Updates

You know the old saying, "No news is good news". Well that's certainly the case with our family. Ethan has continued to heal well from his surgery. He acts like nothing's changed, which is encouraging! But it also can make it hard at times for us to remember that it's only been about 5 weeks (tomorrow) since surgery so his sternum still is not completely healed. Therefore, we have to remember to be very gentle when picking him up.

We still can't pick him up under his arms for about another 1-3 weeks (his nurses said it takes 6-8 weeks for the bones to completely heal so we're going to play it safe and wait the maximum amount of time). Without being able to pick him up under his arms, and since Ethan can't sit up on his own yet, we are somewhat more limited in what we can do to play with him. It's too difficult to get him in and out of his exersaucer so we haven't used that since we've come home. Ethan likes to sit up so we either prop him up on the couch and give him some toys or else we hold him while he plays with his toys. Sometimes we lie him on his back so he can play with his activity mat that has toys that dangle down for him to reach up to play with. He gets bored of being on his back so I either end up holding him or I put him in his swing. Needless to say, with holding Ethan, I don't seem to have much free time to get anything done around the house. I have a Snugli carrier so I can "wear" him and have my hands free but he hasn't liked being in it after this 2nd surgery so that option's out. Any other ideas of what to do with him are welcomed. Just leave me a comment (see link at bottom of this journal entry).

We just tried "tummy time" a couple of nights ago, for the first time since surgery. Usually Ethan starts screaming after just a couple of minutes, but he managed to stay on his tummy for nearly 20 minutes this time. He even started "scooting" around on his blanket so that was fun to watch! He still won't roll over, he just rolls onto his side and stops, but we're making progress.

Thanks for checking in on us and for continuing to keep us in your prayers.