Our Weekend

Firday morning Brandon had his annual early intervention review. He started getting speech therapy in October and he has already gone up 4 months in age since then with his speech. He has really had a language explosion over the last month or so. On Friday afternoon Debbie, Ben, Rich, and Zack came over to hang out with us and then we went to Stu's parents for dinner.

Zack, Brandon, and Ben


Ben and Brandon

lying on the couch with Zack

On Saturday we went out to breakfast with Rich, Debbie, Ben, Zack, and Stu's parents. Stu couldn't join us since he had to work. Brandon enjoyed a chocolate milk shake and had fun building with the creamers.


On Sunday we went to Taylor's first birthday party at the firehouse. Someone from Gymboree came to do things with the kids. Brandon had a lot of fun.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year. We had 14 adults, Brandon, and a baby here for it. My parents, Stu's parents, Stu's brother, sister in law, nephews, sister in laws parents, and our friends John, Rachel, and their baby Tori all joined us. Brandon loved seeing and playing with his big cousins.

eating a bagel in the morning


wearing his Thanksgiving shirt


giving Tori a kiss

Tori

Brandon and Zack

A Visit with Great Grandma

Two weekends ago Stu, Brandon, Grandma and Grandpa Newman, and I went to New York to visit Brandon's Great Grandma. We had a nice visit with her. I think it is so nice that Brandon has gotten to know his Great Grandma and I know she enjoyed seeing him.

National Prematurity Awareness Day

Before Brandon was born I didn't know a lot about premature babies. Now I know more than I thought I would ever know. Before he was born I thought preemies were babies that were born early but a little small. I never realized that preemies can be babies that are not finished developing and they can survive as early as 23 weeks. That is only a little past the half point in pregnancy.

Brandon was born at 26 weeks, 1 day. He weighed 1 pound 14 ounces and was 13 inches long. That is only an inch longer than a ruler. He had several blood transfusions, infections, ROP, a PDA, was IV fed, breathed with a vent, CPAP, and nasal cannula. I couldn't hold him for the first time until he was almost 2 weeks old except to lift him straight in the air to help weigh him. He lived in an isolette for more than 2 months. He had apnea spells and bradycardias. He spent 12 weeks in the NICU and came home on an apnea monitor.

Today Brandon is a 24 pound 2 year old. You can't tell by looking at him that he was born so early. He has come such a long way in the past 2 years. He has made me a much stronger person than I ever was. I am in awe of how much he went through and what a figher he is and has always been. He has taught me so much in the past 2 years and I am so grateful for him each and every day.

Brandon is not alone in his battle with prematurity. 1 in 8 babies are born prematurely. In a lot of the cases the reason for prematurity is unknown. Today is National Prematurity Awareness Day. Visit the March of Dimes website to join the fight against prematurity.

Ava's Birthday Party

We went to Ava's birthday party yesterday. It was at her house. Brandon had fun playing outside with his friends Brandon, Lily, and Savannah who were also at the party and loved riding on Ava's ride on train inside. Brandon also loved eating the ice cream cake and singing happy birthday to Ava. He signed more after they were done singing it because he wanted to sing it again.


playing basketball with Brandon

in the house with Brandon



the birthday girl

Popcorn Park Zoo

On Friday Stu, Brandon, and I went to the Popcorn Park Zoo. Stu's parents came with us. It was my first time going to that zoo. It was great. The animals are all up close and most can be fed popcorn. All of the animals at the zoo were either abandoned, injured, or abused. They had tigers, lions, bears, camels, deer, goats, horses, cows, birds, and some other animals. Peacocks, geese, and ducks roam free in the zoo. Brandon loved running up to them and trying to catch them. The only downside to our trip to the zoo is Brandon's hand was stepped on by a goat. He was hysterical and it was a big goat so it must have really hurt. The good thing is he didn't break his hand or fingers from the weight of the goat. Brandon had his hand on the fence and the goat pulled to stand so that its back legs were on the ground and its front legs were on the fence. He put one of his front legs right on Brandon's hand.


This was the goat that landed on Brandon's hand- right before it happened Brandon was smiling at the goat

ENT and Pulminologist

On Thursday morning Brandon had an appointment at the ENT and at the pulminologist. I made back to back appointments since I was off and he was due for appointments at both doctors. The ENT said one of his tubes will probably come out in the next few months since it isn't in as tight. I asked him to check his tonsils and adenoids since when he had his speech evaluation a few months ago the person who tested him said that sometimes when children have speech delays it is because of those. He said if he doesn't snore his adenoids are okay but when he looked at his tonsils he said they are slightly enlarged. The ENT said that they find that in a lot of preemies. So he will keep an eye on them and see if they need to come out eventually. He goes back in 6 months.

We then went to the pulminologist. He said Brandon looks good. Brandon gained a pound and grew an inch in the 3 months since we had been there last. He weighed 23 pounds, 8.8 ounces. He said to keep Brandon on the singulair through the winter since he hasn't needed to use the nebulizer since he started on it. He goes back in 3 months.

Halloween

On Halloween Brandon, Stu, my parents, and I went trick or treating. Once Brandon realized he was going to get something at each house he got very into it. The cutest thing was at one house where they were giving out bags of pretzels. The lady said to Brandon, "What do you say?" and Brandon signed more because he wanted more pretzels. We trick or treated around our neighborhood and then went to Stu's parents house to trick or treat there and at some of their neighbors. Brandon decided part way through trick or treating that he wanted to eat some of his candy. He loved the kit kats.