Brody's 2nd Soccer Game

Dinner at Kabuto

On Saturday, Jason treated us all to dinner at Kabuto, which is a Japanese Hibachi style restaurant. Both boys absolutely loved it!! The chef entertained them with flying utensils, a big fire to which Colby said, "No touch...hot," a Spongebob made out of rice, and a volcano at the end made of onions. The boys thought it was hilarious when the chef threw a piece of shrimp at them and told them to catch it in their mouths. Jason and I were glad that they didn't catch it, considering we are unsure if they are allergic to shrimp (Jason is allergic). We then finished the night with ice cream from Maggie Moo's with our good friends, the Rowells and the Smiths. This is just another happy memory for us to have before starting our extended hospital stay.

Brody loved learning how to use his chopsticks. He can actually use them better than I can!

Colby decided to just use one stick and stab the food. I guess this works too!

"Bike Race"

Ever since taking off his training wheels, Brody has been very enthusiastic about riding his bike everywhere! Friday was a beautiful day, so we decided to go on a bike ride, or as Brody calls it, "a bike race." The original plan was to ride over to the nearest soccer fields and play a little soccer. We can get to these soccer fields without ever crossing the main road. When we got there, though, Brody decided that we needed to go to the "real" soccer fields where he plays his games. These are of course much farther and require us to cross the main road. I was having so much fun riding my bike with him and Colby was enjoying his ride in the trailer behind my bike, so we did it! We got there with no problem and spent some time playing soccer on "Brody's field." Brody even showed Colby some moves and helped him score a couple of goals, which Colby loved!

After the soccer practice, Brody wanted to ride even farther. I told him we would keep riding, but he had to tell me if he got too tired. Before I knew it, we had followed the trail all the way to the Library! This is about a 3 mile ride from our house. The boys got out and had a snack and ran around for a few minutes before we started the long ride back. We made it the 3 miles home with no problems! Brody only complained about his legs being tired one time. I am so impressed with him! He has only had his training wheels off for a short time, and now he is riding his bike 6 miles at a time!

The boys had so much fun Friday that we did it again on Tuesday. We rode to the Library and even went inside to check out some books this time. Brody really wanted to get some Cat in the Hat books like he has been reading at school. Then, we rode a little farther and had lunch at Which Wich before heading back home. I absolutely love these days! It is so much fun just spending time with my boys outside on a beautiful, sunshine day. These are the days I will treasure forever!

Colby at 2 1/2

I know most people think the 2's are terrible (I admit that I even have days where I want to run and hide), but I think this has to be one of my favorite ages!!! It is so fun watching Colby grow and learn each day. It seems like he does something every single day where I say, "Wow, I never want to forget that!" Some of things he says or does are funny and some are frustrating, but they all end up making me smile when I think back on them. He really is a funny kid with a great personality! Here are some things that I do not want to forget:

• At the end of January, Colby discovered that he could climb out of his bed by himself (this is amazing in itself considering how tall his bed is). During naps one day, Jason and I heard a door close and then little footsteps. We at first thought it was Brody going potty, but then we heard Colby's little giggle. Jason went up and put him back in the bed and told him he was not allowed to get up by himself. He stayed in his bed for about 10 more minutes and then we heard some noises again. This time I went up and found Colby standing on his stool in the bathroom with no pants on brushing his hair! I mean, seriously?!?! That was one of those moments where I wanted to discipline him but I couldn't help but laugh!


• We were upstairs playing in the bonus room when Colby put his head on the floor and flipped over. He looked up at us with a big smile on his face! He was so proud that he had done a forward roll all by himself. For the next few days, he did these everywhere...including his bed!




• He can flip through our movie case and say the title of every single movie. I have yet to figure out how he does this, considering most of the movies don't have pictures on the discs. He showed this "skill" off to our neighbors the other day, and they were joking that he can already read! Ha!


• The other day, Poppy brought over Zoe so the boys could play with her. Colby chased her the whole time she was here saying, "doggy, doggy." He laughed so hard when she licked his face. He looked at me and said, "more...then stuck his tongue out and licked like a dog. Too funny! He also had fun sticking his tongue out and panting like she was panting.
  
  

Colby talks a lot! A couple of months ago, I was a little concerned that he wasn't putting words together to form phrases / sentences, but he has definitely shown me that he can do that now. Here are a few things that he says that are just so cute:

• "Olba"...this is how he says his name. This is funny to me, because at 2, Brody called himself Broda. I guess the "y" takes longer for our boys to say.


• "holsha"...hold me. This is also funny, because Brody used to say this exact word when he wanted to be held. I'm really not sure how they both ended up saying it this way, but I love it! Brody will still say it like this every once in a while when he wants some mommy love!!


• "No, me!" We hear this a lot! He is starting to be very independent and wants to do everything by himself.


• "Me turn"...my turn


• "Hit pay, hit pause"...play and pause are his favorite words right now! He loves watching movies and using the "ro-mote" (remote) to hit play and pause.


• "Potty"...he is potty trained now (during awake times/ he still wears a diaper at nap and bedtime). He has learned very quickly how to use this word to his advantage. If he says, "potty," he sees me jump to attention quickly! He also likes to say this when he wants to hit pause on the remote. His new trick is saying "potty," hitting pause, and then saying "no potty. dittting (kidding)." Frustrating at times, but so stinking cute!


• "Over". He yells this every single time a show on TV or a movie he is watching goes off. He likes to let us all know that it is over.


• "pitty pease"...pretty please. This one gets me every time! He says it in the cutest little voice, and it is honestly hard to say no sometimes.


• "one, two, pee, poooor, pive"...one, two, three, four, five. When he is counting to five, he normally forgets the number four. He gets so excited, he skips straight to "pive."


• When we pass the "duck park," he will say "duck, pack pack"...duck, quack quack


• "haaa, haaa, haaa" This is from the movie Barnyard. The naughty boy in the movie always says it in a very obnoxious voice. Colby calls it the "sas part" (sassy part).


• "sare"...scared. He says this with his hand over his heart when he is scared.


• "hide, see"...hide and seek. He loves to hide and have you find him.


• "friends" He asks for his friends every day when he wakes up from his nap. His friends are all of the kids in the neighborhood that play outside. "Woooeees" (Lucy), "Ta tee" (Katy), Jack, "Memmi" (Remi), Max, Ben, Sam. I think it is so cute that he considers all of these big kids his friends!


• "sarrrry"...sorry. He normally says this any time he spills something, bumps into somebody, or does something that he knows he wasn't supposed to do. A couple of weeks ago, we were in a restaurant and he spilled his whole cup of Sprite in my purse. He just looked at me and said, "sarrrry." It is kind of hard to be upset when you hear that!!


• "Ah-Ah, tanket"...his monkey and his blanket


• "huh? huh? what say?"...what did you say? He is notorious for doing this! I'm not sure if he really doesn't hear what we say, or if he just likes to say this phrase.


• "what world?"...what in the world? He started saying this after hearing me or Jason say it to to something silly Brody had done. It really is funny hearing him say this!


• "bum? one piece?"...gum. He always asks for gum. He started the one piece thing when he realized I kept saying no. I guess it is his way of negotiating. When I say no to the one piece, he will say "one bitty bitty?" and pinch his fingers together and squint his eyes, which means just one little bitty piece. How do you turn that down?

I could probably list tons of little things that he says or does that make me smile. I try to focus on these when I am feeling down about his heart and upcoming surgery, which I guess is why I finally decided to type up this post. This week has been really hard on me thinking about the surgery, the anesthesia, the possible complications from the anesthesia and surgery, the hospital stay, the recovery, being away from Brody, etc. All of the what-ifs just drive me crazy. The emotions are overwhelming to say the least, but it is definitely harder to be sad when I see Colby's sweet smile or think about all of the happiness he brings us. These are the things I must focus on to get through the tough times ahead!

Nashville Zoo with the Clinkscales

Thursday was a beautiful day, so we decided to meet the Clinkscales at the Zoo. Unfortunately, everyone else in Middle Tennessee had the same idea! It was the most crowded that I have ever seen it. We should have known it would be packed considering it was Spring Break week and the first nice day in a couple of weeks. Crowd or no crowd, though, we had a great time. It was just so nice to be enjoying some outside time.

checking out the Meerkats

Cain was very intrigued with Colby's Toy Story shirt

Our boys always love the inside part of the zoo...the fish, iguanas, snakes, spiders. Brody wanted to study each one!

We are bad influences on Cain! This was his first taste of Fun Dip, or as Colby calls it, "sugar."

Colby finishing his "sugar" off like a pro

Brody's finger turned green after using it to eat his fun dip. He thought it was cool that he looked like the "Hulk."

Posing in front of the giraffes

As we were leaving, I looked back and saw my two sweet boys holding hands. I hope they always love each other this much!!

Colby's Pre-Fontan Cath

Colby's Cath went way better than Jason and I ever expected! We knew the procedure itself would go well, but it was after the procedure that we were worried about. He did not wake up so happy after his last cath procedure. In fact, he was absolutely miserable! That was an extremely long two days for all of us. So, going into this one, we were a little concerned. Colby being the champ that he is, though, was amazing! We pray that his Fontan will also go this smoothly!!

Since Colby was first case of the day, we had to arrive at 6:15. That is an early morning for us!! Colby doesn't normally wake up until after 8, but he was all smiles from the moment I turned on his light at 5:30. He even remained happy in the waiting room and in pre-op...thanks to Ah-Ah (his monkey), tanket (his blanket), and his new DS from his big brother Brody! He loves "playing" Shrek and Cars.

We weren't sure how he would react to being taken back for surgery. Last time, he was still very young and didn't know to be scared, but he is older now and definitely attached to mom and dad. The anesthesiologist fellow was amazing, though! She did a practice run by picking him up and taking him for a short walk to count the butterflies painted on the floor. When she came back, he was happy and proud to be showing off his counting skills. Then, when it was actually time to go back for surgery, she picked him up and did the same thing. She did it so fast that I didn't even have time to realize what was happening. I think that was probably best for everyone, though. The last thing Colby needed was to see me crying as he was being carried away.

The cath itself went well. A nurse called out several times to keep us updated, which I greatly appreciated. They did have some problems starting an IV for his anesthesia, so he has two pokes/bruises in each hand and a poke in his foot. They had to put a catheter in his groin and his neck, so he has pokes and bruises there too. His heart looked just as they expected it to except for a slight narrowing in his Left Superior Vena Cavae. Dr. Doyle said this wasn't really too big of a deal, but he did decide to go ahead and balloon it up since he was in there. A few collaterals had also developed because of the narrowing left SVC, but since they were not bothering the blood flow, Dr. Doyle left them alone. The procedure was over and Colby was in recovery by 10:30. Because of this, Dr. Doyle scheduled for us to be discharged late that afternoon as long as Colby woke up okay from anesthesia. That was a pleasant surprise!!! Coming home is always better than staying overnight in the hospital!!

When we were called back to recovery to see Colby around 1 pm, he was still asleep. It took him a long time to wake up from the anesthesia. I think the early morning and it being nap time was not helping him wake up! He looked so peaceful and sweet. We would say his name and see him try to open his little eyes, but he just could not get them to open. When he finally did wake up for a few minutes, Jason got him to drink some Sprite and Icee. We could tell his mouth was dry and his throat was sore from the breathing tube. He kept coughing and just sounded so hoarse.

Once he had finished drinking some liquids and was more awake, they moved him to a private holding room, rather than just open space with lots of beds. This was much more comfortable for him! He was supposed to lay flat for 6 hours, which meant he had to lay flat until 4 pm. We were unsure if this would even be possible for him, but he did great! He really only cried a few times starting about 3 and that was just from pure exhaustion! He kept saying, "Holsha,"(hold me) and we felt horrible that we could not pick him up yet. He took a few cat naps to pass the rest of the time, and when Dr. Doyle came by to check on him at 4:00, we were discharged!!! We were so happy, because we knew he would be able to rest much more comfortably at home.

Colby looked pitiful on the ride home. He was so tired!! Jason joked that he looked more awake at 5:30 am than he did in this picture. Even though he was tired and pitiful, he still managed to tell us what movie to put in for him to watch. It was great hearing him talk and be bossy again. I know this is hard for Jason to believe, but I really missed hearing his constant chatter!

After a couple of hours cuddling on the couch watching Shrek Forever After (Shrek bad guy), we decided to try some dinner. Colby requested his favorite, which is baked potato with butter and hot salts (creole seasoning), and Jason got him a Maggie Moos Chocolate Peanut Butter milkshake to drink. I realize this is not the most well balanced dinner, but it got him eating!! We finished the night with more cuddling. Poor Colby could not get comfortable, though. I think he was just still so worn out from his long day. We put him to bed at his normal time, and we didn't hear anything from him until 8 the next morning. Amazing! I figured after a day like that, he would be waking up in the middle of the night. Thankfully, I was wrong!!

He did wake up crying, but I think it is because he was starving! After drinking a smoothie, he was back to his silly self. He even asked for a "roll roll," which is a cinnamon roll from Panera. We of course took him immediately to get that cinnamon roll, and then we went to my parents house to pick up Brody. The boys were very happy to see each other. Jason and I were also very happy to see Brody. Even though it was only one night away, we really missed him. I cannot even imagine how we will get through the 7-14 days in the hospital without Brody. It will be extremely tough on all of us!

Since Colby's cath went just as expected, the cardiology team decided today at conference that we should proceed with his Fontan Operation. He is scheduled for Tuesday, March 29th, which is less than 2 weeks away. Thinking about this makes me sick to my stomach. We are of course eager to get him over this last hurdle, but we are definitely not eager to see him go through another open heart surgery. The next couple of weeks will be very emotional.

Brody's First Soccer Game for Spring 2011

Brody had his first soccer game for the Spring 2011 season. This is his first season in the U5 league. He was so excited to tell everyone that he is playing with all 5 year olds, even though he is only 4. I think playing up this season will be really good for him. He has an awesome coach and seems to really like his teammates.

He played really well during the game. Jason and I were very impressed with his hustle and how well he listened to his coach. I hope that he continues this for the rest of the season.

Brody, #6


Go Sharks!!!

Colby enjoying some "sugar" during the game

Cheering for Brody with Lucy, or as Colby calls her "Looeees"

Brody's cheering section...Maggie, Nana, Colby, Lucy, Darbye, Poogie, and Harper

Mr. Jason, Mary Grace, and Carolyne also came by, but they had to leave before the picture.

Thanks to all of you for coming!!

CHD Research Donation

We will be sending our Bake Sale proceeds and donations to the Monroe Carrel Jr Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt this week. Our final total is $3,300!!!! Thank you to all who were apart of this effort. I know this money will be very helpful to the Research efforts at Vanderbilt.

Goodies with Grandparents 3/9/11

Goodies with Grandparents at Brody's school was so much fun! Brody was super excited to have all four of his grandparents in his classroom to meet his teacher, talk to his friends, and see all of his work displayed on the walls. He had a cute little grin on his face all morning!!

Funny story: On the Monday before Goodies with grandparents, Ms. Marianne asked all of the kids what they enjoyed doing with their grandparents. When she got to Brody, he just gave her a blank stare. Brody is never really at a loss for words with Ms. Marianne, so she started to worry that maybe he didn't have grandparents. When I picked him up, she asked me quietly if there were grandparents in Brody's life, because he couldn't tell her anything that he did with them. It turns out that Brody had no idea what "grandparents" were. Ha! As soon as I said Gacky, Poogie, Nana, and Poppy, he was able to talk about different things that he liked doing with them. I guess we should have used the correct term "grandparents" with him! Now we know!!

Gacky and Poogie

Nana

Poppy

Brody is now writing his first and last name on his work at school, and he is very proud. We are too!

All the grandparents and one very happy Brody!!

Thank you for coming grandparents and making Brody's day very special!