Balloon races

Since school is out I have been trying to find things to keep the kids busy. This night we had balloon races. Super easy to do and lots of fun. I just taped string across the room. Added a straw, then taped the balloon to the straw. All you have to do is blow them up and let them go. 

The girls had a great time racing and Taevin enjoyed watching and telling them when to go. Now what to do for the rest of the summer?

Preggo Pictures

Here I am in all my preggo glory.

This was at 13 weeks. 

22 weeks

I have started having a lot of heart palpitations / arrhythmias so the cardio had me do a 24 hour monitor to  see how often and what issues they are causing. So far I haven't heard back about the results. I really hate the waiting game!

More stuff I made......

I love making things. It is soothing and gives me a little 'me time', which I don't get much of. It also helps to have crafty friends that like to meet on a regular basis. Here are a few of my/our latest creations.

I made the hair clips for a birthday party one of the girls went to

I made this out of an old box lid and some fabric. 

I think it turned out pretty cute and looks great in our room.

On the other side it says Spring

This one has taken me forever and still isn't finished. I still need to add Deja Family EST 2001 on the large one and if I put it off long enough I can add a picture of our new little one joining our family in October.

Last week we made 4th of July wreaths. I kind of went over board and made several but I had a few different kinds I wanted to try. I guess I have some gifts to hand out.

This one I made out of bath sponges, a pool noodle and ribbon.

(I gave it to Taevin's physical therapist)

This one turned out to be my favorite and I am going to keep it.

 Just waiting for July so I can hang it on my door.

I made this one about 8 years ago but I thought it needed a over haul. The colors are starting to fade from the sun and some of the things have started to fall off. 

Before

After

I'm looking forward to our next craft day and if I ever find the time I may even do a few projects on my own.

Happy 3rd Birthday Taevin!

As i'm sure you have guessed from the pictures Taevin LOVES cars! I let him pick out his own cake this year and this is the one he picked.

He was so excited about his birthday this year. He even had some cake, which he wouldn't touch last year and was able to blow out the candles by himself. It is amazing how far he has come in the last year!

Taevin is really starting to talk and he becomes more understandable each day. He can now say his own name and tell you how old he is. He loves trains, cars, airplanes, trucks, balls and the I-Pad. He knows all his colors and most of his shapes. He would spend his whole day outside if we let him. He loves to hear stories and do puzzles.  He is such a sweet boy and is always happy!

Here are a few this going on with our little man: 

*He has now aged out of Early Intervention and will no longer be getting his weekly therapy at home. 

*He is old enough to start school. He will be attending headstart 5 days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day.        There he will receive any needed therapy and he will be starting in the fall.

*He will continue to have speech and physical therapy once a week at an outpatient clinic.

*He will be getting shoe inserts to replace his SMO braces to help him walk and with his low muscle tone.

*He will have heart checks every 3 months.

*He has gotten is 2 year old molars.

*He has gained 1 lbs since surgery, not much but it's something. (he can still fit into 18 month shorts)

*He has started eating a few new foods which takes us up to a total of about 12 things.

*He is finally (for the most part) sleeping through the night!!!!!!!!!

*He has started potty training.

Taevin really has come such a long way in 3 years. He is an amazingly strong little boy full of such love and happiness. We are so blessed to have him in our family! We love you Taevin!

Feeling better and going home

Once the drainage tubes were removed he was much happier and we could finally take him off the big pain meds. He also got to get up and go for walks. He loved telling all the nurses HI and naming all the colors he could see. I got several comments on how cute he is and that they wanted to take him home. everyone was so impressed with have happy and cooperative he was the whole time. (well except for taking his meds by mouth)

Enjoying the activity book Aunt Shaylee and Uncle Tj sent. 

Thanks guys!!!

I just thought he looked super cute sleeping with his teddy.

Feeling better and the incision looks good.

Finding thing to keep busy

Spending a little time out of bed

I thought it was funny how he was sitting with his legs crossed. A lot of our heart friends said that their little ones sat with their legs crossed after surgery. I wonder why that is?

At this point he was cleared to go home heart wise but he hadn't pooped for about 8 days and was really backed up. They had to try about 5 different meds/procedures to get things moving again. Poor little guy, but he was a trooper through it all.

After he finally pooped we were cleared to go home after only 5 days in the hospital. It was amazing how fast he started feeling better. He took it easy for the first day home but was up trying to run around by day 2. It was impossible keeping him still. He has 6 weeks of restrictions while his sternum heals.

Recovery and visitors

On Sunday Taevin finally had enough tubes and wires removed that I was able to snuggle with my sweet boy, which was the only place he wanted to be. We also had a few visitors!

Damian and the girls, my mom and Matt & Amanda all came to visit. He was super excited to see his sisters. As you can see in the picture he was holding their hands and wouldn't let go.

Grandma was able to spend some time holding him as well and read him lots and lots of stories.

 Amand had to work that night and the girls had school the next morning so their visit was short.

Shortly after they left a good friend who's daughter also has a heart defect and DiGeorge syndrome stopped by for a visit. I met her through a wonderful support group on facebook. Her daughter and Taevin have the same cardiologist and surgeon.

You can't tell but he was super excited about the balloons Thank you Jane!

Taevin's 2nd open heart surgery

Taevin was scheduled for his 2nd open heart surgery on April 12, 2013. They will be replacing the pulmonary conduit they made for him when he was a baby. Since it is donor tissue it will not grow with him and will continue to need it replace as he grows. 

Here is a picture of his (zipper) scar before surgery. 

Looks pretty good, hope the next one heals this well.

Waiting to go back. He is watching his I-pod and hanging out with his teddy.

Since his last surgery the hospital has moved into a brand new building. It is super nice with private rooms on a special cardiac floor. All doctors and nurses on that floor specialize in the heart. They even have a separate waiting room for heart patients.

This surgery didn't take as long as the first but was still close to 6 hours. The waiting is awful but I had a good feeling the whole time and just knew that every thing was going to be fine.

Here he is right after surgery.

I hate seeing him like this!

The surgery went great and they were able to put in a large conduit about the size of a ten year olds. It should last him (we hope) about 5 years. They were able to remove the breathing tube pretty quickly afterwards.

The first day or two was a lot of laying in bed watching movies (cars 1 & 2), healing and trying to get him to eat  (which he refused)

Happy 6th Birthday Aniela!

Guess who turned 6! I can't believe how fast that went!!!! 

This have been kid of crazy around here for the past few weeks so we just had a family party. She enjoyed her ice cream cake (she doesn't like normal cake) and was super excited to go with mommy to the mall and pick out her very own build a bear.

The build a bear she picked out is a bunny she named Flower. She loves it so much and is super excited to get Flower more outfits and shoes.

Happy Birthday beautiful princess! We love you so much and are so happy to have you in our family!

Baby #4 due October 2nd

Guess what we are expecting baby #4 in October! I have been trying to talk Damian into having another one for about a year now. I guess it finally worked.

Shortly after we brought Taevin home from the hospital I was holding him in our room and got this over whelming feeling that our family wasn't complete. I knew then that we had another little spirit waiting to join our family. I'm not sure what the Lord was thinking telling me about this right after having a baby born with a heart defect, needing open heart surgery and having special needs but it stuck with me, so I guess it was meant to be.

I have been super sick with lots of morning sickness, vertigo and now a heart defect so this pregnancy has been a rough one. I am starting to feel better and the vertigo is finally gone and the morning sickness is starting to fade. Thank goodness!

As for my heart, the Cardio is keeping a close eye one me. The right side of my heart is enlarged and the hole will need to be closed but as of right now they feel it can wait until after the baby is born. 

My regular OB will no longer see me so I am once again being sent to the high risk doctors. They feel that as of right now I should be able to have a normal delivery. Which is great news! Just a lot of extra monitoring.

We still don't know if the baby is a boy or girl. Damian is hoping for a girl, I want a boy to even out the numbers and the girls have been praying for a boy as well. Either way this baby will be a welcome addition to our family.

Happy _______ Birthday Liz!

I have been having a lot going on medically over the past few weeks so my birthday was kind of put on the back burner this year, which is ok.

I have been having really bad vertigo, so bad that I was unable to drive or even get out of bed most days. Along with a headache and nausea I wasn't up for much. So finally after two weeks of mostly being in bed I made the trip to the doctors office to see if they had any answers.

After lots of blood work and a full exam the only thing they could find was a heart murmur, so she sent me in for a Echo just to be safe. Come to find out I have a congenital heart defect called Atrial Septal Defect. It is a hole between my 2 upper chambers. I have had it my whole life and never knew, crazy right! Anyway, it has started causing issues and I now have to see a cardiologist to check things out and see what she wants to do about it.

Happy Birthday to me.

I did get a nice tablet that syncs with my phone, some candy and flowers. Thanks honey and kids!

Easter 2013

Happy Easter!

We had a pretty low key Easter this year. The Easter Bunny left some fun baskets for the kids along with a note telling them about the eggs he hide all over the house. They also got Easter outfits from Mom and Dad. 

After a nice morning of sleeping in until around 8:00 we woke the kids up so that Damian could see the Easter fun before he had to go to work. 

After finding each egg Taevin had to stop and open it up. He was more interested in the candy then finding the eggs.  

Here he is after we finally opened some candy for him. Still boy!

Aniela and her loot!

 Areya happily opening her eggs.

After all the candy and fun Damian headed off to work and we headed off to church for a spiritual message about the Savior.