Boy oh boy, Brendan was a NAUGHTY boy last night. He went to bed a little earlier than normal and we were happy about that. He slept soundly for a few hours, then was restless for a few hours. Then at 1:30am, he stood up in bed and cried out to be held. He pitched an enormous fit while I changed his diaper and then I tried to rock him back to sleep.
He climbed all over me spinning, sitting, laughing, slapping, rolling, smiling, playing and everything else other than sleeping…. until 5AM. I tried putting him down a few times and he would throw an epic tantrum. He would fall asleep for a few minutes here and there but if I so much as budged, he would be awake again. (His sats off the vent were fabulous!)
At that point I had slept for two 30min stretches and I had to throw in the towel. I woke up Bill to take his turn so I could get a couple of hours before Trevor woke up. I got up at 7am because Bill had an appointment to take our van in to the dealership for a service at 8am. He had to drop it off and ride his bike home. (It isn’t a repair service, just a coating they put on to protect the paint job from AZ sun. Part of the package we bought)

Without the van, there were no outings. It was only 95 and really humid today so I had a brilliant idea that we could play outside.
They climbed and went down the slide

Trevor’s preferred sliding method now

They spent time in the swing

They held private meetings

I wasn’t even thinking about the haboobs that have rolled through here lately. Everything outside was covered in a film of dirt. I have some serious cleanup to do! The boys got DIRTY!!!

So they went straight to the sink for a wash, all old-school bath style

Brendan was ready to climb out, Trevor cried when I took him out of the sink!

The rest of the day was busy with normal play. I thought I might get a chance to rest while they napped and Bill went back to get the van.
Guess who refused to take a nap!

After tearing apart his dressor and playing for a while, he did finally lie down for about an hour.

In the series of “get projects done” pictures, Bill worked on installing the toe-kick boards in the kitchen.

Way back in August of 2011, we were just trying to get new countertops installed. The guy came to do it and refused because of how badly unlevel our cabinets were. Bill ended up having to rip apart the whole kitchen and build new stands for the cabinets to sit on so that he could level them.
By the time the counters were installed, someone went in to the hospital and things got crazy!

But it is really good to get things finished, even if it is two years later!

We haven’t heard anything from Gramma and Grampa today, I am hoping that they made it safely all the way to the condo and that things were not too chaotic upon arrival.

Brendan had a great night off of his ventilator. He seems to sleep better without it, he slept in until 7am!

Both boys had a good day. Trevor and I just ran around and did some shopping today so that he could have an outing. He had lunch at Sam’s Club so that we could buy more diapers.

They discovered the mega cache of surplus peek-a-blocks tonight.

They got Daddy in on the fun

I picked up a can of “Mr Bubbles Foam Soap” to see if Brendan would play with it in the tub. It kind of comes out of the can like long squared worms and it dissolves quickly. It does not lather at all.

I don’t think I would buy it again. Trevor thought it was interesting.

Brendan did not like!!!

“You look ridiculous”

Trevor dumped a bath toy bucket over his head

Brendan laughs

Trevor thinks Brendan needs a bucket hat too

We had lots of rumors and warnings about haboobs and storms today but nothing ever came past our house.

We hope that Gramma and Grampa have a very safe road trip!

It is a very Trevorful picture blog tonight. Our outing with the Mom’s group was quite an adventure. I am not sure who it wore out more, Trevor or me! We all met at a gymnastics place where they host an “open gym” a few times a week. It is only $7 per child for an hour and a half, parents are not charged anything. It is open to kids 0-12yrs old only. They have a nice section separated for preschool and under.

Trevor had to test out the “baby pool”

And then he moved to the big version

He crawled on, in, under, through and around everything, with me chasing him everywhere, of course

He would escape the toddler area and blast in to the giant open gym. It was packed with kids!

Of course Trevor was drawn to everything that was not meant for kids. He even found the secret nook where they keep their brooms.

A bunch of kids played parachute and Trevor blasted around and under that too

Then he found the stash of hula hoops.

Here’s a quick montage of the chaos. Trevor’s new friend Jace was there, dunking hoops with him and running on the giant tumbling trampoline.

We got home just in time for lunch. I scrubbed Trevor up as well as I could and I just have to hope that his immune system is good and strong. That was about maximum exposure and it was in the back of my mind the whole time.

Last night Bill got another project checked off of our giant to-do list. All of the interior doors in the house had randomly different door knobs. One shiny brass, one antique, one satin nickel, etc. The entry closet door even had a keyed lock, not sure why! They were all loose and wobbly and easy to turn and loud. Bill replaced every one with a matching knob that requires a good firm twist to open. That should hold back Trevor, another what… month? 🙂
You can see sneaky chair moving Trevor climbed up on to the table to get in this picture.

I hoped to take cute Brendan pictures this afternoon but it was pretty crazy. Both boys were very crabby, emotional, fighting, and there were lots of tears. I had to take Trevor and go to his room and read books until he got ahold of himself. Maybe the morning adventure was overload! They settled down for dinner and had a good bath time.
Trevor is not a good example for Brendan in the tub. He likes to pull back the bath mat because he makes himself slip and slide all over. He lies down, tries to lick the tub as the water drains, and dumps cups over his head. It is a blast trying to bathe them.

We did get a VERY important phone call today. The pulmonologist has OK’d the discontinuation of the ventilator! We hope this time it will be the last time!
Brendan is moving it out of his sleeping area!

Trevor insisted on helping wheel it down the hall.

It will just live in the other room for at least a month. We see the doctor again on August 9th. Brendan will wear his speaking valve during the day with an oxygen line or mist collar and he will have the mist collar at night with an open trach. The big mist tubing can’t go away until we can get Brendan off of oxygen all together.

After we get him settled in to this routine, we will begin trach capping and that will force him to breathe 100% through his regular airway.
We are very proud of him!