Welcome Home Simon!

 I'm writing today with such a happy heart! 

If you have been following the story of little Simon, well, God has answered prayers... 

Simon is HOME! 

If you haven't followed the story, you can check out the last two posts I have done. 

 I'm Going Back {Prayers For Simon Please!}

Prayer For Simon Update

Simon's mommy, Rena, is a friend of mine and we know her family through our auto shop and my spray tanning business! She is an amazing woman of God. Prayers for this family have been coming in for the last month from all over the country and beyond after 17 month old Simon slipped after taking a bath, suffered a severe brain injury, including emergency surgery at Children's Hospital San Diego.

He was just released yesterday to go home. Absolutely amazing progress only described as miraculous. He was doing so great in therapy and the doctors went ahead with the bone flap surgery at the end of last week. The surgery went perfect. Not even 4 weeks after having his first brain surgery, this little trooper is on the mend and home with mommy, daddy, and big brother, Liam {3}.

The poor family has had a tough go, with all of them suffering the horrible stomach flu that has gone through most of San Diego county. Simon most recently got the flu which kept him in the hospital a few days longer.

Like I did in my previous post, I'm going to post some updates right from Rena's {mommy of Simon} Facebook page in order to give you the best, most accurate information!

I can't thank you all enough that have been praying for this little dude... Now they are just asking for prayers as they make the transition home. I melt seeing this smiling face... God is so good.

♥     ♥     ♥

Excerpts from  Rena, Simon's mommy {newest to old}:
  
The doctor signed the papers for us to be discharged today. Please pray for us as we return to normal and yet are still fighting this yucky stomach bug. Pray that we are not fearful of Simon walking around and that his brother can learn to be gentle with him for a time. Thank the Lord!!!!

They are taking Simon's IV out and they said if he shows that he is eating and drinking, we can be discharged by 4pm today. Unfortunately, he is refusing to eat or drink anything. PLEASE PRAY that he gets an appetite and starts eating and that Jesse has patience with him as Simon is pretty grumpy.

Simon seems to be doing better today, but is refusing to eat anything. Please pray that he gets his appetite back tonight and eats/drinks, so that we are approved to go home tomorrow morning. We want to bring him home sooooo badly. It is true though that God does not give us more than we can handle and we are hanging in there and so thankful to be fighting this flu because it means that Simon is alive and able to fight. Praise Him!!!!

Going back to rehab. One step closer to home. :)


Surgery was perfect and he is already extubated. He is on his way to intensive care to recover overnight. Please pray for him as he is sick and his immunities are down. So thankful for everyone at Rady's and their amazing work.

Simon is going in for surgery this morning to get his bone flap put back in. He has been sick with what I have, so please pray that he is able to heal and it doesn't affect his recovery. He will go to intensive care to recover and won't be able to move around. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors & nurses, patience and peace for Jesse & I and strength for Simon to get through this.

♥      ♥      ♥

Lastly, I'm sure some of you have been curious to know how it has been being back on Facebook. I went the full 365 days without it and then just started adding back some of my friends and family.

I've loved catching up with some old friends, finding out about some engagements, babies on the way, etc. 

I've only added back a little over 100 friends and family at this point and I love it. 

I don't think I'll ever go back to having 900 "friends."

I see the people I truly want to be in touch with in my newsfeed. It's awesome.

I did remove notifications from my phone.

But like I had mentioned in my Facebook aha! Moment, it is not something that consumes me anymore. I truly did deal with the root of my problem, my lack of self control, and it has given me a completely different outlook. 

God is good.

Facebook is fun again.

And a belly pic to end on....  ☺

Instagram Friday. {Recent happenings!}

It's been a while since I joined the Instagram Friday fun so here I am! 

I had my second baby appointment yesterday and like last time, the whole tribe came with. I didn't know I was going to get lucky enough to get another ultra sound and was so excited!! Addy was showing everyone the pictures of "her baby." 

Other random happenings around here that I need to blog about are that Addyson started preschool! Where is the time going?! We are only doing two half days a week, but I still can't believe it. She is loving it so far. I held up the entire morning and it wasn't until that evening of her first day and she was sitting with me on my bed and I just started crying. I couldn't believe 3 years ago I was on the beach with my little 7 month old. Oh the tears!!!

Sawyer had a visit to the doc this week just for a late 18 month check up. I absolutely died when the docs told me that he was 36 3/4 inches long at 21 months. Completely off the charts for his age range. They told me he was average height for a 32 month old! It's so funny to me that both my kids don't have a speck of their momma's height genes. They are going to pass me up before they are 5. Sheesh. 

Addy showing Sawyer the 13 week baby pics!

 Sawyer "washing daddy's hair." lol.

 Me and my baby girl, January 3 years ago. 

 Warm day in January meant water time fun!

 Daddy is always more fun. lol. 

 Sawyer's idea of picking me flowers. ♥

 Sawyer's 21 month check up! Big boy! 

 Addyson's 1st day of preschool.

Prayer for Simon Update

I have a bit of an update since my last post on little Simon's condition. 

The family has set up a page on Facebook to receive updates and to pray for the family. You can check that page out here. 

For those that missed my last post, a friend's son, Simon {17 months old} slipped after he got out of the bath hitting his head on the floor. After showing signs of a concussion, he was taken to urgent care. He threw up while in the care of the doctors at urgent care so was sent to the hospital for a CT scan. Scan showed massive bleeding and he was immediately life flighted to Children's Hospital San Diego for surgery to stop the bleeding. The fall cracked one of the cranial bones and cut an artery that ran beneath it. 

The surgery had a miraculous outcome and a further CT scan showed no additional bleeding, but as Simon woke up he showed signs of weakness in his right side and the Neurosurgeon restudied the CT scan and identified a small portion of the brain that was damaged that particularly controls movement. 

To give you all a quick overview of what has taken place in just the last few days, I will post excerpts from Rena, mommy of Simon, from this page. Oldest to most recent.

♥     ♥     ♥

 

Simon is still stable. He had a good rest last night. They are hoping to do an MRI today to check if he may have brain damge caused from a stroke. His neurologist looked at his latest CT scan and has some concerns. Please pray for these results and pray that they can extubate him. 

So the PIC line will not be put in until tomorrow at which point they should extubate him. He is slightly awake, but still pretty groggy. Pray for Simon as he is becoming more conscious to not be too scared and to somehow understand what is going on. Also pray that he is able to rest still to fully heal. He is such a strong, spunky little person. Pray for Jesse and I still to have patience as it is killing us not to hold him. Oh, and we are so thankful to have finally gotten a room at the Ronald MacDonald house, so we now have a place for Liam to stay with us.

Human Tribe Project was recommended as a means to raise money for Simon. We have started a "Tribe" for Simon. If anyone feels led to give monitarily, this is how you can give directly to his recovery. All the proceeds are given to the Frey Family. All you have to do is go to humantribeproject.com and our "tribe" is Simon Frey. You do have to register as a user before donating. It makes you a "member" of the Praying For Simon Frey tribe. Thank you for those that have taken the time to look at this site and give. Check out the site here.  

The PIC line is and the tube is out. He is wheezy, but they are happy it's a step forward. He will be assessed tomorrow for speech (helps determine his eating), physical therapy, and those types of things. Keep praying this sweet boy well. And pray that as Simon makes progress and Rena and Jesse are needed more, that the transition is smooth and stable with Liam. 

Simon has been moved to a crib-like bed, as seen below. His breathing is still labored, which is to be expected. When he's awake, he is trying to be active and that pleases the doctors.

I've been worried about Simon's personality, since we haven't seen him smile, that it won't return the same and Jesse reminded me to post a prayer request/new Facebook status, since there are so many diligent prayer warriors out there praying for Simon. Pray his personality returns and that he will also heal quickly in therapy and be able to sit on his own, etc. It's draining to try to be strong for so long and it definitely ways on me at times, but I'm trying so hard to let my faith be stronger than my fear. 

God is so good! I rushed over to Simon's room this morning and he woke up and called for me and then when I set my phone down next to him, he immediately grabbed it and held it up to push the buttons. I asked for it back and he said, "no"! He also SMILED at me!!!! It is so good to see him getting back to himself. God truly listens to our prayers and even our tiny concerns. Jesse and I are starting to think that he's super bored laying in his bed, so we turned on Elmo and he was stoked. :) 

Simon's left eye is getting stronger. He's beginning to look like his old self again. He turns 17 months old today. "Hard to believe that all of this happened only one week ago. I feel like I've aged 5 years."- Rena

♥    ♥     ♥

Please keep up the prayers for little Simon... he has a long road ahead, but there is so much hope! 

God is good!