Party Date Determined

Hello everyone. I'll keep this posting short. Due to scheduling issues, Liam's party will be on October 2nd rather than October 1st. The 2nd is a Sunday. We're still working out the details and will let you all know them very soon. We can't wait to see everyone.

Three Months Old Today!!

We celebrate yet another milestone today. Our boy is three months old. As you can see, he's looking strong, alert, and most importantly comfortable and happy. Our man pretty much sleeps seven hours at a clip at night - 11 pm to 6 am or so. Thanks to Kathlee Sayles for the cool stickers to put on his outfits so that his parents never forget when the picture was taken.

Lauren and I have set a date for Liam's coming home party - October 1. We'll be sending an eVite in the next couple of days. Liam will be vaccinated, his sister will have had her third birthday party, her cousin Molly will be baptized, and we'll all be ready to celebrate. Look for the eVite soon! Until then, we'll post another picture on September 22nd for his forth month birthday.

A Minor Oversight of a Very Important Day

Both Lauren and I negleted to notice, realize, pay attention to, whatever, that Liam gave us his first smile on the one-month anniversary of his surgery. We take this as a sign that things are normal once again at home; or as normal as they can be with an infant and a toddler in the home. The craziness of an active and highly intelligent toddler running around, and a baby boy who needs to be fed every three hours and demands to be held (while having his butt patted), while juggling all the usual work around the house that needs to get done, and running errands while not able to take Liam fully out in public yet, is distracting.

I guess if you told me one month ago that we would forget the one-month anniversary of his surgery I would have looked at you like you had three heads. In a twisted way, we're happy to have overlooked the date...even if Liam didn't.

A Long Awaited Smile

There is little else to say other than this: Liam gave his mom and dad his first smile today, on his twelve-week birthday. What a great way to celebrate! We waited a long time for that first smile!

Three Weeks On

Well it has been three weeks since Liam 2.0 returned home from the hospital. In that time he has gained 1.5 pounds and slams 100 mL bottles every three hours. Liam had his third doctor's appointment in the three weeks since his return home, this time to his Pediatrician on Wednesday. His pediatrician was delighted to see his progress. He impressed her with his "tummy time" skills, his weight gain, and his overall improvement from the slow, steady slide he was on before his surgery.

The best part for Lauren and I was that Dr. Susco said that we no longer have to wake him at night to feed! Our little man is plumpin' up so we get to sleep and let him wake us up! No more alarms at 2:30! Lauren and I celebrated with a glass of wine at dinner (maybe a couple more for me). Liam celebrated by sleeping through the night - 10:30 to 6:30! He was pretty ravenous when he woke up though.

Liam continues to grow, thrive and impress us. You've got to love our little guy. He's a stud!

Cardiology Follow-Up

We took Liam for his cardiology follow-up this morning. This was the big follow-up appointment. As you recall, Liam's surgery required the repair of a cleft in Liam's mitral valve and the construction of a patch that completed the septum between the left and right sides of his heart. At today's appointment we found out that the patch is not leaking and is healing well, and that the valves in Liam's heart are performing as well as can be expected with only minimal leakage - as the doctor put it, only God can create valves that don't leak. All in all, Dr. Heath (Liam's cardiologist) feels that Liam is at very low risk for needing any future surgeries related to his heart defect. In short, Liam's repair was a complete success!!

Liam is also being weaned off of his last diuretic and will be finished with all medications on Sunday morning! We have a follow-up with Dr. Heath in four to six weeks, and then likely won't have another cardiology appointment for a year! Lauren and I cannot be happier. Not only is surgery behind us, but all the usual complications have not occurred. After starting our time with Liam with two months of bad news, we now have had nearly a month of nothing but good news.

To answer many people's question, yes we ARE having a party for Liam.  However, because he was on bypass, he cannot get any vaccinations for six weeks after surgery. Because of this, it has been recommended that we keep him away from large groups of people until he is vaccinated. Given recent events, you can understand that Lauren and I are not tempting fate. Liam will receive his vaccinations the week of Caroline's birthday (September 9). So we will have Liam's party sometime following that. Look for the Evite in your inbox soon!