Happy New Year!

Hi everyone,

The last of our holiday company (Liz and Andrew) just left, so I thought now's a good time for another update. First off, we truly hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Years. We had a wonderful holiday week considering Ethan could not be home with us. That reality was difficult to come to terms with at first, but we tried to make the best of the situation. My mom and Kelsey drove out the Wednesday before Christmas, and stayed until last Wednesday. Liz and Andrew drove down on Boxing Day, just beating the massive snow storm that hit New England Sunday night. We had a great visit with everyone, and loved having the company.

The biggest news of all; Ethan's heart surgery is most likely being bumped up to sometime this week. He's doing OK, but he's had a few more irritable days recently. The last ecocardiogram was done on Wednesday, and they did indicate his stenosis has worsened. At this point the doctors don't see any reason to hold off the surgery any longer. God willing, by this point next week I can tell you he's successfully made it through the surgery and on the road to recovery. They are still planning on doing the Aortapexy surgery as well for his trachea at the same time. It will most likely be an all day event, and we don't yet know what day that will be. Tina's mom has volunteered to fly out and help us out once we have a better idea of the time frame.

Once again we ask for your prayers for our baby boy. This is sure to be a very trying week for the medical team, Ethan, and our family. The surgical recovery can be anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month and a half. They aren't really narrowing down for us at this point when he might come home. He's in good hands, and it's hilarious to watch him flirt with the nurses at the hospital. So many of them who have never even directly cared for Ethan stop by and say how often they sneak in to play with him.

Kevin is doing well. Unfortunately he and I have been fighting a cold the last couple of weeks, so our interaction with Ethan has been very limited. We were quarantined to the hallway of the hospital yesterday when we went to visit Ethan. Kevin was hamming it up with all of the nurses who walked by. It's funny to see how similar their personalities are in that regard. They both LOVE the attention.

I'll keep you all updated on the surgery schedule. My cell phone is dead right now, so my apologizes for anyone who's been trying to reach me. We love you all very much.

God bless,

Ryan, Tina, Ethan, and Kevin