Halloween

Graesen had a great halloween.  He played in some leaves, went to a fall festival at church, and went trick or treating with Phoebe and his friend, Devon.  I think he liked the festival at church best.  He was a wild man!  He loved the bouncy castle and thought that the bean bag toss was something for him to climb through.  He had a great time and was so tired that I'm surprised he made it around the block for trick or treating.

Practice

Graesen and Phoebe got to do a little trick or treat practicing today.  We went to a little thing in Idaho with a market and then trick or treating at store fronts.  Phoebe loved it, although she did insist on adding a tutu to her cute kitty costume.  Graesen just wanted to climb the stairs in the mall and then threw a fit every time I pulled him off of them.  The pictures are not great, because the kids would not quit moving and the lighting was bad.  At least we got a couple from the day!

Rain, rain go away...

so this little boy can spend some more time playing outside.  We have squeezed in some short trips to the park between rain showers, but Graesen is still feeling a little deprived.  He loves being outside and cries when we leave the park lately. 

The reason we are visiting the GI dr.

It's hard to describe what it looks like when Graesen's stomach is bothering him.  Tonight his stomach was really bad and he hardly touched his dinner.  I decided to take a video so I could show his dr. if needed.  I am worried that his endoscopy will come back without answers.  Of course, I don't want any bad news, but I know we need to figure out what is causing this and fix it.  That being said, if his endoscopy comes back clear I will show his dr the videos I took and ask him for a referral to an allergist, and ask about the possibility of something in the lower intestines (at this point they have not checked the large intestine). 
Tonight Graesen's stomach was so bad.  He fell asleep at the table and continued to pull his legs up in pain.

Barium Swallow results

Graesen's test results are back.  Everything was normal.  This means that we will go ahead and do the endoscopy on the 5th of November.  The only way we were going to cancel was if the barium test revealed what was wrong.  Since it didn't, Graesen will go under general anesthesia and have biopsies taken.  Adults are usually kept awake and given a strong sedative during endoscopies, but with a toddler they can't trust him to hold still.  Plus, I'm pretty sure being awake would be highly traumatizing for a little guy.  So, we will go back to the surgery center :(.  I was hoping we would find out what was the matter from yesterday's test so we could skip the endoscopy.  Plus, I have been so worried that I have hardly been able to sleep.  I just want to know what is wrong and not have to worry and wonder anymore.

If you missed out on our super fun experience yesterday, read the post before this one.

Barium Swallow

Graesen had a barium swallow x-ray with a small bowel follow through today.  He had to stop eating and drinking after midnight, so he woke up a few times (as usual) and was very angry that I wouldn't nurse him.  We headed to the hospital bright and early and made our way to the pediatric radiology center.  Graesen was only interested in the toys for a little while.

He started trying to run away from the place and go home.  It was so funny.  He would take off running down the hall, find the elevators, then try to reach the buttons to get on.  Once he realized he couldn't reach the regular buttons, he tried to find other things that looked like buttons to push.  He kept going up to outlets, touching them, and then looking at the elevator doors to see if they would open. 

 Little hospital bracelet.  I forgot he had it on until dinner time.

The fun stopped once we were brought back to the x ray room.  We changed Graesen into a gown and then had to held the radiologist and x ray techs pin Graesen down.  They strapped him into a contraption that held his arms above his head and allowed them to rotate Graesen from side to side.  I then had to try and force feed Graesen barium while the x rays began.  Poor Graesen was so scared.  He was screaming and shaking uncontrollably.  The techs tried to help by bringing out a bubble machine and pointing out the stickers on the machine.  He was not a happy camper.  After we got a little barium into his stomach and several x rays, we got to unstrap him.  We then had to try and get him to drink about 3 oz of barium.  Graesen would not quit screaming.  The techs brought out toys to try and calm him down.  The bubble machine worked a little, but Graesen would still not drink.  They told me that if we couldn't get him to drink it, then he would have to get a tube down his nose.  Thankfully, one of the techs can up with the brilliant idea of adding some nestles strawberry powder to the barium.  That did the trick.  We then had to take x rays every 15-20 minutes for a while until the barium reached his large intestine.  It was going very slow at first, but then the radiologist suggested I try nursing Graesen.  She said it might help him to relax so that his body could digest the barium more quickly.  It worked.  We managed to get out of the hospital 2 hours after we arrived, which is much better than what we had expected. 
All I know so far is that there was some reflux shown on the x rays, but not a ton.  We will know the rest of the results tomorrow (hopefully).

Last few days

We have done some fun things the last few days.  On Saturday, Graesen and I went to barnes and noble for a Halloween story time.  I think he liked the mall play area and the toy trains in the store best.

We also went to a baby shower at a pizza place.  It was very good and Graesen really enjoyed his cake.

Sunday we went to church and spent some time with family.
Today we went out to eat with Evan's family and came home to make ghost cookies.  I found the directions here. 

We are attempting to stuff Graesen full tonight, because after midnight he can't have anything to eat or drink until his test is over.  This could be 12+ hours.  I was researching the test he is having done tomorrow and it is supposed to take around 3 hours!  I don't know how we are going to keep him happy when he can't eat or drink anything but barium and has multiple x-rays.

He thinks he's a big boy

We go to the park a lot.  The other day I took Graesen and he started walking up and down the playground stairs.  Not crawling.  Walking.  Like he had been doing it his whole life.  When did he learn that?!  He also watched some older kids run down the slides and it took a lot of negotiating to convince him that sitting down and sliding would be more fun :)

I have had a gift card to Staples for two years that I never used, because I didn't have anything to get.  I finally went this week and used it to buy fun art supplies for Graesen.  I got him paintbrush markers (in pictures below), paint, paint brushes, playdough, craft sticks, sidewalk chalk, and glitter.

Last night Graesen was running around and I noticed that he was wheezing a little bit.  I'm pretty sure it is due to his reflux, which has been rearing its ugly head lately, and can sometimes cause breathing issues (or so google says).  I emailed the doctor just in case and now he is talking asthma and inhalers.  I'm pretty sure it's not asthma, but my goodness this kid takes after me.

Wednesday afternoon

After work today Graesen and I enjoyed some fun at the park.  I think he needs to stop growing up so quickly.  He was watching big boys playing then trying to copy what they did.  I actually had to convince him that walking down the slide was not a good idea, and it would be more fun to sit down and slide the regular way.  Crazy boy!

The sunset pictures was taken on our walk home. 
I spoiled Graesen tonight after dinner and let him have a graham cracker with frosting on it.  I think he enjoyed it :) although his face might not show it (his tummy was starting to really bother him by the time I took this picture).