Blog

To read about Gage's story from the beginning you may visit http://gagejohnsonisafighter.weebly.com where mommy blogs.

Crawling, Standing, and Soon To Be Walking

Gage has been making significant progress catching up to where he should be physically. He's been crawling for about the last month.  He'll often do a combination of scoots and crawls to get where he wants to go. Crawl ten paces, stop and look around, scoot, scoot, scoot, crawl ten more paces is how he does it.  When there's food involved, Mr. Gage wastes no time to speed crawl over to where the goodies are. He reminds of a grizzly bear walking with big strides and straight arms.

He's been practicing his standing and this week started squatting often. Today for the first time, he stood up all on his own and remained standing for about three or four seconds.  I suspect it'll only be a few more weeks before he's trying to take some steps.  Mommy has been helping him practice by holding his hands and walking with him in between her legs allowing him to get a feel for the motions.

Gage slept in his crib in his room for the first time last night. It was a rough night and hard to tell if it's just a phase or if he's uncomfortable being in a new place.  Perhaps a little of both even.  It's definitely a great feeling to see him sleep in his crib though. For me it helps solidify the fact that he's home to stay for a while and that everything is going to be okay.  It's very special thing getting to be together as a family.

Nearly 15 Months Old

Gage has been doing absolutely incredible over the last few months. We had one bad week where Mr. Gage got sick with some kind of stomach bug that big brother Gavin had.  It caused Gage to have a fever of 101 and he would vomit several times throughout the day. Of course he'd been there plenty of times before but this time we were positive it was because he'd gotten the same bug that brother had. 

His cardiologist had us bring him back to Rady Children's Hospital to stay until things were back to normal.  It was definitely the safer thing to do given his history. They didn't have to do very much and mommy was there all day and night for the five days that Gage had to stay.  Once the vomiting stopped we were able to have him back home.

He's been a very happy boy as usual and he's eating more and more solid food.  He's also using some sign language to signal when he wants more of something and when he wants his bath. Last night he put two signs together and told us "more bath" when we asked, "are you ready to get out?" 

His favorite toys are his Fisher-Price Bright Beats Dance & Move Beatbo and his ride on Bright Starts Having A Ball 3-in-1 Step & Ride Lion.  He loves to throw the multi-color plastic balls especially with one in each hand throwing at the same time. He thinks it's hilarious when brother runs around trying to pick them all up.  He loves the Beatbo robot toy and dances to pretty much every song. His most favorite song is the "Freeze Dance" song because I like to dance with him and I freeze whenever Beatbo says to freeze.  Gage has figured out which song it is just from listening to the first few seconds of each song. He skips all the songs to jump back to the "Freeze Dance" song so he can watch me freeze on command.

With out a doubt though, his favorite thing right now is to ride on the lion and get pushed around the house like he's riding a 4-wheeler. It's gotten to the point that at first sight of even a tiny part of the ride-on lion, Gage will have a melt down if he isn't given a lion ride immediately.  Life is pretty good right now and we're very thankful to have Gage home with us everyday.  Thank you to all who have given support in one way or another.  It's clearly made a difference.

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy Birthday Gage!  Such a rugged first year but Mr. Gage made it. He had French fries with his dinner and then followed it up with some chocolate cake. He's wearing a halter monitor for 24 hours so he wasn't able to have bath time tonight which he loves so much. No big deal though! He's just happy to be home and doing well.

One year seemed like a long time with all that was going on but it also seemed to go by quickly. Hard to believe just one year ago Mr. Gage was being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance from our home here in Chula Vista. He arrived so quickly Kristy didn't even have the option to take any of the drugs for the pain. Heck, I didn't even get to see the birth happen because I was parking the car!

Anyways, were very blessed that Gage has made it this far and we are so thankful to all of you for your support. I'll be saying a prayer tonight for those precious babies that we were introduced to along the way and that didn't make it. I've no doubt that God is with them. I think about them often.

 

Better Than Ever!

Gage has been doing absolutely incredible since he's been home.  He is full of smiles all day and make progress all around like you wouldn't believe.  He loves solid food and wants to try everything we have. He does so well with chewing that you'd thing he'd been doing it for months. He's really improved greatly with his coordination and strength as well.

He sits up easily and has been rolling around more frequently. Just yesterday he managed to get up on to his knees and we thought he might even crawl. Not yet though!  We worry about his G-Tube when he's on his tummy. It'll definitely start to show more signs of irritation around the port as he spends more time on his belly.

Three more days until his birthday! Can't wait to watch him eat some cake!!