Updates Galore!

Funny boy Benny. Don't you like his Happy Meal Hat?

Mommy's little mum-mum boy!

My sweet boys!

Whew! A lot has been going on here. First off, Timmy is doing fine. We had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon and she said everything was healing nicely. We go back and see her in November. Sorry that I haven't been updating this lately, but we have been busy. We went to the Puyallup Fair, went to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Illinois and have been on the go ever since we came back. That means that I need to spend a few hours and update, update, update this blog! Look for exciting things to come.

Well,Timmy had surgery Tuesday the 14th. He had a fistula-ectomy (sp?). The surgery went well, but he had complications with waking up. They had trouble taking out his breathing tube. He stopped breathing 4 times (actually he just held his breath for a long time). They had to give him meds to get him to relax his muscles. Turns out he has a mild case of tracheomalacia. That is a weakness and floppiness of the walls of the windpipe. They say he will grow out of it as he gets older. Needless to say, he stayed overnight in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at MaryBridge Hospital. By Tuesday night he was acting more like his happy self and Wednesday morning we were able to take him home. We have a follow up appointment on Monday the 27th with the pediatric surgeon.

Surgery

Timmy had his appointment with a pediatric surgeon today. He is scheduled for outpatient surgery at 9am on Tuesday the 14th. (Mom, I know that I told you 10:30am, but they called and moved it up to 9am.) He has what is called a fistula. A fistula is almost always the result of a previous abscess. It is a small tunnel that forms under the skin and connects a previously infected anal gland to the skin on the buttocks outside the anus. The doctor told us that it was nothing we did that caused it and that everything that was done previously (i.e. draining the abscess and the antibiotics) was what was supposed to be done. Timmy has to have anesthesia because it would be too painful otherwise. The actual surgery should only take 40 minutes, but we will probably be at the hospital for 4 hours (counting pre-and post-op). We have a follow-up appointment with the pediatric surgeon on Wednesday the 15th. Please keep us in your prayers. I know it is not major surgery, but it is a risk when young children have to be given anesthesia. I am doing fine now, but will probably be a basket case the few days leading up to the surgery. We are hoping to have friends watch Benny for us on the day of the surgery. This should lessen the stress a bit for us since we would not have to keep Benny occupied.

6 Month Checkup

Timmy had his 6 month checkup yesterday. Here are his stats: Weight 16.4 lbs, Length: 25.25 inches. So he gained almost 3 pounds but didn't grow in height. Overall he is doing okay. He received 3 shots which he didn't really cry about. He cried more when they had to prick his heel and draw blood. I have tried solid foods with him, but he has shown little to no interest. The only thing he likes somewhat is squash. He still has the abscess on his bottom, so we were referred to a pediatric surgeon (appointment on Sept 8th) to see if it needs to be surgically removed. It doesn't really bother him but we still need to get it taken care of. Timmy took a three hour nap yesterday, but no nap longer than 20 minutes today. Not eating as much today either, but I chalk that up to the shots.

On another note, Benny now has a sand/water table. I purchased it from craigslist today and he has been out playing with it most of the afternoon. It only has water in it because we need to go and purchase some sand.

More Camping Pictures

This little boy sure liked his chocolate. We brought the Hershey's chocolate and marshmallows but forgot the graham crackers. Benny found out that eating chocolate near a campfire is a very messy thing.



Timmy had a great time camping. As long as he was fed and took his naps, he was a happy camper (pun intended)!
There was a little beach that we could go swimming and Benny surprised me by wanting to go. He even got down in the water on his tummy and tried to "swim". He would have stayed in the water all day if we let him.

Here is our handsome three year old!

We went for a hike through the woods. Benny was okay with it as long as we paid attention to him.

Benny had to bring some friends along. Too bad Thomas, Percy and Kelly spent most of the time covered in dirt and pine needles.

Stopping to rest. Benny liked climbing the rocks.

Once again, Timmy was probably the most comfortable one during our hike.

Timmy really liked the backpack. He even fell asleep in it.

Here is Brad and Benny telling Timmy to be quiet. It was early in the morning and we didn't want to wake up our fellow campers. Timmy wasn't crying, just babbling and laughing. Notice what was for breakfast, Doughnuts!

Heilenman Camping Trip 2010

We took the boys on their first camping trip and despite the fact that we forgot to bring our sleeping bags (we ended up purchasing some) and that the air mattress had a hole in it, we did okay. We went to Millersylvania State Park (just south of Olympia, WA). We had great weather.
Here is our campsite. Could you believe that we fit all four of us in this tent? Timmy slept in his pack n play and the rest of us slept on the ground. I think Timmy is the only one who really got any sleep at night.

Here is the rest of the campsite.

Timmy liked sitting in his special seat. He is doing a good job of sitting up.

Here is Benny with one of his many rocks he collected.

We stayed two nights at the campground. That was enough to start with for us.

A Special Visitor!

Benny and I found this little guy in my flower bed in the front yard. He is crawling on an Iris leaf. He has to be the biggest snail I have ever seen.

Benny kept trying to feed the snail grass.