Hudson Eating!!

This past week I took Hudson to a feeding specialist at Texas Children’s, and she thought we should be able to start Hudson on some baby food. Hudson hasn’t eaten anything by mouth the past four months, so he really doesn’t know what to do with his mouth. I just give him a little baby food on a spoon and then give him his pacifier so that helps him swallow the food, or at least some of it. We are going to try this for the next two weeks about two to three times a day and then we are going back into TCH for another swallow study, and they are going to do the study the same way we have been doing the baby food, on a spoon then on his pacifier. Hopefully the study will go well and we can start to teach him how to eat again. Below are a few pictures of him trying to eat, he gets pretty messy, but he seems to like it.

He is doing so much better on holding his head up and looking around!!
Tonight he had enough and feel asleep!

Rainy Monday

Well we didn't do much today, just ran a few errands and attempted to clean up the house. Costner had a good day at camp, this is his last week, and then next week is the boys last week before they both start school! Costner had a little bit of a rough day at camp but still had fun through all of his events. His teachers had to call me this morning because he had stepped in an ant pile and they bite him all over and his legs and feet and then they started to swell. Then later that day he was running outside to the main building and fell in a puddle of water, face first, and then he was in the bathroom and slipped and hit his head on the toilet. I guess we can know were he gets all his clumsiness from, ME, poor kid. His teachers said even through all his issues today he still managed to have a great day!

Below are a few pictures of the boys after bath time, laying on our bed watching Diego, they looked so cute. A little update on Brooks and his bed issues, he is doing great being out of his crib now, he just goes right to sleep on his bed!!! Yeah that was a smooth transition, thank goodness!! And a little Clint update, he is scheduled to come in this week, finally we are all ready for him he has been gone for a month!

Hudson turned six months Already!

Hudson turned six months on the 14Th, he is getting so big and is looking so much more like Costner and Brooks. Brooks can be a little rough with him, and Costner is so sweet with him, the other day I heard him telling Hudson not to worry that he was too little to get spankings, it was so cute! Hudson is always watching Costner around, but I think he is a little scared of Brooks.

This past week Hudson had a couple therapy sessions, physical and speech, they both said that he is doing good and getting stronger. I also met with the surgeon that will be correcting his cleft, and the surgery date has been set, for October 28Th! We are very excited! This past week came with other news, Hudson had been having some genetic testing done and we have been waiting for the results for the past few months, they were testing for Stickler syndrome which sometimes comes along with the Pierre Robin (which he has), and it looks like he has the syndrome as well. We are going to meet with the doctors downtown in two weeks to lay out a plan of what we will need to do. What we have been told and what I have read is that Stickler syndrome has a lot to do with eyes, ears, (hearing loss) and muscle and joint issues. When we met with the Genetics doctors a few months ago, they said that if Hudson did have Sticklers that they were just going to make a plan of things we need to keep an eye out for and have checked frequently. After we meet with them in two weeks we will have a better understanding on what our next steps will be.

Below are some pictures of Hudson trying to sit up, he was doing such a good job, I am so proud of him, he was sitting in his chair trying his hardest to hold his head up, and he sat there for a while. The lack of muscle control that he does not have, I am told is also part of the Stickler syndrome, though he will be able to gain control eventually.

A little update on Brooks... WOW HE IS BECOMING SUCH A HANDFUL!!! He has been really pushing his terrible two buttons!!! He has been climbing out of his crib, so tonight he is sleeping on his mattress on the floor. I know time to put him in a big boy bed.


Hudson trying to look at Costner playing the Wii

Another weekend gone...without Clint

Boys playing in their Permanent Tent Outside

Hudson loves to try to chew on all his toys now!! Yeah, Progress!!
Brooks loves to give Hugs and kisses, (open mouth beware) below he is giving Uncle Nathan a kiss
Costner getting out of the shower, he has been such a big boy, he even is helping with the dishes now
The boys trying to push the tree over....

Clint is now in Austria, he has been there for about a week, and the pictures that he has sent are amazing, I am just hoping that he is going to want to come back home to HUMIDITY!! Just joking I know that he will.



The weekend with the boys no major events so that is good. The boys had play date on Saturday morning at our house with some friends and they all had a great time, (thank you Katie, it was wonderful to have some adult conversation!) Sunday the boys and I went to church, only to get in to find that there was no electricity, which meant no children's church. Costner was excited to go into main service, since we were sitting with Katie and her family, but Brooks kept on yelling Walle, Walle, it was pretty embarrassing and then Hudson started to cry, so needless to say we ended up leaving. I know that we weren't the only family with small kids in the service, (because it was packed and dark and hot) but I am thinking I was the only one with a two year old screaming Walle... so we ended up going to Sam's and beating the rush.



After church my family came over and we ate an early dinner and the kids played outside, and we sat around watching old Doris Day movies, I know sounds pathetic, but we had a great time.



Hudson has a doctor's appointment downtown tomorrow at TCH with the plastic surgeon who will be fixing his cleft, so I will update once I have more details.

When God Speaks

Today I was out running some errands while Micah, my brother, watched the boys (2/3 of them were sleeping). I was in such a hurry trying to go and get a few groceries most importantly sprite, because Costner had been throwing up last night and today.

I had finished my errands and was driving home, and I drove past this old building that was being renovated. The building has been there for years, and was right across the high school, and I just started remember how when I was in high school it was a convenient store (a trashy one) and I would always see people over there hanging out. It then was renovated to some dentistry type office, and today when I drove by it was completely renovated again. I remember driving by a few weeks ago and it look like they were gutting it, but today it was a NICE building and you could tell that a lot of work and money had been put in it, and all I could think was, why would the owners put that much money it this OLD building, why wouldn't they tear it down and start over. Within seconds of driving past this building it hit me, God just doesn't give up on us, and say oh look at Shannon she has made so many mistakes in her life, no the complete opposite, He loves us so much that He builds us back up to something beautiful and new in HIM.

So just by driving by this building, I felt how much God really truly loves me and us. I just had to share that in just the little things we can see his love for us.

Brooks and Mommy at the Wiggles

Brooks loves the Wiggles, he sings all their songs and dances to them all the time, so I thought I would take him to the Wiggles concert. He had so much fun!! And I have to say that I had fun to. They were actually very good!! Brooks was so excited about going, though when we got to the Toyota Center we were going through the parking garage, he thought we were at the airport and kept on saying Daddy, Daddy! Poor guy, he misses Clint! Brooks was so excited when he saw the BiG Red Car driving up on the stage, he was dancing and singing it was so cute. I ended up getting good enough seats so that he was able to see them very well (Clint wasn't thrilled about the price of the tickets), he loved it, and he hated to get in the car to go home...

Brooks trying to sing and dance while eating french fries...