We love Summer!!!

The summer bug has bit our family!!! Preschool is out, the pool is open, the lake is warm, the grass is soft and Brusters will see our smiling faces frequently. We have soaked up so much of summer already in the past few weeks. On Mother's Day we kicked off the season with an all day trip to Stone Mountain with the family after baby dedication at church. It was a very special day to celebrate Harrison and to commit to raise him according to God's plan, what an honor. Our family surrounded us at church and it meant a lot to have them there to support us.
The next week was full of preschool festivities and Pawpaw's birthday. I asked the girls the last day of school if they were happy or sad school was out and they both said "SAD." They love being with their friends and are already asking when the next preschool day is. They will have to wait till camp in July. We had a great day celebrating Pawpaw at the Ga Aquarium and of coarse what birthday is not complete without Provinos.
Pawpaw built the girls and Harrison a play house in the backyard. He definitely did it Pawpaw style. It is no little play house, the girls could live in there and would like to. Several times we have gone missing Payton and as soon as we open the back door she will say "I am in my house." We had to have a talk about going outside without telling an adult. They are ready to have their friends over to play.
Payton had swimming lessons last week every morning. We were up at the pool at 10am ready to practice before Ms. Marsha got there at 11:00. Payton did great and through the week got more comfortable. She can swim pretty well she just needs to "play" and build her confidence. We were proud of her and everyone enjoyed being at the pool all week. On Friday afternoon we headed to Lake Lanier for the holiday. Oh man, the lake is our happy place, good food, family, boat rides, suckers for the kids at the marina, giggles, swinging on the porch, the water, the paddle boat, the golf cart (which makes me a nervous wreck), bikes, sweaty happy kids, and did I mention good food. We came home Wednesday night after a full week.
Summer we welcome you!!!

.....update on Harrison.....we have been to appointment after appointment with him. This makes me appreciate all of the families of the chronically ill children I care for. It has been exhausting and consuming and this is only a season for us, we pray. Our plan is to do physical therapy, or personal training as we like to call it, once a week and periodically follow up with occupational therapy. He does well with fine motor skills, actually above average in processing, but has the most trouble with gross motor skills because of his weakness. We follow up with neurology tomorrow and hope that they have the results from the genetic workup they did at the hospital. Our next swallow study is not scheduled until July. Just this last week at the lake he started getting congested again. We started hearing the same rattling in his chest we were so familiar with a few months ago. This has caused me to worry again, but I try to remind myself that he may get congested just like any other baby and be unrelated to aspiration. I am watching it closely, making sure every bit of baby food that enters his mouth is thick, and praying it is not what we fear.
We had PT today and he vocalized his opinion loudly, which is quite unlike him. It is pretty tough for him and as a mommy it is hard to see him get so frustrated at his own body. When something gets challenging you can see the fear set up in his little face. Today I was praying for them to hurry up and finish even though I know it is good for him and that the tears will be worth it. At the end he could hardly hold up his head and snuggled into my shoulder as if to say "please do not make me work anymore." We sat in the car a little while afterwards together before I put him in his seat to go home. He need some TLC.
On the very positive note he is gaining great weight. A little weight history... between 4 and 6 months he gained 5 ounces which is not enough. This is when he was having the most difficulty breathing and used all of his calories to breathe. Between 6 and 7 months he gained 1 pound, which is great. At this time we cut his bottles in half because of his fatigue so I was worried about losing all of those calories. I started thinking of high calorie foods to give him, avocado, bananas, yobaby yogurt, etc. Well, I did a good job (maybe too good) he gained 2 pounds in 3 weeks. WOW! He is now 18 pounds and has some chunky legs and a big round belly. So I guess I can slow down not and not worry so much about his calorie intake. We are glad to have another chunky baby in the Gadd house since that is what we are used to making. Just more to love on.
We are ready for the appointments to slow down and just be able to get a routine back. We miss our friends, the girls especially. It seems like every night I get ready for another day of making sure the kids are taken care of while Harrison and I go ..... somewhere. This may be his sneaky way of making sure he is not treated like the typical third child :) We definitely get our alone time together.