Therapy FUN!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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.....