Summertime

Seems as if I'm managing an update about every 2 months, but hey that's our life around here. Cambrie graduated from kindergarten at the end of May. We are so proud of how far she has come this year after a crazy start. She was only in school for a few weeks before we left for China, and she missed over 2 weeks. Kyle finished up a great year with several awards. He had to work hard that first quarter to catch up after missing 2 weeks of 5th grade. But he managed to reach his goals and even made Principal's list all 4 quarters. Aiden is loving life despite 2 surgeries and numerous doctor visits. It amazes me that he will just walk right back with whatever nurse comes to get us. I would think after all he has been through that he would be scared of medical people. His personality is such a blessing. I think he will definately accomplish whatever he sets his mind to.

We have had a busy summer so far. We met all of Eddie's family in Myrtle Beach the first week of June. The kids had a blast with their cousins, and Aiden loved spending the whole week in water. He wasn't too sure about the loud ocean, but loved our pool at the house. Cambrie taught herself to swim with some instruction from her big cousin Blayne, so she was thrilled. Kyle and Eddie went off to church camp this past week and had a blast. Actually I picked Eddie up on Tues night b/c he had to be at work on Wednesday. Kyle came home today looking pretty worn down, but probably would have stayed another week.

We are thankful to have surgeries behind us for the moment. Aiden's mouth healed quickly without much discomfort, and the circumcision only seemed to bother him during a diaper change. Glad to have them out of the way. During his bronchoscopy and ct scan they discovered that he had a lot of "junk" in his lungs, so we had a swallow study done. We found that he is apsirating when he drinks liquids because he drinks so fast and overpowers his muscles. We now have to thicken all liquids and have removed the valves from all his sippy cups hoping to slow down how fast he drinks. Can I just say I have little spots all over my floors and furniture from the drippage out of the cups. But at least it matches the rest of my messy house. He has also had several ear infections, so tubes may be in our near future. The pulmonologist also suspects he may have acid reflux based on the condition of his lungs, so we are treating that with medicine. Fortunately our pulmonologist decided Aiden was a perfect candidate for a special clinic at Vanderbilt that will involve a pulmonologist, a gastroenterologist, and an ENT. When we go, we will see all 3 doctors together that will coordinate his care. Makes sense to me, and it saves us several trips as well as peace of mind that they are all working together. Our first visit will be in August. He has also been referred for a hearing evaluation because he failed the test in the pediatrician's office. Cambrie failed this as well, and ended up being fine when we had her tested further. But since he is waiting to start speech therapy, this has to be ruled out first so they know how to work with him. Gotta tell you that even with all these things going on, you would never know it if you saw him. He is the happiest guy! He smiles all the time and says hi to anyone who glances his way.

As of now, we don't have any more major plans for summer. Just looking forward to some quiet nights and weekends at home, knowing that will all change when school starts in about a month. Thanks for checking in on us!

Kelly

Pictures

Happy 3rd Birthday!!!!!

Just wanted to post a quick shout out to our big 3 yr old boy today. We will have his party tomorrow night, but he did get a new Thomas the Train motorized train and a Thomas beach chair this morning. He was very excited! Can't wait to post pictures of his first birthday as a part of our family. We love you Aiden!

Surgery Postponed

Thought I would update and let everyone know that Aiden's surgery was postponed by the anesthesiologist at the last second. While I completely understand his concern about the lung issue, he did not treat us very nicely, and implied we needed to consider our son's safety before putting him through elective surgery. Well, yes the circumcision is elective, but his dental surgery is not an option at this point. We just wanted to knock out both procedures while he is under anesthesia so he won't have to endure it twice. So we will proceed as planned with the bronchoscopy and CT scan next month (which of course requires anesthesia), and then reschedule the other after we know for sure what we are dealing with in his lung. Thanks for the prayers, and we will let you know when we have some news. I'm also adding a few pictures we had taken last week.

Kelly

Update

Hey, yes we are still alive, but extremely busy. We had an awesome holiday season with family and friends. Aiden loved everything about Christmas, but especially his Thomas the Train. It was one of the first gifts he opened, and he carried it around all day and even went to sleep with it that night. It seems January was the month of sickness in our house. I was the only one fortunate enough to have escaped the flu. Eddie had it first and managed to develop a lower respiratory infection as well. Then Aiden had an ear infection that required 3 rounds of different antibiotics to knock it out. During these visits the doctor was concerned about pneumonia as well, so she ordered a chest x-ray. She called last week to say they had received the final report of the x-ray and that there was a suspicious area in his lung, and that she compared the x-ray to the one he had in September, and the spot was there then as well. They originally thought it was just pneumonia, but she wanted us to see a pediatric pulmonologist to be sure, especially since he is scheduled for surgery this Friday. We were fortunate to get his dental surgery piggy-backed onto his circumcision surgery so he would only have to be put to sleep once. He will probably not speak to us for awhile after Friday. Anyway, so the pulmonologist felt like he has some atelectasis (small collapse of his lung) in that area. They want to do a bronchoscopy and a CT scan to determine the cause, but are going to wait until after he is recovered from this surgery. Then I received a call yesterday from the pulmonologist saying that she had presented Aiden's x-rays in their grand rounds and the consensus was that there is an enlarged blood vessel that is obstucting his lung and causing the atelectasis. So now we will be having an echocardiogram on Friday before the surgery to be sure his heart is ok. We're pretty overwhelmed at this point, and we just feel so bad for our little man. He is such a trooper, and is so happy through all of this. However, we are thankful for good physicians that have gone the extra mile to be sure he is ok for surgery. I'm so glad his pediatrician decided to look at that previous x-ray, instead of writing it off to pneumonia. We feel blessed as well to be at Vanderbilt for his treatment. So we definately covet your prayers over the next few days and even months. We know God is not surprised by any of this, and that Aiden is, as he has always been, in His hands. I will try to update after the surgery and let you know how he is doing.

Kyle and Cambrie are doing well with school. Kyle is involved with several extra curricular activities at school, as usual, so that keeps us running back and forth a lot. Thankfully we are taking the spring season off as far as sports go, so that will afford us some much needed rest on the weekends and weeknights. We are looking forward to a short trip to St. Loius for spring break. We went to Indianapolis last year for a few days, and that was just the right amount of time to get away but not exhaust us. Kyle is especially looking forward to going up in the Arch. I have graciously volunteered to stay with Aiden at the bottom. I don't care for heights, not to mention the swaying that sometimes occurs at the top. We also plan to visit the zoo, and a few fun museums. It will be our first official vacation as a family of 5, so we are excited.

Last night we had some professional photos taken of Aiden and the whole family, so I hope to post some of those on here when I get a chance. They turned out really nice, but I spent a fortune on them. I was just amazed that the photographer was able to get some shots of all 3 children looking at the same time. Not an easy feat!

Well, that's our news for now. I'm sure the next few weeks will be just as crazy as the last 5 months, but we wouldn't change a thing. We are so thankful for our blessings.

Kelly

Decorating cookies for Santa

Christmas morning
Snow on Christmas Day