What Has Gavin Been Up To This Week?

Gavin has been a busy boy this week! Here is what he's been up to.

He had a fun birthday! We took him and his brothers to a park, to celebrate his day.

We brought cake and sang to him.







He even tasted the frosting by licking the candle!



He wasn't quite sure about this, as usual, but he did better with it than he usually does!



He opened his present!





Then he 'played' at the park with his brothers.





He has also been going to school every afternoon. School is going so-so, I'll update you about school soon, in another post.

Daddy even came to visit Gavin at school on his birthday!



Gavin has been working so hard at school!



Gavin also had his physical this week. He checked out fine. Our regular doctor thought that he was doing quite well and Gavin even gained a little bit of weight since he was last checked. He is 25 1/2 pounds, which means that he's still not up to the 26-27 pounds that he was before he lost weight, but at least he's not losing weight anymore.

Gavin also received 3 shots. He got his last HIB, a flu shot and a pneumovac shot. The pneumovac is supposed to help prevent pneumonia. He's never had this one before, hopefully it does it's job! Gavin cried when they weighed him, cried when the doctor listened to his lungs, cried when he checked his ears, cried when he listened to his heart and cried when he checked out the rest of him. Then, in come the nurses to give him his shots. Gavin was half asleep by now, from all the complaining that he had done, so I told them to just give him the shots while he was on my lap and not to disturb him. Do you think that Gavin cried?..........Nope! I just don't understand this child! He gets so upset about the little things and then handles the big things so well! I guess he's a tough little guy, but he just doesn't like to be bugged.

He will be going to get the swine flu shot when it's available as well. I'm quite worried about Gavin being in school and around more people this year. It's supposed to be a really germy season and Gavin doesn't handle the flu or colds like the rest of us do. People keep saying to me that it will be good for him to be around others to build up his immunity, but the problem doesn't really lie with his immunity. Gavin's problem is the fact that he has a heart defect. Since one of his valves is leaking moderately, he already gets fluid sent to his lungs daily, which is not supposed to happen. Normally the blood flows through the lungs, gets oxygenated and then goes back to the heart to circulate throughout the body, but because Gavin's Mital valve leaks significantly, some of it stays in his lungs and some of the deoxygenated blood goes back to the lungs. (Here is an example: It's kind of like sharing a drink with someone who backwashes. The drink gets particles in it that don't belong. And, then the particles go into you when you take a drink. The drink is no longer 'pure', this is the same for Gavin's blood. The oxygenated blood is mixed with the deoxygenated blood and the body does not like this.......Sorry for the disgusting analogy, but it's all that I could come up with.) Not to mention, Gavin also has a lung disease, so his lungs are already fragile to begin with. When you or I get a cold or the flu, our lungs can handle the extra fluid usually. But, when Gavin's lungs get even MORE fluid in them, his just can't take it. This is why I'm worried.

He has been so healthy lately and I pray that he continues to do this well through the winter months too! I know that school is going to be so good for him, so we are just going to have to see how he does with all of this.

So, this is what Gavin has been up to this week. He's been a busy boy!


"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge." Psalm 46:10-11