Spring Chicken...or Spring & Chickens

Look what I can do?

Yup- He's officially crawling... EVERYWHERE!

Whew, it's gonna get busier around here-which is hard to believe. It's interesting because Shep is a totally typical 10 month old in just about every way, save that pesky piece of hardware in his throat.I fear this is going to present some unique challenges to our household in the near future. For instance, he now pulls at his trach or HME (the filter attached to his trach) ALL THE TIME.!! He then proceeds to suck on it like a cool new toy (I won't go into the details but, this is not sanitary). So far he has not pulled out his actual trach, thank God, though I'm sure he will. This would be very dangerous,especially if he did it and we didn't see it happen. That IS his airway- He MUST keep it in and keep it safe. This means no sticking his finger in it, therefore clogging it- yup, he does that. No sticking ANYTHING else in it, for that matter. The list goes on and on and as our boy develops like a typical 10 month old baby, which we are SOOO grateful for, we are presented with some rather demanding new challenges. It should be fun.

He's had a number of colds recently and the most recent one became a small pneumonia. Were on the home stretch of that one and grateful for it. We really are busy little bees over here, especially when Shep gets sick. Or shall I say, there are three busy little bees and one devoted Queen bee.

And a very exciting event is about to take place this weekend. This bundle of fun is turning three soon, so we are going to surprise the older boys with a trip somewhere very appropriate. Can you guess? One hint--cowboys. That's all I'm giving you but I'll post pics soon.

Yeah he's a pretty awesome kid. For example. Without my knowing he brought along the vampire fangs from Halloween to the park the other day. Only he thinks they are........

TIGER FANGS!!!!!!!

I won't tell him differently.

And WE cannot wait to be going out as a WE more often when the weather gets nice. Silly as it may sound,probably one of the hardest things about Shepherd's condition, for me, is the absence of him in the day to day. We spend TONS of time at home and use our nursing hours to run any errands (since, for the most part,I can't drive alone with him). So it's not that we don't get time with Shepherd. It's the simple things like going to Target as a family or snuggling my baby on my hip at church on Sunday, or letting friends and family enjoy being around him and getting to know him, or going to dinner as a family. All of these kinds of things and more are things we have chosen not to involve Shepherd in during this season of his life. Some of it is practical and some for his protection from serious illness.

All that to say, boy needs a tan, so come on Spring.

Oh, and, lastly,

the ladies wanted to say hello. Lookin good, gals.

Seriously, one of our best purchases of the year.