Day 7 & 8

Day 7

Ethan had a great night of sleep last night. For the last couple days he's been able to go back to sleep between 6 & 7am so he's now getting almost 9 1/2 hours of sleep a night, which is great for the hospital.

Despite the extra sleep Ethan was cranky this morning and probably could have gone back to sleep at 10am if we'd have the time in the schedule of treatments to make it happen.

Thank you Sara Friedman for bringing us a foam mattress pad to use on the uncomfortable pullout chair bed and for the blanket. Also, thank you Wendy Flanagan for a great homemade lunch, especially for making Ethan's favorite Kraft Mac 'N Cheese. That's the first meal I've seen him devour all week. Ken really appreciated the beer too!

Ethan had a day filled with visitors, including my dad, his papa who came by for a quick visit. Ethan took a 2 1/2 hour nap today! The longest all week. I would have slept too if it hadn't been for the beeping of the IV and people coming in and out. Ethan was in a great mood after his nap and afternoon treatments.

We've lucked out the last few days and have had no neighbors. Today they put a newborn next door. I hope that mom can get some rest with my loud singing toddler banging doors. We're trying to keep him contained but he's now obsessed with opening and closing the bathroom door.

Tonight we had a special treat, dinner from Chili's brought to us by Mike Jones & Alene Sayles-Jones. Thanks for the great grab bag of toys & activities for Ethan! I foresee us taking that bag out when he gets bored and having him choose something to play with.

Ken & I rented The Muppets from Redbox tonight so Ethan can watch it for the first time tomorrow. Ken's mom is with Ethan for the night and Ken gets to spend most of tomorrow and all tomorrow night with Ethan on his 36th birthday!

I am constantly blown away by the generosity of friends & family who have continued to pray for us, bring gift cards, meals, bring activities, toys & books for Ethan and come by to see Ethan. I hope that one day we can help out one of you when you need us.

 Day 8 - It's already been a week!

Today went really fast! When I arrived this morning I was able to talk to Ethan's pulmonologist briefly. She made sure that the nurse made it possible for us to get outside today. An hour later Ethan was headed outside to play for the 1st time in a week. He hadn't been out of his room since Tuesday. He was so excited and talked to everyone we saw outside. He ran around on the grass and loved being unhooked from the IV pole. It wasn't even a struggle to get him back inside.

He definitely has cabin fever. He's moody and has begun throwing food & toys.

He loves most of his nurses, respiratory therapist and even the food service workers will come in and say "How's my favorite boy?" He has a reputation for being compliant, talkative and smiling at everyone who he comes in contact with. There are nurses that come in just to say hi to him. His favorite nurse is Kuy. He met her his first night when she put in his IV. Ever since then he remembers her name and says "Hi Kuy" every time he sees her. He is by far his favorite.

Thank you MacKenzie Gilmore for lunch! I think we'll definitely have enough single servings for a couple lunches and maybe even dinners this week. We'll bust out the play dough tomorrow!

Ethan's settled in for the night with Ken. They watched part of the Muppets movie tonight, had respiratory therapy and gave me a call to say goodnight. I love hearing Ethan say "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" and miss having him across the hall at night. Hopefully he'll be home and asleep in his own bed by next Tuesday and psuedomonas free.