Wordless Wednesdays - Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!! Aunt Nicki and I enjoyed a Thanksgiving lunch yesterday at D's daycare. It was so fun getting to see all the kiddos, although I felt a bit sorry for the teachers, because we were definitely a huge distraction/interruption to the day.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say how thankful I am for all the friends and family that care about Dylan and me so much! I appreciate you taking the time to follow our journey online; I love updating the blog and knowing that people are reading it (even though sometimes I get a bit stressed when I get behind on postings)! Obviously, especially at the holidays, it's hard for me not to get down. But, I really do take great comfort in knowing how many people there are out there that care about us and want to see us happy. So, even though words aren't enough...thank you!

Wordless Wednesdays - From the Road...take 2!

That's right, I'm in the Boston area on business this week. It's been another whirlwind of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and getting lost (there are NO left turns here!), but I get to head home tonight and see Aunt Nicki and D. Dylan is once again in the very capable hands of Aunt Nicki and is having a blast! And of course, it's super nice for me to not have to worry about him at all! We've even done two video chats from the road :)

This past weekend, we headed to Chicago for some football fun. We had a blast with family and friends (minus Northwestern beating Iowa again!) and D had a great time seeing everybody and a blast hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa. Here's a little recap with pics we took on cell phones...more later!

Hanging with Carrie Mac and Erin! We had a blast!! And yes, tried to relive the college days...and had a harsh reminder that we're no longer 21!

Reading fun with Grandpa at Borders!


Of course, Grandma and Grandpa couldn't resist buying D a new book! Here he is reading one of his new books at bedtime!

At the Bears game! It was a blast (although a little cold at the end) and the Bears beat the Vikings!

Go Bears! After the game!!!

I love when Aunt Nicki takes care of me! She takes me on super fun runs to the park!!

D is obsessed with all things balls! He loves this toy Chris gave him and loves finding the matching balls on his pajamas!

Coming soon (I promise, now that my business travel is almost done)...some better late than never: Chris comes to KC, Halloween fun and D goes to Chi-town!!!

Happy Veterans Day!!!!

Happy Veterans Day to all!!! And a special Happy Veterans Day to Papa! We enjoyed his complimentary Veterans Day meal at Applebee's today. If you are reading this and it's still Thursday, let any veteran or active duty military person you know that they can go have a free meal on Applebee's today!

D is doing great and is almost back to perfect! We haven't given him any medicine today, and he doesn't seem to be in much pain. We're off to Chicago this weekend and look forward to seeing family and friends!!

Wordless Wednesdays - A surgery update

D continues to make tremendous progress towards recovery! He slept a ton yesterday which I think was partially surgery, partially the medicine he was on. I switched him to just regular motrin last night and he slept until 5:30 this morning. I gave him another round of motrin and he went back to sleep until 7. The motrin appears to be controlling his pain and his fever is completely gone. He's much more cheerful and much closer to his normal self which is so nice to see! I took a conference call from home this morning - D didn't like that I was home but wouldn't pay attention to him! Aunt Nicki took him to the park and we've decided he's at about 90%! Thanks for your continued thoughts/prayers! We appreciate them!

Oh, and as Aunt Nicki pointed out to me the other day...this is the first time ever in Dylan's life that I haven't had to be anticipating another surgery. That is quite the relief!!

This morning after D woke up we read stories in my bed :)

On the slide at the park!

One of my favorite things in the world...going to the park with Aunt Ni Ni!!

Making mommy (and myself) a PB&J for lunch!

So nice to see him smiling again!!!

Tuesday Update

D continues to make improvement! He ended up napping for about 3 hours yesterday afternoon. When he woke up, he was definitely still in some pain and a bit edgy but he ate a pretty good dinner consisting of 'roni and cheese and almost a whole banana.

He slept great last night. He didn't really making a sound until about 5:45 this morning. And then by the time I got to his room with medicine, he had fallen back to sleep. He woke up again a bit after 7 and appeared to be pretty disoriented and in some pain. He slept on me for a while and then as he woke back up, I changed his diaper and gave him some more medicine (still the strong stuff). He had a fever of 102.2 and I talked to the CM nurse and they said that's higher than they like to see it. She said it was too early for infection, but he could be coming down with some other virus. It broke after giving him his medicine, so I'll just keep an eye on it and if not might take him in to see Dr. Kate. He perked up quite a bit after his medicine kicked in and ate a very good breakfast with Aunt Ni Ni. He seemed much more chipper, but definitely isn't back to his normal self. I'm at work, but he's in good hands with papa. He's been asleep again for about 1 1/2 hours, so hopefully he'll continue to improve quickly. This surgery has definitely been much more intense than the last one, and I know he'll be fine but I'm anxious for him to get back to his normal happy self!

A quick shout out to everybody that came up to the hospital yesterday to keep me company! As I mentioned previously, Kylie and Jody surprised us at the hospital. My mom, dad, Aunt Andrea, Aunt Ni Ni and Beth also came up to the hospital to keep me company while D was in surgery. It's a pretty stressful time and I can't say thank you enough to everybody for taking time out of their days to be there to support us. It means a ton! Also, thanks for all the texts/e-mails of encouragement. I appreciate them all, even if I'm not always the most responsive!

Eating dinner last night on the mommy high chair!

Opening presents from the Stump fam!

Eating a sucker this morning...Aunt Nicki said I was being a pushover, but if ever he needs spoiling, I think it's now!!

He fell asleep about 5 minutes into the walk with Aunt Nicki this morning!

Home, Sweet Home

Dylan had his surgery this morning as scheduled. He did a great job and has been very brave. He was not happy about being in the pre-op room and kept telling me all done and bye bye, but for the most part we were able to distract him.

D did great during surgery. Unfortunately, when Dr. Ostlie located the testicle in his abdomen it was no longer functioning, so he removed it. The good news is, it turns out you only need one and as Aunt Andrea said, D is all boy and is certainly not lacking any testosterone. I'm, of course, a bit disappointed but glad that we are done with surgery.

D was still in a decent amount of pain when we got home from the hospital. And he was very out of sorts and did not like it at all! When we got home, he was acting like he wanted to eat, but every time I tried to feed him he would cry. Eventually, we got him his medicine and he's been napping for about an hour. Thanks for all of the thoughts and prayers!

(*Note - you'll notice that D's face is pretty scraped up. We went to the zoo yesterday and D was running and fell on his face. He recovered fairly quickly and was running around again within a few minutes)

Getting into his fancy operating gown!

They had cars like we have at home! It was a great distraction for a little pumpkin that hadn't eaten all day!

Looking at pictures of Ella is always a good distraction!

Playing with the stickers we got from Kylie's birthday party!

Speaking of Kylie, Jody and Kylie came up to visit us in the waiting room! It was a great distraction and we had a blast playing in the house!

After they brought me to the post-op recovery room, I had to wait for D for a few minutes. After a minute or so, I could hear his hoarse little voice calling mama, mama! Finally, D came through the doors, looking awfully pitiful. He was pretty hysterical and the post-op nurse told me they had given him a couple of rounds of medicine and didn't think he was in pain anymore, but he just kept crying for me. Indeed, he did just need mama, after a few minutes he was sleeping on me.

Monday, Monday!

Just talked to Children's Mercy and D is on for 10:15 on Monday morning (he's not the first case b/c there are a couple of younger babies first). We have to be there at 9:15 and no food after 1:30 a.m. So, I figure I might keep him up a bit late and hope he sleeps in until 8 ish and then it won't be too long to have to entertain him without food! Of course, my anxiousness has been mounting all week (really since we scheduled the surgery) and of course is peaking now that we have a time. But, I know he'll be in great hands. As always, I would appreciate any thoughts/prayers everybody could send our way! I will post status updates on Monday as I have them.

And b/c I'm anti-posting w/o pics here's a cute one of D eating one of Beth's AWESOME cookies last night! He actually got a little mad at me, b/c I'd only let him eat half. And yes, if you're wondering that is a pumpkin cookie with Dylan's name on it. Beth made them for us for our Kindermusik class and they were a HUGE hit!

Wordless Wednesdays - From the Road

That's right, I'm in the great city of Detroit, Michigan for budget reviews (try not to be too jealous). I realized before the trip, that this is the first time I'll have spent 24 hours away from D. It's been hard to be away, but nice to know that he's in Aunt Nicki's very capable hands! And she'd done an excellent job of sending me picture mails every couple of hours and we even did a video chat this morning.

On Sunday, before trick-or-treating, we went to cheer on Felicia's soccer team to victory. It was a bit chilly, but we had a great time and D loved kicking the soccer balls around. The only time he wasn't happy was when I stopped him from running on the field.

With Felicia after the victory! And note that Dylan is wearing a red and black Addidas soccer outfit that perfectly matches Felicia's team...

Coach in action!

Kicking balls around with Jessica!

Here are a couple of my favorite phone pics Aunt Nicki has sent:

On a date at Buffalo Wild Wings...D apparently loved it and ate 4 wings!

Fun with Aunt Nicki at the park

A couple of quick notes...for those of you who I have trained to only look on Wednesdays, make sure to check out the post below. D is scheduled to have another (and hopefully last) surgery on Monday for his undescended testicle. Should be outpatient with a quick recovery, but would appreciate any and all thoughts and prayers! Finally, coming soon, Chris comes to KC and a Halloween extravaganza!!