ABR test results

We found out Liam has a mild hearing loss, but it is temporary and due to fluid in his ears. He never has ear infections, but has had chronic fluid in his ears for some time now. The docs are hypothesizing that this is one reason his speech is delayed. We are meeting with an ENT sometime in the new year to determine next steps but we really hope to avoid a surgery to put tubes in his ears. He's just been through so many surgeries, and the fluid will clear up and only cause speech delays, we hate to pursue it further. However, we'll consult with the experts and then make a decision. Based on this news and the recommendations that were made by the occupational therapist who did his feeding eval recently, Liam will be starting both speech and occupational therapy in the new year.

I tried to post Christmas pictures last night, but we got a new computer and I need help figuring out how to set up the e-mail account. Grr. I love technology, but trying to get everything set up on a new computer can be very frustrating!!

All the best to you and yours in the New Year!

In Christ,
Lisa

Happy Helmet Check News!

We are very happy to announce that Liam was seen by Dr. K this a.m. who pronounced his head round enough for now. Well, he used doctor-type words that make it all sound more official, but the general gist is that we don't have to go back for 5 months and he can be helmet free for now. We'll see what he says in five months!

We are gearing up for the holidays around our house. Bill has done all of his holiday decorating outside but Lisa still doesn't even have the tree up inside. Actually, it's up, just not in the right place (Bill says it blocks our monument to stupidity--a.k.a. the too-big TV set we own) and is not yet decorated. We wonder if we'll ever get the Christmas cards mailed out this year. WHY do the days go by so quickly the older you get? Time is wasted on the young!! ;)

Liam is now sitting up on his own and Sarah is beginning to pick out words when they are written on a page! We're equally excited about both accomplishments! Wooohooo!

Next step for Liam: ABR (fancy hearing test done under sedation) at our beloved Children's on Friday. We'll post an update when we get the results!!

Thank you for all your prayers--don't stop praying for our little miracle!!

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

At long last--another update!

So sorry, folks! A friend e-mailed me asking me to update the blog, and I nearly had a stroke when I logged in this morning and realized how long it had been since I updated it! Once again, there is good reason, though! I started a new job as Director of Counseling Services on a small private university campus in our small town here. That means I'm driving 2 hours less per day. As an added bonus, I love the job (so far!). Anyway, the transition kept me busier than I had anticipated, and I should have posted a warning to all of you, but I didn't think about it.

Liam is doing wonderfully! He has been totally off all pain meds for quite some time and is happy, smiling, and loving life! The fluid builed-up is now completely gone, so his head is looking great. The best news is that at his follow-up appointment with the surgeon, he said Liam may not need another helmet! At $3000 per helmet, we were VERY excited to hear that! Besides, we like snuggling his little fuzzy noggin, and we can't do that if it's covered up with hard plastic. We'll see...

We continue to experiment with different things to get the steri-strips off his head. If anyone has any suggestions, we're happy to entertain any and all of them (well, I think we won't try the lighter fluid idea that one of Liam's uncles brought up!). So far we've tried the adhesive dissolver they gave us at the hospital, baby oil, and soaking them in water as often as he'll tolerate. He screams anytime you get anywhere near them. The surgeon says to wait it out and they'll just naturally fall off, which is what we're doing. Hard to be patient, though. We want them gone ASAP! Oh well. Small potatoes given what we've been through. Goo Gone, anyone? ;)

I need to get some Halloween pics posted. Ideally, this will happen prior to Thanksgving! ;) Liam went as the pumpkin that the Fairy Godmother turned into a coach. Guess what Sarah wanted to be...

Many, many, many thanks for the prayers you have offered and continue to offer, as well as the emotional support, cards, meals, and phone calls. We greatly appreciate all of the kindnesses extended to us over the past six weeks during this latest round of medical intervention.

What a journey of faith Liam's life has been so far!

"Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God!'
-Chris Tomlin

In Christ,
Lisa (and Bill, of course!)

Update 10/20

Little Man is doing great! He's almost back to goal calories and he is his happy self as long as he gets his pain medication on time. We're hoping to start weaning him off the Tylenol with codeine soon--we don't want him to have to enter a 12 step program at such a young age. I don't think they have detox or addictions programs for 14 month olds. ;)

He doesn't look nearly as bad as we thought he would at this stage of the game. He has some fluid build-up in the back of his head, which is kind of creepy, I have to admit--it definitely distends his head shape in a weird way. He still has bruising at his left eye, and there are some faint bruises on his forehead, but they are going away day by day. Sarah informs all of our visitors that, "Liam has an oval head right now, but it won't always be that way." Ahh, life with a three year old.

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

And after a difficult 20 hours...

we're going HOME!!!

I returned to Liam's room after publishing that last post to find chaos reigning supreme. It's pretty much stayed that way ever since but we still get to go home today (thank goodness!). I think we'll fare better at home at this point. Anyone who's been hospitalized for any length of time understands that!

Our internet is down at the house. Depending on how quickly AT & T gets on it, I may not be able to post for the next day or two. Feel free to call us if you're wondering how we are. I won't answer or will turn the phone off if I can't answer it or need some sleep.

Keep on praying!

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update 10/14 at 11:30 AM CST

Looks like we're going home tomorrow (maybe)! YAHOO!! Liam had a rough night last night. He had a tough time settling down to sleep and then woke at 3:30 and was awake for an hour. Hopefully he'll get more sleep tonight. Everything else looks good. They were talking about releasing him this morning but ultimately decided to keep him another day, which I was actually happy to hear. I need to escape for some time this afternoon to go spend some time preparing Sarah and the house for Liam's arrival back home.

Don't stop praying!!

In Christ,
Lisa (and Bill)

Update 10/13 at 4:05 PM CST

Liam continues to improve with each passing day. They removed the drain tube from his head today, and while he fussed at them immediately after, he soon calmed down and has been himself ever since. He's enjoying a toy drum on loan from the Child Life team and his favorite rattles from home.

We hope we get to go home soon!

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update 10/12 at 3:40 PM CST

We have moved to a regular room on the post-surgical floor! YAHOOO! The drain tube in Liam's head is still in, along with 2 IVs, but other than that we are tube-free and monitor-free. Lisa happily held Liam for a full 90 minutes today. Both Mama and Liam were happy about that! He continues to do well, needing less pain medicine with each passing day. This afternoon he is able to be content when awake and even waved hello to his new nurses when he was moved. We anticipate they may be able to remove the drain tomorrow. Lisa had to go out to the car and get some toys for him to play with to keep him occupied, which is an excellent sign!

Keep praying!

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update 10/11 9:35 PM CST

All continues to go very well. They are stepping him down bit by bit from the pain meds and sedatives, so he's more restless now than he was earlier today. We should be moved out of the PCCU tomorrow if we continue down the same path of recovery. YAHOO!

Sarah is doing better today than she was yesterday, too.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers!

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update 10/11 at 1:15 PM CST

Liam continues to do very well. They were able to take out his arterial line this morning and his eyes have started to open a bit. We're looking at being released to a regular room either late today or early tomorrow depending on how he does, what beds are available upstairs, and how crowded the PCCU gets. I think neurosurgery would be fine if he was released to a regular floor anytime now. Plastics wants him to stay in the PCCU until his eyes are open and they'd like the drain to come out of his head before they send him up, as well. We'll see who wins. Pain control is going well and we've been blessed with excellent nurses, so we have a lot to be thankful for right now.

Keep praying!

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update 10/10 at 9:15 PM CST

"Everything is going just as well as it possibly could be!" said the neurosurgeon on rounds tonight. Can't ask for better than that! He has had three feedings and is now up to goal volume of formula. They were able to remove the catheter tonight (yahoo!) which made him madder than a wet hen for a few minutes but then he was fine. He's just snoozing away on his cocktail of meds. They are now down to alternating morphine and ativan every 5-6 hours, so that's great, too. His night nurse mentioned he is now considered PCCU Transition case, so I'm hoping we'll get to move to a regular room late tomorrow or early Sunday. We'll wait and see how tonight and tomorrow go. His eyes are swollen shut now, but he still isn't nearly as swollen as we expected. He should get to peak swelling tomorrow afternoon and then the swelling will begin to decrease. He has to be able to open his eyes again and they have to be able to remove the drain in his head before he can move to a regular room.

Please keep praying! A special prayer request is to please pray for peace for Sarah--tonight it looked like she's starting to have a tough time with the disruption in her routine and she told me she told me she is "really worried" about Liam despite our reassurances about how well he's doing.

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update 10/10 11:35 AM CST

Liam is doing great! They extubated him at 1 AM ("in the morning" means a totally different thing in hospitals--I always forget that!) with fantastic results. We hit a rough patch around 6 AM trying to find the right cocktail of pain meds that would relieve pain and sedate him without decreasing his heart rate and breathing too much. The right mix appears to be morphine, tylenol with codeine, and ativan. Needless to say, he's knocked out right now.

We've received clearance to start feeding him today and they are going to take out his catheter later, too. He isn't too swollen yet, but they expect that to worsen over the next 48 hours. He can't open his eyes at this point and they are starting to bruise, which is all perfectly normal.

Thanks for the many prayers and good wishes! We know we are being prayed for because we are in good spirits and still doing well despite the sleep deprivation!

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update 10/9 at 8 PM

I need to type this one fast because shift change on the PCCU is almost over, which means I can go back to Liam soon. Bill and I have been out for dinner for the past couple of hours so I'll be glad to get back to Liam.

We FINALLY were able to see him around 6 PM for a brief period of time. They were settling him into his room, so we didn't stay long. Just long enough to kiss his feet (it's the only visible part of him that doesn't have a tube going in or coming out right now) and say hello. He was zonked out, so I don't know that he knew we were there. He has reportedly been awake once and fussed at them for messing with him, so they gave him pain meds to make him comfortable.

He failed the first attempt at extubation but that's fairly common at this stage, so no one worry about that. We'll try again in the morning.

I've been up since 4 a.m., so I'm wiped out and would like to get some sleep. I'll post as I am able tomorrow, so keep checking for updates!

In Christ,
Lisa (& Bill)

Post Surgical Update 10/9 3:35 PM CST

Liam is out of surgery. We talked with the surgeon a few minutes ago and then headed to the computers to update the blog, etc. because we can see him for another hour or so. So far, so good--he has come through with flying colors. He'll spend some time in the PACU (recovery) and then we'll head up to the PICU. Right now we're just waiting for him to wake up. They were planning to try to extubate and get him off the vent immediately, but they warned us not to be surprised if he heads to PICU still on the vent because the babies who have had this surgery often need to stay intubated over night (the heavy anesthesia required supresses breathing pretty significantly). If he fails the first try, they won't try again until tomorrow morning. He had to have 2 1/2 units of blood and will likely need more tomorrow, so thank you to all of you blood donors out there!

We continue to do well--we even caught a small nap in the waiting area after lunch today.

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Update: 10/9 at 1:25 CST

One of the surgical team members just called out to say Liam is doing well and the doc continues to operate. They took him back to the O.R. at 9:10 a.m., they opened at 11:05 a.m. I think they time it from the point at which they take him from us, which would be the 9 AM time.

We're doing fine. We just ate some lunch and we're settling in for the afternoon. Joe from church came by this morning and stayed for a long time, which was really nice. It was a welcome distraction chatting with him!

More later...

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

He's in the O.R. now...

So we showed up at the hospital this morning appropriately sleep deprived and were told that insurance hadn't pre-authorized the surgery. Great. I sat there having all kinds of cognitive distortions (sorry folks, but my counselor friends will love that one!) until I just started praying that God's will be done and that He give us peace to accept whatever new plan we developed. A few minutes after I began praying, we got the news that it turned out that the doc's office hadn't made the final call to the hospital insurance office to give them the info that the insurance issue had been resolved successfully. I later asked the surgical team that was milling around if they took chickens for payment. Surgeons just don't have a very good sense of humor, you know? Maybe I should have offered my Civic Hybrid instead. I hear that's a hot ticket item these days. ;)

Therefore, we are a little behind schedule. He went in at 9:10 a.m. and we are now being told to expect a 6-7 hour surgery (I'm no longer sure who told me it would be 3-4 hours, but I don't think I just dreamed that up!). I'll post updates as I'm able today and in the coming week.

In Christ,
Lisa (and Bill, too, of course!)

Skull surgery date has been set

Liam will have craniosynostosis (skull) surgery on 10/9. This news shouldn't come as too much of a shock to anyone who has been keeping up with Liam using the blog, e-mail, phone, or whatever other method you're using these days (such as good ol' face-to-face conversation!). However, the timing has caught us off guard (much sooner than anticipated), so we're moving very quickly to get as much info out as soon as possible.

Liam will be in the hospital for a week (most of that will be in the PICU), then home for three additional weeks after. If there are no complications, Liam should be medically stable on discharge from the hospital and through the worst of his recovery when he comes home. At that point, he will not be able to be around lots of small (rowdy & germy) children, so he'll need to be at home laying around and eating bon-bons (just kidding on the bon-bons thing) as he completes his recovery.

The surgery sounds horrific, but do please keep in mind that many children have been through far worse surgeries during their short lives. Bear in mind that Lisa (who does not have an R.N. or M.D. degree, though she's feeling like she should have earned one by now) is about to translate a lot of medical jargon into "cornbread English," so something may get confused in the translation, but here goes: They will open Liam skull, move the front of the skull forward, and place a titanium plate over part of the opening with dissolvable screws. This re-opens his soft spot that fused in utero but actually should not have closed until he was 6 months old. Opening this area will allow his brain to grow, will bring his forehead forward, and will correct the eye socket problems he's been experiencing. Without the surgery, he would have life-long serious eye development problems and could potentially face further brain development problems. Over time, the skull bones will grow back together around the plate, fusing the soft spot. We anticipate a 3 month developmental delay with Liam following this surgery. He will need to have another helmet casted after this surgery and will be in the new helmet for a while following surgery to ensure proper healing and that his head continues to grow appropriately.

Bill and Lisa are actually doing ok—we’ve had 7 months to mentally prepare ourselves for this. The timing has caught us off-guard, in that we were tentatively planning this for early December, so here are some immediate prayer requests:

1. Praise and thanksgiving that God has provided such an excellent hospital and surgeon in our own backyard.
2. Praise and thanksgiving that we have the insurance needed to provide fantastic care for Liam.
3. Praise and thanksgiving that we have family, friends, and a church family who offer us support and prayers every day.
4. Praise and thanksgiving that we are facing SKULL surgery, not BRAIN surgery.
5. For Liam to have an easy surgery and recovery with no complications and as little pain as possible.
6. For God to guide the hands of the surgeon and his associates, the nurses, and the anesthesiologist during the surgery and recovery.
7. For Liam to extubate after surgery without a problem.
8. For God to continue to strengthen our family and help us "roll with the punches" (and thanksgiving that he is strengthening us to do that even as I write this!)
9. For God to give us patience to accept His timing in all matters surrounding our family at this time.

"I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:8

"As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." John 9:1-3

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Big month for Liam!!

WOW! August proved to be a big month for Liam, as you can see from the pics above! He is sporting his birthday stickers on his helmet and showing off his new cup-holding skills. Yes, indeed, we are WEANING him from the TUBE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's a slow process, and right now we can only feed him either formula thickened with rice cereal from an open cup or baby food (which he's been able to eat for the past six months). However, we are so happy to see him drink from a cup!!

He turned one on August 9, and we discovered he does not like icing or cake, especially when it is on his face. Made for a rather boring first birthday party, but it was such a joy to see him turn one that we really didn't care about the cake-on-the-face thing.

Chris Rice, a favorite Christian recording artist, sings a song called "Life Means So Much." It's one of Lisa's favorites:

"Teach us to count the days
Teach us to make the days count
Lead us in better ways
That somehow our souls forgot
Life means so much"

May we always make Liam's days count!

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

Great echo results!!

We are THRILLED to announce Liam's most recent echo results!! We met with Liam's cardiologist on July 23 but (once again) Lisa is slow about getting the word out. So, here you go:

1. The ASD (hole in his heart) appears to have closed on its own. We'll do a repeat echo in 9 months and they'll confirm this then.
2. The aortic root dilitation (area we feared was developing into an aneurysm) that was moderately enlarged in March appeared to only be mildly enlarged in this echo. So, no meds and no surgery needed yet.
3. The cardiologist said, "OK, so I'll give you a 50-50 chance that you're looking at one additional heart surgery before age 18."

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You have no idea what terrific news that is to two parents who started down this road in April 2007 looking at an HLHS diagnosis. ONE surgery? In the next 17 YEARS? 50-50 chance?

THANK YOU, GOD. So many prayers answered! And did you catch that we don't have to go back to the cardiologist for NINE MONTHS??!!??!!

"Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?" Exodus 15:11

So, we're still looking at a possible skull surgery this fall or winter. We take it one month at a time, and no, I don't have any idea when we'll get the final word. All the docs involved with Liam's care defer to the skull doc for his opinion on this issue, so we have decided to do the same.

Most recently, the ophthamologist saw Liam last week and determined he has a problem with his right eye. I can't pronounce it nor can I spell it, so I won't even try. It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that he will probably need a minor outpatient eye surgery at some point down the road (after the skull surgery, if and when he has that). For now, he has a lazy right eye and we're going to patch the left one for 4 hours per day to see if we can strengthen the right eye.

A patch and a helmet. We're considering having a pirate's hat affixed to the top of the helmet to give him the look of a pirate. What do you think?

Liam turns one on Saturday. We're considering the words from his cardiologist to be God's early birthday gift to Liam.

We bid a very sad farewell to Bill's mother on July 18. Thank you so much to those of you who have surrounded our family with your prayers, flowers, memorial gifts, cards, and love since she became ill earlier this year. To say she will be missed is such an understatement.

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

New pics and a long-awaited update!

Sorry, folks. What a crazy spring it's been!

Above you can see Bill with the kiddos at a picnic in May. Liam is sporting his helmet, which is old news by now, but the only people who have seen him in it are those who see us regularly. The other two pictures are Liam at school this week, painting for the first time. Just overlook
the pink t-shirt, because they throw those on the kids to keep them from painting all over their clothes--no, we don't dress Liam in pink.

Liam can roll over front to back and vice versa, though he doesn't do it very often. He can sort of sit up now, and we're working on crawling (he can scoot around a bit) and helping him learn to put weight on his legs. He's a happy child who loves to smile and laugh. Can you believe he's still toothless at 10 months?! Good grief! Where are those teeth?

We're still waiting for the helmet to do its job and we're watching his heart closely. No update on the skull surgery, other than that the doc was a bit more hopeful the last time we chatted about the potential surgery. In March we learned Liam may be developing an aneurysm in his heart. We'll get an update on that in July. Please pray that the area affected hasn't grown and that if it has, medication will resolve the issue. Both doctors have told us to be concerned but not to worry about these things yet, so that's what we endeavor to do on a daily basis.

I got behind on scheduling doc appointments, but we hope to have the next swallow study date within the next week. It's funny that the feeding tube has become such a non-issue. The only problem it creates is when we need someone to watch him--then we have to find someone who is trained (or at least comfortable learning) to feed him using the tube. Many, many thanks to our friends Heather, Melissa, and Candice for all the hours they have put in caring for Liam as well as Sarah, all three often refuse payment of any type.

I found myself in a blue funk this spring--everything seemed to catch up with me all at once. Work has been incredibly stressful (God's way of keeping me distracted from worrying?) and there are always the niggling fears about Liam working away at the back of my head. Thankfully, Bill earned the husband of the year award for being so supportive, and many family members, friends, and colleagues were there to show the love of Christ through their actions and words of wisdom. I always find Psalm 46 a comfort to read. It is one of my favorites--I've probably quoted it on this blog before:

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.' The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah"

We all need to be still and know that God is God, but at certain times we need to do that with greater urgency and frequency. So, I took a break from blogging and let God push me once again out of my comfort zone, into uncharted territory, and am now reaping the benefits of following Him there. Alright, to be completely truthful about it, it was more like God dragged me kicking and screaming out of my comfort zone. ;)

Hopefully things will be slower now that we've reached the lazy hazy days of summer and I'll be able to keep up with this blog better!

In Christ,
Lisa

Isaiah 42:16

"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them."

There's good news and then there's bad news...

Celebrating that all good news is a gift from God, we'll share the good news first: Liam passed his swallow study on February 18 with solids with flying colors! So, how does a mother record that in the baby book? "First food: Applesauce with barium, 2/18/08--loved it! Couldn't get enough! In fact, you fussed ardently when the spoon was removed from your mouth each and every time!" I don't know--something is just WRONG with that, don't you think? He is still aspirating on liquids, so we'll continue to use the feeding tube for formula for now. Gwen, his speech therapist, wants to repeat the swallow study at 9 months with liquids from a cup. He just gulps down the formula from a bottle--it's almost like he has no idea that he can slow down and still get enough eventually. He ends up overwhelming his swallow muscles in his throat and can't swallow successfully. So, news bulletin for the week: Liam loves his applesauce. ;)

OK, so the bad news does seem exceptionally bad, but we'll have to qualify that by noting that Lisa was so shocked by the news that she lost all capacity for intelligent thought for the duration of the appointment. It could be that this isn't nearly as awful as it sounds (denial, anyone?). That said, it seems quite likely that Liam will need a surgery in a few months to separate 2 plates in his skull that fused too soon. We were having him evaluated for a helmet (he has a pronounced flat spot on the back of his head that is leading the other side of the back of his head to protrude outward quite significantly), and everyone seemed to be indicating that it was a foregone conclusion that he'd need a helmet. Fine, we were were prepared for that (no big deal--so he'll look like he is the child of overzealous football fan parents).

However, when Lisa got to the appointment all prepared to hear "Well, Liam needs a helmet," she heard instead, "Well, your son has two problems, and a helmet is only likely to fix one of them. Surgery will be required to fix the other one." The 2 plates in question are located in the front and on top of his head (we think). This would be a good time to point out that everything that the doctor said after a certain point in this conversation started sounding like the adults in Charlie Brown cartoons (waahwaahwaah); therefore, Lisa just asked the surgeon to stop talking as she wasn't absorbing anything being said anyway. We should also note that Bill was home caring for Sarah, who was quite ill that day.

In any event, Liam will get a helmet, which should almost totally reshape the back of his head and gives him a 2-3% chance of avoiding the skull surgery to separate the plates. The helmet has a very small chance (note: 100% if God decides to provide His healing touch!) of allowing the forehead to open up and get the space it needs for his brain to continue to develop. Without that space, Liam will suffer eye development problems and brain development problems, making the surgery necessary. There was some comment made about titanium plates and dissolvable screws, but we'll have to get the details about that at a later date. For now, we will concentrate on getting the helmet made for Liam and we'll talk to Dr. Kelly at Vandy in greater detail later about the surgery details.

We suspect it goes without saying that we would greatly appreciate everyone's ongoing prayers for Liam and for our entire family as we face this next obstacle. Prayers for complete healing, financial resources, and (most of all) strength to accept God's will for all of our lives would be most appreciated.

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa

P.S. Liam has started to chuckle!! He especially enjoys his mother's pre-shower Saturday morning "crazy hair," as big sister Sarah refers to it!! ;)

Follow up appt with surgeon...

Liam passed his follow up appointment with the feeding tube surgeon with flying colors! He weighed in at 12 lb 10 oz that day, which is fantastic. As you can see from the picture, he's really filling out! It's nice to see the round cheeks (with no NG tube or tape on them!!!), don't you think. Sorry the pic is so small--we aren't technologically savvy enough to know how to make it bigger, nor do we have the time to mess with it right now.

His physical therapist is also pleased with his progress. We are working on coaxing him into rolling over. Liam is babbling a whole lot right now--he loves to talk to us!

The next big thing for Liam is a 3-D head CT at the end of this month to determine if he needs a helmet to correct a flat spot on one side of his head (do heads have sides?). Please pray he doesn't have to have one. However, if he does have to have one, we hope and pray it won't take long to correct the problem.

Please don't take the lack of posts as an indication that the need for ongoing prayers has decreased. Lisa has been extraordinarily busy since returning to work following her maternity leave, and the blog has suffered as a result.

In Christ,
Bill and Lisa