More Thanksgiving Fun

When we were in Joliet on Thanksgiving, the three of us went over to Morgan and Jayson’s to introduce them to Tyler. He got lots more hugs and attention and it was nice for Mike and I to visit with friends a little too! Here are a few more pictures to enjoy!

Morgan and Tyler

Jayson and Tyler

One happy family!

Happy First Thanksgiving Tyler!

We celebrated Tyler’s first Thanksgiving at his Great Grandma Burnett’s house in Joliet. Tyler got lots of hugs and love from everybody there and he got to meet his Aunt Michelle and Uncle Terry! We all ate lots of yummy food and had lots of fun! Here are some pics to enjoy!

Family photo: Great Grandma Burnett with Tyler, Aunt Michelle, Uncle Terry, Mommy, Daddy, Grandpa Ellsworth, Grandma Ellsworth, and Spice

Great Uncle Terry and Great Aunt Michelle with Tyler

Great Grandma Burnett and Tyler

We received this really cute book as a gift from Mike’s Aunt Pat Burnett. In the back it has a page for Tyler to write what he is thankful for year after year.

We helped Tyler kick off the tradition this year!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Breclaw!

Grandma and Grandpa Breclaw came to visit for a couple of days to celebrate Thanksgiving and Grandpa Breclaw’s birthday a little early (his birthday actually falls on Thanksgiving this year). Here are a few pictures showcasing the fun times we had. Tyler really seems to be much more alert and attentive these days, making playtime lots more fun! Happy Birthday Grandpa Breclaw!

Grandma Breclaw loves feeding Tyler!

Tyler on his tummy time mat thinking "Forget tummy time....this works great for a head pillow!"

Tyler's neck is getting so strong sitting in the Bumbo!

I got my ring sling so I can carry Tyler around and have TWO free hands! YAY!!

Tyler is as snug as a bug in a rug in his sling!

We will all be packing up and going on our first “fun” road trip this Thursday for Thanksgiving at Great Grandma Burnett’s in Joliet. Every other one of Tyler’s road trips—or air trips in a helicopter for that matter—have involved going to a hospital or doctor’s office so we are pretty stoked!

GREAT News!

The genetic counselor called today to inform us that both of Tyler's DNA test results came back and they are NEGATIVE for all metabolic disorders! This means that Tyler now has a clean bill of health!!!! What a fabulous Thanksgiving gift!

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I tried weighing our little turkey at home yesterday (I got on the scale alone and then with Tyler and took the difference). Now I'm sure this isn't totally accurate but our little Butterball weighed in at 10 lbs. 3 oz.! If he keeps up this one-pound a week trend, he'll outgrow his infant car seat by his 4-month birthday!

Good news!

We got a call from the genetic counselor today to inform us that the urine screening taken during Tyler's hospitalization revealed no abnormalities and the bloodwork that they repeated at the geneticist's office in Peoria was 100% NORMAL!!!! YES!! Although we still have to wait for up to 2 more weeks before we get the results of the DNA testing, the genetic counselor said this is "very encouraging news!"

Now for the not such encouraging news.....We had to take Tyler for an unplanned visit to the pediatrician today. He has been extra fussy the last 24 hours and he had a bit of a fever (99.7 last night) so the doc had us come in just to be safe. He couldn't find a thing wrong with him so he is suggesting at this point that maybe colic is the culprit. Or he may just be having a bad couple of days. I couldn't believe when they put him on the scale though--he weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 oz., up from 8 lbs. 0 oz. just 8 days ago!

Happy One-Month Birthday Tyler!

Happy one-month birthday to you
Happy one-month birthday to you
Happy one-month birthday dear Tyler
Happy one-month birthday to you!

Many more birthdays to you
Many more birthdays to you
Many more birthdays dear Tyler
Many more birthday to you!

YAY! Today is Tyler's one-month birthday! We had a little talk earlier and we told Tyler that his first month of life had better be the hardest month of his whole entire life!! Seriously, we are so happy to have the first month behind us and we are looking forward to all the fun and exciting milestones in the upcoming months! To celebrate, here are a few new pictures from Tyler's first month!


Watching the Bears game with Daddy--he needs to grow into the cap a little huh?!
Watching the Bears game with Mommy

He loves watching himself in the mirror--he's so vain!

Chillin in his vibrating chair

He hasn't quite figured out this mat means play-time not nap-time

Tyler's newest toy--a wooden train--thanks Great Grandpa Ellsworth!

Tyler went to the pediatrician’s Monday for his well-child checkup and he is doing great!
Our little chubster weighed in at 8 lbs. 0 oz!! The doctor said he is doing everything
that healthy babies are supposed to do—eating, sleeping, crying, peeing and pooping.
Unfortunately, poor little guy has come down with a bit of a cold so there’s been less sleeping and more crying these last two nights. We still think he’s a perfect angel though......I mean look at him—how could you not?!

The week in review

Tyler has been home for over a week now and what a busy (and exhausting) week it’s been! Here’s a recap of what we’ve been up to….

Monday
--Mike went back to work. We were both sad that he spent his whole two week vacation in the hospital and that he only got a weekend at home with Tyler before he had to go back to work. I was also nervous about taking care of Tyler without Mike’s support. To help ease the transition, my mom and dad came down from Manteno. They helped out with the cooking and cleaning and helped take care of Tyler so I could catch a couple hours to nap here and there.
--Tyler had his first pediatrician’s appointment. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 3 oz. (up from 6 lbs. 15 oz. when he discharged from the hospital on Friday). The doctor said he looked very healthy upon physical examination.
--I got a call from the genetic counselor at the Children’s Hospital in Peoria. She said the geneticist wanted us to bring Tyler in for an appointment Thursday to discuss the borderline abnormal fatty acid deficiency on his newborn screening. They drew some additional labs at the end of Tyler’s hospitalization and the geneticist wanted to go over those results as well.

Tuesday
--We kind of celebrated Halloween a few days belated by dressing Tyler in one of his two Halloween onesies. I never did get around to getting him a great big pumpkin to pose next to but we still got a couple cute pictures.
Tyler and his Mummy

"I love my Mummy!"

--My mom and dad babysat Tuesday evening so Mike and I could get away for a dinner alone. Granted we only went to Chipolte and Target to pick up diapers, but it was nice to have some much needed alone time.


Wednesday
--More rest throughout the day to try to catch up on all that sleep I lost. I was somewhat successful!

Thursday
--We took Tyler to the geneticist in Peoria. It’s all very complicated and I don’t even know that I have the details right but basically Tyler had a borderline abnormal result on his newborn screening for a fatty acid deficiency called very long-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase deficiency (VLCAD). Basically it’s a disorder that prevents the body from converting fat into energy during times of prolonged fasting or illness. Symptoms typically present themselves during infancy and include low blood sugar, lethargy and muscle weakness. None of the pediatric hospitalists acted too concerned with the result and our pediatrician said it’s not too uncommon for a premature baby to have a borderline abnormal result. However, they explained that because Tyler did suffer from complications early in life, it was a good idea to get some additional testing done to rule out this disorder sooner than later. So while Tyler was at the hospital, they drew blood to repeat the newborn screening and they also took extra samples for a diagnostic workup. At our appointment, the geneticist informed us that the blood sample drawn for the repeat newborn screening was insufficient and basically gave us no new information (great…my confidence in the health care industry is really going down the tubes at this point). However the diagnostic lab results indicated that Tyler’s levels had normalized for this VLCAD condition but that another level was elevated for a similar condition. So they repeated that particular lab (poor guy had to have more blood drawn) and they are also going to do some DNA testing to determine if Tyler has any mutations in the genes known to cause these disorders. We should get the results back within a month. The good news is the geneticist did not act too overly concerned (he agreed that he looked very healthy upon physical examination) and he did not recommend any sort of medical intervention at this time; just to keep feeding him every 3-4 hours to prevent periods of prolonged fasting. Our little chunkster had already gained 6 oz. in 3 days—up to 7 lbs. 9 oz. at that appointment!

--Grandma and Grandpa Breclaw went back to Manteno but we want to thank them for coming and helping out so much! Tyler had lots of fun spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa!

"Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! I miss you already!"

Friday

--Tyler had a little trouble keeping his temperature up after he peed on himself 3 times within a 5 minute period, resulting in an impromptu bath. I noticed he felt a little cold afterwards and took his temperature to find he was right at 97.5 (the pediatrician wanted us to call if it got below 97.5). The good news was our little peanut was able to warm up to 98.6 within 15 minutes of being bundled up and held tight! It gave us quite the little scare (déjà vu anyone?!) but we were relieved that Tyler could regulate his temperature on his own.
--Alyssa and Emma came down to meet Tyler! Emma seemed to have lots of fun exploring a new house and pulled out every one of Tyler’s toys (the boy DOES have rattles and rubber duckies galore)! I hadn’t seen Emma since her first birthday party a couple months back and it was super cool seeing her so independent and curious and exploratory! And of course I always enjoy Alyssa’s company and appreciate her support! And Tyler was super excited because Emma was nice enough to let him borrow a couple of her favorite playthings (her Bumbo, activity mat and tummy time mat)! Thanks Emma!

The First of Many Firsts

Tyler has been doing great in his first 48-hours of being back home. He hasn’t had any problems keeping his temperature up so we decided to be daring and take him for his first walk! It was a beautiful fall day so we bundled up our little bundle of joy and took him for a stroll with Spice. By the way, Spice is doing great with getting used to her new friend. We were really nervous about them meeting one another because Spice can be a bit jealous and she’s definitely an attention hog. She didn’t really have enough time to understand what was going on the first time around but today she really started warming up to him. Anyway, once we got back from our walk, we gave Tyler his first bath at home (he had several baths at the hospital but this was the first one at home). He really seemed to enjoy the one here much more than the ones at the hospital--but who can blame him with those scratchy hospital towels! The best part is we took his temperature before and after the walk and bath and he stayed right around 99 degrees! We are so proud of how well he is doing!

Guess Who's Back?!?!

Tyler is home again!!! He was discharged around 7:00 p.m. last night after receiving his final dose of IV antibiotics. Mom was a little nervous about his homecoming (x2) but he handled it great. He seems to be feeling much better and is back to his calm and super sweet self again! We are so happy to have him home and healthy again!

As much as we don't want to remember the events of the last week and a half, we took pictures of the course of events so that we could recall the struggles we faced as a family. I'm really proud of how Mike and I handled the extreme levels of stress, fear and anxiety. The on-going support of our family and friends really helped us get through what was probably the toughest time we've ever endured together. Thank you to all of those who lent us your strength and love and for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!
"Don't worry about me, Mom and Dad--I'll just stay warm in here for now!"

"I'm cute even when I have wires all over my body!" "I graduated to a jail cell--I mean a crib!"

"Can you even see my head with all these blankets wrapped around me?!" Big stretch

"Now I'm getting comfy!"

Resting peacefully on the car ride home