Breathing and Broccoli

Nope, no relation between breathing and broccoli... wouldn't that be an awesome discovery! It's just hard to show photos of breathing :)  Ha!  Ironic since it's not hard to show photos of difficulty breathing... but moving on.

Samuel has a cold and has needed a few breathing treatments the last couple days... why is this news you ask?  Well, besides the obvious fact that he has a cold and is managing it without serious interventions, there is other news :)  I'm not sure it's really news, or maybe just a great lead-in, ha!  For nearly a month now, Samuel has been off of his respiratory meds!  Entirely!  No steroids, at all, first time ever!  This is insane!

I actually wonder if Samuel's pulmonologist comes into our appointments sometimes thinking, can't wait to shock her with this one!  I love that man, he is just awesome.  And once again, he scared me to death.  Sheesh!  Fingers are definitely crossed, but so far, so good.  Winter is terrifying anyway when you have a kid who has difficulty breathing, so med changes make me even more nervous.  But, I've said it before, our docs are excellent and I trust them - so, here we go!  

On to the broccoli...

 Look mom, no hands!

 Extreme close-up!

Yep, here's one of the reasons I love this series of photos... actual proof the Samuel does lick food!

The photos are a bit old, Samuel hasn't been in a highchair for months, and it's certainly not sundress weather anymore, but I love them and have quite a backlog since my hiatus from the blog during swim season.  More photos to come! 

Fall Weekend Fun

Fall has only been going on for about a month or so, but we have had a lot of little moments that make DB and me laugh and feel even more thankful for our munchkins :)

Olivia's First Curlers

 Ever since she saw the cheerleaders at our school with curlers in their hair the evening before a big competition, Olivia has wanted to try this!  She was psyched, and told George it would be okay when he suggested she might have a hard time sleeping with them in.  Granted, I did leave the back down, which was especially awesome when the curlers actually worked!

LOVING my curls!!

 Of course, this little girl has thick, wonderful hair... that doesn't hold a curl at all.  Oh well!  Check out the waves!

Outside, it's the place for me!

 Samuel is finally starting to branch out from the swings!  Granted, he gets mad at me every time I make him try :)  But, he's becoming less irritated with me as he discovers new things like this bridge that hangs and moves with your steps.

 The sun sets early now with daylight savings... but we get to see some awesome sunsets on our way home from the park!

 No, Olivia is not actually pushing Samuel (how cool would that be?!)... Samuel is pushing himself for the most part!  I'm still working on getting him to push with his legs, but those arms can crank that bike!  All three love riding!

 Back to the park!  I love this picture... look familiar?  (Click here)  (Here's the post)

 George is all over the place!  It's amazing how quickly they're climbing up these things, running around, and sliding back down - all before you realize they've gone for it, ha!

Everybody loves the swings!  

MS Fundraiser

One of our friends had a neat cook out combined with old cars and a firetruck to raise money for the MS Society... we went to have lunch, and ended up having a great little adventure!

Don't worry, I do understand the edict of checking out these cards, and was vigilant about reminding the kids not to touch, sneeze, or trip into anything!  But how cool was this, one of the guys asked if the kids would like to sit in the car!  They even got to honk the horn and touch everything... it was so cool.  And I was so terrified they would break something, ha!

George was definitely the most excited about all the cars, and especially the chance to ride in one :)

The whole crew!

Touching everything - agh!

Cheese :)

It's a Doctor for Teeth

There is nothing I would have rather done with my Friday morning than take three 3-year olds to their first dentist appointment.  Ha!  The great news is that in the end, all went well :)  This was thanks to Omi for joining us (four hands can be SO much better than two when it comes to things like this) and of course the Dentist.  Or, as the kids refer to him, the doctor for teeth.  

He was amazing!!!  Neither George or Olivia cried, and even though Samuel didn't like the idea of having his teeth polished, the dentist managed to clean every single one without him gagging.  I was floored!!!  I knew he specialized in pediatrics, but still, I was definitely worried about someone trying to inspect Samuel's mouth.  This was just a great visit!  Plus, our teeth look great (which I also was not expecting, partially just due to being preemies), and no cavities, yea!!

George after a good teeth cleaning... come on George, show me those pearly whites! 

 That's better :)

 Olivia mid-cleaning... and yes, that is a tiara on her head.  I figured some battles just aren't worth fighting, plus, if a tiara makes going to the dentist easier, then awesome!

 Look mom, clean teeth!

I had to help a little bit with Samuel, and when he was finished he surely wasn't getting back in the chair ;)  But look, he's not running from it either, hooray!

The kids are so proud, and showing everyone their clean, pearly, shiny teeth.  Love it!

Happy Halloween!

What a day!  Of course, Halloween and dressing up was great (awesome photos below)... but before that George and Olivia had a Halloween parade with their school and Samuel had his own Halloween parade at the hospital, ha!  That makes for a very long day.

Starting with Samuel, he had four appointments on the same day... whew.  Because it's such a hike to get most of our doctors, it's nice to schedule one full day of appointments when possible rather than make the trip more often, but man it can be exhausting.  In a nutshell, we left the house at 7:30am and pulled back into the driveway at 6:30pm.  Which is one of the reasons Samuel wore his costume to the appointments :)  It was Halloween, darn in, and what a great opportunity to dress up!

A little more detail... we started with ophthalmology  which was great.  I love our doctor!  Samuel's eyes look really good still, and he did some neat tests that tell us Samuel is using his glasses well.  This was great to have reassurance because while Samuel seems to like wearing them, I'm not really sure how to assess if they're helping his vision processing.  It would be one thing if he couldn't see without them, but while I get the gist of the processing stuff it's still confusing to figure out best practices.  We also had some really useful conversations about some lingering visual patterns and possible sources.  He was such a good listener and full of good info.  Good way to start the day!

From there it was off to get blood drawn, ugh.  Luckily, our favorite phlebotomist was there and she is a pro with the needle.  For the first time, Samuel sat in the chair instead of lying down on a table, and the crying was over before the draw was.  Incredible.   We had a pause in appointments so we made visits to the NICU and PICU, wow was that a flashback.  The folks there are just awesome!  Even when you don't see them for weeks, months, or even a year, they still feel like family and their love for children just beams.  Samuel was a little shy, but did show off some of his new skills :)

Then it was off to pulmonary for another great visit!  Dr. B was thrilled to see how well Samuel is doing!  Not sure I've mentioned it in a while, but his O2 sats have been incredible for some time now and that day he was satting 95/96 with no extra O's!  This kid blows my mind sometimes... well, pretty much all the time.  Then Dr. B pulled the rug out from under me again and told me to stop giving Samuel his respiratory meds.  WHAT?!  I think this is the third time this year I almost fell on the floor in his office... I don't know if it's panic, joy, disbelief, or a combination of them.  He came of most of the meds about three months ago, but I was not expecting at all that we would stop this one too.  So far, so good... but my fingers are crossed and I started sat checking Samuel for the first time in ages.  Ha!

Last appointment of the day (seriously, the never ending day) was developmental ped's.  An okay appointment.  I want more feedback than most are able to provide... I know time will tell, but sometimes I just wish I knew more now.  Then again, sometimes I should really just soak in the moment!

Meanwhile, George and Olivia were on a Halloween parade with their school friends!  I was so sad to miss it, but was incredibly fortunate to have a friend keep me in the loop with a few pics :)

Olivia decided to be Fancy Nancy during the day too, while George went with Spiderman once we realized he couldn't take his garbage can to school :)  Good choice George!  Plus, he loved wearing his cape to school. 

On to the real deal!  Time to trick-or-treat!!!

The crew!

Kristen and BB: Olivia, what should we be for Halloween?

Olivia: Fancy Nancy, of course!!!

Olivia did a great job dressing us :)

Garbage men, big and small!

Although DB was not interested in hauling around the normal size trash can, ha!

Batman was joined by Superman/Clark Kent!

Loved this, Josh!

The boys enjoyed traveling in style, especially towards the end of the evening.  And, George was all about comforting Samuel when the day started catching up with him.  Such good brothers!

After stopping at a few houses in the neighborhood, and ending up at a wonderful party which our friends host every year, it was time to head home.  Although, not before Olivia informed me, while we were inside at the party grabbing a bite, that she was ready to go outside and hang with "the girls" (a group of high schoolers, one in particular who was dressed like a ballerina).  Not only that, but she did not want mommy to take her, only Kristen.  And it begins :)

Another great night!