6 Months

Travis turned 6 months on October 2 (which these pictures are from).  I can't beleive that he is 1/2 way away from being 1 year old...seriously where has the time gone???  His latest tricks are rolling like a pro, sitting up on his own, holding his won bottle, giving kisses, babbling sounds like da da da da, ma ma ma (less often than I 'd like) and ba ba ba.  We went to the doctors last week and he weighed in at 17 lbs 9 oz and 28 inches long.  When I looked at Sammy's stats she was 17 lbs 15 oz and 26 1/4 inches long at this time...so looks like he is going to be our tall, dark(he's got a beautiful olive skin tone), and handsome boy!  Sorry, just being a partial momma!
We had a VERY big day yesterday too.  Travis went in for his first laser surgery on his Port Wine Stain.  I have been and WAS a WRECK!!!  I have been so stressed and nervous about the procedure that I made my self sick.  I had to take Wednesday off because I have just been so drained!  Anyway, we had to leave here by 5:30 am yesterday to be able to register by 7:30 at Rady's Children's Hospital.  I was also given explicit directions that he was not allowed to have any milk after 3:30 in the morning but he could have some juice or Pedialite any time before 6:00am.  I was already stressing myself out about how fussy he would be without food!  How do you explain that to a 6 month old?!  So we packed both kids into the car at 5:22am and headed down.  Sammy talked about the moon the whole way down and T fell asleep on an off.  He ended up snacking on about an ounce of Pedialite, but was all smiles, having NO idea what he was in for!
We got there and regitered and then had to wait.  I had a backpack full of games, coloring, and toys to keep Sammy occupied, but really she was enjoying all the new friends she made while in the waiting room.  There were may kids all there to have some type of procedure done.  We finally got called back to get prepped (T weighted, measured, dressed in his little gown) and then had to wait some more!  Finally the doctor called us back to talk with us again about the procedure and what to expect...and says, "well, we're waiting for the laser to fire up, it did this yesterday, but ended up working.  We might have to cancel though, but we'll wait another hour and see what happens!"  I couldn't beleive it, didn't he realize that I had a baby that hadn't eaten but 1 oz of Pedialite at 6:00am?!!!?!! 
Well regardless, Travis was perfect, I really couldn't believe it, becasue he has always been the one of my kids to be vocal and irritated easeir than normal, but he was literally an angel!  He fell asleep in Joe's arms right before the anethesiologist called us back.  So looks like we were on!  They explained that they would take him back, give him the anethesia by gas and then put the tube down his throat and the IV in his foot, but he wouldn't feel any of it.  Then the procedure would take about 20-40 mintues to laser and then he would go to recovery.  They told us that as soon as he started to wake up, we would get to be there.  Joe handed Travis off to the nurse and they took him away.  Ahhh, the tears flew from my eyes.  I knew that I was doing the right thing and that he was in good hands and that he wouldn't remember a thing...but still, they had my baby and I had to wait :(   And I know there are moms out there that have to deal with far worse decisions and procedures.  I was just nervous about the anethesia!
So we waited, thank goodness Sammy was with us so she could keep my mind occupied :)  20 minutes later the doctor walked in and said things went great!  He explained that there are different energy levels that the laser can be set to and he started at a 1, but that next time he will go higher because he did so great.  He also explained to us that when we saw him that his arm would have blue and purple circles all over it from bruising where the laser started, that it was normal.  He wants us to watch it and let him know how many days it takes to release the color.  He also explained to us how the laser works.  Because a Port Wine Stain has to do with his blood vessels, he said to think of the arm like a cake and the laser zaps the cake not the frosting, so his top layer of skin would be intact.
So the nurse called us back when he was waking up and I prepared for the worse, they say that many times kids coming out of antheshisa are disorriented and cry for a while.  When we went back he was drinking a juice bottle the nurses gave him and was very mellow!  He didn't cry at all!  They let me hold him and feed him a bottle of milk, and the sweet little thing slept in my arms for the 1 1/2 we had to wait for him to be discharged!  He did PERFECT!
We were told that he could be uncomortable and have little to no pain, but to watch...and so far we haven't had to give him any Tylenyol at all, he has done great!  I'm so happy that he was not negatively affected by it all.  The doctor said to schedule next month's appointment, and so we did and will probably do at least 3-4 more treatments and then discuss with the doctor if we should do more or stop there.  I'm thinking that this little boy is a troooper and will do just fine in the months to come and see a positve outcome from this day of stress!
If you look closely at his left arm you'll see what his birthmark looked like before treatment.

This picture was from the Diabetes Walk that we did today.  You can see that he has the bruising still, but it looks SO much better than when we saw it in recovery.  His arm was super dark and swollen, but now it just has a little bruising.  Like I said though, he is not phased by it at all!!!

Thank you everyone who sent us texts and emails keeping us in your thoughts!  It ment alot to us to have everyone's support, especially since we knew he did so well!