We had a doctor’s appointment at the pulmonology clinic today at the main hospital. Brendan has to do one more month on the ventilator while sleeping at night and then he has to go through the official overnight sleep study before they will take it away again. We were bummed about that but otherwise the visit was good. The doctor was thrilled to see Brendan doing so well and doesn’t think this will be too much of a setback to his original goals.

We hit horrible traffic on the way to the hospital and in the stop and go nonsense on the freeway, Brendan got car sick and threw up quite a bit. He has not been having any problems with throwing up at home, but the accelerating and braking over and over must have been too much. He has always had a tendency to throw up in the car, I sure hope he grows out of this too! Trevor did a great job during the whole appointment and car trip, he is such a good boy for these things.

He didn’t want to wake up this morning!

We played outside as much as possible.

The boys discovered that the fort is riddled with little holes that they can peek through and pass things through.

“This is a ‘No Mommies Allowed’ fort!!”

They passed bubble wands back and forth through the wall

Coming home from the doctor, we were going to be real late with dinner so we decided to get a couple of Wendy’s cheesy cheddar burgers. I got Trevor his own.

He did NOT like it, even if I cut it up for him. We try to cook real food at home every night and I have made a point to feed Trevor the most nutritious diet I can. That he doesn’t like fast food is a good thing.

While I cleaned up the kitchen and prepped for the next day, the boys watched Bill change out the ceiling fan in the “dining” area. We used the really nice fan that we took down from the patio and replaced this cheezoid glossy black free hand-me-down fan that was in there.

I put water on their trays and let them play. Splashing and watching Bill climb a ladder kept them entertained for a while!

Dirty hands! Ewwww!

Bill had the day off of work and got a lot done. We have appointments to interview two new nurses next week. I can’t believe May is almost gone!!

Our fun morning plans worked out very well. I had a friend visit and bring along her son Keenan for a play date! Keenan is only 2.5 months older than my boys

They played outside while it was still cool enough, climbing and going down the slide like crazies. Even Brendan! They all were up in the fort together, but it took all of our hands to manage them, so I didn’t get pictures. When we came inside, they spent a lot of time with tools and the workbench.

Keenan kept telling Brendan that the drill needed new batteries. (it does!)

Then we got out the box of farm animals

They had a roundtable meeting to discuss which farm animal tasted best

Keenan went home at lunch time and then the boys took good naps. Brendan wakes up from his nap and roots around in his tool box.

With the spy cam, I watched Trevor standing on his aquarium and playing on his dresser so I was going to surprise him. He must have heard me.

This afternoon, Great Uncle Ken and Great Aunt Barb stopped in for a few minutes. Trevor was not so afraid of Uncle Ken this time, although he acted very shy. The rest of the evening was typical twin antics.

Overall, it was a good day. Brendan’s numbers have been extra awesome and he is on 1.5L of oxygen today (The lowest they have been since he got his trach).

There was just something off about today, not sure what it was. Maybe just cumulation of stress and fatigue. It started with a nice long video chat with Gramma and she got to virtually chase both boys all over the house and take part in their antics.
But then crabbiness prevailed. We had a first today that I knew was coming – Brendan bit Trevor. He bit his forearm hard enough that when Trevor screamed and came to me, there were nice deep teeth mark indentations. (It did not break the skin).
Then I traumatized poor Trevor with the vacuum. We had worked so hard to get him used to it again and to not be afraid. He had been playing with it and I was ready to see if he would mind if I ran it. When I went to plug it in, I did not realize the switch was on and it jumped to roaring life just as Trevor reached out to touch it. He SCREAMED. He was so scared, he was trembling and his heart was racing. It took a while to get him calmed down. I felt so bad!

Trevor had to get in to Brendan’s tub when Brendan got out. This tub is about to be retired!

I burned dinner because there were two crying angry boys in high chairs and I wasn’t paying enough attention to the food! Bill got Brendan calmed down with this little spray bottle of water. Brendan will let Bill spritz his mouth with the water mist, it is pretty funny.

During pre-bedtime hallway antics, Trevor tries to create a diversion to cover for his brother

Bad Brendan

“It wasn’t me!”

Now that both boys are asleep, it is tough to detox and relax. We have some fun planned for tomorrow, I hope it helps!