Happy Fall!

I was finally able to find some time to write this well overdue blog to let you know what Chase has been up to these days. I think I can safely say one of his most favorite things to do is climb up the stairs, and then slide down the stairs on his belly. They say it's a great work out for him, and I'm pretty sure it is for us as well. We've held off on baby gates thus far, but we may have to break down soon. He's walking better with his push toy, but still not taking steps on his own quite yet. He's eating great! And we've introduced many table foods to him. He loves Veggie Straws, scrambled eggs, animal crackers, and ice cream of course :). We're still giving him 2 or 3 bottles of Pediasure a day, but we don't have to give him as much through his g-tube because he is taking so much by mouth. He is so active now, it's very tough to g-tube anything, so we're thankful he's eating so well. He's up to 17.5 lbs now, and the doctor was pleased with his growth. He's still way below where he should be for his age, but we try not to even pay attention to that anymore. As long as he's gaining and growing, we're happy. He makes lots of baby noises, especially when he has his Pasy Muir valve on. But he still hasn't said any words that we know of. He's clapping alot and he now waves "bye bye".
We finally found a new nurse who seems like a good fit, but she can only work Tues, Thurs. Her first day with Chase was yesterday and it seemed to go well. He was happy when I got home, and I had mom stop by to check on them and give me peace of mind. We've been trying to find a replacement for nurse Cathy for quite some time, but haven't had luck. And even though we had our issues with Cathy, she really cares for Chase and they are so comfortable with eachother, so it's making this small transition a little difficult, but we have faith it will all work out. She seams very eager to work with Chase developmentally which is a total change from Cathy.
We thought we were out of the woods since Chase had H1N1 at the end of August, but he caught another bug a couple weeks ago and was in the hospital again for a few days. He was really acting fine, but was breathing a little harder and his oxygen sats were down. So we took him, had the same ER doctor as we did in August and she remembered us (never a good sign). They basically just put him on oxygen and sent him home after he didn't need it anymore. Our medical supply company provided us with ALOT of extra oxygen. So if this happens again, we might be able to avoid going back into the hospital. But hopefully we can manage to stay well for the rest of the winter, and especially in November before his surgery!!!
We celebrated his homecoming from the hospital by going to Louisburg Cider Mill for some fresh apples and apple cider :) His occupational therapists also lives out there and has a therapeutic riding center, so we visited her. Her therapeutic riding center is for children with special needs. She has them ride horses, and the horses gait is supposed to mimic us walking and strengthen those muscles, as well as a host of other benefits. It's very cool, and we plan on getting involved and having Chase ride next Spring. http://www.prairiemeadowstherapy.org/



Video of Chase crawling up/downstairs

From Fall '09

From Fall '09