We're Home...

At least at my parent's home, but we are so thankful to be out of the hospital. It was quite the early Christmas present when the doctor said that Austin would be released today. Thank you God!

Austin is in very good spirits and has been throwing a couple of his terrible two tantrums, so I think it's safe to say that things are returning to normal. I'm still a little nervous about getting through today without any more episodes, but I trust that God is watching out for our little guy.

Thanks to everyone for their encouraging words and prayers. Merry Christmas!

Love,

God's Plan isn't always Our Plan

The past few days haven't exactly gone as planned.


Things started off better than expected with our plane rides to Houston. Even though it was icy and wet in Connecticut, we left on time and Austin was a dream on the flight. We figured we were goners for the next leg of our trip, but again our flight was on time and Austin slept for much of the flight. Our trip was off to a great start.


And then Thursday night came....


Right after we put Austin to bed, we heard a gagging noise and then his little voice saying "I all messy." I was still optimistic as I cleaned up the mess, thinking that maybe something he ate just hadn't sat well, but this changed 30 minutes later when round two occurred. It was a loooong night, with Charlie and I taking shifts so that we could at least get a little rest. Poor sweet Austin threw up all night long. It continued until around 7:00 am, when he seemed to turn a corner and start to feel a little better. He was asking for water and food, so we started slow with sips of water and after he had kept it down for almost an hour, we progressed to a little more water. It wasn't more than 15 minutes later that he threw up every last bit of water and we were starting over again. We tried again around 4:00 pm, but the same thing happened. At this point, Austin had only had one wet diaper for the day, so I knew that he was getting very dehydrated and since he still couldn't keep anything down, we went ahead and called our doctor. The on-call doc called us back and told us to head to the ER, so we thanked our lucky stars that we weren't in Connecticut (in the middle of a winter storm) and headed for the hospital.


We got into a room pretty quickly in the ER. Our IV was started and Austin seemed to perk up a little. After he had gotten some much needed fluids, the doctors had us start to give him water again. Everything seemed to be going well, but all of a sudden Austin again threw everything back up and the doctor said that we would be admitted to the hospital. It was at this point, that I started to feel pretty bad. My parents took me their home to experience the joy of the same stomach virus that Austin was enduring, and Charlie stayed with Austin at the hospital.


I felt much better in the morning, and Austin started to eat and drink a little and keep things down. He was released from the hospital around 5:00 pm on Saturday and I was hopeful that the worst was behind us. Little did I know that the lovely diarrhea would start only 30 minutes later and would continue heavily through the night. It was 5:00 am early Sunday when he again threw up and we headed back to the ER.


I am writing this blog from the chair in Austin's hospital room, so yes we are still here and Austin is still having trouble keeping food and liquids in his little body. He is still on the IV, so thankfully he is staying hydrated, but he has to be able to self hydrate before this adventure will be over.


While this hasn't exactly been the Christmas vacation that we hoped for, we have still seen God's love and plan in action. We have had three wonderful visits from people/churches/businesses in the Southeast Texas area just today. The Ridgefield Retirement Home visited along with Santa and delivered a hot rod car for Austin to play with. Next, the Central Baptist Church of Buna came and brought Austin a Build-a-Bear.


Here is a link to the story on the local news station - Austin is featured!!
http://setxhomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=33631&shr=addthis


And last, the Neches Federal Credit Union delivered a little Christmas tree decorated completely with Disney's Cars ornaments and toys (if you know Austin, you know how completely perfect this tree is!)






It is so awesome to see the generosity and love that people have for others at Christmas time. We didn't know any of the people that visited us today, but it meant so much to see the love that they had for Austin and the other children in the hospital during this holiday season.

Austin hanging in his hospital crib

We are in the hospital for at least one more night and maybe even longer, but God's plan is perfect and I just have to trust that there is a reason for all of this. Here's to hoping that all of you reading this are having a wonderful and safe holiday season. Merry Christmas to you all!

Love,

I am so Pee-roud!

I wasn't sure I would ever see this day. Up until this point, our Baby Bjorn potty has been a toy. Austin will sit on it for a few seconds and then announce that he is done with not a piddle in sight. That all changed last night. Austin was in the bathtub and Charlie decided to introduce Austin to the "pull the finger" trick, which Austin then wanted to copy. The child was working very hard to reproduce the "sound" that his father had produced and we started to get a little concerned that something "else" may show up in the bathtub. We asked Austin if he needed to poo-poo in the potty and of course, he said "yes". I brought in the baby potty and placed Austin on it, and low and behold, the child started to pee! Yes, my child peed in the potty for the first time ever! We celebrated, we danced, we congratulated and gave him a present for his awesomeness! I don't know if we'll see it again for a long time, but I was one proud momma last night!

A Day Out with Thomas

This past Saturday, we attended our first Day Out with Thomas. I'm sure you can tell by past posts that Austin loves Thomas the Train. Once we found out a life-size Thomas was coming to a train station near us, we hurried to buy our tickets because we knew Austin would love it. And LOVE it he did!

Our pic with Thomas

The side view

Austin ready for his train ride (wearing his conductor hat!)

There were lots of activities to do at the station besides the actual train ride. We met Sir Topham Hatt, watched Thomas videos, played with Thomas trains, and took lots of pictures. Oh and of course we went into the gift shop which means we left with lots of Thomas goodies!

Austin, a little unsure of Sir Topham Hatt

Austin playing with Thomas

Austin and his Nonna, who joined us for our fun trip

A Day Out with Thomas is a yearly event at the Essex Train Station, so I am sure that this will be just the first of many visits to see Thomas!

Happy Halloween

While this was Austin's third Halloween, it was the first Halloween where he actually "got" what was going on. I thought that I would at least have one more year where I got to pick the costume, but Austin quickly made it known that he was going to be Thomas for Halloween. For all you folks out there without little boys, Thomas is Thomas the Train and quite the phenomenom with boys Austin's age. So I found a Thomas costume (one size fits all up to age 6!) and we were set. We actually got to wear the costume three times this Halloween season, so we definitely got our money's worth!

We practiced with him on how to knock or ring the doorbell and then say "Trick or Treat", followed by a "thank you" after receiving our candy. He was doing great with it when we practiced at home, but had a little stage fright when we went trick or treating for real. We had him go up to our door first and the first thing he said when Charlie opened the door was "Candy!". He did better as we went to each house and finally had it down by the end of the night! He had a blast and our neighbors loved seeing "Thomas".

The best treat was when our good friends stopped by with their little boy Noah (Austin's buddy). When we opened the door, Austin was so excited to see him and we were able to get some pictures of the boys together. Thanks for stopping by, Christine, Joe and Noah!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of our fun Halloween!

Austin ready for his first time Trick or Treating

Our Thomas the Train pumpkin (this thing took hours!!)

Austin as Thomas the Train

Family Pic at our neighbors

Noah and Austin

My Friends

We have been so fortunate to find a wonderful church here in Connecticut. Our church really pushes for small group involvement and we love our small group! Several couples in our group of 12 have young kids, so not only do we enjoy our time together, but the kids do as well. We get together every other Sunday and Austin always looks forward to seeing "my friends"!

One of the parents usually babysits the kids while the rest of the group goes over our lesson. I was the babysitter this past week and was able to get some cute pics of the kids that I wanted to share!

Maddie and Austin

Riley chewing on a Slinky

(Jessica and Nate - I swear I don't normally let them chew on slinkys - I obviously was too busy with the camera!)

Jackson giving his best smile

4 kids in a Thomas the Train ball pit!

Say Cheese!

Autumn Activities

Fall is such a great time in Connecticut. The leaves are changing, the temperature is dropping, and there is so much to do! We have been busy with hayrides, trolley rides, apple picking, and of course picking pumpkins at the pumpkin patch! Our friends Joe, Christine, and Noah have joined us on our adventures - we feel so blessed to have such great friends.

Austin and Noah ready for the hayride

Mommy and Austin riding out to the pumpkin patch (sorry for the glare)

Austin and Noah NOT looking at the camera!

Picking apples with Daddy's help

Austin and Noah with their bags of freshly picked apples

Family Pic!

Austin and Noah riding the trolley

Daddy and Austin

I saw the coolest thing today as I looked out our back door. Five Wild Turkeys just chilling in our backyard. Charlie and I tried to get some good pics, but we didn't want to get too close and be attacked by the gang of birds! From what I understand, wild turkeys have a reputation for being a little mean, so we didn't want to take any chances. They stayed for about an hour and then hopped on our fence and flew off to our neighbors yard. Talk about an exciting day ;-)

Picture Catch-Up

I have lots of pictures from the past month and a half that I've been meaning to share. We've been to Six Flags and the Big E, and we've even gotten a little creative at home! Enjoy the pics!

Austin and his buddy Noah in front of Thomas the Train at Six Flags (Austin loves, loves, loves Thomas the Train!)

Austin and Noah riding in Harold the Helicopter

Our friends Christine, Noah, & Joe and Austin and mommy riding on Thomas the Train

Daddy and Austin on the carousel at Six Flags

Austin and Mommy and Noah and Christine on the Wiggles airplane ride at Six Flags

This picture cracks me up - Charlie and Austin in a very crowded Helicopter ride

Austin and Daddy riding the bee ride at The Big E

Austin riding the ponies at The Big E

Austin enjoying his ice cream sandwich

Mommy got creative one day and made an airplane out of a box. Austin decorated it and loved pretending that he was a pilot!

Wearing his cool shades while piloting the plane

Taking his friend Riley for a ride

Our big toy of the moment - a Thomas the Train ball pit!

He loves it and has been content playing in it by himself - that means mommy loves it too!

NKOTB Rules!

Yes - the title says it all! Who would have thought that 20 years after I first fell in love with 5 boys from Boston, that I would finally make it to one of their concerts. The concert was great! They played all of the songs that I loved as a 12 and 13 year-old as well as a few new ones - which are surprisingly very fun and catchy! We had awesome seats and at one point the boys sang right in front of us on a rotating platform in the middle of the arena. I'm pretty sure that the guys looked right at me a few times, of course it could have been because I was screaming like a maniac!

The best part was that it was a great night out with a fellow mommy friend of mine. We were able to let loose, enjoy a few margaritas, and scream like teenage girls again! Joey Joe is still just as cute as he was when I was young and I still melted as he sang "Please Don't Go Girl", just like I did back in the day!

It was such a fun night! Thank you Phia for inviting me - it's a night I won't soon forget! Here's a few pics - excuse the quality, they are from my phone!

Kristen & Phia waiting for the concert to start

NKOTB right in front of us!

Enjoy watching a little clip of Joe singing "Please Don't Go Girl" (no, this isn't him singing last night, but it's from a show they did in Montreal last week!)

An Ode to Austin

An Ode to Austin

(on his 2nd birthday)

It wasn't very long ago that you were born this day

But you have truly changed our lives in each and every way

Your smile brings us happiness, your tears just melt our hearts

We love you just the way you are from your toes up to your smarts!

From sitting, to crawling, to standing, to learning how to walk

You're changing every single day - and now you even talk!

You are growing up so very fast, that is so very true

So here's my special ode to you, my baby, who's just turned two!

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