Oldest Son with Youngest Son!

Might be hard to tell who's the oldest in these pictures, by the way they are acting!!!

Sent one back to Afghanistan on this Veteran's Day and the other to our local parade to support our military....the ironies of this life!

Before and After!

This is Bryson before cast came off in his size 2T pajamas, see how tiny he is?

This is Bryson after his cast is off and after a two hour luxury bath that was 7 weeks past due!!

Here are the numbers!

343 days that we have had Bryson in our arms

253 of those have been in casts

90 of them have been out of casts

but not consecutive days.

Longest stretch cast free 59 days.

Who's guessing on how long we can stay cast free???????

There will be a giveaway for the person who guess correctly over

365 days!! :)

My Mom is Back!!!

Love this girl!!! Isn't she the sweetest and cutest ever, Justin, Joe or Kevin???

Yes, I met Jean and Katie in Napa! We had the best time ever!! Jean and I talked for three hours straight when it only seemed like 30 minutes! We could have gone on and on! It would be so nice to have another large adoptive family that lived closer than Minnesota and California!!

But hey, we have made the best of it as this is our third meeting in one year and we are already scheming planning our adoption cesareans (planned travel dates)! China baby, here we come again!

Jean and I started emailing several months prior to our trips to China last year. Then we ended up in China at the same exact time. Just by chance, we met up with one another on the Great Wall.

Then last summer when Bryson and I were traveling back and forth to St Louis we had a layover in Minnesota. Jean and her family came to the airport for our three hour layover.

Now tonight, I got to drive to Napa and have a scrumptious dinner with Jean, Katie and Katie's friend, Abby. Thanks Jean for the invite, delicious dinner and wonderful conversation.

You truly are one of my favorite people!!! Now would you consider becoming a Bear fan and moving to California??

Hee-hee! I Know a Secret!

My mama is going somewhere special as soon as she gets off work tomorrow. She is so excited, she is going to have a hard time sleeping tonight and an even harder time working tomorrow!!

Any guesses???

11 Months Ago Today

You were placed into our arms forever! We love you so much Bryson Samuel Yangfan Reed!

The Love of My Life

I know you are expecting it to be Bryson, after all this is Bryson's blog where I profess my love for him on a regular basis, but in all honesty the love of my life is his father, rightfully so. You see it is his loving heart for the fatherless that allows mine to soar as well!

Robert is and has been a loving father to all his children, but there was something different about the way he held Bryson last night that touched my heart like nothing I have felt before. I knew in that moment watching him tenderly embracing his sweet son that he too loves him just as much as I do(not that I ever doubted). I could tell he couldn't get enough Bryson loving. I could tell he didn't want to put him down. I could feel the energy from afar, that Robert was sad last night too although he would never speak it.

I felt it,

I saw it,

and Bryson knew

just how much he is loved.

Wish you could have

felt it,

saw it

too!

Failure to Thrive

Warning: The following post is more of a therapy session for myself than a post letting everyone in bloggy land, who too have grown fond of my son, know the results of today's doctor's visit. However, if you are game to join my therapy session continue onward with post.

Going to the doctor today, I kind of set myself up for disappointment. I was convinced that since he had gained weight that I had fixed the problem. So when the doctor walked into the room these were my enthusastic words, "He's gained two pounds in 5 weeks, I am here for you to tell me that his test results are all normal!" Her exact words, "I wish they were!" I think all the blood drained from my freckled face at that moment in time.

What happened next I know all too well, but instead this time I was on the other end. As an educator of children with special needs I know the routine. First, you tell the parents all the positive things about their child and then you gently let them know their delays or areas of concerns.

She proceeds to tell me as she is bringing the computer screen closer to me "Well, let's sit down and go over these results together." She shows me all the areas of the tests that looked good. In fact, he is no longer anemic. He doesn't have Thalassemia, Cystic Fibrous, Celiacs or any of the other things she wanted to rule out. Then she went to the test that showed his bone age. Bryson is more than 2 standard deviations off his bone age. This would not be such a big deal if he was a pre-teen or teenager because for older children that just means they are going to grow more later. However, for Bryson at his age and such a deviation it most likely means that something more is wrong, especially since his growth hormone test and thyroid test were within normal limits.

As soon as she got the test results, she put our referral in to see the endocrinologist. So we should be getting an appt time soon. She wouldn't discuss what it could be. She said that was the job of the specialist and that there are too many things it could be for her to try and guess.

She put a positive spin on it by saying, "At least we are narrowing down his failure to thrive." Have I told you how much I don't like that term? It just doesn't seem right for my son who has so much life, resilience and spunk! I guess I take it personal, like I am not doing something right for him to still be labeled "failure to thrive!"

We left there with me being sad that there is just one more thing that makes life harder for Mr. B. I am sure he sensed it through my plastic smile.

But only as he can do, he brought laughter to my heart as we passed through the swine infected waiting room. He tapped both of my mammaries and said, "Mama, why do you have two babies in your tummy?" I laughed and said, "Bryson those are not babies." He said, "What are they?"

"My mammies son, my mammies!"

A Two Pound Green Dragon

No pictures to post tonight, but Bryson is still in a cast, a new green one. While his bone is showing new bone growth, it was just not quite healed enough to come out of a cast. The ortho tech had ordered orange and black for Halloween. I tried to convince Bryson to get orange as we have never had that color before, but he was determined to have "green like a dragon"! He wanted to show some school spirit since his school is the home of the dragons!

The best news though is that during the cast change I was able to get Bryson weighed on the same scale I have always weighed him on. He has gained 2 pounds. He is a whopping 29.3 pounds today!!! So in five weeks, since I started the elimination diet, he has gained two pounds!!! I am amazed and so excited.

We have our pediatrician appt tomorrow afternoon, we shall see what she says about all the test results.