~A YEAR AGO ~

A year ago,( tomorrow (March 1st)), this picture was taken early morning,  before Ethan's major surgery. We were on maybe 3 hours of sleep getting ready to take our baby across the street to Riley Hospital so that they could help our son.  We had to put all of our trust into God and the great physicians at Riley Hospital.  I think our shirts said it all, Nathan and I wore "Faith" and Ethan wore "Blessed".  This is how we felt, we needed to have faith for our sweet little blessing. We have been through surgery before  and many procedures with Ethan, but nothing compared to this long 10 hour surgery. When it was all said and done we were waiting for over 14 hours after they took our son back to the operating room. It was one of the hardest days to go through, but we did it, we ALL did it. Ethan was a fighter the entire time. As each hour passed during surgery, Ethan's nurse, would report to us with updates. Talk about an emotional roller coaster. I would cry each time they told me he was doing okay. We had so many thoughts, feelings, and emotions running through us. We said prayer after prayer. I did not want my baby hurting, I did not want the thoughts of something going wrong, I wanted my baby in my arms.

Ethan had an abdominoplasty to help firm up his abdomen to help with his urinary issues. In addition , he had his ureter shortened and re implanted to help with his reflux in his left kidney. Ethan also had his diverticulum removed. After surgery Ethan faced a very hard recovery back in his hospital room. Ethan had to be on oxygen for many days , breathing treatments, and chest CP's every four hours. The treatments were to keep the fluids from settling into Ethan's lungs and turning into pneumonia. Poor Ethan also had to have a NG  tube inserted down his throat to suction out all of the bile that was sitting in his stomach because his intestines were taking along time to "awake".  He began vomiting a little to much so this tube saved him from scary situations.
 If you know Ethan very well, you will know he has a some-what -mild case of Prune Belly Syndrome. Sadly, even the mild cases are not fun.

{The incidence of prune belly syndrome is about 1 in 40,000 births; 95% of cases occur in males. The major prognostic factor is the degree of dilation of the urinary tract; 20% of patients are stillborn, 30% die of renal failure or urosepsis within the first two years of life, and the remaining 50% have varying degrees of urinary pathology. ( information from http://www.prunebelly.org/ }

Two months after Ethan's surgery, we had a huge scare. Ethan completely stopped peeing on his own.  Unfortunately, this slowed down his recovery tremendously. We were at Riley Hospital doing procedure after procedure to help find answers. We did know that at this point their was a possibility Ethan's surgery was unsuccessful. This is when Ethan had to have another surgery where a nephrostomy tube inserted into his left kidney in order to give his ureter and kidney some rest. After a couple days in the hospital we headed home to care for Ethan. Our spare bedroom turned into a medical room from almost 2 months. For those long months we spent our days doing dressing changes and giving Ethan many medications to get him better. The hardest part for Ethan was not being able to be in water. This meant no pool, no bathtub, nothing.
One more issue happened before Ethan would get better. We were just a week away from Ethan's second Birthday. Ethan developed a very scary bacterial infection from the tube.  After treating this infection, Ethan's tube came out.  This is when Ethan's recovery started to head in the right direction. We were so thankful and happy for this, Ethan needed a break.

Since then, other then a few small issues, THANKFULLY, Ethan has been doing so good. He continues to beat all odds, and gets stronger as each day passes by.
Nathan and I thought it would be a good idea to celebrate  Ethan today. It has been a year since his big surgery. The surgery that was extremely  important for Ethan to live a healthier life. We were so scared for this surgery, but very thankful at the same time. They were helping our son. Thank God there are procedures that can help this rare condition!  We celebrated with cupcakes and candles of course!
Our hearts want to explode with LOVE for Ethan. How did we get so lucky? Each day gets better and better with him. Ethan is the most perfect, special, strongest, cutest, this- list -could -go -on- forever, little boy in the entire world.!
 I want to thank our family, doctors, and friends for the constant love and support with everything from the beginning.  We truly are thankful for it all. After a long break, we go back to Riley Hospital  in a couple of weeks. Wish us the best of luck.

Ethan was saying " me number one Mommy and Daddy".

Circus

Last week my parents and I took Ethan to the circus for his first time. We all enjoyed our time there. Ethan absolutely loved the elephants. He even rode on one of the elephants with his JaJa. Ethan would not get off the elephant for nothing! Actually everyday since the circus , all he talks about is riding the elphant with his Ja.  Love family nights out like this! Here are some pictures...

~Finding Nemo~

On Friday, we ventured out to Chicago for the day to visit the Shedd Aquarium. Ethan was beyond excited to go! He was on a mission to go find Nemo! Not only did he want to find Nemo, he wanted to see the sharks, whales, snakes, and turtles. Oh, and the seahorses! These are just a few of Ethan's favorite sea creatures. The entire day was non-stop fun. We watched  Dora and Diego in 4D and the Dolphin show. Ethan was loving the 4D movie of Dora and Diego, he said it was his favorite! Our dolphin show was cut short because Ethan had to use the potty. Speaking of using the potty, Ethan went the entire day with NO ACCIDENTS. Since Ethan has been potty trained, this was our first "big public" experience with him! He did great! Oh boy oh boy, do I have some stories about Ethan in public restrooms!!! Let's just say it is an experience I will never forget. Okay so enough of potty talk! The entire day was a blast. Ethan was completely fascinated by the entire experience.  I have to add, when Ethan found Nemo the entire Aquarium was aware of it ha! I was so thankful for a fun day with my boys, we all had the time of our lives.

                            

Ethan found Nemo!!!

Sock Hop 2011

This Saturday we took Ethan to his first Sock Hop! My Parents, Nathan, Ethan and I all meet up with the fun Penziol families. Since we decided to go so last minute, I didn't have an outfit for Ethan yet. Don't you worry Daddy saved the day! He busted out his "Ice Cream" Blazer from when he was as little as Ethan. It just so happened that Nathan's grandmother gave the blazer to Nathan recently to have for keepsake. Even know the Blazer wasn't  50's wear, It worked out perfectly!
The kids danced until they dropped! We will defiantly try to go again next year! Great times!

~PROUD PROUD PARENTS~

So many happy exciting emotions are running through my head as I write this post. I have to share with you why Nathan and I are so proud of Ethan. Well.....Ethan is Potty Trained!!!

Potty Training with Ethan did not come easy. To be honest we never even used the term "potty training". We kind of just went with what Ethan was telling us. As many of you know, Ethan has a mild condition called Prune Belly Syndrome. We were educated by his urologist, pediatrician, and other PBS mothers, to not stress on the Potty Training. Actually, we were told by his urologist that he doesn't even care for the word!  Ethan's urologist compared "potty training" to breathing, parents don't necessarily need to teach this, it is acquired. We were scared to death the first time Ethan showed interest in wearing big boy underwear and using the potty. As parents of a child that has a condition that mainly deals with his urinary tract, we were nervous "medically" that learning to hold his urine could hurt him or teach him to retain urine at unsafe levels.  Since Ethan has a larger bladder, holding his urine could risk the repair that his last surgery fixed.  It has been an emotional roller coaster. 

I have spent a lot of time educating myself by reading (blogs, books, articles, etc), discussing options with Ethan's doctors and talking with family and close friends about this Potty Training business. I have to admit as a mother, I was so nervous and discouraged. I was to the point where I wanted to forget about it completely and deal with it when I had no choice but to deal with it.
We never gave up! We were incredibly laid back and let Ethan run the show. He had many accidents, would go for many days wearing a mix between a diaper and underwear, etc. 
A huge impact on Ethan's potty training success is because of Miss Lyla.  Lyla is a sweet, perfect little girl we get to watch a couple days a week. After Christmas break, she came here fully potty trained (so proud of her).  Ethan wanted to do exactly what his girlfriend was doing, and that is going potty on the potty and wearing underwear all day. These two are an amazing duo! They have huge support for one another. It is incredibly priceless and at times brings tears to my eyes! Can you imagine two little toddlers side by side going on their big boy/girl potties? Then after going potty ,they scream with joy each time clapping! It's the best thing ever!

So folks, at age two,  Ethan is officially potty trained! He DID IT , We DID IT. It did NOT happen overnight, it was a long journey. Ethan showed us that indeed he potty trained himself. He continues to show us that he can beat all odds and is a fighter.

I have to say, the cutest thing ever, is Ethan in his big boy character underwear running around like he owns the place. Nathan and I are PROUD PROUD PARENTS!

~Helping Daddy~

A week or so ago, Ethan was finally able to help Daddy outside. Ethan loves anything he can do to help his daddy.  For some time now, Ethan will follow Daddy around asking if he can help with anything. Ethan always has some kind of tool in his hand thinking he can help "fix" things. Looks like we have a good little helper.
I thought that since snow has been the main subject for some days now, I would share some snow pictures:)  Look back to this post http://ourbabybadger.blogspot.com/2010/01/daddy-can-i-please.html . I thought this old blog post was super cute and went well with this one.