Minor Procedure

Please keep Ethan (and us) in your prayers as we go to UNC tomorrow morning for Ethan's circumcision. Obviously, this was not a priority at the time of his birth and we've just been waiting to get past his 2nd surgery. Now that several months have passed and the pediatric urologist has time in his schedule, we can finally get the procedure done. The appointment's from 8:30am-10:00am but we have to check in at 7am (meaning we have to leave our house at 6am - yuck!) This is certainly a minor thing compared to all he's already been through, but your prayers are still appreciated since any time anesthesia's involved there's always risks associated with it. Assuming all goes well and he wakes up from anesthesia without any problem, we should be headed home shortly after the procedure's over. We'll update again tomorrow night with results. Thanks for checking in on us!

Cardiologist Appointment

Yesterday we went back to the cardiologist for a checkup. It had been 3 1/2 months so we were curious as to how Dr. Robinson thought Ethan's heart is doing. Ethan weighed in at 9.6 kg (21.1 lbs.) and measured 29 5/8 in. His blood pressure and oxygen saturation (o2) levels looked good - his o2 sat was at 82%, which is about where it should be and the same as it was when it was checked back in March at the last appointment. Dr. R also listened to Ethan's heart with his stethoscope and all seemed well but they still ordered an echocardiogram (echo) just to be sure.

Ethan was a very good boy for the echo technician - I told Dan that the only time I've even seen Ethan be so still is when he's asleep! The tech laughed and said it worked out good for him! Thanks to Ethan's cooperation, the tech was able to get some really good pictures of Ethan's heart and after Dr. R reviewed the pictures, we were told that Ethan's the best looking HLHS baby he's seen in a while! The RV (right ventricular) function looks really good and the atrial arch that was repaired during Ethan's 2nd surgery back in January is still wide open so we are very pleased! We don't go back again for another cardiologist visit until September and if all continues to look good, we will start going in 6 month increments!

Thank you Jesus for keeping our son so healthy and having good heart function and for using the wonderful staff at UNC Hospital to medically "fix" Ethan's heart as well.

Well thanks for checking in with us. I'm off to put Ethan down for his morning nap then it's off to Mimi's house (my mom) to go swimming!

Busy Boy

And they say boys are easier to raise than girls... I'm still willing to debate that one right now! Ethan's quite a little busy body - not quite wanting to crawl (although he likes to sleep on his knees and can easily support himself and rock back and forth while on them) so he "slithers" along on his belly, pulling himself with his elbows and helping himself move along with the force of his right knee. He's getting to be quite speedy and certainly keeps us on our toes all the time!

He's also got quite the eyesight - picking up every single speck of dirt/crumb/hair/etc. off the carpet and putting it in his mouth! Most recent findings in his mouth include silk plant leaves, carpet & dog toy fuzz, dry dog food, half-popped popcorn kernels and a few tiny pebbles. The funniest is watching the pink drool drip down his chin from the red pieces of dog food. Fortunately Dan & I are getting quick at reading his cues and have been able to remove nearly all items before swallowing (have only missed a few tiny pieces of lint I think!).

Oh, Ethan's also (in the last week or so) been able to go from lying down to sitting up all on his own! Several times we've come in to his nursery to get him up from naps and have found him sitting up in his bed and he's also doing it consistently on the living room floor!

As for his heart, all seems to continue to be going well. We'll know for sure though when we go back to the cardiologist for a checkup next Thursday, 6/26, so please keep that visit in your prayers. He is even doing well with increasing the amount of non-thickened bottle feedings to where we haven't been thickening them for a couple of weeks now!

Thanks for checking in on us and for continuing to pray for us regularly, we really appreciate it!

Some long overdue pictures!

Thank you Aunt Jenny for all the great pictures of our time at Myrtle Beach and the pool (May 18-21, 2008)! Ethan sure seemed to have a fun time with you and looks forward to much more swimming this summer at your neighborhood pool!

Mommy & Ethan getting lathered in sunscreen
with Pop-Pop keeping watch from the lifeguard stand

Future Lifeguard?

First Water Bottle

Posing for the camera

Hot Stuff!

Pop-pop introducing me to the beach

This water's kinda cold Pop-pop

Chillin' in my new swim gear

Aunt Jenny introducing me to the pool for the first time!

Ahhh, this is the life!