Thursday Night - A Josiah Update

(Josiah @ 4:00 PM June 13th)
... sleeping beauty gets a well deserved rest after an incredible day

(Josiah @ 11:15 AM June 6th)
... this dude is SUCH a ladies man!
(That my aunt & cousins by the way)

(Josiah @ 2:00 PM May 25th)
... the man with the skullet haircut is having quality time with GREAT-Grandpa!
(first time in his arms too!)

(Josiah @ 11:00 PM May 30th)
... the handsome fella is intent on staying up all night!

(Josiah @ 6:45 PM June 7th)
... bewildered, not grumpy, with his first stroller experience!

(Josiah @ 4:00 PM June 11th)
... I can do it Daddy I can do it!! :D

(Josiah @ 8:15 PM June 11th)
... Mommy & Josiah having a heart to heart

(Josiah @ 8:15 PM, June 11th)
... jiving in the crib

(Josiah @ 2:30 PM June 2nd)
... making faces and showing off his glow-in-the-dark dolphin tattoo
(the tats make x-rays worthwhile!!)

(Josiah @ 11:30 AM June 13th)
... his first time outside since his helicopter ride!
(and doing a sweet Ray Charles impersonation!)

Hello Everyone

I finally was able to post some pictures (internet and camera finally coincided!) I hope you enjoy. Sorry I was unable to rotate a couple of those pics.

Josiah had a little bit of a rough day today. I think all the busy-ness and new-ness of yesterday really wore him out. He had three rather bad episodes today, and unfortunately two were when his nurse was on break and one when his nurse was dealing with an isolated patient (the number one reason why want to move units as soon as we can - it is difficult for the other nurses to observe Josiah when his nurse goes for break). So with three near death experiences, the nurses have finally decided to take more pre-caution by working together to keep an eye out for our guy. Obviously with his brady/d-sat episodes it makes him even further exhausted, so he has spent most of the day sleeping (a lot of that in mommy's arms!) and he's unusually warm (he's always on the warm side, but even more so today) - due either to his body responding to his episodes or fighting off a sickness. I myself got sick last night (flu-ish I think) and I'm not 100% yet, so I'm hoping I didn't pass anything on to my little man. Though sick, I'm still thankful to God that this is the first time I've felt ill since Josiah's been in the hospital. God's been really protecting my body and maybe all the stress of balancing work and family is starting to wear me to the core. So I'm aiming for a refreshing sleep tonight, and a satisfying day at work tomorrow to get a lot of my mind.

Marie has tried twice to get Josiah to drink from a bottle, and so far it seems the new-ness of it all is making Josiah a little fearful. I think yesterday he was able to drink so much BARIUM - Yuck! - because it was thick (not watery like milk and thus less noticeable in the mouth - no swishing, just straight down!), he was REALLY hungry (he had gone at least an hour longer without food), and the right amount of tiredness to really want to suck but not aware enough to know what's going in his mouth. :) But we're not worried about it at all. Josiah will definitely get t hang of it when he's ready. Marie told me today that he was holding in his soother (not just playing with it, but actually holding it in!) which is so cool to see, and he was showing excitement (and I think he was trying to smile!!!) when he was playing with his crackly John Deere toy today in the crib. It's hard to think about, but Marie and I both saw yesterday in Josiah's first trip out the reality that we're going to be in the hospital for another 2 months. Josiah just isn't ready to go home, but we are SO ENCOURAGED (encouraged enough to fuel up through these next couple of months) with yesterday's achievements, and we just want to thank God for it all.

Thanks to Rose & Patty E. for dropping by today. Sorry I missed ya, but I was supposed to sleeping and instead had to move rooms/floors at Easter Seal. Wow - you really start to pile the possessions up when you live in a hotel room for over 4 months.

In God's Grace.
- Andrew, Marie & Josiah