Our Little Busy Body:)

Trey reached the 20 month mark this past August 16th and is busier than ever these days. Curtis and I have a hard time keeping up with him at times. Trey's favorite new thing to do is climbing up on EVERYTHING. The picture above I caught him sitting on our clothes hamper that he knocked over.

Trey has become quite the little social butterfly. He loves to wave and charm everyone by blowing kisses. He is quite the entertainment where ever he goes. Showing everyone his new songs he has learned or his latest dance moves.

I thought I would give a feeding update since it has been quite a while. About a month and half ago Trey again started to decline greatly in his progress he was making with eating and drinking. We thought the incoming teeth were the main culprit but then the eating and drinking almost completely stopped. He started to then have vomiting a couple times a week which previously wasn't an issues anymore.

So I started venting his stomach more with his g-tube. This is where you attach an extension tube to his stomach and it releases air or food if needed. Well Mr. Trey started to have old looking blood come out of his tube. Obviously concerning. Where was this coming from?? Well the blood continued and the vomiting worsened. Soon he began throwing up small amounts of old blood. Of course when it rains it pours. Trey's increasing tummy problems got very bad right around the time of my grandma's stroke.

So after blood tests to make sure he wasn't having severe bleeding we got on a quick flight to see Grandma and take Trey to his GI doctor. We ended up having a upper GI endoscopy done. This is where the doctor places a flexible endoscope down his throat to visualize his lining in the esophagus, stomach, etc.

Trey had the same anesthesia he did for the g-tube placement. So we knew what to expect but they had quite a bit of difficulty this time with the IV placement which wasn't fun for him or us.

Trey has never been scoped before so we were anxious to hear what Dr. Picken's saw. He was able to find the bleeding during the procedure. Around Trey's g-tube there is that balloon that keeps the tube in place. Well either the balloon size was too big for Trey or the way his own anatomy and all his movement caused the balloon to erode into his stomach lining. So the doctor replaced the tube and decreased the balloon size. We were going to come back in a week to follow up and hope the decrease in balloon size would stop the bleeding.

Well things did improve for a couple of days and of course the night before Grandma's memorial service the bleeding started again. So right after the service back to Mary Bridge we went but this time Dr. Picken's inserted a different tube called a Nurtiport. The difference with this balloon is the end is flat and not rounded to it will hopefully sit up against his stomach lining and not cause as much friction.

Trey's new g-tube.


So far since the new tube placement no bleeding and Trey has had increase in drinking and doing actually pretty well with eating these last few days. This is very encouraging. I got so teary the other night when he actual took bites of food because it has been so long since I have seen this from him.

Worst case scenario if the stomach tissue does not heal on its own Dr. Picken's would have to scope Trey again and inject epinephrine into his tissue which would cause the blood vessels where the bleeding is at to constrict. But we are crossing our fingers that his new tube will do the trick.

As usual Trey is a little trooper. Still a big ball of energy, humor, happiness and fun:)

Recent pictures of the little man...

Sweet Grandma Kathryn

This past Sunday August 8th my dearest Grandma Kathryn passed away. As I mentioned in my previous blog Grandma had been declining quiet rapidly in the previous months but she suffered a stroke on July 29th that began her journey to heaven.

I was able to come home and spend some amazing time with Grandma before her passing. Those final days are moments I will cherish forever. Her journey to heaven took a total of 11 days and she passed away very peacefully the day before her husband's 42 year anniversary of his own passing. A sweet ending to their love story.

We had an amazing memorial service to celebrate her full life. It was comforting to have wonderful family and friends surroundings us that day. A touching part of the service was when all of the grandchildren each shared a special memory they had with grandma. I would like to share mine with you...

I would have to say looking back on my 28 years of life so many of my lifelong memories are wrapped up in Grandma Kathryn. Figure skating lessons at 6:30 in the morning, car rides back and forth to school, Christmas mornings breakfast, going to church every Sunday together, taking care of me when I was sick, buying my first car, sewing my senior prom dress and our annual summer trips to California to name a few.

But the one attribute that touches my heart the most when I think about Grandma Kathryn that may surprise most people is her sensitivity. As a young girl I remember being very upset about something and running around the block to her house and crawling into her arms on her green rocking chair and crying. I remember vividly that day Grandma rocking me and sitting quietly and listening. Her calm voice eventually spoke telling me in her own words that everything would be fine. She had a special way of fixing things.

It's ironic that again 20 years later I found myself in the same situation but this time crying to her because I was saying goodbye for the last time. I again laid on her chest and told her how I was feeling and she listened. Even though she didn't speak this time she still fixed my sadness I was feeling through her eyes.

Grandma has been such an important part of my life and helped mold me into the daughter, sister, wife and mother I am today. I love you Grandma Kathryn.

Grandma meeting Trey for the first time.

Trey's New Set Of Wheels:)

One of our old neighbors gave Trey her son's old tricycle which also has a handle for the parent to help push so the little one can learn how to pedal. Of course Trey has fallen in love with his new set of wheels:)

Playdate with Samira and Aziah:)

Yesterday Trey had his good friend Samira and her new little brother Aziah over for some playtime. Samira and Aziah's daddy is another assistant basketball coach for WSU.

Trey and Samira are about 1 month apart in age. It has been fun to watch them begin now to notice each other and really interact.





Trey and Samira have been going to music and story time at the library each week together. So we were singing some of the songs to them while they were playing. Here are some of the cute pictures...

Trey sees a cute girl from across the room...



Trey says I think I will show her my dance moves to get her attention.



"OK I have her attention now".



"Time to ask her to dance with me".



"Now if I can just keep her interested".



Success she is dancing with me!!!!

Sprinkler Time!!!

It has been quite warm in Pullman this last week or so. We have had the pool out quite a bit so I thought I would introduce Trey to the sprinkler. What a big hit!!! He loves touching and running through the water. It was quite entertaining to watch:)

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!!!

Who Needs Water???

Welcome Home Daddy!!!

This month is a difficult time for the Allen family. Curtis has begun his long month of recruiting and that means time away from Trey and I :( But we were so excited for his arrival from his 10 day road trip this past weekend.

Trey and I have been trying to keep busy while Curtis has been traveling. We have had lots of play dates with our old and new neighborhood friends. Trey and I have also been fortunate enough to be invited over to old and new neighbor's houses for dinner which has been especially nice for me to engage in some adult conversation. Trey and I visited the Moscow Farmer's Market one weekend which we both loved. Trey has loved going to weekly story and music time at our local library. It is so much fun to see him remember the different songs we sing each week.

We are excited for the month of July to come to an end so we can have Mr. Curtis around again. We are so proud of all his hard work this month with endless traveling, airports, rental cars, sweaty gyms and hotels. We know his commitment to improving WSU basketball is going to pay off in the upcoming seasons.

We love you Curtis!!!