Sledding, Angles, and a Jazz game

So a couple of weeks ago we headed down to Salt Lake City for a follow up appointment with the ENT at Primary Childrens Medical Center for Bryants paralyzed vocal chord. We spent a few days with Jen's folks in Hudson, Wyoming. We had a great time. We spent one morning sledding. This was Bryant's first time. It was chilly outside. We went to the Lander golf course and tracked up this pretty big hill with Aspen yelling to "run daddy". We decided not to sled down the big hill because of the colvert and the fact that we didn't want to walk back up that hill. So we found a smaller hill and had a blast. Bryant really seemed to enjoy himself. We lasted about half an hour before we decided for lunch. It was a great day. Jen showed us the town.

After our short visit in Wyoming we were off to Utah. When we arrived it seemed like a heat wave. It was a balmy 38 degrees. Which seemed a lot warmer thant the -10 below. The day after we got there we decided to head to Ogden to visit my Grandma, Aunt and Uncle and cousins. The snow was coming down. The day was a lot of fun for Aspen who once again managed to leave with more toys. This time it was a lot of Polly Pockets. Jen and Bryant weren't doing so well. But they enjoyed Gary's new recliners.

The next day we went to our appointment at PCMC. When we arrived we were informed that our appoinment was cancelled. We told them we are from Montana and that we can't just reschedule. Then the nurse told us that Dr. Smith's wife had passed a way. Our hearts just sunk. We felt so bad for him and his family. He has seven kids.

They were kind enough to bring in another doctor. So Dr. Muntz came to see Bryant. Just a little background, Bryant absolutely hates to have his nose touched, wiped or whatever. So you can imagine the joy he felt when they put the scope up his nose. Dr. Muntz tried going up one nostril with no success, so he tried the other. After a few adjustments he saw the vocal chord. One of the vocal chords is still paralyzed but the other one is compensating so there is no issue. He just won't be an opera singer, but with his parents we weren't too worried. Dr. Muntz did notice that Bryants reflux was worse than we thought. Just because he wasn't spitting up didn't mean too much. See we left with two more prescriptions. Kind of bummed, but all and all not that bad. Nothing life altering or anything like that.

While we were at PCMC Aspen was spending time with Papa Lonnie. Oh and what fun they had. Aspen had them watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, Santa Claus, and Frosty the Snowman. He didn't seem to mind. He enjoys his granddaughter.

After our appointment we headed downtown to take dad to an early birthday dinner. So we took him to Toscanos. It's a Brazillian BBQ restraunt. It is terrific. It's at the Gateway Mall. If you get the chance, try it. After dinner we woddled over to the Jazz game. Aspen was so excited. She would tell anyone who listened that she was going to get a soda. She had her Kyle Korver jersey on and was set to go. Dad got us great seats. Just before tip off Aspen was out. She fell asleep. We didn't think much of it. We thought she would wake up sometime soon to watch the game. No chance. She slept all the way through the game. We couldn't get her up. The nice man in front of us couldn't wake her up. The 16,000 cheering fans couldn't wake her up. She was out for the count. Bryant really enjoyed the game. He did stay up for the most of the game with a small nap in the 3rd quarter. He really enjoyed this cute little girl sitting next to us. As the fans were cheering, Bryant was sleeping and she would put her finger up to her mouth and whisper "shhhh, baby is sleeping." It was adorable. But in the end the Jazz lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves. But the Martins had a great time.

The next day we started our trip back to Montana. It was nice to go home but we miss our families.

Mike and Melissa, I didn't read the comments about calling you guys until we got home. I'm sorry. We head back in May for his surgical follow up. When we know our appointment date we'll let you know and maybe we can get together.

Harley Girl and Chompers

We are faced with half of November ahead of us and not too far away more snow will hit the mountains and eventually fall around us. We have a busy remainder of the year and we are looking forward to making the most of it.

Aspen has been busy dancing and a couple of weeks ago was no exception. Her studio was asked to model the fall line for Harley Davidson and do a little dance number. The practice before the big night was a little emotional for her and according to dad he almost lost his cool. If you know Joe this is a rare occurrence. We are both proud of her for sticking to her commitment regardless of the lack of couth portrayed by her instructor. Anyway the night came and went great and her cousins came out to the event to have a little fun. I tried to keep Bryant away from the swarm of people.

Aspen has also been busy at school and is getting really excited about her 5th birthday. She still has five months to go, but she has been planning this party since she turned four. This past week we went from a horse theme to a pool cake. Turning five must be a very big deal.

Bryant had his 6 month appointment last Friday and it went very well. There has been a shortage of the H1N1 shots here in Billings and since he fell into the high risk category he was able to get the shot. Our Pediatrician said that we should take advantage of the high risk category, and we did. So along with is other shots, he got one more. Bryant is in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th for weight. A few more pounds and we have to switch out his car seat. It is a good thing that I got a good deal on a much needed new car seat (I like to call it my cheap sickness). Bryant now has 4 front teeth and I think it is so cute to see them when he smiles. I hope the photographer gets them in his school pictures coming up. The girls at his daycare have nicknamed him Chompers, very fitting.

Bryant was scheduled for the RSV shot on Friday also, but alas insurance didn’t quite pull their weight. I called them three times. The first to see what could be done to change our denial letter to an approved letter to only find out that we were already approved. Two more calls to check on this and double check. Still have not gotten any information until last Friday when I was told that the Doctor has to re-submit the claim and our co-pay would be $200.00 per shot and could go up. The price goes up when Bryant weighs more. He will have one RSV shot a month until spring. The dosage of each shot will depend upon how much he weights. And of course we fall into that category of making too much money to qualify for assistance. It is a good thing I held back some FLEX.

So both kiddos have their H1N1 shot, Aspen has her Flu shot and both Joe and I are waiting since we missed the cutoff and due to the lack of supply. We normally wouldn’t do any shots, but we are trying everything to keep Bryant healthy.


Bryant - Mama I can do it on my own - I don't need any help.

Fancy Nancy Reading

Joe's good side and Bryant board of the posing

Aspen's happy dance!

Our Harley girl (Yes it is a side ponytail. - She choose her own hairdo.)

Duncan far enough way from roaming hands, yet close enough in case if trouble should approach.

Casey - Pleeease drop something so I can eat it - I don't care what.

Halloween Spooks!

I think I got it mom

Red hair

Katrina enjoying some quality quiet time.

Can you spot Bryant among the green tomatoes harvested - This is only part of the tomato harvest.

6 months!

Bryant turned 6 months old today. Happy half birthday to the little guy. It seems so long ago that we were in Salt Lake City for his EA/TEF. Things have gone very well.

Halloween Pictures.

Last night Jen and I took the kids to get Halloween pictures, and since Aspens dance teacher let them wear their costumes we thought it would be the perfect opportunity. Naturally Aspen was happy to get all dressed up with make up on. She was so excited. Bryant looked absolutely adorable in his bat outfit. Tell me you would be scared of that bat. Aspen would anyone who would listen that she is a Fall Fairy. It was a long night but well worth it.

Two Teeth! Four Teeth! Five Teeth??

I know it has been a while since I've updated our page. It's my fault, not Jen's. She has even provided the verbiage and pictures. Life has been busy.... But enough with the excuses here is the update!

Yes. the teeth are coming. Bryant got two teeth right away between 3 and 4 months. They were so nice to him that we didn't even know he had any until they were popped up and he was ready to use them. This go around we have been a little more watchful. The drool is plentiful and Orajel had to be used to take the bite (ha, ha, ha) away from the pain. His poor little gums are so swollen that it looks like he will get two giant buck teeth. Along with the 4 teeth it looks like he is starting to get a 5th. Not sure how this one will go, but an itooth is not the most enjoyable experience on the parents end. He is happy and loves working on them any chance he gets.

With teeth in mind he is watching the rest of the family eat and is inquisitive about it all. We have offered him some rice cereal a few weeks back and it didn't end up all that bad. However, these days, when we give it to him the cereal he doesn't want to keep it in his mouth. After all, it doesn't taste like his bubblegum Prevacid or the milk he gets. My hope is that he isn't like Aspen who went straight to table food. The girl didn't even give the pureed stuff a chance. Mashed potatoes still are not her favorite food.

Our four year old who has been adding things such as spelling, artist, and math to her repertoire can now add ties her own shoes, right after spelling. We have been trying to teach Aspen how to tie her own shoes since she was 3 years old. At moments she was almost there, and at other times she had given up. So a few weeks ago we got her a book to practice on her own. And after two tries she had got it and hasn't looked back. She is so proud of herself as she should be, that she tells everyone she knows. All the shoes with laces are now fair game to wear, because all of a sudden they have become more important than princess looking shoes.

Cowboys, Camping, Campfire

Aspen is enjoying every minutes of being a big sister, well except the moments when Bryant is crying. At these moments you will find her fingers in her ears. Since the moment Bryant was able to come home Aspen has wanted him to play with her. My comment to her was that she didn’t know what she was wishing for.Bryant has always adored Aspen and he is now able to play with her some.Well it is more like Aspen plays with him while he lays and watches her every movement while he is trying to participate with a seek or a laugh. It is great fun to watch the two together. On one occasion Aspen used Bryant as a mannequin and dressed him up in her cowgirl boots. He loved the fact that Aspen was playing with him and he enjoyed it so much that he kept kicking them off only to have her put the boots back on.

The tent came a few days later when Aspen used her favorite blanket to create a tent for her and Bryant with his jungle gym. When looking over at them all I saw were Bryants little legs kicking as fast as can be and Aspen trying to make the tent perfect from the inside. I am sure this wasthe first of many tents that they will make together.

Joe turned 33 this year and I decided to get him an outdoor fireplace. He has wanted one for many years well only about two but the many years statement makes him sound old. I had wanted to do a little backyardcamping, but not sure how the weather would hold up this time of year. Sofor our Friday Family night we (Joe) cooked steaks on the grills and then stoked the fire for some s’mores. The weather was great except for the wind so the evening ended quicker than intended.

Finally an Update

Things have been very crazy lately. My company is finalizing the last steps before moving into their new datacenter next month. It has been a lot of late hours and weekends. Jen has been extremely understanding. I owe her a new diamond ring after all this is said and done.

But life does go on for our kids. Bryant is growing like a weed. He is now up to an occasional 5oz. And funny enough we noticed the other night that he is getting is first tooth. It seems way to early for that. But he is quick with his smiles. We are still waiting for the first giggle. Jen and I heard him giggle in his sleep but that's hard to count. He is an outstanding baby.

Aspen is......there are not enough words to describe how great this little girl is. She adores her little brother (which I'm sure we've mentioned before in this blog). She has made herself busy with "projects". We went to the crafts store and picked out a bunch of art supplies for her projects. She creates her masterpieces every day.

This past Friday we took the afternoon off and took the kids to the Montana State Fair. It was a lot of fun. It was a perfect day. Something like 75 degrees outside. Aspen went on a bunch of rides. Her favorites were the carosel and the race cars. We went and looked at all the farm animals. And later that evening Aspen danced with her dance class on a stage at the fair. Aspen's teacher, Nancy, called a couple of weeks ago and asked if we would like to dance at the fair with some kids from their dance camp. We asked Aspen and she couldn't say yes fast enough. She was very excited. She did great, although she has outgrown her ballet shoes.

Three shots and a sucker

With two kids in tow, we (Jen) visited the Doctors office yet again. Aspen was ready for her 4 year checkup and Bryant, well let's just say he didn't know what was coming. The three of us sat down far away from everyone in the hope that none of the snotty nosed kids would visit. Normally it wouldn't bother me but with Bryant not having any immunization shots yet and knowing that colds and sickness are in our near future I wasn't in the nood to accelurate that. Especially with Bryant's TEF. And what is it about babies drawing in strangers? It's like moths to a light. Thank goodness we had a short wait. After picking up all of Aspen's "show and tell" items, we headed back.

Aspen was up first. The little girl weighed in at 35lbs and more that 46inches tall. To put things in perspective to kids her own age, she is in the 25th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. Tall and thin. Some days I feel like she will never get to be without a car seat.

She did get to tell the Doctor all about herself and enjoyed every last minute of it. She almost got a shot. But Mom came in and saved the day and showed the Doctor Aspens immunization records and she was saved. She did however get a sucker.

Bryant wasn't so lucky. The little guy weighed in at 11lbs and 22 inches tall. He is in the 25th percentile all around. Both Joe and I are happy that his weight has doubled but he is still on the small side. But we'll take it. But he is working on it. He's eating every three hours. Like clock work.

After the weigh in we had a chat about his dry skin and what to look forward to down the road. So after all this came the moment of truth. Bryant received three shots, because we had to catch up with what he has missed thus far. He also received an oral dose to help prevent the rotavirus. For first time parents you cannot pay enough money to have this dose. The rotavirus is one of those sicknesses that will keep coming back. Week afte week. It's a nice case of diarhea, v0miting, and lots of crying. Both yours and the babies. With Aspen having this when she was a baby we were delighted to hear that there was an immunization available for Bryant. Oh so happy!

It seems Billings is catchin up with the times. We have finally gotten an Ears, Nose, and Throat specialist for infants and children. It is funny (scarry more like it) to think that Billings has NO Doctors to work with infants and small children on almost any level except very minor, non life threatening issues. Jen only found out last week that the clinic/hospital we go to doesn't even admit infants and small children. They have to be shipped up the street to another hospital whose history with small children hasn't been that great. It makes us even more grateful for Primary Children's Medical Center. No matter how many Doctors and nurses they train or bring to Billings, they will never live up to the high respect we have for the Doctors and nurses and PCMC.

Updates.

We drove back down to Salt Lake City to do follow up exams with the surgeons and redo Bryant's hearing test since he failed the first one on the left ear.

The hearing test was interesting. Bryant passed on his left ear with flying colors, but failed on his right ear. The audiologist doing the test thought Bryant might have fluid in his ear and we should follow up with our pediatrician when we get home.

We then met with Dr. Rollins for our surgical follow up. He weighed Bryant and he is up to 9 3/4 pounds. We are very proud. Dr. Rollins thought he was doing good. He took his heart rate and other vitals. I started thinking "I hope we didn't drive all the way down here for a 10 minute meeting of heart rates, and temprature." But Dr. Rollins ordered a chest x ray and another Esophogram. So the trip wasn't a waste of time. Everything looked good but we need to hear back from Dr. Rollins with specifics. We also ran into one of our favorite nurses in the NICU, Melissa. She let us in to say hi to some of the staff. We weren't sure if that was allowed. But we got to see our development therapist, LeAnne, and Kathie Neff.

We spent some good times with my dad and the rest of the family. Always in for some good laughs with the Martin clan. We can't take anything seriously. They spoiled the kids (just seems weird to say after having one for so long).

We stopped off at Jen's folks place on the way back. We had a terrific roast and mashed potatoes. Watched a fantastic movie, August Rush. Good movie. The time really flew and it was Sunday morning already, and time to go. Next we will go fishing. I promise.

Monday morning was a first for Bryant. His first day at daycare, and Jen's first day back at work. She only got 3 weeks at home with Bryant. She got cheated out of time with Bryant, but he has managed to give mama the googley eyes whenever she walks into a room. He adores his mother and sister. Dad is ok, but he is more of a ladies man.

His first day at daycare was good. He ate, slept, and pooped. Not in that order, but you get the idea.

We did have a follow up for his hearing. Our Dr. was out of the office so we got a different Dr. It was close to 5pm and she just kind of brushed through our appointment. She looked at his ears and didn't really say anything. She just told us to follow up with the Ears, Nose, and Throat doctors in a couple of weeks. Not all that thrilled with her.

And the bill is...

We've been receiving the bills for our journey to Primary Childrens Medical Center since we've been home. The Life Flight was a shade under $21,000. And insurance picked up all but $100.00. Really good. We've been receiving the bills for the surgery, broncoscopy, and other procedures. The other day we got the bill from PCMC. It was $146,000. They charged us $11.00 bucks everytime for sterile water. It starts adding up.

Now I'm not complaining. There were families there a lot longer than us. Sometimes it seemed inappropriate to even talk about home when their journey was so much more trying. But to each their own. It's money well spent.

We read some great news that Jonah got to go home. That is huge. Jonah was in the hospital for about 9 months. I don't know how the Laynes did it. God bless them!

Bryant had his first session today with the development therapist. She thought he was doing good and wasn't sure if he needed but thinks we should get on the wait list to see if a case presents itself. We agreed.

So much has been said about Bryant that we haven't been updating on Aspen's news. When we came back from Salt Lake Aspen moved to the Pre K class at her school. This has been a move Aspen has wanted pretty much since moving up to the 3/4 classroom a year ago. She got reunited with her best friend Laynee. Aspen missed her so much while we were away. Aspen has also kept the family entertained with private dance shows. She has been a breath of fresh air.

She always wants to be involved with Bryant. She hasn't shown a single sign of jealousy when it comes to her brother. If he could, she would probably say he would crawl on water.

Weigh In

So last week Jen took Bryant in to get weighed and he weighed in at 7lbs 6oz. We took him today to see our regular pediatrician, Dr. Agnew. Bryant weighed in at a hefty 8lb 6oz. I can tell you he has been packing in the food. He has been eating 4 oz every 2 1/2 hours. He is making up for missed time.

Next Friday we are heading back to Salt Lake for a follow up appointment with the surgeons. Aspen is excited to hang out with Papa Lonnie again. And I know what my dad is thinking. Yeah, more Hotel for Dogs!!!

We don't have much more for news. Just that we are sleep deprived. More Jen than me. But it is all worth it.

Oh..one more thing. We started getting our bills from Primary Childrens Medical Center, Life Flight, and the U. I saw a lot of interesting things we got billed for, and for the most part I can't complain, but the funniest was sterile water. It cost us $11.36 every time. If I knew it was going to be that expensive I would have brought my own water. Just kidding. But come on, we're in a recession.

There's No Place Like Home

We are home! Actually we got home on Sunday at 2:30pm. We got out of the hospital on Thursday and stayed the night with my dad. On Friday we drove to Jen's folk's place in Hudson Wyoming. We had a good dinner at one of my favorite steak houses. Bryant slept the entire drive except to eat. We stayed a few a couple of days. Bryant again slept the entire trip except to eat. It was a cold Sunday. We ran into snow in Wyoming. Not a little snow. It was really coming down. It didn't stick.

When we left the hospital Bryant weighed 6lbs 15oz. They told us he had to eat 50ml every 3 hours. That is a tad under 2oz. And they added calories to his milk to gain weight. Well since leaving the hospital Bryant has been putting it down. He eats 3, 4, or 5 oz every two hours. We try to stretch it out to as close to 3 hours as we can but when the kids hungry, he's hungry. So you can imagine what sleeping was like our first night home.

He's getting better though. He falls asleep when he's eating at night, and it's slowly stretching to every 3 hours, but the volume is high.

On Monday Bryant had his Dr.'s appointment with a pedatrician. It wasn't our regular pedatrician because she was out of town, but the Dr. that helped us was at the hospital when Bryant was born and explained T.E.F to us in the NICU. Cool story. Anyways...the appointment was just to weigh Bryant. He weighed in at 7lbs 6oz. The Dr. took him off the additional calories. We also asked about circumcision. The pedatrician can't do the procedure because the anastesia they use isn't effective for newborns older that two weeks. We have to call another doctor.

So Jen goes to make the appoinment and they can't get us in til July 22nd. Amazing.

Now the important part. Aspen adores her little bro. When they first met they just stared at each other. Bryant couldn't take his eyes off her. She talks about all of the stuff she is going to teach him. The list is getting big.

The dogs and cat love Bryant.

I will post some pictures here soon.

Free At Last....

WE ARE OUT OF THE HOSPITAL!!!! As of 3:30 pm today Bryant is no longer a patient at Primary Childrens Medical Center. It was so surreal and kind of weird. Almost everyone that was on staff the night we arrived was there. His nurse practioner, Carin Smith, and our favorite nurse Melissa. It was great. He slept through his first car ride. It was pretty boring compared to the flight he took to get down here.

When we got back to my dad's place Bryant got to meet his sister. Aspen was all smiles. And Bryant was smitten when he saw her. He couldn't take his eyes off the princess.

I will post some pictures from the week later.

Thank you all for all the support and prayers.

Slowly but Surely.

The past couple of days have been slow moving. Bryant continues to progress. He is officially past his withdrawals. They have taken away the morphine and ativan. The ativan is a sedative to help calm babies down. So Bryant is drug free til maybe his college years....I hope I'm joking.

We did get some good news today. They are going to increase Bryants calorie intake so he will grow and add weight so they can send us on our field trip (a.k.a-home). He hasn't put on weight this week. In fact he has lost weight. This is great news.

He also has another swallow study setup for tomorrow. The study is to see if Bryant is protecting his airway when he eats. He has a paralyzed vocal chord and might not be able to protect his airway. We believe he is since he hasn't choked.

In the meantime, this past weekend we wanted to keep Aspen busy. On Friday night we took her to California Pizza Kitchen, and took her to Night at the Museum, Battle of the Smithsonian. The movie was hilarious and the pizza was fantastic. Then on Sunday we took in an afternoon game with some new friends and parents that have a baby at Primary Childrens Medical Center. Grandpa really hooked Aspen up. Midway through the second inning she got to stand with the announcer has he presented a dog for adoption. It was bring your dog to the ballpark. She had a great time. The game was fun. Thanks Mike and Melissa for joining us. We had a great time.

Picture's of Bryant. Finally!!!

So tomorrow will be 4 weeks at Primary Children's Medical Center. It has been a rollercoaster. We have met some outstanding families, that have made our journey easier. It's easier to talk to them because they know exactly what you are going through and exactly how you feel. You root for them. We root for Maddux to eat and poop. We celebrated when Bryant's firt buddy Andrew got to go home today (congratulations to the Christensen family!).

Bryant is progressing. Right now is so hard because he is going through withdrawals from the drugs he was on to manage his pain. He is feeding good. One day he will eat 3 full feedings then the next he will eat 2ml. A full feeding is 56ml. Once he does that consistantly we can head home. But is withdrawal is slowing the process up. The important thing is every day Bryant is getting better. We worked with our development therapist and Bryant lifted his head and moved it side to side all on his own. He also followed toys with his eyes. He prefers solid colors. He also responded to daddy's voice. Our therapist gave him an A+ for the day.

Aspen talks every day about her brother. She draws him pictures, tells stories about what she will teach him. It's amazing. She never stops amazing me. She never has been jealous of all the attention that Bryant gets and we try our hardest to keep it that way. She loves her time with Papa Lonnie and the train ride he takes her on.

Again we would like to thank everyone for their prayers and best wishes.

Anyway here are the pictures....

Here is mama with her lil boy. He likes his sleep.

Bryant loves eye contact.

Here are the Martin boys!!

All snuggled in.