Update on Tate

Thank you to all of you wonderful prayer warriors. I was preparing to write an email about our morning and let everyone know that we had gotten Tate's CT Scan done today. Everything at Vanderbilt went amazingly well and we couldn't have been more happy or impressed with the staff that took care of our boy. We were told when we left that it would take 24-48 hours to get the results to the pediatrician, and not to be surprised if we didn't hear anything until after the weekend was over. Imagine my surprise (and anxiety) when the phone rang at 2:15 on Thursday!!

The CT Scan results showed that Tate does not have Crainiosynostosis, which means he will NOT need to have surgery!!! The scans showed that none of the sutures in his skull have begun to close prematurely. The CT Scan also confirmed that he DOES have Plagiocephaly on the left side. We have an appointment on February 17th with a crainiofacial surgeon at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. He will determine what treatment course we should take and whether or not Tate will need to wear a corrective helmet to reshape his skull. Currently the plagiocephaly is not putting any pressure on Tate's brain, which is also wonderful news.

Thank you so very much for all of the prayers, we have felt them surrounding our family and lifting us up. We ask you to continue storming heaven with prayers that Tate may be completely healed and for the continued guidance of Gabe and I while we make decisions regarding his future treatments and care. Thank you all! We love you and are so blessed to have each of you in our lives.

Tate

Today was an emotional day at our house. We spent the morning at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital with our sweet baby Tate having a CT Scan done. Last week we were given some upsetting news when we visited our new pediatrician. The following is a copy of the email we sent out. At the time we had little information to go by and didn't want to alarm anyone or be bombarded with questions, because we didn't really have any answers. In all honesty, right now we don't have any more information or answers and we won't until we get the results back from the CT Scan.

At Tate's well check last week, after checking everything out, the doctor pointed out that Tate's head is somewhat flat on one side of the back of his head. When looking at him the doctor also showed me that his ears are asymmetrical- one of them sits slightly forward on the face in comparison to the other. I've joked about Tate's head shape and blamed my husband for it (as Gabe has one ugly shaped head- he'll even admit it!) The doctor, however, believed there may be more responsible for the shape of his head and referred us to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital for a CT Scan.

Right now, there are three possible causes for his abnormalities. They are as follows:

1. He's just got a funny shaped head. This is obviously our wish, but is not the most likely explanation.

2. Plagiocephaly: He has an odd shaped head that is caused by more of a positional or physiological cause. Since babies are supposed to be laid on their backs to sleep and spend much of the first months of their life laying down or in some sort of a swing or carseat type structure, the soft areas of their skull can flatten out over time. It can also be misshapen while in-utero. If the CT scan reveals that this is the cause of the abnormality, they will form a plastic helmet for his head that will reshape his skull over time. He would need to wear the helmet nonstop for 2-?????? months. It just depends how severe the deformity may be.He may grow out of it, but it will depend on the severity and whether or not the deformity is putting pressure on his brain, causing shifts to his facial features, eye sockets, jaws, etc.

3. Craniosynostosis: This is by far the most upsetting and scary cause. This means basically that the sutures of Tate's head have closed prematurely. Typically the skull of an infant is not fully formed and grown together until about age 2. (Think baby soft spot). If he has craniosynostosis it would mean that the bones in his skull that eventually grow together, had grown together too early causing his head to be malformed. Should this be the diagnosis, he will require surgery which would basically open the skull where it has grown together and they will use plates and screws to help reshape the skull and hold it in place so the brain can develop. The CT will be trying to rule this out. A diagnosis of this could mean developmental delays, seizures, blindness or mental retardation, but if it has been caught early enough the doctors would be able to reshape the skull and we may be able to avoid any damage to his brain.

Of all of the options we are praying for option number one or two for obvious reasons. Right now we are very emotional and I have certainly cried my share of tears today. We are playing the waiting game as of now. The waiting is agonizing and we're trying not to play the "what ifs". I'll share what the Dr told me today. If you're interested in more information, avoid "googling" it. Visit either: www.webmd.com www.mayoclinic.com or www.aap.org/ and type in the conditions. You'll find accurate information and it's as much information as Gabe and I have for now.
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We had the CT Scan today and everything went extremely well. They got him in very quickly, he was given an oral sedative- Pentobarbital- and after rocking him he was asleep in about 10 minutes. The actual CT Scan took less than 2 minutes and I was able to stay with him throughout the entire process. They stimulated him to wake him about 10 minutes after the scans were done. I was able to nurse him and we were discharged about 30 minutes after that. We arrived home at about 11 a.m. and we are back to waiting for the results. The results should be in to the pediatrician in about 24-48 hours. With the weekend just around the corner, unfortunately we may not hear anything until Monday.

We will keep everyone posted once we have results. Please pray for our sweet boy. As I said in the first email we sent out, we pray for God to hold him in the palm of His hand and heal him where he is broken. Pray that we will make the right decisions regarding his treatment. Pray that the Great Physician will guide the hands and minds of the earthly physicians taking care of Tate. We have FAITH that God will get us through this time. Now, enjoy some pictures of Tate from this morning.

Here you can see where his head is misshapen.

Little Builder

A few weeks ago we took Connor to Lowes for the Lowes Build & Grow Clinic This great event is held twice a month and is totally FREE! Connor got a great apron, a set of safety goggles, a wooden checker board to build and assemble, a certificate of completion, and an Iron on badge to add to his apron! Very Cool! We can't wait to go back and complete another project.

Firsts

Since moving, there's been a lot of firsts for our family! Here's some of them:

Gabe's First Day at the New Store:


Tate's First Cereal:


Tate's First Oatmeal:
Tate's First Bananas:




Today we made Tate's First Peas! Connor and Tate both helped. Well Tate stayed in my arms and Connor helped puree everything down.



Since moving, there's been a lot of firsts for our family! Here's some of them:

Home Sweet Home

Finally, we've got almost everything unpacked and we've stated to get pictures hung and making everything more "us". Last night after the boys got in bed, I finally got a few minutes to take some shots of the new house. Connor's room looks a bit like a disaster area, but since both he and Tate were sleeping when I took pictures of their rooms, I didn't worry too much about it!

God Bless Connor!

Remember Connor's Baptism? Chances are, you probably don't. Why? Well, Connor's baptism had no fan fare as it was done when he was 8 weeks old, hospitalized with a terrible virus and a fever of over 103 Degrees. Gabe wasn't present for it and all in all while it is important and sacred, it's not the most joyful of memories.

At Tate's baptism, while talking with our wonderful friend Regina (aka: the other half of our favorite Deacon) I told her how Connor had only received the water baptism and not the full Rites and how Gabe was at Ft. Bragg preparing to deploy and wasn't there to witness it. Not much else was said about it and we celebrated Tate's baptism and had a wonderful afternoon/evening.

Later the next week at our ProLife committee meeting, Regina came to me and asked if we would be interested in having Connor receive the rest of the Baptismal Rites given to him. I was completely caught off guard and overcome with emotion knowing how much my boys were thought of by our church community. With the chaos that ensued over the whirlwind of time between Tate's baptism and Thanksgiving and Christmas and the move, I wasn't sure when we'd fit it in.

On Christmas Eve, I was completely humbled and again, overcome with emotion when Dom stopped us after mass and asked if we would be able to attend the 5:30 mass on Saturday. We were already planning on attending, but when Dom offered to perform the Baptismal Rites for Connor so Gabe could be there and so that he would preside over the ceremony before our move... there were no words. After mass on Saturday, December 26, "The A Family" blessed us once again. Not only did they take time away from their son and daughter in law who were visiting from out of town. Not only did they take time away from Regina's mother who lives with them, but they made time for our family and to be a part of such an amazing and special event in Connor's life.
We could not begin to thank them enough. We are so blessed, and we miss our Immaculate Conception family so much.

Christmas Recap

I must admit that I struggled to really get in to the Christmas spirit this holiday season. Maybe it was because our house resembled a disaster area. Maybe it was the boxes upon boxes of Christmas decorations that remained unopened in the attic. Maybe it was that I was just so exhausted and stressed that I let that overwhelm my usual joy and excitement for the season. I'm sad that this season passed me by and that I wasn't able to throw myself in to it as much as I would have liked. That being said, we still had a wonderful holiday season with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day being spectacular.With the impending move we altered some of our typical plans, and created a multitude of memories. Usually on Christmas Eve we head to the Christmas Eve Family Mass. The past few years we have arrived about 50 minutes early in order to insure our getting our normal seats. This year was no different, it was merely enhanced when we were able to sit with our dear friends The R Family! The church looked amazing!
During Mass Father Theo invited all of the children to come up and see Baby Jesus lying in the manger. The entire church sang "If you're happy and you know it" and "Happy Birthday" to Jesus during the homily. He even reminded the kids that one of the best ways to make Jesus happy was to listen and obey their parents! (Something tells me more than a few parents dropped something extra in the offering when he said that!)After mass we spent the best evening we've had in a very long time hanging out with The R Family. We made a bunch of homemade pizzas, ate dinner, the kids all put on their Christmas PJs, the big boys and I baked homemade Chocolate Chip cookies for Santa and the adults all enjoyed great conversation and wine! We were blessed to have Father Charles join us midway through the evening. After his arrival we got out a birthday cake for Jesus and we all sang to celebrate! We left late that night with full bellies, hearts and souls. What a perfect Christmas Eve!After we got home we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, left Reindeer Food out for the reindeer and tucked the boys in to bed. Then just like every year, Gabe and I brewed some coffee and watched "It's A Wonderful Life".

Christmas morning brought such a sight! We finally woke Connor up at nearly 9a.m. and when he stumbled out of bed he couldn't believe his eyes! Our boys were DEFINITELY blessed this Christmas. (As was our entire family). We spent the rest of the day as a family enjoying one another and playing some Bakugan with Connor. Then it was back to the grind, trying to finish up the packing.
To see more of our Christmas pictures, you can go here. (WARNING: It's a lot!)

Run, run as fast as you can...

You can't catch us, we're the gingerbread fam! After Connor's incessant pleas to build a gingerbread house, I finally obliged. It wasn't that I didn't want to, but let's face it: we've got just a tad bit going on in our lives right now. In all, I'm really glad we did it. It was a lot of fun for all four of us, and it looks delicious!

Santa Claus

After our house hunting adventure, we stopped at Opry Mills on the way home so I could make an exchange on something I had ordered, and since the boys were both SO extremely well behaved, we stopped and let the boys see Santa Claus. It was a special treat for Connor who had been waiting to talk to him and share what he was hoping to get. Not only did Connor get to share his heart's desires, he also was sure to tell Santa how great his little brother is and he asked Santa to bring him something good too! You can see our Santa picture Here.

Later in the week we wrote a letter to S.C. as dictated by Connor. Once again he was sure to ask Santa to bring Tate presents and toys to play with. Imagine Connor's surprise to get this personalized message from him! He wanted to watch the video over and over again with Tate. Watching the joy and magic that lit up his face was priceless. Even Tate wanted to join in the fun of watching it!Stay tuned for more of our Christmas adventures!

Christmas Time Is Here

On Wednesday we attended Connor's Christmas Program at his preschool. He is always more than cooperative, and sings his heart out. This time was no different. The first thing he does is pan the audience to look for us, and without fail he always yells, "Hi Momma" whenever he locates us! (You'd think we were buried way in the back as opposed to the 2nd row!)

The 4 year old class sang Little Drummer Boy and each of the kids were able to play their own drums. It was completely and totally adorable and the kids had a great time. Daddy even left work for a couple of hours to attend. Connor was so excited!

It was hard walking out the doors of the Christian Preschool for the last time. His teacher of the past two years gave him a huge hug and bid us farewell. Mommy was admittedly sad. We've been very blessed in our experience there and it makes me so sad to think that after Christmas break he won't be attending school there any longer. It made me sadder to realize this was the first of many difficult goodbyes in the weeks to come.

Thanksgiving #2

We hosted Thanksgiving this year for our wonderful family. Josh & Mana (Gabe's younger brother and wife) joined us bringing their dog Ava. Ben, Gabe's youngest brother also brought his girlfriend Nicole. We extended invitations to some of Gabe's co-workers, though they were unable to attend. We were, however, thrilled to have Auntie Tarrah join us. Tarrah is the sister of Tate's Godparents. She has been a wonderful help to her sister and brother in law while he was deployed an since his return. She's also helped us with Connor more than once. All in all we had a house full, and it was a perfect day.

We cooked a 25lb turkey, 8lbs of potatoes, a huge green bean casserole- courtesy the Remick family recipe, a huge broccoli cheese casserole, a big pot of noodles, dressing, turkey gravy, rolls and 3 pies! We polished off a large portion of the food, but I know I wasn't the only one excited about our leftovers!

As is tradition, we followed our Thanksgiving meal with a trip down to tour the lights at Christmas on the Cumberland. While the entire group may not view the lights as something as special as Gabe and I do, they obliged us with a stroll along the river anyway. We came home and put up the tree, although the actual decorating had to be put on hold due to Connor's crashing on the couch!It was a great time, and now we're all just trying to get prepared for Christmas and our move that will follow just 3 short days following Christmas. Wow! December should be crazy.

Thanksgiving #1

Thanksgiving has come and went. I love the holiday. I love how it brings everyone together. I love how it is the ignition of the holiday season. I love how we all gather around to reflect on life's blessings.

Truth be told, I don't understand why we've been blessed as much as we have been. To some, I know our house is not much to look at, to us, it's our home. Our walls aren't covered in fancy tapestries, they are covered in photographs of memories we've made. We don't have all stainless appliances or a 10 range stove, we do have meals made of love daily. We've not got 15 bedrooms, rather 3 small bedrooms that house the beds we tuck our children into. We have a car we affectionately call Gimpy. Gimpy is 16 years old, and was my first car. She isn't much, but she gets us where we need to go when we need to go there.

I've got a laundry room with a mound of laundry that serves as a reminder of the clothing we've been blessed with. The messy kitchen means we have full bellies from the delicious meal we cooked and ate this evening. I paid the water bill yesterday because we've been blessed with indoor plumbing. We have two very healthy children. We have a marriage and relationship that I struggle to find words to describe.

We have so very much to be thankful for. What are you thankful for?

God Bless Tate

Sunday marked the most important day of Tate's life thus far. After making the decision regarding who we wanted to be Tate's Godparents we eagerly anticipated his Godfather's return from a 15 month tour in Afghanistan. We spent those 15 months in constant prayer over the entire R family. We rejoiced when Kyle retuned safely home on September 24 and have been looking forward to the day we could baptize our child and welcome him as a member of the Catholic Church.

Finally, this Sunday we were able do just that. We were so very grateful when Deacon Dominick agreed to do Tate's baptism, even though it meant his rushing home from a Deacon Retreat to perform it after being away all weekend. Dom has a very special place in all of our hearts as he's baptized Troy and Kyle's daughter Zoe, his wife Regina has become very close to us as a member of the ProLife committee, and Connor thinks that he is the greatest thing since cartoons! To top it off Troy's sister, Tarrah, (or Auntie Tarrah as all the kids call her) joined us and was able to take pictures of it all.
It was an amazingly special day to us. We had hoped our families could have been present for this special day, but understandably they were not able to make the trek here. We capped off the afternoon with a wonderful cookout at the R house. Our boys all got to play and burn off energy. The adults got to relax somewhat and enjoy hanging out without having to worry about rushing somewhere. It was a perfect day.

Sunday night we joked that their family would be stuck with our family for life life. To be honest, I wouldn't want it any other way.

Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend here last week. We carved pumpkins, roasted pumpkin seeds and had a wonderful time making memories.

For months Connor talked about wanting to be a clone trooper, only to decide the week of Halloween to be Iron Man instead. Tate was Darth Tater, I mean Vader. We went trunk or treating at Spring Creek, where I attend MOPS. Then on the drive home we hit up the houses on our street with their lights on before heading home to watch the Notre Dame game!

5 and 4 Months

I give up on coming up with excuses for my lack of blogging. Most days I consider it a success if I'm able to get both boys dressed and fed! Things have been so wonderfully busy, and part of that has to do with Gabe being out of town "working" this week. ("Working" is in quotes you'll notice, but that's another post for another time!)

This weekend we had a BLAST! Saturday we celebrated one special 5 year old boy with his birthday party! The force was with us as we had a Star Wars themed celebration at a local arcade! The party was made complete with all of our friends and his friends in attendance. He's at such a wonderful point in life where most of his friends are still the children of our friends. The party was a hit for kids of all ages, and has inspired the adults to plan a parent's night out so we can enjoy the arcade ourselves! To cap the day off we had a second party to attend to celebrate another friend's third birthday! Sunday marked Tate's 4 month birthday. I am trying to wrap my head around the idea that he is a four month old. I'm not sure how it happened. Wasn't he only one week old yesterday? Despite my earnest pleas, he is growing up and changing right before my eyes. I am trying to soak it all in and appreciate each and every moment we have with him at this stage. Before I know it, we will be celebrating his fifth birthday. Thinking about that makes me so unbelievably sad.

I took the world's cutest Tater Tot to the doctor yesterday for his four month check up and shots. He was the best little boy. He weighed in at 14lbs 13oz and is 25 inches long. He's at the 49th & 52nd percentiles for height and weight respectively. Practically perfect in every way.