Healthy Heart

I called Ethan's pediatrician's office this afternoon because I had not yet heard anything about the results of his echocardiogram. The nurse said that the report was on his doctor's desk, so she read it and came back and said that it stated "normal cardiac function". Woo hoo!! This is wonderful news as it means that the hole in his heart has closed on its own. If the ASD did not close on its own, then we would be facing heart surgery for Ethan before he became schoolage. What a huge relief to know that his heart is now healthy :) Praise God!

Echocardiogram

I took Ethan bright and early this morning to have his follow-up echocardiogram done. The technician who did the echo was incredibly nice, and Ethan did SO much better than I thought that he would. He basically had to lay still for about 20 minutes on a hospital bed while he had 3 electrodes on his body and the ultrasound device with gel on his chest. All of those cords were very tantalizing (he loves to pull cords), but I held his hands, and he did so well. The last 3-5 minutes were a little more difficult (he cried off and on), but surprisingly he only tried to roll over 2 or 3 times. The technician said that the most difficult age range to do echos is 1-3 years and that Ethan did amazingly well. The echo was transmitted to a children's hospital downtown immediately after it was completed, and the tech said that results should have been to our pediatrician's office by noon today. Unfortunately our pediatrician is only in the office from 10am to noon today, so I won't get the results until tomorrow. The tech told me that, from what he could tell, he did not see any evidence of the ASD (atrial septal defect), so I am hopeful that the doctor who officially reads it is in agreement. I'll post the results when I receive them!

Ethan's One Year Check-up

I took Ethan to the pediatrician this morning for his one year check-up. I am so happy that this check-up was completely uneventful, and we walked away without referrals to any specialists! We knew a long time ago that he would need to have a repeat echocardiogram done around a year of age to see if his heart defect had closed on it's own, so that was scheduled for this Thursday morning at 8:30am. He weighed 20 lbs 12 oz and is 30 5/8 inches long. His height and head circumference are at the 75th percentile, while his weight is between the 10 and 25th percentiles. He received 2 vaccinations today (one a combo MMR and chicken pox and the other Hep A), and he has been pretty cranky this afternoon and evening. I'm glad that we scheduled this appointment after his birthday party so he was his cheerful little self on Saturday!

The Big Birthday Bash!

Today was Ethan's first birthday party! Here are some pre-party pics of the cakes/snacks and decorations:

Scrapbook pages for the guests to sign:We were blessed to have so many friends and family come to our house to celebrate with us :) We weren't sure how Ethan would react to a houseful of people, but he absolutely loved it! There were 19 kids and 30-some adults at his birthday party. For a short time he wore a cute little "Happy Birthday" baseball cap, but he kept taking it off. I made a mini birthday cake for him (confetti angelfood cake) with whipped icing and sprinkles on top. We also had angelfood cupcakes and a half chocolate half white cake that we ordered from Kroger (the bakery did a wonderful job of matching Ethan's birthday theme colors, and the cake was delicious!) This was the first time that Ethan has had cake and icing. He enjoyed eating the icing (just like Daddy), and was smiling SO big as he mushed up his cake.

What was leftover of Ethan's own cake:
We are very thankful that the basement, although not completely finished (no ceiling yet and we need to install columns over the brown support bars) was in a useable state for Ethan's party. Everyone headed down there to watch Ethan open his presents. I tried to hold him in my lap as Dan and I opened presents for him, but he preferred to squirm away and be a little ham running around and smiling at all of the guests :) Thank you all for your generous gifts!-Ethan has LOVED playing with the toys, reading his new books, and will be so stylish wearing his new outfits.


And a BIG thank you to Dad, Gene, and Lori for taking pictures for us!!

Swimming at our Neighborhood Pool

Today Ethan went swimming (or more accurately, floating!) at our neighborhood pool with Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma Q. We have an oval inflatable float for infants with a mesh seat in the middle that is just the right size for Ethan. It also came with a shade-providing canopy that is really nice to have since Ethan unfortunately inherited my super-pale skintone that can be especially prone to sunburns. The air and water temperature were perfect for a swim today, and since school is back in session, we had the pool all to ourselves!

I took a couple of pictures of Ethan in his cute swim trunks before our trip to the pool.

He loved the little fake flower on the top of my flip flops and enjoyed playing with that before we headed down to the pool.

One Year Old!!!! :)

Today at 1:31am, Ethan turned one year old! I was up unusually late into the wee morning hours (got caught up working on some things and my "second wind" kept me going), so I popped my head into his room just after he officially turned one. Watching him sleep, I am amazed at how much my heart swells with love for this little guy-he is truly an awesome blessing and I thank God that His hand has been on Ethan since he was born. This time last year in the NICU was very scary and trying, and now he brings such joy to our family that those scary memories easily dull in comparison and fade more and more with each passing day. Here was Ethan a year ago today:

Ethan enjoyed celebrating his birthday today with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma Q., and his doggie.

He opened some presents:



Hung out on the pillows and relaxed...

Clap, clap, clapped (still especially for the weather channel)!
As of late, he also frequently points to and reaches for ceiling fans: