"It's a... blog!" on Vacation, Part Two

The morning after the game, we loaded everything back in the car. It was time to switch locations. Later in the day, we would meet up with some friends at a different lake house we were to share for the next few days. (Another lesson learned from the trip: switching accommodations in the middle effectively shortens the vacation by a day.) In between the loading and unloading, we paid a visit to the boys' great-grandparents (Allison's paternal grandparents).

The boys aren't looking at the camera, but at least they're looking at each other.

They hadn't seen Ayden since a few days after he was born and had yet to meet Brogan. Ayden stayed true to his m.o.: he clung to Allison or me for a while, but eventually opened up. Brogan, as usual, just enjoyed all the extra attention.

Checking out all the birds in the backyard.

Learning how to use a new toy.

Once Ayden warmed up, he had quite a bit of fun. His great-grandfather disappeared for a few minutes, coming back with a handful of toys for Ayden to play with. (Clearly, these toys had been around for a while - one of the cars was a Fiero!) I think all parties involved enjoyed playing with the toys.

Ayden and Brogan also met their Great Aunt Susan and Cousin Madison for the first time.

A Day Out With Thomas

Quite a while back, the "A Day Out With Thomas" tour (or whatever you call it) came to Nashville. The weather was kind of lousy, and the place was a madhouse, but Ayden and I braved the rain and the crowd.

The thing is basically a mecca for all things Thomas. There's the opportunity to take a picture with Sir Topham Hatt. There's lots of tables of train sets to play with. Bounce houses. Slides. A store that has every single piece of Thomas-licensed product ever made. (I let Ayden pick out one thing. He chose a lantern. I have no idea why.)

And, of course, the cherry on top of all of that is the chance to ride on a full sized Thomas replica. And by "ride on a full sized Thomas replica," I mean to ride in a retired dining car that, along with a dozen other retired train cars, is being pulled by a full sized, replica Thomas engine past a series of abandoned train cars and homeless encampments. It was not the most scenic of trips.

This little Thomas book (free with the price of admission) he's looking at may actually be his favorite thing from the whole experience. Two months later and he's still playing with it.

I don't think the ride with Thomas did that much for Ayden. He much more enjoyed riding on the little train being pulled by a lawnmower affixed with a train engine covering. We rode it multiple times.

At the end of the day, I don't think this is something we would do again. Too many people. Lousy surroundings. As you can see from the pictures, Ayden was kind of indifferent about the whole thing. I heard someone mention the Chattanooga version is much better. Maybe we'll take a trip to that one in the future, if Brogan ends up enamored with trains, too.

Sliding Down a Rainbow

Every now and again, we'll pull Ayden's little plastic slide out of the closet. Each time, it makes him very happy. And while it dominates an already overcrowded living room, we know it's good for him. Each time it's out, his use of it is quicker and smoother. It used to be that I had to help him place his feet so he could climb up onto it, then hold his hands as he slides down. Those days are long gone. Now, we have to make sure he doesn't spend too much time standing at the top and trying to climb up the wrong way.

The video below, in addition to displaying his improved sliding (and talking) skills, shows off his "jumping." Once you watch, you'll understand the need for the quotes.

2.5 years

2.5 years. That's how long it has been since Ayden was born. Is it possible for something to feel simultaneously interminable and fleeting? If so, that's what these 2.5 years have been like. I guess that there was only a 60-70% chance he would make it to 6 months old impacts my reaction to this milestone (and every one hereafter, I suppose). Maybe that will be both Ayden's blessing and curse. Will he ever just be "Ayden," rather than "Ayden, the kid with half a heart"? To those who meet him later in his life, the former is certainly possible, if not likely. For his parents, the latter will likely be very hard to shake off. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

But enough of the serious stuff. This is a celebratory post. Ayden is 2.5 years old! And he is doing great! His most recent cardiology appointment was Wednesday, and it really couldn't have gone better. Dr. K was the most pleased as I have ever seen her with the results of the ECHO, EKG, x-ray, etc. (That's saying something, because there has never really been a regularly scheduled clinic visit in which she wasn't pleased.)

His x-ray was clear (we had weaned his diuretic one week prior). His heart wall motion was great, so she saw absolutely no need to put him back on the medication to help with that (it was taken off after his surgery in case it was an impediment to his heart rhythm normalizing). His tricuspid valve is still leaking, but just barely. It's either the same or better than last time. (If you gave a "normal" person an ECHO, you'd probably find some very minor leakage somewhere.)

As always, Ayden wanted to "help" put together the little shelving we bought.

As usual, Ayden performed admirably. He started off a bit reticent, which has become his personality, but he soon opened up (also his personality). He did so well with his ECHO, the tech gave him three stickers instead of just one. We had worked on saying "Dr. K" on the way there. He quickly had it down - though his version sounds like "Doctor Tay" because all his hard "c" and "k" sounds are still "t" sounds - and was repeating it constantly. Once we got there, I couldn't get him to say it in her presence. He finally said it about five minutes before it was time to leave. And he's talked about her each day since. He even said "Fun, Dr. K" as we were getting in the car to leave, which is how he tells us he has had fun doing something. Yes, he now utilizes some rudimentary sentences when he talks.

The best part of the visit was Dr. K telling us she'd see us again in a year (an x-ray in two months to get rid of the diuretic altogether, and hopefully for forever, notwithstanding). A year! These 2.5 years have been by no means easy, on so many levels. Even so, we feel so blessed by God for Ayden to be where he is now. Once we get him eating in a way that's appropriate for his age (he did really well at feeding therapy on Thursday; maybe a breakthrough here is coming), it will be very hard for someone new to look at him and know what he's gone through. His scars will be the only evidence.

I really like my Buddy the T-rex slippers.

I don't think we could ask for anything more than that.

"It's a... blog!" on Vacation, Part One

This month, the time finally arose that we took our first vacation as a family. Not a day trip to the aquarium, but a real, honest to goodness, vacation. Packing the car almost to the point of bursting. Days spent almost entirely in said car. Crossing multiple state lines. Experiencing all the good and bad things about family trips. The trip had multiple phases, each of which I'll cover separately.

The first leg of the trip was in Clemson. We left on a Thursday morning. Actually, we had intended to leave in the morning. At 10:00, to be exact. Our first lesson learned from this trip came before we had left: it takes a hell of a long time to get packed and ready to go when you have two kids who require constant supervision during the process. Instead of 10:00, we pulled away at 12:45. Despite the large delay in getting started, the trip went pretty well.

Until the last 30 minutes. By that point, the boys were getting tired and hungry. It was dark. Not in-town-dark, with the ambient light that comes with it, but middle-of-nowhere-dark. And we were stuck behind an 18-wheeler on a winding, hilly, two lane road, with no opportunity to pass. Both of them cried for some portion of the 30 minutes (that felt like 30 hours), with Brogan spending the time he wasn't crying by screaming bloody murder.

On Friday, we bombed on our attempt to get a family picture with The Rock. Instead, we had to settle for the Tiger Cub statue outside the IPTAY office. Ayden wasn't exactly cooperative. I'm not sure if he was scared of it, or just being a pain, or both. Regardless, we didn't get any usable pictures with him in it.

Then we went downtown for a bit. Ayden absolutely loved running around Tiger Sports Shop. After spending an inordinate amount of time there, we headed back in the direction of the house we were staying in, stopping for lunch by the lake along the way. After Ayden finished his lunch, our waitress brought out a box of blocks for him to play with. He spent most of the time just pushing the box around the wooden deck, but did stop to stick a few of them together.

You'll notice Ayden is wearing a purple Clemson jersey. It's a #2 jersey, the one currently worn by WR Sammy Watkins. G-Daddy taught Ayden a little chant to go with the jersey: "Sammy, Sammy, Sammy....TOUCHDOWN!" Ayden loves his jersey - actually, he loves all his Clemson clothes now, that's what he has wanted to wear since we got home from the trip - and will randomly bust out the Sammy chant, or a "Go Tigers!" We also taught him to say "Clemson" (his version sounds like "Tlemson," which is really hard to duplicate). As Clemson grads, we couldn't be prouder. The indoctrination has begun.

Anywho, after lunch and naptime back at the house, Ayden spend some time by the lake with his Uncle Ray, whom he had just met.

Saturday, of course, was gameday. And gameday = tailgating. The boys loved tailgating. Ayden got to run around and play with lots of different things and just be a kid, while Brogan got a whole bunch of attention. Allison and I just soaked up the opportunity to see the boys experience something that has been a big part of our lives, both as individuals and a couple, and to spend time with friends we hadn't seen since before Ayden was born.

(more tailgating pictures after the break)

Our first Clemson tailgate.

Ayden and Sawyer had a lot of fun with the various footballs and other items available to throw.

Brogan and Ben had fun, too.

When we weren't in Clemson, Ayden and Brogan played with the toys CeeCee and G-Daddy brought for them. Ayden really enjoyed the little wagon, which he used to pull things around, including Brogan.

Like I said, Ayden really enjoyed the whole experience. Over the course of the weekend, we heard "Fun, Clemson" and "Fun, tailgate" quite a bit.