It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's....

It has been two weeks since the last blog, so you all are long overdue for an update! We are happy to report these last two weeks were full of bliss, delight and more mastered milestones! The pictures pretty much speak for themselves but I will go ahead and narrate anyway! <3

Playing with his toys!

Eating prunes.. his new favorite! LOVES them!

Playing on his side!

"If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands!"

Lookin' cute in his Mickey!

Go Tigers! Fans through wins & losses!

Getting ready for pumpkin painting! 

Cael & Dadda... Clearly he painted more than just the pumpkin! :)

Momma & Cael.

The Piano Man.

Eating his toes!!!

Proud of his pumpkin!

Cael with all our pumpkins!

Daddy & Superman on his first hayride!

Momma & Superman!

With Frankenstein!

Cael & Despicable Me pumpkin at DQ.

.... It's SUPERMAN!

Proud Parents with our Superhero.

Audee & Superman!

Caelin and his "I Declare" statement!

Does this kid know how to pose or what?!

Tummy time on Momma's leg while pulling toys out of a box!

Caelin’s new favorite things to do are blow raspberries with his tongue against his lips, sit up, jump, and put his feet in his mouth! That’s right, only four days after the last blog update he started pulling his feet more and finally got them to his mouth! His right leg is easier to pull up because his G tube is on his left side so he often favors his right foot in his mouth (or perhaps it tastes better?). He also waves! Because he is still learning how to wave, he often waves when prompted then looks for approval, then waves again with a smile. This is the sweetest thing! <3 He is still pretty inconsistent with clapping but we are still working on it. He will clap sometimes and then act like he has no idea what I am doing or how to copy me. He is one stubborn cutie.

But one recent milestone that Cael has absolutely astounded us with is his sitting ability. He has practiced sitting in his Bumbo and on our laps with support for a while now but recently we’ve decreased the amount of support we provide him. To our surprise, Caelin’s balance and strength have improved so much he is able to sit on his own for several second intervals. He can also sit while bearing his weight through his arms on the floor or an object in front of him (he has done this for as long as 2.5 minutes continuously). Cael often works up a sweat while doing all the work himself so although he is often smiling, laughing, and babbling while sitting, it is clear this exercise is tiring for him so we do not let him do it for too long. But goodness, we are so very proud!

Going along with sitting up, he is starting to pull himself forward while sitting in his car seat, stroller, and high chair. He is also starting to lift his lower back and bottom up off the floor while laying- he typically does this right before turning onto his side so it is a swift motion, but exhibits his increased strength, nonetheless. We practice tummy time with Cael daily. He prefers to do tummy time while lying over Mommy’s thigh, on the Boppy, or on Mommy and Daddy’s bed and is still not a fan of being flat on the floor. It is a challenge, but he can hold his head up off the floor and is starting to reach and play with toys while on his belly. He holds his head up and plays with the toys more consistently when the tummy time exercise is across Mommy’s thigh (as seen in the picture above). He also loves to play in his jumper and is finally starting to actually JUMP consistently while in it.

His oral feeding continues to be positive and enjoyable. His Speech appointment for feeding was cancelled last week because his therapist was not in on Thursday. We did go yesterday and it went really well. Cael ate about 15mLs of prunes for her and drank 10-15 mLs from his bottle, too! We have agreed with the therapist that feeding is going well enough at home to where we do not have to visit weekly so it will be discontinued after next week’s appointment. Caelin may resume in a couple months if needed once he is older, his G tube feeds are more condensed and able to eat a wider variety of food by mouth.

He continues to get caught up on his immunizations, also, with his first Pneumococcal Conjugate (PCV13) shot last week. He got the Synagis shot to protect him from RSV, also. He did great with these (minus a few expected tears)! His legs did not even seem to bother him this time around. And he has not gotten a fever from an immunization yet, either, thank God!

For Caelin’s first Halloween, we partook in a few festivities! The first thing we did was carve/paint pumpkins as a family. Caelin loved painting his little pumpkin and putting stickers on afterward. He started with 6 Disney stickers but decided the Minnie, Donald, and Group stickers were not impressive enough to leave on. So he peeled them off and left Mickey, Goofy, and Pluto. Mommy and Daddy carved Mickey and Minnie in their pumpkins and Cael enjoyed watching them use the tools. Daddy put the gooey pumpkin meat on Cael’s hands and watching his smile turn into a distained frown with furrowed brows told us he was not a fan. We enjoyed reading Halloween books and listening to/singing Halloween songs. Cael also got to watch his Halloween episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! On Halloween we took him to Brighthouse Field for their Boo Bash. This consisted of trick or treating around the stadium, a haunted house, and a hayride around the field. Although we skipped out on the haunted house, we walked him around the stadium as if he were a trick or treater but instead of taking candy, we just showed him off in his Superman costume! He received numerous comments and compliments on his attire! Cael also got to see his first baseball diamond up close and personal while enjoying his first hayride! He was pretty tired while all of this was happening but he seemed to like the time spent with Mom and Dad while watching all the little kids wander around (One of Cael’s favorite things to do is people watch). After leaving the field we went to Dairy Queen and although Cael did not get a treat from DQ, he did think the Despicable Me pumpkin was cute! Once we got home, we took him for a walk down the street to see some Halloween festive houses. One in particular had a lot of bright lights and inflatable lawn figures, including Frankenstein, which Cael’s eyes were glued to. We finally walked into the house just before 8, got Caelin into his pumpkin pajamas and he fell fast asleep on Mommy’s lap within 10 minutes of cuddling on the couch. This was our first holiday celebrated outside of the hospital and it was awesome! 

 

In other news, Caelin’s Daddy has decided to travel down a new career path and has officially accepted a new position in the medical field. His new title is: Sean Clingan, Perfusion Assistant, PBMT (Perioperative Blood Management Technician) one of those fancy euphemistic titles. He deals with blood during operations. ;) For those of you who do not know, when Caelin was on ECMO, Sean wanted to know all the details of the machine and took a professional interest in it and the people behind it who helped save our son’s life. This experience brought him closer with the Chief Perfusionist at All Children’s Hospital and they have kept in contact since that heart-wrenching day in May. Recently, a position opened in their practice and Sean embraced the opportunity. Interesting how life’s course takes unexpected turns, especially when good things come from the darkest of times. We once received this advice, “God sometimes has bigger plans than we have for ourselves,” and I am truly beginning to feel the truth in this statement and embrace it.

Thank you all so much for continuing to follow Caelin’s journey and pray for him and our family. We are so thankful for each and every one of you who takes the time to make our son’s life a part of theirs, as you all have become a part of his and ours. We cannot believe he has had almost 46,000 views to his blog! Sending lots of Love & Hugs!