Jared's World!

Jared asked me to make a "Jared's World" with pictures of him. So, that's what I'm doing...and a few of pics of Jaime, too! I met Jared and Tom at the Kenwood Mall about 8:00 P.M. Friday night. Jared came running up to my car and gave the biggest hug ever and said how much he missed me and that I was his "favorite." It was sooooo great to see him! I think he grew taller, though he's still a skinny bean. He showed me his two bottom teeth that were halfway in. Tom left to see Jaime and we went in to the mall. Why did I take my 6yr. old boy to the mall you ask? Well, Cincy has a Lego store! Yes, I did spoil Jared in the 24hrs. that I saw him. I bought him a Lego Cargo plane set, one he's been wanting "forever." (Hey, one less Christmas gift to buy!) From there, we went to get Icee's and pretzels...or as I call it, "special treat night." Then, we went to our hotel. We stayed at a Sheraton Hotel that had an indoor water park attached to it. Let me back track a minute, Jared at no point was allowed to see Jaime, so rather than have him sit on the first floor of a "germ-filled" hospital, we went to the water park for the day. Once at the hotel, Jared wanted to swim, since the water park was closed for the night, we went to the hotel's indoor pool. He had so much fun showing me all of the new things he's been learning at his swim lessons. After an hour or so of swimming, we went back to the room to build his Lego set. It took just over an hour, we finished moments before Tom came back from visiting Jaime. By this time it was nearly midnight, Jared was still awake! We played for a while, then I told him he had to go to bed. Well, he discovered a mirror on the wall next to his bed, so he was making funny faces and laying sideways over the bed. In fact, he finally fell asleep this way!

Saturday morning, we went to IHop for breakfast...it was either that or the hotel's expensive restaurant. After breakfast, we got changed and went to Coco Keys Water Park. They have a "kiddie" area, splashpark, lazy river, giant tube slides, pool with basket ball hoops, a side pool with tires to jump from and an indoor/outdoor hot tub. We did everything except the big tube slides, Jared is too little....and they were completely enclosed, which would just freak me out. Tom played with us for about an hour or so and then went to the hospital to be with Jaime.
After Jared was done playing at the waterpark, he wanted to go back to the indoor pool. It was less crowded and much warmer. We played airplane in the water. I was base of the plane with wings and Jared got on my back and made propellers with his hands and feet. We did this for probably an hour. Then, Jared said he was tired! HA! We got dressed, Jared played in the video arcade for a while, then we went back to Ronald McDonald House. We hung out there, played with his Legos and watched Disney. Next thing we knew it was time for dinner. Tom came back to the house, we ate, then I bathed Jared, put him in his pj's, packed him up to send him home. He didn't want to go home without me, I promised him that it wouldn't be another month before I saw him again and reminded him that he can call me anytime! He was OK with that! Then, they left for Cleveland I came to the hospital to get Jaime ready for bed.
It was so good to see Tom and Jared, I just wish we were able to go home with them! In due time, I suppose! Each day, Jaime is slowly making progress. He drank a really good percentage of his bottles yesterday and he's managed to put on a few grams, too. We need him back up to 3% for height and weight, even with all of the TPN's and lipids he was getting, somehow he managed to fall off of the charts for his adjusted age. As I mentioned, there are still a lot of questions that need to be answered and only time will allow that to happen. I'd love to say that we'll be going home this week, but honestly, I have no idea as to when that will be. Jaime's been through a lot, they are still contemplating a g-tube or surgical IV for Factor. So, we'll see what the cards hold this week!
Here is a slide show of my 24hours with Jared...and as I said earlier, a few of Jaime, too. Enjoy! Happy Weekend!