I Brush My Teeth...ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch

Susanne had fallen into a bad habit recently. On the evenings that she came home from work, she would get settled in and then sit down to eat dinner while watching some TV. She would stay up until Paxton's midnight NG feeding and then have to try to stay awake until it was finished. She was usually successful, but somehow afterwards she would manage to get into her bed for a minute to try to muster up the energy to go through her bedtime routine. She would try to convince herself to get up to get ready for bed, but somehow she would always wake up hours later realizing that she had fallen asleep. It didn't make it any easier to do everything in the wee hours of the morning, but it would get done. Hopefully, she would learn her lesson.

Paxton slept well throughout the night. On most days, he usually started to stir between his 6:00 am and 9:00 am NG feeding. Most recently he would wake up gagging because he had so many secretions built up in his mouth from overnight. He couldn't seem to clear his mouth properly since he was still learning how to swallow normally. When he would do this, Susanne would generally pick him up over her shoulder and pat his back to elicit a cough. This would typically clear his throat enough that he would feel much better.

Susanne's new favorite thing to do in the morning was to take Paxton from his crib when he started to wake up and put him next to her in her bed. She had a sleep positioner in her room that was perfect for him to lay on while she snuggled right up next to him. She liked to hold his hands or cup his head while staring deep into his eyes. They would then fall back asleep for a short time before starting their day. Paxton always slept so soundly when they were hand in hand. They both felt so safe and warm when they were together.

Paxton had an occupational therapy appointment today. The main focus was to work on oral stimulation. Paxton did extremely well and impressed the therapist. They started the session by doing some light massage to his upper body, followed by some light touching to his face and neck. They gradually increased the pressure applied to his cheeks and lips to wake up his muscles. Once he appeared to be relaxed and comfortable, they tried massaging his gums. Early on, Susanne had started singing the Raffi song, "Brush Your Teeth", to Paxton anytime she went to do this. She thought that this would distract Paxton enough into thinking that it was something fun and exciting. He was always so responsive to Susanne's voice and he almost depended on her talking him through everything. He needed to always be reassured that whatever they were doing was safe and that he was doing a great job. Susanne thought of herself as Paxton's own personal cheerleader...she did have a lot of years of training under her belt...

Before the therapist left, she helped Susanne figure out how to make the Baby Bjorn work for Paxton. Susanne had tried to use it previously, but it always seemed to encourage bad placement of his head, neck, and arms. They had to get a little creative, but they found a way that he could safely fit into it and still be positioned nicely. He was well supported and he enjoyed being that close to his mommy. The therapist also helped Susanne figure out new sleep positions for Paxton since he was outgrowing his SECOND sleep postioner. This was unbelievable. Paxton continued to grow like a weed.

Throughout the day, Susanne worked with Paxton on different exercises. At one point, she actually witnessed him rolling over to one side without any help or encouragement. He also curled both of his legs to his chest on his own for the first time. He really seemed to be continuing to progress by leaps and bounds daily. This was so awesome.

Later in the afternoon, Susanne decided to see what Paxton would do if she put his rattle shoes on his feet. He was doing so well with kicking around that Susanne thought they would be entertaining for him. She was right, he was absolutely fascinated by them. Hopefully, this would help him to discover his feet.

She read him a couple of books before she put him down for the night. She was eager to try out some of the new positions for him to sleep and see if he would make it through the night with the new change. She would have to wait and see.

Susanne was bummed that "Pajama Party Thursdays" would not be taking place this week because Colleen was on vacation in Mexico. She was hoping that Colleen was having fun in the sun with a margarita in hand, but she did wish she could be there with her. Maybe next time.

The Beautiful Sound of Vomiting in the Morning!

Susanne was abruptly woken up this morning to the lovely sound of her dog vomiting on her carpet. This wouldn't be so bad if James would just do it on the bathroom floor, which in turn would make for easy clean up. Somehow all of the animals liked to vomit in the most visible, high traffic areas for all the world to see. This definitely made it challenging to keep the house looking new, especially since the carpets were a light color. While Susanne was cleaning up the mess that James had made, she was serenaded by the sound of Paxton dry heaving and gagging in the background. Luckily, Moppy had stayed the night and was able to help out the situation.

Susanne had a busy, but good day at work. She was hoping to get out in time to make it to the mall to run a couple of errands she desperately needed to do. Unfortunately, she got out right as the mall was closing. Now she would have to postpone those few things on her to do list AGAIN. Bummer!

Moppy thought that Paxton had a relatively great day. He was really responsive to therapy. He even lifted his head during tummy time without being prompted. He was gaining strength every single day. She also noticed that she had to give him little to no help when encouraging him to roll to his side. They were sure he would master this all by himself in no time. Also, Paxton did not require any support under his shoulders to help him extend his arms up in the air. He was able to fight against gravity and grab for toys all by himself. His daily improvements were so encouraging to Susanne. It really helped prove that all of the hard work and dedication that had been put forth towards Paxton was well worth it. He was such a little fighter and a true inspiration. Go little man, go!

Stain, Stain, Go Away!

The Padilla household was going to have a busy day. Susanne had to get up shortly after Paxton's 6:00 am NG feeding to start getting ready for the day.

The first thing on their list of things to do was Paxton's therapy session at 10:30 am. He was doing quite well with the exception of his gag reflex. He was discovering his tongue more and more everyday. Anytime he would stick in out for fun or after a good yawn, he would gag himself. Once he got started, he usually couldn't get control. He ended up spitting up once, which only slowed up the appointment just a little. He continued to show off his reaching and grabbing skills. There were times that it actually looked like he was reeling in a fish. Susanne thought he was just getting a head start on dance moves that would instantly attract the ladies.

At the end of the therapy session, Susanne was interacting with Paxton while the occupational therapist was writing her notes. Paxton decided to drop a load in his pants, which always made him feel better. As they all got up to say goodbye, the therapist noticed that Paxton's diaper had leaked onto Susanne's shorts. Susanne was trying to figure out which side the leak was coming from when the therapist noticed that his diaper had actually leaked so much that there were two major spots on the carpet. This was the first time that Paxton had successfully soiled something other than his clothes.

Susanne cleaned up the mess the best she could before she heard a knock at the door. She was so excited because one of her colleagues and good friends was stopping by for a visit. Elissa, a.k.a. Thorny, had been such a constant source of support and love for Susanne and Scott since day one. She was so encouraging and uplifting. She always knew the right thing to say at the right time. She had this incredible intuition about what people where really feeling and what they truly needed.

Thorny could not believe how big Paxton had gotten since the last time she saw him. She immediately noticed the significant improvement with his motor skills. Paxton was so thrilled to have such a captive audience that he decided to show off a little bit. He kept grabbing at her chin and reaching for her hand. He was mesmerized by her and wouldn't look away...not even for a moment.

The time flew by quickly before they had to head out on the road to go to a meeting at work. Paxton was going to be a guest since he couldn't just be left with anyone. Susanne noticed right away that her gas light was on when she started driving away. She was comforted in the fact that the car's computer system calculated approximately how many miles were left before the car would run out of gas completely. Susanne decided to risk it, go straight to work, and worry about it afterwards. She had already postponed it from yesterday, so what's another fifteen miles of driving.

Paxton did very well throughout the meeting. He didn't even cry one time. Sitting still for an hour and a half was difficult for anyone, but for a infant it was a miracle. Paxton continued to amaze his mommy every single day.

Susanne set up Paxton's NG feeding first thing when they got to the car. Her next stop was definitely going to be a gas station. She timed it just right and made it with five miles to spare. She began looking for her bank card, but had no luck. She realized within minutes that her drivers license and her bank card were still at the house. She had taken them out of her wallet yesterday and stuck them in her cell phone cover so she wouldn't have to lug any additional items around with her as she went in and out of different places. Before she left today, she grabbed her purse thinking that everything was in there, forgetting that the cell phone cover with all of the essential items was still on her bed. Susanne continued to look through her purse for any other options for paying for gas. She proceeded to come up short. The checkbook she had was all used up. She wrote the last check yesterday after paying the bills. Scott had their only credit card with him in Pennsylvania. She usually did not carry cash because she always used it on superfluous things. This began the search for loose change in the car. Susanne was banking on the fact that this was Scott's primary mode of transportation for years prior to the switch back in April. He was notorious for collecting change even though he never carried cash either. Somehow coins would show up out of nowhere. Susanne would find them in his cup holder, pants pockets, seat cushions, and dresser drawers. He was change making fool. After her extensive search, she only came up with one dollar and twenty five cents with most of it being pennies. She went into the gas station and explained her situation and the guy allowed her to pre-pay for just that much. Afterwards, she started the car to find that the alloted time before the car would shutdown did not change. She decided to see how far she could make it. She got about five miles down the road before the screen indicated that she had one mile left before disaster. She decided not to push the envelope and she ended up stopping at another gas station. Scott was unavailable for advice, so Susanne called the next best thing...her mother. In a moment of desperation, it had crossed Susanne's mind to possibly use her credit card that was affiliated with her health savings account. She knew deep down this was not lawful or honest. Her mother helped confirm her feelings and brought her back down to her senses. The options at this point were to beg for money or see if the gas attendant would take Gigi's bank card information over the phone. The gas attendant was less than impressed. He was not willing to take any information over the phone especially since Susanne did not have her drivers license. He did offer to give her two dollars as a sympathetic gesture. Susanne had actually found an additional fifty five cents in the car and gave that to the attendant. She was hoping that she would be able to get a full gallon of gas with the two stops combined. In the end, the gas attendant really only gave a dollar and forty five cents because he did not add Susanne's contribution to the two dollars. Unfortunately, the screen did not change with its estimation of how long she had before the car would shut down. She decided to gamble once again and just drive all the way home. She kept thinking that if she had to stop at another gas station, she would probably make headline news. She could see the frontpage now, "Serial Offender and Master of a Gas Station Scam". They would have to note that she probably had a baby for sympathy purposes and even tricked them into believing he had a serious medical condition with the tube coming out of his nose. They would totally think that she defrauded the people who trusted her sob story.

Susanne and Paxton finally made it home sweet home. She was so thankful. She decided that she would worry about filling up the rest of the tank on another day. It was so difficult for her to understand how such an organized, detail oriented person could be so forgetful and last minute. She had this battle with herself a lot.

Once again, she got everyone situated before she could focus on herself. After things calmed down, she realized she had a message on her answering machine. It was from a publisher of a magazine informing her that she had won a gift certificate to a local spa in town. She had haphazardly entered a contest and actually won. This was the sort of thing that never happened to her. As the saying goes, you can never say never. What a wonderful way to end a crazy, eventful day.

Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down

Paxton had a cardiology appointment today. Susannne had to try to leave the house by 9:45 am to make it on time. It was still a bit of a struggle to time everything appropriately because Paxton was always either just finishing a NG feeding or needing one to be set up.

They made it to the appointment on time. He was seen right away. He had the usual baseline tests done which included an oxygen saturation level, blood pressure, and an ECG. Today he was also scheduled for an ultrasound of his heart. His cardiologist was going to reassess the shunt that had been surgically placed on the first day of March. Depending on how everything looked, she would decide what the next step would be.

After being on the table for an hour, Paxton was finally done. He did very well overall and sat still considering. He only got upset once and that was because he was getting overheated. His mama fixed the problem by offering him his WubbaNub laced with Sweet-Ease. He totally fell for it and went right to sleep.

The cardiologist felt like Paxton's heart looked overall about the same as the last time. His shunt still appeared to be wide open and functioning well. His oxygen saturation levels had gradually decreased from the low nineties to the mid-eighties over the last few months. Her suspicion was that he would need his next heart surgery within the next two months. She was still tossing the idea around about which surgical approach would benefit him the most. She was having a difficult time deciding because there were so many options. Her plan was to present Paxton's case again at the cardiology conference and get a collaborative opinion on what the group thought would suit him best. The cardiologist also offered to mail a complete packet of Paxton's medical history, copies of chest x-rays, ECG's, and all of the echocardiogram results to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. They were world renowned for their work with patients that suffered from Ebstein's Anomaly. They were the only hospital that had surgeons that did the two ventricle approach. If this was even a possibility for them to attempt on Paxton, then Scott and Susanne would definitely want to take him there for an evaluation and even his next surgery. From day one, Scott and Susanne had been interested in the doctors' opinions from that hospital. The fact that Paxton's cardiologist was willing to mail them information on Paxton and get their initial assessment and opinion on the situation was so comforting. Before Paxton was to go under the knife again, Scott and Susanne wanted to make sure that they were doing the very best for him. When Paxton came back in one month for the next follow up appointment, his cardiologist would inform them of Paxton's fate. This was exciting, but extremely scary at the same time. It was difficult for Susanne to sort out her emotions when it came to this topic. She knew it was something that had to be done, but she cringed at the thought of her baby having to go through something so menacing again. Scott and Susanne's faith had gotten them through everything thus far, so this was no time to question it now.

After a three hour appointment at the cardiologist, Susanne had to make a quick stop at her work to drop something off to meet a deadline. Paxton got to visit with some of his favorite people including Aunt Julie and Aunt Cory. Julie was able to see him smile quite a bit. Everytime she would laugh in response to his beaming face, he would get startled. He just stared at her with amazement. He wasn't quite sure what to make of her. She was finally starting to show a little bit of a baby bump. Paxton and Susanne were getting so excited at the thought of him having a new little playmate...not the kind with bunny ears. Her pregnancy seemed to be flying by so quickly.

By the time Susanne was ready to leave, the skies decided to open up. It wasn't just raining, it was pouring. The rain was coming in from all directions...diagonal from both sides, left and right, down and even up. It didn't matter what Susanne tried to do to protect Paxton, he still got wet.

Susanne had to run a few errands on the way home, but she decided to forego the majority of them due to the inclement weather. Quickly, she realized that her journey home would not be straightforward either because it just so happened to be rush hour. No matter what she elected to do, she was in a sticky situation. Paxton was hungry and tired and so was his mother.

They finally got home well after six o'clock in the evening. Susanne got Paxton situated, then the animals, and then she could focus on herself. The only thing that would make her feel better was some yummy food and some good ol' trash TV. Hallelujah for "The Bachelorette".

I Think I Can!

So.....Susanne went to bed a lot later than she had planned. She got sucked into a few shows on TV. Usually she went to bed after Paxton's NG feeding at midnight, but not last night.

When Paxton stirred around this morning, Susanne greeted him with a great big smile. She was thankful that he was still sleepy because so was she. She decided to snuggle with him in her bed and they both fell asleep for another hour. These were definitely the moments that she would always remember.

Susanne decided to get creative this morning and make homemade biscuits with sausage. Even though she had to use almond milk, they still tasted good. She loved breakfast food. It was something she often looked forward to. The only thing that would make this meal better would be to have her husband there to share it with.

Scott stayed in Pennsylvania this weekend to try to work more on his dissertation. He was hoping to have it completely finished and approved by the end of the month. This was going to be a little bit of a challenge. He was having a difficult time focusing because he was so close to being done. He was too excited to think of anything other than coming home for good. He only had four weeks to go.

Susanne worked with Paxton periodically throughout the day on therapy. He was doing so well that she tried to syringe feed him small amounts of breast milk. He cautiously accepted a few drops and then he had had enough.

Susanne read him a variety of books today. He loved books that had different textures and colors. He always seemed so fascinated with the pictures on each page. One of the books she read him was "The Little Engine That Could". This story reminded Susanne of the power of positive thinking. She hoped that Paxton would relate to this story as he continued on throughout his life. She wished that he would always believe in himself and never underestimate what he was capable of accomplishing. It was so important that Paxton continued to push through the challenges that lay ahead of him no matter what. From her experience, Susannae knew that people might try to put him down and place a sense of doubt in his head, but if he put his mind to it and had a little faith he could do anything. Anything was possible, if he would be willing to work for it.

I've Walked In Your Shoes

Susanne went into work hoping it would be a good day. She was actually surprised at how slow it was for a Saturday when the day got underway. Usually, it was the complete opposite. During the down time, she talked to one of her colleagues about her experience with having a child that had a congenital heart condition. Her daughter did not suffer from the same medical condition that Paxton did, but their was a lot of cross over with their journey. It was also very informative because some of the surgeries her daughter had to endure already were similar to what lay ahead for the bug. It was so comforting to talk with someone who had been through a similar situation and could give some words of wisdom. It was also reassuring to see that they came out okay on the other side. Susanne had found that it had been difficult to talk with others that had not been through what she had been through because it was hard for them to understand the magnitude of what it was like. She also did not like to burden people with additional things to worry about. It was nice to finally find someone who knew the emotions she was feeling and the struggles she was going through and know exactly where she was coming from.

Susanne got home at a reasonable hour. Moppy thought Paxton had a good day. He even laughed a few times. He seemed less interested in sleeping much today. Paxton was content with being awake and having lots of playtime. It was amazing to see how well he was processing new things. He could be actually seen absorbing every page of any book that was read to him. He loved looking at all of the colors.

Before bedtime, Susanne decided to give Paxton a bath. She always loved how he smelled after he was clean. She could just soak him up all day and all night long. There was just something so sweet and tender about a newborn.

Shortly after Paxton went to bed, Susanne took a shower and made some dinner. Before she went to bed herself, she planned on watching some television to take her mind off of things. This was definitely her ideal choice for relaxing after a long day at work. One could never go wrong with good food and trash TV.

Mommy, I Don't Feel So Good!

Damn you, tape! Susanne woke up to find that the tape was peeling off AGAIN. This time when Paxton would breath, the NG tube would move in and out of place. If she wasn't careful, he would pull the whole thing out in no time. Susanne hunted and searched and searched and hunted for anything other than what she had been using. Luckily, the last place she looked, she had a very small amount of the older tape she had previously used. This usually worked much better.

Paxton did not seem to feel well today. He was acting odd and seemed very nauseated. He had a lot of episodes of dry heaving and gagging. He even spit up a few times. For the first time that Susanne could remember, Paxton had greenish looking stool. She wondered if it was a result of something she had eaten that he was exposed to through her breast milk or if it was completely unrelated.

She decided to still do a couple of mini-therapy sessions with him so that he wouldn't get behind. She definitely went at his pace and let him dictate when enough was enough. For the most part, she picked more low key things for them to do today. She spent a lot of time reading to him. He was excited because he had a whole new collection of books that were given to him from Chief J for his baptism. One of his new favorites was the "Bedtime in the Southwest". He even smiled when he saw a picture of a smelly skunk. It sure seemed that he liked stinky things.

Paxton would probably be off to bed early tonight. Hopefully, he could sleep the whole night through.

Chitchat

Susanne was much more awake and present for Paxton's therapy session this morning. She was feeling much better. Susanne had to warn the therapist right off the bat that Paxton may be averse to therapy today because she had been messing with his NG tube and tape a lot within the last few days. She was worried that he may be anticipating something awful even though what they would be working on should be positive experiences. He ended up doing better than she had thought. He was always such a trooper. He never really got to just be. Someone was always poking and prodding, teaching or stretching, feeding or bathing, singing or dancing. It always seemed like he was being messed with. Granted, he appeared to enjoy a lot of the silliness that went on in the Padilla household on a day to day basis, but Susanne was sure he wished he could have an entire day of getting a break.

Susanne's day flew by and before she knew it, Aunt Leenie arrived for Pajama Party Thursday. Colleen got to spend a little time with Paxton before he headed off to bed. Once he was out for the count, they spent some time outside in the warmth of the sun chitchatting about pretty much everything. One of their main topics of discussion was Colleen's upcoming trip to Mexico. Susanne was so excited for her and Chris. Susanne and Scott loved to travel. They had actually made a pact the first year they were married to try to always travel twice a year together. Unfortunately, they had fallen down on the job this year since the arrival of Paxton. They wanted to plan something for the fall, but they were worried that it may be too risky with Paxton's next heart surgery right around the corner. So, until they could get away, Susanne would just live vicariously through the Neumann's.

They ordered in and continued chatting well into the evening. They had to force themselves to go to bed because Colleen had to work in the morning. Susanne enjoyed Colleen's company so much.

Stick It!

Susanne was feeling a little bit better after getting a little extra sleep and a hot shower. She was hoping she would be able to make it through the day without crashing and burning.

At one point during the day, Susanne thought she was going to lose her voice. A lot of her job was communicating with clients and that took a lot out of her. She spent most of her day talking to people, which was fun for her except when she was feeling under the weather. It was amazing how much energy it took for her just to do the normal day to day things. She was ready for bed by the time her shift was over.

The bright spot of her day was when she had an appointment with a new puppy. This was one of her favorite things to educate clients on because she knew she could give them the resources and means to be great pet owners. She loved this so much that she had actually taught a puppy education class every month for the first four years she worked at the clinic. It was an informational session that usually lasted about an hour and a half to two hours depending on how many questions people had. She enjoyed not only teaching new pet owners about the diseases and illnesses that their pet was at risk of getting, but helping them learn how to prevent them from being exposed. She also spent a lot of time talking about how to train their puppy to be obedient and housebroken. It was such a rewarding experience for Susanne and it was truly one time in her life that she knew she was making a difference. It didn't hurt that she got to play with the cute puppies as well!

Susanne got home that evening to find out that Paxton had a good day. Moppy did a great job with following through with his therapy. Susanne kissed him goodnight and waited up until the midnight feeding. It was about that time that Susanne realized that the adhesive tape she had used to replace Paxton's tube yesterday was already peeling off. She was getting so frustrated that she did not have anymore of the old tape that she used to use because it seemed to work much better. Unfortunately, she had to be the bad guy again and restrain Paxton as she went through the whole process of stabilizing his NG tube. If only he could understand, that it was in his best interest. After minutes of crying and making his mommy feel horrible, Paxton was all switched out. Susanne was skeptical about how long this new tape would stay in place because it was the same type and she couldn't prevent it from getting wet from Paxton's drool. She would definitely have to look into other alternatives. Until then, she would have to hope for good luck.

When It Rains It Pours

So...Scott and Susanne did not arrive home until around 6:30 am. Scott had to stop a couple of times during the drive to take a short nap so he would not fall asleep at the wheel. They were so happy to finally be home. Susanne was still not feeling well and looked forward to having a day to rest before having to go back to work tomorrow. Unfortunately, Scott had to continue his travels to Pennsylvania this morning because he had to work today. Susanne wasn't sure how he would be able to make it through the day, but she had faith.

Scott let James out before they unloaded the car. Once they were finished, he went to let him in, but James was not there. James had a heavy duty tie out cable that attached to their stair well from the basement. From all of the rain, it looked like parts of the cord had rusted, which in turn made it weak. James had broken free. Luckily, Scott found James within minutes of his search. He did not stray far and was still within the culdesac. They thought things were all good until they heard a knock at the door. Susanne was surprised when she opened the door and saw an animal control officer standing there. She was curious what he was there for especially since James had only been roaming free for less than five to ten minutes. According to the officer, someone had called to report that James was running loose and attacked their dog and children. This was not like him since he usually had the opposite problem of being overly excited when he saw other dogs or people. He had played well with others everytime he had ever been to a dog park. He had never shown signs of aggression other than when he was on his leash and that was strictly because he could not get to them. The officer went into detail about the importance of leash laws. He informed Susanne that the dog and children did not get injured and there was no evidence of any bite wounds, but if he were to ever cause that kind of damage he would have to go on an aggressive dog list. This would mean that he would have to wear a muzzle whenever he went outside among other things. Susanne let the officer know that she was a veterinarian and that she understood the importance of what he was saying. She made sure he knew the situation and that it was completely unintentional. She was curious how the officer knew where she lived and knew the name of her dog. This meant that the person that called must know of him. This made Susanne a little angry because she would have much rather that the person bring it to her attention. She was certain that he probably bolted up to the children and dog. She was even certain that he may have been barking, but if he was showing signs of aggression or trying to bite she would be upset. This was not like him and she would not wish this upon anyone. She had had similar situations happen to her when she had been walking the dog herself. She had a large breed dog run through the invisible fence and cross the street and try to attack Maverick and James. She also had a dog that was purposely off of his leash try to attack James on a walk multiple times before. This same dog had been on Susanne's property before when off his leash using her bushes as a toilet. This went for some neighborhood cats as well. Susanne never once thought about calling animal control on them, but now she was having second thoughts.

Paxton had a therapy session early this morning. It definitely came way too early for Susanne. It just so happened that the session was right after Paxton was fed. This was not conducive to him learning. He never did well with much of anything on a full stomach other than sleeping. The occupational therapist had to limit the things that she wanted to work on with Paxton to minimize the chance of him spitting up. Luckily, he only had one episode during the entire hour she was there. She felt like he was improving with his range of motion of his arms. He was consistently grabbing for toys, links, and even Susanne's face. He did extremely well especially under the circumstances.

Immediately after the therapy session, Susanne and Paxton took a nap. It was a brief one since Paxton's next feeding was right around the corner.

The day flew by and before Susanne knew it, the sun had set. Susanne was in the middle of administering medications before setting up Paxton's 9:00 pm feeding. After the second medication, there seemed to be some sort of obstruction in the tube. Susanne was unable to push the third medication through. After some steady pressure, the medication splatterd everywhere. Since it could not get through the tube, it went the path of least resistance and formed it's own way out. Now, the tube was not functional and Susanne would dreadfully have to replace it again. Why does it always seem that when it rains it pours?

Head Cold in the Summer...Really?

It was surprising how quickly the weekend flew by. Susanne and Scott were not ready to leave. Scott decided that he wanted to drive home overnight like they had done on Thursday. He thought that this would give them more time with everybody and it would help them to avoid the heat and the traffic.

Susanne had been feeling a little stuffy over the last 24 hours. She originally thought that it was all related to seasonal allergies, but now she was not so sure. She had taken a dose of Claritin the day before and that provided no relief whatsoever. After thinking about it, she remembered that just recently there had been a couple of women at her work that were battling a head cold. She was hoping that this wasn't the case. She feared that if this was the truth, then she was contagious and would put Paxton's health at risk. That would not be good

Since the previous days had been jammed pack full of things to do, they all decided to take it easy today. They played a board game when the kids went down for a nap and spent some quality time together. Once Parker woke up, they decided to try out the Snoopy Snowcone Machine that the Padilla family gave him for his birthday. The snowcones were actually much better than Susanne had remembered as a child. They were definitely messy, but still tasty. The rest of their time was spent eating and talking, then more talking and eating. This was what they did best.

After a very late dinner, Susanne started to really go downhill. She started to feel achy and get chills. Something had to be wrong if she was wearing a sweatshirt and pants in this kind of weather. The packing process was a slow one. They finally finished close to 11:00 pm. Susanne was hoping that Scott wouldn't mind if she slept on the ride home. Luckily, Paxton would only need to be set up for his NG feeding once, at midnight, and then they should be home in time for the next one. Poppy made Susanne some hot tea to go and they were on their way.

It was always such a sad moment for Susanne and Scott when they had to pull out of the driveway and say goodbye. The only thing that kept them thinking positively was the thought that Gigi and Poppy would come up for a visit before the summer was over.

Happy 4th of July!

"May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace."
Numbers 6: 24-26

Today there was so much to celebrate and to be thankful for. Paxton and his cousin, Cole were going to be baptized together. In addition to this momentous occasion, it was also Independence Day, on which we celebrated our freedom.

After a wonderful breakfast prepared by Poppy, they all headed over to the church. For once in their lives, they were actually early for something. This was important because they had reserved seating in the front of the church for the family and friends. This would not have looked good if they had to sneak in after the service started.

The baptism was so touching. The simple act of placing water on the top of Paxton's head was so symbolic. It represented the commitment that Scott and Susanne had made to God about raising Paxton in a Christian home. It was also a way to remind Paxton of God's promise to him and welcome him into the church family. It was such a special moment for Paxton and his family and they were glad he got to share this with his cousin, Cole.

In addition to the baptism, it was also communion Sunday. This was a time where everyone came together and remembered Christ and all that He had done for them in his life, death, and resurrection. Each member of the congregation broke a piece of bread symbolizing the body of Christ and dipped it into the cup of wine symbolizing the blood of Christ. They did this in remembrance of the Lord and the sacrifices that He made for them. As people would go back to their seats, they were asked to place their hands on the prayer blankets that had been made for those in need and say a prayer for them. At the end of the service, Susanne and Scott were approached by the pastor and were offered a prayer blanket for Paxton. She thought he was a perfect recipient because of the special journey he had been on thus far and the unpredictability of what lied ahead. The members of the church had been praying for Paxton since the day he was born. This blanket represented all of their pleas for his safety and healing. Susanne and Scott took this prayer blanket with open arms. They knew that it had been made with love and that it symbolized a faith sharing community that wanted to cover Paxton in their prayers. This blanket would hopefully bring comfort and peace to Paxton throughout the years.

After church, everyone went out to lunch to celebrate. Once they all finished their meals, they endulged in a slice of cake. Susanne had bought individual cakes for Paxton and Cole from a local bakery. They did a fabulous job. Susanne was a little bummed that she could only look, but couldn't touch the delicious masterpiece. Instead, she enjoyed sipping her Southern sweet tea, which was a nice treat in and of itself because it was hard to come by in northern Virginia. Paxton finally woke up from his nap in time to open his presents. Susanne and Scott got Paxton his first Bible and a book of blessings, which hopefully he would use as the years pass on.

Unfortunately, Aunt Leenie, Uncle Loonie, and Chief had to head back home today. They would all be greatly missed. The rest of the gang gathered back at Gigi and Poppy's house to continue the celebration. Everyone enjoyed an oat soda or two while playing a few games of Cornhole before the sun went down.

Once people started to regain their appetite, Susanne and Scott started preparing the food and drinks for the Mexican fiesta. They volunteered Aunt Leah to make her world renowned salsa that was always a crowd pleaser. The rest of the menu included Scott's homemade guacomole, chips, chicken fajitas, chicken quesadillas, spicy chipotle shrimp skewers, grilled mango and pineapple salad, and of course watermelon margaritas. It was a feast fit for a king...a Mexican king that is. Everyone spent the rest of the evening enveloped in deep conversation. It was always amazing how no one was ever at a loss for words. They decided to forego the fireworks display this year because they weren't sure how the babies would handle it. Paxton was so exhausted from the day that he probably would have slept right through them anyway.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

In the name of Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit

God made you small and soft and cute,
designed your little birthday suit,
and sent you down
to warm your family's hearts.

He'll be there as His word is read
and water touches your sweet head
to bless you
as your faith adventure starts.

You'll hear his name from time to time,
in bedtime prayers and little rhymes,
in stories and in songs
you'll learn to sing.

He'll be right with you all the while,
in every giggle, every smile,
and all the happy moments
life will bring.

He'll watch you as you run and play,
He'll always hear you when you pray,
and have a special blessing
just for you.

He'll be the One who helps you grow
and show you things you need to know
as every day
you're learning something new.

You'll come to know His only Son,
our Savior, Jesus, He's the One
who'll always be your shepherd
and your guide.

You're like His little lamb, you know,
and so no matter where you go
He'll keep you safe
and be right by your side.

God's given you a family, too,
to always take good care of you,
to rock you in their arms
and hug you tight...

to keep you comfy, warm, and dry,
to hold you when you start to cry
and tell you
everything will be all right.

You'll bless their lives in every way.
You'll make sweet memories every day.
You'll celebrate good times
year in, year out.

With such a caring family there,
with every hug and kiss you share,
you'll learn what being loved
is all about.

You'll grow and change as time goes by,
you'll find new things you want to try,
you'll soon discover
lots to see and do.

God says you're always in His hands
and that He has some special plans
for godd and hopeful things
your whole life through.

By: Diana Manning

Paxton's First Time at the Beach!

Susanne and Scott had to get up relatively early because they had to meet with one of the pastors about Paxton's baptism on Sunday. She wanted to make sure that they understood what they were committing to and that they knew they were supported by the church family. Paxton would be baptized in the church that Susanne grew up in and was married in. It played an integral part into who she was as a person. It gave her the foundation she needed to become a solid individual with a strong belief system. She was so glad that she could share this with her son.

Shortly after the meeting was over, Aunt Leenie and Uncle Loonie arrived. They were going to join everyone at the beach for the day. They would finally get to meet Susanne's entire family, which was so exciting. They had previously met Gigi, Poppy, Leah, and Cole when they came up for Susanne's baby shower. It was so nice for them to be able to meet the rest of the gang. After loading up the cars, they were well on their way. Susanne decided that Aunt Leenie and Uncle Loonie should be let in on a few of their family traditions. The first one was that before they got to the actual beach, there was a bridge that crossed over the intercoastal waterway that people had to travel over to get to the ocean. Tradition stated that one must hold their breath the entire time over the bridge until they hit the other side. Surprisingly, this was much easier to do as an adult than as a child. Colleen sadly informed Susanne that this was probably one of the many techniques that Poppy must have used to have a moment of silence in his life of five ladies. Poppy pleaded the fifth.

The beach was packed, but they easily found enough room for everyone to fit. They set up an umbrella and pop-up beach shelter for the little ones. It ended up being a beautiful day with just enough of a breeze to break up the heat from the sun. After Paxton took a nap, Susanne introduced him to sand for the first time. He liked to kick it with his feet. Later, Scott tried to see what Paxton would think of the ocean water. He placed him in a pool of water that was caught in a divot in the sand. It was warmer than the ocean water so they thought Paxton would enjoy it. At first, he cried and was not pleased with the whole situation. After giving him some time to adjust, he realized that it was refreshing and actually quite pleasant. He definitely fit right in.

No one wanted to leave the beach, but they needed to head back to the house to get ready for the evening festivities. They were celebrating Parker's third birthday by having an all american cookout. Before they got too far on their way home, there was one more tradition that Colleen and Chris had to participate in. This was the best one of all. Ever since Susanne could remember, anytime her family would go to the beach her dad would stop at a grocery store to buy popsicles for the ride home. This might sound like a refreshing treat that one would enjoy leisurely as they recovered from the relentless sun, but that was not the case. It was actually a competition. The purpose of the popsicles was to see who could eat the most from the time they left the grocery store to the time they arrived in the driveway. It was a challenge that was gladly accepted each time, however, Colleen and Chris were skeptical. They still took part in the Timm tradition to see what it was all about. Scott took first place with Colleen finishing second. Chris was a little bit of a Sally and finished last. It was definitely a competition that took some training. Hopefully, they would visit again in the future to be able to do it again.

Everyone got spruced up for Parker's birthday party. By the time the party got underway, Chief and Moppy showed up along with Leah's in-laws, Nana and Granddad. Nana and Granddad brought "Cornhole" for all to play. This was a game in which the players took turns throwing bags filled with feed corn at a raised platform with a hole in the far end. There were two platforms at each end of the lawn and someone from both teams stood on opposite sides. There was a point system that you would have to follow which was dependent upon where the bag landed. If the bag made it in the hole it was worth three points, but if it just landed on the platform itself, it was only worth one point. The winning team was whoever could reach 21 points first. It sounded pretty simple and straightforward. One might even say boring, but that was not the case. It was addicting and never got old. For dinner, they had grilled hamburgers and hotdogs along with numerous homemade side items. They all had full bellies by the end of it all. Later, Parker opened his gifts. The biggest surprise was his new bicycle that Aunt Leah and Uncle Wally got for him. He was ecstatic and immediately went for a ride. Susanne, Scott, and Paxton got Parker a Snoopy Snowcone Machine. This was something they knew he would enjoy because Scott and Susanne had enjoyed it so much as kids themselves. Even though there wasn't much room for dessert, everyone forced themselves to eat cupcakes and ice cream. Parker had requested blueberry cupcakes for his birthday so Aunt Leah made it happen. Parker assisted with placing the sprinkles and the blueberries on each cupcake. They turned out beautifully. Aunt Leah was so kind to make Susanne a special plate of brownies since she couldn't partake in the other sweet treats.

The party continued on well into the evening. It was so nice to finally have everyone together again. It had been a long time since all four sisters had been home at the same time. It was also so meaningful that Colleen and Chris made a special trip down to be there for Paxton and to join them in the many other celebrations. What awesome friends they are!

All in all, it was an awesome day. Paxton definitely enjoyed the sun, sand, and surf.

Happy Birthday Doodlebug!

Happy Birthday Parker James Hansen! We've watched you grow up before our eyes and we can't believe what a beautiful person you've become inside and out. We love you and can't wait to celebrate you turning three. What a big boy you are!

Hugs and Kisses,

Aunt Susie, Uncle Scott, and your Cousin Paxton (and James too!)

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

The Padilla family finally arrived at Susanne's parents house around 7:30 am. They discovered that their surprise was going to be a bit more difficult than previously planned. They usually entered in the back door, but it was locked. Susanne had a key to get into her parents house, but she had left her keys at her house in Virginia. They decided that they should just ring the doorbell and surprise them that way. Susanne rang the doorbell twice, but no one answered. Susanne then remembered a secret way to get into the house which was successful. They did not want to scare her parents so Susanne knocked on their bedroom door to announce her arrival. Both of her parents were sleeping and at first thought that she was Kerry, one of Susanne's younger sisters. They had expected Kerry's presence, but were completely shocked when they realized that it wasn't her. They were beside themselves with joy and excitement. This would give them an extra day to catch up and hang out with the Padillas. Poppy started the day off right, by cooking them a wonderful breakfast. Gigi and Poppy oggled over Paxton and could not believe how big he had gotten.

After talking and catching up for a few hours, they decided they should surprise Susanne's oldest sister Leah. Poppy called her to ask her to stop by because Gigi had some things that she needed help with in preparation for the house guests this weekend. She totally took the bait. Leah originally said she would be over in twenty minutes so Scott and Susanne scurried off to hide. The plan was for Poppy to tell her that he had some trouble putting together the Pack n' Play that she was letting Paxton borrow for the weekend. This would give her an excuse to go to the room that the Padilla family was staying in and they could surprise her. Well Scott, Susanne, Paxton, and even James were set and ready to go for quite a while. Susanne's job was to listen out for when they were coming up the stairs and Scott would turn on the video camera to catch the surprise. This sounded good in theory, but there were a lot of false alarms. Susanne kept telling him to push record and then nothing would happen. After about twenty minutes, they investigated the situation and found out that what Susanne had been hearing was Poppy talking to Leah on the phone. It was going to take Leah a little bit longer than previously expected. After waiting in the room for another twenty minutes, she finally arrived. The look on her face was priceless when she discovered the Padillas hiding in the bedroom and they got it all on video tape.

Later that day, Kerry and Nick came over to visit. Susanne was able to jump out at them as well. She even made Kerry tear up a little bit. The rest of the afternoon was spent spending time with everyone and catching up.

Leah and Susanne went to the grocery store to stock up for the weekend. Leah had to plan for Parker's birthday party tomorrow and Susanne had to plan for the Mexican fiesta that she and Scott were going to host on Sunday. Scott took a much needed nap while the ladies were gone gathering.

Paxton loved his cousins, Parker and Cole. Parker took to Paxton rather quickly and was eager to hold him and teach him things. Parker even read Paxton a book about trucks which was his favorite thing in the whole world. He was very gentle and sweet to baby Paxton. It was so touching to see the innate qualities he possessed.

Later that night, Gigi prepared the appetizer and Susanne prepared dinner for everyone. They all gathered around the dinner table, which was one of their favorite things to do as a family. It was a very traditional part of their visits because they spent so much of their time around the dinner table growing up. It was a mandatory thing every night, at least during the week, for them to sit down as a family. Susanne and Scott hoped they could continue this for their children.

Victoria, Susanne's youngest sister, showed up at the end of the meal. She was only going to be able to stay until tomorrow night, but any time with her would be well worth it. She was getting married in October so there was lots to talk about. Susanne wanted all of the most recent details about the wedding planning. Susanne loved to plan parties and events. It was something both her and Victoria were good at because they were so detail oriented. So far, it sounded like Victoris had everything under control.

Things settled down pretty quickly that night because everyone was exhausted. Susanne and Scott were pleased that Paxton had adjusted so well to his new bed. He slept soundly for most of the day and night. He was so tired from the trip that he had a lot of catching up to do...just like the rest of us.

Busy, Busy Bee!

Today was going to be a busy day. The morning started off really early for Susanne because Paxton had a pediatrician's appointment at 8:30 am. She was hoping that the visit would be relatively quick because she needed to be at work by 10:00 am. Paxton was still gaining weight really well. He weighed 12 lbs. 7 oz. His growth curve was moving straight up instead of plateauing. This was great news. His oxygen saturation levels still looked good. They had continued to remain in the mid-eighties for the last couple of months. Unfortunately for Paxton, he would have to get more vaccinations today. Susanne had decided to split them up because of the difficulties he had when they were all given on the same day. Time was running out quickly. Susanne ended up recruiting Moppy to hold Paxton's hand while he received his vaccines because Susanne was going to be late for work.

Susanne rushed out of the pediatrician's office, switched cars, and got on the road. She was a few minutes late, but quickly caught up with her schedule. By the time her lunch break rolled around, she had to get back in the car to head home for another appointment. This time she was meeting with a social worker and a licensed nurse for them to evaluate Paxton and see if he qualified for a skilled nurse to be his primary caretaker when Susanne had to go to work. There was a lot of paperwork to get through and Susanne was on a tight schedule. They finished a little later than Susanne had hoped. Once again, this put her behind schedule by about five minutes. Hopefully, everyone would understand.

Susanne was almost finished for the day. She only had one appointment left before her long weekend would begin. It just so happened that her last appointment was a recheck exam on a cat that had been dealing with chronic, recurrent skin problems. She had been treated multiple times in the past by different veterinarians and nothing seemed to resolve the problem. Susanne had recently found a major secondary infection that she had been treating for a couple of weeks. The infection was looking much better, but the skin lesions had still not completely resolved. Susanne really felt like this cat needed a skin biopsy to determine what exactly was going on. Of course this was a surgical procedure and would take time to complete. Even though this would put a damper in Susanne's schedule, it was what was best for the cat.

Susanne finished up all of her callbacks and paperwork. She was finally headed home. She could not believe that Scott beat her there. When she arrived to the house, Scott was on the couch comforting Paxton. He informed her that when he got home, Paxton appeared uncomfortable. Moppy noticed that he started going downhill after Susanne left for work the second time. He had a rough afternoon where he couldn't get settled. Susanne thought he might have a fever with how he felt and looked. According to the thermometer, she was right. His temperature was 100.3 degrees. He was acting just like he did the first time he received vaccines when Jill was visiting. Since the Tylenol for Infants had been recalled, they did not have much in the way of options to make him feel better. Moppy went to the store to see if they had come out with a safe product that Susanne could use. They weren't so lucky. Scott napped with Paxton on the couch while Susanne packed for the trip. When it was time to load the car, they switched duties. Scott had decided that he would prefer to travel overnight to avoid the heat and the traffic. Also, they were all so excited to get down to see Susanne's family. This would be the first time that Paxton would travel for fun and not to go to a hospital.

It would be a long night, but it would all be worth it tomorrow.

Celebrate the Little Victories

Paxton slept like a rock. This was good since he had such a rough time the night before. Susanne managed to get about five hours of sleep before she had to start the day. Paxton had an appointment at the hospital to get a blood sample taken to evaluate his electrolytes and organ function. This was important because he was on a diuretic medication that had potential side effects.

Susanne and Paxton left the house around 7:30 am. They were hoping that the appointment would be quick and painless. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Susanne signed in around 8:00 am and they didn't get called back until 10:00 am. Susanne took the opportunity to do some therapy with Paxton while they waited. For the first time, Paxton actually recognized his own hands and appeared to be really intrigued by them. He would extend them out in front of him and stare at his fingers. At one point, it looked like he was counting his fingers. He loved the book about trucks that Susanne read to him. He was fixated on the variety of colors that he could see. Susanne could tell that he was going to be a genius one day.

After watching another child run around the waiting room for two hours, it was finally Paxton's turn. He was so brave while his blood was being taken. He was talking to the nurse the whole time. The actual blood draw took less than five minutes. This was very frustrating that they had to wait as long as they did for something that took no time at all. It just didn't make sense.

They got back on the road to try to make it back in time for Paxton's therapy session. Susanne had to set up Paxton's NG feeding during the car ride home. Susanne was concerned that Paxton may not do well for his therapy session because he would not be hungry and he would be tired. Both of those things do not work in his favor when the purpose of today's session would be on oral feedings.
Paxton actually surprised everyone and exceeded their expectations. He was receptive to the facial touching and gum massage. He even allowed Susanne to squirt small amounts of milk in his mouth without gagging. The most impressive part of the session was the amount of swallowing Paxton was doing on his own. He seemed to have finally figured out how to manipulate his tongue and secretions on his own. He still had a long way to go, but this was a step in the right direction.

Today was Paxton's original occupational therapist's last day. She got a little emotional because she was sad to be leaving, but also from Paxton showing so much improvement. It was a very bittersweet moment. Susanne and Paxton would be forever grateful for the assistance she provided to the both of them. She played a critical role in getting this whole process started and encouraging Susanne and Paxton to keep on fighting. Marianne will be missed.

Susanne was so exhausted by the afternoon that she could not keep her eyes open. She decided to try to take a nap when Paxton went down for his. The second she closed her eyes, the phone rang. When she attempted to fall asleep for a second time, Paxton started to cry because he had a wet diaper. Susanne's third and final try was a success for about twenty minutes until the phone rang again. Didn't they all know it was siesta time.

Susanne cooked a dairy free, soy free chicken pot pie for dinner. It definitely hit the spot. Moppy arrived for the evening duty. Shortly thereafter, Susanne headed off to bed to prepare for a full day of work tomorrow.

Hair Therapy, STAT!

So...........that didn't work out so well. Paxton slept for maybe an hour. Susanne had already decided to postpone Paxton's midnight feeding by about an hour just in case his stomach was too full from the previous feeding. Things were going well until right after the feeding was finished. He started coughing, then gagging, and then dry heaving. Susanne spent a long time holding him and trying to comfort him. She tried some gastric massage, singing, rocking, and rubbing his back. Nothing seemed to settle him down. She was sure that he was just experiencing some discomfort from gas because his belly felt bloated. If only she had emergency Mylicon on hand. What a rookie mistake. Susanne decided that she was going to move Paxton to her bed to see if that would help the situation. He had a travel bed that fit perfectly. She had only ever done this one time before when he had a rough night after his vaccinations. Susanne continued to try to comfort him. It was probably around 3:30 am that he finally had a bowel movement and then he quickly settled down. They ended up falling asleep hand in hand. Today was going to be a long day for the two of them.

Paxton had a therapy session later that morning. For working off of a few hours of sleep, Paxton did extremely well. He was progressing so well. The therapist was impressed with his ability to lift his hands towards his midline and up in the air against gravity without the assistance of any support. He loved to reach for his links and fun toys. He even tried batting his toys around so they would make noise. He even lifted his head up during tummy time without assistance. He was engaged the entire session and continued to show daily improvements.

After the therapy session, Paxton was able to take a quick nap. Out of nowhere, a major thunderstorm developed. There was a torrential downpour followed by thunder and lightening, but it only lasted a short time. Susanne was shocked to see that the power went out, but thankfully that didn't last long. It ended up being the perfect storm because it was just enough to water the grass, but stop just in time for Susanne and Paxton to leave the house again.

The next item on their agenda was for Susanne to get a haircut. She could not believe that it had been over seven months since her last appointment. She had been so busy that time just flew by. Hopefully, it would not be that long between appointments again since everything had kind of settled down for the moment.

Ever since Scott and Susanne moved to Loudoun County, Susanne had been getting her hair done by one of Scott's childhood friends, Michael. Scott didn't even know that she was still around until he was hired as a massage therapist at Solace Day Spa and realized she worked there too. She was well known in the area and she was always booked up. She was really good at what she did and well worth the wait. Susanne trusted her opinions always. Michael, as well as everyone else that worked there, was ecstatic to finally get to meet Paxton. One of the employee's held Paxton almost the entire time while Susanne was getting pampered. Paxton did an incredible job. He was so patient. He was always so social and never complained when meeting new people. Susanne was so pleased with her haircut and she couldn't believe how much healthier her hair felt. It was like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders...literally.

By the time she got out of there, it was time for Paxton to eat again. Once he was all set up, Susanne figured out something for herself to eat. The only thing left to do for the night was to watch "The Bachelorette" and go to bed. Hallelujah!

Let's Go Shopping!

Susanne and Paxton had a fun morning together. She was able to make him smile with ease. This always brightened her day. They were able to work on some therapy before he went back down for his first nap.

Moppy volunteered to come over today to babysit the little guy while Susanne went out to run some errands. Susanne was excited to be able to get some things done that had been on her checklist for a long time as well as not to have to stress Paxton out by having to take him with her.

Susanne knew she would have to move quickly because most stores closed at 6:00 pm because it was Sunday. Shopping was taking much longer than Susanne had expected. She was only in the second store when it turned 6:00 pm. This store that she was in had a broken air conditioner which made it almost unbearable to try on clothes. She knew her time was running out when some of the overhead lights were turned off. If people didn't get the hint after this happened, then they had a serious problem. Susanne was relieved that some of the other places that she needed to go to closed at a later time. She was able to go everywhere she needed to go with the exception of two places. That was pretty impressive especially with the amount of stuff that she accomplished in such a short time.

Susanne arrived home close to 10:00 pm. She brought Moppy dinner as a thank you for watching Paxton. She was tending to Paxton when Susanne walked in the door. She had mentioned that he had a rough day. He had multiple episodes of spit up and seemed overall uncomfortable. He had a lot of difficulty getting settled and falling asleep. After Moppy left, Susanne decided to give Paxton a bath. She applied a calming lotion in hopes that it may help. He seemed to fall right asleep shortly after she was finished. Let's see how long that lasts.

Urine Trouble Now

Moppy came over this morning to watch Paxton for the day while Susanne was at work. She was becoming quite comfortable with Paxton's routine and his idiosyncrasies.

When Susanne arrived at work this morning, she was informed that there was eight veterinarians on the schedule with only three technicians available to assist. Susanne was a little apprehensive about how her day was going to play out because they were so understaffed. She was certain everyone would pull together as a team because they had been presented with this type of challenge before.

Susanne noticed how nice it was to have music playing in the treatment room area. One of the technicians had recently been setting up her phone in an ipod dock. It was set on Pandora where you could type in the title of a song and it would play music that was similar to that sound. It was amazing how just having music playing in the background could decrease the stress level instantaneously. Susanne was caught off guard when she heard the song "It's Alright" by Huey Lewis and The News. This was the very song that Scott was singing when Susanne fell in love with him the first time. He was part of a fraternity in college and one of the yearly events that they did was have a sing off between all of the fraternities on campus. They would sing an a cappella version of any song of their choice and compete against each other. Susanne knew the moment she heard Scott sing that she was in love. From that day on, their relationship started developing and they finally started dating a couple months later. Susanne had always loved hearing Scott sing and play his guitar. He continued to win her heart throughout the beginning of their relationship by writing a song for her. Also, they spent many of evenings sitting on their special bridge overlooking a lake singing together as he strummed his guitar. Scott even played his guitar and sang to Susanne on their wedding day. He was so talented.

Susanne quickly realized that she had continued to follow the trend of breezing through her morning appointments, but somehow attracting multiple critical patients in the afternoon. Susanne enjoyed the more challenging cases, but she wished that the order in which she saw them was different. One of her last appointments of the day was a male cat that was blocked. Basically, this meant that he could not urinate because there was an obstruction of some sort in his urethra. Most commonly this tended to be stones that were trying to pass. Susanne knew this was an emergency situation the minute that she palpated the cat's large, firm bladder. She was unsuccessful with trying to express his bladder so she knew that she would have to anesthetize the cat and pass a urinary catheter. Luckily, things went smoothly. It was amazing to see the difference in the cat's demeanor after the procedure was over. He was definitely relieved.

Another late night for Susanne, but the second she saw her baby's face things were all better.

Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion, Upset Stomach, Diarrhea

Even though Susanne and Colleen didn't have to wake up to feed Paxton at 3:00 am, Paxton decided he wanted to spend time with them anyway. Susanne woke up to him crying incessantly. This was not a common thing for him at all. It seemed that he could not get comfortable and that his stomach was upset. Susanne changed his diaper and performed a little gastric massage. Colleen sat with Susanne for moral support. After a short time, he appeared to be feeling much better. The girls finally got to go back to bed.

When Susanne got up to take care of Paxton later that morning, she saw the remnants of what was causing him issues all night. He was much happier and greeted Susanne with a smile. It was moments like these that were priceless.

The rest of the day was spent going through their normal routine...NG feeding, therapy, playtime, nap. Rewind. Repeat. Susanne was able to complete some more items on her to do list, but was unable to finish it.

Susanne got creative with dinner and made a homemade sauce to go over some linguine. It turned out to be pretty tasty. It always made Susanne laugh when all of the animals would come out of the woodwork when she was eating.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Paxton had an occupational therapy appointment this morning. His original therapist came along with the new therapist to help with the transition process. Today was supposed to be focused on oral feeding, but from the start of the appointment, he was struggling. For some reason, he was breathing rapidly and was very averse to anything going in or around his mouth. This was completely opposite of what Susanne had been experiencing with him over the last week. At the end of the session, the therapist placed Paxton in his crib to work on some craniosacral therapy. The theory behind this technique was to help release tension and restrictions in the craniosacral system by using a gentle, hands-on approach. It was amazing to see how this calmed him down almost immediately.

Paxton slept the rest of the day. He was exhausted from all of the excitement. Susanne took this opportunity to try to clean up the house a little bit before her friends came over.

Cory, Ann, and Colleen all arrived around the same time that evening. The original plan was to eat dinner and watch the movie "Sex and The City 1" so that everyone would be prepared to go and watch the sequel in the movie theater. They had the best of intentions to do this, but they didn't stop talking enough to fit that into their schedule. They did manage, however, to squeeze in some time for cute, baby Paxton. Susanne tried extra hard to get Paxton to laugh for the girls, but she was unsuccessful.

Cory and Ann left later than they had originally planned, but they didn't seem to mind because they all seemed to have had such an awesome time. There was never a dull moment when they all got together. Colleen ended up staying the night because it was "Pajama Party Thursday". It was nice to finally catch up with her especially since they had missed out on spending time together the last couple of Thursdays. Susanne and Colleen continued talking for a while and then had to force themselves to go to bed. Colleen was pleased to find out that Paxton no longer had to be set up to eat at 3:00 am. This made a huge difference!

Saying goodbye

Moppy came over around 9:00 am this morning to take care of Paxton. She usually stayed the night before Susanne had to go to work to help with Paxton's overnight feedings, but her flight back from the conference she was at was delayed. She didn't end up getting home until after midnight.

Today was a slow day at work. Susanne's schedule was not completely full. She was pleased to see that one of her patients that she had been treating was responding to the medication she had prescribed. This was awesome news for her and of course the owners.

Susanne ended her day on a sad note. She had to help a family that had been long time clients of hers through a difficult decision to put their pet to sleep. This was never an easy decision and no one was ever ready to let go. It was so hard for Susanne to watch the people that she cared about go through something so agonizing. Susanne was continually amazed at the loving nature of a dog. Even though they could be suffering on the inside, they could still manage to wag their tail and give you kisses. This always made it so much tougher to say goodbye. Susanne knew exactly what they were going through. Even though it had been well over a month since she had to say farewell to Maverick, it still hurt so deeply.

Susanne's night immediately improved when she got home to find that Scott came home for the evening. He decided to surprise her which was so very sweet. He brought her dinner that they shared over conversation about their day. It felt nice to have a loving husband to come home to.

They both snuggled with Paxton for a short time before they headed off to bed.

What's The Buzz All About?

Susanne and Scott had always prided themselves on trying to save animals' lives whether big or small, scaly or furry, icky or cuddly. They had both spent a lot of summers pulling over on the side of the road to help turtles and even snakes cross the road in times of need. They had always tried to safely place insects that had entered their home back out into their natural environment. They had rescued too many animals to count between the two of them. If they couldn't keep them, they found an alternative home for them. Recently, Susanne had noticed that there was a wasp's nest in the newspaper compartment of the mailbox. A few weeks ago, she only noticed one wasp taking up residence in the nest. Shortly thereafter, that one wasp multiplied into two, then three, and now six. When Scott was home this weekend, he tried to safely move the nest to another location. This didn't go as well as originally planned, but he thought that now that the nest was no longer in the mailbox, they would move somewhere else. Obviously, this was not the case. Susanne went to get the mail this morning and realized that she still had a few visitors. She quickly tried to open the mailbox without disturbing the peace. She was not as slick as she thought because almost immediately a couple of wasps chased her away. She made the executive decision that she would have to kill them because they weren't budging. Stubborn, little wasps! Luckily, they would have a few days to say their goodbyes. It would probably take Susanne that long to be able to go out to the store and by some spray.

Speaking of spray....Susanne's aunt recently sent her an e-mail stating that wasp spray was a great alternative to pepper spray to help ward of an attacker. Research showed that it allowed the victim to maintain his or her distance and give them an upperhand in the situation by causing the attacker temporary blindness, giving the victim enough time to run away.

Lesson of the day: You should always have wasp spray on hand!

A Change Would Do You Good!

Paxton had an occupational therapy session this morning, but it was with a new person. The therapist that was supposed to be working with him on a regular basis just informed Susanne last week that she would be moving in July. She was also going to be going on vacation for two weeks sometime between now and then. Even though she had only worked with Paxton a total of three times, it was still difficult to accept change. Susanne was glad that it was happening this early on because it would just make it that much harder to make the transition the longer they worked with the original therapist.

Paxton was showing signs of improvement. He was consciously reaching for toys and being successful at grabbing them as well. He was also showing some improvement with his head control. Susanne was comforted by the fact that all of her hardwork was paying off. The new therapist gave Susanne a couple more techniques to try with Paxton during the times she was working with him. Susanne loved learning new tricks because it gave her a lot to work with. She was so proud of her little man. He was such a strong, determined guy.

When Susanne was playing with Paxton today, he actually frowned for the first time. It did not seem to be associated with anything in particular and luckily it did not progress into a cry. He looked so pitiful with that expression on his face. She definitely liked when he smiled or laughed much more.

Boys Will Be Boys!

The day could not have started off any better. Scott stayed in bed extra long this morning while Susanne prepared him breakfast. During this time, Scott got some extra snuggle time with Paxton. After a delicious breakfast in bed, they decided to get up and prepare for a great day. The only pressing thing on their agenda was to go to the pool for the afternoon with Aunt Leenie and Uncle Loonie.

After Paxton was all lathered up with sunscreen, Scott put on his swimming trunks and he was ready to go. He only needed one more thing to complete his look....sunglasses. Susanne was finally able to find a pair that he could wear. Now, Paxton looked even more like his father. Like father, like son for sure.

Scott decided to play bartender for the afternoon and make some nice, refreshing watermelon margaritas for the poolside. Once he was finished, they loaded up the cooler and headed out for some fun in the sun. It was definitely a scorcher, reaching up to the mid-nineties. This was a perfect day to go swimming.

For the first few hours, everyone sipped on their cocktails, soaked in some rays, and enjoyed each other's company. Once it got too hot to handle, everyone went for a dip in the pool. Paxton couldn't stay too long in the water because he was due for his next NG feeding. Susanne decided to hang out with the little guy while Uncle Loonie and Scott shot some water hoops. Susanne and Paxton finally joined everyone after Paxton woke up from a much needed nap. He seemed to really like the water this time. He seemed quite content to hang out in the pool as long as the sun wasn't in his face. They stayed in the water so long that they all turned into prunes. Even though it was hard to go, they decided to leave when Paxton was due for his next feeding. Everyone had a great time and they had the sunburn to prove it.

Scott couldn't even get Paxton through the front door before Paxton was fast asleep. They decided to put him straight to bed and bathe him after he woke up. In the meantime, Susanne made Scott a nice dinner before he had to head back to PA. Sadly, he had to open his Father's Day gifts without Paxton because he was still sleeping. Paxton got his daddy a card and a special book for just the two of them to read together. Susanne framed a picture of Paxton for Scott to take with him so that he would have something to constantly brighten his day whenever he needed a pick me up. It was going to look perfect in his office at work.

Paxton must have been exhausted because he did not wake up at all. Susanne waited and waited for him to open his little eyes, but it never happened. She ended up waking him up a short time after he finished his nine o'clock feeding just so that she could bathe him. She couldn't fathom letting him sleep through the entire night without a bath after having sunscreen on him and being in the pool. It just did not seem sanitary or safe. He was actually very content with having a bath even though it was really late at night. Baths had come to be one of his favorite things. He especially liked his hair to be washed. Now he was ready for bed. He had fresh new blankets and he was squeaky clean. Susanne had no trouble at all putting him back down for the evening. One book later and he was out for the count. He always seemed so peaceful when he slept.

By this time, Scott was on the road back to Pennsylvania. Susanne was so thankful that he was able to come home this weekend. It was such a special first Father's Day for the whole family to be together. We love you daddy!

All Work and No Play

Susanne was hoping that her work day would fly by so that she could spend as much time as possible with her husband and son. Scott got up early to take care of Paxton so that Susanne could finish getting ready for work. She left him special instructions so that he would remember what Paxton would need at different times of the day. Scott's goal was to work on his dissertation during the times that Paxton was taking a nap. He made it easy on himself by transporting all of the equipment needed for his feedings downstairs along with Paxton's play gym and toys. Scott set up a one stop shop for all of Paxton's needs. He was able to feed him, play with him, change him, and do therapy sessions all in the same spot. Paxton also found it comfortable enough to take his multiple naps that he needed during the day.

Colleen decided to come over this morning to be a source of moral support and a cheerleader for Scott while he was working on the final phases of his dissertation. She had been in this situation not too long ago and easily remembered how difficult the whole process was. It was all so fresh in her memory how much patience and stamina was needed to make it through. Her presence alone made Scott's day that much more manageable. Paxton was so delighted to see his Aunt Leenie this morning. It was a nice surprise to see a familiar face. He had missed her the last couple of Thursdays.

Susanne had to take James into work woth her to recheck an ECG of his heart. He had a congenital heart defect just like Paxton, but for totally different reasons. James was on medication to help his heart have a more normal rate and rhythm. Susanne wanted to make sure that things looked stable enough for him to potentially go under anesthesia for a dental cleaning in the next few weeks. Susanne was anxious about bringing him in because he was usually a hyper ball of energy when she took him out in public. He was so easily overstimulated that it made it difficult for him to function and even more difficult for Susanne to handle him. Everything was exciting and he wanted to be involved in it all. Surprisingly, James was well behaved this time. He actually listened to Susanne despite being faced with so many new sources of stimulation. Susanne was beside herself with excitement because he was finally able to act somewhat normal in public. The only downside was that this might be a sign that he was getting older and more mature. She would take it either way. She just wished that people could see what a quiet, relaxed dog he was when he was at home with her. No one ever believed that he had that side to him.

Susanne was cruising through her day. She only had three appointments left when everything took a turn for the worse. The last few appointments were all very involved and somewhat challenging cases. She didn't mind this type of appointment, she just wished that she had seen them in the morning instead of at the end of her day. She definitely enjoyed veterinary medicine and the process of figuring out what was wrong with her patients. The one thing she did not like about her profession was the unpredictability of her schedule. Not even an hour before she would have been able to leave after her last appointment. Now she would be there well into the evening. She ended up hospitalizing one of the animals which was the best thing for the pet.

Susanne did not end up leaving work until almost five hours after her shift had ended. She still had to stop by Moppy's house to take care of her cat. Susanne was going to scoop the litter and refill Bailey's gravity feeders if need be. When Susanne opened the door to Moppy's house, she was caught off guard by how hot it was in the house. Moppy had been trying to deal with a broken air conditioning unit for well over a month and no one had been out to fix it yet. She kept getting the run around from the insurance company and the company that was supposed to fix the unit. No matter how many calls she had made, it never seemed to change the outcome. Luckily, Bailey was doing well. He seemed to be in good spirits despite the circumstances. After giving Bailey some well deserved attention, Susanne was back on the road.

Susanne had to make one last stop before going home. She needed to go to Petsmart to pick up some things for her own pets. She decided to load up on everything she could think of since it was difficult for her to get out with the baby. By the time all was said and done, she had a full cart. She always wondered what the employee's must think because she always had a variety of stuff for all sorts of animals. It was true....she had a small zoo.

Susanne finally got home around 10:00 pm. At the last minute, they decided to order out. This was the best decision they had made all day. Once the food got there, Susanne could hardly finish before she fell asleep on the couch. She was so bummed that she didn't get to spend much time at all with her husband. It really took a toll on her especially since he wasn't coming home every weekend anymore. She could not wait until August.

Paxton + Margaritas = :)

Everyone slept in just a little bit because it was much needed. Brandy got to spend some quality time with Paxton and Susanne before she had to get on the road. Even though she was only able to stay one night, Susanne really felt like she got some good quality time with her. It was so nice to catch up with an old friend.

Scott came home later in the day. Susanne showed him some of the new things that she had learned over the last two therapy sessions. Scott wasted no time and jumped right in. He immediately started working with Paxton, eager to see the progress he had made since the last time he had seen him. Scott could not believe how big Paxton looked. He was excited about the weight gain that had occurred over the last few weeks. He was starting to look all grown up.

Due to a long week and a long drive, Scott really wanted to get out of the house and have a family night. They decided that it was important to start teaching Paxton early about his heritage and getting him exposed to Mexican food as much as possible. This was important since it would be such a prominent part of his life. Paxton seemed to take a liking to the chips and salsa right away. He also wanted a sip of his daddy's margarita, but they had to tell him he was too young for that. His tequila training would have to come much later.

After a nice dinner out, Scott and Susanne decided to give Paxton a bath before his bedtime. This always seemed to relax Paxton, which was the perfect set up for going to bed. It was so nice to finally have Scott there to help out. Paxton liked it too.