It is a rare opportunity when family spread out in numerous states converges in one place. All four of Jack’s children and all eight of his grandsons are here. Tomorrow all of the spouses will be here too. Bill and I talked at length about trying to get everyone together for a photo, but the more we talked, the more we realized that logistically it would just be insane.
Brendan’s exposure has already been high this week and the boys are pretty sensitive to all the people coming and going so I don’t think they would have handled it well.

So we got a partial family photo tonight, but Brendan proved what we already expected. Overstimulation, nervousness, withdrawal… he was just in no mood for photos!

He wanted no part of Aunt Heather holding him!

Poor Brendan, everyone thinks he is so cute when he is mad. He wasn’t too much happier with Daddy holding him.

Trevor says, “look how perfectly cute and well behaved I am!”

Aunt Beth did her best to keep Trevor happy!

It is a nice picture of everyone else!

Brendan finally started to calm down and then Trevor was going to cry!

Aunt Heather and Bill are starting to snap!

Uncle Steve and Aunt Beth dote on Trevor

Brendan is okay with cuddles from Aunt Heather

Just exploding with cuteness

Mr. Attitude Trevor with Jessica and Tim

We will have to get the other half of the grandkids together for a picture someday when Brendan is a little more cooperative!

We had a really rough morning and I am not entirely sure why. Brendan had a good night and slept well but when he got up he struggled. His sats were low, his heart rate was super high and he was frequently spitting up and choking up phlegm. I of course kept thinking the worst, that he had caught an illness from someone and that we would end up in the hospital.
He went back on the ventilator, oxygen turned up from 3L to 5L and I held him for a long time until he took a nap. Once he had his 10am medications, he took a nice nap and his sats returned to his norm, his heart rate came down. He woke up feeling like himself again.
We were able to put him back on the mist collar and he had a pretty normal day, full of smiles and play. I am not sure what happened other than possibly withdrawal. He is pretty agitated tonight, unable to just relax and fall asleep but his numbers are good.

I almost thought we would have to cancel speech therapy today. But he woke up in time to play. He just was in no mood for it and made it clear! She even got out an iPad and he was not interested!

“No.”

“No.”

“No.”

“Oh wait, I like this app.”

After about 20 minutes of refusal to engage, he gave up and decided to play with the iPad and let the therapist mess with his lips and cheeks. The whole time, Trevor was taking apart the bag full of the therapist’s stuff.

We still have not taken any pictures with visiting family, everybody is coming and going. Bill was around today although he spent the majority of his waking moments on the phone. He did have some time to wrangle babies.

Just a quick update for today, we’ve been very busy. Bill and all the family in town have been taking care of arrangements and going to appointments and making phone calls. I haven’t taken a single picture with the visiting aunts and uncle yet!

The boys and I just spent the day doing the normal stuff. Trevor was wild and crazy as usual but he settled down for quite a while and watched a portion of “The Lorax”. Doesn’t he look cozy?

Then he remembered what it was he was supposed to be doing. Climbing and bothering his brother who was trying to nap.

Brendan had an excellent day. He was in a good mood and smiling most of the time. He had a meltdown for physical therapy. He tried to cough and cry his way out of having to do the work, but we made him do it anyway.
The rest of the day, he just played and played.

The whirlwind continues tomorrow.