Road trippin’ with the boys…

So this weekend was C-R-A-Z-Y to say the least. We packed up all 3 boys, sent the dog off to Aunt Teri’s and headed to Cedar Rapids. Braden was NOT having it in his car seat this time around but poor little dude was really battling his chest cold and just couldn’t get comfy. Not to mention once we hit CR we realized somehow his arm had gotten wedged under his leg and he had taken a massive deuce somewhere between Tama and CR so no wonder he wasn’t having it. Evan and Jacob managed to stay awake the whole trip too much to our surprise. We did survive though and made it to Adam’s grandparents so they could meet the boys for the first time. That was huge for us to get all 3 kids together and meet their great grandparents. I think Adam’s grandparents really enjoyed the visit too. They especially liked Great Grandma Pitlik’s chocolate chip cookies!

  

Next we went over to Adam’s cousin Larry’s house to see their new place and hang out with his family, his cousin Blake’s family, their friends Tiff and Chris and their little son Kaden (who is an amazing 28 weeker…you would never know looking at him now!), and Adam’s parents. Evan had a great time playing with his cousins Michael, Liv, and Q and even taught Michael a trick or too that I’m sure his mom was real thrilled about (See pic below-Parental Discretion Advised!!!!) Go figure the first time we go to Larry and Tracy’s new house Evan has to pee on it!

Sunday was spent at my parents house in Waterloo where the boys enjoyed some 80 degree April weather and played on “Papa’s playground”. My dad built an awesome swing set for the boys and my nephew and put all their names on it. I think Phil and Evan played on it all day…mostly screaming at the top of their lungs, going down the slide the wrong way, and pretending they were pirates on a sinking boat…oh and fighting over the one swing since my dad put up the baby swing for Jacob. BTW Jacob LOVED the swing and actually fell asleep at one point. The B-man even made it out for a bit but it was a bit warm and windy for him so he chilled out I the house with grandma.

     

 

  

The boys had a blast at Gma and Papa Boesen’s house…minus a few bumps and bruises. Poor Evan left with a huge bruise on his forehead from the toilet lid smacking him as he went to the bathroom in the morning and then woke up that night and must have forgotten where he was. He woke me up saying he had to go potty so I took him to the bathroom in the basement where we slept. Afterward he said “thanks mommy, goodnight” and then turned the corner and fell head first into mine and Adam’s suitcase. I think he thought he was at our house…poor kid…funny no less though!

While we were home my dad made an AMAZING breakfast feast and had my grandparents over for dinner that night. YUM! Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and rolls. God how I miss my dad’s cooking…soooooo good!!!! Wish they lived closer…we’d be over there every night which would solve my dislike of grocery shopping/dinner idea slumps/lack of dinner making motivation!

Monday was the big trip to Iowa City for all of Braden’s follow-up appointments and his first time meeting with the craniofacial doc. Of course, in Byersdorfer fashion, we have to be in crisis mode 24/7. Woke up at 4 am to Braden desatting due to all the junk his lungs from his cold, spent the next 1.5 hours trying to clear him, then hoping in the car to make it to IC by 8am (his 1st appointment) only to find out that Adam accidentally forgot to plug in the vent to the power source in the car (the battery lasts 4 hours). Adam spent the next 30 min talking to the RTs at The U of I Children’s hospital (who were great by the way) while they tried to track down a back-up charger to get us by till we left and could plug the vent in the car. PS we will NEVER make that mistake again….S-C-A-R-Y!

He met with ENT first because he was due for his ABR hearing screen. We of course forgot to stop his feeds as he needed to be sedated for his hearing test (FAIL #2) but I guess we didn’t screw up too bad since the ENT checked his ears and found fluid in both. A double ear infection = no hearing screen so I guess that saved our butts there. He ordered Augmentin for him and sent us on to the Craniofacial doc.

There we scheduled his cleft palate repair surgery. I have never felt so bad and proud for Braden than I did during his check up. He was so agitated and clearly upset to have her digging in his cleft palate but at the same time he LITERALLY signed “I’m done” and “Bye-Bye” to her once she pulled her finger out of his mouth. She didn’t take it personally :)  His cleft repair is going to be August 12 in the morning. He will probably have to stay 1-2 nights in the hospital depending on how well his pain is managed. She also said she will be putting tubes in his ears (most kids with clefts have difficulty with recurring ear infections) and she will also be clipping his tongue since she said he is on the more severe side of being tongue tied-might as well do it all while your in the OR right? The bad part about recovery is he will have to have his arms restrained on boards for 3 weeks to keep him from  digging in his mouth as it heals. Adam and I told her that he doesn’t really put things in his mouth and she said even the most orally aversioned kid will dig while their mouth heals. I’m NOT looking forward to that!

Next we were sent up to pediatric dentistry to have them take a look at his gums. The craniofacial doc thought his gums looked a little inflamed but the orthodontist took a peek and thought that it was just his molars coming through. She did instruct us to take a toothbrush and massage his gums to help with the swelling and I expressed my concern that Jacob has 7-8 teeth and Braden has 3 (2-bottom, 1 molar) and she said she could feel Braden’s teeth and thought they were just taking their sweet time. She also said that the fact he doesn’t chew on things or isnt eating by mouth may play a role in his delay but she wasn’t too worried.

FINALLY we were sent on to the pediatric nutrionist to discuss Buddha belly’s diet. She said he is no gaining appropriately for his age (8 grams/day) so she thought that now would be a good time to switch him to Pediasure, water, and a multivitamin (higher calorie feed but less volume as the formula). He of course is still “overweight” for his length but Eh what can you do ;)

He did OK on the way home and actually slept so that was good considering he was battling that nasty cold and wasn’t a fan of sitting up so by the time we got back to Waterloo we decided to give him a break for a bit before heading back to Ames. While Braden was chilling out, I took Evan to my dad’s fire station downtown and I couldn’t have asked for a better experience for him. ALL the trucks and ambulances were out and Evan freaked out. He was SO excited. He was really quiet during the visit but his eyes were HUGE. Once we got in the car though it was a different story. My favorite was “That BIG fire truck was REALLY REALLY so VERY AWESOME Mom!” Some of my favorite memories growing up was going to the fire station to visit my dad so I’m glad Evan got to make some memories like that of his own. Hes pretty proud of his Papa!

  

       

 

Sunday is Evan’s 3rd birthday so stayed tuned for the “Sticky” Spiderman breakdown :)