Friday, September 23, 2011

My baby is 2! / Goodbye!!

Tuesday was an exciting day in our home.....Ethan turned 2!
Birthdays are always an exciting time but this particular one held a little more importance.
Exactly 7 months earlier Ethan was severely burned over nearly 30% of his body with 3rd degree burns and we didn't know whether he would make it through the night or next week.
We prayed hard in those first few days.
We so badly wanted more time with our precious baby boy.
The days were long, exhausting, and emotionally draining, but as each day passed, Ethan fought hard and miraculously improved.
Ethan fought for his life and continued to fight with each surgery and trial that came his way.
The road to recovery was long and painful for him, yet he was strong and brave.
Ethan has shown us that we each have the potential to overcome whatever challenges come our way. He has strengthened our faith in our Heavenly Father and has taught us to always remind the ones you love how much you care for them ... Life is short!

Ethan brings so much happiness to our family.
Here are a few of the things we absolutely love about our boy:

- his deep little man voice
- his sweet hugs and kisses that he periodically gives without asking. he just snuggles in and kisses your whole face.
- when he gets mad at his sisters lately he will yell at them with this very low deep voice. Don't think for one minute that he gets away with it, but it is kinda funny
- he is a big tease
- when his dad gets home Ethan will pester him until he finally puts down what he is doing and wrestles him to the ground!
- he always uses the kitchen chairs to climb up on everything to get whatever he needs
- he is such a big help. He cleans up whenever I ask him to.
- he is just a delightful, fun, cute boy to be around!
- he says hello to everybody lately and blows kisses to elderly people.
- he has the best wiggle dance ever!
- he adores his sisters and gives them big hugs when we pick them up from school
- he talks and talks and talks
Here are some pictures of his big day!

Best family photo we could get





I think we could have bought him just smarties and he would have been happy!










On our last appointment to Calgary our medical photographer gave us a copy of Ethan's surgery pictures. We were anxious to see them because it had been a while since we first saw them in his charts. We eagerly put the pictures into the computer and waited patiently for the pictures to upload. We were shocked! Emotions of that dreadful time came flooding back as we saw our boy helpless on the surgery table, tubes and all. It is so hard to see your child in so much pain and hurt, you just feel completely useless. We continued to view the slides and found ourselves feeling extra grateful for Ethan in our lives, he is such a joy to us. I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to show these but was told by several people it was probably ok. I will warn you that they are pretty graphic and you may not want to view them or let your children see. Use your discretion! Here are a handful of the pictures of ethan's recovery:
























February 24, 2011




February 28, 2011





March 16, 2011
Skin grafting






After some discussion we have decided it is time to bring Ethan's Recovery blog to a close.  We really have appreciated all of your encouragement, love and support throughout Ethan's journey.  Thank you for having so much love and concern for Ethan and our family as well.  We do believe that all of your prayers offered on our behalf is what helped us make it through this difficult time.  Although Ethan's well on the road to recovery, his will be a life long adventure full of struggle and success.  We have decided to incorporate him along with the rest of us in a private family blog. If you would like to view our blog, please message me you email so we can add you to our list of viewers.
Thankyou and we love you!!!!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Summer adventures!


After several requests to update the blog I am finally going to do it. I wasn't sure that there was too much to write about, our summer has been busy but not too exciting and not much change for Ethan. Ethan is continuing to heal everyday. His scars are not so red and the thickness is slowly going down. We were given a break for the summer from the children's hospital and told we didn't need to come back until the end of august. Oh, and the most exciting news was that Ethan could swim in the water, which couldn't have come at a better time right at the start of summer! Just last Friday we went up for our appointment and had to see a new occupational therapist as Darlene was in a serious motor accident and away from work for a bit. Karen our new OT was very kind and knowledgable. We re-sized Ethan for new arm bandages as he has outgrown the ones he has (he has grown 2 inches just this summer). This time he will have to wear a bodysuit on top that zips up the front and hopefully this will help them to stay on and compress the areas near the tops of his arms. He is such a good boy at the Doctors and sits so patiently for them to get done what they need to. When we were finished our appointment we went up to floor 3 to visit some of our nurses. Many of the staff that worked with us, including volunteers, were there and we had a great visit. They are all such amazing people and they will always hold a special place in our hearts. In the middle of September our plastic surgeons, physiotherapist and a few of our nurses are going to peru to do skin grafts for kids who have been burned and never got the medical attention they needed. This is such an amazing team and those kids will be so blessed to have their help...they couldn't be in better hands!

This is what we've been up to the past few months:
Visit to the Calgary Zoo. Ethan absolutely loved it!


Feeding the horses at grandmas with auntie Lindsay.
Playing at the beach.

Lots of bike rides!

Ethan loves to help do the dishes (play in the soapy water) and make dinner!
His new bike! We put a bell on it that came with his helmet and all he would do for the first couple of days was ding the bell. We soon removed it and he finally began to ride it. After about a week of trying to figure it out he has got the hang of it and rides like a wild man. These are so great for kids to learn their balance. He even tries to lift both his legs up now when he goes down a big hill!
My wild dragons! Their little buddy Brielle spent the day with us and the kids were so excited. They just adore her!
Camping! We went to Apgar in West Glacier for 3 days with David and Breanne, Tim's brother and his wife, and got rained out for 2 of those days. The kids made the best of it and played in the rain. We even did a hike in the rain!

Water bumper boats near hungry horse. We did the maze, go carts and bumper boats and had a blast!

Hallie was excited that she was finally big enough to do something on her own.

Weeping falls on the Logan's Pass.
We went boating with my brother and his family out in Little bow. The weather was perfect!




Exhausted after a long day of boating!

Cardston parade in the morning.
Bonfire at night.
Snuggling Grandma.
Little Buddies!

Fun with the cousins!

Once again, exhausted after a long day.
Many days were spent playing in this pool. Ethan liked to sit there for hours playing in the water.
Many walks and hunts for geocache's.

He walks everywhere lately with his hands in his pockets.