Our life at home

Well, we have been home the longest time this year. I wish I could say we have stayed out of the doctors and all have been well, but I cant. Both kids have been really sick, fighting ear infections, etc. I have 5 doctors appointments this week for the kids. Will is having to do roughly 5 breathing treatments a day. We have an appointment with an ENT (who happens to be our pediatritions husband) to talk about putting tubes in his ears as he is having constant ear infections that antibiotics arent working on (they have had to resort to giving him shots) and it is causing him problems with breathing so we will see what he says on Thursday. Will has just been really fussy, screaming all the time and just so uncomfortable. It is so hard to see him still in so much pain.

It has been nice to be home and doing some semi normal things, like grocery shopping, sleeping in your bed without nurses coming in, eating anything but hospital food.

We are hanging in there, trying our best and just hoping spring comes soon and our kids will start to feel better very soon. And hopefully, one day get that thing that they call sleep. Hey, it could always be worse.... right? :)

A message from Will.....

He had a fun little time earlier and I caught it on
camera. This was the first day he has smiled since
surgery. So good to see him returning!

He was playing with his blanket. He loves having
blankets by his face.

Ignore the crazy lady! When I speak of him
not having mittens on his hands and his hands
being free, it is because we have had
his hands covered with socks to keep him
from pulling out his central line and feeding tube.
Hit the play button to watch.

Will pre and post surgery and Faith

The first 2 pics are him today 24 hours postop.
The green looking thing is a pacifier that the
doctors cut the tip out of to put the feeding tube
through, which is the yellow looking tube. That will
come off in 8 to 10 days to keep the tube from moving.
The little white patch underneath the tube is the
seperate incision that was made for the Nissen
surgery. On his shoulder is where the central line
is (IV access)


These 2 pics where taken of him on Sunday prior to
surgery.

This little thing is a medicine delivery system.
It is a automated thing that operates by itself. It
has a motion sensor and it opens doors by itself and
elevators by himself. It is so cute and the little kids love
it on the floor. (the door for the medicine is in the back of the train)

Faith LOVES elmo and has since learned how to say
elmo. As a suprise for her one night we got this HUGE elmo
from the gift shop downstairs as a special treat for
her. Needless to say she loved it!




Love this video and thought we would share!

Will was baptized

Will was baptized on January 29, 2009 at 2 pm. Due to his extened hospital stay and facing a 3rd surgery in his short little life we made the decision to have him baptized here in the hospital.

A few more pics of our life in the hospital

Faith eating her pizza (she loves pizza) and watching
Blues Clues.
This is Will with his feeding tube in his nose. We have socks
on his hands to keep him from pulling out the tube.

Will just chilling in his bed.

This is what his IV pole looks like. The orange

looking bag is his TPN. That is basically his food when he wasnt eating.

It has all nutrients and fats in there. The other bag is is feeding tube bag.

As his feeds increase the TPN will decrease and he will

eventually be off of the TPN. The pump on the top is

his feeding pump. That is similar to what we will be sent

home with.

This was Faith after we bribed her with ice cream

this past weekend.

If you are not on my email update list, and would like to be then please shoot us an email and we would be happy to add you. Thanks a million for all of the prayers. Love you all.

Starting 2009 with a BANG

The top pic was while we were waiting on a crib to
be brought into the room, he was in a big person bed.
He looked so cute and so pitiful all at the same time.
This was the first night.
The one below was after we got him settled into
a crib.

The above was taken on the first night. He

was very dehydrated and not feeling well at all.

The one below I just love. One of the people came

by with a wagon full of stuffed animals and they

gave him this little dog. He LOVES that thing.

He holds onto it and he loves sleeping with it.

The one below his him 4 days postop after his big

surgery. His first smile after his surgery. He is showing

off his battle wound. :)

Well, my friends and family you all know what has been happening in our lives, so I wont repeat it all. To say that our 2009 has started out with a bang is a understatement. I would never have imagined all that has taken place in the last 18 days and never thought on admission that we would STILL be here. But, Will has been named the mystery child, though they are slowly unraveling the mystery. We want to thank you for praying, thinking, caring and loving our family as we have gone through this. Having Billy and Will hospitalized at the same time was undescribeable. We love you all.

Christmas 2008

Faith looking at her new fish named Elmo.

Billy reading the kids Twas the Night Before Christmas

a longtime family tradition.

This was the best family shot we could get before

going to church on Christmas Eve.

Well, it is so hard to believe that Christmas is over now and we are on the verge of a new year. We had a nice Christmas. Faith started getting the hang of unwrapping. This year Faith had alot of fun playing with her toys. Billy read the kids Twas the Night Before Christmas. That was very special to me. Growing up and every year until my dad passed away he read us that story. If we had moved out, we got confrenced called in. Last year was the first year that I did not hear that strory from my dad and I couldnt bear to hear that story at that time. This year, I wanted my children to grow up with the same tradition as that is something that I hold very near my heart. I promised my dad when I said goodbye to him for the last time that I would carry on the same traditions and instill all of the qualities that made him such an amazing man and father . I want our children to always remember that special memory with their father as I have such wonderful memories of my father. Another tradition my mom and dad did was always make us remember the true meaning of Christmas. Before we opened any presents on Christmas morning, we always had to put baby Jesus in the manger and sing happy birthday to him. Another thing that Billy did with the kids this year. I miss my daddy so much.

Will is hanging in there. He has found his smile and will just make you laugh. He is still fighting this cold and they are still trying to figure out what is going on with his tummy, but he is hanging in there. As you can see we got a little video camera, so we can start posting more videos on here. Still trying to figure it all out, so bear with me :) . Stay tuned for more videos as I get this upload figured out. Wishing you a very happy 2009.

Week before Christmas!

This is Faith eating cereal with milk from a bowl!

Getting his breathing treatment. He usually likes it and

falls asleep.

Holy cow... Did I really just type that it is the week before Christmas? Where does time go? These past few weeks have been so crazy with Billy traveling and kids being sick and the list goes on! Soo much to do and so little time. We went to a Toy for Tot drive this weekend at our pediatritions office. They had a horse ride that Faith loved. They were supposed to have a santa there as well. Well, they did but he was just not friendly at all and kind of just wandered around. So, we are going to have to take the kids to see Santa at the mall. (been dreading the crowds) The kids are doing well. Faith is still loving preschool. This week she starts going every day in the morning. She is starting to say more things that almost sound like words. She just truly makes us laugh! She is doing very well with her speech and occupational therapy. She had pink eye and some weird rash last week, but is all better now after some medicines. She is also feeling better from her cold. Oh, we started a place called My Gym with her. It is in our opinion 10 times better than Little Gym. She LOVES it! Will is hanging in there. He has been sick for over 3 weeks now. Been back and forth to the doctors. He is on breathing treatments to help and just was started on steroids. We took him in for a chest x-ray and it showed that his airways were swollen and he was showing signs of wheezing. He just sounds so pitiful and is extremly fussy. Hopefully the little guy will start to feel better soon! Billy is on a airplane right now headed to New York for a week of training. He is excited to see New York at Christmas time. Though it is hard to be away. I am doing well. The house is quiet and I should be sleeping while I finally got Will asleep, but I am waiting on Billy to call me to tell me he got to the hotel. So, I thought I would update and add some pictures on here. Hugs and kisses to all. Miss and love everyone very much.

When I was uploading these new pics, I found this
one of Faith dated exactly 1 year ago today! It is so
amazing how much she has changed!

These pictures of Will were so fun! He is really
starting to smile alot more now.

Hi everyone! Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Ours was nice. The holidays are so different now without daddy here. We just miss him so much. We are all doing well. Faith is getting over a sinus infection and Will now has a nagging cough. Faith is doing very well in Preschool and with her speech therapy. She is now saying hi there, Hi barney, hi Bon Bon (her preschool teacher, her name is really Yvonne, but the 2 year olds cant quite get that yet) she says some other things, that kinda sound like whats that. She is signing alot more, like for please, give me, pick me up, and more. She is also mimiking what you are doing alot more. We have a awesome speech therapist here. Faith really responds well to her. She told me that she can see a huge change in Faith. Will is doing well. A typical nearly 3 month old! He is sleeping a tad longer at night, which is nice. He is smiling alot more as evident in the pictures! Billy is doing well in his job. He is still really loving it and has just never been happier with a job before. He is going to New York in December for a few days for training. I am doing well. Just trying to keep everything balanced, which is easier some days than others. Work is going well. I am doing 99% of my work mostly at night while Billy is home after Faith is asleep, so he can help me with Will.

Lets see, I think that about sums it up. We plan on decorating for Christmas this year, even though we dont have a yard, we have a balcony and you can bet that Billy will be putting his airblowns out there. We love you all.