Summer break is coming to an end...

School is right around the corner and my summer vacation is coming to an end. This has been one of the toughest summers of my life. We started off our summer with a quick trip to Indiana to visit family and friends. Then as soon as we got home, Tyler had to have open heart surgery which was one of the scariest times I've ever faced. After a week in the hospital, we came home to only turn back around a few days later to spend another night in the hospital when Tyler seemed to be in a lot of pain. Luckily they got his pain under control and Tyler has been doing very well ever since. Through all of this I have taken 5 classes at the University of Phoenix this summer to get my Reading Specialist Endorsement. I've taken online and weekend classes so I could finish by summers end. It took a lot of late nights trying to complete my assignments while Tyler was asleep but I'm finally finished. I've been very fortunate to have a supportive husband, family, and friends to help me get through all of this and put up with my "grouchy" moments after having such little sleep. Well, I'm proud to say that all of my hard work has paid off because after a nerve racking interview last week, I am now the new Reading Interventionist at Marley Park!!! I will be working with K-3 students who need extra assistance in reading. I am really looking forward to trying out something different this year. It should be a nice change of pace for awhile. So while this summer has been extremely difficult, everything has worked out in the end with a health boy and a happy mommy!

Me and TY

Okay, so here is a picture of Me and Tyler at about the same age. Now you tell me who Tyler looks like! And now you all know where gets his good looks from!!

Yummy!

Tyler had his first taste of cereal yesterday. He did much better than I would have expected for the first time. Can you tell we're first time parents? We have about 20 pictures of this 5 minute feeding. Celebrating their first achievements is so much fun :-).

Home

We've made it home!!! Thanks again to everyone for your support and prayers. They have helped Tyler have a successful surgery and quick recovery. We are truly blessed to have such amazing friends and family to help us through this.

Bored

Tyler and I are tired of being stuck in this little room! It's been five long days and we have completely run out of things to do. There's only so many times you can read the same books over and over and play with the same few toys brought along to the hospital. So we have resorted to cuddling up and watching a movie tonight. I hate to admit that I've stuck my 6 month old child in front of the t.v. but he loves it and we are so bored!

Little Firecracker

Happy 4th of July everyone! Happy birthday, Gina!

Our little firecracker is doing better each day. Today they took out the pacemaker wires and they are going to take out the IV that is in his neck. Neal took the pacer wires as a souvenir when no one was looking (go figure). Tyler's swelling has gone down and he is looking more and more like himself.

It sounds like we should be able to go home tomorrow...Yeah!

Six Month Pictures

So we've been posting some pictures lately that have been really hard to look at but I have some fun pictures of Tyler that I'd like to share with everyone. When we were in Indiana last week, my aunt Jenny who is a professional photographer took Tyler's six month pictures for us. They turned out amazing and we were so glad she was able to do that for us!

If anyone would like some copies, just let us know and we can get them printed or upload them to a store near you.

Visitors

Everything is still going well here at the hospital. I don't have any new news to update on. Tyler still has an IV and pacer wires that have not come out and it doesn't look like they will be coming out today as we had thought. His doctor likes to play things on the safe side which perfectly fine with Neal and I.

We've had lots of visitors, phone calls, and e-mails from so many people since we've been here and we really appreciate all of your support. Tyler's even been lucky enough to see his grandparents from Michigan and Indiana on the web cam while he's been in the hospital. So thank you to everyone for helping us get through this.

Here are pictures of Grandma Huggins and Busia on their visit today.

Tough Guy

I'm happy to say Tyler is beginning to show more signs of his usual self. This morning Tyler gave me his first little smile and stuck out his tongue (which is his little trademark). I've been reading him books and he is beginning to reach out to touch them and kick them with his feet. He also took his rattle for a little bit and shook it around. These are huge accomplishments from yesterday when he was only opening his eyes for a few minutes at a time.

Tyler is also off oxygen now and later today they might remove his chest tubes and pacer wires that were put in place in case he needed a pacemaker to regulate his heartbeat.

Tyler has been so strong through this and we are so pleased with his progress. They say he might even be able to go home on Saturday!

Making Progress

Did you notice anything different? Look closely...Tyler is off the breathing machine! They came in about 1:00 this morning to remove the breathing tube and he did well with the adjustment. Now that he is able to breath on his own, they have reduce his "sleepy meds" so that he is a little more alert. He has opened his eyes a couple of times to see us and has started to whimper a bit. The breathing tube caused his throat to be irritated, so he has a sad little cry right now. Luckily he is still sleeping most of the time so he doesn't feel much pain.

As for Neal and I, we are hanging in there the best we can. We will try to update the blog once or twice a day while we are here so we can keep everyone updated on Tyler's progress.