I apologize for letting this go so long. I am getting worse over time! Here is a giant update.
First a couple of random pictures, like dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory
May 23rd – Brendan goes for an eye exam/routine checkup. This is Brendan before dilation
Brendan after dilation. He wanted me to take these pictures so that he could see what the eye drops did.
Being silly while waiting forever for the doctor
He was really good for his checkup and let the doctor do an exam without wiggling and crying. The doctor is concerned that Brendan’s right eye may be getting a bit lazy. Brendan has an updated prescription and a follow up in August. If the new glasses don’t help his right eye, he may need to wear an eye patch for a while.
It has been super hot (115 and up) but the boys still play outside.
We play water games to stay cool
May 24th – the last day of swimming school for the year. I really hope that we get the chance to do this again after school starts. Brendan is so eager to do it once his stoma heals!
May 25th – last day of Pre-K!!
May 27th – We were invited to a HopeKids garden event at the Scottsdale Community Garden plots.
Each boy was given some okra to break open and find seeds.
Then they could plant them anywhere they wanted to
After they were done digging and planting, we could pick and keep any vegetables we could find. We brought home a bag of fresh beans, eggplant, onions, and peppers. It was hot, but fun.
May 28th – Happy birthday to me! Just Trevor and I had a little lunch outing to IKEA.
This is before he licked up all the gravy. It is his favorite meal.
May 29th – Happy 6th birthday to cousin Caleb!
May 31st – We checked out a new water feature at the Sealife Aquarium and then spent some time with a friend in LegoLand.
June 7th – Brendan had a checkup at the cardiologist. This is Brendan holding super still for his EKG.
He was interested in knowing more about the echocardiogram. He liked watching the screen.
The cardiologist was very excited to see the trach gone and is very positive about readiness for the next procedure.
Just some random pictures of the boys making magnet block forts for their Halo soldiers.
June 14th – We went swimming at the home of one of Trevor’s school friends.
Brendan is still not allowed to submerge his neck, but he still had a great time.
Trevor and Brolin jumping off the diving board
After swimming, they played dress-up. Brendan loved finding an Iron Man costume.
Iron Man on the drums
All three boys played the drums while Brolin’s dad played guitar. It was…. loud
I finally finished a knitting project that I have been working on here and there for nearly a year. He is a minecraft creeper and his name is “Bomby”. He is huge and heavy and makes a great body pillow.
June 15th – Happy Birthday to Gramma!!! The boys and I made her this silly video.
June 17th – Happy 3rd birthday to cousin Rhys!
June 20th – Happy birthday to Aunt Shannon!!
We got an awesome score on craigslist. 🙂 😀
We also met some friends at IKEA for lunch. Where are those boys?
IKEA carts are the best
June 24th – Our lego pre-order arrived! We waited a few weeks for this. We will slowly build it as a family. It is 1969 pieces!
Brendan claims that he is a master builder and he can do it all himself!
Trevor is more of a free-builder and needs me to back out of his creative space
To date, we have the big bottom stage of the rocket done. More to come!
June 27th – Trevor passes a tip test and gets a red stripe on his belt
June 28th – Building GlaDOS from the video game Portal. It is a family favorite.
Puffer-Buddy can take down GlaDOS
July 2nd – the boys are at the playground because they went with Bill to test ride the new rocket bike.
Our old rocket bike was a Schwinn Trike with a wood seat that Bill built. We added a battery powered motor to help me haul all the weight. It is how I delivered them to and from school every day. Now that the boys have outgrown the wood seat in length and weight, Bill had to take action.
This time he is building the whole bike from scratch!
The new cargo box to hold boys and backpacks
The boys helped paint the box and it is pretty much done now! More on that coming soon!
So I will finish up the post with the biggest news. We have a date for surgery. On July 19th, we will go in for pre-op chest xray and bloodwork. On July 20th, Brendan will have the last stage of his Fontan procedure. Hopefully it will be his last operation! We will expect a 4-6hr surgery with an inpatient recovery of 2-3 weeks. I will also post more soon with more information about his procedure and what they will be doing. Now he just has to stay healthy!
There are so many great pictures and videos. It’s so nice that you post so many things to show what the boys are doing for fun, for adventures, to show how they’ve grown, and what they’ve accomplished. Some pictures are silly, some are amazing, some are sweet, and every one is adorable! 🙂
I hope Brendan stays healthy for surgery. My ticket is booked and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone. I’m afraid to ask what what Brendan wants for his reward for this one! But Gramma is always open to ideas… For brothers, too!
Hope to see everyone soon.
Lots of love and hugs and kisses and wishes for everything to proceed as planned. Extra hugs and special prayers for Brendan…the toughest, roughest, silliest, most lovable super hero I know!
Gramma xoxoxoxo
Good afternoon from the East Coast!! Certainly much cooler than AZ!!! This post was amazing!! The boys have matured sooo much!! Gramma’s Birthday video was priceless!!! I was just about to text you (which I will) and I told Uncle Rich that I will first check the blog!! So happy that I did!!! Wishing that all goes smoothly for Brendan!! He is on our church’s prayer list!! He is an amazing boy, with an amazing family!!! Sending hugs, love and many prayers for all of you!! We love you!!! 🙂