I miss my spunky monkey!

This is what I was missing today!  My spunky, silly little man!  Don't even ask why he was wearing clunky brown dress shoes, no pants and an upside down Oscar the Grouch sticker on his shirt!  I have no explanation!  Ha!  

These are just the things he does around here!  He is just.plain.funny.  He runs circles around the kitchen island.  Sometimes pushing his shopping cart, other times his trucks or cars.  But most of the time just wanting mommy to chase him!

So I'm sure you now understand why I was so worried today when pretty much all he did was sleep, and throw up.

 He was finally starting to come around later this evening and wanted to eat a little something.  I was a nervous wreck giving him food, but they said if he was hungry we could feed him soft, cool foods.  So he ate a banana.  And bread & butter.  And a peanut butter sandwich.  And drank apple juice because he refused to drink water.

And he kept all of it down!

It's a miracle!  I was ecstatic.  He even started playing with his toys a little bit, so we saw a glimpse of our Andrew.  He was more than ready for bed tonight though, and even asked to go night night.  So after his array of medications now added to the list, he is snoozing away.  Again. 

This was actually taken the night before we left for Iowa City.  Ga Ga came over and brought him this giant Woody doll.  Seriously.  The thing is bigger than he is!  And he wants to drag it everywhere!  He brought him to preschool on Thursday because it was stuffed animal day!  We thought Woody could pass for a "stuffed" animal!

When he wakes up in the mornings before we are ready for work, he likes to come in our bed and snuggle and watch TV while Craig and I finish getting ready.  Then he gets mad when it is time to get up!  He is his mama's kid!  Ha!

We now have a favorite hotel in Iowa City.  They have a really cool waterslide.  And they have hospital rates.  So that's a plus.

Andrew could not get enough of the slide.  The second we got to the bottom he was squealing with delight, yelling "Slide AGAIN!!!!!"

You really come flying out at the bottom- it is pretty fast!  But Andrew never flinched.  He had the time of his life!

We got smart this trip and brought his life jacket so he could float.

He loved practicing kicking his legs and swimming "all by himself!"

Of course we were right there beside him, but he thought he was doing it by himself!  He just had a ball.  He absolutely loves the water.

He was pretty tuckered out afterwards, but we had to squeeze in a breathing treatment before bed so his lungs would be good to go for his surgery!  Luckily we had daddy's laptop to watch Madagascar!

It seemed like we just shut our eyes for a moment, and it was time to get up.  We had to be there bright and early- 6:30am!  I am just not used to having to be somewhere that early!

The waiting room had a giant fish tank which he was enthralled with the whole time we waited.

He was so brave today.  He wanted to sit in the chair like a big boy and he just let the nurses come in and mess with him, take all his vitals, etc.  He obeyed their every command.

But he did get a little bored waiting!  Ha!

These pictures just crack me up.  He really wasn't posing!  He was just being very serious and taking everything all in.

He knew something was up, but he was just kicking back waiting for it to happen!  Ha!

We got him all dressed in his scrubs for surgery and squeezed in another breathing treatment.  Thank goodness again for the laptop!

He was such a brave little boy today when they took him back to the OR.  I said it in a previous update, but it is worth saying it again.  I was so proud of him.  He sat up on my lap, in a big, scary room full of people coming at him in scrubs with masks over their faces.  Yet he just sat there, didn't try to get away, just stared around the room and his little lip came out.  Then a couple of tears fell.  My brave boy.  It was the sweetest thing ever.  Oh how I love him!

 Holding daddy's hand and snoozing the afternoon away!

I am praying he'll wake up his old spunky self.  It's been a long day.

Andrew has a hearing check up with his audiologist in 2 weeks to adjust his hearing aids.  We are hopeful that his hearing might have improved some after the tubes were put in today.  He also has a cardiology check up on the same day (April 16th).  At this appointment we are planning to get more information and discuss plans for his upcoming heart surgery.  We are dreading it.  But our faith will sustain us.

I can't thank everyone enough for all the prayers, calls, and thoughts sent our way today.  It means so much knowing that so many of you are thinking about and praying for our son.  He is one lucky little boy.