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.

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!

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!

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!