THOMAS COMES HOME
Thomas' estimated one week recovery in the hospital ended up taking 6 weeks. He didn't start making much improvement in his breathing until he underwent surgery to open up his airway. Even with the surgery he still has pulmonary hypertension so he has to be on oxygen at home for an estimated 3-5 months (depending on how long it takes for him to outgrow it).
Thomas right before coming home.
Thomas needed a lot of equipment when he came home. Here are two people from the Home Medical Supply company trying to get his big oxygen tank up the stairs. I was overwhelmed at first by having to give Thomas the extra oxygen support, but it was actually much easier than I expected. They even gave me little tanks for when I have to take him places and medium size tanks for when we take him downstairs.
Thomas' first week home was pretty rough since he was still being weaned off his morphine, but after that he made a nice adjustment. Here he is having fun kicking his sheep above his crib.
On 3-21 (National Down Syndrome Day) Thomas got his first haricut. As you can tell it was long over due.
Some cute post-haircut Thomas smiles.
He loves pat-a-cake.
He also loves kicking his legs.
He's really cute when he sleeps.
One nice thing about having him on a monitor at night is that we can let him sleep with his stuffed animals. Here he is cuddling his Mr. Moo toy he got at the hospital.
He loves licking his fist.
A PARTY
I brought home some balloons from an enrichment activity for the kids to play with. They decided that you can't have balloons without a party so they decided to have a party for their toys.
ST. PATRICK'S DAY
On St. Patrick's Day, Lucky the Leprechaun left some Shamrock clues and the kids had a treasure hunt to some cookies and some new green clothes to wear to church.
In the green church clothes.
SPRING
We enjoyed some beautiful weather this month. Here are Nathan and Maddy "helping" Jared as he gets our yard ready for Spring.
They also took some time to enjoy a little backyard archery.
EASTER
Nathan learned about Easter in Preschool. He came home and told me all about the Stone Cookie that covered Jesus' tomb.
He also had a lot of fun dying Easter eggs.
The girls hunting for eggs in our backyard.
Thomas on his first Easter. He got an expensive special needs bottle to help with oral feeding.
Nathan got a medical kit and some construction cones to use with his dump truck.
Maddy was excited about a My Little Pony.
Abby was excited to get a puzzle so she could learn her 50 States and capitals. All the kids got piggy banks to help them save for their missions.
The kids were excited to spend Easter down in Boise with their Collett grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousins. Here is Grandma Collett helping Nathan on the Easter Egg hunt.
The cousins had lots of fun looking for eggs.
The younger kids ended up getting more eggs than the older cousins since they had so many adult "helpers."
The girls had fun jumping on the tramp.
We just had time for a quick picture before church on Easter morning. Unfortunately Thomas is unhappy here because he just threw up.
Me with my two beautiful girls.
The kids were excited about the yummy bird nest treats Grandma made for their Easter dessert.
The adults each got one too.
We also enjoyed celebrating William's 4th birthday.
NATHAN
I was excited the other day to see Nathan draw his first recognizable person with, as he said, "One big shoe and one little shoe."
MY GRANDPA DONALDSON
Here is a great picture my dad just sent me of my Grandpa Donaldson in a WWII veteran hat that my dad got him. I'm grateful to have such a wonderful grandpa.
