Chuck E. Cheese

Mema's Christmas gift to Caleb was a gift card to Chuck E. Cheese. Here is a picture of Caleb riding in the car with Chuck. Chuck E. Cheese has two of Caleb's favorite things: pizza and car rides.

Merry Christmas!

Here is a picture of Caleb playing with the bus that he received from Santa. Santa visited Caleb in spite of the fact that he is embracing his Terrible Twos right now.

Christmas Breakfast

Laura prepared chocolate and banana pancakes for Caleb and me Christmas morning.

Caleb was unimpressed.

Graysen at 32 Weeks

This is a picture from Graysen's ultrasound yesterday. He is four pounds and is growing well. We did not learning anything new yesterday. The doctor cannot confirm which artery is small (aorta or pulmonary) and cannot confirm if it is connected to the heart or not. In either event, Graysen will require an artificial artery. If it is a small pulmonary artery, they will do the Rastelli procedure with a homograph. If it is a small aorta, they will do a modified version of the Norwood procedure. Due to the fact that both procedure require an artificial artery to be inserted, Graysen will require at least three surgeries. One will occur at birth, one at approximately one year old, and one around 5-8 years. There may be a fourth depending on if they can put in an adult sized artery at the third surgery. The number of surgeries arises from the fact that the artificial artery will not grow as Graysen grows. We are hoping that the small artery is the pulmonary artery because it is easier to fix and has better survival rates than a small aorta. This was our last cardiologist visit until Graysen is born. There is nothing more that they can do until he is born. Now the focus is shifting to predicting labor and delivery to ensure that we arrive in Charleston on time. The induction is scheduled for January 28th, but both of my ob's in Spartanburg (routine care and high risk) are skeptical. They are not sure that I will make it to week 39 because I only made it to week 37.5 with Caleb. For Graysen's sake, we are hoping that he delivers on the 28th. He needs to be as fat as possible since he will not be able to eat until after the surgery. So, I am taking it easy to help keep blood pressure down and help prevent contractions.

Christmas in Tennessee

This past weekend Lee, Caleb, and I went to Tennessee to celebrate Christmas with Lee's family. We had a lot of fun. This is a picture of Caleb riding his new bike that Papa gave him.

Our next pediatric cardiologist appointment is Thursday. We will not get any news at this visit since all decisions will be made at the time of Graysen's birth. However, I should have a new picture to post of Graysen after the visit.

Gastonia Christmas Parade

On Sunday, Caleb and I went to the Gastonia Christmas Parade with our friends, Emily (pictured), Lisa, and Todd. It was a lot of fun. Caleb loved watching all of the cars, trucks, boats, vans, and buses. (Vehicles are his current obsession.)

Caleb in the Morning

Do you think Caleb will ever forgive us for putting this photo on the Internet? He was just too cute this morning.

Graysen's Birthday is Scheduled

Lee and I spent Wednesday at MUSC in Charleston learning about what to expect for Graysen's birth. The attached is a picture of Graysen at 30 weeks. His birth is scheduled for Monday, January 28th. I will be admitted the night before and labor will be induced the following morning. We are looking forward to meeting him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Lee, Caleb, and I went to visit my family in Orlando, FL for Thanksgiving. While we were there, we celebrated Christmas. This is a picture of the boys with their new laptop computers. The computers were a generous gift from my parents to help us stay in touch with everyone while were are in Charleston for Graysen's birth.

We had a nice visit with the family and are getting ready to go on our Tour de Georgia. We are headed to Alma and then on to Thomson. We will finish our trip by visiting Charleston on Wednesday and return home.

Caleb's Birthday Party

Caleb had his birthday party on Saturday, November 3rd. All of his friends came to the party. Pictured clockwise from Caleb are Emily, Noah, Maddie, and Katelin. It was a fun party done in Caleb's favorite theme: cars. Caleb received lots of trucks, trains, learning globe, and coloring items. He loves all of his toys and has been busy playing with them.

Halloween

We had a busy Halloween. First, we went to Toddler Time at the library. Then we went to Lisa and Emily's house to decorate Halloween cookies. This was followed by a train ride at the local park. Finally, we went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Caleb was dressed as a medieval knight and loved trick-or treating. He enthusiastically pointed out every pumpkin and truck that he saw.

Good News

Today has been a day of good news. This morning, I passed my three hour gestational diabetes test. So, I can eat whatever I want during the holidays!!! Then, we found out the results of all the genetic testing on our baby. All of Graysen's chromosomes are normal! That means that we are just dealing with the heart which can be fixed. We are very relieved.

Blog

Today Lee reminded me that we had a blog. I had completely forgotten about it. I will try to post more this week about my activities with Caleb. Lee will be in LaGrange, GA for most of the week. So, it will be just Caleb and I hanging out.

By the end of the week we should have news on two big things: the negotiations over the house inspection and the results of the Chromosome 22 deletion test for Graysen. Hopefully we will get good news on both items.

More updates later this week.

We Created a Blog!

Lee and I just created our first blog site. We created it so that we can post pictures and information about our growing family. Stay tuned for more updates on Caleb and our tentatively-named bun-in-the-oven, Graysen.