Our hotel!

We were at the hotel Saturday night. The boys were sad because they brought their bathing suits and didn't get a chance to use them. We realized there was a heated outdoor pool so Todd took the boys swimming! I stayed in the hotel with Caroline because it was chilly outside. So no swimming pictures, but I did have fun with Caroline in the room with her new Princess Dolls!

Our Trip to California! 3/19/2011

We were supposed to leave on the 20th so we booked a room by the airport since Vickie's house was quite a drive. We ended up leaving her house Saturday afternoon. We took a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway since Todd and I have always wanted to do that. Probably not such a great idea with a van that has bad brakes! When we got to the end of the twists and turns, we smelled burning brakes. It was fun though!



Todd took us through the town he grew up in and showed us where he lived and what schools he went to. That was interesting! Then, we promised Brayden we would find a Walmart so that he could buy Grandma a souvenir! After that, Todd dropped us off at the hotel and took the van back and we hung out in our room for the night!

Our Trip to California! 3/18/2011

On Friday we decided to go to Disneyland. The traffic there was busy so it took longer than we expected, but we got there! We were led to the furthest parking and had to walk for what seemed like miles, but we got to the gate and all was forgotten! We met my friend's dad and he got us in the park and we were off! The first ride Brayden wanted to go on was Thunder Mountain! That was his first roller coaster ride when we went to Disney World! So first Mommy rode with Brayden and then Daddy had a turn.
Then we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Nathan had his face covered...guess he was scared of the ride? lol! I love Caroline's face here on the picture above!

Me and the joys of my life!

Waiting for It's a Small World!

We went on many other rides...I guess the camera was retired after that. We went on the monorail around the park, Space Mountain, Toy Story, the Submarine and lots more! We met my friend Karina and her son Evan for dinner in Downtown Disney and had a great time! After that, Brayden wanted to head back into the park! It was open til Midnight afterall (with the time difference of 3am for NY!). He made it though. I felt bad for Todd on the ride home though since we all ended up falling asleep! :0(

Our Trip to California! 3/16/2011 and 3/17/2011

We decided we needed a vacation! My good friend Vickie offered her house for us to stay, Todd gets free flights through his part time job and my good friend Chantel said her dad could get us into Disneyland. Why not take a vacation!?

We left on Wednesday and got into California around dinnertime. We picked up our rental van and headed to Vickie's! We must have been a sight for sore eyes when we first walked into her house. We ran out of warm water for Caroline's bottle so she was screaming the last 20 minutes of the drive. On the way walking in Nathan fell and skinned his knee and he was crying. So we walked into her house with 2/3 screaming kids! lol! Peter and John just looked at us like who ARE these people!? lol! We got all settled in. Vickie made us a delicious spaghetti dinner. We got the kids settled in bed. The boys slept upstairs in Peter and John's room. They were so excited for the sleepover!

Thursday (St. Patrick's Day) we relaxed all morning. Brayden and Nathan were SO excited to play outside and even more excited to wear shorts! We ended up taking a trip to the beach Thursday afternoon and played on a playground in the sand! That was really cool! Even better was the fact that trains went by every few minutes! The boys had a blast and Caroline had her first swing ride!Look Mommy! My shoes are off!

Fun on the swings!

Caroline's first ride on the swing!

Brayden wanted to push Caroline!

Watching the trains!Playing!Running from the waves!Playing with the dogs!

We walked the pier and looked at the tunnel waves. We had such a great time that we wanted ice cream. We walked for the longest time and couldn't find a place to buy an ice cream cone! lol! We walked so long and the boys were tired. All we had was one stroller so Todd had to take turns carrying them. They were getting mad when they had to walk and were so overtired. Nathan ended up tripping and skinned his knee again. He was so tired and upset. This is what we ended up doing on the way back to the van...

Yep, Nathan is in the baby carrier holding the baby. LOL! He will LOVE this picture later in life!

Video of Brayden doing Step Aerobics...like Mommy!

Nathan

Ever since Nathan was 1.5/2ish, he would have these outbreaks on his face. His face would puff up and turn red. It took us awhile, but we narrowed it down to dog saliva. He LOVED going to Nonnie's house and would play with their dog's toys. For a child that age, it is only natural to touch their eyes, nose and mouth. Next thing you know, Nathan's face would be swollen and red. Everytime we saw the doctor, I would mention it to her. We were pretty much blown off that it was probably nothing and that they don't like to do allergy testing that early. Finally one day Nathan's face was entirely puffy so I packed him in the van and drove right to the doctors. Sure enough, it must be an allergy. We were told to use Clariton or Benedryl if/when it happened.

Nathan with a puffy face...the pic doesn't do him justice and this was after the swelling had gone down at the doctors office

It worked for awhile. Then, one day Nathan was at Nonnie's house again while Mommy and Daddy worked. All of a sudden Nathan was having trouble breathing. My sister called me and I left work. Sure enough, his breathing was very short. I took him to the doctors and she gave him a nebulizer treatment, sent us to get an x-ray and then we went back for another nebulizer treatment. Turns out Nathan is also asthmatic. He was put on Flovent during the fall/winter months to keep his lungs strong!

To make a long story short, our pediatrician left town and we were in the search for a new one. We switched to Genesis Pediatrics and our new doctor is awesome! She sent us for allergy testing for Nathan so we saw Dr. K . She examined Nathan and he was to remain on the Flovent for the fall/winter and she also prescribed Singulair and Vera Mist and he gets Albuterol as needed. The scratch test showed Nathan is allergic to cats, dogs, pollen and a strain of mold. She also suggested we take Nathan for a sleep study to see if he has sleep apnea.

Nathan with the scratch testing. He was so brave!

Things seemed to be going well with the meds, until we went to see Dr. K for a followup. Unfortunately, Nathan caught a cough and it was just lingering. She also asked us if the Singulair caused any behavior problems. THAT was it! That is where my sweet little man went! His attitude had changed dramatically and he was acting out more than usual...he was more aggressive. She told us to try taking him off it. He hasn't had it for 4 nights and we have already noticed a change!

Anyway, the purpose for this update was to tell you about Nathan's sleep study. We went Friday, March 11th along with my sister and my niece Kendall. We got to the center at 7pm and the kids got their pj's on and brushed their teeth. Kendall allowed the nurse to attach the wires, but not Nathan! He was deathly afraid so we waited til he fell asleep, which was very quickly! Around 9:30 Nathan's nurse came in and started the hour long process of attaching the wires. She got a few on and then started the test, saying it would be great to have it started asap just in case he wakes up and rips them off. She was able to get most of them on and Mommy was able to start my Nicholas Sparks book!Playing with the bike! The second picture is a little blurry, but I love how he is trying to escape! JUST as I was about to turn out the light and try to sleep (12:30am) Nathan woke up. I couldn't get to him quick enough and he ripped every single wire off! 17 sensors on his head/face, 2 belts around his middle, 2 sensors on his chest and 2 on his leg, a thermistor and canula to his upper lip/nose and a sensor light on his finger. He wouldn't lay still til he found and pulled each one off. Meanwhile, the nurses can see/hear everything going on and assured me that she would be in if I needed her. Nope...I sat there trying to calm my little man down and that wasn't possible til the wires were all off. So at the end, I was helping him pull the wires off knowing that if we got them off he would be able to fall back asleep.

Beefore the wires were pulled off! He looks so little and sad!

All night, the nurse came in and tried attaching the wires/etc. All night, Nathan would wake up in a panic and pull them off. Around 3:30am, he was finally too exhausted to fight much...finally saw the sensor light on his finger as being kinda cool, like a flashlight! All the while, Kendall was up and wouldn't go back to sleep. It was to the point where they were ready to send us all home! But Nathan started to accept the wires/sensors and was able to finish the sleep study! We were able to go home at 6:15am!

Nathan and I went home and fell back asleep til 11:45! Todd took Brayden and Caroline to shop for a present for a party they were invited to later that day. We woke up and Nathan took a nice bath to clean all of the paste out of his hair. He was so happy for it to all be over and Mommy was so proud of how brave he was! We get the results at the end of the month!

MDA Walk 3/3/11

Our team walked at the Blue Cross Arena to raise money for the MDA! We had a total of 21 walkers with our team and all wore red to support Brayden! His favorite color is red and he loves trains so our team name is Brayden's Express! We had a great time circling the Blue Cross Arena and even peeked in to see what a suite looks like! There was face painting and a clown who made the kids balloons. There was lots of food and music! The Razorsharks Cheerleaders were there and some of the Razorshark Players came out to meet everyone! It is amazing how tall some of those players are! One player said he was 7"2'! Nathan walked by him and the look on his face as his eyes went up and up and up til he got to his face was priceless!! After the walk, we got to stay for the basketball game! It was a very fun day! We raised over $1000 between donations and the Bowl-A-Rama!

Jerice Crouch from the Rochester RazorSharks posing for a quick picture with the kids!

Of course we didn't get all 7 of the grandkids...either Kyleigh or Caroline was missing!
(photos taken by my sister, Annie Biedrzycki!)

Cardiologist Appointment 3/3/11

One of the reasons I wanted to actively post on a Blog is to keep family and friends updated on our life. A huge part of our life are the many trips to the doctors appointments. Today, we had our second appointment to see the Cardiologist. Our first was in September. Brayden was to see her to get a baseline to monitor him in the future. We found out he has SVT (Supraventricular Tachycardia). Basically he has an extra pathway in his heart. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supraventricular_tachycardia ) From time to time, his heart will start to beat quickly and he will feel it as if his heart is beating out of his chest. The doctor assured us that he will be able to tell us and that it is very manageable! She sent us on our way, but Brayden had to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours to see if he had any of these episodes. The poor thing was extremely upset about it so we let him "skip" school which he thought was awesome!

Today was our followup appointment. The doctor requested that we bring Brayden in an hour early so she could work his heart up on the treadmill. I was very nervous about this, but Brayden did an AWESOME job! They hooked a bunch of wires up to his chest and had him walk on the treadmill. They also monitored his blood pressure through out this! The speed and incline was increased and by the end he was running up a hill! There was a nurse standing behind him so if he fell she could catch him. There was also one standing next to him and a doctor was monitoring his heart on the screen! Brayden was able to watch tv, all that was on that he would watch was Sponge Bob (and most of you know how I feel about Sponge Bob!). He was totally engrossed in it and it kept his mind off of what he was doing so that was all that mattered!

After they let him stop, they had him sit and waited for everything to register. The doctor (not our doctor, but the Chief) was VERY impressed by what the reports showed as well as how well Brayden did! She said this basically told us we don't have anything to worry about! She also told us that Brayden was the youngest patient that they had walk on the treadmill for the test! I was so proud of him!

We met with our doctor after the test and she was very pleased! I had to have her explain it...I have never been good at science! The purpose of the test was to get his heart rate up to see if that extra pathway was used. Well, it wasn't. It does not mean he doesn't have SVT. It just means that it isn't something we have to worry a great deal over. His heart rate could speed up at any moment. We have some tricks to slow it down. We can a) pick him up and hold him upside down (like that is easy to do with a 7 year old! lol!) OR b) have him squat down like he is going to the bathroom and push (I was thinking okaaaaaay!) OR c) walk up and shock him (so he doesn't realize we are coming) with a cold bag of peas or what not and hold it for 20 seconds making sure we are getting in his eye area. So, now everyone reading this knows what to do! lol!

I felt a huge rush of relief when the Chief was repeatedly saying over and over how this is AWESOME news and this is great for us. It is a good thing, no doubt but, after all of the anticipation and the emotions we feel when going to these appointments, it is a huge physical strain! I just feel emotionally beat down!

As usual, when Brayden does an excellent job at these "hard" appointments, he got to choose where we went to eat! He chose Nonnie's house and I had to explain to him that we can't just invite ourselves to someone's house, but we can go to a restaurant! Whatever he chose! So we went to Unos! Grandma even joined us, which made Brayden's night! He keeps reminding me that Grandma is part of our family...that we are a family of SIX even though we don't live with her anymore!

No worries, whatsoever! He is such a great kid!This is the picture we sent to Grandma so she would feel bad and go out to dinner with us!

Working on the treadmill! What a champ!

Bowl A Rama

Sunday we hosted a Bowl A Rama at Gates Bowl! Each lane was $125 and 6 bowlers could bowl on each lane for 2 hours! The fee included the 2 hours of bowling, shoe rental, a pizza and pitcher of pop! We were able to fill 8 lanes with family and friends!

Money raised at the Bowl A Rama will be turned into the MDA on Sunday, March 6th for the walk! It was so great to have all of our friends and family that were there to support us!

If anyone wants to walk with us on Sunday March 6th at the Blue Cross Arena, please let me know!