Friday, July 11, 2008

11 months old!

It's hard to believe that our sweet little boy is quickly approaching his first birthday! Part of me, honestly, wasn't sure we'd make it this far but most of me believed we would. Thank you Lord for another month with our precious baby boy! He is quite a mischievous little thing and has the best eyesight - picking up the tiniest of objects and sticking them in his mouth! Sometimes we don't even believe anything's really there but at closer examination, we're continuously amazed at how he manages to find the smallest crumb (or lint) or light colored hair on the floor.

Recent accomplishments:
- pulling up (just this week!)
- crawling more (instead of sliding/slithering along)
- exploring more "big people" food like various fruits, breads, chicken, etc.
- learning to use a sippy cup
- open cabinets/doors
- dancing to music (he moves both arms like he's punching something)

Thanks, as always, for checking in on us. We will try to have more pictures (and maybe video if we can figure it out) up soon.

Friday, July 4, 2008

First Fireworks!

Last night, another town close to us had a concert and fireworks display at the local high school. We (Dan, Ethan, & I) joined Dan's mom and all my immediate family for the big event. The music was loud and the fireworks were even louder (I've never been so close to them before - we were sitting in the bleachers and the display was just across the field behind the other bleachers). Dan and I both enjoy watching fireworks but we weren't sure how Ethan would react to the loud noise. Turns out that he loves watching them too and wasn't scared a bit by the noise. He wouldn't dare turn his eyes away as he watched each of the explosive displays in the sky. Now that he survived the "test run" last night, we may go try to see more fireworks tonight. Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

update

Oops, sorry for not posting an update last night after Ethan's procedure. We were all exhausted and went to bed early last night. All went well, we were told on Friday that we had to be there at the hospital to check in at 7am, the procedure would start at 8:30 and we'd be leaving by 10am.

Well nothing ever seems to go according to schedule in a hospital! We got there at 7am, got checked in, hoped Ethan would go back to sleep but he didn't. He started getting fussy and hungry but wasn't allowed to have anything since midnight so we did our best to keep him preoccupied with toys, walking the halls, etc. They finally called us in to get vitals and sign the consent form a little after 8am. Then more waiting... the anesthesiologist finally took Ethan at 9am. We ran and got breakfast in the cafe and quickly returned to the waiting room because we were told that his procedure would last anywhere from 30min-1hr. Sitting there in the cafe brought back so many memories from Ethan's first two surgeries and we both thanked God that this was such a minor OUTPATIENT procedure with no chance of being admitted! We got to go see Ethan about 10:30 then we got discharged around 11am.

After discharge, we went up to the CICC floor (step down unit after his heart surgeries) and visited all our favorite nurses. They were excited to see us and see how big Ethan is getting. They love having their patients come back and when we were in the area last month for the parent panel of the cardiology conference, they reminded us to come visit their floor any time we're in the area. Ethan was still groggy from the anesthesia but he did manage to give the nurses a little smile.

Ethan slept the whole hour-long drive home plus the time it took for us to run by Target to get his 2 prescriptions filled - one was an antibiotic ( to prevent infection) and the other was Tylenol with Codeine. He'll be on the antibiotic for 5 days and the Tylenol just as needed. Once we got home, Ethan had a bottle with his Tylenol w/codeine then slept from 3:30-7:30. We woke him up to feed him and give him his antibiotic then he went back to bed around 9 and slept till 6:30 this morning. He's slightly off schedule but we're catching up.

He doesn't really seem to be in pain today, which is amazing! He's back to "slithering" on his tummy (he can crawl but doesn't like it as much), which makes Dan cringe - afraid that being on his tummy is causing him unnecessary pain - but it doesn't seem to bother Ethan a bit! What a tough little guy we have!

He's got a clear bandage over his surgical site which will fall off in 3-10 days but we've still been instructed to not immerse him in water (no baths or swimming pool) for 3 whole weeks! Poor little guy, I know how much he'll miss that - he's getting to be a good little swimmer. :-(

One final update - Dan took the whole day off to be with us yesterday and as we were letting Ethan watch a cartoon before taking his nap, we both got to see him wave for the first time (at the cartoon characters). It was so cute! And today, I introduced Ethan to bananas. He's had the Gerber baby food but never had the real thing until today and he loved it.

Thanks for checking in on us. We are so thankful for all the fervent prayers and continued good health of our precious son. Tonight we're off to celebrate the life of another special person - my sister (Ethan's aunt) Jessica. Happy 25th birthday sis/aunt!