Catching Up!

Wow, I've been terrible at updating the blog....sorry, we've been busy. Russ keeps busy with school and work (on top of everything else). Work for me has been steadily busy, which is great as far as extra money goes, but not so much on the stress levels. And of course there's taking care of the kids and doctor's appointments, therapy, etc. Melina turned 4 in August and then started preschool in September (my little girl is growing up:'(). She's a good helper, when she's not being a pest. I don't know how younger siblings manage to survive the older siblings. I guess Carson will get even later on. And Carson, well....what can I say about Carson....he's our miracle baby.

Carson is almost 8 months old and has been doing amazingly well! He is completely off of the oxygen and has been for a while now. We don't even have the tanks anymore. The only thing that we're really still dealing with is his feeding problems. He is still aspirating, so he can't have anything by mouth. We are allowed to give him little tastes of some foods, but that's it. He soooo wants to eat. We're grateful that he doesn't have an oral aversion, he's your typical baby....everything goes in the mouth. We have another swallow study scheduled for next month. We're hoping and praying it will go well. Either way, a change has to be made. Even if it means having surgery to place a more permanent feeding tube.

He has made so much progress with his development. He's still a little behind, but we are confident that he will catch up soon. He is army crawling now and very close to full on crawling. He just needs a little bit more arm strength. He's very fast when he wants to be. Let's just say that the feeding tube is a challenge. We've had to resort to blocking him from leaving the room. It's either that or we have to pretty much follow him around with the feeding pump. He can also sit up on his own now....well sort of. He can hold it for a little bit and then catches himself when he falls forward.

Carson was finally circumcised a couple of weeks ago and at the same time he had an echo done. Everything is fine except for his aortic arch. His cardiologist is a little concerned because it has some narrowing. He doesn't know if it is because it isn't growing with him or what, but it is something he is keeping an eye on for now. If it becomes a problem, it is something that can be fixed in the Cath lab, not the O.R.

Well that's it for now. It has been hard and stressful, but we have also been so blessed. Stay tuned for some pics and video clips (if I can figure out how to post them).