Happy Halloween!!

Daniel's first official Halloween, since last year we were held up in our spider hole, was filled with seeing family and friends and ended up being a fun-filled day. If you can't figure out what Daniel is, he went as a surgeon since in my head I thought it was would be funny and something he might be comfortable with since he saw a ton of them this past year. Thanks to Mike's mom, who made his costume, he ended up being very cute and was a Halloween Hit. Here are some photos from today... (I do have to say, it is not as easy taking a picture of a 17-month-old as it was a 5-month-old last year.)

"Have Lollipop - Will Cut"

"So that is What I Sound Like"

"Ummm, I Think You Might Have a TE Fistula KC"

"Getting Ready for Some Trick or Treating with My Buddy Kira"

We even did a little dancing to "Transylvania 1-2-3-4-5".....

"Gotta Go - Just Got Paged"

Hope your day was filled with treats!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Pumpkin Carving....

So trying to make the best out of a rainy and windy Saturday evening, we decided to finally carve our last two pumpkins. Yes, we had three for the family of three and we did a "test run" a couple of weeks ago to see how Daniel would do. Apparently the "test run" paid off ....

Here are some additional photos of this evening's adventure. Enjoy.....

"Ok - I Think I Got the Hang of This Now."

"Pumpkin Guts"

"What else is in Here??"

"What Do You Expect Me to Do with This??"

Our Finished Project!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

We Are Good To Go For Six Months!!!

It is official - Daniel is good to go for six months and looks really good according to his Drs. in Ciny. His scopes today went really well and everything went according to plan. I was more nervous today then I have been through this whole process. Why?? I have no clue but hey it's me! The graphs have healed very nicely and his airway has grown and is age appropriate. Actually his airway was a little larger then three months ago which made his Drs. very happy. As for his esophagus, it was open to about 9 1/2 mm but his Dr. did stretch it a bit to 11 mm. Though this sounds like bad news, it really isn't since his Dr. has always wanted Daniel's esophagus to be and stay at 10 mm and has always told us that if he gets an opportunity to stretch Daniel's esophagus he would. All and all a very good visit and we are very excited!!

Daniel did great traveling too. We did revert to the DVD player on the way out and broke the trip up on the way back, however, Daniel once again proved he is a great traveler. The three stops at Cabela's helped too!

Thanks again for all your caring and support. We would not have been able to make it this far without it!!

Until next time....

How Much Does This Kid Love His Dog????

Daniel has finally figured out that dogs "give kisses" by licking and has decided to imitate this behavior when addressing KC... (I know that this is gross but come on, it is really cute too. This was taken before his haircut.)

Haircut Part Two

So we finally broke down and cut Daniel's hair again. It once again got to a point that is was out of control and strangers were commenting on how Daniel looked like Albert Einstein. Though Mike seized the opportunity while Daniel was sleeping once again, Daniel wasn't too happy with us when he woke up, as you can see......

"In the Barber's Chair, aka My Highchair"

The Remains

"PLEASE Hurry Up"

"My New Doo"

Ninth Trip in Ten Months....

So we are off to Cincinnati tomorrow for Daniel's three month follow-up scopes. Daniel will have two scopes on Wednesday; one for his trachea to make sure the graphs are completely healed and have become part of his body and to check to see if his airway is age appropriate; and the other one is to check his esophagus to make sure the scarring has not returned. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they tell us not to come back for six months which will get us through the winter months. It does not seem possible that it has been three months already and five months post-surgery. Totally crazy to think what has happened in these past five months!!

Our feeding session went well on Thursday and we will continue with them for the coming weeks. The therapist believes Daniel will respond well and we are still hoping that we will be g-tube free by May.

Until Thursday.......

Taking a Walk Over the Brooklyn Bridge

We were very fortunate today to have a visit with Mike's cousins, Ariel and Darrin, who were in NYC for a long weekend away from Illinois. Before meeting up with them we met Mike's sister, Angie, on the Brooklyn Bridge. Watch as Daniel makes his way across the Bridge...

Daniel also go his first history lesson about the Brooklyn Bridge as he and Mike finished the walk across.

Can You Guess What I Am Doing?????

Daniel and His 15 Month Check-Up at 16 Months!

Ok so I was a little off at getting Daniel to the pediatrician at exactly the 15-month mark but we did get him there today. We are happy to say that Daniel is now in the 20th percentile for height and weight and he is still moving along on his curve. Though both of us think their scale is off since they said Daniel was only 19 pounds and 13 oz. but who cares. He is now almost 30 inches tall and if I don't watch out, he will be as tall as me soon.

He did REALLY well today and only cried when the shots came. (So not looking forward to any reactions since he got his MMR and his flu shot today.) He even waved and smiled at the Dr. when she came in and ran up and down the exam table when we were there alone. (Yes, Mike and I were on each end catching him.) The visit was quite nice since both the Dr. we see and the nurse were both really excited to see Daniel since the last time we saw them was prior to his surgery. Our Dr. was really happy with his progress and was all smiles when she saw us in the waiting room and said "I can't believe it. Just look at him." Though it seems sooo far away it is really unbelievable that it has only been six months since he lost his trach.

We also FINALLY got approval to start speech and feeding therapy at Hackensack Medical Center tonight. Go figure they called tonight since I called Valley's Center for Child Development today in desperation this morning since I had not heard anything from Hackensack in over two months. (Guess I still need to work on my patience!).

Now we just have to hope that the good news keeps on coming as we head back out to Cincinnati for Daniel's follow-up ENT and GI scopes on October 15. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they tell us we are good to go for six months which will get us through to the winter.

All and all a very good day for the Dukers. Hope your day was as good.