June 8: Andrew turned 2!!!

I can't believe my baby boy is 2!  He has changed so much over the past two years, but he is still my little baby boy.

2010                      2011

                                          

Andrew's birthday extravaganza was split up into 3 days.  

June 7th:  

We took Andrew out to Red Brick Pizza for dinner.  We chose that restaurant for two reasons: 

Reason 1--Andrew LOVES pizza.  Reason 2--Each booth has it's own TV and remote and Andrew LOVES remotes.  He had fun eating and playing with all the buttons.

June 8th: 

Andrew spent the day doing all kinds of fun things all while wearing his awesome 2 shirt that I stayed up the night before sponge painting (I need to learn NOT to wait until the night before to do birthday stuff)  We went to the E3 children's museum and Andrew had fun playing with all the kids and the toys.  We came home for lunch and dad was there so Andrew got to enjoy his present: his new red trike!  This new toy will not only but fun, but great therapy for his arms and legs.  He will put his left hand on the handle, but doesn't hold on yet.  I'm thinking of ways to strap that hand on so he won't let go. 

We had back to back house showings that night so we spent some time at the dog park with Rocco and shared a root beer float. Because of the last minute showings I didn't get to make the glorious golf cake I was envisioning.   Instead I slathered on some rainbow chip frosting and plunked down a 2 candle and called it a day.  Andrew didn't seem to mind the lack of decor.  He really enjoyed his cake this year, much more than last year for sure!

June 9th: 

PRESENTS!!! Andrew opened up the rest of his presents the day after his birthday.  He got a bell and horn for his new bike, a Leap Frog light up bongo (super annoying, but we needed something to keep him entertained during his upcoming hospital stay) and a little car.

The Children's Hospital--Denver, CO

We were all set to go to Denver for Andrew's annual checkup at Stroke Clinic, but a couple weeks before our appointment we noticed Andrew was having some strange arm movements.  His arm would stiffen for about a second and then go back to normal.  At first these episodes only happened once or twice a day every few days, but each day they became more frequent and occurred every day.  We called the neurologist and he thought it would be a good idea to get an EEG since this type of arm stiffening was different from what we had seen in the past and was getting worse every day. So our quick trip to Denver turned into an overnight stay in the EMU. During our stay we were able to capture 8-10 episodes and they turned out to be seizures.  Not the greatest news, but it's a better diagnosis than the Movement Disorder we have been trying to get under control for almost a year.  We have a new medication to try (poor baby is now on 3 anti-seizure meds) and hopefully will be able to get things under control and wean Andrew off some of his other medications.  

 Andrew had fun in the lobby walking around. 

 He also had a blast walking around his room even though we had to follow closely behind him to make sure he didn't pull out any wires.

Even with all that he has to go through, Andrew has always had a smile on his face! 

 

 Driving his car around his crib!  We bought some new toys for our stay in the hospital and just kept rotating them in and out to keep him entertained.

Even with all the new toys, Andrew still was on the lookout for things to play with.  He ripped that clock right off the wall and had fun beeping the buttons.  It's kind of a blurry picture, but I just had to get a shot of his diaper booty hanging out the back of his gown!