Thanksgiving

Every since Curtis embarked on this coaching career he has never been home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Which is a real bummer. The teams have always played in some kind of tournament. This year was the same. The Cougs are playing in the 76 Classic in Anaheim right now. Trey and I were able to see Curtis on TV last night and we will watch them again tonight and finally on Sunday. We are so anxious for him to come home.

Trey and I were going to head to Tacoma for Thanksgiving but since we will be heading back up to the area in another week for Children's it is just too much traveling. We are lucky and blessed to have such wonderful friends in Pullman. Trey and I ended up going to one of our old neighbor's for Thanksgiving, Betty (Bet-Bet to Trey) and Mike's house.

It was a wonderful afternoon. Unfortunately their loved ones weren't able to make the holiday celebration because of weather. Betty and Mike were sweet enough to invite us and some WSU students they know for a yummy turkey dinner.


Mike carving the delicious turkey.


Betty was so sweet and had Trey's favorite toys out upon his arrival. He was quite entertained the whole time.


Of course I missed being with my family and husband in Tacoma but we are so lucky to have what feels like extended family in Pullman. Mike and Betty have been so good to us since we arrived. I don't know what I would do without them both.


We love you Mike and Bet-Bet.


We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Approved:)

We are headed to Seattle Children's for the intensive feeding program in December. We found out we got approved by insurance for 22 visits. This won't cover the whole program but the majority. We will submit for more visits as Trey's treatment comes to an end and hopefully they will approve more sessions so he can finish up the program. But we are excited and grateful that we can begin as planned.

I will update more on the program as our start date approaches. One more hoop to get through is Ronald McDonald housing availability during Trey's scheduled program. We are trusting that the Lord has that figured out for our family.

First Taste of Snow

We have had our first taste of snow these last couple of days in Pullman. There is something about snow falling that is so peaceful.



I love it and so does my little boy. Trey couldn't wait to get outside and play. Of course I couldn't resist taking pictures....




Lily loving the snow too.


Trey got Lily's ball thrower and realized he could throw snow. Poor Lily became his first victim.



His dear Mommy was next...


We are excited for more snowy days.

Pure delight.

Visiting Family

Trey and I made it back to Pullman safely this past weekend. My parents drove us back and then spent the weekend in Pullman. It was Dad's Weekend at WSU so my Dad and Jay went to some of the father and son activities. I have been so bad about taking pictures lately. So I didn't get any from their visit.

I did however take a few while we were visiting in Tacoma...

One day my Grandparents, Auntie Nancy and my cousins Mari and Alison and her husband and 2 adorable daughters came down to visit. We all went to lunch at a church bazaar.

Mari, Amalia, Trey and I.


These two were so cute together.


Trey and I spent time with Curtis's family while we were visiting. Trey couldn't get enough of his Uncle Victor.

Trey and Victor dancing.


Love these 2 boys.


Trey loved being outside at my parent's house.


My parents were a huge help with all of our appointments, etc.

Trey hanging out with his Papa.


Trey loving his Ma.


Even though it's never fun coming up for Trey's appointments. It's always nice to spend time with family. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family in our lives.

Follow-Up Appointments

Well Mr. Trey and I are up in Tacoma right now. Trey has a bunch of follow up appointments this week. I thought I would update on what has happened so far....

We met with the neurosurgeon in Tacoma who agrees with the neurosurgeon at Seattle Children's that Trey doesn't need surgery at this time to fix his Chiari Malformation. We will be sticking with care at Seattle Children's to follow Trey's Chiari diagnosis. That doctor is just a better fit for our family. Trey will still have another MRI done in 6 months to check that his Chiari isn't worsening.

We also had an appointment at Seattle Children's Feeding Clinic to meet with Trey's therapist who he would be seeing Trey if we can still attend the intensive feeding program in December. We did a short therapy session where Trey was successful swallowing a few noodles. She thought Trey was appropriate to begin the program but wanted to make sure that his GI doctor and dietitian felt that he was safe weight wise to begin also.

So we saw our favorite GI doctor and dietitian at Mary Bridge yesterday. They agreed that with all the progress that Trey is making right now this would be the perfect time to try out the program in Seattle. We still need to accomplish a few things before we go. Trey has gained about 1/2 pound back since our last visit. His sickness this past October really caused a setback for him as far as weight goes. So we will be adding more hours to his night time drip to help beef him up before December. His relfux has been doing OK but Dr. Pickens wants to make sure we are at our best so we did some medication changes also.

The therapist, GI doctor and dietitian all informed me that the 2 week intensive feeding program is going to be challenging. Trey will be having his tube feeding greatly decreased as we move through the program and this can cause a lot of stress on such a little body. So we will probably experience change in mood, energy and sleep. But they will be monitoring him very closely to make sure he is not losing too much weight, etc. I also know after leaving the program Trey won't be 100% off his tube feedings but we are excited to hopefully transition to the next step.

Now we just have to get approval from insurance. So cross your fingers that this will take place. We also will anxiously awaiting if we will be able to stay at the Ronald McDonald house during our 2 week trip. They are very busy and never know their availability until the day before we are expected to arrive. Scary!!! It would be perfect if we could stay there because we have to go to and from the hospital 3-4 times a day.

We have one more appointment on Thursday with the neurologist who is monitoring Trey's seizure medication. Which I am happy to report we have had no seizures. Then we are heading back to the Palouse and excited to see Curtis.

Hope everyone is enjoying their week.

Childhood Memories:)

When I was younger my Mom use to have small little gifts in the morning waiting for my brother and I on holidays like Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc. I remember being so excited to come down in the morning before school and seeing a special treat waiting for me. So I decided to continue that fun little tradition with Trey.

Here are some pictures from Halloween morning...


I love his face here.





I hope this becomes a special memory for Trey as it was for me. Thanks to my own Mommy for my wonderful memories.

Halloween

Well trick or treating was a much better experience for Mr. Trey this year. We were sad because Curtis couldn't be with us due to a recruiting trip. Uncle Jay ended up coming over to hang out with his nephew that night.

Here are some pictures of our little shark this year...








Trey went around our neighborhood with his little buddies up the street, Lukas and Milo.

Aren't they cute??



Once again it was cold this year for trick or treating but at least we didn't have snow.



We hope everyone had a great Halloween.