July 17

I wrote last on the day before my mom's birthday.  Today is the day before my dad's birthday.  In less than a month it will be Ryan's 'supposed to be Birthday'. That makes him 11 months corrected and 14.5 months actual.  Since the last post (the one where Ryan was done with oxygen), things have been going  well.  He's much easier to take places (so far he's been to Target, a shoe store, and of course my parent's house).  We are still trying to protect him but at the same time, we're trying to let him experience life.

2 weeks ago, we got his hearing aids.  He's been adjusting well to having them - although he pulls his right one out a bazillion times a day... someone beat me to the invention of a mesh bonnet that ties around the chin to help keep them in. 

We bought him his first pair of 'real' shoes today since he's been pretty interested in standing up.

He's been in the pool a handful of times and seems to enjoy it. 

Sadie is still his favourite person, and she is getting better and better with him.  She has a wide spectrum of feelings toward him.  First thing in the morning and at bedtime, she's at her best with him  - lots of laughs, helping, and hugs.  Midday - I'm not sure what it is, but she seems to lose it a bit.  This afternoon, they were sitting together on the floor and I asked her what she wanted to do later on.  She said, "I want to knock him over."  I understand the temptation, and I'm glad she voiced it rather than doing it... she's a funny one.

We are now at war with the neighborhood racoons. They have decided that Ryan's little slide/swing combo is theirs.... today in broad daylight there was a family of 5 playing on it.  One little bugger was apparently up on his back legs pushing the swing.  I'm disgusted/distraught/annoyed about the whole thing.  We have a brand new deck, a giant umbrella for shade, and this cute little climber thing and now it's contaminated with dirty racoon prints.  I called the MNR today and since they are now 'damaging' our property (they're even scratching up some of the wood on the deck), we're allowed to either humanely trap or kill them.  WHAT!? We have to do it ourselves.  They don't live in our yard - they live next door but the lady claims that since they aren't bothering her she doesn't want to do anything about it.  I will show her the pic I have and hopefully she'll cooperate and pay a portion of the removal cost.  Rant over.

Saying goodbye to his big tank - I'm happy our tree is so big, but it blocks the Medigas sign on the truck! (also - first pic with hearing aids in!)

At Sick Kids for a  GI study... those gowns are made to make kids look sick - he was FINE that day!

First retail trip.  He's in there somewhere - was camera shy I guess. 

 

 

A note about our trip to Sick Kids... We've been wondering what's going on with his tummy because he ALWAYS seems to be full/refluxy.  His meds are at the maximum dose, and we use all the 'tricks' to help keep the milk down.  To rule out any structural abnormalities we had to do an upper GI study.  Basically he had to drink barium while lying on a xray table so they could watch how it travelled down.  After that, he had to drink more and then they took more pictures as it travelled through his system.  The good news is that the results were normal and there no structural abnormalities - but we're still left with no answers.  His eating is miles better than it was a couple months ago and it seems to be on an upward slope, but I just want him to be more comfortable.  The reflux is also a major reason we don't really take him anywhere because he's guaranteed to puke whenever/wherever.  A road trip longer than a couple hours is out of the question because it would involve having to feed him mid way.  We are itching to get away, but a few more pieces of the puzzle have to fall into place before that can happen.  My money's on late spring/next summer.

Happy Birthday tomorrow, dad.

blow!