September 11, 2010 - 18 months old

Caden loves the slide......

Grandma and Grandpa Monroe with Caden at a local festival

1st Merry-go-round ride


Grandma and Grandpa Monroe

Caden is doing good. Still fighting a cold that seems to last forever, but all in all, he is good. A few weeks ago he got really sick and his oxygen sats dropped and stayed consistently in the low 70’s. After going to our pediatrician and them following up with Children’s Hospital they decided to put him on nebulizer steroids to help him breath (for his lungs) as well as a steroid (prednisolone –sp?) for his throat to open the airway. Breathing is really hard for him when he is sick especially because of the damaged vocal cord so this medication helps to reduce some of the inflammation thus making his little body not work so hard. It seems to help, and thankfully kept us from making another trip to CHW.

Caden has slowly adjusted to Daycare (after about 4 weeks). Goddard School has a great program, they keep the kids on a great routine, and have lots of fun and creative things for them to do. Usually when I pick him up after work it is their free time to play outside. I must say I was pretty sad and upset when I would peek out the window of his classroom to see him outside, by himself, not playing with any of the other kids and sitting or walking along the fence by himself. My heart just broke! I can finally say he has now “adjusted” and is now playing, giggling, and interacting with the others. Ahhhhh…….a sigh of relief. I have also noticed in the last few days when I drop him off he no longer cries. He walks right over to the other kids and toys and starts playing……oh what a difference a few weeks can make. The only thing I wish he did better now is EAT. I really thought he would learn to eat other foods by watching the other kids, but it’s just not the case so far. Almost everyday I look at his report sheet to read that he ate nothing for lunch, maybe the milk or the fruit but that is it. I get frustrated, but then I remember a lot of these HLHS kids are still on G-tubes and do have feeing issues so perhaps instead of being frustrated I should be thankful at least he does eat something.

We also are still taking him to speech therapy once a week. I really haven’t noticed too much of a difference he only says about 3 words Mamma, dada, and baby consistently. He is however signing a little (about 3 signs – more, cheese, and milk). Hopefully he will pick up more of our signs so it makes him less frustrated when he is trying to communicate. Thanks Tricia for giving me some sign language materials to use with him. We really appreciate it!

As for the rest of us, we are doing good. After fighting some sickness ourselves (David and I ) and myself having to go the ER and be admitted overnight for some shortness of breath, cramping, fever and pain that radiated down my right arm, we are doing fine. Baby seems to be doing great, growing, and now (beside a few weeks ago) my pregnancy has been uneventful (which is good).

My parents made the trip up over Labor Day Weekend to spend time with us and it was so great to hang out, go shopping, go to a local festival, and get some things done around the house. Thanks mom and dad for everything!

Love to you -
Melissa