Surgery Recovery

We had so many family members and friends that came to wait with us, and it was so great to be surrounded by so much love and support. Dr. Christian finished Andrew's surgery in about an hour. She said that everything went as planned, and that he did great. They were able to send him right to recovery, instead of to the PICU, as previously planned. We were thrilled because that meant that Josh and I could see him immediately. They kept him fairly sedated for the first couple hours, and he woke up only when his pain medication started to wear off. After about five hours in recovery, they finally had a room for us on the cardiac floor. We stayed there for the next three days. Andrew slept the first night in my arms in the rocking chair. For the next two nights, I actually slept in the crib with him, which was much more comfortable for both of us. We were so lucky to have such great nurses who were with us our entire stay (thank you Lisa and Michelle!), and to have Dr. Johns (our cardiologist) on call that weekend. Everyone took such great care of us...

The first night post surgery, sleeping with lovie in the rocking chair.

At about 5:00 in the morning, he finally allowed me to put him in the crib for about an hour.

The second night in Andrew's hospital crib. This is how we spent most of the rest of our hospital stay. As you can see, the Gabba Gang was always with us.

Pre-Surgery Pictures

We arrived at the Children's Hospital at 6:30 this morning. Once we checked in, they called us back to a pre-op room where they ran some routine tests, and gave Andrew a set of adorable hospital pajamas. We sat and watched Yo Gabba Gabba (with all of his Gabba Gang, as you can see from the pictures), and they gave Andrew what they described as "happy juice". It was a medicine to make him very drowsy to ease his separation anxiety. I told the nurses that they need to give that medicine to the parents too! By the time they were ready to take Andrew back to surgery, he looked very loopy, and luckily the guy from anesthesia who carried him looked like a taller version of Josh. Andrew just kept looking at him with his sleepy eyes like, "Are you my Daddy?" It was adorable...

In the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital pajamas with the Gabba Gang.

The Gabba Gang (and Andrew's lovie) actually all went back to surgery with him.

Nice... Andrew discovered his nostrils a couple days ago.

Getting sleepy with the "happy juice"...

Last Pictures without a Pacemaker

Tomorrow will be Andrew's pacemaker surgery. Since he will need to have a pacemaker from now on, we decided to get some pictures of him on his last day without one...

Playing with Flour

Last week at Mother's Day Out, Andrew's class played with flour. His teachers said he loved it, so we decided to try it at home too. We may have a baker on our hands--he had a blast playing in the flour, and both he and the kitchen were covered by the time we finished!

At first he wasn't sure, and he kept looking at his hands...

He quickly caught on though and starting to sweep the flour with his hands, all across the table.

We also used measuring spoons to push the flour around...

Look Mom! I am quite a mess!

Covered head to toe!

We Care for Kids Day

On Sunday we went to the Children's Hospital's "We Care for Kids Day". It was the first day it didn't rain in two weeks, and we had gorgeous weather. Andrew had a lot of fun dancing to the music and walking around. He has gotten so fast walking that we felt like we had to keep chasing him down!

Andrew saw a little girl with a hula hoop and tried to imitate her.

He loved all the balloons...

Daddy insisted on a picture with R2D2--he was definitely more excited than Andrew!

Hanging out with Daddy on the grass...

First Day of "Playschool"

Andrew started Mother's Day Out (one day a week) on Tuesday. It was the first time that we've ever left him with someone besides family, and I was so anxious about the day. Josh was traveling for work, and he was so sad to miss Andrew's first day of "school". When I dropped Andrew off, he cried for a few minutes, but then had a blast playing with all his new "classmates". His teachers said that he really liked playing in the gym and on the playground. And much to my surprise, he even napped! I couldn't wait to pick him up, and when I did, he just silently put his arms around me and gave me a huge hug. Life doesn't get any better than that...

Andrew with his new lunchbox before we left for school...

Last Day in Michigan

We had a great trip, and spent a lot of time playing outside. The weather was absolutely perfect for us during the entire trip and we had so much fun with Josh's parents and grandmother. It was so great to get away for a while and relax as a family.

Out on the deck playing with sticks and acorns... The best toys!

So much fun to run around on the deck!

Really studying an acorn...

Andrew started to make this face over the weekend.

What a stern look! We thought it was hilarious!