He's Been Healed!

Today I took Caleb for yet another swallow study, but this time we went to a different hospital, the one he was born in, as his new pulmonologist is there. I just knew that it was going to be like all the others and I was going to leave there discouraged, so I drug him in there (he was literally kicking and screaming) with the negative attitude that this would not change anytime soon. He was very defiant at first and refused to drink the conconction the nice therapist made until we put it in a syringe and told him it was medicine. Then he was on a roll! The radiologist was a very nice man and watched carefully and told me that he saw nothing abnormal about the way Caleb was handling all thickness of liquids or solid foods. I nearly hugged him! After all the bad news and negative outlooks that we have been given about this issue with Caleb and his future, to hear this news was overwhelming. I have to say that I actually cried! A huge feat for me! Anyway, Caleb is now to be treated as a normal boy, as far as his nutrition goes. This is going to take some getting used to, but things are looking up and our baby is healthy! Praise God! Thank you to all of you who have prayed for him and us.

Jes's Surprise Party

It seems like it's been forever since I posted anything, but in reality it's just been about 10 days. In that time, a lot has happened. First, is Jes's surprise birthday party. It was his 30th birthday, so I thought that a party was in order. We had a small affair at our house with close friends and family.

I found this great local bakery who delivers and doesn't charge an arm and a leg who made this great cake. They helped me come up with the design and did a great job!

We planned the party for late in the day, so Caleb and I had a great time running around getting things ready. I had to go to great lengths to hide the stuff from Jes. I even hid all the non-refrigerated food in Caleb's closet. It worked out great as he never found anything and had no idea!

Caleb's friends the Dixon quads got to come to the party. He was so excited to see them and their brother Logan. Left to right they are Samantha, Madison, Candice and Hudson. Hudson and my dad bonded over football and high fives! It was so cute!

Our good friends Luke and Melissa were in on this party the whole time and Luke kept Jes out of the house the whole day! Thank you so much to Luke for giving up his whole day and running Jes all around creation and making up stories along the way!

Even though Jes is threatening to do something worse for my 30th later this year, I think he secretly loved this!

Luke's wife Melissa and myself. She and I had been talking about this since August! Thanks to Melissa for giving up her husband for a whole day, as well as adding to the stories that kept the guys out and running!

After Jes's party was over and we recovered, I dragged this table out that Caleb got from his Mawmaw and Pawpaw for Christmas and put it together. I was so proud of the fact that I actually put something together right! Many of you don't realize that I have book case in my house that I put together with a shelf that is in the wrong way. Needless to say, I'm not mechanically inclined. Anyway, Caleb loves the table and has a great time sitting at it!

For Christmas from my grandmother, Caleb got the Tickle Me Elmo chair. He has a great time sitting in it and watching poobaa (football) with his Daddy!

Caleb was supposed to have another swallow study today, but there is a couple of inches of ice and snow on the roads, so we are rescheduling. I will update you as soon as we have it!

Caleb's Surgery

I know that most of you know that Caleb had to have a surgical procedure today, so I thought this was the best way to update you on his progress. Caleb had what is called a frenulectomy. Basically, it is just the removal of the lingual frenulum, the piece of membrane that ties your tongue to the floor of your mouth. Caleb's has been tight from birth and his pulmonologist recommended we do this to possibly help with his aspiration issues.
We had the procedure done at the Pediatric Surgery Center in Plano with Dr. Kevin Kadesky. He was highly recommended and I can say from our family now too. He was very open and honest and caring and we'll use him again, if needed. When we got to the surgery center, they showed us to a little room where Caleb got to watch Dora and Bob the Builder. He was instantly the nurses favorite as I haven't met anyone who can resist his cute little face! Shortly before going into surgery, the nurse gave him some Versed, a drug to make him a little loopy, and boy did it work. There have been very few times that Caleb has been like this, but it was hilarious. He would stretch his arm way up in the air to give someone a high five and then forget what he was doing and just puddle into laughter. He was so silly!
Dr. Kadesky told me that it would be a 5 minute procedure and he was right. I didn't even sit in the waiting room. The nurse just took me to a consultation room where I waited for the doctor to come give me a report. I think he was in the OR a grand total of 15 minutes, and 10 of those was getting him to sleep and prepped.
Sitting in this consultation room made me realize why God never gave me the desire to work with kids. When I was in school, it did briefly cross my mind that I might want to work in pediatrics, but I quickly decided against it. People do strange things when they are coming out from under anesthesia. The difference between kids and adults is that most adults will control their outbursts if they have their wits about them. Kids do not. I sat in that consultation room listening to kids screaming. It made my mommy skin crawl to hear that. I could not do the job that those nurses and doctors do. Anyway, Caleb woke up beautifully and besides trying to pull his IV out and the pulse oximeter off, he didn't give anyone any trouble. We were out of there in a flash. He's doing really well now and crashed around 7pm, way before bedtime. It was a hard day, but he's my little trooper and is doing well. Thank you to all who were praying for us today. We could tell!

Our Big Adventure

We just got back from Oregon a few days ago, so this is the first chance I had to post. We had a really good time at Jes's parent's house, but we were also ready to come home when we did. It ended up being all of us, including Jes's 2 sisters and their families, at his parent's house. It was so much fun and Caleb discovered his cousins are fun to play with and run around with!

















Caleb and Jes on the airplane. We took a flight from Dallas to Portland, Oregon (4 hours) and then another from Portland to Medford (1 hour) and Caleb was a little angel. As you can tell from this picture, we had all been up for awhile and were pretty tired!












We finally made it and Caleb was really excited to see his Nana. This was one of our many trips to WalMart!












On Saturday, we went to a tree farm in Glendale to cut down a Christmas tree. The only problem was the people were not there, so we couldn't do it.












We got this cute picture of Caleb and his cousin Carver, even though we didn't get a tree.

We all wanted to have Christmas together, so we waited until Tuesday, after Josh, Sarah, Katie, and Hailey, flew in from California. This picture is Caleb's cousin Carver passing out gifts. I tried to get a picture of Katie, but she was just too fast!













Hailey sitting on her gifts. She had that smile that could charm her way out of any situation!













Caleb sitting with his Papa while he took pictures.













Sarah helping Hailey open presents. We open gifts in reverse birth order at the Mathis house during Christmas. The older kids were very good at waiting and being patient!












Finally it was Caleb's turn and he really raked it in!!!












Caleb loved to play in his Nana and Papa's play farm house while he waited for everyone else to finish opening their gifts.












Caleb with Uncle Josh looking at his fancy camera.












After all the madness...












The next day, we all went to Sears and had our picture made and then made a trip to the mall to cash in Aunt Sarah's gift for the kids. She got them all Build a Bear certificates. Caleb chose a black puppy.













Caleb's puppy being filled. We asked him what he wanted to name it and he said puppy, so puppy it is.












Caleb and his new puppy. He drags it around the house saying puppy constantly! Hopefully, this will hold him over from wanting the real thing for a little longer!
All in all, we had a great time! Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!