Friday, May 20, 2011

Problems at the Park

I saw that there was a Mom's Club playdate at the park yesterday, so I thought it would be nice to see them again and give Dawson some fresh air. He hasn't been able to play outside much. So we got some errands run and went to the park. He went to go play and I sat down to nurse Gabriel. It wasn't 2 minutes later and Dawson was wandering off. He's usually good about playing on playgrounds. So I stopped feeding Gabriel and went to find Dawson, who had gone behind a building. Brought him back and got him interested in a big slide. Sat down to feed Gabriel again and a couple minutes later Dawson was wandering off again! Thankfully Gabriel didn't mind all the starting and stopping! So I strapped Dawson into the stroller so Gabriel could get enough to eat. Another member said she could help keep an eye on him if we head over to the other playground (there's 2 at this park), so we went over there for a while. Dawson seems to like that one better. He was playing and I was chatting with some other moms when someone came up and asked who's kid that is with the blue airplane shirt. Crap, that would be mine! She was all upset, saying he's throwing sand up into the air. As we walked over there I apologized and told her he's mildly Autistic and doesn't understand that it's not ok. She said she doesn't care, he needs to stop that. So I went over and talked to him, but he kept on doing it, so I put him in a time out in the stroller for a time out. That usually works. When I let him back to play, it wasn't 2 minutes before he was at it again. So we repeated the time out and he was all agreeable about not throwing sand. I even showed him what I was talking about, but I really think he just didn't understand what the big deal was, he's just playing. He likes watching the sand fall to the ground. Usually we don't go to busy parks, so it's not an issue. After he went back to play he chose a different spot to go throw sand, which got another child who thankfully had a more understanding mother, but I decided it was time to go anyway! So I left, with a kicking and screaming child in the front of the stroller. He's also discovered that he can put his feet down on the wheels so I have trouble pushing the stroller. He can't in the back, but that's the only place I can put the baby. Gabriel was being held by another mom in our group. Thankfully moms love babies, so it's not hard to get someone to keep Gabriel occupied while I deal with Dawson.

Gabriel is getting so big! I just got out the 3-6 month clothes. It was an emotional thing, finding some outfits that Tyler was in when he was diagnosed. I can't believe Gabriel is almost there. I realized the other day that when Tyler gets his transplant, Gabriel will most likely be the same age Tyler was when he was diagnosed. Along with getting out new clothes, I went through and got rid of the things I just don't put them in anyway. I've gotten clothes from a few people and some of it is stained, old or just not our thing. We aren't into sports, so I tend to not put them in that stuff. Which stinks because it seems that half the things they make for boys are sports related!

We unloaded the last load of household stuff last night! I have so much to unpack and arrange now. It's tough when Gabriel isn't always content to just lay around and I don't have the swing, bouncy seat or anything for him here! It's all at RMH. That would be so helpful to have! Thankfully he seems content laying under his toy bar sometimes, so I try to make use of naps and those times where he's content.

Dawson has been keeping himself entertained with the sinks the last couple days. He loves playing in the sink at the hospital and he suddenly wants to do it here too. Thankfully he doesn't make too big of a mess, so I just give him some bath toys and let him play in the sink. He got his shirt a little wet today and came to me for a new one. He's currently watching his little portable dvd player since the tv isn't hooked up yet. He even plugged it in himself. I'm not sure if I like that or not! Dan said he caught Dawson trying to stick other things in the outlet the other day. Thank goodness for outlet plugs!

It feels so weird to be here, I'm pretty anxious to get back to Tyler. It's interesting how our "normal" is now being at the hospital! I actually feel a bit out of place here. I'm sure enjoying the view though, I love that we're looking out at nature instead of a parking lot. :)

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Elevator Obsession

Dawson loves elevators. He knows his way around the hospital. He knows that "B" goes to McDonalds, "1" has a cool ball maze thing to watch in the lobby, "2" goes to the car and Sibling Play, "3" goes to the Ronald McDonald House in the hospital, "5" is the PICU where Tyler sometimes is, he sometimes asks about 5 still. Then there's "8", where Tyler is. He talks to the floors like they are people. "Hi 3! How ya doin?" "Bye 3! See ya later!". He knows how to hold his arm on the door to keep it open for longer. He does this for people if there's a few who need to get on or off. Thanks to the elevator, he can now count backwards from 8. He even did it when we were in our room, very slowly, but he got them all in the right order! He knows that it makes a slight motor noise when the elevator takes off and a little beep when it passes each floor. When we got back home to the apartment he really started obsessing. He's so used to elevators all through the day! He pretended to push a button on his bunk bed, waited for the elevator, said "open door", got onto his ladder, made the whirring motor noise and said "2!" when he got up to the top. So his top bunk is officially the 2nd floor now. :)  He makes the motor noise and the beeps when climbing the stairs to our 2nd floor apartment too. His cars and trains went "upstairs" onto the couch earlier. His whole day was all about elevators!

Gabriel is doing good, he's becoming more entertained on his own lately. I put him under his toy bar and he watched that for longer than I expected. We were able to get quite a few things in before he fussed. Today I went through his clothes since his sleepers are getting too small. He's 7 weeks and I've only had an outfit on him once! Otherwise it's always been sleepers. I guess I just want to keep him my little baby for longer! I got out the 3-6 month clothes and I even went through them and took out a bunch that I just don't want. I have a stuffed bin full of each size and I even had a bin and a diaper box of that size, so some needed to go! Feels good to downsize a bit, especially since some of that stuff I never used anyway. Most was just given to me, so it's being donated to the MOPS garage sale.

Here's some pics from the last week or so. I was just holding Gabriel up so he could be in the pic with Tyler
 Dawson was playing with a little slinky they got in the mail
 He thought the slinky was pretty fun, it kept him occupied for quite a while
 All 3 boys! Dawson with his slinky, Tyler and Gabriel watching Thomas the Train.
Thank goodness for cartoons. I really don't know how I could get him to sit still for a while otherwise!
 Pedialyte juice box! Tyler is only accepting straws now. Sippies are too slow to deliver or something. I got him a straw sippy today, so hopefully he'll like that. The nurses wanted something that would give him more freedom to have different drink choices.
 Gabriel, 6 weeks
 Tyler in the ICU. He had quite a few bruises because his platelets were low and needed a transfusion.
 He always looks so small in that room full of wires and machines.
 Sleeping in the PICU. He was excited to see his phone toy and fish crib toy, but he got tired pretty quickly.
 Gabriel with "Sully" from Monster's Inc. He's at the Ronald McDonald House. Dan was holding Gabriel up there.
 Tyler, just after coming back upstairs. He has a little open sore on his cheek from the oxygen. He has very sensitive skin. The tape makes his skin break down pretty bad. He has many small open sores on his chest from dressing changes.
 After a couple days he was sitting up a little on his own and even smiling! He was watching Cars here
 It's so nice to see a happy face!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Brotherly Love

The boys had a webcam chat with my mom the other day. It was fun, I let Dawson be in Tyler's crib. They both love being in there together. Here's some pics from their chat.

This was from earlier in the day. He looks so sweet and peaceful when he's sleeping.
 Tyler loved getting a hug from Dawson!
 And a kiss too!
 Dawson is so cute!
 So is Tyler. I could look at his smiles all day. :)
 Dawson always has lots of fun chatting with Grandma! He likes to make faces and watch himself on the screen.

 He was being goofy and making faces at me
 Listening to Grandma
 Being silly with the camera
 Dawson watching tv

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Beginning of May update!

I never seem to have time to blog anymore! Either I'm at the hospital where this site is blocked, or I'm at RMH, where I'm either busy or the internet is down. They seem to shut down the internet at night or something. They claim they don't know, but it's been this way since I was here last time!

Tyler has had a rough go of things, he's been in and out of the PICU and Dawson has been with us as well. Dan went home for a couple days and then brought my cousin Becky back to be with us. She's been such a relief!! She cares for Dawson from the time he wakes up until he goes to bed. I do get him breakfast if I'm up, but if I'm caring for Gabriel, she does it. She stayed with Dawson at RMH for the first week. We all ended up getting Rotovirus. First Gabriel and I, then Dawson, then Becky. Thankfully we're all better this week and we were able to go back to see Tyler.

Dawson missed Tyler so much. He had some crying episodes while I was away at the hospital, even though he has lots of toys here to entertain him. He talks about Tyler all the time, cries when I leave and says he wants to go see Tyler. I'm hearing more complex sentences from him lately. His speech has not regressed at all, but it seems that his behavior has some. He's been licking his hand when he's frustrated. He puts his hand in his diaper when he's poopy and other things like that.

Since we couldn't see Tyler anyway, we went home over the weekend and I helped Dan move some. That was hard work! I mostly unpacked and arranged things, but I did help move some big things, like the chest freezer and the Tempurpedic mattress. So heavy! I also did a lot of little things, like the whole kitchen, our bedroom closet and some misc things. The most that has to be moved still is the living room, some of our bedroom, kitchen table and some other things. Plus the garage, which will be a lot of work too! Dan is hoping to get the moving done this week so he can get back to work. I think he'll be cutting it close! I'm thinking of going home this weekend again to help out.

Dawson was a bit confused, but not too concerned when he came home to find his entire bedroom missing! We showed him right away when we got to the new place and he grinned and went up into his bed. I layed Gabriel on Tyler's bed for someplace to lay while I arranged. Dawson freaked out, saying it was Tyler's bed. He seemed upset, like I was trying to replace Tyler or something. The whole weekend he kep mentioning Tyler, like he wanted to go back and bring him home too. I wish!!

This is when I had the boys by myself. Dawson just wanted to play in the sink. I figured, why not, so I gave him a bath toy to play with in the sink. :)  Gabriel was pretty content in the swing.
 Tyler was feeling pretty miserable. This was shortly before going to the PICU.
 Just back from the PICU! He rode up in Gabriel's bassinet. I figured since it had to come back up anyway, Gabriel was in the stroller, so it would save space to put Tyler in there so we didn't have to wheel the crib up. There was one in his room already anyway.
 Cheese balls! He ate 2 bowls. Unfortunately this was the last time he was allowed to have them. He's been having diahrrea from the C-Diff, so they stopped giving him food since his diaper rash was becoming bad and he wasn't holding in any food anyway. He did get some today though, which made him super happy. Dawson got them out of the cupboard and gave him a few. Tyler was very grateful.
 Feeling a little better than he was the day before, but still not so great. He was pretty tired, this was about as perky as he got.
 Tyler getting his EEG. He was having weird seizure-like behavior. His pupils were dilating funny and he was shaking and having some moments of blank stares. Turned out it was all just from the huge amount of pain he was in from the chemo, steroids and everything. Poor baby. :(  They put him on constant morphine and that eventually stopped his shaking. He has now been weaned off the morphine and the steroids too, no shaking has started but he still feels cold. He seems to be having poor circulation, his body and head are very warm but his limbs are cold.
 Gabriel sleeping in his carseat at the hospital.
 Tyler cuddling with Daddy. He was so happy to see Daddy come back, he loves to cuddle!
 Tyler not feeling well. He has a few bruises from low platelets and he's pretty pale too.
You can tell by his face that he was in pain, but he was determined to stand.
All that wispy extra hair is now gone. He mostly just has a layer of short baby hair now

 Tyler's legs were kinda purple and mottled when his legs were cold. He also had a few lines to keep from stepping on!
 Gabriel sleeping on my lap
 Yay! I'm so excited. :)
 Tyler not feeling good. He was very tired and he's just been quiet and solomn for quite a while now.
 Finally! He's off the steroids, they weaned him off the morphine and he's back to feeling a little better. He was strong enough to stand up in his crib and even kneel on his own. Last week he couldn't hardly sit up by himself.
 A smile!!!
 This is still his usual face, concentrated on the tv
 But he had some smiles for his Mommy. :)
 Gabriel was laying on my lap, being content
 He was making some faces at me
 which is always amusing and very cute! It helps to have a cute baby to cuddle and coo at. :)