It's Been a While!

Wow, does time fly! Today's the first day of summer and I just realized I still have Valentines wallpaper up here on the blog! Guess it's time for a makeover and some big updates! Well, like they say, "No News is Good News!"

So what have we been up to for the last 4 months? Lots - but nothing involving anything medical for Ethan! He had his last cardiologist checkup back in February and doesn't return until mid-August (after his 3rd birthday!). At that time, we expect to have a little more info as to when Ethan's 3rd (and hopefully final) stage of surgery (the Fontan) should take place. At his Feb. appt, he was about 3 pounds shy of the minimum weight required to do the surgery so we've just been working on fattening the boy up as our main priority. Easy to do in the summer time with lots of cold sweets to chow down on! Ethan wakes up asking for ice cream, popsicles, candy, etc. Of course, we don't let that be his "breakfast of champions" but it does tend to make it into our mid-afternoon or evening snack time!

And speaking of surgery, we have had 5 other heart friends (most of them younger than Ethan) already make it through their 3rd stage of surgery in the last month so we've been following their journey's, praying for them, and learning what recovery looks like for them so we can start to mentally prepare for our own when our time comes. We just have to keep in mind that this particular heart defect, HLHS, is one of the most complicated ones (in case you didn't know or have forgotten, there are over 35 known heart defects currently) so each case is unique with the outcomes and how each child's body handles the surgeries & recoveries. As we're learning, heart kids live on their own timetable for recovery and nobody seems to really go "by the book" so just because one kid may struggle with a certain aspect of recovery (such as eating, keeping O2 sats up, chest tube drainage, etc), doesn't mean that it's the same for everyone (Ethan included) so we will continue to just trust God when our time comes.

Well enough about Ethan's medical stuff, time for the fun stuff! First, I have to admit I've been bad about not getting a lot of pictures with the camera lately so this post won't have a lot of pictures. Dan & I both got new phones back in January that take good pictures and I have hundreds on there, I just have to figure out how to get some on this site. I've uploaded lots straight to Facebook but am still learning how to get them to other places!

This spring, Ethan and I wrapped up our first year of Community Bible Study! I had a great time getting to know ladies of all ages from different churches across the city. We spent the year studying the book of Luke. Ethan's class had a great time doing their own lessons throughout the New Testament. He learned 6 different Bible verses set to music, along with lots of other Bible songs. He had a great time at his year-end concert getting to perform these songs on stage with all the other kids. He goes around the house singing these songs every day & I've come to learn most of them as well!

Ethan continues to continually amaze us with his non-stop energy, creativity, extravertedness (if that's even a word!), & his love for God & his family. He loves to lead family prayer time at meals, bedtime, the car, & more. He still naps most afternoons for a couple of hours but gets up early (about 7:30am) and goes strong all day long until 8:30 or 9pm. He loves to draw (especially footballs) - he colored all over his walls with his (not-so) washable Crayola crayons, he draws in the tub with his tub crayons, outside with chalk & on paper as a last resort is seems! He also is proving to be a smart kid - he can count to 15, knows his colors, numbers, letters, and always barters for more of anything (like I'll say he has 5 more minutes to play & he'll ask for 6 minutes or I'll say he can have 1 book read to him before bed & he'll ask for 2).

He still doesn't know a stranger. One night when we were out to eat, an older gentleman passing by our table waved to him and held out his arms & Ethan reached out his arms trying to go to him! He also talks to any & every thing he sees - greets everyone in stores, says "bye" to all the trees we pass as we drive down the road, even carries on full conversations with the geese we feed at the lake.

Ethan also has grown a lot spiritually this year through his attendance at Community Bible Study, MOPS, Sunday school & of course by following our example at home. He is sensitive to the needs of others - especially his family, extended family & our heart friends. He often initiates prayer when I don't even think to stop and pray at times. We let him help decide which heart friends & which family to pray for at meals & before bed time and he even will stop me in the middle of the day randomly and just tell me we need to pray for someone (or something). I look forward to seeing him grow closer to God & especially look forward to the day he decides on his own to accept Christ as his own personal savior because he wants to & not because we tell/ask him to do so!

Well in other big news, I'm tackling what I've been dreading as much if not more than Ethan's upcoming 3rd surgery - I'm starting on potty training Ethan! I know this sounds like I'm being overly dramatic & exaggerating but I'm not! I really have been nervous about the whole process. Fortunately, Ethan's been really excited about it. He received big boy underwear for Christmas & keeps asking when he can wear them. As of late last week, we have started the transition to pull-up diapers & Ethan has loved it! He has gone potty a handful of times each day for the last 4 days but still soaks his pull-ups. I've found his reward of choice/best motivational tool for him is a few M&M's ("nuh-nems" as he calls them) for each time he successfully pees in the potty. We also have an Elmo ptty chart w/ stickers that we started using today as well. So pray for us as we start this new journey towards no more diapers!

I'm sure I've left out lots of small things to update that have happened over the last four months so I'll just end with a list of Ethan's favorites (in no particular order):

Foods: red seedless grapes, watermelon, cheese, yogurt, cheeseburgers (w/ ketchup & mustard), lettuce (plain), ice cream cones (with any kind of ice cream as long as it has chocolate &/or sprinkles), Rita's Italian Ice (with sprinkles), M&M's, cheese quesadillas ("dillas"), tea, Krispy Kreme doughnuts (especially the ones with sprinkles), popcorn....the list goes on and on (except for most meats)

Toys/Games: anything with tires (I forgot to mention I had to get 4 new tires on my minivan about a month ago and E still hasn't stopped talking about it to everyone he sees) - I just got one of those fishing games for him where the "fish" are actually tires from the movie Cars, his train set, CandyLand, anything related to cooking (he doesn't use his tool workbench much for building, but rather for cooking up his nuts/bolts as "meals"), he likes using his shopping cart to go shopping "at Target" & he tries to swipe every purchase across my laptop to "pay for it" at a cost of "2 bucks" for each item - no matter what it is/how much it really costs

TV/Movies/Characters: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Toy Story (especially Buzz Lightyear), Handy Manny, The Count ("Ha Ha"), Elmo & Big Bird from Sesame Street (still his most popular category of movies to watch - especially Follow That Bird), Veggie Tales, & Richard Scary's Busytown show.

Well I better end the post for now but pictures will come next time!