Loving Aiden: Day 27....I Hardly Recognize Him... October 6, 2010

Well, Aiden woke up at 6am, crying, just when I stepped out to go to the bathroom. I came back into the room and Juan was up trying to soothe him. Sure, he calmed down...so I took over.and I thought MAYBE he would fall back to sleep...but no...he wanted to watch his "Jungle Music Box Thingy" while fluffing his very own pillow his grandma made him. Soon he stood up, wanting out of the crib...so I brought him out and changed his diaper right away. Oddle enough, after that, he wanted me to hold him like a baby...he was so tired. I when he got tired of that...he just wanted to cuddle in our bed. For some reason, he just couldn't fall asleep. But that was okay...we just layed there, half asleep. It wasn't long before it was 7am when Juan got up and started his morning routine...getting the boys lunches made...feeding Murphy...prepping Aiden's food. It was another late arrival for Aiden's nurse, Sandy. When Juans was ready for Aiden, I brought him out and sat him in his low-chair...and played with while he ate. I waited till he was finished...I rinsed out his gravity bag...kissed both Juan and Aiden "good night" (When Juan and I kiss...he immediately offers his head to both Juan and I...to get some of that action for himself...) and went to bed. I probably fell asleep around 9:30am.

I didn't roll outta bed till almost 5:30pm. I was up, but I did stuff...like check FBook, my blog...my email. That's when I got the letter from Alma, Dr. Patel's nurse. She wrote us to tell us that Dr.Patel has a surgery date for the removal of Aiden's distractor device. December 23rd...and it is an outpatient procedure, he'd go home afterwards. I wanted to jump for joy...but I wanted to make sure that she meant the device inside of him attached to his jaw...not the pins...so I wrote her back. She responded pretty quickly...it was the device inside of him...and the pins could be removed in as little as 2 weeks. I did a happy dance (in my head, of course)!! I called Juan to let him know...he was on route to his evening class...and then I called my mom. It's going to be a wonderful Christmas gift!! :-D

I went out into the living room and Aiden was sleeping. Sandy told me that Aiden had a rough time falling asleep after the pin turning. She was relieved knowing that today was possibly the last day SHE would be involved in the pin turning process. It breaks her heart when he gets upset. Aiden didn't fall asleep till 5:30pm....a dose of Motrin helped, I'm sure. So I did all my evening chores...even went online to look up Halloween Costumes for Aiden. I'm so tempted to order the "Thomas, the Engine" costume...but it's not the most exciting. We'll see...we still have time to decide. Thankfully, Aiden woke up as Sandy did his vitals...he was all perky and happy. Well rested! My word...he looked even more different. Sandy left at 8pm, so I played with Aiden...somehow he found the IPOD on the red table. I was impressed! He climbed up on his music chair, grabbed the IPOD, and stepped right on down, like a pro. He watched a little "Thomas", read his books, played with his fav honking cow, I kept him entertained. Cristian even came down to read to him for a while. That's when I ran to get his food prepped. It was a really late dinner because Aiden ate late for his 4 o'clock feeding. While he was eating and playing, I snuck out the scissors and cut his hair. Sneaky, eh? He didn't even notice. Of course his curls are still there...it was just getting OUT OF HAND! He didn't finish eating till 10pm.

When Juan came home at 10:30pm...we decided to give Aiden a bath...second night in a row. It's rare that we do that, but we wanted another opportunity to try to get those steri-strips off...it's been a month! After we got him dried, dressed, cleaned, and trache tied changed, I took q-tips and worked on those steri-strips. They are actually starting to come off. WHEW! Maybe we wont get yelled at by Dr.Patel after all!! Tomorrow is his appointment. I bet he will be amazed at Aiden's transformation, even though he's done a ton of these jaw distractions. It has to be such a rewarding career...helping children...changing their lives! He is a wonderful man!!! It didn't take too long for Aiden to fall asleep. He's very restless, tonight. But he's sleeping...for now. Tomorrow, or nurse is Chrissy...she gets to go with us to Children's Memorial. She gets here at the normal time, 7am. Hopefully, I can get to sleep at a decent hour!