Thomas Drive By

Thomas the Tank Engine is in town for two weeks. We have tickets to ride next weekend, but we went to see him today.

Chasing The Ball

Andrew chases his beach ball down the ramp

Andrew prepares to kick his beach ball up the ramp

Picnic Point County Park

Andrew proudly shows me his shovel full of sand and gravel

Andrew dumps his scoop of sand and gravel into his bucket

A Day at Hill Park

Today we went to Hill Park in Snohomish. At first, we played on the swings.

Afterwards, Andrew played in the water, with all his clothes on. As expected, he fell in and got everything wet and we did NOT have a change of clothes available.

Andrew's First Birthday

Today was Andrew's first birthday. We threw him a nice little birthday party. We had the pleasure of having the Hakschs in town to help celebrate.

A Day At Marymoor Park

Our first major trip - on an airliner - was to Richmond, Virginia. The plan was to stay at the Haksch house and introduce the family to Andrew. I asked my parents to come down, and bring Gram. I was hoping to get a four generation picture.

We all met at the Marymoor Park's Italian Gardens; the same location where Susan and I were married way back in 1994. Susan's brother John was the assigned photographer for the photo shoot. We found a nice location near the building where we had our reception. We took several pictures with different arrangements of family members.

With the generation picture captured, we moved down to the Italian Gardens and John shot some pictures of Susan walking with Andrew down the long path to the gazebo - the same path she walked with her dad on our wedding day.

All the pictures turned out great and it was fun having the families together again ten years after the first get-together in the park.

January 2004

January was a tough month for everyone. Once Susan was out of the hospital, we spent our days driving back and forth to Children's Hospital to check up on Andrew. Below are my notes from January:

January 1

10:00	Grandparents and I drive to Steven's Hospital to see Susan.
11:00	Andy is taken to surgery at Children's Hospital.
12:30	Dr. Lee calls to say that the surgery went well.
13:30	Arrived at Children's Hospital and met Tom, Lanna, and the girls. Only three people can visit Andy at a time, and we cannot hold him, but we can touch him gently. The girls are not allowed in Andy's room, but they can see pictures of him on my digital camera.
14:00	Murray arrived to offer support and pass out Krispy Kremes.

January 2

12:00	Grandparents and I drive to Steven's Hospital to pick up Susan.
14:30	Susan is officially released from Steven's Hospital - a day early.
16:00	Susan and I see Andy together. He is active and opens his eyes slightly.
19:00	We go home.

January 3

11:00	The breathing tube is removed from Andy's mouth and throat.
14:30	Susan and I drive to Children's hospital with Mom.
15:30	Susan gets to hold Andy for the first time, tubes and all.
17:10	Andy starts getting vitamins and Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) through one of his IV tubes.
17:15	Andy starts getting lipids (fatty solution) through one of his IV tubes.

January 4

06:30	I drop off Mom at Sea-Tac airport. I'm sad to see her go because she offered so much support while she was here.
08:00	I arrive at Children's Hospital.
10:40	Andy has his chest drainage tube removed. His medications are terminated, but he will get Tylenol every four hours as needed.
14:00	Noemi gets to hold Andy - the first of many holds to come.
17:00	Andy gets a crib to replace his hot bed.
17:15	I finally hold Andy for the first time - not counting the brief hold for the photos at Steven's Hospital.
18:45	Andy is weighed again and tops the scale at 7 lbs 3½ ozs.

January 5

Andy is moved out of IICU on the fourth floor to general surgery recovery on the second floor - room A208.

January 6

The Northwest receives a blanket of snow. As a result, we get a late start. The Haksch's stop at the local medical clinic to see a doctor about George's cough and breathing problems. Meanwhile, Susan and I head for Seattle. After a few miles, we decide that conditions are too bad for the Haksch's to drive separate, so we meet them at the clinic and follow them back home. Noemi goes to Children's hospital with us, while George stays home to rest and recover. Andy starts taking breast milk through his Nasal Gastro (NG) tube, 1 mL per hour, injected with a pump. I was allowed to feed Andy breast milk from a bottle.

January 7

We meet Robin, the physical therapist, to help with breast feeding. Due to having a tube in his mouth for so long, Andy does not like having things in his mouth. Our neighbor, John, stops by for an update and a prayer. We meet Ronelle, the nurse practioner, and she offers to answer any questions we have.

January 8

We meet Robin at 10:00 for more breast feeding training. The pulmonologist stops by to describe future issues that Andy may have to work through and he shows us Andy's X-Rays. The difference between the before and after shots is quite amazing. Before surgery, Andy's left chest cavity was full of intestines and his heart was shoved into his right chest cavity. His left lung was not clearly visible. His right side was physically larger than the left. After surgery, things appeared to be in their proper locations. A technician stopped by to take an echo cardiogram to see if Andy's blood pressure in his pulmonary arteries was still too high and a cause for serious concern. Results expected on Friday. George and Noemi stop by.

January 9

We meet Robin for more breast feeding training. She shows us the nipple shield and the binky trainer. The nipple shield provides for easier sucking and the binky trainer is a binky with a small hole in the tip that has a hose in it. We use the binky trainer with a small syringe to feed Andy breast milk. Andy eats 4½ mL's with it! Jenny, the dietician, visited and measured Andy's height and weight. The X-Ray technician stops and shoots another X-Ray. Feeding training is difficult because Andy is asleep. After Robin left, we sat Andy up and he started sucking full speed! His next feeding isn't as productive. Andy's IV flow is reduced from 24 hours a day to 20 hours a day. The echo cardiogram results are not presented to us.

January 10

Susan supplements Andy's feeding from the breast - no binky trainer required! NG feeding system is now up to 9 mL/hr. Todd and Danielle stop by and witness Andy's first bath in a tub.

January 11

Susan is informed that she was not supposed to breast feed Andy. This is very confusing because we were under the impression that our goal was to breast feed him as much as possible. We were already frustrated from the missing echo cardiogram report, so this really upset us. The nurse explained the logic behind the feeding and we were somewhat pacified. Al, Lonnie, Carol, and Candria stop by. We stay until 10:00PM waiting for Andy to fall asleep because it makes us sad to leave him when he's still awake.

January 12

January 13

January 14

January 15

January 16

January 17

January 18

January 19

January 20