6 months old!

Note: Ok, I originally wrote this yesterday(Monday, 2/11) but wasn't able to post it until today (Tuesday, 2/12) because Ethan was very fussy all day so bear with me in the references to "today", meaning Monday, 2/11.

Ethan is officially 6 months old today! I remember when he was born, loving the brief moment that Dan and I got to hold him before the nurses rushed him off to the NICU to take care of him. Way back before our precious son was born, we were already trusting God with Ethan's life, however long that time may be with him. God has been so gracious to us in helping Ethan's heart to function so well, thanks to our wonderful team at UNC Hospital. We feel so blessed to be able to celebrate Ethan's half-birthday today!

To mark this momentous day, Ethan and I started the day with a well-baby 6-month checkup at the pediatrician. The doc said he's looking great. He weighs 16 lb. 2 oz. (4 oz. shy of doubling his birth weight!) and is 27" long. Due to his shots, he's been sleepy and fussy all day so I've got my hands full!

I think Ethan's also going through a growth spurt and he is now (finally!) drinking over 5 oz. at each feeding! He also enjoys eating baby foods like applesauce, sweet potatoes, bananas and we're still working on getting him to eat green beans. He's officially outgrown his infant car seat so yesterday we transitioned him to his big boy convertible car seat (meaning that it's rear-facing until he turns one, then we can turn the seat around to be forward facing until he outgrows it in a few years). This is an exciting milestone but it makes going out to eat a little tricky since he can't sit up on his own yet so he doesn't do well sitting in a high chair, but we're making it work.

That's all for now, thanks for continuing to read our blog and keep us in your prayers. Our next big appointment is in 2 weeks - Tues., Feb. 26 at UNC for an x-ray swallow study. I'm actually more nervous about this than his last surgery. This will be Ethan's 3rd time to do the study. I'm so tired of having to always thicken his bottles with rice cereal to help him swallow his bottle down his throat and into his stomach instead of into his lungs. Although we're pretty used to thickening all his bottles, it's more about being able to start giving Ethan juice and water than about the extra few seconds it takes to measure and add the cereal. Please pray that the '3rd time's a charm" as the expression goes so we can not have to worry about giving Ethan juice and other liquids as he gets older.