a good friday

Andrew had a good day with big toothless grins - so great to see those again. He had a nice parade of visitors today with Aunt Katie early in the morning/afternoon (Steve & I have adapted a late schedule here), then Grammy T this evening & some of Steve's friends from work after dinner (habachi, again!). He made his Aunt Katie laugh & laugh by smiling to the max as soon as Mommy would put the camera phone away. Tw0 times I grabbed my phone to snap the picture, then I waited & waited for him to smile again & as soon as I gave up he would bust out in a big grin. What a tease! I think today was the first day since his surgery a week ago that he really smiled & really seemed able to rest comfortably. All very comforting to a mama. He's been getting pedialite all day (at a slow rate) with reflux here & there, but he seems to be handling that pretty well. He is tentatively scheduled to have the long-term ("broviac") central line placed Monday AM. He will have to go under anesthesia but the actual procedure itself only takes about 15 minutes, so he won't have to be under very long & hopefully he'll be able to be extubated right away. The did cultures again today because he had a low grade fever this morning, but the ones they did 2 days ago were negative so hopefully he hasn't developed anything in the meantime. So we keep loving him & praying for him. I can't help but be amazed at how well he is doing given everything he's faced this far. Thank you all for continuing to love and pray for him yourselves. Please keep praying for his belly to get moving so he can start getting milk & meds through his stomach (& keep it down) along with all the other prayers against infection & keep his heart & vessels strong & clear. It seems like a laundry list sometimes, but I'm sure God knows every need & is more than capable to address each.