Fall Festival Fun

Last night we attended the annual Fall Festival at West End Assembly of God (WEAG). We went last year and had a blast and have now added this to the list of Downer Family Fall Traditions. The weather was less than ideal (rainy and temps in the 40s), but adorable kids, fun games and good memories made for warm hearts. (I know ... cheesy!)

Half man, half giraffe ... he's a miraffe!

Half man, half dog ... he's a mog! He's his own best friend.

Brennan tried his hand at throwing items into the little boxes.
He was a good sport and tried lots of games to earn candy.

In this game you had to pick a duck and the number on the bottom of the duck corresponded to the number of pieces of candy you could select. Brennan (four) and Owen (three) each hit the jackpot!

Owen's puppy costume was just a bit too big for him,
leading to droopy dog head throughout the night.

Train ride with daddy!

Bonus photo: Owen at his manly best ... sitting on the couch watching TV with the remote in his hand. I can't believe he's only 18 months old and I already have competition for control of the remote.

Leafy

On our outing to Maymont last weekend, we collected a bunch of leaves for a future art project. The constant rain yesterday made it the perfect day to make a couple of leaf placements! Brennan was pretty excited to do this art project and has been proudly using one of his new placements at mealtimes since.

A work in progress. (You might not be able to tell, but he's wearing a shirt that he made at VBS this summer. It says "God is Wild About Me". It's his most frequently requested shirt!)

The finished product. My favorite leaf is the one in the bottom right corner. I love the deep, rich red!

An Update

Many of you know that chronic constipation has been part of Brennan's life for a long time (over two years, to be exact!). After trying different remedies and enduring some pretty bad instances of diaper rash, we were referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist back in January. Despite much tinkering with a daily dose of Miralax, it didn't seem to help. The kid just seemed to leak. And diaper changes were endless.

After expressing frustration to our GI doc a couple months ago, he had Brennan do a Sitzmarker study where he swallowed a bunch of little markers and was x-rayed five days later. Ideally, every marker should have passed from his system. Unfortunately, our little guy had quite a few still left in him. This seemed to indicate a motility disorder, where things just don't pass through his system the way that they should.

We received a referral to a motility specialist...in Winston-Salem. Four hours away. Not exactly close. But we need some answers and some assistance in figuring out how to help Brennan with this issue. We headed down there this past weekend for his appointment on Monday morning.

It was definitely a productive trip. We definitely felt like the doctor was very understanding with what has been going on. We really feel like we are finally on the road to making some progress. Brennan was a trooper during his appointment! Owen even did pretty well as well, despite being confined to his stroller most of the the time!

He had some blood work done to rule out anything like problems with his thyroid or celiac disease. After doing an x-ray, it was discovered that his colon is again completely full, so we are in full swing of doing a complete clean-out.

We are waiting to hear back from the hospital there in order to schedule our next appointment which will be a 3-4 day hospital stay for Brennan while the hospital does another complete clean out in preparation for a colonoscopy. Once we find out about that appointment, we'll be able to figure out what it will look like for our family in regard to traveling down there again.

This has definitely been a long road for us to have already traveled and there is still a long road ahead of us. Brennan essentially has to relearn how to go to the bathroom (which will result in a referral to a physical therapist who can help with that process, but she is thankfully at VCU here in Richmond), and that process could take another year or so.

We would covet your prayers for Brennan! The hospital stay is not going to be fun for anyone involved. The clean out we are doing now is also not really fun. Necessary, but not my idea of a good time! We will keep you posted as things progress with these upcoming appointments.

October Fun (a rare post from Daddy)

One of my favorite things as a kid was building and playing in forts, so I took advantage of my day off on Friday to build one for Brennan and Owen to play in.

Today we went to Maymont for the morning since it was a nice day and we hadn't been there in about six months. Owen admired the goats.

This picture lacks an appropriate reference point. That branch is almost six feet up, so I was proud of Brennan for being brave and humoring my obsession with "boy in a tree" pictures.

He's like Rocky Balboa at the top of the Art Museum steps!

Sandbox Fun

In the past, Owen has loved to put things in the sandbox, such as rocks, leaves, and pine needles. Little did I expect that today he would put himself in the sandbox. Sometimes, I guess, it's just more fun to become one with the sand.

Annual

It is tradition in our family to visit Carter Mountain Orchard to pick apples. Previous years have been warm enough for short sleeves and jeans. This year was a bit different. This year, there was enough chill in the wind to merit long sleeves (and jackets had we thought to bring them!). Despite a slightly chilly breeze, it was a beautiful day on the mountain. Brennan was much more excited to pick apples off the trees (as opposed to off the ground, as he has in years past) and Owen was definitely interested in wandering all around and stretching his legs. Our picnic spot had a great view overlooking Charlottesville and the apple donuts, another tradition, really hit the spot. Ah, how we love fall in Virginia!