looked great and he informed us that we "have a regular baby now." Of course in the same sentence he told us that he was discontinuing Grant's heart rate/apnea monitor and I was in a bit of shock. He teased that we were becoming too attached to the monitor and that Grant can't take it with him to kindergarten. I knew that this was coming, especially because it hadn't alarmed in months, but it was my little security blanket. After seeing Grant literally turn blue countless times in the NICU, I think the monitor was the only thing that kept me sane once he was finally home. Last week home health picked up the monitor and the oxygen tanks that have been sitting unused in our bedroom for months. I felt like a new mom with a brand new "regular" baby; the first couple of nights I checked Grant pretty frequently to make sure he was still breathing, but I am becoming less nervious. Of course I still turn the speaker on the baby monitor up loud enough to hear him breathing. I am so proud of my "regular baby" and couldn't be more amazed with how far he has come. This week Grant had his nine month check up and he weighed 20 lbs and was 27 inches long. My little growth restricted preemie with lung disease has already caught up and is in the 45th percentile for nine months for weight and length and 60th percentile for head circumference. Our pediatrician finally gave us the ok to switch to regular formula with no extra calories-hurray!! Grant is also taking his bottles without thickener for the first time ever and is doing great. Everyday when I look at Grant I am seeing more of a regular baby and less tiny preemie and it is so great!

A final pic of Grant with his monitor belt on. He is in love with his feet now. He has wanted to get a hold of his toes for a while, and his legs and hips are finally loose enough for him to bring his feet up without help and he loves it!