Things are going great!

This is just a quick update on Tyler- as you can see from the picture things are good. Tyler is now off all his respiratory help and is breathing on his own. We are very excited about this and know that we are closer to bringing him home. We still don't have an exact time frame for when he will be able to leave the hospital but hopefully soon. The next step is taking out the feeding tube he has in his nose. To do this he has to show the doctors and nurses that he can drink from a bottle and swallow effectively. This may take some training due to the fact that he hasn't had to do it for a month. He was transferred out of the Pediatric ICU last week and is now in intermediate care. He is showing all the nurses his great personality and they all love him! We were finally able to get a picture of him smiling- it is so great to see him smile and play- he loves the attention! Yesterday he would cry in his room until someone came in and then stop crying immediately. Once that person left he would resume crying until someone came back into the room. The nurses all thought this was pretty funny and knew he just wanted the attention. Tyler has been through so much over the last 5 weeks and through it all has been a real trooper. We love him and can't wait to have him home.

She might be part fish!

Carly loves water! She loves to swim and play in any water she comes across but most of all she loves the bath. She could spend hours in the bath. I will often leave her in the bath and go into the next room. I listen to her splash and will call her name occasionally to hear her reply. Last night I was checking my emails while she was bathing. I called to her and got no reply, so I called again, no reply. So I jumped up and ran to the bathroom and she was just playing and ignoring me. Great! I asked her if she wanted to get soapy to which she replied that she wanted to play some more. I left and went back to checking my emails. A few minutes later I called her name and got no reply again. I called out, "Carly, what are you doing?" To which she replied, "I'm not answering you!" Thanks!
Carly also has a new best friend, SHAMU! We went to build-a-bear to make Tyler a bear and apparently they now have shamu stuffed animals. Carly wanted shamu so so bad so we gave in and got it for her. Now shamu goes every where she does, and I do mean every where! To bed, at the dinner table, in the car, in the store... she was mad at me for about an hour on Sunday because I told her she couldn't take shamu to church. Every night when she does to bed, I have to say goodnight and I love you to Carly and shamu. Heaven forbid shamu should get his feelings hurt! I have a feeling we will definitely make use of our sea world passes this year!

Quick update on Tyler. He is still in the PICU but is doing well. His heart is working well, his fungal infection is starting to go away, and his throat is healing (He had a hard time coming off the ventilator). Right now we are trying to wait patiently for his throat to finish healing and his breathing to return to normal. I think once he is breathing completely on his own, the doctors will move him to intermediate care and then home shortly thereafter. The hardest part is that his recovery is based completely on him and he doesn't seem too concerned at speeding things up. :) Thanks to everyone again for your love and prayers!

Despite it all...

Heading out to Grandma J's with her backpack like Dora!

For those of you who have been wondering, Tyler is doing well. We are headed down the road of recovery. We're maybe not moving at the fastest speed but each day Tyler is overcoming another step and doing great. He is the probably the oldest baby in the NICU due to the fact that he would have gone to the PICU if it weren't for the heart bypass machine he needed for a few days. The nurses all find him to be quite entertaining and quite busy. I tried to tell them but I don't think they really believed me until they took him off the sedation medication. We're currently on the waiting list for the PICU due to the fact that they are filled to the brim. Meanwhile, he will continue to progress happily in the NICU and keep the nurses entertained with his little antics. (Blowing raspberries, trying to pull on anything he can wrap his fingers around, and attempting to wiggle out of his bed which he is almost too big for!)
Carly continues to amaze me each day through all of this. She seems unaffected for the most part. We talk about Tyler every day and how he is still at the doctors getting better. She informed me the other day that she needed to go wash her hands so she could go see Tyler. It was sad to have to explain to her that they only let mamas and dadas into where Tyler is. Last night she asked me where we were going to go next, "Grandma B's, Grandma J's or KK's?" It came out as just a general question like it was normal life that she would go play some where while I went and saw Tyler. And in the middle of this, she is picking up some spanish from watching Dora the Explorer. Yesterday, while playing at McDonalds, she announced to her two new friends, "Vamanos! Arriba!" She keeps me quite entertained and I'm pretty sure she's the smartest 2 1/2 year old around!
Thanks to everyone for their prayers! We have seen and felt the impact they have had on our current situation. Love you all!