Brrrrr! Winter has come to Texas so early in this December! Just before Thanksgiving, we went from 80 degrees to our first freeze, and we’ve been experiencing a cold spell ever since. The boys just don’t understand why they can’t get up and pull their shorts and sandals on first thing every morning…all this gear (shoes, socks, long pants, sweatshirts, coats…) is taking quite some getting used to for these little boys, who “want the warm back!” Ethan said yesterday “I think spring is almost here, Mommy. Is it going to be warm tomorrow so I can wear my shorts?”

This Thanksgiving the boys had their Papa, Grandma, Uncle “Oak”, the future “Mrs. Oak” and Amisha in town they loved every bit of it!

Their other new love is playing football…it gives them an excuse to tackle each other! In the video below, you can see the boys playing ball and poor Evan getting tackled every which way (even Aiden tackled him). Additionally, they love their new gymnastic classes. We love it too because it gives them some physical indoor activity thus making their naps a little longer 🙂

This past week, Aiden had his tonsils and adenoids removed as well as getting ear tubes. Given his medical condition, they wanted him to stay overnight at the hospital even though the procedure is typically outpatient. Aiden is still requiring O2 and did have some rough patches but, all things considered, he had done fairly well as long as we remained proactive with pain management.

We will of course monitor his vitals and handle the O2 wean, meds, feeds, etc. at home as we have for the past 3 years, as long as we have an effective regime in place and are not seeing dangerous complications such as choking and aspiration.

We are so grateful and blessed by your continued prayers, kind thoughts, friendship and support, which means so much to our family.

Papa got Ethie

Look who!

Too much hair

Aiden and Papa take a walk together

Not sure which way to go

Boys, stop wrestling outside!

Wait for me!

Tried to climb but got stuck and Ethan tried to help

Papa chases Evan

Grandma watches the boys play

Having fun

Aiden, you are doing it!

Success!

Amisha reads to the Trips

Loving their gymnastics

Aiden poses in the middle of a routine

Ethan too

Good job!

Fly Ethan

Fly Evan

Aiden goes down the rabbit hole

Evan swings on a rope…

Ethan swings (and the drops later)

Jump!

“Oak” help the boys decorate

Finalizing the tree

Ethan and Evan each had a surgical procedure to remove their adenoids and reinsert new ear tubes yesterday morning. Fortunately, it has been a quick recovery so far but they are limited as to what physical activities they can do until everything is fully healed. Aiden is scheduled to have his tonsils and adenoids removed as well as getting ear tubes on December 6th and Medical City Dallas. Please pray for a smooth procedure and quick recovery! He will most likely spend at least one night at the hospital.

Aiden continues to progress in terms of eating. Almost every night, he asks for Chocolate Pudding because his “tummy is hungry.” Along with pudding (and tube fed formula), his diet includes yogurt, baby foods and pringle sticks (which he chews but then spits them out as he is not quite ready to swallow).

The boys have fallen in love with a dog named “Lady” who belongs to our friends the Newtons. Below are some pictures of them at their daughter’s birthday party. Ethan and Evan followed the dog while Aiden was chasing after someone else (see below). Also, Aiden likes to pick on Evan. He calls him “Mr. Baby” and “baby boy” (which is ironic considering the source). In the clip below he calls him “tiny little baby.”

He just woke up and was cold

Such eyes!

Why the scowl?

Aiden?! What are you doing?!

They LOVED “lady”

Trying to nap while cuddling with the trips

Hannah and Aiden have traveled back to Children’s Hospital Boston for follow-up and (possibly) surgery with the ENT. The surgery was initially scheduled for last week, but because the scope of the procedure has changed, the doctor has re-scheduled the surgery for 6 weeks from now and wants to try one more attempt at conservative management through drug therapy during that time. Hopefully, they won’t be gone too long!

In the meantime, Manish is (attempting to) handle the twins at home adn balance work, life, etc.

Aiden continues to do very well with learning how to eat and had been off of continuous oxygen for several months (athough he does still require O2 intermittently from time to time). Winter will be the true test of just how well he is doing. Nevertheless, we are SO thankful for all God has provided time and time again.

Below are some picture of the boys playing outdoors. Now that the weather is finally cooler, they are so happy to be able to go outside and run around.

Ethans declares: Playball!

Evan agrees

This is where we play

Looks like a hit

Wrong way!

Uh oh. The Boo-bear got a boo-boo.

He is playing outfield

Here comes the pitch

Homerun!

He wants another

Of course, someone had a football so we had to play that too!

Don’t tackle him too hard!

Catch me if you can

Time for some bubbles