Today the weather was so nice that Tate and I were able to take our first walk! Actually, this is the first time I have even used our stroller. It felt great to be outside and Tate loved it! He was staring at everything and taking it all in! It tuckered him right out and he was asleep after a couple of minutes!
Tate is doing MUCH better these days. He had a hard time after the surgery and was very clingy with me and Nathan (he wouldn't let us put him down for a second) and he wasn't sleeping more than an hour at a time at night. Tate also got a rash and cradle cap on top of his incision. It was driving him crazy and he wouldn't stop picking at it. He also had some other issues and we took him to the Pediatrician. He said that Tate was going through Post Traumatic Stress from the surgery and needed to be comforted. Needless to say, Nath and I have been a little worn out these past two weeks. But, over the past few days, things have seemed to turn around and Tate is acting much more like himself. He is sleeping better at night (he only woke up once last night) and he can be put down without screaming. He is such a sweet little boy and we are so happy that he is feeling better. Poor little guy has been through a lot.... Here are some pictures from today (exactly two weeks after the surgery). I can't get this baby to smile at the camera anymore. He just stares at it with his big blue eyes. What a funny boy!!
Now, this is Tate's head after the surgery. It is much rounder and his forehead is wider and doesn't stick out as much. It may be a little hard to tell in the pictures, but we can see a big difference. 
What a difference a day makes. Tate woke up this morning and could see! His swelling is almost all gone and he is a much happier baby. He is a little needy today- he wants to be held by his mom and dad at all times. I don't blame him; I would want to be held if I had been through what he has! He is getting back to his old self, with lots of smiling, laughing and babbling. He looks so beautiful and we are shocked to see how round his little head is!
Today has been a much better day for all of us. We were able to get a little more sleep last night (even though the nazi nurse made us take down our air mattress) and Tate seems to be feeling more like himself. Even though his swelling is worse today, he is in less pain. He has been smiling, playing, and eating his shirt and hands like his old self. The neurosurgeon saw Tate this morning and gave us the green light to go home! We were ready to get our baby out of there and get him to our cozy house! Tate has to take pain meds for a few days and we have to watch his incision and keep it dry. The nurse also gave Nathan a lesson in how to take Tate's stiches out on his little incision (where the tube was). That should be interesting... Here are some photos of him today with his swollen little face. Just half of his face is swollen because he has been laying towards one side. We didn't want to move him because we didn't want both of his eyes to swell. He would freak out! He is already so confused why he can't open one of his eyes and keeps rubbing and pulling at it to try and figure it out. 
We wanted to let everyone know that Tate's surgery is over and everything went very well. He was such a brave little one. We got to Primary Children's Hospital at 7:45 am Monday morning to report for the surgery. Tate couldn't really eat anything past midnight, so we expected him to be fussy. He actually was a very good little boy and didn't really cry at all. We had to wait for quite awhile once we got to the hospital because there was at least 20 other kids reporting for surgery. Once they called us back, we changed him into his gown, went through some tests with a nurse to make sure he was ready for surgery, met with the Neurosurgeon, then met with the Anesthesiologists. We then had to hand him off to the doctors for his surgery. That was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do. The surgery started at 9:15 and we heard from Dr. Brockmeyer at 10:15. He gave us quite the scare because he asked to see us in a private room to tell us how they surgery went, when all of the other doctors talked to the patients in the waiting room. Thankfully, he had good news to tell us and everything was great. We then got to go see him while he was waking up in the recovery room. His head looked differently right out of surgery. If it was possible, he is even cuter!
The hospital was so packed that we weren't able to get into a room for almost three hours. Tate was on so much medication that he was pretty out of it for most of the day. But, he did find the strength to smile at the nurses a few hours after surgery.
The incision is almost ear to ear and in a zig zag pattern (so that his hair doesn't part on his scar).
Tate started doing the cutest thing a couple of weeks ago. He doesn't sleep in his crib at night, but he likes to lay in it and play with his crib soother toy. He learned how to push the button on it to turn it off and on. He cracks himself up when he turns it on and gets sad when he turns it off. At first we thought that something was wrong with the toy, but we went in his room and saw him pushing the button over and over again. Is he smart, or is it just me?? :)
