THIS is Why I Am Not Posting!!

YES! It is finally happening! We are moving....on Monday! I hope it is the last move in a long, long time-but I won't hold my breath. Brian went to Lake Powell for his last bit of summer, so I am trying to finish packing. This is Brian's favorite feature of the new place...the hot tub, he took a million pictures of it. I promise I will wrap up Mexico eventually, even though it's been almost a month! Until next time, here's to the DI, tape, boxes and bubble wrap!

Cabo

After over 600 pics to choose from, I am just choosing the best from our day in Cabo. We had a great time pretending we were real sailors!

Cabo San Lucas

So I am finally trying to play catch up. Can you blame me? Cole in ICU, moving, in-laws in town, the Olympics....I haven't been busy or anything! We had a great time in Cabo.
I chartered a sailboat for our fam to take a snorkeling tour. The crew was awesome, the boat was beautiful! We even stopped half-way and jumped into the middle of the Pacific. Mand was brave (those of you that know her understand. She has MAJOR shark paranoia)! The water was really clear and the perfect temperature.

We only had a few mishaps. Brian lost his wedding ring at the bottom of the ocean...and Mathis found it!

Cam lost his lunch, others were really close. Here's Brendon trying to comfort him. I actually had to sit at the back of the boat for a while breathing deep, but Cam won the prize. He practically threw up his toenails and lucky me...I got a front row seat! The crew tried really hard to get us hammered. Even though we had been saying the whole trip that we didn't drink, 30 minutes later-they asked again :) Just think of how sick we would have been with a little alcohol in our system.





I got bitten/stung by some unknown creature and ended up getting sick and having all of my joints swell and ache. It only lasted a day though and all was well. I am going to put Cabo on my list of places to go back and visit. The day turned out to be perfect!

Free At Last!

After one of the longest discharges in history, we headed home around 8:30 or so last night. Cole is doing great and slept really good-not quite the case for his mother. My mom, who actually has experience with this, told me that it gets better. We headed back to the doctor today and his sodium is back to normal. After almost a week in a metal crib, Cole has become pretty mellow. I thought he would be super needy, but it seems to be that he is just enjoying being able to chill without wires, tubes, blood draws, etc. He is happy and smiling, which is great since we were not quite sure how he would process the medication.
We are SO happy to "get out of jail" as Grandma Hyer puts it. Another thanks to everyone for their support. We are really lucky to have so many people that love us.
I promise that I will do a post on Mexico soon. After harassing my sisters, I need to get with the program.

Still in hospital, doing better

We continue to feel the love and support by all our family and friends. We can't thank you enough and appreciate your prayers.

This is Brian writing at the moment. Niki is watching him now so I could come home and freshen up. Cole did well last night. I stayed the night with him in the room and Niki went home to sleep in a regular bed. We both managed to get a few hours.

Today Cole is eating, sleeping, and playing. He is making more of his normal noises, faces, and he is actually smiling a few times. As of right now, it looks like he will be in the hospital for more observation tonight and we should be able to go home tomorrow (Monday) sometime. He recently developed a rash on the lower half of his body so that is a new mystery. All the tests including the MRI were normal and his sodium levels are doing better. One step at a time.

Here's a slide show of Cole progresing through this very traumatic experience and as you can see now, he is doing much better. We are so very grateful for answered prayers.

Cole Out of ICU

We want to thank everyone for their prayers and support. We know they have been answered. Cole is now out of ICU and was moved to the infant medical unit, where life is much better. We have a private room and things are more relaxed. He is sleeping better and he is eating now as you can see here (Niki feeding him for the first time with his eyes open). He is starting to act more like our normal Cole again little by little.
They may send us home tomorrow if everything works out, or Monday. Either way, we are happy he is doing remarkbly better and doesn't need to be hooked up to a ventilator with a breathing tube down his throat. He was happy to see that go away. Now he is working on tearing his IV's out. All the nurses agree, he is an extremely strong boy! And by the way...really cute :)

Our Little Fighter

Hey everyone. I got sent home by Mom. She said that I looked scary and needed to take a shower:) So I will take the time to make a little update. Mandy has requested pictures of Cole. So don't think of me as morbid :) He looks pretty swollen and kind of scary, but underneath all of that stuff he's still our same little cutie. All of the nurses have fallen in love with him! He is doing better today. Most likely they will take the breathing tube out this evening. The PICU team is great. It is so wonderful to have my cousin Alissa, who is a doctor, on our side. Everyone at Primary Children's already loves her (who wouldn't?)! She recently finished her residency there and she has been great to "translate" everything for us. They made Cole this poster, we thought that was nice, and they really try hard to make things comfortable. Unfortunately we got kicked out of our private room around midnight last night. We will most likely stay in the PICU again tonight but hope to be moved to the regular floor sometime tomorrow. You can send us text messages, but we can't use our phones on the unit. Cole is really strong and the second his sedation starts to wear off he's kicking and trying to pull his tubes out (wouldn't you?). It gives us hope that his recovery will be fast. His name is in temples from Florida to California and we know that we have a lot of people praying for us.
So far all of the tests they have done have come back normal. They unfortunately have to poke him every two hours to check his sodium and he REALLY hates that! He'll have an MRI sometime late this afternoon, but so far everything else is looking good. We love everyone and thank you for your support.

Here We Go....

So I guess that I have to start attacking the vacation and all of the pictures and funny stories that go with it. I think I can only do a little at a time though, or it gets totally overwhelming! We got to LA on Sunday and headed to the Port. Cam and Mand met up with us just in time. We got onto the boat and the first thing we did?....eat, of course! I am very grateful that I do not have a scale in my house and I do not have before and after stats available...let's just put it this way, even Brian gained weight!!! Monday was spent on the boat and we spent Tues, Wed, and Thurs doing some fun on-shore activities. Friday and Saturday were also on the boat and we were back in LA bright and early on Sunday. I can catch up on the excursions in later posts. We LOVED being able to have some alone time and also getting to see the fam for more than a couple of days in a row. Which, I might add, is getting harder and harder with Kate-she's so popular! We ate ourselves silly, ordering practically everything on the menu, relaxed, saw hundreds (I'm not kidding) of dolphins one night, and even got to dress up.
The only thing missing was Cole, but he was safely in the care of Aunt Jess and his new favorite buddy, Harman. We saw people that brought their babies on the ship and all we could think about was how hard it would be for the parents and the child! Cole came back to us a little fatter, a little taller and a little more spoiled. I really missed him and am really glad that I can stop having the dreams that I am a bad mother, I leave him, he dies, he gets sick, etc. etc that I had almost every night we were gone! (Please ignore the double chin in the picture). We're glad to be back, but not really glad. I could totally get used to cruising every other month or so. Alas, that it the catch of vacation-you have to come home!!