December 2007
December…Oh what an exciting and fun filled month

We begin with a trip to the State Capitol December 3rd to see Auntie Taelor’s choir for their annual Christmas performance. Ethan is always eager to go to any choir performance and cannot wait until he is a one of its stars. Look out Mr. Rainwater :)

On December 5th Ethan received his Ernie Patch award at Awana . He really enjoys Cubbie night, playing with his friends (especially Isaac) and loves to hear his name called to go up and receive his awards. He is doing well with memorizing each verse and is enjoying craft time each week… he loves the glue stick! :)

On December 8th we headed out on the street of Sacramento looking at all (well most) of the Christmas lights. Ethan loved all of the lights and was even more excited when we found Santa. He is very anxious to tell Santa all of his wishes this year.

December 11th Ethan joined the scout troop pack 107 to help sing Christmas Carols at the Senior Citizen Center. He loves to be with his Scout buddies, and loved singing and entertaining all of the patients.

December 13th we helped Kokee and Pop-Pop pick out their Christmas tree. He loved running through the tree lot trying to pick the “right one” and then helping Papa set it up when we brought the tree back home. He is such a big helper!!

December 14th we attended Auntie Taelor’s Christmas choir performance. Ethan loves to watch Auntie and her friends perform and sing the songs along with them. After the show he loves to run up on stage and give a short performance of his own. What a wonderful show Shades of Praise. This may be your best to date!

December 15th we helped our neighbor Matthew celebrate his 1st birthday!! Each child (with the help of mom) decorated a Gingerbread house. We had so much fun watching the kids create their own house, of course sampling some of the decorations and frosting too!!

December 16th we picked up Daddy from his business trip (Las Vegas) and then headed to church for the children’s Christmas performance. This was Ethan’s first performance and he LOVED it. We were not sure if he would actually stay up on the stage but he did and loved every second of it, especially all the cheering from the parents at the end. Way to go our little Super Star!!

December 17th we had dinner at John’s incredible pizza to help support Auntie Taelor’s Guide Dogs group. Ethan loves to eat at John’s because he can pick out his own pizza, noodles and ice cream. He also loves to play the games and then turn in his tickets for prizes. He’s quite the shopper!! :)

December 20th- We headed to Chevy’s in Rocklin to meet up with our friends the Hudock’s and Misner’s and Aunt Carol too for dinner, gift exchange and then off to view more Christmas lights. The kids had so much fun opening their gifts and they all loved getting to see some of their favorite characters decorated for Christmas. This was such a wonderful evening for all, thank you so much for sharing with us!!

December 22nd we finally made it to see Santa!! Ethan could not wait to get up on Santa’s lap and tell him what he wanted for Christmas… Elmo and a new bike!! Ethan is very anxious to see what Santa will bring!!


December 24th Christmas Eve- We begin the morning with a celebration for mommy’s birthday with a delicious brunch prepared by Kokee and Auntie Shana and then open birthday gifts. Ethan could not wait to open his Christmas presents so we let him open one gift with mommy. He knew exactly which package to open, “the one with Elmo paper” which turned out to be an Elmo puzzle book, boy was he excited!! After brunch we headed back home for a rest and to get ready to open more presents!!

This year before opening our gifts and celebrate Christmas, we went caroling with the Van Aiken and Prichard families. This was a new tradition for our family but we had great time singing for the entire neighborhood and everyone seemed to enjoy our singing! We even surprised our friends Tom and Angie along our route! Ethan loved running to each house to sing more songs and then having dessert back at the Van Aiken home. Thank you Van Aiken’s and Prichards for inviting us to join you!! Merry Christmas!!

We finally made it back to open Christmas presents! Ethan was so excited he could barely stand himself this year!! He would open a present then run back over to Papa and ask “is there another one for me?” We all had fun watching Ethan’s excitement this year.

Christmas day we woke up early to see what Santa had left for Ethan... It was a bike!!! (Santa and his elves had misjudged Ethan’s height  so we sent it back to Santa’s workshop and found another bike that is more suitable at Toys rus). After checking out his gifts from Santa, we headed to Manteca for more Christmas fun!! Ethan had the best time with all of his cousins and was so excited to open more presents with them… especially the Jamba Juice gift card!!! He also loved reading his new Elmo book with Auntie Laura! Thank you everyone for a wonderful Christmas!!

We have had a wonderful year, enjoying Ethan and watching him grow more and more independent. We cannot wait to see what 2008 will bring. We hope you all a very Merry Christmas, and wish all the best in 2008!

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November 2007

We started off the month celebrating Drew Stapleton’s 4^th birthday on November 3^rd. Ethan had lots of fun playing on the play structure and all of his friends at a Pirate Adventure party. Thank you Stapleton family for a fun day!
November 8^th we celebrated Kokee’s birthday. Auntie Shana made a lovely dinner and we had a Baskin Robbins’s Ice cream cake for desert. Ethan had lots of fun helping Kokee with her gifts and blowing out the candles on her cake. Happy Birthday Kokee!!
November 17^th-18^th Heather and Ethan, Kokee, Pop-pop and the rest of the crew traveled to Grants Pass, Oregon for an early Thanksgiving celebration. We had a wonderful dinner and then attended Kyle’s high School production of the Music Man.  Kyle played the part of the mayor and did an awesome job!!  The play was a little long for Ethan but he did such a nice job sitting quietly on Kokee’s lap and even took a little rest.. ahh
Thank you Fortner family for such a wonderful time this weekend. Love you all!!
On November 19^th- We headed home, but our first stop was at the Harry and David store for a tour and lunch. Ethan loved riding on the tour bus, climbing up the stairs and watching the big pop corn machine and of course the delicious samples of cookies and chocolate!! YUM, YUM!!  
Our next stop further down the road was at the Sun Dial Bridge located just outside of Redding.  Ethan had fun running up and down the bridge (stopping along the way to hang from a few of the anchors) and then playing down by the water with Pop-Pop. The kids played for about and hour and then it was time to get back on the road!
We spent Thanksgiving this year at the Fiore Family Mi-wuk cabin. Ethan loves to go to the cabin and play with all of his cousins, but on this visit he and Uncle Bob became best buds!! J It was fun watching the two together, especially the guitar duet. J After Turkey and a ton a pictures we headed back to Manteca to spend the night with Nana and Epa. We had a very, very nice Turkey day, but Ethan’s favorite part was getting to “rock out” with Daddy and Uncle Joe on Rock Band!! J

Ethan has two new loves this month….his scooter and PUZZLES. We have puzzle time each morning (school work) and then after lunch and a rest we go outside for a scooter ride. You should see him fly down the drive way! Todd and cringe as he gets close to the end of sidewalk but he always seems to turn just in time!! He is one heck of kid, and loving doing new things on his own. We can’t wait to see what next month will bring!!

Thank you for your continued support and prayers

Enjoy the pics!   ~*~*~*~*~CLICK HERE~*~*~*~*~

Ethan's YouTube Debut!!!!  Click the link below:
Ethan and Uncle Bob

October 2007

Hello everyone,
It’s that time again… take a peak at what the Fiore family has been up to since the last update.

Oct2ober 2nd Mommy and Daddy celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out at the Melting Pot while Ethan played at Kokee and Pop-Pops. If you have not been to the Melting Pot (if you enjoy Fondue style) go, its Awesome! Thanks Kokee and Pop-Pop for keeping Ethan Todd and I had a wonderful dinner.

October 6th we celebrated Pop-Pop’s birthday dinner at our house followed by Big Spoon Yogurt for desert. Yummy! Ethan loved helping Pop-pop open packages and loved making his own yogurt creation, lots of chocolate and “whoop cream”.

October 7th- Ethan’s 4th birthday!! WOW! We still cannot believe we are celebrating a 4th birthday, it is truly amazing!!

We held Ethan’s party at Pump It UP in Rancho Cordova. What fun we had watching all of the kids play and slide on the big slide. Some of the adults go into the action too (as you will see in the photo gallery). Ethan had an absolute blast going down the slide all by himself, and then racing up the stairs to do it all over again!! The kids played for an hour and then we headed into the party room for treats, cake and presents. What an exciting day!! Thank you all so much for coming to celebrate with us!!

October 13th Daddy had some work to do for Joe at his cart in Solano Mall so Ethan and I hung out at the inside kid park while Daddy finished working and then we headed off to Manteca for overnight stay with Nana and Epa. We had a fun dinner at Chili’s on Saturday night, and then Sunday morning Ethan helped Nana make French toast for breakfast. He loves to help crack the eggs into the bowl. We are still working on the coordination of stirring, but it will be perfected soon we know.

October 15th we headed to Monterey for our annual Home School Field trip. Ethan loved looking at all the sea otters, the jelly fish and the shark in the large tank. After playing for almost an hour in the Land Mammal area, we went outside for a picnic lunch and then headed back home to Sacramento. What a fun day!

October 22nd- We headed to Arco Arena for Kings Fan-dominium night. Ethan had fun trick or treating around the arena, and watching the dance show with the Robertson family.

October 23rd- The newest member of the Misner family was born, so Ethan and I drove to Woodland to visit with Tim and Rebecca, baby Kyle and big sister Hannah. Welcome to the world baby Kyle!!

October 24th- Ethan went with Kokee along with the 4h group for a food preservation class at the Antelope Library. Ethan loved helping Mrs. Prichard and the kids in the class and then picking out books to read. Ethan sure does love to go on field trips!!

October 25th- John and Colin Haugseth came over for a play date. The three boys had lots of fun playing with cars, play dough and crawling through Ethan’s tube. It was a lot fun watching the boys play together, but boy was I exhausted! ?

October 31st- Halloween and we finally made it to the Pumpkin Patch!! Ethan had such a great time this year. He loved riding the sea-saw, climbing the hay pyramid and running through the hay maze. We did attempt the Corn Maze (several times) but could not find our way out to the end to save our souls... where is the GPS unit when you need one? ?

After the Pumpkin Patch, we headed to Woodland for our yearly gathering at the Khein home. Ethan was soo excited to finally put on his Peter Pan costume and had so much fun playing with Brandon, Brianne, and Hannah, baby Kyle, Drew and Austin. Thanks again Hudock’s , Misner’s and Kehin’s for such a great time each year!!

Ethan is a wonderful four year old and we are enjoying watching him explore his new world. We love spending each day with him!!
Thank you for your continued support and prayers

Enjoy the pics!

September 2007

September has been quite busy for us. Heather, Ethan and Kokee began September with a quick trip to Grants Pass, Oregon to visit their cousin Skeeter. It was a fast trip but Ethan did have fun visiting the Bears that lined the downtown streets.

Sept.7th- Heather and Ethan met Nana at the Sacramento Airport to pick up some of Nana’s pinochle friends. Ethan had fun waiting for Linda to come down the alligator (escalator) and drinking his chocolate milk from Starbucks.

Sept.8th- Todd took Ethan up to the hotel to meet Nana, Epa, Auntie Denise, Fernando, Lexi and Jordan for dinner. Ethan loved drinking his own Shirley temple and riding up in the elevator and playing out on the balcony.

Sept.9th- We went to Manteca help Jordan celebrate his 10th birthday!! Ethan loved eating pizza with the kids, helping Jordan open his presents and playing in the frosting with Lexie!! What fun!!

Sept. 11th- Pack 107 Court of Honor Ceremony- Uncle Jesse received several awards for all of his tasks completed over the summer. Way to go Jess boy!! Ethan loves to attend Cub Scout functions and even put on his own scarf to be just like Jesse and AJ.

Sept.12th- Cubbies started back up! Ethan is now working on his Jumper book. Ethan was so excited to get to see all of his cubbie friends especially Isaac! Ethan has memorized two verses and received his Jumper patch to add to his vest. Way to go little man!!

Sept .15th- We went to the Celebrate Natomas festivities! Ethan had fun climbing and sliding down on the bounce house, spinning all the wheels to win prizes, fishing in the little pool, playing on the playground and driving the real fire truck. What a fun day!!

Sept.16th- Ethan, Jesse and AJ made apple pancakes for breakfast! Ethan got to help Kokee cut up the apples and then made a pancake for mommy. What a good little helper!! And the pancakes were delicious!! Good job boys!!

Sept. 21st- We went to Santa Rosa to see the entire set of Snoopy’s on display. It was so exciting to see all of the different themes and decorated Snoopy’s. We even found a snoopy dressed up as a heart patient so of course Ethan and Heather had to take a picture with that one. After walking through all of the Snoopy’s, Ethan and “(the big girl) that is how Ethan referred to Madison Helen’s oldest grand daughter played in the dirt along the field… how cute!! We then went to Helen’s office where the kids had fun playing in the fountain. What another fun day! Thank you so much Helen, Monica, and girls.

** September 2007 Pictures **

August 2007

August has been a little more eventful for us as Heather was able to get out and a about a little more so we have been back to our busy schedule.

Aug 1st- Ethan was invited by the Couch family to come go swimming at the Natomas Club Center. They have a wading pool which is just the perfect size for him to swim, and Heather can just sit on the side and watch. He loves being able to “swim” on his own, he is getting to be so independent.

Aug 2nd- We went out to dinner at Mikuni’s to celebrate our friend Michelle’s birthday. Ethan loved playing with Joe and Michelle’s niece Kristen. They were so cute together posing for our pictures and dancing around in the parking lot and entertaining all the adults. After dinner we went back to Joe and Michelle’s for cake but Ethan did not quite make it through desert.

Aug 3rd- Marcie, Becca, Carol, Brandon, Brianne and Hannah came to play at our house and take mommy out to do some shopping. Ethan, Hannah and Brandon had fun chasing each other around the house and climbing through Ethan’s tube and Brianne loved playing with the walker and blocks. Thank you so much for all your help, you all have been wonderful while mommy recovers from her surgery.

Aug. 4th- Ethan and Heather attended Austin Stapleton’s 2nd birthday party at his house in Woodland. Ethan loved the play structure in the back yard and spent most of the party going down the slide and playing in the sand area, but we did eventually get him to come and eat his lunch and then he went right back up to the top of the play structure! Thank you so much Stapleton’s for a fun day!!

Aug. 11th- Ethan asked to go to the park and play soccer with daddy, so we packed up the soccer ball and headed downtown to McKinley Park. We first walked through the rose garden and then out onto the field so Todd and Ethan could kick the ball. Ethan had so much fun kicking the ball and chasing after daddy.

Aug.13th- Wow what an eventful day!! We spent most of the day getting ready for auntie Taelor to promote from the eighth grade along with her three friends Lauren Prichard, Leah Lawrence, and Jessica Hill. All of the families were to meet downtown at the Old School house for the graduation ceremony followed by dinner and desert at The Old Spaghetti Factory. YUM! The graduation ceremony went really well and dinner was delicious!! As we were getting ready to leave for the ceremony, Ethan went to the potty all by himself! WOOHOO!!! No more diapers!! Yeah!! Ethan has been doing well with the training with only a few accidents here and there(as expected), but he is soo excited to finally get to wear big boy underwear!!

Aug 14th- We attended the Family Boy Scout BBQ at Antelope Park. Ethan had fun playing football, rolling down the hill, and climbing in the big tree. He sure loves playing with the big kids!!
Aug 15th-17th- Ethan and Heather went to stay at the Misner house in Plumas Lake. Ethan had a great time sliding down Hannah’s slide, climbing up the stairs and playing fetch with Daisy and Lexi(their two dogs).

On Friday the 17th- We went to dinner with the Hudock family at the Old Spaghetti Factory, YUM!! Ethan Brandon, Hannah and Brianne did a great job eating all their noodles, vegetables and of course the after dinner desert, ice cream!! Thank you Marc and Marcie for including us in your family tradition!! Thank you so much Tim, Becca and Hannah for letting us come to stay with you while Todd was in Vegas. We had such a wonderful time!!

Aug. 18th- We helped Brianne Hudock celebrate her first birthday. Ethan a great time swimming with all of his friends and went down the slide all by himself!! Of course once he tried he had to do it about 100 times, he was almost a raisin by the time he got out of the pool ?. It is amazing how independent he is and we love watching him grow into this amazing little person!

Aug 21st-24th – Ethan and Heather went to stay with the Hudock family. Ethan had fun spending the night with Brandon and Brianne, and getting to swim every day after lunch! What a wonderful treat for us to come and stay with them. Thank you so much Marc, Marcie, Brandon and Brianne for letting us stay with you while Todd was (still) in Vegas. ?

Aug.31st- We celebrated Auntie Taelor’s 14th birthday. We went to have sundaes at Dairy Queen (Taelor was craving a blizzard). Ethan ordered his own chocolate dipped cone and ate the whole thing. We all had fun watching him chasing the chocolate of the cone?. Happy Birthday Taelor!!

** August 2007 Pictures **

July 2007

July has been somewhat of a quite month as we have taken time off while Heather recuperated from surgery. We managed to get a couple of outings in just so Ethan did not go completely crazy being in side all of the time. :)He has been an absolute trooper. We have been amazed with how well he has coped. You would think we were used to this or something… :)

July 15th- Heather came home from the hospital. Ethan was very happy to have mommy home especially because he got to open his Mickey Mouse wrapped present… Captain Hook!! He had been waiting the whole week to open his present, and could hardly wait until we walked through the front door to go get it. It made us all smile to watch him rip through the packaging. :)

July 21st- Ethan wanted to get out and play at the park, and we had been cooped up long enough… so the three of us headed out and stopped to pick up some Jack in the Box (egg rolls are Ethan’s favorite)and went to the park and had a little snack…. It was nice to get out for a little bit and watch Ethan and Daddy play.

July 29th- We headed to Manteca for a short visit with Nana and Epa and the rest of the family. We had fun just hanging out in the back yard watching the kids swim and sharing in some nice family time.

As you can tell, we've been taking it easy and have been doing well. We cannot thank you all enough for your prayers, support, the meals and visits to our home. We would not have made it through this time without all of you. We are truly thankful and blessed to have each and every one of you.

** July Pictures **

May 9th - July 7th, 2007

Ethan has been very busy and would like to share all with you:

Beginning with May 9th – Ethan achieved his bravery award today at gymnastics!!… He climbed the rings and hung upside down all by himself. Mommy was very nervous but his coach was very proud of him for trying a new task all on his own. Never a dull moment!!

May 11th – Todd, Ethan, AJ and I drove to Reno to see Elmo live!! Ethan had been waiting and waiting for May 11th to come, in fact he told everyone he met “I get to go see Elmo on May 11th!! He was so excited throughout the entire show, and was even more excited when daddy bought him an Elmo balloon!! The night was made when the show ended and all of the characters sang Ethan’s favorite song “lalala. Lala, laa… sing, sing a song… what an exciting night!!

May 13th- Mother’s Day- We celebrated with Heather’s family here in Sacramento. This was the first Mother’s Day without Grammy. It was a little tough, but we ended the day with a wonderful dinner at one of our (and Grammy’s) favorite Chinese restaurants.

May 16th- We attended Awana Awards night at Antelope Springs Church. Ethan received his first year book award and Todd and I were awarded the Cubby Parent Hopper Diploma!! He was so not so thrilled about being in front of everyone but loved with everyone cheered for him. Way to go Cubby!!

May 18th- Ethan and Heather went to Shana’s office to join in the movie display competition. Ethan loved the Peter Pan display and tried several times to take Peter and Captain home with us. Shana’s theme (Charlotte’s Web) did not win this time but we voted for her anyway!! Thank you to Schools for allowing us to come and tour the office.

May 20th- Ethan helped Uncle Jesse celebrate his 11th birthday at Scandia Family fun center. Ethan loved playing golf with all of the kids. He loved going to get his ball out of each hole. He enjoyed playing each hole until the eighteenth, his ball did not come back and the party was over!! After recouping from the trauma at the last hole, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesse and enjoyed his birthday cupcakes.

May 22nd- We went to the Hudock’s house for volleyball, dinner and a dip in their new pool. Such fun!! Ethan loved playing in the warm pool with Carol, Branodn and Hannah. Todd did take him down the slide on time, but Ethan ran right back to the warm pool.

May 25th- Ethan and Heather went to Manteca for a Memorial Dedication to the fallen soldiers of Stanislaus County and to tour Uncle Joe’s Chinook helicopter. What a thrill and oh soo many buttons for Ethan to push... thank goodness Uncle Joe had the keys!!
Thanks for the Tour Joe, it was awesome!

May 27th- We joined the Hudock, Misner and Khein family at their annual Memorial Day picnic. The kids had so much fun on the slide, playing ball, eating snow cones and going fishing that was Ethan’s favorite!! Thank you so much for letting us join you, we had a great time!!

May 29th- We attended AJ’s Cub Scout bringing ceremony. How exciting! Ethan loved watching the boys and Auntie Shana on stage and even got to pose with AJ on the bridge!
Way to go boys!!

May 31st- We headed to Discovery Kingdom with Kokee, Couch, Hill and Lindner families. Ethan loved playing in Zoë’s tree house, riding on the tugboat with Kokee, Tava’s Elephant parade with Hannah Couch, the safari ride, the Leap frogs with the boys and the swings!! We did see Shouka the killer whale show, but Ethan wanted to get right back to the rides!! What an exciting day!! J

June 2nd- Ethan’s Under the Sea Show at Tricks!! Ethan did a great job on the floor exercises but his favorite is the trampoline... and loved entertaining the parents gathered around!! Such the performer!! Can’t wait for your next show buddy!!

June 7th – We drove to Stockton to tour Uncle Joe’s helicopter again but this time Daddy and lots of cousins were with us!! J Ethan loved running around the airport grounds, in and out of the helicopter and hanging out with Dad in the cockpit..
Thanks Joe for letting us come play again!!

June 14th – Ethan had an appointment with DR Wright. Ethan weighs 27.2 pounds and rising (with the help of the feeding tube of course) and heart is still doing well!! YEAH, no more check ups with DR. Wright for 6 months!!

June 16th- We helped Brandon Hudock’s (Ethan’s best buddy) 3rd birthday!! Ethan had so much fun swimming with all of his friends and Papa Khein, and loved his bucket of toys and a new Cars cup to take home!
Thank you Hudock’s for a wonderful day!!

June 17th- We celebrated Father’s day with a quick coffee “toast” to the dads and piled in the cars headed for Baker City, Oregon! Of course we stopped along the way for some pictures and play time!!

June 18th- We made it to Auntie Pat and Uncle Tony’s!! Ethan had fun playing in their yard, trying to climb up the tree and playing with the water well.
Auntie Pat looks a great deal like Heather’s Grandmother and Ethan was like her shadow. He would crawl up with her in her chair and rub her arm just like he used to do with Grandma. So sweet, you could tell he really misses Grandma as we all do. After playing at Auntie Pat’s and Uncle Tony’s we went to the Oregon Trail Interpretative Center and toured the museum of what life was like on The Oregon Trail.

June19th- We celebrated Uncle Don’s 80th birthday and a celebration of Heather’s Grandma’s life. We had a family BBQ on Auntie Pat and Uncle Tony’s property and then planted a tree in Grandma’s honor. It was so nice for all who could attend to be there and share some of their fondest memories of Grandma. She was a wonderful woman and loved us all so very much!

June 20th- Heather her mom and the kids drove from Oregon to Weiser Idaho to visit Auntie Jude and Uncle Bob and to see Justin Booth (a family friend) in The Fiddler’s Contest. We had such a wonderful visit with Auntie Jude, Uncle Bob, cousins, the Booth Family and listened to some pretty awesome fiddlers!!

June 21st- We headed back home from our stay in Oregon and Idaho. The trip always seems to go so quickly and ride home seems to take forever. We stopped at good old KFC and found a park to let the kids play for a while before packing back into the car. We so enjoyed our visit with everyone but it was so good to get back home to our own beds!!

June 28th- Heather and Ethan went to the Sacramento Zoo with neighbors Sammy, his mom Amy and baby brother Matthew. The boys had lots of fun finding all of their favorite animals, flamingos, giraffes, lions and the penguins (who are visiting Sacramento temporarily). Thank you Amy, Sammy and Matthew for the field trip, we look forward to going again soon!!
June 30th- We helped Trevor Neese celebrate his 1st birthday!! Ethan had lots fun swimming and splashing with everyone in the pool. He even went down the slide with Erik (Trevor’s daddy). After swimming Trevor and his mommy Wendy opened packages and the kids enjoyed their cupcakes while Trevor enjoyed his own cake!! J Thanks Neese family for a fun party!
July 4th- We spent the afternoon at Tom and Angie’s house swimming and BBQing!! We had one little tragedy; Ethan stepped on a bee and was stungL luckily at this age a band-aid and a kiss makes everything better!! J
As the sun went down we decided to move to the front yard and prepared for our own little fireworks show. Carl brought out the event seating (lawn chairs) and got the hose ready. Ethan loved all the pretty colors and cheered for Daddy after each firework. Afterwards Ethan helped Carl hose down all the burned up fireworks and gave Carl a shower with the hose!!! Thank you Tom, Angie and Carl for a fun day!!
July 5th- We went to Kokee and Pop-Pops for more fireworks display. The Lindner family joined us in the fun! Ethan loved watching the fun colors and jumped up and down for each firework. After fireworks the kids enjoyed a pop-sicle and watermelon!! Thank you all for the fun!!
July 6th- Ethan had an appointment with DR Davies… he weighs 27.3pounds (and he has been without the tube for 5 days). J We have decided to leave the tube out for a while and try a new milk to see (once again) if he can continue to maintain his weight with oral feeds.
July 7th- We went to Plumas Lake to help Hannah Misner celebrate her 2nd birthday!! Ethan loved playing with all the kiddos, eating lunch outside with Brandon and Hannah at the little kids table and he really enjoyed eating cake without his shirt on!! J Thank you so much Misner family for such a good time.
After the party we went out in our front yard and played with Ethan’s bubbles. He has learned how to round his lips and blow to make the bubbles work…. It has been a frustrating task for him, but we are thrilled he can finally do it on his own.

Along with all the fun, Ethan has learned opposites and 2 new letters. He knows up/down, hello/good bye, stop/go and is finding B’s and H’s everywhere.
He has also become quite the fish, thanks in part to the Hudock’s new pool. He puts on the “swimmies” and off he goes. This has also been an aid for eating. He is not allowed to swim unless he finishes his lunch/dinner whatever the case may be, and all this swimming is building up his appetite. So far it is working for us!! Please continue to pray that Ethan’s weight gain continues to progress.
Please also pray for our family’s as Heather is preparing for her pulmonary valve replacement tomorrow 7/9/07 at Sutter Memorial Hospital in Sacramento. We will leave for the hospital at 5am and she will go into surgery at 7:30am. Thank you all so much for your support and prayers.

Picturesare here!

click me!!!

Todd, Heather and Ethan

November 2006 - May 2007

Hello all,
It has been such a long time since our last update, and we have lots of news to share with you!!

Beginning with Thanksgiving:
-We spent Thanksgiving this year at Grammy’s house. We had a delicious meal almost totally prepared by Shana. What a great cook!! After dinner the kids played “War” and the adults played several different card games... Blackjack, 31 and Spite and Malice. It was a wonderful celebration, and we were all very thankful to share this time together.
-The day after Thanksgiving Todd, Ethan and I met up with Epa for an overnight stay at the Soda Springs Cabin. How beautiful!! We went for a walk around the lake and had a nice dinner at the lodge.
-November 28th Todd, Ethan and I went to pick out our family Christmas tree. Ethan had great fun running around the tree lot and in fact we almost did not go home with a tree that night because we were having too much fun playing tag!!
-December 4th Heather had a Heart Cath and Electrophysiology study. The heart cath determined the Aortic Valve was still fully functional however the Pulmonary Valve will have to be replaced. The Electrophysiological test showed that Heather’s heart was in good rhythm, this was just a precautionary test before surgery! We will update once surgery has been scheduled.
-December 9th we went with Nana, Epa, Auntie Karen and Savannah to the airport to pick up Todd’s cousin Sara and family who had flown in to Sacramento from Germany. Ethan was very excited to meet his new cousins! They had quite the meeting and even enjoyed a nice Strawberry Frappoccino together!! Thanks Auntie Karen, it was yummy!!
-December 16th we traveled to Manteca with an early Christmas celebration with Todd’s family. Ethan had so much fun playing with the girls and baby Conner!! And this year he loved opening his packages!! He got a Discovery Toys playhouse from his cousins, Chicken Dance Elmo from Auntie Denise and Uncle Simon and the Sesame Street Sing and Giggle Tool Bench from Nana and Epa!! He was in absolute Heaven, and has had a blast with all of his new toys!
-We spent December 24th with Heather’s family at her grandparent’s house! This was the first time in almost 31 years that the family has celebrated at Grandma’s house! Ethan’s Great Grammy was ill and not able to travel, so we brought the party to her house. We began the day with a breakfast celebration for Heather’s birthday and then opened Christmas presents later that evening. The kids (especially Ethan) could not wait to open their presents, and they were counting to see how many each had.
-When the opening of the packages began, we had entered into Elmo’s World!! It seemed like every package Ethan opened was another Elmo item… books, clothes, pajamas and Dance and Sing Elmo! Everyone he opened he would yell Elmo and jump up and down!! We loved watching his face after each was opened. Christmas was truly awesome this year for Ethan.
-December 25th Ethan awoke to see what Santa had brought him… the TMX Elmo and a count with Ernie book!! Ethan was so excited and we loved watching him as Elmo laughed and rolled around the front room!
-We stopped by Heather’s grandmother’s house for a couple of quick Christmas morning pictures and then traveled to Uncle Vic and Auntie Laura’s house in Manteca to celebrate with all of the Fiore family. Ethan had fun playing on the stairs with James and all of his cousins and of course opening more packages and more Elmo stuff!! A cool new outfit and the tool belt for his Sing and Giggle tool bench. He is quite the character all dressed up and banging away on the table!!
-After resting from all the Christmas fun and before heading home to Sacramento, we went to see the house of a 130,000 lights (just wait until you see the pics) and it was absolutely amazing!!
-January 2nd Heather, Taelor, Ethan and Grandpa went to the airport to pick up our cousin Shilo. Although Shilo and Ethan had not ever met, they were instant friends!! Ethan even went to help gather Shilo’s luggage, such the helper!
January 3rd- 5th Heather’s Uncle Spike, Aunt Carol, Seth and Shay all arrived from Great Falls Montana! YEAH!! Ethan was so excited to meet the boys! He was very fond of Seth and referred to him as “Snuffy” (from Sesame Street). We have several video clips of Ethan singing “You and me forever” to Seth. Oh so sweet!! J
-On the evening of the third we had a mini birthday celebration for Seth (who turned 21 December 29th and AJ (who will turn 8 on January 8th). It was so nice to have all of us home at Grandma’s if only for a couple of days.
-Sunday January 7th we celebrated AJ’s 8th birthday with a small family dinner and ice cream sundaes for desert. Ethan loved making his own sundae, especially putting on all the toppings!!
-January 11th -12th Auntie Pat, Uncle Tony, Uncle Don and our cousins Cindy and Sandy came to visit. Ethan loved dancing and singing for his new audience, and loved sharing stories with his Great- Great Uncles. Thank goodness for cameras and video recorders!! J
-January 22nd-23rd Skeeter, Jeanette and Auntie Bea came for a visit before heading to LA for a Scrapbook Convention. Ethan loved crocheting with Auntie Bea, lunch and story time with Skeeter and Jeanette. Thanks so much for coming to visit.
-January 25th – 26th Mary and Justin came for a two day visit. Ethan enjoyed entertaining them and eating Mary’s delicious chocolate chip cookies.
-February 4th Super bowl Sunday! How exciting Daddy’s team (the Bears) finally made it!! Todd went to Reno to watch the game, but Ethan and I stayed in Sacramento, and joined the family party at Grandma’s. We had some tasty treats and a small super bowl pool. Each square was 25 cents (so the kids could contribute) and the winning score determined who would win. Guess who this year’s winner was…. Ethan!! He was so excited!! He immediately stuffed the cash into his pockets, so Uncle Jesse could not take it!! Maybe next year Jess boy!!
-February 6th- Ethan had his 6month post op appointment with DR. Wright. So amazing!! DR Wright did an echo and Ethan’s heart is doing well!! Other than gaining weight (Ethan at this time is only 25 pounds) DR Wright is very happy with Ethan’s progress as are Ethan’s parents!!
-February 16th- Heather’s grandmother passed away. She had been battling a fight with Emphazema for the past three months, and finally the war ended. Grandma wanted to be at home so Heather, Ethan and her family moved into Grandma’s house to take care of her. Such a struggle, but we are truly thankful for our time together.
-We are lost with out Grandma, but we are so thankful for all the wonderful years and memories with have with her. We have struggled to find a new “norm” without her but we know she is in a wonderful place and we will see her again one day. We love you Grammy!!
-February 23rd Ethan started back to gymnastics! He was so excited to get back to “bouncy-bouncy” and this week was Pajama week!! How fun!! Ethan’s favorite outfit!!
-Ethan has moved up to the three old class, and now goes in with the teacher and mommy sits on the bleachers and watches. This was a little hard at first, but Ethan is doing well (as long as most of the class is spent on the trampoline)!!
-February 24th- We attended Sutter Memorial Hospital’s Pediatric Heart Surgery Reunion. What fun! Ethan made new friends, had a great time making cookies, coloring his very own t- shirt, dancing with Francie, playing hoops with dad, and catch with some of the King’s Court dancers!! This was such an awesome celebration, and such a blessing to see all of the happy children with their families.
-February 25th- we had a breakfast honoring Heather’s Grandmother at one of her favorite restaurants, Mimi’s Café. Thank you to all who were able to join us and celebrate such a wonderful lady.
-February 27-28th Todd, Ethan and I headed to Soda Springs for a much needed overnight getaway and Ethan’s first trip to the snow!! Ethan was so excited to finally get to play in the snow! He loved running and jumping into the big snow banks, but did not like the snow getting in his face! Oh and the snow plow was pretty cool too!! He loved watching the snow shoot out across the top of the snow plow to the other side of the driveway!
-March 3rd- Ethan learned to pedal his tricycle all by himself!! He loves to get on his bike in the garage, zooms down the drive way (stopping just before the curb) and takes off down to the end of the block!! He is s speed demon! He is now trying to master daddy’s scooter!!
-Later on that day we met our very very good friends Helen, Monica, Mike and their two beautiful girls Madison and Imagine at McDonalds for a lunch and some play time. We had a lot of catching up to do since we have not seen them in two years!!!
-Ethan had a lot of fun climbing, sliding and running around with all the kids! It was so nice to see them and meet Imagine for the first time!!
-March 12th – Ethan had his bi-monthly appointment with DR Davies. Yikes… Ethan had been sick for the week prior to the visit and had lost a couple of pounds. (He barely tipped the scales at 23.5 pounds in her office). Dr Davies and her nutritionist Nicole decided that Ethan needed a little help to get his weight back up and put the NG tube back in. Uggh!! This was so unexpected and a little disappointing since Ethan was eating so well. He just does not have the extra pounds to lose…So we are now back on night feeds through the tube.. We are giving him 60cc’ about every 2-3 hours during the night (we are waiting for a pump) and any table foods during the day. Ethan is tolerating the bolus feeds but not wanting to eat very much during the day.
-March 19th- Ethan had a bad spell and the NG tube came out…. Todd and I decided to leave the tube out and see if the extra calorie boost had helped Ethan. He is eating a little better but really not enough to gain as much as DR Davies would like. We will leave the tube out until Ethan’s follow up appointment with DR Davies just to see if Ethan will pick be able to gain on his own.
-March 23rd- Ethan helped AJ celebrate his 8th birthday. Ethan had so much fun playing with all the big kids, eating pizza and designing his very own cupcake… loves those sprinkles!!
-March 26th we had a follow up appointment with DR Davies and Ethan has gained 1.3lbs!! J This is great but she would like to continue night feeds through the tube. Once again the NG Tube was put back in and will continue night feedings of the Nutren Formula.
-We received the pump today so Ethan will be able to have continuous feeds through the night. We started him at 47 cc’s per hour and will move up gradually each night as we do not want to overload him.
-Ethan is tolerating the overnight feeds, and is getting an extra 500-650 calories a night. We have worked up to 56 ccs’ per hour and he is doing well. This is changing is feeding schedule a little as he is not hungry until 12pm, but he is eating quite a bit in each setting. Hopefully we are working in the right direction.
-April 5th- We had another follow up appointment with Dr Davies. Ethan has gained another pound this week!! He is now 26lbs!! J WOOHOO!! DR Davies is excited!! We will continue night feeds for another month and then possibly pull the tube. Our goal is to reach 30lbs before pulling the tube, so hopefully by our May appointment Ethan will have accomplished that!!
-April 6th- 8th We spent Easter weekend at the Soda Springs cabin. What fun! The kids loved playing in the last snow of the season, coloring Easter eggs, playing paddle ball with Todd, a visit from the Easter Bunny and and Easter egg hunt outside. What an awesome weekend!!
-April 10th- Heather and Ethan went to visit Kokee, Pop-Pop, Taelor, Jesse and AJ down at Sutter’s Fort. Ethan loved running up and down the School house steps and sitting around the campfire with AJ.
-April 15th- We went to visit Nana and Epa in Manteca!!! Ethan loved helping Nana with her new puppy Bella, riding piggy back on Epa, telling Uncle Joe stories and playing with his cousins Jordan and Lexi!
-April 24th- Heather’s brother Jesse “bridged” from a Cub Scout to a Boy Scout. What an awesome ceremony. Ethan loved being with the boys and tried several times to go up on stage with them. He wanted to be a scout!! Soon little buddy, soon!! J
-After the ceremony we went to Leatherby’s for dessert, Yum! Yum!! Ethan ordered his very own chocolate sundae and finished almost every bite!!
Congratulations to Pack 107, you are awesome!!
-April 25th- Ethan had his six month evaluation with his speech therapist Elaine. He has made an immense improvement over the past 6 months. He has gone from the 7th percentile to the 13th percentile (of their scale) and an overall average at the 3 year 3 month level!! How exciting!! Ethan has graduated out of speech therapy!! There are still a couple of things we need to work on at home but Elaine is quite sure he will have them down before he enters kindergarten!! J
-May 3rd- we had our visit with Dr. Davies and Ethan has gained weight. He is now 27.5 pounds, which is a total of 2.23 pounds since the tube went in. Dr. Davies is very happy that Ethan has gained weight, but would like to continue the tube feedings for at least another four weeks. He is slowly but surely putting the weight on, but she would like to get him at least to 30pounds before we try maintaining his weight without the tube. We will see her again on June 27th for another weight check.
-May4th- We finally got to visit the Hudocks’, Misner’s and Uncle Carol (as Ethan likes to refer to her). The kids had lots of fun playing, chasing each other around the house, taking turns with Elmo and shooting lots and lots of baskets. We had a delicious lunch and later exchanged some (very late) Christmas gifts. It was so good to see them all and look forward to more play-time and Brandon’s upcoming birthday party!! J
-May6th- We went to see Auntie Taelor’s Shades of Praise choral performance at New Hope Church. Ethan loved watching Taelor and the other choir members perform and even tried to mimic the arm and dance movements between the aisles. He made a new friend... Mr. Green. Ethan enjoyed entertaining him as well and even climbed onto his lap for part of the show.
Despite the long battle with Grandma, the feeding tube and several little colds/allergy attacks Ethan has done well. His speech has progressed leaps and bounds. He continues to learn and recite his bible versus each week for Cubbies and has become very, very independent.
We are having quite the long conversations with him and he has developed quite an imagination (thanks in part to Sesame Street and his movie collection which has also grown over the past 4 months)!
Ethan has finally learned his colors!!! He seems to learn much better (and faster) when the subject is set to music, so we made up a song to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell naming the colors of the characters on Sesame Street. Elmo is red, Elmo is red, hi, ho the dairy-o Elmo is red, Oscar is green, Oscar is green etc. etc… and pretty soon it stuck. Ethan will still refer to objects as the character color if he is unsure or if the shade of the color is a little different, but for the most part he’s got em!! J He has also learned the letters E and M and loves to point them out whenever he finds them. We are amazed daily by Ethan and truly blessed with each new day.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!

Todd, Heather and Ethan

Please enjoy the picture gallery

November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007

Below you will see a "Roll-Up" of updates starting from 10/6/06(just below) to 11/18/06. You'll find the links for all the pics on the 11/18/06 update. Thanks for stoppin by!

10/6/06
We celebrated Pop-Pops birthday at Grandma’s house. We had a lovely traditional Italian feast, with cookies and ice cream for desert... YUM YUM!! Happy Birthday Pop-Pop!

10/7/06
Ethan turns 3!!!
What started out to be a confusing morning, ended with a wonderful celebration at our house!! The park which we were supposed to have Ethan’s party had already been taken over (and they were not budging) so we decided to have Ethan’s party at our house. Thank goodness for family, as they were able to help set up extra tables, chairs and decorate the house all before Ethan’s friends arrived. Ethan was so excited to have all of his friends at his house for an “Under Construction” themed party! All the kids (work crew) were given an apron, construction hat and orders to have FUN until “quitting’ time”!! Thank you all for coming to help us celebrate!

Wednesday October 11th
We went to visit our friends Marcie, Becca, Brandon, Brianne and Hannah at Hannah’s new house in Plumas Lake. Ethan had fun shooting hoops with Brandon, singing the “The wheels on the bus” and “The Itsy Bitsy Spider with Marcie, “Ring around the Rosie’s” with Becca, and pushing Hannah around in the laundry basket. Thank you for lunch and the play date, we look forward to doing it again!!

Later that night we went to Cubbies for a “Drive-In” movie night. Ethan decorated a cardboard box (his car) and sat in it while watching the “Veggie Tales” movie. After the movie, Ethan received his first award for completing the first section in his Cubby book. He had memorized and recited 4 verses earning both the Hopper and Luv E. Lamb patches. Now Mommy just needs to sew them on his vest.? Way to go “Little Cubby”!!

Monday October 23rd
We went with Kokee, Shana, Taelor, Jesse and AJ to Bishop’s Pumpkin Patch located in Wheatland. Ethan loved it!! He loved the petting zoo, jumping in the hay, riding the rocking horse, riding on the train, driving the tractor and going down the slide with AJ. The very best part of the day for Ethan was getting his very own ICE CREAM CONE!!! We had great time, and look forward to next year’s visit.

Tuesday the 24th
Ethan had his 3 year physical. He weighed 23lbs 6oz and measured 34 ½ inches tall!!! He is still on the small side, (only about 5th percentile for both height and weight on the growth chart) but steadily moving upwards in the right direction. We will just have to keep feeding him those delicious cheeseburgers from McDonalds!!

Wednesday October 25th
We had an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting with Ethan’s speech therapist Elaine at Vineland School. Based on the results from Ethan’s evaluation in September, he will require additional speech therapy sessions with her once a week. Ethan is still significantly delayed in his expressive and receptive language skills, and will require the extra help to get him ready for pre-school and or kindergarten.

Tuesday October 31st
Halloween!! Ethan (Elmo) trick or treated at two homes on our street, and then we went to the Khein home in Woodland for dinner and fun!! Ethan had lots of fun with Brandon (who was also Elmo), Brianne(a little Elmo), Hannah (a ballerina), Drew(Captain Hook) and Austin(a dinosaur). Thank you for letting us come and celebrate with you!! We look forward to our traditional Halloween gathering!!

November 1st
Ethan started his weekly speech therapy session with Elaine at Vineland school. The first five minutes were a little rough, but he then settled down and even made me his first little piece of art…. a Turkey!! I was so excited, and so proud of him. You will see in the picture gallery how cute it is!! I am such a proud mamma!!

Later that night we went with Shana, Jesse and AJ to Disney on ice!! The kids were so excited to get to see the show!! Ethan loved Peter Pan and 101 Dalmatians scenes. He yelled out “Captain and Peter” and giggled, and then when all the puppies came out on the ice it was “Puppies” and clapped and clapped and clapped!! Such an exciting event!! Thank you Shana for getting us tickets!!

Saturday November 4th
We attended Drew Stapleton’s 3rd birthday party. Ethan had lots of fun bouncing in the Spiderman bounce house with Brandon, Drew and all the friends that attended the party!! Thank you Drew for inviting us to your party, we had a great time!!

Monday November 6th
Ethan had a visit with Dr. Davies, and the office dietician. The two are both concerned about Ethan’s weight, and have put him back on Duo cal and Benecalorie. We need to get in every extra calorie possible so Ethan will be able to gain and not just maintain. So we are again mixing everything possible with either, and Ethan is doing well with it. We have also added half and half to his whole milk, which he is tolerating (for the moment anyway). We will see Dr. Davies again in three months, and hopefully Ethan will have gained some weight!!!

Wednesday November 8th
We celebrated Kokee’s birthday at grandma’s house with a nice dinner cooked by Shana (complete with a shrimp platter…. Kokee’s favorite) followed by ice cream and cookies for desert!! YUMMY!

Friday November 10th
Ethan had an appointment with Dr Wright. Ethan gained almost a whole pound since his last visit in August and Dr. Wright was pretty excited about that!! He looked at Ethan and said, “This boy is doing great” with a great big smile!! And with that he has decided to take Ethan off Lasix next week!!! Yeah!!! He will continue to stay on the Nexium at least through the winter and the 81mg Aspirin until February. One down, two more to go!! And he has been cleared to go back to gymnastics!! YEAH!!!

Saturday November 11th
Daddy and Ethan went to Manteca for a visit with Nana, Epa, Denise, Lexi and Jordan.

Sunday November 12th
We celebrated Grandma’s 78th birthday with a nice dinner prepared by Shana, and ice cream dessert….. Delicious!!
What a special treat for all us to be able to celebrate… We love you Grammy!!

Saturday November 18th
Ethan and Mommy went to Jesse’s last soccer game of the season. Ethan loved watching the boys running up and down the field and kicking the ball back and forth. He even ran out on the field a couple of times to try and help Jesse’s team, perhaps we have a soccer player on our hands!! Look for Ethan as a Shark in 2011!

It has been an exciting couple of months for us, beginning with Ethan’s 3rd birthday!! He is becoming quite the little man! He is dressing himself; with just a little help from us (getting jeans over the diaper is a challenge) brushing his own teeth (all of them), and is becoming quite the communicator. Ethan is also beginning to show some interest in potty training… this could be interesting!! Stay tuned for results……
We are enjoying watching him grow into this amazing little person. We look forward to all the wonderful blessings Ethan’s third year will bring.
We wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.

~*~*~*~Wanna See Some Pictures?~*~*~*~

10-5-06
(This is sort of a "roll-up" of updates since August 16th. Instead of reading from here down, it will probably make more sense to read from August 16th to today.)

As you can see Ethan has recovered from surgery, and is back to his normal state… keeping mommy and daddy busy!!! We are so blessed at how quickly Ethan recovered and returned back to our normal almost three year old. Can you believe we will be celebrating his third birthday this weekend? We are thankful everyday, and so very proud of him.
We did receive some very interesting news this month; Heather will have to have open heart surgery as well. We do not have any definitive date as of yet, but ironically the same valve (pulmonary) will have to be replaced. This is not an emergency, and like Ethan’s surgery we have the opportunity to select a date. We have opted to wait until the first of the year, so we can be somewhat relaxed and enjoy Ethan’s birthday, and the rest of the holidays. We ask to once again keep our family in your prayers.

Thank you so much for your continued thoughts and prayers.
Pictures will be posted later

Friday September 22nd, Ethan had a speech evaluation with the Rio Linda School District Speech Pathologist Elaine. She conducted the same test used by his previous Speech therapy center, and determined that Ethan will in fact need to continue speech therapy. From her evaluation Ethan is right at the 27th month level, so he still needs a little help to catch up. He will have a 30 minute session each week at Vineland School, and maybe increased if needed. We will keep you posted with his progress.

Monday September 18th, we visited the Sutter Memorial Emergency room. Ethan had fallen on a plastic cup (which shattered) and got a pretty good cut on his nose. He did have to have two stitches, and had quite a big bump. He looked terrible for a couple of days, but as long as he had an Elmo band-aid he was fine. He has told us several times since the incident, “I fell down on the cup” and “hospital” then he will point to his nose.

Saturday September 16th, we traveled to Manteca to help cousin Jordan celebrate his 9th birthday. Ethan had lots of fun with all the big kids, and even “pinned the tale on the donkey”. Good job Ethan!!

Wednesday September 13th Ethan became a Cubby in the Antelope Springs Church Awana Club. He was so excited to finally get to go to Awana with AJ, Jesse, Taelor(who is one of his leaders) and all the rest of the big kids.
Each week he will learn at different bible verse which will have to be recited in order to receive patches for his vest. So far he is doing well. He has memorized three verses and the “Cubby Motto”. This is a wonderful program, and we are so excited Ethan finally gets to be a part of it.

Monday September 11th, Hannah Misner came to play for the first time at Ethan’s house. Ethan had so much fun, and loved helping me get her diapers and cup. Thanks for coming to play with us Hannah!!!

September 3rd we attended the Neese family annual Luau. Ethan had fun with Brandon, Drew, Austin and Mackenzie. Mommy and Daddy had a great time visiting with friends, and got to hold Baby Breanne (Brandon’s new sister).

Monday August 28th, Ethan had a post op appointment with Dr. Wright He did an echo and was quite impressed with the readings. He found that the pressure on Ethan’s right ventricle had been reduced by almost half since the surgery. Incredible! Ethan has one happy little heart!

Saturday August 26th we went to the California State Fair with our friend Joe. Ethan loved the curly fries, ice cream and watching Daddy and Joe play games. Unfortunately they did not win any prizes, but still had fun trying to win for Ethan. We’ll get em’ next year guys!!

On Tuesday August 22, we went to Dr. Mainwaring’s office for Ethan’s post-op appointment. We had an X-ray and Dr. Mainwaring removed the stitch from Ethan’s right wrist. We were amazed at Ethan’s x-ray. We could see a significant difference since the new valve was replaced. Ethan’s heart was normal size!! We were used to seeing this big enlarged “grapefruit” and now we were looking at a “raisin”. Amazing!

Aug16th 2006
Ethan has been recovering from surgery very well. He hasn’t needed any pain medication since we left the hospital. In fact he has asked to go outside and to the park… He doesn't seem to realize he just had major surgery!! It breaks our heart to tell him he can’t go to the park yet, but we are so thrilled to hear him asking to go and play! We are so blessed with how well this surgery went and the recovery (so far). Ethan pulled through like an absolute champ, and we are truly blessed that all went well.

Rollup Pics from August 16th to October 5th, 2006

8-15-06
We’re home!!!! We were released at about 11:30 this morning!! We went through the In and Out drive thru and headed on home!! Ethan took a little nap before Kokee and Grammy came for a visit. Grammy was finally able to hold her baby!! Ethan was very excited to see Grammy.
We spent the rest of the afternoon snoozing in our own bed, and adjusting to being at home. Ethan has been a little off balance probably due to medications and lying in bed for 4 days…and it is making Mommy very nervous, bur other than that, we are very happy to be home!!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers!!!

>>>> Todays Pics<<<<

8-14-06
Dr. Mainwaring removed the rest of Ethan’s chest tubes today!!! Only has one IV, a couple heart monitors and a pulsox attached. Now it’s much easier to move Ethan around and it’s easier to hold him when he wants to be held.
Dr. Davies came by to check on Ethan. We weren’t expecting her since she just had twin boys 3 weeks ago!!! We were all pleasantly surprised.
Shana came to visit and brought Ethan a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Milkshake from Baskin Robbins. I think that’s the most he ate/drank since he’s been here.
Pop pop came to visit, and went for a wagon ride. We must have done a dozen laps around the ICU. Ethan wouldn't let us take him back to his room.
Daddy and Ethan raced remote control cars in the hallways. I’m not sure we were supposed to be using remote control devices with all the sensitive equipment here in the ICU. But I think it was ok. ?
Kokee brought us dinner again tonight. Shana made us another one of her amazing dishes. Thanks Shana….and Thanks Kokee for delivering!
The doctor still thinks everything is ok and we should be able to leave tomorrow!

Thanks again for all your support!

Pics are up!

8-13-06
Ethan had a pretty good night sleeping in the bigger bed with mommy. We had to wake up a few times throughout the night while the nurse would come in and check his vitals (take his temperature, check his blood pressure, etc.). Despite the light disruptions, we all were able to get some much needed rest.
Dr. Mainwaring came in pretty early in the morning just to check up on Ethan and said he was thrilled with Ethan’s progress. He also said that Ethan’s progress is better than he anticipated and we may be able to check out on Tuesday! We’ll see.
Later in the morning, Nurse Deana suggested that we give Ethan a sponge bath in his bed. Ethan was able to sit up as Heather, Kokee, and Deana cleaned him up. After he had his bath he decided he didn’t need his oxygen canula anymore and ripped it off his face, tape and all.
Ethan was also fed up with lying in bed and wanted to go for a ride in the wagon again. Kokee was able to pull him around the ICU while the rest of us followed him as if we were on parade.
When Ethan was brought back to his bed he didn’t lay down too long. He would just sit right up and play with his toys. He obviously has great medication being able to move the way he does. You’d think he’d be in a little pain!
He is on oral medication so the pain meds do wear off and Ethan does feel quite a bit of discomfort. His heart rate goes up and he starts sweating and crying saying, “oweee!”. He’ll usually want out of bed and want his mommy to hold him as he says, “I don’t want anymore owees!” The pain meds shortly follow and he’s ready for a nap.
Ethan is starting to eat solids more and more. He still isn’t eating a whole lot but will eat Cheerios, soup, and bread with butter. He drinks quite a bit of water, apple juice, orange juice, and Lipton Green Tea. ?
Our good friend Joe came to visit Ethan. He brought Ethan a big fluffy bear and a big balloon! He also brought us Jimboys!!! It’s been nice not to have to eat any hospital food since the Michehl’s have been bringing us home cooked meals! And now Joe was able to bring us one of our favorite fast food dishes! We were able to get our weekly dose of grease…..tacos and enchiladas……Yummy! Thanks for hangin out with us Joe!
Just before Joe was about to leave, Kokee and Pop Pop came by to say hi to Ethan. They too hung out with us for a while before Ethan had to get some rest (us too!). After Kokee and Pop Pop left, we were all able to get some rest.
Later that evening Katie, Taelor, Shana, and AJ brought us some Sushi!!!!!!!!! We were able to chow while Katie held Ethan for a while, distracting him from us so we can focus on our Sushi! ?
Ethan’s pain meds were visibly wearing off so Ethan took his meds and we put him back in his bed for rest. After Ethan took his pain meds, and we stuffed ourselves with Sushi, we were all ready for some rest.
Thanks again for all the support; for the food, the phone calls, emails, thoughts and prayers.

Todays Pics!

8-12-06
Ethan was in a little discomfort again today. He rolled back and forth from side to side quite a bit trying to find a comfortable position. Heather was able to hold him for over an hour, and he seemed pretty content for a while. It is a little painful to move in and out of the bed as you can imagine, but Ethan is tolerating the pain very well.

Dr. Mainwaring removed Ethan’s left chest tube this afternoon, and will remove the two remaining either Sunday or Monday. Things are moving along very smoothly, and a lot more quickly than we imagined. It seems like we waited months to have his chest tubes removed from Ethan’s last surgery, and now this time they are removed with in two days. Once the other two chest tubes are removed, it will only be a couple of days until we can go home. Absolutely amazing!!!

The arterial line in Ethan’s right arm was removed this evening as they no longer need to keep constant watch over his blood pressure. His blood pressure has stabilized on its own. ?

Pastor Scott of Adventure Church came in to visit Ethan this evening. While he was here, he prayed over Ethan, thankful for his successful recovery.

Ethan was moved into a big bed tonight. YEAH!! This is a lot nicer for Ethan as one of us will be able to sleep with him and it may allow more rest for all three of us!!! While the nurses were getting the new bed made, we took Ethan for a wagon ride, can you believe that? Two days out of surgery and Ethan is already cruising the hall ways. Pop-pop, Shana, Taelor, Jesse and AJ were up visiting at this time, so they were able to go cruise with us. Ethan had a great time cruising around, but it definitely tired the little guy out.

Ethan’s oxygen level decreased somewhat tonight, so he has been put back on a ¼ liter to help him out tonight, but it should be taken off by morning. His levels seem to only decrease while he is sleeping, so there is not too much concern yet. We will see what morning brings.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

Todays Pictures

8-10-06 thru 8-11-06

>>>>>>>>Pics are up!!!<<<<<<<<<<

Aug 10th
It has been an exhausting day, but we are happy to say Ethan made it through surgery and is as well as expected. The surgery went very well. Dr. . Mainwarring and Dr. . Reddy were able to replace Ethan‘s pulmonary valve and able to repair his aortic valve with out any difficulties. They replaced the pulmonary valve with a 16mm Bovine (cow) valve (which should last 5-6 years), and trimmed some of the aortic valve which had been enlarged from the pressure build up.
We were finally able to see Ethan around 3pm, and amazed at how well he looked. His heart rate was below 90 for the first time in his life!! All of the rest of his numbers looked great as well!
A couple hours went by before Ethan would awake. Or at the very least, open his eyes. As he became more and more alert, he realized he had a breathing tube down his throat and pulled it out. He immediately started asking for water in a low raspy voice. He moved very slowly if at all. He started at 2 liters of oxygen, but has been Dr. opped down to a ½ liter and doing well.
Doctors are watching Ethan’s blood pressure (keeping it a little on the low side) so not to cause any problems with the new valve. At first we were aloud to give Ethan about an ounce of water or juice every hour if he asks for it. He woke up several times in the night saying “I’m thirsty”!!! Which we are so thrilled to hear but at the same time felt bad as we couldn’t give him anymore than just a sip. We’re now able to give him as much as he wants to Dr. ink and even feed him soft foods if he wants.
Ethan is a fighter, and seems to be heading in the right direction. His vitals were all very good throughout the night. He has asked several times to sit up, which he may get to do tomorrow. We will keep posting throughout our stay!!
Thank you for your support and prayers.
Thank you to Kokee, Pop-pop, Nana, Epa, Gina, Shana and Taelor for being with us during the surgery and recovery, We are blessed.

Aug 11th
Ethan had an X-ray this morning at about 6am which Dr. . Mainwarring reviewed before coming in to check on Ethan. The X-ray showed a little fluid still in and around Ethan’s heart and lungs, which is not uncommon after being on the heart lung machine. The docs will continue to give Lasix to try and get the fluid out. Aside from the water still in Ethan’s chest, Dr. Mainwarring is very pleased at Ethan’s progress, and would like to start removing some of Ethan’s chest tubes Saturday!!
Ethan has had a little discomfort today, as docs are trying to move from IV to oral pain medication (Tylenol with codeine) which does not taste very good. We tried several times throughout the afternoon to give him the meds in juice, but Ethan would not have it. We finally tried an extra dose of the Fentanyl(IV meds) which seemed to take the edge off, and Ethan was able to sleep comfortably for a little while. After his little snooze, Heather was able to hold him, and Ethan took another little nap with mommy!
He did had several visitors today … Kokee, Pop-pop, Taelor, Grandpa, Uncle Simon. Jordan, Lexie, Mr. Rainwater, Terry and Kevin Green. A special thank you to Mr Green for his special prayer tonight with Ethan, We will keep Ciera-Joy in our prayers!!
Thank you all for your support and prayers. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate it!

Pics are up!!!

7-22-06 thru 8-9-06
On July 29th Ethan received a blessing at Natomas Adventure church. Pastor Scott along with several other members (including two pediatric doctors and the Hill family) gathered together to pray for Ethan and to anoint him with oil. It was so nice of all who gathered, and we very much appreciated the support.

Later that evening, the three of us went out for ice cream and fun down in Old Sacramento!! Ethan enjoyed his treat at Sonic and had an absolute blast in the bouncing waters!

August 9th Ethan received the "Greatest Explorer Award" at Tricks. Once again he enjoyed performing for everyone and loved crossing the stage to receive his award!! Way to go little buddy!! We are all so proud of you!!!

Enjoy the pics!

5-8-06 thru 7-21-06
It has been a while, and time for another update.
We begin with Ethan’s Heart Catherization on May 8th. The procedure went well! We were very anxious to hear any news from DR Wright as he came out of the procedure room. DR Wright did not find anything different than what Ethan’s echoes have showed, he did not have to do Angioplasty (which sometimes has to be done during the procedure if they find any blocked arteries) and the amount of back flow of blood and pressures had not changed since Ethan’s first Heart Cath in April of 2004. We were very excited to hear there were not any changes, however DR Wright wanted to discuss the results with two surgeons (one of which is DR Reddy from Stanford) to get their opinions.
Although the procedure went well, Ethan struggled with the recovery time after the heart cath. We had to keep his left leg straight for six hours to make sure there was no clotting where the doctors entered Ethan’s leg. Talk about a struggle! Ethan sleeps on his side with his left leg bent… needless to say Ethan wore himself out, trying to get comfortable! He slept for a couple of hours, and then woke up starving!! He ate the whole dinner tray the cafeteria had sent up to his room….. Fish sticks, salad, and a turkey sandwich!! ?. DR Wright came in around 8pm and discharged us as he could see Ethan definitely was ready to go home, as were his parents!!

May 18th DR Wright phoned to give us the results from the discussion he had with the surgeons, and all have agreed it is time to replace Ethan’s valve. Ethan’s heart has been tolerating the back flow since the original surgery at 3 days old, and shows no immediate signs of needing a replacement, but a new valve would relieve the pressure and allow Ethan’s heart to work with a lot less strain. We will meet with the surgeon here in Sacramento to select a date on May 30th. DR Reddy will be coming up from Stanford to assist DR. Mainwaring during the surgery so the date will depend on the two schedules.

We spent Memorial Weekend at the Fiore family cabin in Soda Springs with Heather’s family. What a treat!! It was so wonderful to relax, play and take our minds off of Ethan’s upcoming surgery!! There was still snow up at the cabin, so the kids had a great time having snow ball fights and building snow tunnels around the front of the cabin.

On Sunday we decided to travel into Virginia City, NV. What a cute little town, with so much history!! We had a great time walking through streets of the old town, reading the famous head stones in the cemetery and even joined in some good old “Honky Tonk” music.

We met with DR. Mainwaring on Tuesday May 30th. He discussed what the surgery would entail, recovery time (5-7 days in the hospital) and selected a date for Ethan’s surgery….. August 10th. (We fortunately have the option to choose a date, and frankly would like to have Ethan’s valve repaired before it becomes an emergency. We decided an August date to allow recovery time before Ethan’s birthday).
The surgery will be done at Sutter Memorial Hospital here in Sacramento!! We will check in at 6:30am and Ethan will be taken in to the OR at 8:30am. The surgery will last about 6-7 hours depending on how smoothly everything goes. This will be another long day for us, but we know Ethan will be in the very best hands possible. We ask for your prayers of strength and a speedy recovery.

On Wednesday May 31st Ethan had his first gymnastics show!! What a little star, complete with the Paparazzi!! ? He loved showing off his tricks, and wanted to accept everyone’s awards. We could not keep him off the stage!! He is quite the star in the making!!

On June 10th we helped Ethan’s best little buddy Brandon Hudock celebrate his 2nd birthday!! Ethan had a great time playing with Brandon and the other kids, and enjoyed the wagon ride from Brandon’s Papa!!

On June 26th Ethan had a doctor’s appointment with DR Davies for his bi-monthly check up. Ethan has gained weight since his last visit, YEAH!!! He is now 23 ½ pounds!! DR Davies was impressed, and was much more comfortable about this weight heading into surgery. She may want to put an NG tube in while he is in the hospital for a little help, as he will lose 2 – 3 pounds after surgery. We don’t want to lose to lose all that he has gained, so this will help Ethan get back up to the pre op weight. We should however after surgery see consistent weight gain, as Ethan’s heart will be functioning more efficiently!!

On June 28th Heather’s cousins “Skeeter” and Megan came to Sacramento for a visit. We celebrated Megan’s 20th birthday on the 29th with a trip to Mrs. Grossman’s sticker factory, the Jelly Belly Factory and of course a nice little celebration at Grandma’s with cake and ice cream. Ethan could not wait for the ice cream!! He must have had at least 3 helpings of his own, along with samples from everyone’s plates!!

Saturday July1st, the three of us traveled to Manteca for a weekend stay at Nana and Epa’s!! We enjoyed a family swim and BBQ on Sunday with the Fiore clan and cousins Lindsey and Tyler. Ethan had a great time sitting on the edge of the pool kicking and splashing the water. He liked watching Daddy and the kids jump in the deep in and swim back over to the steps. Ethan did swim over to the waterfall several times with daddy but wanted to get back to the steps and splash all on his own. Ethan is still talking about Todd jumping in the pool! ?

We enjoyed a pre Fourth of July fireworks show on Monday (3rd) evening with Auntie Gina, Uncle Joe, Nana and Epa. Ethan was very into the fireworks this year. He would clap and yell “Yeah Fireworks” after each one. He was even brave enough to hold his own Sparkler.

On the fourth we enjoyed a BBQ at Denise and Simon’s along with their friends Trudi and Larry!! Ethan loved playing with his cousins, and loved running up and down the street with all the neighborhood kids! He also enjoyed his visit from our friend Jeff (and his partner Paul) who is Sheriff’s deputy. He loved sitting in the car, the lights and his deputy sticker!! Thanks again Jeff and Paul for coming by to see us!! It was a real treat!!

On July 8th we helped our friend Hannah Misner (Brandon’s cousin) celebrate her 2nd birthday. Ethan had a great time swimming and playing with the other kids. He even got a piggy back ride around in the pool from Rebecca (Hannah’s mommy). We had to leave the celebration early, but Ethan very much enjoyed playing with the kids, Marcie and Becca and all who attended the celebration!!

And finally this past weekend we celebrated Todd’s birthday (the 14th) up at the cabin, along with Nana, Epa, Auntie Karen and Savannah. What a fun trip!! Ethan played outside with daddy and Epa, took a ride in the row boat with Auntie Karen and Savannah, and even helped Nana cook breakfast….. sausage was delicious!!

Ethan has had a great deal of fun this summer!! He is enjoying playing with the hose, running through the sprinklers in the backyard, and running around without any clothes on (diaper on of course). We are really enjoying watching Ethan in motion, and love the sound of his laughter! We seem to be running out of video tapes!! ?

We are amazed at what Ethan accomplishes everyday! Speech is coming along well (a little too well for mommy and daddy), and Ethan continues to work towards meeting his occupational goals. Ethan has been challenged by colors, animal sounds and differentiating between big and little. We have been working (frantically) week by week to get them down. Hopefully we will have them mastered by his evaluation in October. Ethan does however know his parents first and last names; all of his grandparent’s first and last names, his birthday and partial street address! He likes to talk on the phone, and has been asking for the number so he can dial. He is quite the character!

We cannot believe we are fast approaching another birthday! We never dreamed the big “3” would come so quickly, especially looking back at Ethan’s beginning. It truly is a blessing to have him, and could not imagine our lives without him.
Thank you again for your continued support and prayers. Please enjoy the picture gallery!!

-=Pictures=-

2-24-06 thru 5-8-06
It is time for another update!!

February 25th we helped celebrate Evan Mckeon’s second birthday at Gym Stars in Modesto. Ethan had an absolute blast! He loved the Styrofoam block pool, and the tumble track. He was supposed to follow the coach and other kids at the party but spent most of the time climbing in and out of the blocks Thank you Evan for inviting Ethan to celebrate with you!!
Ethan had such a great time at the party; we enrolled him in a mommy and me tumbling class at Tricks gym here in Sacramento!! Ethan and I are in the 10:30am “Tumble Bunny” class on Wednesday mornings with Miss Stephania. He loves running down the tumble track and jumping on the trampoline… which he would prefer to do most of the class, but each week we try new skills, and it seems to be helping Ethan’s balance and strength!
Speaking of strength on March 13th Ethan climbed out of his crib for the first time!! What a thrill at 2am…. We were scared have to death!! Todd converted his crib to the toddler bed and I’m converting the room to an under construction theme. It really is a process of converting out of the baby stage.
On March 16th we had a visit with DR Wright. Ethan weighed a whopping 22lbs! He had gained weight since the last visit but it is still not where DR Wright would like him to be. After a long discussion with DR Wright we have decided to do a Heart Cath. We are a little nervous as always with anesthesia, but will help determine whether or not it is time to change Ethan’s valve, which may help Ethan’ s weight gain. The Heart Cath has been scheduled for this morning at 10:30am. DR Wright will be doing the procedure as it will be done here at Sutter Hospital in Sacramento. We had a pre- op appointment on May 2nd with DR Wright to go over procedure and answer any questions we may have. This will be a difficult day for us, but Ethan will be in very good hands!!
On March 29th we had an appointment with Ethan’s tummy Dr. Davies, which did not go as smooth as we had hoped. Ethan had lost a significant amount of weight since our last visit in January, and she is very nervous. What she is most afraid of is that we may be heading into surgery again and Ethan does not have any excess weight to lose.
We advised Dr. Davies that Ethan had been sick and vomited at least once a day (if not 2 or 3 times) the week prior and was just starting to get his appetite back. She is so concerned about Ethan’s weight; she would like to put in a G tube as a temporary means to get Ethan’s weight up for the surgery. Todd and I are determined to perform a miracle…. Ethan has become an eating machine. He is eating anything and everything, cheese burgers, to macaroni and cheese. Hot dogs to Humus (thanks to his aunt Shana)! The best part is he is actually saying “mommy I hungee” (hungry). We are hoping by the next visit Dr. Davies will see such an improvement in weight gain that the extra surgery (G Tube) will not be needed. Hopefully today’s procedure will provide us with an accurate date for heart surgery which will help us on our mission, “OPERATION FATTEN ETHAN UP”.
On Saturday April 8th we traveled to Lodi’s Micke Grove Park to meet Nana and Epa for a Geo Cashing event.( www.geocaching.com ) Ethan had a blast with his cousins Lexi and Jordan at the park along with some other children of the Geo Cashing group. Nana and Epa had a good time too!! After the park we decided to walk through the zoo before heading back to Sacramento. It was a quick little afternoon trip, but it was so nice to spend time with Nana, Epa, Lexi and Jordan.
We spent Easter Morning with Todd’s family at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Emmy’s in Turlock. Ethan had a good time playing with the family, but was terrified of Uncle Bob and the Easter Bunny. After eating very delicious foods and desserts, we traveled back to Sacramento and had a lovely Easter dinner and Easter egg hunt with Michehl family.
Ethan continues to do well with therapy every week. In fact he has done so well catching up with his gross motor skills, we no longer have physical therapy sessions. We are so sad Kim will not be coming to our home, but are so thrilled Ethan has met all of his goals. We still continue with speech and occupational therapy. We are working on mouth rounding and making specific sounds in speech and balance, coordination and sensory with occupational therapy. Ethan has worked really hard on his balance (ie he is now able to jump several times in a row without completely losing his balance), and coordinating the “spoon to mouth” while eating has vastly improved. He is getting more in the mouth and less on the floor!! But even more exciting (as if we could be more excited) we are playing with PLAYDOUGH!!! We are so excited to see Ethan overcoming his sensory difficulties. The first time his OT introduced it, you could tell Ethan wanted to jump out of his seat and run away from it, but now he is asking to play with it. Although he does not play with it for a long period; just the very fact he is asking for it is thrilling!!
Ethan is such an amazing two and half year old. Every new phrase or task completed is truly a blessing. We couldn’t have asked for more. Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

-=Enjoy the Pics=-

11-30-05 thru 2-23-06
It has been a long time since our last update but we wanted to catch you up on our Christmas, New Years and all of our experiences since the New Year began.
We celebrated Christmas Eve (Heather’s birthday) with Heather’s parents in Sacramento and then Christmas day with the Fiore family in Manteca. We had such a wonderful celebration, but we were amazed at Ethan’s reaction this year. He never bothered the tree and was not interested in un-wrapping his packages at all. He seemed to be totally overwhelmed by all the excitement, and sometimes looked a little scared at the whole process of it all. We were totally expecting it to kind of be out of control this year but Ethan really did not want anything to do with the packages or gifts he received, until he opened the big 3 Musketeers candy bar………”Canney” (candy)!! He was overjoyed!! Oh but the wagon was cool too, after daddy put it together!!
Todd and I went Vegas for New Years. We left on December 30th and I returned home on the 3rd of January, Todd stayed for the annual CES show through the ninth. It felt like an eternity, and I was certainly glad to land safely back home and get back to my boy. I woke him up at 2am when I got home; I needed to give him hugs and kisses. He did not go back to sleep until 4am, but that was perfectly fine, I just needed to hold him. He did learn a couple of new phrases while we were gone… “I want show you sumpthing” and I’m telling on you” hey his vocabulary is increasing right?? ?
On January 5th, Ethan made his first trip to the South Natomas Library. He had a great time looking through all the books, and even made several friends while we were there! They have a “Story Time” on Saturday mornings (for his age group) which we would like to participate in. It is a good socialization hour for him but we just have to work on using our “library voice”…
On January 11th we had an appointment with DR Wright, and we received very good news!! No surgery!! DR Wright reviewed his echo with some of the other docs in the office as well with Ethan’s surgeon DR Reddy and they all concur!!! Ethan’s valve is still functioning efficiently even though we have hit the 2 year mark. Todd and I have been concerned since we have surpassed the original time frame DR Reddy gave us back at Stanford, but sometimes the valves can last up to 5 years at a time depending on how fast the child is growing. Ethan’s valve may last longer because of his slow weight gain, and the more time that passes, the more time it leaves for Ethan to put on weight and continue to progress. DR Wright also informed us (once the surgery is needed) we do not have to travel, it can be done right here in Sacramento. DR Reddy is now doing some surgeries here in Sacramento, once of which is valve replacements!! We are sad we won’t get to see our wonderful nurses and friends we made at Stanford, but on the other hand we are thankful there is a facility now available to us right here in Sacramento!!
On February 4th Todd and I took Ethan to Fairy Tale town, for free Museum/ Zoo day! There were a million people there, but Ethan had an absolute ball. He loved the big slides and even tried to go down a couple by himself. He scared Todd and I have to death several times, but he got right back up and went down the slide again (this time on Todd’s lap). He is an amazing kid, and we so love this stage of Ethan’s life!
On February 9th Ethan had his annual IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) with Julie our liaison from ALTA. She was so thrilled to see Ethan talking, running and playing….. Just being a “normal kid”. She had not seen Ethan without the feeding tube and oxygen, so she was quite thrilled with his progress! Ethan’s services through ALTA will terminate the end of October as he will turn 3, which means we will then go through the school district for any services needed. We will do another evaluation in August to determine whether or not Ethan will require any services at all through the school district. On the one hand we are so grateful and amazed at how well Ethan is doing, but on the other hand we have developed such wonderful relationships with all of his therapists it will be sad to see them go! The mornings just won’t be the same without them! They have been such and awesome part of Ethan’s life, and we are truly grateful for all their hard work and dedication to our family!!
On February 15th we went to see Disney’s Finding Nemo with our friends Marcie, Brandon, and baby Hudock. Ethan was very excited to see Nemo and Dory, and would yell for them as they skated around the arena. Ethan had a great time, and was so excited to spend time with his buddy Brandon. Thank you Marcie, Brandon and baby for coming with us, we had an awesome time!
We cannot believe how much Ethan has done this year, and it has only just begun. He is walking up steps and sliding down slides all on his own, he is feeding himself using a spoon or fork, galloping all over the place and has quite a vocabulary. It is hard to believe Ethan was ever lying in a bed fighting to stay alive. He is so strong willed and determined to do things on his own and is constantly testing us just as we’d expect any 2 year old to do.

We wish you all a wonderful 2006!!!

Wanna see some pictures? Click Here!!!

7-11-05 thru 11-29-05
Ethan made his first trip to Baker City Oregon and Weiser Idaho to visit his many cousins and great aunts and uncles. We began our journey on July 14th and returned home on the 17th. It was a fast trip, but Ethan was an absolute trooper!! He loved playing in the big city park, touring the museum and swimming in the hotel pool. It was so nice to finally meet the many aunts, uncles and cousins who have been praying for Ethan.

Upon returning home from our trip, Ethan began a water physical therapy class at Easter Seals. We went on Wednesday night and Saturday morning for several weeks. Ethan loved being in the water, but try getting him to work... forget it!! He liked just relaxing, and splashing around!! We did (during the last class) finally see Ethan kick his feet and move his arms in the freestyle fashion. As we have seen in the past, Ethan will do his own thing in his own time!! J Once he is determined to do something there is no stopping him!!

We saw DR Wright on September 19th. DR Wright did another echo and found Ethan’s numbers to be the same as the prior visit. At this point we will be on watch, looking for any signs that Ethan’s valve could be slowing down. We have a scheduled appointment November 16th and hopefully the news will be good from this appointment as well. We did make the November 16th appointment and everything seems to be the same as the last two visits. We may after the holiday schedules another heart cath just to make sure the internal pressure within the heart is ok… this will be determined at our January appointment!

Ethan is eating very well but is still not getting enough calories in everyday; even though we are trying to push everything we can down him. He is so active; everything we give him burns off just as quickly as it went in. We are trying anything with a high caloric value… milkshakes, breakfast bars, and anything we can add his calorie boost to. His body is still slow processing the food so it is hard to get him on a “feeding schedule”. He seems to like “grazing” all day, taking in little bits here and there. This is not what the nutritionist wants, because we will never catch up on the calories that Ethan needs to compensate for his heart and the calories he needs to gain weight, but we try to get in as many calories as we can every feeding session. We were finally able to get Ethan to drink whole milk instead of water and the 1% that Todd and I drink…. J Ethan did not like the thickness of the whole milk, and would spit it out or not drink it at all. It was very hard to trade over, but Ethan is now drinking it like a champ. He has yet to get a whole gallon down before it expires, but the important thing is he is drinking milk and not filling up on water all day and any extra calories help!! I think they have... Ethan made 20lbs 2oz!! YEAH!!

Ethan has celebrated his second birthday… can you believe it??? Todd and I took Ethan to the Sacramento Zoo for his birthday and had a big ice cream sundae and October 7th. We had the big party on October 22nd at Regency Park near our home. It was a wonderful celebration. Ethan had a great time with Spider Man and all of his friends. Thank you so much for all who attended. It was wonderful to get to celebrate with you!!

On the weekend of October 28th we took a family trip to Soda Springs to the new Fiore cabin. Ethan had a great time climbing up and down the three flights of stairs, sitting in the window sill of Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bob’s room and kissing his cousin Nick on the cheek!! Thanks Nick for playing with Ethan!! You are a good man!! J

We celebrated Halloween in Woodland with our friends the Hudock’s, Misner’s and Keihn’s. Ethan had fun with Pooh, Tigger and Thomas the Train and loved running to the door when the trick or treaters came. Thank you once again for inviting us to celebrate with you… we had a great time!

We are so excited to have arrived home from Ethan’s first trip to Disneyland, California Adventure and Medieval Times (Nov.5th-9th)…. and wow was it fun!! It was awesome to watch him walk through gates, well with a hand of course!! (One of our goals for the year was for Ethan to walk through the gates, and he did it)!!! He loved the carousel, Casey Jr’s Train, Dumbo and the light parade. (We unfortunately missed It’s a Small World due to Christmas preparations, but it will be a definite must the next trip) The characters were great from a far but were scary up close even if Todd and I were holding him. Ethan was very fascinated with the show at Medieval times… but did not want the characters anywhere near him. He is still a little young, so hopefully next trip (in 5 years) he will be right there with the rest of the kids waiting to get their pictures taken with the characters!!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at the Fiore cabin in Miwuk Village. Ethan had a great time with all his cousins, aunts and uncles. He did sleep through the Turkey dinner but ate a whole cheeseburger from Burger King on the way back home to Manteca!! We did have another Turkey dinner on Saturday (with just the immediate Fiore family members) and Ethan did enjoy the yams, mashed potatoes and turkey on that day. It was so nice to celebrate with everyone, and enjoy just some great family time with everyone!
Ethan is continuing to do well with therapy… four sessions a week!! He is rapidly catching up on all gross/ fine motor skills, and is gaining quite the vocabulary. It is so amazing to hear him go from Hi, mama, Todd; to I want cereal please…… I want yogurt please with please being signed… oh so cute!!

It is amazing what Ethan has accomplished this year. We look forward to the many celebrations of Ethan’s second year!! Thank you for your continued support. Enjoy the many pictures of this update.

Todd, Heather and Ethan

Pictures!!!!!

4-8-05 thru 7-10-05
Well once again the Fiore family has been very busy!! Since our last update, we have been to Monterey Bay Aquarium (May 9th), Todd’s sister’s wedding (May28th) the San Jose Tech Museum (June 14th), Ethan’s first Sacramento River Cats game (July 3rd) Manteca to celebrate the 4th of July and Soda Springs to the Fiore family cabin (July9-10)!! Ethan enjoyed all events as he is now Walking and free of his Oxygen and feeding tubes!! We waited so patiently for him to take his first steps, eat a meal and be free from any restraints! And he has certainly fought long and hard to accomplish all of them!!
Ethan has been walking (on his own) since the middle of May, and is now trying to run.. His balance needs a little work, but overall he is doing quite well!! Todd (the rest of the family) and I are so excited to finally see him move about on his own, although (I admit) some days I miss just holding him!!J Ethan still likes to be rocked to sleep so I get my cuddling fixes there!!
We saw his cardiologist on May 10th, and his oxygen saturation was at 95-97. I had taken him off oxygen 45 minutes prior to the visit so DR Wright could get somewhat of an accurate reading with only one tube in Ethan’s nose. DR Wright looked at me and said “mom lets take him off”. At first I could not believe this day had come, but then I was completely terrified and excited all at the same time. “Is Ethan really ready I asked”?? DR Wright was very confident, but suggested turning it back on during the night or naptime. We tried this for a week and went back in to see DR Wright on the 23rd. DR Wright said Ethan was ready to be off completely. We had just one scare since Ethan has been off the oxygen, but he has adapted and is enjoying this new freedom. In fact he has escaped out the front door several times!! YIKES!!!!! J We need a pad lock to keep this kid inside the house!!
Ethan had one of his episodes Memorial Day which caused his NG tube to completely come out of position. Todd and I decided to see what he would do without it. We tried giving his meds in his yogurt and sure enough it worked!! So we tried it again that evening and once again SUCCESS! OK so now what?? Will Ethan eat if we leave the tube out?
We cannot keep this kid full. He has eaten Teriyaki mushroom burgers, peanut butter and butter sandwiches, happy meal hamburgers with Barbeque sauce, Velveeta MacNCHeese and anything else he can sneak off our plates!! He is trying new things everyday, but Guacamole and yogurt are still his staples. Not only is Ethan eating, he is sucking liquids through a straw (which was self taught…. I believe we are raising a genius....LOL!)We are able to get some of his high caloric formula down, as well as milk, juice and his favorite, Root Beer!! Amazing!
Ethan had his yearly evaluation with California Alta Regional Center. Julie our liaison recommended speech therapy for Ethan as his still delayed in several areas. So with her recommendation, Ethan has begun speech therapy (in addition to his physical and occupational therapy sessions) on a weekly basis and is catching up very quickly. His vocabulary has increased so much since he started. He is now saying two word sentences like “Hi Todd and Hi Grammy” and is repeating just about every word he hears.
Ethan is doing such and amazing job, through therapy, and play time!! We are so impressed with his strength and determination! Keep working hard little man; mommy and daddy are so proud of you!
Since this update was originally written, we saw DR. Wright (cardiologist) June 30th and a bi-monthly echo was done. He found that Ethan is growing out of his valve which is not allowing the full amount of blood flow out of the heart and out to the body. DR. Wright indicated that it maybe time to go back to Stanford and have it replaced. We knew it was only a matter of time before we would be heading back to Stanford to have it replaced, and really it will help Ethan to have a better quality of life. At this point we have not seen any of the major signs that the valve is not functioning correctly, but if at Ethan’s six week appointment DR Wright sees any changes in the numbers from an echo or Todd and I see any changes at home, we will be scheduled for surgery. Please keep us and our extended families in your prayers for continued strength and good health as we wait and see what the next six weeks will bring. We will update the site with any news from our August appointment.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers. God bless

Todd, Heather and Ethan

-=Finally......NEW Pics!!!=-

1-22-05 thru 4-7-05
It has been a long time since the last update, and boy have we been busy!!
Ethan started crawling (Feb.17th) and is all over!! Todd started crawling around the floor with Ethan, and Ethan joined in! This is Ethan’s new means of movement! He is crawling all around the house, and even to his toy chest. He made his way to kitchen and discovered mommy’s Tupperware cabinet and he even likes to help mommy do the dishes. I have caught him pulling up inside the dishwasher twice!! So cute!! We have bowls, lids and cups out everywhere, but we are so glad to see him doing all this exploring!
Ethan is also into his books right now! We wake up each morning and read “Peedie” a yellow gosling and “Booboo” the blue gosling. It is such and awesome time for Todd and I to share with Ethan. Ethan not only likes to have these read to him, but he likes to hold Boo-Boo (in particular) as we rock him to sleep! Such a funny boy!!
Todd and I took our first big vacation since Ethan was born the last week in February. We spent 4 days with Todd’s family in Las Vegas. It was such a nice treat for us to get away, but you can bet we called to check on him at least 4 times a day!! While we were gone, Ethan decided he wanted to eat and boy has he taken off. He tried Swiss cheese, Peanut Butter, Chicken, Marsh mellows, chicken soup, chili and Fudge cycles!! …. He loves it!! As a matter of fact, Ethan no longer wants to eat yogurt from a spoon, he wants to put the food in his mouth all by himself. He is not eating a full meal yet, but it so important that he got the concept of putting the food in his mouth, and wanting to taste new flavors!!
His tummy doctor has put him on a new formula regimen and it seems to be working… The food formula of choice is Nestlé’s instant breakfast drink. He gets two 8oz cans (at 560 calories each) over night and then feed, feed, feed by mouth during the day. He is tolerating the formula and is developing quite the tummy!!J DR. Davies would like to see Ethan get to 22lbs and then she wants to take the feeding tube out. She would like to see how much Ethan can do on his own. He has started feeding therapy at Easter Seals, so hopefully the feeding tube will be a thing of our past! WE know this is not going to happen overnight, but Ethan has definitely conquered a huge hurdle and could be on his way to victory!!
On March 19th we formally welcomed Ethan in to God’s community. He was baptized in the Chapel of my high school by the Deacon Charles Cheever (who just happens to be the same Deacon who married Todd and I). Ethan did especially well as the Deacon poured water over his head… he even let out a little giggle. So precious! He is truly a child of God! Thank you to all who joined us to welcome our son into God’s community.
We celebrated Easter at Uncle Victor and Aunt Laura’s in Manteca. We had a wonderful lunch and a great visit with all the family. After lunch the kids had an Easter egg hunt, and even got a surprise visit from the Easter bunny!! Ethan had a fun time trying to take everyone else’s eggs!!
Ethan is working really hard in therapy, gaining more strength every week! He is rapidly catching up to a “normal “18 month old child!! He had a six month evaluation, which required us to list all his accomplishments made since the start of therapy. He is meeting and exceeding goals!! He even has a 23 word vocabulary: yummy, please, hi, bye-bye, c-ya, oh no, stop it, puppy, mama, mommy, daddy, Pop-Pop, Kokee, Nana, Grammy, A.J., Jesse, beep-beep, Boo-boo, door, go, up and NoNoNo! He is quite the little communicator. It is so neat to see him actually understand and respond back to us! His physical therapist wrote in her evaluation that she expects Ethan to be walking by the summer!! He is getting so close. He is walking around furniture, using his walker and making his way around the house along the walls. He has taken his first couple of steps on his own April 1st, so we know it won’t be long before our little one is RUNNING around the house!!
Thank you again for your continued support and prayers.

-=NEW PICS!!!=-

1-7-05 thru 1-21-05
Friday January 7th we were admitted to Sutter Memorial Hospital at 12:30. We spent the next couple of hours answering medical history questions and getting all Ethan’s admit vitals... blood pressure, temperature etc… Ethan tried most of the afternoon and evening getting used to crib confinement. He could not figure out why he had bars all around him!! He would roll around the sides and to the end of the crib trying to figure out how to get out!! He finally learned to pull himself up from the top of the crib, standing all the way for a few seconds before his little legs gave out!! He got pretty good at it, only banging his head a couple of times on the metal bars. Poor little guy!!
Most of Friday and Saturday we spent calculating Ethan’s oral intake. Doctor Davies just wanted to get feel for what our days/nights are like at home. We continued his Bolus feeds of 90mls 4 times a day and then 45mls per hour over night. Ethan tolerated the Bolus feeds but just like clock work at 5:30am Saturday morning Ethan vomited almost all of the night’s feeding.
Saturday we again spent the day trying to keep Ethan comfortable in his crib, which was a little better as the Child Life Program brought us some really fun toys for Ethan to play with. On Saturday morning rounds, DR Davies changed Ethan’s bolus feeds from 90mls to 70mls and to try feeding him anything he would take. Ethan like the frozen yogurt that came with his meal tray, and when that was not enough, we would walk down to the cafeteria and get more!!
Saturday night his feeds were increased to 50mls per hour. He did well overnight, but at5:00am the laboratory came him to do some blood work. Don’t they know you are not supposed to wake a sleeping baby??? Ethan did ok while they drew up his blood, but vomited as soon as we got back into the room at 5:15am. Since we had to change Ethan and the bed linens, the nurse decided to bring in the scale and weigh him… much to our surprise Ethan gained weight!! DR Davies was pleased and wanted to continue the same regimen for another day!
Sunday one of our nurses requested a regular bed be brought in for us to allow Todd to stay nights with us!! Ethan and I slept in the bed while Todd had the sleeping chair!! It was close encounters, but a real treat for Ethan as he does not get to sleep with mommy and daddy!!
Monday we were again awoken by Ethan’s 5am spell but we saw a definite decrease in the amount that came up!! And Ethan had gained weight!!! (8.18kg) DR Davies was happy!!
She also advised at 4:30pm Ethan would have his scope test! Of course the day dragged on for all of us but we wanted to find out what could be causing Ethan to vomit so much!!
At 4:30pm we walked Ethan down to the exam room where Todd and I could stay until Anesthesia was given and Ethan was asleep! This was very hard for me as I flashed back to the days of Stanford, but I was grateful the docs allowed Todd and I to stay until Ethan was asleep and the procedure would begin. The procedure only lasted about 10 minutes and DR Davies came back with a smile on her face… Ethan is perfectly fine. There are no obstructions in either the esophagus or stomach!! WOHOO!!
We talked to her for about the next half hour trying to figure out what would be the best solution for Ethan.. Do we put him back on continuous feeds 24 hours a day?? Do we just run the formula at night and try and push as much as we can?? And was G tube going to be the best solution for Ethan??
Todd, DR Davies and I finally decided to try positioning the tube as an NJ, and try feeding by mouth during the day with out any bolus feedings, and run formula for 10 to 12 hours overnight!! With this decision, DR Davies wants Ethan to have feeding therapy 3 times per week. So will have an occupational therapist come in 3 times a week and work only on feeding and oral motor skills!! Todd and I are really happy with this and hope that Ethan will be eating on his own very soon!!
Tuesday morning we waited to hear what time we would have the NJ tube placed. Since they did not know if Ethan would have to be sedated again for this, he could not eat for 4 hours prior to the appointment time. Poor thing!! He was absolutely starving!! The watered down apple juice was not doing the trick!! The nurse finally came down at 4 and said his appointment was changed to Wednesday!! Oh my goodness!! Ethan was finally able to eat! He practically finished off a whole yogurt!!
Wednesday morning our nurse told us our appointment would be at 1:50pm! Again keeping Ethan only on clear liquids until after the tube was placed. OK!! At least we have a time now to look forward to!! And Ethan could eat all morning if he wanted!! He ate ¾ of his yogurt and ½ a cup of juice!! What a good boy!!
At around 10am Child Life came to our room to see if Ethan might like to join them in some of their activities!! I thought why not it will get us out of this room right? So we went down and made some pretty pictures using the Spin Art machines and then we made Ethan’s very own DR Bag!! It was quite fun!! He so enjoys being around the other kids!! We played for quite a while and then went back to our room so Ethan could a little nap in before the NJ was placed.
The tube was finally placed around 3:15… what a nightmare!! The docs were impatient and Ethan was getting way too frustrated!! Finally one of the docs said his Jejunum is irregular and we cannot get the tube in the right place. He told me it would work, but that it would not stay in place forever!! OK! We will just be extra careful with it!
We were finally released at 5:30pm that night from the hospital!! YEAH! We get to sleep in our own beds!!
We got home Wednesday night started up the pump to run the formula and… the formula was not flowing through the tube!! We could not believe it!! Todd pulled the tube back a little bit and kept trying to push formula through….. we finally ended up pulling the tube out and placing in back in the stomach!! So of course Thursday morning Ethan vomited when he woke up!! We could not get in at the hospital on Thursday to have the tube replaced, but did get and appointment on Friday afternoon!!
Ethan and I drove back to the hospital Friday at 2:30pm to have the tube replaced. Again the docs allowed me to stay with Ethan so he would have a little bit of comfort in a not so comfortable situation!! DR Vogel was an absolute angel as well as his nurse!! Ethan did wonderful!! He hardly cried this time!! The doc started at ten after 4 and we were back in the car driving home at 4:30!! Absolutely amazing!!
Ethan did well over the weekend with his new plan of action!! We were able to run the formula for 10 hours a night at 50ccs per hour, and not one case of vomiting when he woke up!! He ate 4 yogurts from Friday night until Monday!! What a champ! He even ate gravy at breakfast Sunday morning and ½ of a Orange Dream Jamba juice!! He is doing great! Once we start therapy we are hoping Ethan will be able to try all kinds of different foods, and fatten up!! J He is starting to feel heavier to Todd and I but we will see what the scale says at the doctors office next week, we are anxious to see if there is any weight gain!!
Wednesday January 19th we went to see DR Davies just for a weight check… since it had been over a week. On her office scale Ethan weighed 17lbs 14 ½ ounces. (This is an increase from the last visit on January 5th). At the last doctor’s appointment prior to being admitted Ethan weighed 17lbs 7ounces.
We are encouraged everyday Ethan eats. I think we may have to buy stock in Jamba Juice, but whatever works right?? With the amount of calories in each Jamba, and the calories from the yogurt with Duocalorie Ethan should be well on his way!!

Thank you for your support and prayers!

Have a look at some PICS!

12-23-04 thru 1-6-05
We had a wonderful Christmas celebration!! We first went to a nice Christmas Eve dinner (celebrating Heather’s 29th birthday) and opened gifts with Heather’s family!!
We really enjoyed watching Ethan this year just rolling around in the paper!! We ran out of video tape just watching him play and explore!! He had already tried to get into the packages under our tree, so he was excited to really get to open his presents (along with help from mom and dad of course)!
We then celebrated Christmas Day with Todd’s family at Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bob’s house in Ripon! We had a delicious lunch and a fun visit with all of the family!! Santa was very good to all three of us this year!! We got a special treat Christmas week; Ethan pulled himself up and moved a couple of steps around the coffee table!! He also pulled himself up on the side of the crib!! Guess it is time to put all the guard rails up locked and secured!!
New Years Eve however was not so pleasant. Todd and Ethan were both sick with the flu!! It was not a very fun evening for the three of us, but the two boys seem to be much better.
We received news prior to ringing in the New Year that Ethan may have to be hospitalized because not growing has become a bigger issue than we have all realized. Ethan is eating but not taking in enough calories to override how much his heart is working (although still no signs of surgery at this point) and gain weight. We have not seen much more than a six ounce weight gain over the past 4 weeks. There seems to be something more going on other than Reflux. Perhaps a blockage or some type of irritation cause by the NG tube. So Doctor Davies wants to hospitalize him, run some tests and work with a nutritionist to see what can be done to get more calories into our little guy! Despite the minimal calorie in take, (amazingly) at his cardiology appointment Thursday the 6th, his oxygen saturation was 100%!! Which means heart and lungs are functioning perfectly!! In fact DR Wright was really amazed to see Ethan pulling up and moving all around his office… he cannot believe the strength Ethan has!! He is a fighter!!
We will be admitted into Sutter Memorial Hospital here in Sacramento (thank goodness we don’t have to travel very far) on Friday morning January 7th and will stay through Monday or possibly Tuesday the 11th. On Monday he will have a “scope” test done to see if there may be a blockage either in Ethan’s stomach or esophagus. Hopefully the doctors can find out what maybe preventing Ethan from eating orally, and taking in the calories he needs to gain weight. We will of course keep you updated with all the new information and test results we receive. We ask you again for your prayers over the weekend and Monday for Ethan as he will have to have anesthesia on Monday in order for the scope test to be done.
We hope you all had a very merry Christmas and hope that 2005 brings you all much joy and happiness!

Thank you for your support

Feel free to browse Ethan's holday pics!

11-18-04 thru 12-22-04
We traveled to Grants Pass Oregon to celebrate Thanksgiving! It was so wonderful to get to celebrate with the family and out of the hospital (as you all may remember last year we celebrated in one of the rooms at Stanford)!! Ethan slept through our Turkey lunch but was wide awake for our traditional Turkey Day family pictures.
We decided to finally get our Christmas tree on the 12th of December. We (along with Heather’s family) went to the Davis Ranch Christmas Tree farm. You can choose your own tree, and cut it down for a very reasonable price!! Ethan had a great time and it looks fabulous in our house.
Ethan is now 14 ½ months and climbing back up the charts to a whopping 18pounds 11ounces. ? He is eating a little better but still only liking yogurt. We can occasionally sneak in some fruit, but texture is still very much and issue. Each day is a little better, but still a challenge we have not yet overcome. We will get there!!
Ethan is becoming more vocal and has even increased his vocabulary to 7 words:
Mamma, Dad dee, up, buh bye (with a wave) Pop pop(Heather’s Dad)Ya-Ya(Heather’s sister) and stop it!! Yep, that’s right stop it!! We are pretty sure where he learned the last, but it is not from the two of us!!
Ethan is becoming more and more active every day!! He is not only rolling all over the house, he is now pulling himself up on the table, high chair or whatever he can use to get him “up”. He is now able to move from a lying down position to a sitting position. He seems to be doing everything all at once, and it is so great to see his progress. It will not be long before he is totally mobile, and then look out world!! ?

Thank you for your support and prayers.
Please take a look at the picture gallery

10-9-04 thru 11-17-04
We celebrated Ethan’s first birthday party October 9th at Tetotom Park. We had Subway sandwiches with chips, macaroni salad, potato salad and pasta salad with ice tea, water and lemonade. We wanted to celebrate Ethan’s first birthday with all whom have supported us throughout this first year, so we rented the park and invited as many people as we could!! Many were able to join on what turned out to be a wonderful day!
The party theme was Finding Nemo and he was everywhere! We were even able to find a Finding Nemo bouncy house and rented it for the whole day! The kids enjoyed it as well as some of the adults. Thank you to all who celebrated with us!

After the party that evening we went for a little drive up to Soda Springs and stayed at the Rainbow Lodge with Todd’s family...our first family trip up to the mountains. We stayed just long enough to have a big family breakfast Sunday morning and then head back towards Sacramento. It was a fast trip, but the three of us had a great time!

We celebrated Halloween and great grandma and great grandpa’s anniversary with a brunch at Mimi’s Café, and then a Halloween party with our friends in Woodland. Ethan dressed up as a pumpkin and Todd and I dressed as cave man and cave woman?. Ethan had a great time with his friends Brandon, Mackenzie and Andrew.

He continues to do well with feeding, although still only liking Yogurt, pudding and ice cream (especially mint chocolate chip). Ethan continues physical and occupational therapy three times a week. He is making great strides everyday and has met goals which were set for February. Truly amazing! What a long way Ethan has come since October 7th 2003.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers.

-=Pictures=-
Ethans's First Birthday Party
Ethan's Second Halloween
More Pics of Ethan
Soda Springs 2004

8-7-04 thru 10-7-04
(Heather)
Ethan celebrates both 11months and 1st birthday. At his last Dr’s visit, Ethan weighed 18lbs 4ounces.Ethan had his first haircut, started physical and occupational therapy, rolled over and is now sitting up by himself without the Boppy or mommy and daddy’s help!!

He has been to two Luaus, spent the night at Kokee and Papa’s (Heather’s parents) for the first time, patty cakes, let out his first big giggle, moved into his own bedroom, drinks from a bottle, met his great uncle Spike and aunt Carol and celebrates his 1st birthday! WOW!

Ethan is doing very well with therapy and both therapists are impressed with the progress Ethan has made since their first visit on August 17th. Kim (PT) and Ryan (OT) each come to our house one a week which is so nice, as Ethan is in his own comfort zone!

He is doing very well sitting up, reaching for his toys and even rolling over and around the front room!! He is not enjoying the tummy time as much as sitting up and rolling, but each day as we work with him it gets a little easier and soon he will be on his way to crawling!!

Ethan had a Modified Barium Swallow test done October 1st to determine whether or not he is swallowing liquids correctly. The test determined Ethan does swallow correctly so we have been given the green light to feed orally!! Ethan is eating orally during the day (as much as we can get him to take) and then tube feeding at night to make up for the lost calories during the day. This is a whole new adventure for us as we are not used to taking food and bottles out with us!! Todd, Ethan and I are all learning a whole new eating process!! We were hoping to have the tube removed by his first birthday, but we are extremely excited to be able to feed Ethan by mouth!!

The doctor is very optimistic that he tube could come out in the next few months, but we have to make sure Ethan is able to gain weight without all the nutrients coming from the tube. He can have just about anything (including half and half milk), but so far he has only taken a liking to Kentucky Fried Chicken’s mashed potatoes with gravy and Trix yogurt!! Can one survive on KFC? ?

We celebrated Ethan’s 1st birthday at Leatherby’s Creamery Parlor with Kokee, Papa, Grammy, Grandpa, Auntie Shana, Auntie Taelor, Uncle Jesse and Cousin A. J. Ethan had his own dish of ice cream, and the waiters and waitresses sang Happy Birthday!!

It seems so amazing to be celebrating Ethan’s first birthday already!! What an amazing year this has been for our family.

Ethan is an absolute joy, and is the light of our lives!! We thank you all for your prayers and continued support through out the last year!! We look forward to sharing the next year with you!! Again thank you for all your support!

Pictures

4-25-04 thru 8-7-04
(Heather)
Ethan is 10 months old and weighs 18 lbs 3 ½ ounces. He is 27 and ½ inches long. He is really starting to get heavy and developing quite a tummy!! Never thought we would get to say that!! ? Ethan is getting stronger and wanting to stand and stretch his legs, so he has a couple of new toys… an Exersaucer and the Deluxe Jumperoo and loves them. He can only play for a few minutes as his little legs and neck get tired, but we know it won’t be long until he is able to play for hours.

Ethan finally recognized Todd as he walked in from work. He was very excited to see Todd, and Todd was very happy too!! Ethan gave him a big kiss as he walked up. (I could tell Todd had a rough day and really needed Ethan’s smile when he walked in)!! On that same day, Ethan also discovered his two feet, brought them to his mouth and started chewing on his toes. What a smart boy. Speaking of chewing, Ethan has eight teeth. Four on the bottom and four across the top, and boy are they razor sharp!!

May has been a very exciting month for us as we were finally able to bring Ethan out in the public. He has been to his Uncle Jesse’s baseball game, church, a first breakfast at Denny’s, Mother’s Day in Manteca and his first shopping experience at Target with Nana!!. We visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium with the Antelope Springs Home schooling group and went to Santa Rosa for a birthday Party. We also had lunch with some of the employees from AdvancePCS/Caremark, and had a picnic at Discovery Park to celebrate Memorial Day with our friends John, Lori, Mike, and Nick!! WOW!!!

Ethan had a Modified Barium Swallow test done to see if he would be able to start drinking from a bottle. The first test was done with a liquid substance in a bottle. When reviewing this on the tape, the liquid did go down the “wrong pipe” and into his lungs. The next test was done with a mixture of rice cereal and Barium. This test showed Ethan swallowed correctly. So with those results, Ethan has begun eating rice cereal with fruit in the morning and veggies during the day! He is doing well, and seems to really like it, as you can tell by the increase in his weight gain. He has even moved out of size 1-2 diapers and into the size 3-4!! YEAH!!!!
He is eating baby food three to four times a day and can now join Todd and I at the table, in his new high chair!! His formula still runs continuously overnight, so Todd and I still have pretty easy nights!! His formula has been increased from 40 cc’s per to 43. His tummy doctor would like to get up to 45cc’s per hour to keep up with the calories he is burning!! Ethan still requires the NJ tube in place to keep his formula down and reflux to a minimum. His formula has been changed from Pregestimil to Neocate as Ethan began to develop an allergy to Pregestimil.

The first weekend of June we traveled to Grants Pass, Oregon to visit Heather’s family and see her cousin Megan graduate from high school. This also gave us the perfect opportunity to meet the rest of the family. Most of them had only seen Ethan on the computer. Ethan also met several women who have been praying for him. They were so excited to finally meet him. Thank you Grants Pass, and Scrapbook Connection for all your prayers!!

Ethan and Heather also took another road trip to Manteca to visit Todd’s family!! Ethan is such a good little rider!! He moved into his big boy car seat and has discovered himself in the Bear Mirror. He loves to smile and talk to himself!! So cute!!

July has also been an exciting month; Ethan had his first bout with Pneumonia. It was a very small case which was able to be treated by an antibiotic and not an overnight stay in the hospital!! Big or small case, it still is quite a scare, especially watching him struggle to breathe. His doctors increased his oxygen level from ½ liter to ¾ liter and Ethan is doing well! He has also started breathing treatments to help open his lungs and provide more oxygenated blood to the rest of his body. Ethan does not like this of-course, but it seems to be helping him as he is producing quite a big squeal. LOL.

We celebrated the 4th at Uncle Joe’s house in Modesto, and Ethan swam with daddy for the first time!! Although it was very hot, Ethan enjoyed the cool pool water! Speaking of trying to stay cool, Ethan has discovered he needs a wet washcloth with him at all times. This was first introduced to him to try and suck and use his oral motor skills which were not being used as he did not take a bottle or mom’s milk. He at first did not want to use the washcloth to try and develop those skills, but just to have with him to keep cool. Over the past couple of weeks, Todd and I have seen him suck the water out of the washcloth and swallow it!! His doctor’s will be soo happy he is developing those skills.

Ethan said his first words this month… “Daddy” and “Mama”!!
He said Daddy twice on the 14th (Todd’s birthday), what an awesome birthday present!! I had to wait to hear Mama until the 19th!! Hmm does this mean he really misses Todd during the day??? ?

Once again this month we have had Ethan’s NJ tube replaced. Our little man bit the cap off the tube. We were able to keep it patched up with tape for a couple of days(just trying to put off the pain of watching Ethan while the doctors replaced the tube) but when the formula dripped out in to his bed, we called the doctor to have an appointment set up.
We also had an appointment to see his tummy doctor this week and Ethan is now able to take 5cc’s of water or juice by syringe, making sure he is able to swallow correctly. She has also asked we decrease the formula during the day and increase the amount of baby food!! Could we be nearing the end of the feeding tube? If Ethan’s weight gain continues and the reflux lessens, we could be very close. ?

Ethan will be starting Occupational therapy to aid in his development. He really wants to stand and sit up but still does not have the strength to do it for very long periods of time. Hopefully the therapy will help, and Ethan will be on his way to crawling, sitting and perhaps walking!! OH BOY!!
We will keep you posted as Ethan continues to make great strides everyday!!
Please take a look at all the pictures to see how much our little boy has grown!
Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Pictures!!
May_June
June_July
July_August

4-19-04 thru 4-24-04
(Todd)
Ethan had an eventful week....it was an emotional rollercoaster for Heather and I. Monday the 19th, I went to work as usual while Heather was home taking care of Ethan. We were preparing for our next trip to Stanford for Ethan's heart cath on Tuesday. Late that Monday afternoon, Heather called me at work and informed me that Stanford called and had resheduled the heart cath for Wednesday while surgery was still set for
Friday. All of this anticipation was getting emotionally tiring.

I went back to work on Tuesday morning since the heart cath was pushed back to Thursday. Later that Tuesday afternoon, Heather called me at work and informed me that Stanford called and wants us to bring Ethan to
Stanford "tomorrow"(Wednesday). Sheesh. Thank gawd I have a very understanding boss that allows me to take days off on such short notice!

Soooo, we packed up Tuesday night and traveled to Stanford Wednesday morning at about 10am. We arrived about 1pm and the heart cath was scheduled for 2:30pm.

(Heather)
We were admitted into Stanford’s Day hospital and waited until the procedure was to start. We then walked Ethan to the Catherization Lab and handed our son to the team which would be performing the procedure. This was very hard for mommy to do!! He was in the best care, but still it was very hard to hand him off.

The procedure took approximately 2 and half hours, and we waited anxiously!! Dr. Perry came out and advised (in his opinion) surgery would not be needed but it would ultimately be up to Dr. Reddy the surgeon. Dr. Perry stated Ethan’s heart was functioning fine, and was providing his lungs with enough oxygen. Since Ethan had stopped growing in utero at 31weeks, his lungs may have not developed which could be causing his rapid breathing.

We had to stay in recovery for 4 hours to make sure Ethan came out of anesthesia ok!! We were sure there would be no problems as he was looking for us as soon as they brought him out of the lab. The nurses checked his vitals and the entrance site to make sure there was no excessive bleeding. Ethan did well!! We were discharged at 10:30pm and decided to stay in Palo Alto that evening as we were all exhausted. So we re-checked back into the Stanford Motor Inn for a good rest before traveling back home. At 1:30am I woke up to check on our little guy, and discovered his left leg was very cold and very pale compared to his right leg. We called the on-call cardiologist who advised us to come back to the emergency room to have this checked out.

The doctors decided to admit Ethan back into the hospital to have a Heparin drip started which would thin his blood and allow circulation back to his left leg. We were admitted back to the Cardiac floor, and some of the same nurses took care of us! They were so surprised to see how much Ethan had grown!!
The Heparin was on continuous flow for 12 hours, and worked!! Ethan’s leg warmed up and the coloring in his little toes came back!! The doctors wanted to see how Ethan did overnight without Heparin, so the IV was stopped at 6pm Thursday night. Friday morning, Dr. Perry came in to check on Ethan and advised we could go home!! Again!!

While we waited to be discharged, a nurse from Dr. Reddy’s team came in and advised surgery was not needed at this time. In fact surgery could be held off for another 6 months to a year!! (Thank God the heart cath was done) The nurse re-affirmed Dr. Perry’s diagnosis of Ethan’s lungs and suggested getting on an Albuterol regimen which would open Ethan’s braNchiaL’s allowing more oxygen to flow. Ethan is seeing a Pulmanologist so of course Todd and I will be asking if this is needed on our next visit!!

We were then discharged and started back home to Sacramento. We made a stop in Manteca to visit Todd’s family. Ethan met his aunt Emmy, Marilyn and Linda who work at Todd’s family’s business!! YEAH!!! We were so happy they were finally able to meet!! We then ate dinner with Todd’s parents at their house where Ethan pulled out his NJ tube…..little turkey!! So we packed up and headed for Sacramento where Todd had to put an NG tube back into Ethan’s stomach. Ethan had a rough night Friday night as his stomach was readjusting to the tube. He vomited from 4am on. Poor little guy!! Monday he will have the NJ tube replaced as we really need to focus on Ethan’s weight gain over the next 6 months. We need to get some weight on this baby so he is stronger for the next surgery!!

On a fun note, RSV season ends April 31st.. Look out world here comes Ethan!! We will be free to take him out with us!! WOOHOO!!!

Here are some pics taken at the hospital