Weekend Fun!!!

What a great weekend!! Friday night Tim stayed with Ethan again to give me a break with the girls. I am so lucky to have such a thoughtful guy! Especially since his nights haven't been too great for sleeping! It was just fun to snuggle up with the girls and tell stories until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore! It's crazy how much I missed those girls and their cute little voices. I have missed hearing Hallie's cute knock knock jokes and Ava's histerical giggle everytime Hallie tells a joke! Those two get me laughing at them and the cycle goes on and on! I will try hard not to take those moments for granted when I get home!

Saturday morning we woke up, got ready at the Ronald McDonald house and headed for the hospital. Its a bit of a walk to the hospital but it feels so good to get fresh air, even if its freezing! Being cooped-up in a hospital room all day gets old pretty quick! Hallie and I dropped Ava off with Tim and Ethan and headed to the mall to get Ava a quick gift. It's Ava's birthday on Wednesday, but since I will miss it we decided to throw her a surprise party up here at the hospital. Tims mom and dad, Bart and Sue, along with Sue's sister Brenda and her husband George, as well as a family friend Ella, all came to celebrate with us. They brought the cake and helped Tim quickly decorate while I took Ava for a walk to distract her! Ava absolutely loved the surprise and even more her dress-up chest! Hallie and Ava would continuously go into the bathroom and come out with new outfits on each time. They were beautiful princesses. Then Hallie would take Ava out in the hallway and they would show off Ava's dresses to all the nurses and Doctors. They had a blast! Ethan sat in his crib the whole time watching all the excitement and enjoying every minute of it. He would get tired from holding up his head and those heavy casts on both of his arms and would take a quick break, but was sure not too lay down too long for fear he might miss something!! He was so sweet!

Tim's parents left later that afternoon and once again my sweet husband offered to take care of Ethan and encouraged me to take the girls out for Birthday dinner! The three of us girls ate at Moxies and had a great dinner, and free dessert too since it was Ava's birthday. We did bring some dinner back for Tim, but due to a rough night with Ethan he didn't get to eat it until several hours later, 11pm. In the night Ethan's cast on his right arm slid halfway down his arm, below his elbow and he was waving it all over the place trying to get it off. We were told by our doctors not to slide or move the casts because it would damage the skin grafts. Tim called in the nurse and together they unwrapped the bandage and repositioned the cast and re-wrapped it! Not an easy task for just two people but they did it. Then later this morning when I arrived with the girls, the left cast was starting to fall off. Once again we called in the nurse and four of us changed the dressings while repositioning the cast as much as possible. It was then Tim and I got to see the grafts as they were showing. It actually looked really good; the edges were starting to roll up but the nurses assured us it looked great and that the skin rolling up would just dry up and fall off. Seeing his grafts gave us some piece of mind, knowing they didn't look as horrible as we had imagined. We then made a new suit for him which looks like a little vest that goes over his shoulders and helps to hold on his arm bandages. I will show some pics tomorrow. Its actually kinda funny because when Dr Harrop was explaining how all of Ethan's bandages looked, I asked him if they would all stay on securely and he assured me they would be great, no problem at all because they put actual plaster (like a cast) on them to keep him from disturbing the grafts. Plus they were heavy so he said Ethan won't be lifting them as much or sitting up too much. Now we know!!! Ethan is one tough kid and bounced right back after the grafting, playing with his cars and sitting up for long stretches. He even colors with them and he only has three fingers poking out of the casts. You can be sure we will insist they secure his bandages tightly on Tuesday when they do his next dressing change and possible head graft.

Other than that Ethan is doing great and has enjoyed the company of grandma Linda and grandpa Grant who surprised us this morning! They have been such a great help with the girls! Watching them full time can be pretty exhausting but they never complain and say they love having their company. They have taken such a burden off of our hands!

Thank you again for all the support! I know we couldn't have made it this far without your help and prayers.

I want some!!!! Ethan will just stare at us when we eat but as soon as we offer him food he refuses! Getting Ethan to eat anything has been very difficult, he just nibbles here and there. He is being fed pedia-sure with fibre through his NG-Tube all night so he doesn't have much of an appetite during the day!

These pictures downloaded backwards but here is the "After" photo with no scab on his nose!!! Hurray!!! You may not think this deserves such a big recognition but between Tim and I and all the Doctors and nurses we have all resisted the urge to pick that big scab and now it is gone!! Tim kept putting Bioderm on it to get rid of it and yesturday it fell off...with a bit of assistance from Tim!

The "Before"!!!

This is the entrance to the Ronald McDonald House! The girls love this place and so do we. It has everything you could imagine!

Poor little Ethan sat like this the whole time watching as Ava opened her presents. He didn't want to miss out on anything!

Ethan got spoiled too and got this toy from a family friend of ours, Ella. He loves it! Thank you!

More opening of presents!

Decorations! The hospital voluteers, "Child Life" provided us with all these decorations, games and some gifts as well. Lisa, one of the head coordinators has been such a help. She arranged all the gifts and comes to watch Ethan so we can get a break! Sometimes its just to run downstairs and get lunch or shower, but it is such a help. Ethan loves Lisa too so that is great!

Ava in her new dress-up clothes. Couldn't have been a better gift!

More dress-ups!!

Yummy cupcakes!

The Cake!!

Grandpa Grant playing pin the bird on the princess!!! He didn't win though...I did!!!

Grandma Linda giving some needed snuggles!