Happy Halloween!!

Hope everyone had a good Halloween weekend. This year was much better than last year, what a difference a year makes. Last year we went trick or treating in the evening and Tyler fell asleep at our first house. This year we made it to a few houses and he carried his candy bag the entire time. He even walked up each set of stoop stairs without complaining.

If you've ever been to our house, you'll see Jason and Tyler playing "superbaby." So when we saw this costume we thought it was perfect!

Superbaby doesn't wear glasses or need oxygen!!

Daddy and Tyler playing Superbaby

Okay I've got my candy let's go

Tyler didn't get a lot of candy but we had plenty to give out. We only got two little witches even with our pumpkin on our stoop. Oh well, more candy for us.

$1 Chocolate Bar

When I was in school I sold various things, $.50 or $1 candy bars, cans of popcorn, etc. Today I opened up Tyler's back pack and he had a large envelope in it. A catalog of stuff to sell and we have until Oct 30th to do it. Of course they have incentives/prizes if you sell more stuff.


I couldn't believe they wanted a 3 year old to sell stuff then when I was browsing the catalog, I couldn't believe how much the stuff cost. I guess I haven't been solicited in a while. Boxes of candy or cans of popcorn started at $9. Lots of wrapping paper, cookies/candy, stationary sets, key chains, magazine subscriptions, kitchen stuff and more!


Get ready for my adorable son to flash his winning smile and give you the catalog to buy something. Make sure you check out the corn zipper (zips kernals from the cob) or the tomato/onion keeper -set of 2 for only $10 (plastic tupperware dome with lid). Or you can just wrap your leftover onion or tomato in plastic wrap.

You're lucky we didn't push the raffle tickets we got for the school luncheon a few weeks ago. It's only October.

Sick Circles

We're all sick again. Last week we think Tyler got sick from one of his therapists coughing on him. By the end of the weekend, all three of us were sick. I think at this point, Tyler's been out of school sick more than he's been in school.

I don't believe that exposing him more will build up his immune system. I think he's getting sick more and weakening his immune system that he can't make it stronger.

He went back to school today, still a bit congested though. We'll see how long we go with being well. I'm losing my voice and I think Jason is better.

Doesn't look like a good winter.

NY Aquarium

In September we took Tyler to the aquarium for my little cousin's birthday. I haven't been to the aquarium since elementary school, class trips with my mom. I think Tyler had a better time at the aquarium than the zoo. He actually walked around and looked at some of the tanks, he didn't just want to sit in his stroller.

We kept telling Tyler it's a giant fish tank, like his fish tank at home just bigger. We'll try and go again before it gets too cold but they're open all year round.

Here we are looking at the sea turtle and shark tank.

All sick but on the mends

When caring for a cranky, sick child you're bound to catch his germs. Tyler stayed home from school Wed - Friday, by Friday night Jason had a sore throat and I had a runny nose and achey. The entire Wong household was sick.

If we weren't suctioning Tyler's trach it was coming out of his nose. Poor baby had snot, coughing and sneezing all over the place. Couldn't really teach him how to cover his mouth or not use his hand/sleeve to wipe the snot from his nose.

Forget aspirators, we used the suction machine for his nose. It looks terrible as he fights you but it definitely gets the job done. Eventually Tyler let us do it, leaning in knowing it made him feel better. I felt so bad for him, I tried it on myself since I was blowing my nose all weekend. It wasn't as strong/painful as I thought it would be.

Hopefully Tyler will be able to go back to school on Tuesday.

The inevitable has happened

First day of fall, third week of the school year...and Tyler has succumbed to germs. He's home with a runny nose. Hopefully it's a minor cold that he'll get over quickly.

He was doing well at school and getting into a routine. But apparently some kids in his class were already getting sick and more kids on his bus were coughing and sneezing. Oh well, it was bound to happen.

So Close But...

No Cigar.

We took Tyler in for a bronscosopy today, we've had it done before, his ENT doctor goes in and sees if he has any granulation build up. Over the summer we've been weaning Tyler off of oxygen and also hoping we could decanulate him (yup, take the trach out).

We went to cardiology, pulmonlogy and ENT and they were all on board to take the trach out. Things were looking good and we scheduled the surgery. While the ENT team was performing the bronc they would see if Tyler could be decanulated. That was the plan this morning.

After we took Tyler into the operating room, Jason went to get breakfast and we wait. We didn't even finish breakfast and our ENT doctor was done. Wow that was fast, less than 30 mins. He said Tyler was fine and things went well but he did not decanulate Tyler. He decided he wasn't ready, the space between his trachea and vocal fold was very narrow and the trach was helping hold it right now. Tyler needs to grow some more to help correct this and we'll see what happens in the spring. Jason and I were reluctant to take the trach out especially with swine flu, a new school with new kids means new germs.

We were all disappointed but we know it's for the best. When we were in recovery, the ENT team (they're familiar with us and Tyler) all stopped by and said they were hoping for us to decanulate. It's funny how people get attached to a patient when they only see them once every 6 months, they were rooting for decanulation and were disappointed with us. They've seen Tyler come so far as well.

For now we're going to concentrate on weaning him off of the oxygen and soaring in school. Tyler has grown almost 3 inches this summer, he's 3 feet tall and about 32 pounds now. We're adjusting to a new sleep schedule since school is 5 days a week 9:15-2:15, the bus comes to pick him up at 8:20. Depending on the day, Tyler gets therapy after school so it's a very long day for him. So far he's taken a 30 min power nap at school, mind you there's no formal nap time at school but they're not going to stop a kid from sleeping. No more 2-3 hour afternoon naps!

We're still working on potty training on top of all that! Anyone have any good tips, please pass them along!