Summer

This summer is off to quite a different start than last summer. Chase loves the outdoors and going for walks or evening drives in the car with the windows rolled down. So this summer we're spending much more time outside and out of hospitals :)
Chase is sitting up strong and crawling (crawling backwards, but crawling nontheless). It's our goal, as well as the physical therapist, to get him crawling forward by the end of the month. I think we'll do it. We had our follow-up with Dr.Gratny and Dr. Wei (Ear Nose Throat doctor) yesterday. They passed a little camera down both nostrils to see how open they were and to look at his vocal cords. One side is completely open, and the other is a little too narrow. So they are going to proceed with the surgery to open that side to hopefully allow him to breath well enough that he won't need the trach anymore. This will probably happen in August. But we'll keep you posted. We're hoping and praying it all works out! We're working on increasing his tolerance to the speaking valve, a sign he's growing and ready for the surgery. It's really fun to hear him finally make baby noises, even if it is just slight little sounds.
He's only 15 lbs now, which kind of goes along with his condition. But we're going to try to feed him more and fatten him up a little more. He's doing great eating baby food, and we really only have to use the feeding tube at night to put a little more food in him.
We've taken him to the neighborhood pool a couple times and he loves it! Here are some pics to share.