Dare Devil's Flight

June 26, 2013

Taevin was a wild man a decided to stand up in a chair while Aniela was spinning it. I bet you can guess what happened. Yep, he went flying, landed hard and broke his arm. He had a Supracondyler Humerus fracture  and needed surgery to repair it.

I was napping (6 months pregnant) and my mother in law was watching the kids. She came upstairs holding Taevin who was crying and wouldn't stop. I took him, held him and noticed he needed a diaper change. So I laid him down to change him and noticed that his arm didn't sit right. I knew right then that he had broken it and so it was off to the ER for us. 

The ER doc knew what kind of break it was just from looking at it, even before they took the x-ray. So after the x-ray confirmation I was told that this type of break requires surgery and pins to fix. Oh yeah, another surgery for him! Not thrilled about that but what can you do. So we waited for the ambulance to take us from the Grayslake ER to the Lake Forest hospital where he would be admitted and have surgery the next morning.

After arriving at LF and being admitted the doctor came into get medical history (why they didn't do this at the ER i'm not sure) and since he is such a complicated boy they told me they wouldn't do the surgery and that we would need to be transferred to Children's in Chicago. So again we waited for the ambulance, went through an ER and was finally admitted to Children's. 

We stayed the night, Taevin had surgery the next morning, stayed another night and was sent home the next day. They gave him the option of pink or blue for his cast color he picked PINK! I over ruled and we went with blue. 

 After 4 weeks and a few follow up x-rays both the cast and pins were removed.  They just pulled the pins out with a pair of pliers!!! Not a pretty sight, my poor little guy! My little warrior is amazing and was super brave through out the whole thing.

Summer fun in the sun!

Remember how we finally got our swimming pool set up? Well it was time to put it to good use.

Blast from the past - Illionis

I was looking through some old pictures and I found these ones from when we first moved to Illinois. Summer 2008 Arlington Heights Illinois

Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan  

At the park

Aniela helping with dishes

Damian, Areya and Aniela at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago

Aniela ready for a bike ride

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!