Oh St. Mary's How We've Missed You..... NOT!

Well, like the title says, I am back at Mayo in Rochester.  Me and my mom drove up bright and early this morning.  I didn't want to wake up, but I decided I wouldn't sleep on the ride up to help keep my mom awake (even though she had a coffee equivalent to my weight).  I am spending a few days in the hospital for an EEG.  They want to check out my brain to see if I am having seizures.  They told my mom it could be anywhere from 24 hrs to 5 days..... and that is not the way to tell people like my mom how to prepare.  Let's just say it drove her nuts trying to pack stuff and figure out what to do with my lil sis.  We are hoping to be home by Wednesday (fingers crossed).  My mom snapped a couple pics, the first one I am patiently waiting and the second one is after the torture (torture for everyone involved, not just me) of getting the leads in place.  I cried, I fought, I screamed, I kicked, I fell asleep (due to exhaustion) but they still managed to get my head wrapped.  Once back in my room I decided this isn't soo bad - now that I get to lay down and listed to my Dr. Seuss and my music!  Anywho, we will keep you posted on our stay.

On a brighter note, speaking of Rochester, I got to spend last weekend with my NICU buddies Luke and Levi.  Our parents all got together at Luke's families cabin.  It was pretty fun.  We got to swim inside at a small water park, we got to go in a lake, Maggie kayaked with my mom, I got to chill on the beach with my dad, and I heard that everyone got to each some pretty yummy food (I decided to stick with my g-tube feeds of formula).  

 

We Love Long Weekends

What a great long weekend, busy but great!

To start out, we spent the day Saturday with Maggie's Godfather and his fam at their cabin which is gorgeous.  It has been 10 years since they said goodbye to a his dad - who everyone said was a great guy.  I bet he was watching down on us all that day, cause it was a beautiful day.  Maybe Kaylee was helpin him too - cause my mom always says how Kaylee helps make things special.  Anywho, everyone was very nice and Maggie said the food was yummy, she never stopped eating, or moving.  In fact, she even taught herself how to use a scooter that was just sitting around.  Let's just say she kept Mom and Dad and Jared and Lara on their toes.  Someone was always running after her.

Then on Sunday my parents finished putting together our new ride for the summer.  The WeeHoo!  It was awesome.  We went on a couple short rides on Sunday. Can't wait to hit the trails this summer.  Then it was so nice, we decided to grill out and eat on the deck.  My dad is a pretty "mean griller" - at least that is what he says.  I think he is still nice when he cooks.  But, his food always smells really good and it looks like everyone likes it alot.  Someday, I may decide to eat some of it..... although I did try some of his chip dip and it was pretty good, I didn't even gag or throw up.

On Monday my mom went to an Amish Auction and bought some flowers, so she was pretty happy.  Then we visited one of our newest friends.... Baby Elsie was born this weekend.  She slept the whole time, so I didn't get a real feel for her yet - but her brothers are pretty cool so there is hope.  Baby Elise was also born this weekend, but we have to wait to meet her.  She doesn't have any older brothers or sisters, so I will have to teach her a thing or two when she is ready.  After we stopped in at our friends house, we decided to go out to dinner. And we wrapped up the long weekend with a visit to Kaylee.  My mom picked out some really neat colored flowers for her and we all put some down by her.  Me and dad hung out by Kaylee's spot, Maggie of course wanted to run all over, but eventually sat down by us.  My mom likes visiting her but has a hard time leaving, I think we all do.... but we all said good bye and wrapped up our long weekend.  I am pooped! 

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day Weekend

 

Go Conner Go!

Well, it only took about a month, but it's finally here......  my mom went to a class down in Iowa last month to learn stuff for work.  While she was there she met a guy from Go Baby Go who taught her and the other physical therapist there how to adapt cool power toys for kids like me.  My mom was pumped and wanted to get one working for me, and with some help from my Grandpa Servais and a guy he knows, we finally got the electrical pieces figured out.  I can now ride in style ALL BY MYSELF!  That's right!  Now my mom and dad just have to add a few things to make it more comfortable and safe for me to sit in it, but I would say my trial run went pretty well.  Here's a little video clip of me behind the wheel.

And don't forget, if you want to join Conner & Kaylee's Crew for Little Miracles 5K and Family Fun Fest please let my mom know and she can make sure you register under our teams!  We are thinkin of diong something fun this year for everyone on our team so we need to plan a lil.  And if you are unable to join us or unable to donate (http://www.active.com/donate/ourmiraclebabies2014/Shay2014), another way you can help out is by saving your pop (and other beverage) tabs.  We are making a collection of the 5K to give to Ronald McDonald House - the place where my parents lived for the 8 months I was in the hospital.  They are awesome people and RMH is an amazing place.  Drink UP!

Team Conner & Kaylee is BACK!

Hey Everyone!  Team Conner & Kaylee is back for the Our Miracle Babies 5K and Family Fun Fest!

We have started a fundraising page if people are interested in donating, or if you want to join us in person (the more the merrier) just talk to my mom and register under our team on Aug 2nd in Rochester :)

Thought I would share our website : http://www.active.com/donate/ourmiraclebabies2014/Shay2014

And some pictures from last year.  This year should be just as fun.  My mom is going to try to get good enough with me in the Upsee so that I can walk the 5K with everyone.  I am pretty excited!  It will be fun either way!

   

Just some of our Real Life Miracles!

 

Team Work

Hey Yo!

Just wanted to let everyone know we had a pretty nice weekend.  My parent's had some of their friends over - which included a lil guy Maggie's age.  I had to be the good big bro and keep an eye on them, but he seems like good stuff, so I let them play around a little.  We all went to the park on Saturday.        

      

On Sunday, since it was all rainy and cruddy out - my mom decided to let me jump around a lil bit.  Once Maggie saw where we were headed, she dashed across the room and joined us.  

First, Maggie decided to set up some toys for me to play with!

    Then she helped me get my feet in place (guess she has seen my mom do this a few times, eh?)    

 

Then she decided to hold my hands to help me jump!

And she ended by giving me a nice big hug :)

What would we do without our brother's and sister's!  She may be crazy at times, but overall she's pretty neat I guess.  Hope she thinks the same of me!

p.s Speaking of siblings....Stay tuned - one of my next posts will have info on (you guessed it) Team Conner and Kaylee for Our Miracle Babies 5K and Family Fun Fest the first Saturday in Aug.

My Upsee Easter Celebration

It all started a couple weeks ago when my Grandma Shay was visiting.  The day the Upsee went on sale my mom was up early so she could get the order in first thing..... well, lets just say she wasn't the only one with that idea.  So many people were online trying to order an Upsee that the site crashed and it took my mom and Grandma 3(+) hours of hitting refresh on 2 computers to finally get through and order my Upsee.  Some people may wonder why the urgency - my mom heard there were only so many that were going to make the first shipment and there was a 12 week wait if you didn't get in right away.  Well, all their hard work paid off and I got my Upsee just in time for Easter!!  I got to play in the backyard - FOR THE FIRST TIME - with my cousins and Maggie.  We played tag, we played with bubbles, I danced a lil bit, and I went up and down the stairs.... all with the help of my mom and my new Upsee.  I am sure more pictures and videos will be taken, but here are a few of the first ones:

          

And here are some of our Easter pics!  We had our Shay cousins over on Fri/Sat for a sleepover.  My mom kept up super busy.  We went to an Easter Egg hunt, got our faces painted, I got a temp tat on my forearm (I'm a tough guy), we colored eggs, we played outside, we had a movie night, and we grilled out and at on our deck.  Then Easter morning the Easter bunny hide eggs in our house.  My dad helped me pick up 2 of them.  Maggie got the rest.  As her basket started to get full, she decided to put eggs into my basket - what  a good lil sis she is!  She also helped me open up my eggs (and she was quick to eat my chocolate too).  We had a good Easter weekend :)

We Have a Kitchen Hey hey hey hey

So last week we had some visitors from the South..... my Grandma Shay came up from Florida with my Uncle Brian, Aunt Patty, and cousins Josh and Zabrina.  We had fun playing with them, even though they are both older than me and Maggie.  And we watched Frozen like a million times.  In fact, this morning when Maggie looked out the window she said "snowman" and then started singing "let it go, let it go, let it go, let it go" which is her version of the songs from the movie.  Anywho, back to our visitors, they stayed with us for a week and the Grandma stayed an extra week.  It was nice having visitors.  We just haven't had many visitors because my parents didn't like asking people to come over to a "renovation in the works" house.  My Uncle was pretty busy during their stay because, wait for it, he put in our kitchen!!!!  My mom is super excited because she doesn't have to wash dishes in the bathroom sink any more and my dad is just excited to have a working kitchen again.  We have gone without a kitchen since the first week in Oct.  Now my parents are busying unpacking and putting away stuff.  My mom says it will take her awhile so we are planning on being settled in another 8 months :)  Here are a couple pics of the process and our fun with the Shays.

we walked to the park a lot with our cousins when they were visiting!

finished kitchen

getting close

a mess

start of demo

before

Maggie likes to push me around sometimes - here we are leaving dinner with the Shay's