"I will protect her"

Today as Brandi and I were leaving for the hospital, Rhys said to B, "Mama, I want you to tell Kate something for me. tell her I love her, and I will protect her." Now if that isn't enough to just melt your heart! It is amazing how much love a 4-year-old can feel for his baby sister. He really misses her, and can't wait until he gets to visit, and even more, he can't wait until she comes home.

The good news today was that Kate was doing well enough to move her out of the PICU and into the regular pediatric wing. She still has her own room, which is more comfortable for us visiting, and still has a nurse assigned to only 1 other patient. She also still has the 3 chest tubes in and an oxygen mask with two little tubes that shoot pure oxygen into her nose. She really dislikes all of these!! She can remove the oxygen mask in a fraction of a second, all you have to do is look away for a moment! The chest tubes don't just annoy her, they actually hurt. We are hoping that all the drainage comes to an end so that she can get those taken out. In the meantime...morphine!!

She had a pretty good day. We are still waiting for that smile, but she certainly showed some good ol' Kate spunk. She kept trying to roll onto her tummy like she was going to just crawl away. she played with her feet and kicked, and for a while when I was cuddling her, she put her arm up on my shoulder and gave a little hug. Maybe, just maybe, we've turned that elusive corner.

Thanks again for all the positive thoughts! We enjoyed seeing some good bubble photos, especially from cousin Josephine. (When I showed Kate the picture on my blackberry, she tried to take it from me. I think she wanted to text her cool Seattle cousin!!)

Much love!

Team Kate