Giant post ahead! Brendan is very sore. The incisions are itchy and annoying. Otherwise, he is doing SO well, and he is sleeping so much better in his own bed!

Immediately after taking Gramma to the airport, we picked up Aunt Shannon, Uncle Jon, Kieran, and Malcolm! They initially booked their trip to help us manage things while Brendan was in the hospital. We all had no idea that he would already be home!
Here comes cousins!

Lunchtime with cousins!

The first thing we had to do was make a Costco trip so we were able to feed houseguests.

Costco has out their huge selection of Halloween costumes. Last year, I waited too long and all the good ones sold out. The boys are very in to costumes now, so we picked up a few.

The littlest soldier

We had to do a lot of relaxing. We introduced the cousins to “Miles from Tomorrowland”. They were hooked! Now they all make robot ostrich sounds. Wah-ah-AAAH-ah!!!

Brendan loves to build with Lego. He has been keeping himself busy creating his own models.

August 9th – FIRST DAY of Kindergarten!! Trevor loads up in Rocket Bike 2.0

He was looking forward to going to his new school!

So far, he has had three really good days. Brendan has been cleared to start on the 21st. He is excited too. They will be in different classrooms.

It was always my intention to set up and do some portraits with all the boys. So Kieran and Malcolm went for some haircuts. It helped them feel cooler in this heat! But because of the time change, school, nap schedule, and overall exhaustion of adults, we just didn’t get the studio put together.

Brendan went for a follow-up with the surgical team on August 10th. His chest x-ray looked awesome. They are very proud of him and impressed with how quickly he is healing. Brendan likes to play with the model hearts.

While Trevor was at school and Brendan was resting, the other boys had to go to the playground to get all their wiggles out.

We couldn’t get rid of this giant box yet. It is just too good. The cousins loved it.

Malcolm loved all of the owls in our house. So we decided to take an evening adventure and go see the burrowing owl sanctuary. Brendan could ride in a stroller so he didn’t have to over-exert. The heat was OK once the sun started to go down.

Burrowing owls are small and cute!

Uncle Jon and the pack

Malcolm loved the owls

“OH! OWLS!”

Kieran is trying to whistle to the owl

Peek! These owls live in the pipes and tunnels in the ground here.

Something else likes these pipes too

Tired owl

Beautiful owl

Silly owl!

Tired of walking

But still silly!

Cousin love!

The next day we decided to investigate the Odysea Aquarium while Trevor was at school.

They put in a new activity for kids. Kids color sea life on the special pages.

When you put your artwork in the scanner, it makes your creations come to life and swim around on the screen. The kids loved it!

This was my favorite part of the day. For the first time since we have been visiting, the giant octopus was out of its hole and being very active! Really amazing to watch!

Brendan is showing Kieran secret tunnels under the tanks

Lunch!

That’s my Brendan smile!!

Selfie at the Living Sea Carousel Ride.

Sit back and relax and watch the huge tanks.

Or take advantage of the dark and quiet to catch a late nap.

Little spider friend hanging out on the door handle of the car. I know a few people that would totally freak out about this. I thought he was cute.

Extra carseat in the van worked while Trevor was in school. Otherwise we all had to roll in two cars. Thumbs up to the day at the aquarium!

Giving Malcolm a spin.

All these boys had different bathing requirements. They got custom tubs.

Trevor likes a deep hot tub with tons of bubbles.

Brendan can’t have water above his belly button. And he likes no foam.

Malcolm just needs room to be a monkey, and room for a mom to hang on to him when he is being a monkey.

Kieran likes his bathwater cool.

And he needs room for jump-drops

Clean boys and pillows

Drawing together

Trevor really wanted to play his favorite game called “Don’t fall off”. Brendan can’t really play yet, but he didn’t want to be excluded.

JUMP!

Brendan just slid down and tried to stay out of the landing zones.

Maybe the game should be named “Don’t land on your face”. Kieran was OK! He got right back up for another jump.

A few Endermen join the fun

Malcolm must do anything the other boys are doing!

He wants to jump!

The visit was over so quickly. I am very glad that it turned into fun adventurous visiting time and not more hospital time. It was still EXHAUSTING having all of these little guys everywhere.

We had to take two cars to the airport so that we could all ride the Sky Train together.

Saying goodbye

I imagine that this cutie will be twice as tall when we see him again.

Front row Sky Train for Brendan on the way back to the car.

Our visiting family had horrible luck trying to get home. They were diverted to Oklahoma City due to storms and had to stay the night. Delay after delay made their trip home almost 24hrs. They made it safely to Dallas!

Brendan continues to recuperate. It is amazing how quickly he is improving. We appreciate so much all of the letters and drawing that were sent. We continue to get them!

We ALL need to rest and recover from the last few weeks.

He did it! He is at home, asleep in his own bed.

Although to me it seems like it was this morning, it was yesterday that everyone came to drop me off for the last “shift” with Brendan. He was improved, and they were giving him free time off the monitors to move around and visit.

We brought him a Niffler for in his suitcase

He had fidget spinner wars with Trevor. They giggled like crazies.

Trevor drew him a “get-well” puffer fish

In the middle of the night, Brendan says “Mommy, I have to go potty!” But when I get up to help him, this is what I find.

This morning, he had to have yet another echo before he got to leave. He did such a good job for this one that they gave him a Lego set!

Dressings are all off, PICC line removed. His chest is a mess of wounds and tape damage. Because of the half circle of chest tube holes. Trevor said Brendan can convince people that he was bitten by a shark.

For the first time in 12 days, he gets to wear clothes!

“Bye-bye”

In the car

Of course, we have to go back again on Friday for another chest x-ray and a check up on the incisions. But for now, it is good to have everyone home in bed tonight.

After waiting for hours to be discharged, I made it home just in time to go to ‘Meet the Teacher” night at the school. Trevor will be starting on Wednesday. Brendan can not start until he is cleared by the doctors. I met both teachers, they will be in separate classes.

We are sad to have to take Gramma back to the airport in the morning. 🙁 Her help is invaluable. I am so glad she got to see Brendan come home. The boys were so silly and lovable. A few hours after we drop her off, we will be making a pickup.

By the time most people are reading this, it will be August 8th – Bill’s 50th birthday.
It has taken a backseat to all of the recent medical events. Bill is a very dedicated Dad and we appreciate him very much. We will have to have a make-up birthday celebration when things calm down. Happy Birthday, Bill! I love you very much!

August 3rd – Brendan seems to have had a big upswing in his mood and his energy. For the first time, he wanted to play with his iPad and he played with his Legos.

Brendan is making a new friend. Meet portable x-ray machine. It visits him every morning.

We had a big monsoon storm blast through the city with heavy winds and driving rain. What motivation to walk to the windows! He took his new Hedwig owl with him.

Gramma and I took Trevor to our friends’ house for swimming time. It was nice to float around in the pool until the storm hit! It was a downpour! The storm didn’t last long, there were just puddles leftover.

August 4th – Brendan had another day that moved overall in a positive direction. He was scheduled for another post-op echo. He needed a lot of medication just to get through it. His chest was so sore. He got so stressed and upset that it affected the rest of the day.

He finally started to recover after a very long nap in the afternoon. We built a cute owl project that was dropped off by the Child Life specialists.

Still tired from the morning meltdown, plus some painful tummy problems.

When sensory overload strikes, make a Brendan Burrito.

Gramma took Trevor to the SeaLife Aquarium. He always has a good time there.

August 5th – After a relatively good night, Brendan got some good news in rounds. Five things are now missing in this picture. Can you count them?

That’s right. FIVE!!!

¡¡¡¡pooƃ ɹoɟ ǝuoƃ – ʞsɐɯ uǝƃʎxo ǝɥʇ puɐ ‘sǝɹᴉʍ ɹǝɔɐd oʍʇ ‘sǝqnʇ ʇsǝɥɔ oʍʇ :ɹǝʍsuɐ

Party blower time! It was excrutiating to have all of the things removed, but we couldn’t be happier that they are gone!

Celebrate!

Once the chest tubes were out, Brendan got seriously HUNGRY! I think it is because they have kept him on a fat-free formula all this time. His body was craving fats. At 6:30am, he was asking the nurse if he could have a hot dog and cheese. He had to settle for pancakes and breakfast sausage.

He made a pancake sandwich!

He actually bit, chewed, and ate about half of a pancake and an entire pat of butter. He nibbled on the sausage. Later, he still wanted his hot dog and he ordered some chicken legs for dinner. Go Brendan! He did have a rough afternoon after all the drugs from the morning procedure wore off. But he settled down for a better evening with Bill.

Another Bathed Brendan Burrito ready for a nap. He gets a chill from the sponge baths, so they bring him toasted blankets.

He was playing with gifts he received from his Aunt Heather P.

He is practicing his levitation spells.

Gramma forgot her scissors!! She bought a new pair just to give Trevor his back-to-school haircut.

I was feeding Trevor sour gummy worm chunks to bribe him to sit still. I guess it worked, but he got a case of the spastic giggles at bedtime.

Brendan’s echo results were very good. His chest xray this morning was excellent and clear.
We were told that he could leave the hospital MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Barring infection, return of fluid in chest, or other complications, we should be able to bring him home to continue healing. He will have several follow ups and will be coming home on several medications for a while. We are nervous and excited. Brendan’s tears were flowing all day because he just wants to come home. It must feel like forever to him.