Pool Date

Today my mom and I took Ben to the pool. The weather was a little questionable, but we already had plans to meet up with another friend for lunch before hand. We made the drive to Dayton and right when we got there, it started to rain. We had a nice lunch and just planned on going home afterwards. The weather held out long enough for us to give Ben a quick dip in the baby pool. He seemed to enjoy himself for the 5 minutes he was in the water. Because of his trach, we had to be very careful that he the water didn't get to close to his neck. I think Ben just thought I was giving him a cold bath in a big tub!


Ben and I were posing for a picture in the car before lunch. I didn't think I would get a picture of Ben in the pool, so I at least wanted one of our "attempted" pool date.


But, the weather cooperated briefly, so we were able to have a pool picture after all.


And this is Ben in his skivvies after we took him out of the pool. I love this picture because I think Ben looks so sweet and innocent - and it shows off his meaty thighs.

Little Miami Bike Trail

Last week, Ben went for a walk on the Little Miami Bike trail. This trail is a nicely paved wide path that runs along the Little Miami River (it is a 72 mile long trail). This trail has an access point five miles from our house, which makes it really convenient. You can also rent horses at this access point and the woman running the horse rental was sweet enough to bring a horse over for Ben to check out. You would have thought Ben had seen a horse every day of his life based on the lack of excitement he showed... he wasn't impressed to say the least. I should have taken a picture, but I forgot!



I did get a picture of Ben peeking out of his stroller though. It was so cute, he keep on pulling open the little spot between the hood and the side of his stroller to check out what we were doing.

Swing was a success!

We had a very nice visit at my parents yesterday (thanks for having us over, everything was wonderful) and the tree swing was a success. At first, Ben looked a little petrified and maybe on the verge of tears, but after a few more big pushes he started to enjoy it. He stayed in the swing for almost 30 minutes and he was really enjoying the scenery at my parent's house (lots of HUGE trees to admire). Luckily we got the swinging in first thing, because it rained the rest of the day. I love the first picture because Ben has his tongue out like he is really concentrating.

In honor of the holiday, we were all decked out in our red, white and blue attire... but at dinner it was taken to a whole new level! (NOTE: those are napkins that Mike and Ben are wearing)

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July. Ben, Mike and I will be heading to Dayton for the day to spend some time at my parents house. My brother and his wife (expecting their first baby in a month) will also be visiting. My parents put up a tree swing for Ben, so I'm excited to see what he thinks of that. From what I've heard, they put it on one of their huge trees, so it is sure to give Ben quite a ride!


Is this how they do it in the Color Guard?


I know that Section 7h of the flag code reads, "the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff", but who's Peak and where is his staff?


Ben would like everyone to pause for a moment on the 4th to remember our Troops, past and present, which make protecting our freedom a priority. Thank you to our troops.

No more vomiting for Ben

Ben hasn't had any more vomiting since yesterday. So I am happy to report that it must have been a one time flukey thing. It was probably related to his thick secretions. Maybe it is time to start his allergy medicine up again.

Ben's favorite things

So Ben has two favorite things right now - daddy, and mommy's shoes! Yes, you read that correctly, it isn't mommy - but it is her shoes (just the right size and weight for little hands, I guess). No matter where I put my shoes, Ben finds them, grabs them up and enjoys licking the dirty soles.

And Ben has also developed quite the attachment to his dad. Whenever daddy is home, Ben wants to be right beside him (daddy rough houses with Ben and he loves it). If daddy sits on the couch, Ben rolls over to him and puts his arms up to be picked up so he can sit with him. If daddy is on the floor, Ben rolls until he is bumped right up next to him. If daddy walks by and doesn't take Ben with him, he cries until he comes back into the room. And when daddy leaves the house, Ben cries and cries and cries for about 30 minutes! It is so cute that Ben loves his daddy so much.

Hopefully this isn't a repeat of last year

Ben had a really rough morning today. After the nurse left at 7:00 a.m., Ben had two large vomits. The second one got all over his trach ties and some vomit came out of his ears. Good thing he's still on his antibiotic ear drops! Poor guy.

Because Ben still has an intact nissen (the top of his stomach is tied tight), he really isn't suppose to vomit easily. And when he does vomit, it isn't easy for him to do and it seems quite painful. He has been tolerating his new feeding schedule for the past two months, so I wouldn't think that was it... but about a year ago, the same thing started happening. Just one day he started having trouble tolerating his feeds - first he threw up a few times in the morning, then it progressed to an additional few times in the afternoon and before long, he was vomiting over 20 times a day. He ended up spending about 2 weeks in the hospital on an IV and even after multiple tests, they never found out what was causing it. All we knew was that once I switched him to this crazy feeding schedule of eating 11 hours a day, it stopped. Now he is eating 9 hours a day and getting those extra two hours of freedom from being hooked up to the pump has been great!

Hopefully today is just a fluke and not a repeat of last year. So far, he's tolerated the rest of his feeds and has been acting very happy since he's gotten all cleaned up. He has just been terribly junky and needing his trach suctioned every 2 minutes (which is very normal for him after vomiting like that).

It is just so hard to figure out what could be going on. Because Ben eats with a feeding pump, Ben has no control over how much he eats, how fast he eats and when he eats. Because he doesn't talk, he can't tell me when he's full, when he doesn't want as much food, etc. Also, because Ben eats small amounts almost all day, I don't think he even knows or understands the feeling of being full or being hungry. We just have to play mind reader and do our best based on his cues (which too are limited because of his facial palsy). Ugh, CHARGE just makes things so confusing!