An Early Valentine

With some bad weather approaching Illinois, Grandma and Grandpa decided to mail a special Valentine package for Braiden. He loved everything in the box, especially the turtle that he insists is a frog and continues to say, ribbit!
Thank you very much Grammy and Grandpa! Love- Braiden

Our Drummer

Every time I empty the dishwasher Braiden wants to help and by help I mean pull dishes out and make as much noise as possible with them :-)

Hopefully this is not an indication of the instrument he'll play when he grows up!

Polar Bear Plunge

On Sunday, Dave participated in the Polar Bear Plunge at our community pool. I was shocked at the turn out! A ton of families came out to jump into cold water.
Watching Daddy get ready to go down the slide

Getting the thumbs up before touching the water

Getting close to the bottom

Did it and it's COLD!

You guessed it, Braiden could not be this close to water and not touch!

Happy 11th Birthday

Braiden was invited to yet another birthday party this Friday. It was at Adventure Landing, which is a fun arcade, mini golf, and go kart place. The party was to celebrate Isaiah's 11th birthday. Braiden had an absolute blast and was fascinated by all of the games, noise, and people.
Daddy and Braiden shooting hoops

Driving :-)

Skeet ball was Braiden's absolute favorite part of the night

He couldn't figure out why after his throws were over the ball wasn't coming back

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISAIAH!!!

A Day at the Movies

A few weekends ago we took Braiden to Dave's work for a movie day to see, Despicable Me. We took his booster seat and a stuffed animal he picked and headed to the movie. We weren't sure how he was going to do, but he LOVED it... or loved the candy they were giving out :-)
Not sure about it yet

Completely in to the movie

Sticky little boy

A clip from the movie

On the Mend

My sweet baby boy is on the mend and starting to act like himself again. He's back to smiling, laughing, yelling, running, and throwing balls in the house :-) He is still on his nebulizer every 4 hours and wheezes throughout the day, but all in all he's better! Braiden was taking a bath this evening and I figured I'd snap a few pictures of his smiling face.

A Long Weekend...

After my previous post, things started to go down hill quickly for Braiden. His breathing continued to be a problem. However, we continued giving him his nebulizer treatments, thinking his breathing would improve. Then, while sitting in the family room together Braiden's lips and fingers turned blue and he started shaking. He was crying as if he was agitated. I knew something was wrong, so we headed off to get a doctors opinion. When we arrived, Braiden's oxygen level was extremely low, he had a fever, and was wheezing pretty bad. They made the decision to keep him over night. While there we found out that Braiden had RSV for the second time. He was treated with IV fluids and strong antibiotics, nebulizer treatment, and Robitussin with codeine to help him rest. Our stay was extended a bit longer as the doctor felt Braiden would benefit from close observation. Our last night there was a difficult one for Braiden. We don't know if it was his little body reacting adversely to a medication or what, but he screamed uncontrollably from 9pm until 1am. During that time he tried pulling out his IV and wrestled with me, Dave, and the nurse. Nothing made him happy. The decision was made at that time to take the IV out and send him home to rest. Thank goodness!! We were all ready to head home to our own beds. Braiden slept with us that night. We didn't sleep much as he woke crying and then fought with us when it was time for a nebulizer treatment, which we continue having to do every 4 hours. He's doing much better. Not much can keep our tough guy down. He asked to go out today to hit a "home run" AKA, he wanted to go outside to play baseball :-) He takes after his Momma; we just don't know how to sit still!

Here are some of the pictures I took during our stay. The first few are blurry as they were with my phone.
Our sweet baby boy after having his IV put in. Let me add that he did not cry once while getting the IV put in. He's is such a strong little guy!

Worn out after a tough first night

We were allowed to take Braiden home with IV in arm to get showered and rest for a bit before heading back for another night stay. As you can tell he was pretty exhausted!

When we got home all he wanted to do was watch music videos on the computer and play with his choo-choo train :-)

He missed his toys, but was so worn out he couldn't sit up to play with them... poor baby

Back again. Hooked up to his IV and watching a DVD to stay distracted

Relaxing in the big recliner

Braiden's friends Isaiah and Alysia came over to visit Braiden once he got home. They brought him a Wow Wow Wubzy doll, which he loves and they were able to get him to take his nebulizer without fighting!

Still has his Humor

Braiden had a pretty tough night last night and was up for the good part of the evening/morning. He was so tired, but each time he fell asleep he was woken up by a horrible cough and trouble breathing. At 2am we moved onto the coach and watched a couple episodes of Barney and had a nebulizer treatment. When he got up this morning, his sense of humor was still in tact. He repeatedly put two pacifiers in his mouth and thought it was pretty funny.
Sick baby boy looking pretty pathetic, but making Mommy laugh
Breaks my heart to see this chubby little face so down

Precious little piggy's resting in Mommy's bed

Under the Weather

My sweet boy is not feeling too hot this weekend. He seems to have caught a cold, which is difficult for him only because he gets a horrible cough every time and ends up needing nebulizer treatments. He usually fights me like crazy to take his medicine, but today has willingly sat on the couch to take it, twice!

He doesn't want anything to eat, however just a bit ago walked over to the freezer and said , "Pop-pop Momma." They're 100% real fruit popsicles and I'm sure they feel good on his throat. So, as I write this he's a purple mess... but is enjoying is pop-pop :-)

A Thomas the Train Party

Braiden was in heaven today at a Thomas the Train party for his friends, Blake and Chase. The first highlight of the party was a little ride on choo-choo. Then, a big train pulled up! Of course, the best part of all for Braiden was.... you guessed it, the CAKE :-) My baby loves dessert!
Riding on Thomas the Train

Kylie, Daddy, and Braiden going for a ride on the choo-choo

Braiden and Mommy on the choo-choo

(he is a bit under the weather, so he didn't crack a smile for any of the photos)

This was such a cute idea. The train drove all around the neighborhood

Enjoying his cake!

Love these chubby little hands

Playing with Kylie

Relaxing on the swing

Climbing

Our Picky Eater is Improving

Since Braiden turned one we've battled on a daily basis to get him to eat. He is extremely fussy, which ended up in us having to give him "muscle milk" to be sure he continues to gain weight and get the proper nutrition to grow big and strong :-) His meals consist of cereal, blueberry bagels (a new development), fruit- strawberries are his favorite, chicken nuggets, noodles (but only the tubular type), yogurt, and of course ANY type of desert. We constantly offer him new foods, especially at dinner time. We offer him everything we're eating. Without fail, he wrinkles his nose and refuses to taste anything. However, tonight at dinner her asked to taste my rice. I gladly put the spoon up to him, thinking he would immediately turn his head and to our surprise... he took a bit and asked for more. I put some in a bowl and he fed himself an entire bowl of rice and then asked again for more. If only we could get him to ask for vegetables. I do make a shake with 2 handfulls of spinach in it that he seems to enjoy ;-)