Peyton playing on Tractors!!!

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!!!

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!

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

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.

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

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!

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!

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.

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.