Fast weekend

The boys are just cruisin' along. Brady is continuing to mimic us, and even WAVED - finally! The boys enjoyed a day with Nana Letts and Miss Denise while Jason and I attended his work holiday party out in Oconomowoc on Saturday.

The weekend went too fast! The holiday cards are mailed, most of the presents are purchased and wrapped and I've started our holiday cookies, which the boys are NOT allowed to help with until next year for obvious reasons :) I'm in full holiday swing!

New note to self: Do NOT clean the bathtub when you're alone with the boys. They throw everything in it, thus dissolving all my bath salts and soaps...neat.

I'll attach some pictures this week for sure. The boys have a Christmas party to attend on Wednesday morning hosted by their therapists with a Santa and everything, this should be fun! Who wants to bet the over-under on which kid, or both screams when sitting on Santa on Wednesday??

Little tornados

The boys are cruising along. Brady is still copying us with many things EXCEPT walking and talking :)

Jax had his GJ-tube changed out at the hospital this morning. I'm glad that's over with for the next 3 months. He's really cruising around wearing his backpack now, which is pretty cute.

The boys pretty much use everyday to trash as many rooms as possible in the house now. As they get taller, the more and more things end up on the floor that they can reach! It's pretty much a complete tornado all over the place! I will have to start snapping photos of rooms they destroy for your entertainment.

Here's Brady NOT using his plate appropriately.

(But MUST hold onto a fork or spoon at all times)

This is REALLY not the appropriate use of a plate or fork.

Hmmm...a new way to contain the little men!

(Notice the lovely snow storm outside the window)

Pretend Play

Brady has been doing the CUTEST things this past week by copying us. He was pretending to put lotion on his body after his bath the other night. He took the closed lotion bottle and swirled his hand over the top of it and then rubbed all over his legs. He's been picking up Jax's plastic medicine syringes and pretending to mix up his medicine. He's been mixing and stirring bowls at every chance he has, and now HAS to hold onto a fork or spoon while eating. Since he can't always make contact well enough with the food, he'll touch the food with the utensil and then pretend to eat off of it. He also takes Jax's bib off and tries to put it back on him (he thinks Jax is magnetic like the fridge, so you can imagine how he tries to put it back on him). It's so neat to watch this development happen, and stinkin' cute too.

Jax has been getting better with his super mini backpack. He had an entire PT appointment this morning with it on, and his therapist was very impressed with him. She gave us the okay with it, and the chiropractor said he looked good as well (and liked the padding of the backpack), although he was a little out of alignment (but we're on top of that with weekly visits). His episodes have remained pretty steady with an average of 4-6. He has some great days, and then some normal days, so he's doing pretty well. I've also increased his pump rate now to 41 ml/hr, so we're able to give him a good break when he first gets up in the morning and then of course in the evening. He'll be having his tube replaced at the hospital on Wednesday (it has to be changed out every 3 months). While I'm excited to have it changed out and have it turned to the other side of his belly (to give his skin a break from the tape), I'm NOT looking forward to how upset he'll be to go through a change-out, poor kiddo.

The boys finally love books! They like the simple board books. 

St. Nick brought them a cute one with furry animals to feel. 

Library day tomorrow!

Brady mixing me up a pretend-cake!

Hi Handsome B!

**To answer "MFA Mama's" comment - Jax has a GJ - Mic Key button. It has to be changed out at the hospital under an X-Ray machine since it is threaded into the intestines - he is not fed into the stomach. They have to pin him down with weights and then set the X-Ray up over him. They deflate his balloon, remove the tube (it's long) and then insert the new one, and place it in the proper place via the small intestines. They then fill the new balloon to keep it in place. The GJ button can not be twirled around on his stomach (so it doesn't torque and wind up into his stomach) so that's why I want them to point it in the opposite direction that it is now since it must stay put once in place.

Jax is wearing his mini backpack!

During Jax's speech therapy this morning, his therapist (Mr. Nick) said that Jax looked more than ready to try his backpack again. This was after we had to chase him down multiple times to work with him, and the tugging at his tube-site was causing some stomach acid to leak from his stoma site.

Well his occupational therapist (Miss Karen) came in and she agreed with the speech therapist that we should try again. So during Jax's occupational therapy session we hooked him all up and we crawled around on the floor and we were able to get him to move. After 20 minutes or so, he was crawling around, standing, walking along furniture and crawling through his play tube. I kept the ice pack out, and it seems to work well for him. I'm so excited to give him (and us) this freedom.

I must add that the day we received the backpack from the medical supply company, we watched a DVD on how small children can have an active free life with this "gear". I remember watching the little boy on the DVD and scoffing that it would be awful having a small child needing to live off a tube connected to his back. This was when Jax was 4 months old and we believed his reflux would be over at any time. Well here we are...cheering Jax on for being able to wear it. How my views have changed... I no longer look at his feeding tube as the enemy, but a part of him that allows us to have him. I'm not saying I don't still cry myself to sleep once in awhile thinking about all of this, but there does come a point in your life when acceptance can lead to a little more happiness. I'm always working on this...

I just want Jax to know the world as normal as possible, and I know the day where he asks me "why" is approaching. I just hope I have an answer figured out for him by then.

How handsome and independent does this little stinker look???

Lessons learned!

I learned a lesson in parenting today. Wrapping Christmas presents with one toddler in the room is annoying, yet doable. Doing it with two toddlers in the room = FAIL. Then if you put those two toddlers in their playpen while you wrap, they will stand at the gate, looking over at you and scream. Just thought I'd share that new experience ;)

The boys have speech therapy tomorrow, and Jax also has occupational therapy. Jason comes home tonight from a work trip, so the boys will be excited to see him when they wake up. I took them to the mall for an hour this morning, and we stopped and watched Santa talk to little kids. I thought about letting them sit on him for a photo opp, but I could see the look of uncertainty in Jax's eyes...so I ditched that idea quickly since I was alone!

Chasing after Jax with his backpack as he shimmies around the house is getting increasingly hard. He keeps crawling through his tunnel and doesn't realize the backpack can't go with him. Needless to say I've been cleaning up and changing his clothes multiple times a day with the tubes getting dislodged and making a mess! I can't wait for him to be able to wear his own little backpack to avoid all these issues. Well...I would love more for him to not need it at all, but you get my drift.

Here are some pics of the boys wrestling and playing in the tunnel:

**Notice the backpack stuck in the entrance (sigh...)

December is on its way...

What a long weekend...I feel like I need a vacation from it! We got all the Christmas decorations up and got the house in order. 

The boys are doing well. Jaxon now says "Bababa", so it's nice to hear some babbling, and he's learning to get out of a standing position. His vomiting is remaining pretty steady at about 4 episodes a day, which is still down from an average of 6, so lets hope that remains. Brady is my little runt who still loves to cuddle with me. That kiddo will walk away with a stranger if I let him - no fear! He acted like the guy who delivered Jax's medical supplies today was an old friend or something. When the man put the boxes down on the floor, Brady smiled and put his arms up. Jax came crawling around the corner (dragging his bag) and started BAWLING when he saw the man...what a difference! And yet at other times Jaxon is a social butterfly, while Brady only wants to be by Jason or I. My moody little boys!

The boys watching the physical therapist leave this morning.

Jaxon all set to go to the chiropractor!

Yes...I have a cage around the Christmas tree. My kids pull up on everything in order to stand, so they would never understand that they couldn't pull up on it.

I'd like to see you keep TWO 16 month olds away from it!

(They love looking at the lights, it's pretty sweet)

The boys enjoying their activity tunnel!

(Jax)

(Brady)

Jax and Jason torturing poor Brady!

(This is one of the many activities happening while I make dinner)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We've had a very busy few days with visiting family and friends. We brought the boys to Manitowoc and De Pere and we're finally home. When you travel with these boys for 2 days, it feels like more than a week! Jay was able to go deer hunting with his uncle and dad, but didn't get anything (although he saw 17 deer in our neighborhood while jogging with the boys the day before!).

Jax has continued to do pretty well the past few days, but his vomiting has certainly increased a little bit to more of a "normal" for him. BUMMER, but so far his "average" is still down a little bit. He seems to have a baseline of around 4 episodes daily now, which is down from 6, so that's actually great. He's seems to be falling apart a bit after 5am, and then sporadically through the day. As always, I'll keep you all updated!

We did notice that Jax has been shaking his head from side-to-side and digging his finger in his left ear, so we were able to get him seen by his pediatrician this morning on our way back into town. We also noticed "red spots" around his mouth and nose. Well it turns out his ear infections are healing up nicely, but he still has some fluid in one ear (the one he keeps putting his fingers in), so we are officially done with the antibiotic today, and watching for any fevers or anything to signal that the ear didn't drain. Hopefully his massive diaper blow-outs will end shortly now as well since the antibiotic is gone.

The red spots around on his face are from his heaving and most likely his crying meltdown he had at Thanksgiving dinner (he didn't feel well). The doctor said he has broken blood vessels from the heaving episodes coming back and most likely a long crying tantrum (poor kiddo).

I hate to end this entry with that, since overall, the boys ARE doing well! Here are some promised pictures to show off those miracle smiles, enjoy!

This is the result of trying to get a picture of Marley with the boys!

(I'm dreading their 18 month photos in January)

Marley playing peek-a-boo with Brady.

Uncle Adam cracking up with Jax while working on walking.

Bumpa (Les) and Brady hanging out.

Nana Jayne with Marley and the boys.

Papa Letts playing "high 5" with Jax.

Nana Letts haning out with B and giggling.

Jax learning how to feed the piggy bank with Great Great Aunt Carol.

A rare photo of the boys in the same crib!

Ahhh we put them in there to play after their nap while we were cleaning the upstairs this afternoon! Let's be serious - there wouldn't be "sleeping" ever happening like this!

(Brady is in a trans watching Daddy vacuum!)

**Happy Belated 29th Birthday to Derrick! Total shout out to a friend who follows our family on this crazy site! It was so great to see you and Heidi Thursday night.