Peyton's Story

First Day of Pre-K for Peyton

2010-08-23T20:56:00.002-05:00

Well today was a big day for Peyton. It was his first day of Pre-K. He was so excited about going to school. Last week he went to work with me some and he wanted to go to his classroom and not mine. We have talked about school for weeks now and he knew that today was the day. This morning when I woke him up he sat straight up in bed and said "I'm ready!"

Ready for school.
He was just so excited! He was going around the house saying "I'm so excited!" over and over again.

Arriving at school. He really just could not wait.

When we got to school he put his things in he locker and was ready for mom and dad to go. He had things to do and people to meet.

Just before finally letting him go.

I can't believe our sweet boy is now in school. Where has the time gone? It is going to fast. This is going to be a great year for him. He has a wonderful teacher. They will be doing lots of fun things through out the year and going lots of places.

Peyton's first plane ride

2010-04-24T10:00:00.004-05:00

On Wednesday Peyton had his first plane ride. My parents along with Peyton and I flew to St. Paul, Minnesota for a family wedding. Peyton was so excited about going on a big airplane. I was dreading the security at the airport but we made it through without much drama. Then we made it to our gate and had to wait a while. Peyton watched all the planes go by asking each time "Is that our plane?" While we were waiting two people that work for Southwest Airlines came and found us and gave Peyton a little certificate that was for his first plane ride signed and dated. Thanks Caroline!! Here are a few pictures of us at the airport waiting on our plane.

Peyton playing his Ipod.

Peyton and Poppy

So excited!

Finally time to board the plane. He was so excited about getting on the plane. We found our seat and got all settled in for our ride. The plane was pack! I was a little nervous about how Peyton was going to do but he did great. We sat behind the wings the first half of out trip so it was a little louder. He did not care for the noise that the wings made at take off and landing. When we got to St. Louis we had a small layover so we moved up to the front of the plane while we waited for the others to board.

Watching a movie

While we waited in St. Louis Peyton was taken up to the cockpit by one of the ladies on the plane. Everyone was just so nice!

Just before the others began boarding we made our way back to out seats and Peyton crashed! He was so tired. He slept the second half of our trip.

Our cousin Diane and Doug met us at the airport. We have been very busy these few days that we have been here. Yesterday after we helped decorate for the wedding we had some down time so the four of us went to the Mall of America. While there we visited the Underwater Adventures. It was very neat to see all the fish and sea life. Peyton was not to fond of it. He did not like the sound. It was amazing!

When we left there we found a Build-a-Bear. Peyton pick out a horse to make. While I made the horse Peyton and my mother went out and waited. He did not like the sound in the store. Things were all better.

Here is Peyton's new friend....."Star".

Today we have a little down time this morning then this afternoon and evening we have wedding events. We are looking forward to seeing more family today. I have no idea what we have planned for tomorrow. Monday we head back home.

Windridge Open House

2010-04-11T16:04:00.009-05:00

Yesterday was Windridge's big open house. This is their big fundraiser that helps to support them. They let the kids ride to show off what all they do while they are at therapy. Peyton loves Tuesday mornings when he get to go ride Star. Here are some of the pictures that I took while at the open house.
While we were waiting his turn to ride we walked around to explore all the other things around. He found the carriage and wanted to get in.

Then we went walking up the bridge to see where it took us.

Time for Peyton to ride Star.

Here he comes.

Peyton riding backwards

He just loves to ride!

After the kids rode they all got a ribbon to wear.

Peyton and his Poppy and Goggy

All of us after Peyton rode Star.

Easter

2010-04-04T21:57:00.005-05:00

Yesterday, Peyton had a great time. Once we got home from church we went hunting Easter eggs. This was really his first time to actually hunt eggs. He had a great time. He thought it was very fun. Here some of the pictures that i took of him finding the eggs.

What fun!

On a mission

More eggs

Daddy and Peyton

Mommy and Peyton

I hope that everyone had a great Easter!

Helping mom and Dying eggs!

2010-04-04T19:59:00.007-05:00

Peyton is doing great. He continues to eat and drink very well for us. His food must still have no lumps. I hope one day that he will be able to eat normal food. I know it will just take time.
We have had a busy weekend. Saturday we worked outside in the yard. When it came time to water, you know who wanted to help with that. He was such a big helper.

By the time all the plants were watered Peyton was soaked. He had such a great time.

Later Saturday afternoon we dyed eggs. This was really the first time that Peyton had dyed eggs. He was so excited!

Ready to dye eggs

Time to put the eggs in the dye

Watching the eggs change colors

This was after we were all done. It is in the wrong order.

Time to take out the eggs

He was such a big boy. He did not want any help.

What a great time we had!

I will post Easter Pictures later.

Daffodil Farm and Pump It Up Jr.

2010-03-13T15:44:00.005-06:00

Peyton has had a very good month. He continues to do very well with his eating and drinking. He has taken a big step in the last week. He is now drinking out of a big boy cup and not a little medicine cup. I know this may seem so small to most of you but it is a huge step for him. We continue to work with him each and every day to make progress with his eating and drinking. We still do not have much luck at all with any texture in his foods. One day we will get there. I am fine with that. We just have to move at Peyton's pace.
Last week Peyton and I were reading some of his books. I pulled a brand new book off of the shelf and opened it up to read it. It was Dr. Seuss' Oh The Thinks You'll Think. Before I could start reading it Peyton read the first two pages of the book without a mistake. I was SHOCKED!! He is not suppose to be reading yet, he is only 4. Oh Boy what we get to look forward to.
Last weekend we went to Mrs. Lee's Daffodil Farm in Gladewater. I love going there this time of the year. It is just so pretty and you can get some great pictures. Peyton was not in a great picture taking mood though so we may try to go again in the next few days before they are all gone. Here are a few of the pictures that I was able to get.

Wow, its so pretty

Peyton wanted to take his camera with us so that he could take some pictures also.

Peyton with his Goggy and Poppy

Peyton and Poppy

Peyton and I

Last night we went to a birthday party at Pump-It Up Jr. It took Peyton a few minutes to get warmed up to the new place, but once he did he had a great time. He was not ready to leave when it was time to go. We will have to go again sometime.

Crawling up the little ladder to go down the slide. Just look at that face!

What fun!

Can I fit though here?....You bet I can.

Time for a little drive

Playing in the P

He just could not get enough of the slide. After we had played for most of our playtime I finally convinced him to try the bigger slide. I loved the bigger slide. Just as we got to the top they came on and said it was time to put our shoes on so we only got to go down it that one time.

Snow in Texas!!

2010-02-12T11:43:00.008-06:00

Peyton is doing good. I think he is finally over whatever it was that he had. Thank goodness!! We have been keeping very busy around here also. He continues to love to go to school and play with his friends on Tuesdays. Yesterday we had a great treat.....snow!! I call Andy and had him take Peyton out to play in it while I was at work. They had a blast! Peyton did not want to come inside, he wanted to stay out and play. Here are a few pictures that Andy took of them playing out yesterday morning.

It snowed pretty much all day long yesterday and when I got home from work Peyton and I went out to play again. We had so much fun playing in the snow. He LOVED it!!! We threw snowballs at each other and just laughed.

Peyton was throwing a snowball at me here. I love the look on his face!

After we threw snowballs at each other Peyton plopped himself down in the snow and started making snow angels. He made lots of them.

We then worked together to make Peyton's first snowman. He thought that was great. He said... "That's the biggest snowman I've ever seen!"

Then we tried catching snow in out mouth! What fun.

Still snowing!

This morning this is what we woke up to.....

It is so beautiful outside. It has not done this in I don't know how many years. It was great. School was canceled so Peyton and I went out to play again. We played outside for a very long time. He once again did not want to come inside. We had lots of snow. As you can see it almost came to Peyton's knees.

We had to make more snow angels today. We would walk a few steps and he would plop himself down in the snow and laugh!

The dogs were even out having fun in the backyard.

Sadie

Bear

Peyton played in his little play house some too.

He found one of his sandbox shovels and it made a great snow shovel!

What a great look on his face! He had so much fun.

Peyton then found that he could pull on the branch on the tree and the snow would fall on him. He shook until the snow was all gone from the limb.

What a great day in the snow!!

Long few weeks

2010-01-20T20:43:00.002-06:00

These last few weeks have been very long and hard. On January 1 early in the morning my Nannie went to see Jesus. This was such a shock to everyone. She had not been sick. I just have to think about the last time she was over here. That was Christmas day one week before is died. She and Peyton had a great time Christmas morning. They played for hours. He took her all over the house playing. They had the best time. Peyton knows that his nannies has gone to live with Jesus. We will miss her very much!

Playing catch-up on Thanksgiving and Christmas

2009-12-26T16:32:00.013-06:00

Sorry about the delay on the updates. We have been very busy here. We had a great Thanksgiving with all of our family. We had Thanksgiving with the Nichols' side on Sunday before Thanksgiving. Most of the family was there. Peyton had a great time with all his little cousins. They all ran and played with balls outside after lunch.

Sitting on the couch like a big boy with cousin Stacy

Thanksgiving day my family came over to the house for lunch. Peyton like to entertain everyone. After lunch we played and of course watched football too.

Once all the Thanksgiving stuff was put up, Peyton and I started decorating for Christmas. Peyton always loves to help me decorate the tree. He gets so excited with all the lights and decorations. He goes around the house saying "It's party time". Crazy boy!

We of course had to go see Santa for the year. Peyton always loves to go see him. This year the first time we took him the mall was very loud so we could not do it. I did not want a picture with his hands over his ears. The second time was much better. He just does not like loud noises or places.

This year our weather had been so strange. One day it will be nice and the next it will be freezing cold. On the 23rd of December we had us a tornado here. It came extremely close to our house. Andy and I were watching the weather alert on TV and he said there was a rotation in the area of our house so we went and looked out the window and saw it form. It was HUGE!!! I went to a safe area and Andy continued to look out the window. I was so scared. It turned just before it got to our house. Thank God Peyton was not at home! He was at my parents house. The house down the road from us was destroyed. There was lots of damage to our area. It was determined that it was an EF2. It was to close for comfort.

Christmas Eve we spent with the Nichols' side of the family. Everyone had a great time. Peyton always has fun playing with cousins at Granddad's. He received lots of nice things.

Christmas morning Peyton slept in. I fear this may be the last time for us to sleep in on Christmas morning. We will just have to wait and see. Santa came and brought lots of things for everyone. My parents and my grandmother came over and we opened our gifts and then had lunch.

Peyton had a great time opening his presents this year. This was really the first Christmas he has had so much fun. He wanted to do it all by himself this year. He would get so excited.

This year all he asked Santa for was an Ipod with music and games on it. Well, guess what Santa bought him...... Your right! It was so much fun watching him open that present. He was so excited. He ran around the living room and had to show everyone. It was great!

After opening all the presents and lunch we all relaxed in the living room and watched Peyton play with all his new things. We had such a great day.

Peyton with his Goggy

Peyton with Nannie

Peyton with his Poppy

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Kid Conductor for The Trains at Northpark Mall

2009-11-21T22:34:00.006-06:00

Peyton had the privilege of being this years Kid Conductor for The Trains at Northpark Mall. This is a huge train exhibit that benefits the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas. We were very excited to see all the trains. Peyton, Gaga and I drove up last night because we had to be at the mall at 8 this morning. Andy was not able to go with us due to work. When we got to the hotel Peyton had a room full of new goodies.

He had great fun opening all the toys and playing with them. So much so that he woke up at 4:15am this morning and said "I need to get up and play with my toys". He did not understand that the toys were all sleeping and he needed to go back to sleep also. Thank goodness he did finally drift back off to sleep.

This morning we had to get up early to headed over to the mall for all the festivities. Peyton wore his new jacket which has The Trains logo on it. There were lots of people at the mall to see the opening of The Trains.

When we arrived at the exhibit we were allowed to go in before they opened to get a sneak peek! Ban Bywaters, the man that puts the exhibit together each year took us though and showed us all the different areas.

This is the Ronald McDonald House in the exhibit.
About half way through the exhibit Peyton had had enough of the sounds. He does not always do so well with loud sounds. As you can see by the next few pictures. He has his ears covered. Crazy little boy!

Children's Medical Center

Peyton's first home....Baylor Medical Center

The state fair

Around 8:30 was the official opening of the exhibit. We were one of the ones to help cut the ribbon. My camera batteries died of course, so we did not get a picture of the event. This was taken just before the ribbon was cut.

We had a great helper today, Crozier Kimzey! She is the one that did all the shopping for Peyton's new toys and set up our hotel room. She did a great job picking out just the right toys for Peyton. He LOVES them! Peyton had a great time with her at the mall. They went on all kinds of adventures up and down the mall. You know Peyton...always on the go.

There were lots of activities to do other that the exhibit....balloons, face painting, snacks and many more. One thing that Peyton really liked was the magician. He was great! Just how do they do that?

We had a great time today.

Fall time means lots of leaves

2009-11-15T15:22:00.002-06:00

Peyton has had a great few weeks. He still has his good days and bad days with his eating and drinking. We just keep with the plan we have for him. His weeks continue to be very busy around here with all of his therapies and school. Last week we were finally able to get him the H1N1 flu shot. He is high risk therefore we were sure to get him one. We do not have to deal with that! We will do anything to keep this little boy well.
We love the fall time here. The weather is great outside, so we can spend lots of time out playing. He has always loved leaves but today was the first time we had really made a big pile and let him play in them. He LOVED it!! He just kept saying "This is fun!" over and over again. We had to take is shovel and pail out so he would fill his pail up then pour it out. He had a blast! I am sure he will want to do that again. Below are a few pictures that I took of him and the leaves.

This week is going to be very busy! He had his normal things Monday through Wednesday. Thursday we have to go to Dallas to see Dr. Gelfand (our favorite Dr.) just for a regular check-up. Then Friday when I get off of work we will be heading back up to Dallas for a special event. The Ronald McDonald House of Dallas has their biggest fund raiser each year at this time. They have a huge train display at one of the malls. Each year they pick one of their kids to be the Kid Conductor for the year. This year they picked Peyton for that job. We are very excited! They open up The Trains at North Park this Saturday and Peyton will be the one that blows the whistle to get the trains going. They also have lots of other events for the morning. I will be sure to post pictures when we get home.

Thanks for stopping by Peyton's blog.

Trunk or Treat

2009-10-26T17:37:00.006-05:00

Last night was Trunk or Treat at our church. Peyton was very excited about going so that he could put his costume on. This year I gave him two things to pick from and he choose to be a brown bear. He was very cute I must say! There were lots of people that showed up. This year Peyton did a few games and had a great time. We also went on a hay ride which was a first for him. He thought that was a blast!! We even saw a few of his friends from school. It was not easy taking pictures as he was not still for very long at all. lol!

Peyton in front of the police car.

Peyton visiting with Nannie while she was selling popcorn.

Sitting in the fire truck.

On the go!!!!

Waiting on the hayride.

Spending an afternoon with Thomas the Train

2009-10-24T19:33:00.007-05:00

Today we went down to Rusk, Tx to the Texas State Railroad. They had Thomas the Train there visiting their depot. Peyton really likes trains right now. We spend lots of time playing with all of our trains here at home. When I heard about Thomas being in Rusk I just knew I had to take Peyton. He had a great time. They had lots of activities there at the depot and we got to take a 30 minute ride on the train. It was great. Peyton even had his special hat to wear too. My Parents went with Peyton and I. There were lots of people also enjoying the day with us. The weather was beautiful! Here are some of the pictures that we took.

Waiting on the train.

Here comes Thomas!

How exciting!!!

Ready to board

All Aboard!!!!!

Peyton dancing in the train with the staff.

What Fun!!!

Mr. Conductor and Peyton

Playing with all the trains they had set up.

Healing Well

2009-10-22T15:46:00.003-05:00

Peyton is doing well after his eye surgery. His little eyes are getting let red everyday. I can already tell a difference when he looks at things. He no longer has to turn and tilt his head to see things well. We went back to see the doctor on Monday and he said everything looked good and he did not need to see us again for three months unless there was a problem.
Peyton has a big weekend coming up. Saturday morning we are going to the walk for the down syndrome group with some of our sweet friends. Then later that afternoon we are going to see Thomas the Train down in Rusk. Peyton is very excited! We will get to go on a 30 minute ride and they have lots of activities for us to do as well. Sunday our church is having its big Fall Fest so Peyton will get to wear his costume and go play some of the games. I will post pictures of all of adventures soon.

Eye Surgery Today

2009-10-16T17:28:00.003-05:00

Hello to all of our followers. Sorry I have not updated in almost two weeks. We have had a very hard and busy few weeks. Andy's sister passed away tragically so we were not home much of last week. Thank you to all of you that have been praying for our family.
Peyton continues to do very well. He is eating and drinking very well most of the time these days. He is still a very busy little boy during the week. He is going somewhere four days a week. Today Peyton had eye surgery over in Tyler. We had to be there at 7:15 this morning which means we had to leave the house at 6. Peyton who loves to sleep was wide awake at 5:30 this morning all on his very own. This was very strange as he usually does not get up until around 9. We were all shocked! I am hoping that was just a one time deal as I do like my sleep too. lol. Surgery went very well. It took about an hour and a half and he the Dr. Hunter said everything looked good. He worked on eight of his eye mussels (four on each eye) today. Now my little boy has blood shot eyes for a few days. We were able to come home around noon and we have just been lounging around this afternoon. I think that is what we will be doing most of the weekend. Those are my kind of weekends.

Trip to Kansas City to see Jeff Gordon

2009-10-04T16:29:00.009-05:00

Our last two weekends have been filled with fun! Last weekend Neal McCoy this weekend Jeff Gordon. Andy is a huge Jeff Gordon fan and is a member of his fan club. He entered to win a chance to meet Jeff and won so this weekend we packed up the car and made a fast trip to Kansas City, Kansas. Peyton did great for the ride. We left Friday and drove to Tulsa to spend the night. Yesterday we got up and drove to Kansas. We were there from 12 till about 6:30 then we headed back to Tulsa to spend the night. Tulsa was about halfway. Peyton of course had a great time while we were there. He now has some new "girl friends" that we met that work with Jeff Gordon. We did a lot of walking the halls and around the hotel lobby during the event which Peyton called "Having a party". He made lots of people laugh. Here are some of the pictures that we took while we were there.

Andy and Peyton waiting to go into the convention center.

Peyton having a great time.

Peyton and Daddy

Jeff finally arrived.

Peyton was just exhausted and finally crashed.

Peyton getting ready to meet Jeff.

When it was Peyton's turn to meet Jeff he ran up and gave him a big hug. Everyone there loved that!

Jeff gave Peyton all the balloons that were on the stage.

Andy getting to meet Jeff.

Me and Jeff

Jeff signed Peyton's hat.

Peyton and one of his new "girlfriends" Mrs. Courtney.

East Texas Angel Network Meet and Greet 2009

2009-09-26T14:46:00.003-05:00

Peyton continues to do very well. He stays very busy during the week with all of his activities....Therapy, horse back riding and school. He loves them all! We continue to work on his eating and drinking everyday. This week we were invited to attend the East Texas Angel Network Meet and Greet again. Peyton is a past angel and they all love him so much. They always want to see him. He has a blast when we go. This morning we went and were able to see all of his friends at the office. We were also able to see Neal McCoy, Jack Hanna, Kevin Sharp, Gloria Barron and all of their families. They are all so kind. Tonight we will go to the concert they are having also. The East Texas Angel Network is such a super charity!!

Peyton pulling Mrs. Patsy around.
Peyton petting a snow leopard.

Peyton watching the leopard eat.

Peyton and Neal McCoy

Peyton with Gloria Barron, Baby Joey and Neal. Peyton loved talking to Baby Joey!! We all were laughing so hard. He did not want to leave but we were holding up the line.

Peyton and Kevin Sharp

Peyton and Jack Hanna

Peyton and a little fox

Peyton holding an armadillo.

Peyton and another kind of leopard.

Peyton, Andy and Mrs. Hanna

Tracie, Peyton and Patsy

Peyton playing on Tractors!!!

2009-09-13T19:41:00.004-05:00

Peyton has had a great week. It is hard to believe that he is already four years old. Wow, where has time gone? His weeks continue to be very busy and this coming week he will start going to Windridge again to ride Star! He is excited. We have been talking about it all week. His only free day during the week is Friday now. Eating continues to get better all the time. He is eating and drinking well most of the time for us.
Out behind our house they are working on the large ponds. They are making a third pond which means they have large tractors out there. Peyton LOVES the tractors. He will sit and watch them for a long time. Lately when we have gone he has to take his little dozer with him.

Peyton sitting in Mr. Wardlaw's mule while watching the tractors until after dark.

The other day while we were picking up some medicine from the pharmacy Mrs. Allison let Peyton pick out a toy from the toy box. Well, he found these glasses and he had to have them. He calls them his "Wobble Goggles". He got that name from the show Imagination Movers on Disney. One of the guys on the show wears wobble goggles. Peyton is just so funny with these things on! What a mess.

Peyton has finally decided that he wants to get on the tractors out back. Today Andy and I took him out back to get on Mr. Wardlaw's dozer. He loved it!!

When they got off, he said he wanted to go get on Mr. Gatlin's tractor. We took over to it also and he had a blast.

We thought we were going to be finished then. Well Mr. Peyton had other plans. He wanted to go get on Mr. Gatlin's other tractor.

Then Mr. Gatlin's other tractor.

After we finished with all of the tractors out back we went for our usual ride out in the woods. We love doing this. It is so peaceful! On our way back home we passed a few more tractors that he just had to get on!

He has a few tractors at the house that look like this one that he plays with all the time. He calls them "Scoop" from Bob the Builder.

What a fun day our little Peyton had. We are so lucky to have great neighbors that allow us to ride on their land and get on their tractors. What a great place for a little boy to grow up!

Birthday Boy!!!

2009-09-05T22:39:00.005-05:00

Well my sweet boy has had a great week. He went to school for the first time on Tuesday and LOVED it! He only has about 5 others in his class. He just walked right in like he owned the place. What a relief. Wednesday was his birthday. We sang "Happy Birthday" all day long. If you ask him he knows he is 4 now. I can't believe it. We had his birthday party tonight here at the house. We had a great time. We had a cookout and the kids played outside most of the night. They had a blast but boy were they dirty! lol Here are some pictures of his party.

The cake...CARS!
Peyton and Miss Kenzie

Peyton Playing outside

Peyton opening his gifts.

Singing Happy Birthday.

Playing in his cake......

Peyton and Mr. Dylan riding on his plasma car. They were having a great time!

Now giving Kenzie a ride.

Finally eating some cake (icing). You see Dylan had to feed it to him. LOL!! He really did eat some and took more than one bite! Thanks Dylan! We love you and your family!

Playing catch-up!

2009-08-29T22:23:00.019-05:00

Wow, what a busy month I have had. Sorry that I have not been good at writing updates on my little man. I have been spending lots of time at school.

Peyton has had a great month. He continues to do very well most of the time with his eating and drinking. He still every once and a while decides that he is not going to eat or drink. He is making great progress though. He is still eating very smooth textured foods only. He is not ready for textured foods. He will get there but now is not the time. We will continue to work with him. His weeks are pretty full of things. He is still going to therapy three days a week, M,W,F. This week he is going to start going to Mother's Day Out at our church on Tuesdays. Last week he got to go meet his teachers and see his classroom. He really liked it. He told me all about it when I got home from work. I know he will have a great time and get to meet some new friends. In mid September he will start his horseback riding again at Windridge on Tuesday mornings before he goes to school.

Last night was the beginning of Friday night football. Last night Peyton and I went to the Longview Lobos game and he had a great time. We will be going to more game through out the football season. Some Longview games and some Daingerfield games with Daddy.

Wearing his new hat he just had to have from one of our trips to Walmart.

Helping Daddy shell purple hull peas. He loved helping. He kept asking for more.

Outside enjoying the cooler weather. We have had a few very nice days.

Peyton got a new chair and he loves to sit in it. It

Doing great

2009-08-08T15:47:00.002-05:00

Peyton has had a great few weeks. We have been working very hard at getting him to eat and drink for us. He is doing great at it. He continues to be very busy with therapy on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Horseback riding will start up again in mid September. I am getting to ready to go back to work soon. I am not really ready for it but I have to. I have really enjoyed being home with Peyton this summer. This past week has been really crazy for us here. Peyton's Poppy was having chest pains and was admitted into the hospital and on Wednesday he had a heart cath. Doctor said he was very close to having open heart surgery. Thank goodness he is okay now. Peyton was not really sure about seeing his Poppy laying in the hospital bed. He wanted to leave right away. He finally warmed up to being at the hospital.
Last week we also got our original nurse back for a while. Mrs. Melody kept Peyton until he was about 2 1/2 years old. We have kept in touch with her and now she is back for a while. Peyton and Mrs. Mel have a great time together.

Having a great summer.

2009-07-23T22:46:00.002-05:00

Peyton is doing very well. He is still having really good days with his eating and drinking. We are only having a few not so good days now. I am so glad!! I tell you is can be very frustrating we he will not eat or drink. I just can not let him know that I am frustrated. I am hoping soon that he will not have any bad days!
The weather here has been nice lately so we have spent some time outside. He loves to be outside. There for a while it was so hot that you could not go outside except to get into the car. We were glad to see the low to mid 90's again. We have gone on lots of rides on the 4-wheeler out behind out house. We have gone and watched the big tractors behind our house. They are working on the lakes out back. He really likes to go and watch them.
I have really enjoyed being home with Peyton this summer. I really hate that my summer is coming to and end very soon. Too soon!! It is about time for me to be planning birthday #4. I can't believe it. It just does not seem possible. He is growing up to fast!!!!

Back in the swing of things

2009-07-11T22:30:00.006-05:00

Peyton has had a great week. We are trying to get back into the swing of things here at home. He has started back to his therapies here at home. Horse back riding is out for the summer but will start back up in September. We have been working on eating all week with lots of stand-offs. Crazy little boy!!! Thursday was the first day that he ate and drank for me really well. I am hoping that he keeps up the good work. If he does keep it up we may be able to go down on what is left of his pump feed.
Thursday night we had to go back to Dallas because he had an early morning doctor appointment on Friday. We stayed at the Ronald McDonald House for the night. Friday morning we went to see the Orthopedic just to make sure that Peyton's legs and hips had no problems. His feet are turned out some but the doctor said that everything is okay. There is nothing to worry about. We were very relieved to get this news. When we originally made the appointment back in November he was falling some and his right foot seemed to be turned out more. Doctor said just to continue with his physical therapy. No need to return unless some other problems occur.

Here are a few pictures from the 4th of July fireworks here in Longview.

Peyton and his Gaga and Nannie

Peyton and Papa

Since we have been home is has been so hot outside that we have not been able to play for long periods of time. We have to go out early morning or late afternoon. This 100 degree weather is no fun!! We are just trying to stay as cool as possible. I can only imagine what the weather is going to be like in August.

Peyton riding his new car. He loves this little car.

Love being home!

2009-07-05T14:07:00.003-05:00

Well, we have now been home almost a week. It was so nice to get home and sleep in our own beds. There is no place like home!! We have not done a lot since we have been home other that rest and relax and of course eat our bites and take our drinks. Peyton has really been trying me since we have been home. Eating is not the problem, it is the drinking! He just does not like it. I know he can drink I just have to sit and wait for him to decided to drink. If he does not drink he can not eat, that is part of the program. He must take 3 bites then 3 drinks. We can not skip any one of them or he would not be drinking again. He will figure out that things are not going to change since we are home. We are sticking to the plan that we learned at OCH.
I hope that everyone had a Happy 4ht of July. We did not do much here. On the 3rd we took Peyton to see the Longview Fireworks. He really enjoyed them I think. He would tell us the colors of them as they were in the air. I hope you have a great rest of the holiday weekend!

Coming home soon!

2009-06-25T21:37:00.002-05:00

We have had a great few days. Peyton is eating his bites and taking his drinks very well. He has even started doing the same for my mom. We are pleased! We have been given a go home day....this coming Tuesday!!! We can't wait. We will continue working with Peyton at home with his eating and drinking too. We also will continue to work with him on getting him ready for textures. He is just not ready for much texture yet. We have been given things that we need to do with him to help get him ready. We will also keep in contact with the therapist here at OCH to see what the next steps will be. We may have to continue to make trips here to help us move along. We will do whatever it take to help Peyton. We want him to be successful at eating. When we get home we will continue to go to his therapies at home like we did before. Thanks for checking in on us!

The third week of eating school begins.

2009-06-22T21:17:00.003-05:00

Peyton is still doing well at eating school. He is still giving us a hard time at meal times. He is for sure not an 8 am eater. Since we have been here he has only eaten breakfast one or two times. He did finally eat for Gaga today at one of his meals. He has not been eating very well for her. On Saturday we spent some time outside at the playground before it got to hot in the day. He like to go out there and play. I just wish is was more shaded. In midday it is just to hot to go out. Here are just a few pictures of him outside.

On Sunday Andy was able to come up and spend the day for Father's Day. I think Peyton enjoyed seeing his daddy. I know that his daddy enjoyed seeing him. He was able to stay and spend the night with Peyton then he had to go back home this afternoon.

Gaga bought Peyton a new toy today. He got a Plasma Car. He LOVES it! So does the other four kids in our wing here at OCH. Peyton has taken it all over the hospital. I think he is going to enjoy it.

Therapy FUN!!!

2009-06-19T13:15:00.003-05:00

Peyton is still doing well. He has really been trying us the last two days. That is expected when the parents start to do the feeding. We just have to keep on working with him. His days are filled with feeding and therapies. He is getting speech, occupational and physical therapies through out the week. Some days are more busy than others. When it is time to go to his therapies he is very excited to go. They do lots of fun things each time. The newest thing he is doing is getting to ride a bike. He LOVES it!!!! I am going to have to see about getting him one like it at home. We may be able to come home earlier than we thought. Earlier this week they said maybe one or two more weeks only. :-) GO Peyton GO!!!

Doing great in eating school

2009-06-16T22:19:00.002-05:00

Peyton continues to do very well in eating school. On Friday we were able to take some of his night feed away. Today we took his 9 pm feeding away also. This leaves him with just a tube feed that runs at night while he sleeps. As he continues to improve they will take more of the night feed away. Starting tomorrow I will be staying here at OCH with Peyton all day. I will be going to all of his feedings to observe then soon I will start feeding him while they observe me. I have been warned that he may not do as well tomorrow with me in the room in the beginning.
Thank you all for checking in on us!

Eating school update

2009-06-13T22:20:00.002-05:00

Sorry that I have not updated in a few days. Peyton continues to do well with eating school. He is also drinking pretty good for them most of the time. There are still lots of issues with textures. That will come with time. They have tried cream of wheat and oatmeal this week with no success. We are very pleased with his progress this first week. I know he will continue to do well. Andy came up for a few day to spend time and had to head back home tonight. While he was here he spent the night with Peyton and I stayed at RMH with my mother. Hopefully sometime next week I will be able to start staying during the day with Peyton at OCH. I really hate not being here. I only get to see him a short time each day. When I get here at night he is always playing and having fun. Sometime he really does not want to stop to say hi. :-( Thanks for all of your prayers during this time away from home.

Day three of eating school

2009-06-10T21:20:00.003-05:00

Today Peyton had another good day. He did not do as well with his drinking today. He only drank good for one of the therapist. They were all going to ask her what her trick was. I think he is just being stubborn! lol. We all know that he can do this, it is just going to take more time to get him drinking well. They are also starting to try some different foods with him.....a little bit more texture. We will see how this goes. I will have to continue to leave during the day through next week then I will be going to his meals with him. Until next time, I hope that everyone is doing well.

Day two of eating school

2009-06-09T21:09:00.006-05:00

Today was a great second day for Peyton. This morning I had to leave Peyton for the whole day. I was not sure how that was going to be but they all said that he did great! He had his therapies and ate five times. When he was not doing that he was playing in the playroom or going on wagon rides. Today he did great with his eating. They also had him drinking at each meal out of a medicine cup. His first meal he drank 1 1/2 oz of milk and by the end of the day he was drinking 3 oz of milk. WOW!!! I can not believe that make it so easy. While he was "at school" I went back to RMHD and scrapbooked most of the day and just relaxed. At 6 I was able to come back to OCH to be with Peyton. He saw me and let me know that he was tired. He did not get much of a nap today. We played for a while then it was time to get ready for bed. He was out by 8. It did not take long. lol. I hope that he has another great day tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures that I took tonight.

All checked into OCH

2009-06-08T21:25:00.002-05:00

Well we are all checked into Our Children's House at Baylor and at the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas. We came up yesterday and stayed at RMHD (our home away from home). This morning Peyton was admitted to OCH for our five week stay for eating school. I did all the feeding today and he did great. Tomorrow they will start feeding him and working on getting him to drink. I have a feeling tomorrow is not going to go as well as today. In the morning I must leave before he starts his feedings and therapies and stay gone until 5:30. This is not going to be an easy thing for me, but I must think of it as I am taking him to daycare. I will be watching my watch all day to see if it is time to return. My plan is to go back to RMHD and work on his scrapbooks. I am so very behind. I hope that I can get a lot finished. I will update again tomorrow when I see how his day is going.

Packing for our 5 week stay in Dallas

2009-06-04T22:29:00.002-05:00

First, Sorry that I have not updated in a few weeks. I have been very busy with end of the year things. I have one more half day workday then I am finished. I am very ready for summer so that I can spend lots of time with Peyton.
I must now pack for the two of us as we leave on Sunday for our five week stay in Dallas. We will be checking into Our Children's House at Baylor (OCH) on Monday morning for eating school. Our hope is that Peyton will be drinking and eating most of his meals if not all of them. This would allow us to come off of his feeding pump. We will just have to see how he does. I know we will be able to come way down of this tube feedings, but just how far we don't know. My mother will be going with us to Dallas and Andy will come on days that he can get away from all the things here at the house and work. We are taking all kinds of things to keep us busy while we are there. I hope to catch up on Peyton's scrapbooks! I am so behind.
On another note.....Kayla is graduating from Arp High School tomorrow night. Wow...... We are very proud of her! Andy and I are then taking her to see George Strait, Reba and others on Saturday in Dallas at the new Cowboy Stadium.
Please continue to check back for more updates while we are in Dallas. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Busy week but had fun!

2009-05-23T16:40:00.008-05:00

Peyton has had a great week. Last weekend Kayla came over for a little while and he loved playing with her. They helped their Daddy pick the garden. Peyton loves to help in the garden. All that dirt!!! He also likes to look for Ladybugs in the garden. He is such a mess. We have to be careful or he will pull the plants in the garden instead of just walking and looking for ladybugs. That does not make daddy happy.

Picking green beans

I was off on Tuesday and was able to take Peyton to Windridge. I really enjoy getting to go and watch him ride. He really gets so excited when we get there. He is doing so well. This time he was able to ride outside in the field so I got a few outside shots. He is doing so much better at following directions and giving Star commands. Peyton only has a few more weeks left in this session. He is really going to miss riding this summer. We will be in Dallas for all of June except the first week and Windridge is closed in July and August. We will start back up in September again.

Yesterday was my dad's 60th birthday. We had a surprise birthday party for him here at our house. Peyton helped me decorate the house. He loved all the numbers. We had number 6 and 0 all over our house. He was such a mess at the party. He had not had much of a nap and all the extra people in the house made him over stimulated. WOW!!! I was ready to pull my hair out. He thought it was funny to throw things. When it came time to do the cake he wanted to help Papa blow out the candle. Of course he really does not have this down yet but he did try. This is not a great picture but I needed to be close so that he did not put his hands all in the cake. I could just see that happening. lol.

I hope that everyone has a great Memorial Day weekend! Be careful out there.

March of Dimes Walk and party for Granddad

2009-05-13T16:39:00.010-05:00

This past Saturday was the March of Dimes "Walk for Babies". When we first got there Peyton was not a happy camper. He just wanted to "Go home, Mommy". I think that he did not like the loud music and talking. Just when I was about to go back home we met up with our friends The Taylors. Once the walk finally started Peyton was better. We had a nice 3 mile stroll it was just very humid out. Nothing like last year.....It was cold out. After the walk we were not able to stay around for the other events. Peyton started saying "go home mommy" just as soon as we started heading back to the events. I just could not put him though that again. Here are a few pictures that we took of the walk.

Peyton and Dylan after our walk.

Later that evening we went to a small party for Granddad. He ran for mayor in Lone Star and he won. Peyton enjoyed his visit with family. Once we got there he did not slow down. He ran around all night visiting and dragging us around.
Granddad and his cake

Peyton and Uncle Chuck

Peyton and Daddy

Peyton dragging Granddad around

Sunday we had a great day. We just stayed around the house and did some work. Peyton and Andy gave me some pretty flowers. Peyton loved smelling the flowers. He is just so sweet!! I love him so very much.

What a cute little boy!!!!

We were getting ready to go somewhere and he decided that he wanted to play on the couch instead of putting his shirt on. lol He is just so funny! He just wanted to lay around and do nothing. I cant blame him. Sometimes is it nice to just sit around and do nothing.

My little outside boy and info about OCH!

2009-05-04T16:13:00.003-05:00

Peyton is doing great! Now that the weather is nice he is outside everyday to play. He just loves it outside. He never wants to come in when it is time. Andy has been working on a new patio for us out back since we spend so much time out there. I think he is finally finished with it. He did a great job. I finally got a fountain which I have always wanted but just did not have a place for one. It is great to sit outside with Peyton and listen to the water. Peyton like to walk up to the fountain and watch the water flow. He also likes to stand in front of the fountain and say "Ladies and Gentleman, I am Peyton Nichols" then clap. lol He is funny!!!

Last week we got the call about Peyton's eating school adventure. We will be checking into Our Children's House at Baylor (OCH) on June 8 for a five week program. This summer we will be inpatient. Last summer we were outpatient. This means that we will not be able to go places like we did last summer. Peyton will not be able to leave at night or on the weekends. I am not looking forward to that part. We will have to be sure to take lots of things to keep us busy. They do have a few playrooms and a playground but that is just not the same as going to the zoo or shopping or visiting with friends at the Ronald McDonald House. We will have have to make do. I think that my mother will be going with us so one of us will be staying at The Ronald McDonald House at night while the other is at OCH with Peyton. I will keep you posted on our adventure. Until we go I am sure that we will have lots of things to do here at home. Peyton has been "helping" his daddy in the garden lately. I will have to get some pictures of that for you. He really likes to help. Lately he has really wanted to look for ladybugs in the garden. I am not sure where that really came from but we have fun looking for them and letting them crawl on our arms. He thinks that's great. I am sure we will be riding the 4-wheeler down around the lake or anywhere we can go. He loves to ride the 4-wheeler. (Yes, I know, we don't go very fast) Until next time...........
Here are just a few more pictures of Peyton doing his favorite things.....

Outside fun!

2009-04-18T20:57:00.004-05:00

Peyton has had a great few weeks. His language increases daily. He is talking so much better now. Most still can not always understand him and sometimes I can not but he is doing much better. He is Mr. Chatterbox!! lol We continue to spend a lot of time outside when the weather is nice. You never know about our East Texas weather, one day it will be very nice and the next will be cold again. I am ready for it to make up its mind. Now that is it April we are getting lots of showers too. We really need it for our grass and plants but that means we can't go outside and play. I knew it was going to be raining on Easter so I took a few shots of Peyton outside before the rain came.

Peyton examining the flowers.

Taking a break and rocking on the front porch.

The Easter Bunny came to see Peyton on Easter morning. He brought lots of things to play with. He brought sand toys for his new sandbox and some new train cars for his train table. Peyton loved playing with the eggs too. We had eggs all over the house.

Once the rain finally quit and it dried up some outside we made out trip out to the back to play. Gaga and Papa were over visiting us and Peyton managed to get Papa up in the fort to play. When they were finished Peyton wanted to slide in Papa's lap and would not take no for an answer. We were all laughing so hard. I don't know who had more fun.....Papa or Peyton. They ended up sliding two times then Papa said no more for now! lol... I know what he means.....the slide was not made for adults....

We were finally able to take the new sand toys to the sand box and play. He had a blast playing in the new sandbox. He even took his shoes off and let his feet be in the sand. He played for a very long time. I am sure we will be spending lots of time out there now. That's fine with me. Being outside is better than sitting in front of the TV. Since the rain has kept us in some Peyton has fallen in love with the movies Cars and The Land Before Time. We have watched them a lot lately. They are both cute movies so I don't mind watching them.

Little Helper boy and Open house at Windridge.

2009-04-06T20:14:00.010-05:00

Peyton has had a busy few weeks. When it is nice outside he is out enjoying the weather. He loves the outdoors and everything that goes with it.....digging in the dirt, carrying sticks around, going on walks, plus much more. It you are not careful you will be wearing some dirt, too. lol. Andy has been working on a new patio in our backyard and Peyton decided to help, of course! We are going to love it when it is finished. It just has a few finishing touches and it will be all done. Here are a few pictures of Peyton helping out with the patio......

Taking a rest after all his hard work! He was using the carpet piece that dad was using as a pillow.

This past Saturday was "Horse and Rider" at Windridge, which is their big once a year fundraiser. Peyton was one of many riders that participated. He had a great time like always. All the riders were given a metal at the end of their ride. There were lots of people there and Mrs. Kim said that lots of people took pictures of Peyton while he was riding. I know that I did! When he was finished, Andy and I were able to give him his medal. He did not want to take it off once he had it on.

Peyton riding backwards on Star.

Peyton getting his medal and giving me a high five.

Showing off his medal!

Admiring his medal.

Visiting with our good friend Mrs. Lana Rogers.

Once we got home from Windridge we went outside to play. Daddy had brought up some sand into the backyard and that became Peyton's mountains. Have I said how much he likes to play in the dirt? He really, really likes to play in the dirt.

Trip to the zoo and new toy at Gaga and Papa's house.

2009-03-19T21:39:00.005-05:00

Since I am on Spring Break and we have not really had a free day, today I decided to take Peyton to the Tyler Zoo. My mother joined us in going too. Peyton was very excited about going to see all the animals. While we were getting ready he just kept saying "go see the animals" over and over. He just could not wait. Since we were going to Tyler and Mrs. Mel works in Tyler we called her and told her that we were coming to the Zoo. She ended up meeting us at the zoo for an afternoon of fun!!! We were not the only ones that wanted to take advantage of the nice weather. There were tons of people there. Crazy me decided to take the stroller in because I did not want to carry him all afternoon, but we really did not need it. He just wanted to walk or run. He was not very happy when I put him in the stroller. I was amazed at how he was able to walk all the way. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Peyton on the run!

What a great life....

One of the only time I could get him in his stroller. He still had to hold on to Mrs. Mel's hand.

He really enjoyed pushing his stroller!

Trip to the petting zoo.....

On our way home Peyton decided that we had to go to Papa and Gaga house. There was just no getting around it. They love to have him come. Imagine that!!! He usually drags my dad all over the house so that he can see all the clocks and makes my dad make them chime. He LOVES clocks. My dad has also fixed up a bunch of little old cars and trucks for him to play with. He carries those things all over the house. As of today he now has a new favorite toy at my parents house...... the piano!!! He played and played and played it today. We could have probably all walked out of the room and he would not have known. He was just to busy playing. Maybe we have us an artist!!

Strong-willed little boy!!!

2009-03-17T15:31:00.003-05:00

Today was Peyton's day to ride at Windridge. He loves going to ride Star! When Peyton is riding he is the one that is giving the commands to Star. This is usually not a problem. He tells Star to walk, stop, and trot. He even gets to hold the reins to guide star. Well today when Ms. Kim and Mrs. Debbie told Peyton to tell Star to trot, he did not and would not. Well Star just stood there. After about 15 minutes of standing there Ms. Kim came to me and told me what was going on and wanted to know if we had time to work this out. It was time for class to be over but they did not want him to get off until he finished giving all of his commands. If they took him off he would know that next time he does not want to do something he can just sit and wait it out. About 15 minutes later Kim came over to me again to see if we still had time and of course I said yes. I told her that this is the same kind of things he does with eating and drinking. It can be frustrating! Peyton's ride time is usually 30 minutes but today since he would not work he was on Star for 1 hour and 15 minutes (most of the time just standing) before he finally said the command. Once he finally said trot we all clapped and celebrated. He will one day learn that the adult will always win!! Here are a few pictures.

Enjoying the outdoors

2009-03-14T13:55:00.003-05:00

Peyton has been loving the spring like weather. He loves to be outside! He is my little outdoors boy. He loves to swing, play in his fort, or just dig in the dirt. Right now we are trying to teach him that he can not just throw dirt on everything. He likes to put it on everything. He walks over to us and puts handfuls of dirt on our legs or arms. He even thought that his Gaga needed a little dirt in her glass of coke. LOL. By the middle of the week our weather had a huge change. It went from being in the high 70's low 80's to in the mid to high 30's and rainy. Today is the first day in three days that is has not been raining. I am thankful for the rain but not the cold. We really needed the rain. Here are just a few pictures of him swinging on his swing set.

Andy was trying to take a nap when he got home from work yesterday and Peyton decided to join him. I just had to take a picture. He is just so cute!!!

This week I am on Spring Break!! I really look forward to having the week to spend with Peyton. He still has all of the therapy but I hope that we are able to do some fun things too. The weather is suppose to be much nicer. I also really need to work on his scrapbook some too.

Frogs and Daffodils Fields

2009-03-01T10:19:00.004-06:00

Peyton has had a great week. He has been able to be outside more due to the weather being nice. He so loves to be outside. Friday night we were sitting outside enjoying the nice weather and we saw our first frogs of the year. We have ponds all around our house so we have TONS of frogs usually. This was really the first time that Peyton has noticed them. It was so fun to watch him try to catch the frog. He was successful at touching it several times. As the frog jumped Peyton would follow. I am sure that he will have lots of chances to finally catch a frog.
Friday night a cool front came through our area and the temperatures dropped 30 degrees. What a change from Friday. It was 80 Friday and yesterday the high was only 55. That is our crazy east Texas weather for you. You just never know.
Yesterday we finally went to Mrs. Lee's Daffodil farm in Gladewater. I was so upset with myself for not going earlier in the season. Yesterday was to cool and way to windy to really enjoy. Most of the daffodils were already starting to die off. You just never know. Last year we went on March 1st and they were in full bloom. Next year I will be sure and go when they are in full bloom again. They are just so beautiful when they are in bloom. They have thousands there. Here are some of the pictures that we took while at the daffodil farm.

Little Helper!!

2009-02-25T16:13:00.003-06:00

Last week we made our trip to Dallas to visit the doctors. He had a great visit! We will go back in three months to see Dr. Gelfand, our lung doctor. We do not have to go back to our ENT unless there is a problem.
We have been painting in our laundry room and putting in new base boards. Peyton loves to be a helper. When daddy gets his tools, Peyton must go and get his too. He is a big time copy cat. You better watch out!!! You must not say or do anything that you don't want him to do because if he sees you he will do it.

Daddy was connecting the washer and dryer back so Peyton had to help.

Daddy was on the phone so Peyton had to get on the phone and sit like daddy.

We are ready for the nice spring weather so that we can spend more time outdoors. When it is nice out Peyton loves to be outside. He really like to play in the dirt. I never thought that I would see him playing in dirt. He hated it! I can just imagine what he is going to do when I start planting plants in the flower beds. I am sure that he will be a big help. HaHa!! I am sure he will love to help out in the garden too.

Back to normal

2009-02-15T16:11:00.004-06:00

Peyton had a check up last week and so I took off to take him to the doctor and it was on a Tuesday so I was finally able to go and watch my little man ride his horse "Star". Oh what fun he has while riding. They sing lots of silly songs and do other activities too. He gets so excited when he is there waiting for his time to ride. He is also giving Star comands to walk, trot, and stop. He is also holding the reins to control Star. It was great to watch him while he rode. I wish I could watch him more often. Here are a few pictures of Peyton riding Star.

Getting ready to ride.....

Going to get on Star

Riding Star

Oh what fun he is having.

Look I'm holding the reins.

At the doctors visit everything was great. We will be going to Dallas on Wednesday just for check-ups with two of our Doctors. Thankfully we were able to get the scheduled on the same day this time.

Busy few weeks and now sick! :-( Poor guy.

2009-02-04T15:49:00.005-06:00

We have had a great few weeks. The weekends are filled with us playing around the house and if it is nice we go outside. He loves to build with his mega blocks. We make all kinds of thinks....phones, TV's, computers, cars and houses. He will play with them for hours! Here are a few pictures I took the other day.

We also play with his train set and table. Thanks for a friend from work who gave us the table and a lot of tracks and trains. He got his first train set for Christmas and loves to "play trains". We spend most evenings playing with the trains. He knows the names of the Thomas cars too. I never thought he would love this so much. Thanks Mrs. Mary Lou!!!

Last weekend we were outside playing. It was so nice out. We have planted 20 red tips along one of our fence lines so that we could have a little more privacy from the neighbors. They have cut all the trees between our house and theirs. Peyton decided to stop swinging and playing on his fort so that he could "help daddy". If you knew Peyton, you know he HATES to have dirty hands so this was a big deal! I had to take a few pictures. We were amazed that he acted like it was no big deal. Wow!! We could not believe how dirty has got. He had to strip all the way down to his diaper before he could come inside for a bath. LOL!!! He was such a good helper. Daddy only had to redo a few of the rings he put around the plants to help hold water. We just laughed. He is really starting to be a little boy.

Daddy had his shovel so Peyton had to get his.

Helping Daddy push the dirt into the hole.

Making rings around the trees.

Look at the dirty hands. Oh My!

Helping take down the rings around the plants. Note: Can you see his shoes!!! They were all mud. They had to be washed.

Time to water the plants.

Playing with his new "hat". I only had to wipe the dirt out of his eyes a few times. LOL

Now my poor little man is sick. :-( He has the crud that everyone around Longview has. He is all congested. Thankfully it is all in his head (poor thing) and not his lungs!!! That would have been very bad news to us. We are hoping that he is better in a few days.

The new Skyfort Swing Set!!!!

2009-01-22T18:47:00.008-06:00

Peyton got a new toy! A swing set and he loves it. It took us days to put together but was well worth it. Did I say he LOVES it!!! Here are a some pictures of us putting it together. Thanks to Andy and my Dad for putting it together.

He is finally able to swing on his new swing set.

It took us three whole days to finish but it is well worth it. Here it is finished!

Tonight we all played on the swing set. Peyton was having so much fun. I can see many hours being spent out here.

Peyton and Daddy up in the crow's nest checking out the telescope.

Guess who finally rode his truck!!!

2009-01-14T19:56:00.003-06:00

Peyton has been playing on his big truck in the living room since Christmas day. He loves getting on it and playing but does not want anything to do with it going. We have tried and tried to get him to get on it while we push the button but nothing. Well tonight Andy got on it and rode back and forth in the living room and finally Peyton decided to give it a try!!! How exciting. Tomorrow if it gets nice out we may try it outside.

My little book boy!

2009-01-12T16:33:00.005-06:00

Peyton loves books. He will let you read books for hours. Sometimes he wants the same book read over and over again. There are ever a few books that he has almost memorized. I am amazed. The other night I had a stack of books in the dinning room to put on the book shelf and before I could put them away he had them all scattered on the floor. He was sitting in the middle of all the books and was reading them. I hope that he continues to love books. Here are a few pictures.....

Pictures from Kids View

2009-01-10T19:15:00.004-06:00

Back to our Busy life.

2009-01-10T15:55:00.003-06:00

I had a great two weeks off for Christmas and loved every minute of it. I got to just be mom! We had a great time. We played, went to therapy, went shopping, played, played and played. He did not get to go horse back riding over Christmas break because Windridge was also on break. The last few days before I had to go back to work were beautiful (in the 70's). My mother and I took Peyton to the park for the first time and he had a great time. We got in the swing, climbed up all the things, went down the slide and wondered all around Kids View. I will post new pictures very soon. I really did not look forward to going back to work but that time did come.
Peyton was able to get back to riding Star this week. He loves riding so much. I still have not been able to go and watch him but my mother tell me all about it. I look forward to the time I can go. Maybe spring break!!!
This past week Peyton had another swallow study done here locally. What a chore!!! Of course he HATED it! By the end of the test both of us had barium all over. He is swallowing very well and he even tolerated just plain liquid. So now in Speech they are going to work with liquid that is not thickened. We are still working on the eating and drinking. He is doing pretty good with the eating just as long as there in not much texture. We are struggling with the textures still. He still does not like drinking. We continue to work with him daily. He will one day be eating and drinking great. We just have to patiently wait.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-27T14:05:00.005-06:00

I hope that everyone had a great Christmas! We did. Peyton had a great time opening his gifts this year. This was the first year he has really helped with the unwrapping of gifts. He was so excited! We went to Andy's dads house on Christmas Eve for the family Christmas. Peyton had lots of fun with some of his other cousins.

Kayla and Peyton leaving for Granddad's house.

Mommy, Peyton and Daddy on Christmas Eve.

Peyton opening presents at Granddad's house.

Peyton and some of his cousins.

Christmas morning we had my family came over and we opened gifts here at home. One of Peyton's gifts was a new John Deer Gator. It took him a while to get use to it. We still have not put the battery in it because we are not sure he is ready for that. It took all day just to get him to sit in his new truck.

He also go a new fort outside. Thanks to Santa's elves it got put together. It took longer than it said. Imagine that! When we went out to see it he fell in love. He went for window to window playing "peek-a-boo". He loves it! He had to make sure that the door stayed closed also. He was not happy about coming inside when it was time. I am sure we will be spending lots of time outdoors playing.

Finally at the end of the day Peyton decided to get into his new truck!!!

Busy few weeks

2008-12-20T19:14:00.005-06:00

We have been very busy around here. Sorry that I have not updated in a while. The month of December is always very busy for me at work and I have lots to do. Peyton continues to do very well. He is talking up a storm we just can not always understand what he is saying. He is a big copy cat. You must watch what you say around him. HaHa. He just amazes me. He is such a big boy! This Christmas is going to be so fun. He is really enjoying the lights and Christmas trees. He is doing very good at not messing with them. I figured that I would be battling with him and the trees. He loves to watch the train go around and around too. We made our trip to see Santa at the mall so that we could get our Christmas cards out to friends and family. This year he was not to sure of the Jolly old man, but after a few minutes he did okay. Thankfully there was no one in line behind us when we went. Here is his picture.....

Now that school is out we are trying to get all of our Christmas shopping done. Each year I say I am going to start early but I never do. I am now off until the first of the year and I look forward to being able to be at home with Peyton. Here are just a few more pictures we have taken.

What a great week we have had!

2008-11-29T22:57:00.012-06:00

I have been off all week for the Thanksgiving Holiday and have loved being able to spend every minute with my Peyton. We have had a great time. Monday we had to go to Dallas to see our favorite doctor. Peyton did great, he even was taken off of one of his breathing treatments unless it is necessary. On Tuesday Peyton helped me clean up around the house and then he helped his daddy with the new computer desk. He like to be a helper!

Peyton has enjoyed playing in the sun room this week also. As he gets bigger he likes the dogs more. It is so fun to watch him play with Bear and Sadie. He laughs so hard when he plays with them.

Thanksgiving Day was a very busy day for us. My side of the family came over and we cooked and had Thanksgiving lunch. We all got stuffed! My parents and grandmother both came. My aunt, uncle and two of my cousins also came up from San Antonio. It was good to see them while they were here. Kayla was able to come and spend the day with us as well. Peyton enjoyed spending time with everyone.

Aunt Rhonda and Uncle Paul

Cousin Carson

Gaga and Papa

Peyton and Kayla (sister)

Nannie and Peyton enjoying the outdoors.

For Thanksgiving Dinner we went up to Andy's dad's house. All of his family was there and everyone brought food. Another huge meal in one day. I think that we just had dessert. We were still full from lunch. Peyton had a great time playing with some of his little cousins.

Peyton and Aunt Aleta Ann (Andy's sister)
Granddad and Peyton
Daddy and Peyton

Yesterday and today we have been working on getting all of our Christmas things out. Peyton loved helping us put the train together. The loves to watch is go round and round. Today he helped me with the Christmas ornaments. He would hand them to me so that I could hang them on the tree.

The love of Mr. Potato Head

2008-11-22T15:11:00.004-06:00

Peyton has had a great week. On Tuesday at Windridge he got to go riding in the woods with Star. They went on a trail ride. My mother said he had a great time. She had to stay at the stables so she did not get to see him ride. I was really looking forward to going for the first time this coming week with Peyton to Windridge but due to the Thanksgiving Holiday they are closed this week. I was so disappointed! I guess that I am just going to have to find some other way to go see him ride.
Here at home Peyton has fallen in love with Mr. Potato Head and Dr. Seuss. We have a DVD of some of Dr. Seuss' stories that he loves to watch. He will walk around the house saying "Cat in the Hat". It is very cute. If he is not wanting to watch the DVD he is wanting to play with his Mr. Potato Head. Here are a few pictures that I took of him playing with his Mr. Potato Head.

Having a great time!

2008-11-13T21:43:00.008-06:00

Peyton continues to do very well. He keeps all of us very busy! He is doing something four day a week. Thanks to my mother and I don't have to miss work to take him to all of his therapies. THANKS MOM!!! None of this would be possible without her. Oh what fun he is. He decided to start sitting inside the refrigerator whenever the door is open and he is near by. What a mess. Here are a few pictures....

He has also started using rocking chair more. He drags it around the house just to sit in it. This was my dad's rocking chair when he was a little boy and my rocking chair too. He just loves it.

Last Christmas he got a rocking horse that he really has not had much interest in up until now. Now he rides it almost daily. He get on and says "Yeehaw".

Peyton is having a blast getting to ride Star at Windridge every Tuesday! When you ask him is horses name he can tell you. He gets so excited. This week he even got to trot on the horse. I can not wait until I get to go and watch. I have just seen pictures and heard stories about his time at Windridge. I think I will get to see him the week of Thanksgiving. I have the week off and plan to go. Here are a few pictures of this week.

Another great week

2008-11-06T16:41:00.005-06:00

Peyton has had a great week. He continues to do very well with his eating. He still does not love drinking yet but is doing better. This week at Windridge he rode his horse (Star) backwards and even worked a puzzle. He had a great time. He loves going to ride the horses.

Doing well with our eating.

2008-11-02T19:21:00.002-06:00

Peyton is doing great with his eating. We are still working with his drinking and it is getting better. When we eat he is more interested in the food and even tries some of it. He really likes when we go eat Mexican food. He likes the chips and green sauce. He makes one chip last a really long time. He also like to dip his own spoon into food and put it up to his mouth. I must make sure that I have LOTS of napkins when we eat because we will both be wearing the food when the meal is finished.
Peyton is learning so fast. I can not believe how fast he is picking up on things. He is truly a Mr. Copycat!! You must watch out for what you say and do around here. Peyton and I have had a great weekend. Saturday, we went with Gaga and Papa to Canton for the day. There were lots of people there I guess because of the nice weather. Today we just hung out at the house and played. Daddy was hunting all weekend. It is that time of the year. I hope that you all have a great week.

What an Exciting day for Peyton!

2008-10-28T19:25:00.004-05:00

We have been waiting for today for a long while. Today Peyton started going to Windridge Equestrian Center. He will go every Tuesday morning to ride with Ms. Debbie and Pilot (the Horse). Today he had a GREAT time. They said that he did wonderful. The only thing they had problems with was getting him off of Pilot. He wanted to stay on. I can't say I blame him. Here are a few pictures.

Getting on Pilot for the first time.

What a GREAT smile!!!

Peyton and Ms. Debbie saying "Bye-Bye" to Pilot.

Fall Fest

2008-10-27T22:05:00.003-05:00

What great weather we are having here. I love the cooler weather. Sorry that it has been a while since I have posted. Peyton is doing very well with his eating. We are still working on the drinking. We have changed the type of cup he uses therefore he is drinking a little better. We are happy with any improvement. We are now trying to get him to eat foods with a little more texture. Today in speech he had Nilla wafers in his pudding and did very well. He is really learning to eat.

Last night was our churches Trunk-or-Treat. Peyton was a little puppy dog. He is just so cute. He had a great time running around like the other kids. He really wanted to jump in the bounce houses that they had but there were to many kids in them. Here are a few pictures that we took last night.

Tomorrow morning Peyton has something that is new and very exciting. I will post pictures to let you see what it is tomorrow night.

Peyton is very busy!

2008-10-08T16:30:00.003-05:00

Hello to all, Sorry that I have not updated in a while. We have been very busy. Peyton in going to speech therapy three times a week and occupational therapy two times a week at Longview Therapy Center. Hopefully sometime in the next week or so we will be starting horse riding at Windridge. We are just waiting on the call, I do know that they have some spots open. Last weekend we went and walked in the "Buddy Walk" to support our local Down Syndrome Group. We had a great time walking with our friend Dylan and his family and friends.
I hope that all of you are doing well.

East Texas Angel Network Concert

2008-09-30T16:44:00.005-05:00

We had a great time at the concert Saturday night. Peyton did really well for the first part of it then he wanted to be up and walking around. That means that the rest of the night Andy and I took turns walking around the top of the coliseum chasing Peyton. He was having a GREAT time. When Neal started to sing Peyton and I started dancing, then he would not let me stop. He is such a mess. Here are a few pictures that we took of the night.

Gaga, Peyton and Daddy enjoying the night.

Homer and Gloria Barron (former Miss. Texas) the ventriloquist. She was amazing.

Baby Neal and Gloria doing her magic. This was hilarious! Poor Neal.

Blake Shelton was great!

Jack Hanna brought lots of really neat animals. These are just a few of the animals that he brought with him.

Neal starting to entertain. He puts on an amazing show!

Peyton and Daddy

Neal and his brother singing.

Jack Hanna's Animals

2008-09-27T13:01:00.003-05:00

Here are a few of the animals that Jack Hanna and his team brought for us to see at the meet and greet. I think he will again have these animals tonight at the concert along with others.

Lemur

Little Fox

Wallaby

Penguin

Armadillo

East Texas Angel Network Meet and Greet

2008-09-27T12:37:00.005-05:00

Today is the East Texas Angel Network Concert. This morning we were allowed to go to the Meet and Greet that they have for angels. This is usually for his current angels but the office staff (Mrs. Patsy and Mrs. Wendy) wanted to see Peyton. Peyton had a great time meeting all the people and seeing all the animals that Jack Hanna brought. Tonight we will be going to the concert at Longview High School.

Mrs. Patsy Williams and Peyton (Neal's Mother-in-law)

Mrs. Tracie and Peyton (Neal's sister-in-law and Kevin Sharp's wife)

Mrs. Patsy, Jack and Suzi Hanna and Peyton

Peyton and Neal McCoy

Jack Hanna and Peyton

I will try and take some pictures tonight to post. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Not Drinking anything!

2008-09-25T22:43:00.004-05:00

Peyton has not had a good week with his eating. Something has happened since we have started his new speech therapy. He will no longer drink from his cup. I am going to be starting over with trying to get him to drink. He is still eating pretty good. I have to figure out what in the world has happened with the drinking. It is very frustrating for us. I am hoping this is just another bump in the road.

Power back on

2008-09-18T20:17:00.002-05:00

We finally have power again. We were with out from Saturday early afternoon till Tuesday night around 7:30. Peyton started speech therapy at the Longview Therapy Center yesterday. He will be going three days a week now. He will soon start occupational therapy there also. We are just waiting on approval. He will be doing that two day a week. He is going to be very busy soon. We are still waiting on a doctors signature so that we can start at Windridge. That will be once a week when we start.

Cleaning up after IKE!!

2008-09-14T11:53:00.003-05:00

Peyton had a busy week. He was tested for speech therapy at school on Monday and then occupational therapy on Wednesday. On Friday we took him out to Windridge Equestrian Center to see about getting to ride horses for therapy also. He will get to start soon. I must fill out some papers and get the Doctor to sign them before we can start. We are very excited. We have been wanting to do this for a while. On Monday we have to take Peyton to another therapy center for an occupational therapy evaluation. We are wanting to get him into a therapy gym. He is going to be a busy little guy.
As many of you know Longview was hit by IKE. We had lots of high winds here. Thankfully we did not loose any of our trees. We just lost a few small limbs then lots of leaves and tiny branches. We have lots to pick up. Our neighbors across the street lost a huge pine tree in their front yard missing their house only by a few feet. We lost our electricity yesterday around 3:30 and we are still without it. I think most of Longview lost power. Peyton and I came to my parents today to redo our laundry. When we lost power I had just put a load in the washer and the dryer. They got their power back last night late. I hope that we get ours back soon. I called again today to report and they said that we should have ours back by Thursday at 8 pm. They must be joking!! I just we will just have to go stay with family if that is so.

More Birthday pictures

2008-09-09T18:12:00.003-05:00

Opening his presents!

Birthday pictures

2008-09-09T17:59:00.002-05:00

Birthday Boy!!

Peyton and Dylan

Peyton actually putting his mouth to his cake! We were all shocked

What fun he had playing in his cake.

Busy week!

2008-09-07T15:17:00.002-05:00

This has been a busy week for me. Sorry that I have not posted in a few days. It was back to work for me which means that I don't get on my computer at home much. I am going to work harder at updating on Peyton.
Early this week, Peyton continued to try my mother with eating but by the end of the week he was eating much better for her. He is still trying me because I do not get to feed him much during the week. This weekend he has not eaten a lot but he getting better. It is just going to take time. We have all the time in the world!
Yesterday we had a birthday party for our "little man" here at the house. We had a very nice turn out. Mostly family but a few special friends. Peyton had a blast running around the house and talking to everyone. When it was cake time, he began digging right into his little cake. That was a first for him. In the past I have always made hi put his hand into the cake. He even put some in his mouth! I was amazed. I hope that I got some good pictures. I will post them soon. At present time he loved helping me pull out the tissue paper from the bags. He got lots of nice things.

Thank you for those of you that have been commenting on our blog. It is nice to see what you all have to say. I hope that you continue to write comments to us.

BIRTHDAY BOY!!!

2008-09-02T20:18:00.004-05:00

Today is Peyton's 3rd Birthday. I can not believe it. He is just growing up to fast. We will be having a birthday party for him on Saturday here at the house with family and friends. I must get ready for it.
Peyton has not had very good days at eating. He ate for me on Sunday some but not a drop of food on Monday. It is hard to teach someone to feed him if he will not eat. I was beginning to show Mrs. Pat how to feed him so that she could feed him while I am at work. My mother will have to come over until we get Mrs. Pat trained. Today was my first day back to work. Peyton had an eye doctor appointment in Tyler so my mother took him. This means that he did not eat today either. Tomorrow we will try again. I called and talked with the ladies at OCH in Dallas and they said to keep working with him and he would eventually give in. He is just trying us.

We are finally home!!!

2008-08-31T23:12:00.002-05:00

We made it home yesterday afternoon around 4. It is so nice to be back home where we can sleep in our own beds. I think that Peyton was glad to be home also. He ran all over the home just laughing. He then pulled my mother back to his room so that she could open the door for him to run all around his room. We had a great evening just relaxing around the house with daddy. Peyton went to bed early because he did not get a nap (he does not sleep in the car), which allowed me to go to bed early. We started back with our eating today and of course Peyton was going to try me again. He is going to learn that mommy is not going to give in. Later in the day was better then the morning meal. We have already found some new toys that are just for meal time. Tomorrow I will begin teaching Mrs. Pat how to feed Peyton then my mother will also help once I go back to work. I will be back in the classroom on Tuesday (Peyton's 3rd Birthday). I am working on a small get together for Saturday to celebrate his birthday. There is nothing like planning a birthday party at the last minute. Shame on me!!!

What a rollercoster ride!

2008-08-28T17:41:00.003-05:00

Sorry that I have not posted in several days. I have typed up an update several time but the Internet connection has not been good so of course I lost them.
Last weekend I fed Peyton here at RMH and he did very well for me. We had no big problems. Monday was back to school and again he did very well for us. On Tuesday Peyton decided to start trying us. I tried feeding him the first three time and he did not eat much, only about 1 oz of food and about the same for the drink. He did a little better for my mother the fourth meal. Yesterday was not a good day either. His first meal (25 min) he did not eat one bite! The second meal he ate about 2 oz of food and about 1 oz of fluid. His third meal he once again decided to have a stand off and took not one bite. His fourth meal he ate a little but not much. These day are not easy for me. I thought that today was going to be a good day. He woke up all on his very own and was very happy. We got to school and for his first meal my mother fed him so that I could meet with another mom about the program. He ate very little for her. His second meal I fed him and he ate very little again. His third and fourth meals my mother once again fed and he once again did not eat ONE BITE!!! These day are not easy for my mother and I but we are going to win! Everyone at OCH is glad that he is doing this so they can help walk us though these meals. They say that this behavior is not uncommon but that it usually happens in the second or third week of school not the last week. Tomorrow will be our last day at eating school. They are going to give us all the info we need to go home and continue what we are doing here. We will be keeping in touch with them through this process of learning to eat more. If need be we will come back in the future for more. We are hoping that we can do as much as possible at home.

Friends at Ronald McDonald

2008-08-28T17:22:00.004-05:00

We have made some great friends here at RMH. There are a few families from the east Tx area that we hope to keep in touch with. Peyton makes friends with just about anyone he sees but their are a few that are very special that work and volunteer here at RMHD. In the photo above are the volunteers for Tuesday nights and Mrs. Norma the house manager that lives here at the house. Peyton really just fell in love with these ladies. They are from left to right Mrs. Tiffany, Mrs. Caroline holding Peyton, Ms. Margaret, Mrs. Norma (Nina) and Ms. Melissa. These ladies played with Peyton every Tuesday night. We hope to be able to keep in touch with them.

Dallas Cowboy's Game

2008-08-23T17:40:00.003-05:00

On our way to the Game!!!
Go COWBOYS!!!!

Thanks Mrs. Linda for the tickets. She loved little man.
Tired little boy!

Playing at OCH

2008-08-23T17:29:00.003-05:00

What a busy day yesterday was!

2008-08-23T17:07:00.002-05:00

Friday was a very busy day for us. While at eating school Peyton did very well. I feed him his two morning meals and my mother feed him his two afternoon meals. He did very well for both of us. During his morning break we went outside on the play ground to play while it was still nice out. He had a blast! He climbed the stairs to the slide all by himself and then slid all by himself too. When it was time for nap time, well Peyton had other plans. He really needed a nap because we were going to have a very busy night. He ended up falling asleep in the car on the was back to The Ronald McDonald House so he only had about a 30 min. nap.
Friday Night we were off to the Cowboy game. A family that lives here in the Dallas area brought 15 luxury suite ticket to the RMH for some of the families. We were one of the lucky families. They picked us up in a small bus and took us to the game. When we got to the stadium they escorted us to the VIP entrance and dropped us off. When we got the the suite the couple was there to enjoy the game with us. There was all the food and drinks that we wanted. Then they bought two of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders into our suite and we all got to get our pictures taken with them. It was so much fun. This same couple did the same thing with a Dallas Stars game back in 05 while Peyton was still in the NICU and we were able to go to that game also. They remembered us and they were so excited to see Peyton. She told me that Peyton has been on her prayer list since that Stars game. Peyton got to run all over the suite and he had the best time. He finally crashed with about 5 min. left in the game.

What a Great day!!

2008-08-21T17:35:00.002-05:00

Today Peyton blew us away with his drinking. He drank 2 to 3 ounces of carnation instant breakfast three times today. We were all amazed!! He continues to do very well with his eating too. He is eating 3 or so ounces of pureed foods each meal and not really giving us any problems. I just can not say enough about how great this program is at Our Children's House at Baylor!! Today I did his morning feeds and my mother started feeding this afternoon. We will be doing all of his feeds now with the therapist in watching and giving us tips.

Doing great with mom feeding!

2008-08-20T19:27:00.003-05:00

Peyton continues to do very well. He is eating around 3 ounces of pureed food at each of his four meals and drinks about 1 ounce from his special cup each meal. He is eating just about all of his bites. This is great!! Today I began feeding him at his afternoon meal times. He did very well for me. I am expecting him to try me at anytime. Everyone has told me to expect it. We will just have to see how long it takes. We are trying new foods almost daily and so far he is excepting everything. Today he ate yogurt, cheese soup, lasagna and banana pudding and to drink he had carnation instant breakfast. This afternoon the dietitian weighed Peyton and we were able to wean one of his tube feeding down some. Everyone seems to be very pleased with his progress. I know we are!!!
Tomorrow I think in ST they are going to work with introducing a little bit of texture. They are going to try some yogurt that has a little fruit and cereal in it. That will be interesting. I hope he does well. I will soon be able to go sit in on this ST and OT sections so that I can continue to work with some of the things when we get home. I am also going to see about getting him into another therapy place at home that will continue to work with him weekly.

Week 3 of eating school

2008-08-18T20:43:00.002-05:00

On Friday we started going into the room with Peyton while they feed so that we can see the technique that we have to use. Peyton was excited that we get to go. Today they started with the drinking again in ST. Then this afternoon he had to drink during his feeding times. The first feeding this afternoon was not so good. He took his first few bites with no problem, then when it was time to drink it went down hill. He threw a fit for about 20 minutes, until the timer went off, without taking one drink. He would not take the bribing with toys, movies or bubbles. That was the hardest 20 minutes for me. All I could do was sit there and ignore and not make eye contact. I thought that the timer was never going to go off. When it finally did go off he was able to get out of his chair but I could not hold him for a few minutes. That was SO hard!! All I wanted to do was pick him up and comfort him.
I was so dreading his next feed. During his second feed this afternoon things went much smoother. He took all of his bites and he even took all his drinks. We were all so proud of him and we let him know it! He ate over 3 ounces and drank 15 cc's of his formula thickened with simply thick. Tomorrow he will be expected to drink in all of four of his feeds. All of his therapist say that he is doing very well. They all LOVE HIM!!!

2008-08-16T12:58:00.002-05:00

Peyton has had a great week at eating school. By the end of the week he was eating 2 to 3 ounces four times a day. On Friday he had a swallow study over at Baylor Medical Center just to make sure that everything is going down correctly. He did very well. It was decided that for now we will be thickening his fluids to the consistency of nectar or store bought chocolate milk. He will start working on drinking again on Monday. I am very excited about his progress with his eating. This week he will start trying more foods like......lasagna, mac and cheese and others that are all pured. We are not doing much this weekend other then relax. I hope that you all have a great weekend.

Making great progress!

2008-08-13T17:57:00.002-05:00

Peyton is making great progress. He just amazes me. This week we have been eating more bites of food. He is now up to three bites of food and one dry spoon. Today we added cheese soup to his menu, so we are now eating 4 different foods. Today was a great day for Peyton, three of his meals he ate about 2 ounces and the fourth meal he at 3 ounces. WOW!!! Today in OT he played with mac and cheese, they play each day with some kind of food. They also work on climbing stairs and they swing in the therapy gym. In ST they are working on him excepting different kinds of food and drinking from different cups. Friday we are going to meet with our dietitian to get a current weight and see about weaning off of some of his formula. How exciting!

Back to eating school

2008-08-12T08:37:00.003-05:00

We had a great weekend but now it is back to school. Peyton continues to do very well in eating school. Yesterday started taking bigger bites but not full bites yet. He ate almost 1/2 an ounce of food each of the 4 times he was fed. Today they are going to try a cereal to go along with his yogurt and soup. The plan is to be able to puree anything that we eat at home for him to eat, then be able to get away from having to puree his foods.

Pictures of our Zoo trip

2008-08-10T21:46:00.002-05:00

We had a great time!!!

Tired Peyton!!!!!

Must be nice to just relax and have no worries!

First Week Finished

2008-08-10T12:50:00.002-05:00

Peytons first week of eating school went very well. It was much better then I thought. He is excepting his bites and he is learning good eating technique. He tried many new things this week and took them all with out a problem....tomato soup, chicken soup, strawberry yogurt and butterscotch pudding. All of his feeding this week were 3 dry spoons followed by 1 spoon dipped in the food. This next week I think that they will be adding more food to his feeding.
Yesterday Andy, Peyton and I went to the Ft. Worth Zoo. We had a nice time. There were lots of people there and it was very HOT! This was Peyton's first time to visit a zoo. He liked making all the animal sounds. Some of the animals were very active. It was fun to watch them. I would have loved to have taken of the train, but I decided that Peyton would have probably screamed the whole way. We will have to go again and ride the train. I will post pictures of our zoo trip later today.
Andy headed back home today. He has to go back to work tomorrow. He will come again when he gets a day off.

Day 4 of eating school

2008-08-08T09:52:00.002-05:00

Sorry that I did not post last night. Peyton had a good day at school yesterday. He ate all his bites. His menu was both tomato soup and chicken soup. In ST they explored with strawberry yogurt and he did well, so that will be on his menu for today. In OT they explored with more chocolate pudding, rice, beans and blocks.

Playing at Ronald McDonalds

2008-08-06T19:43:00.003-05:00

This afternoon we went and played out on the playground at the Ronald McDonald House. Peyton had a great time. The weather was nice...only 95 not 105 like the rest of the week.

Day 3 of eating school

2008-08-06T16:56:00.004-05:00

This morning Peyton did very well with taking all his bites. Every fourth bite had tomato soup on it. In Occupational Therapy (OT) one of the things they worked with was chocolate pudding. He had it everywhere... face, hair and even put some in his mouth. In Speech Therapy (ST) they tried chicken soup out. He seemed to like it so that will be on his menu for tomorrow. This afternoon they saw the real Peyton.......(I'm not going to do it). The first few bites were ok then the fits started. They do active ignoring while they are feeding. I am going to have to work on this!!! One of his fits went on for eight minutes then he finally took a bite and got to play again. He thought he was going to get his way but.....they showed him. Overall he once again had a very good day.

Therapy Dogs

2008-08-05T22:10:00.002-05:00

Tonight the Heart of Texas Therapy Dogs came to Ronald McDonald's to visit. Peyton had a great time petting on them and running after them while other kids were walking them. Here are a few pictures.

Day 2 of eating school

2008-08-05T18:47:00.001-05:00

Today was another good day for Peyton. He did very well with closing his lips around the spoon today. Today he wanted to play with cars while they were working with the spoon, so as long as he took his bites he could play. When he did not take his bites the cars were taken away. I think he only had the cars taken away 1 time. Today in his speech therapy he took bits of tomato soup. That will be on his menu for tomorrow again. I am just amazed at how well he is doing.
Peyton also had a follow-up Dr. appt with his ENT, Dr. McClay,and everything looks great. They did another hearing test today and everything was normal. That was a chore. He did not like the test. I had to sit in the sound proof booth with him during the test. There is nothing hard about it, it was just something different. He decided he was going to hold his hands over his ears halfway though the test. That made it a lot harder.

Our first day of eating school.

2008-08-04T18:22:00.003-05:00

Today was our big day! It went much better then I thought. Today they worked on getting Peyton to except a dry spoon being in his mouth. As long as he was "taking bits" he was allowed to watch an Seame Street ABC DVD that he loved. If he did not take a bit after telling him twice then the movie was turned off until he did take a bite. Each time he took a bit they gave him big praise!!! To my surprise we did not have to change clothes at all today. They all said that he did great. Tomorrow they are going to work on him closing his lips around the spoon. I am hoping that tomorrow will be as successful as today.

We made it to Dallas

2008-08-03T17:58:00.001-05:00

We made it to Ronald McDonald House safely this afternoon. Mom and I unpacked our bags while Peyton watched one of his Praise Baby DVDs. We are settled into our home away from home for the month. The dinner tonight was delicious....chicken spaghetti. We will have to settle in for the night in just a few hour because we have to be at Our Children's House at 8 in the morning. My little Peyton is usually a late sleeper so that means he must go to bed a lot earlier. Well I must get off here and see where my mother and Peyton are. I will let you all know how tomorrow goes. I am taking a bag of extra of clothes with us as I think Peyton will not come home in what he wears in the morning.

Leaving in a few hours

2008-08-03T10:09:00.001-05:00

Well we will be leaving in just a few hours for Dallas. Andy has decided that he needs to stay here for a few days and get some things around the house finished. He will come up at the end of the week for a few days. My mother will be going with us today and be staying for the 4 weeks. You don't really realize how much you need for a month until you pack. Peyton has LOTS of stuff we must take.....5 cases of formula, case of bags for his pump, diapers, things to keep him occupied and the list goes on........ I must go so that I can finish packing.

Getting ready for Dallas

2008-08-02T15:49:00.001-05:00

Well we will be leaving for Dallas tomorrow sometime. Peyton and I will be gone all month. Andy is going with us for the first week then he will come home to take care of the house and go to work. My mother will be coming up when Andy come home. We will be staying at the Ronald McDonald House, our home away from home. We have to be at Our Children's House at Baylor on Monday morning at 8 and will stay until 4. We will be there five days a week for four weeks. Peyton's little world is going to be turned upside down. They will attempt to feed him 4 times a day and when they are not feeding him he will be in different therapies. Hopefully when we come home after four weeks of day patient he will be eating some. Then we can continue to work with him at home and one day be completely off of the tube feedings. This is going to take a long time and I am afraid it is not going to be an easy road for Peyton.

2008-07-31T18:06:00.000-05:00

Peyton and I have taken water babies these last two weeks. He really liked being in the water. He was never excited about getting out of the pool. Today was our last day so Peyton's Gaga came and took some pictures so that I can add some pages to his scrapbook.

Fossil Rim

2008-07-30T21:33:00.000-05:00

Peyton loved petting on the goats at the Fossil Rim in Glenrose, TX.

Father's Day Pictures

2008-07-30T00:56:00.000-05:00

This is Peyton helping his daddy with his fathers day present. I had fun helping put the shed together.

2008-07-30T00:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I am going to try this blog stuff. Everyone keeps asking me when we are going to post new pictures of my little man. Hopefully on this I can write updates and post pictures too. I will work hard at keeping this site current.