Happy Birthday Brenden!

Oh my goodness, how did my tiny little baby Brenden turn THREE already??!! Wow to think through all of the past 3 years, my tiny little preemie, his first hospital stay with jaundace, the platelet scare of 2009, becoming a big brother... every moment seems like yesterday. He is such a sweet, special, vibrant, energetic little boy (not baby!) The years have FLOWN by and though I miss his tiny baby moments, I am also LOVING this age. He cracks me up all day long. He's really talking up a storm now, using full sentences and coming up with creative unique thoughts all on his own. This morning he was walking down the stairs and saw this baby picture on the wall



He said "hey that's Logan" and I said "No, thats baby Brenden" and he said "Oh, Baby Brenden is hiding (I guess because half of his body is hidden)" and then stuck his tongue out like the picture and busted out laughing and said 'hahaha, baby Brenden is FUNNY"  How cute is that?

We had an awesome birthday party. We hired the Fun Bus to come to the house. Its sort of like a gymboree on wheels. The theme of the party was Mickey Mouse. Brenden LOVED all of his Mickey stuff. We had so many friends come to celebrate the day with us. It was better than I could have imagined. I don't think I ever saw a moment on his birthday party that he wasn't smiling from ear to ear -what more could a mom ask for?

Starting the day with his happy birthday Mickey Ears. I was afraid the 'headband' style was going to make these look too girly, but they actually looked just fine on a little boy and he LOVED them!

Look at me, I'm THREE

I just love this shot even though he's not smiling (he was watching Mickey on tv). He's just such a handsome little boy, I could take pictures of him all day long and love every one of them :)

 

The fun bus!!!

The kids staring out the window at the Fun Bus wondering when they can go play on it. Ironically half the party-goers would get scared and get back off the bus lol - but Brenden had a blast and stayed on the whole time, so that's all that really mattered to me!

Doing some rock n roll 'freeze dance' on the fun bus. I love how he dances <3

My attempt at Mickey cupcakes. Brenden loved them. (chocolate cupcakes with mini oreos for ears)

Eating ice cream with a fork lol. I forgot to get plastic spoons! Obviously this didn't slow him down a bit. 

Presents!!! 

It really was our best birthday party ever. All of the kids had fun and though there were some intensely chaotic moments, there were also lots of smiles and giggles.


On a non-birthday topic we have some good news and some .. well I won't call it bad news, just news. Logan went to see his two specialists (eye and urologist). The good news is the urologist doesn't think his hydrocele is bad enough to do surgery on at this time and wants to give it 3 more months. He said he couldn't feel any fluid passing in and out when he squeezed it or pressed on his bell so either the opening allowing the fluid to gather around his testicle has closed on its own and its just a matter of time for the fluid to absorb and the swelling to go down, or the opening is small enough that it doesn't pose a risk. Their greatest concern with a hydrocele is having part of the intestine being able to move into the opening and causing a hernia/bowel obstuction. So we are glad that he doesn't have to have surgery "down there" for now. However the eye specialist is concerned that his tear ducts (both) are blocked and wants to do the surgery to open them up. Her preferred method is using the intubation method (google it!). She will pass a single long narrow tube through each tear duct - one end of the tube goes in one duct and the other end goes in the other so you would see the tube between the eyes connecting the two ducts. She will then run each end down through the sinuses (which is where the blockage is) and bring one end of the tube out one nostril and then curve it around back up the other and tie the two ends off up inside his nostril - so you would also see tubing running out one nostril and up the other. And then... get this... we leave it like that for TEN days!! She said this is the best method to prevent them from closing back up and assured me that ALL of the parents tell her their kids don't even notice the tubing. She said that I mostly need to worry about other kids pulling it out but its likely Logan won't touch it at all... I'm not convinced, but I've been proven wrong before. To do the surgery he will have to go under anesthesia, which I'm not happy about. I am looking forward to an end to all of the eye dripping, eye infections, chapped cheeks (from being wet all the time), and am hoping maybe this will keep him from getting icky sinus infections all of the time like he has been. Anyway, lots of prayers for Logan (and Mommy) as her baby undergoes surgery this coming Friday.