One Year Ago..........(kleenex alert)

One year ago.

One year ago, I spent the night in a hotel holding my baby while she slept. I slept in the chair holding her and praying that tomorrow all would be well.

One year ago, I awoke early to hand my baby over to a nurse and watch her be carried down the hall, asleep again. As I walked toward the day surgery waiting area, my mom came towards me, missing Lily by mere moments.

One year ago I sat in the day surgery area, surrounded by loved ones, but missing the two that I hold dear. Grace was home with Grandma Terry and Pop pop. Lily was in an unseen operating room with capable surgeons, nurses, fellows, and God’s power surrounding her. It was the longest day of my life. From the moment they took her to the time we got home a week and a half later, time ran together into the longest day. But those hours that she was in surgery, they would be good, bad, and prayerful. I will NEVER forget THE CALL. The nurse, who was supposed to call every hour, called and said that they were closing, surgery was over… THEN within ten minutes she called back. They have to go back in; Lily had gone into SVT (supraventricular Tachycardia). Her heart rate was over 300 and her blood pressure was dropping fast. (Now I know this means she was dying). I hit the floor on my knees; friends started calling friends, facebooking, e-mailing begging for more prayers. When all was said and done a total of 7 hours in surgery, Lily left the OR with an open chest, but everything was under control. We got to see the surgeon and his nurse practitioner. Dr. Kanter let us know everything that happened in surgery and that the next 24 to 48 hours would be critical. Then we were sent down to the ICU family waiting area to await the time that we would be allowed to go back to see her. As we got there, they were clearing the CICU (cardiac intensive care unit) for her arrival. When a new patient enters the floor all parents have to leave their child’s bedside until the new patient is stable. So we left one vacant waiting area and entered a soon filling one.

One year ago, I met some of the most wonderful people in the world. The surgeons, doctors, fellows, nurses and everyone at Egleston touched our lives in that one short week. I met other parents, some not as lucky as we……. I met volunteers, and Lily one day will know that her fairy godmother hugged me in the hallway of Egleston………….. I met the ability to sleep in a windowless room and wake up before shift change for a quick visit before the floor was closed for rounds and shift change…….I met a lot about myself, my family and mostly my FAITH.

One week ago, I went with Lily for her cardiac 6 month check up (one year post op), and learned things that scared me. I had hoped we were through that I wouldn’t have to live through this again. Instead I now know about scar tissue and sutures and what that means for the supravalvular aortic stenosis (possible surgery depending on pressures during large growth periods) ((WOW, really sounds like I learned a lot)).

So Today, I celebrate! One year after my baby went through major open heart surgery, she is a healthy 16 month old girl who runs at life full throttle, who loves balls, cars, dolls and being outside. She loves her family, her friends and her FOOD! So bring on the cake, cookies and everything else……..For today is the day the Lord hath made……and I say we PARTY!

It's Heart Month!

It is heart month and Grace's school is joining in by doing JUMP ROPE for HEART. You all know that this is very important to us with little Miss Lily. Check out Grace's link to donate to the American Heart Association http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR/JumpforHeart/JRFH-GSA?px=1872675&pg=personal&fr_id=1282
Or there is the Children's Heart Foundation, The Sibley Center, Children's Hospital at Egleston and many other organizations that could use your help. We all need our tickers to keep on ticking so ....when you think of making a charitable donation go straight to the heart of the matter and think of all those that need your help.

Thanks!

Twinkle, Twinkle......

BIG BRIGHT STAR!

Twinkle, twinkle Big Bright Star

Proud is what your parents are.

You are kind, nice and sweet.

Being your mom is such a treat.

Twinkle, twinkle Big Bright Star,

Proud is what your parents are.

Sorry for the little song, it has been running in my head for a day now. Gracie got an award for for her class for the month of January. She won the Bright Star, for outstanding behavior and citizenship. She was so excited she nearly jumped out of her skin. She got to wear a fancy dress, participate in the awards ceremony and eat cake all before 10 am. Sometime later she got to go eat ice cream in the library. Then mommy and sister took her to the toy store where she picked out a sticker book as her treat.

It got me to thinking though. She really is a great citizen. She LOVES her family. She LOVES her friends. She tries to be sure everyone is involved. She cries when people leave our house or when we leave other peoples houses. She gets very upset when one of her friends is left out or feeling sad. She wants to right all the worlds wrongs. If she can she tries to fix it with a hug and a smile, chocolate too if it is warranted.

She is wise beyond her years and has been the light on some of my darkest days. So I hope one day she realizes how special she is, not only to her daddy and I, but to the world. I wish for her so much, but most of all I hope that she is HAPPY, HEALTHY and grows up to be whatever she wants to be.

The Power of Prayer

I know the power of prayer, I felt it last year during Lily's surgery and recovery. Now I am asking you all to share your prayers with my cousin's husband.
Molly is the sister/cousin that is the middle child between my sister and I. Anna and I are 81/2 years apart. Molly is smack in the middle of that age span. She played Barbies with us, went to the beach with our family, had numerous spend the nights with us and took many a role in our plays and dance productions. Her brothers were a part of the group too, but they are boys and sometimes boys just have cooties.
Anyway Molly now lives in California with her husband and darling daughter. Unfortunately last August her husband through a series of tests was found to have a mass on his spine. It is malignant at it's core surrounded by benign covering. He has had most of it removed, however today he started Chemo and radiation. The family is in for the long haul.
So, please pray for Omar. That he may recover quickly and find a healthier person after living through this trial. Pray for Molly to have the strength she needs to continue to be a wife and mother and to add the job of caregiver. Most of all pray for their daughter as she is only 2 1/2 and should never need to feel that her parents are vulnerable. I will update on progress from time to time, but I am feeling that prayers are needed today as they start this journey.
Thank you!

16 months

Miss Lily is officially 16 months old, going on 6 years old, going on like 20 years old.

She knows how to work Daddy's i-phone, PlayStation 3, unlock mommy's phone, dial the regular phone to china, annoy her older sister to pieces, cry to get her way, climb the stairs, open doors that are only cracked, color(yes even on mommy's laptop Keyboard!), help mommy do the laundry, eat with a fork, drink from a straw, run around the house doing laps, hand whomever seems capable the remote to watch her shows, talk on the wii remote as if it were a telephone, say mama, dada, gacie, baa(bottle), mickey, she knows sign language for eat/hungry, and for milk. She is an excellent pointer, she can point with one finger to Elmo, her nose, Gacie and a few other things.

Her favorite TV shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and The Wiggles.

Her favorite songs include Hot Dog from MMC, Rockabye your bear from the Wiggles, Party in the USA from Miley Cyrus and anything with a good beat.

She loves to dance and try to "catch" you as you run away.

She goes to school 2 days a week as a little lamb young walker and loves it, even though she is exhausted before Mommy picks her up.

Her favorite foods include but are not limited to: Cheerios, mac n' cheese, pasta pick ups, Nilla wafers, cereal bars, fruit strips, yogurt drops, and even cucumber salad from Family Traditions.

She still has had no chocolate which is a rarity in this chocolate filled house.

Her stats are: height 30 inches, weight 23 pounds 4 ounces and is about 50% for both.

On a side note, her ear tubes from Nov. 30th are working well, no more ear infections, and she goes back for a recheck in 6 months. She passed both the hearing test and ear function tests. She goes back to the cardiologist in February for a one year post op checkup!

Pippers

So Grace has a new word. She is not supposed to say it, unfortunately for her and her father, I say it way too much. Really it is much better than what I used to say pre-kids and still do when I am way too upset to care about watching my language.(more on this in a minute)

The current word underfire at our house is CRAP. There I said it again and if it had been outloud, Grace, otherwise known as the Pippers would have corrected me and said - "Mommy we don't say that word, remember!" Yeah except now, she catches herself saying it. If she catches it before finishing the ap part, the word turns into "CRASH" or "CRACKERS" or other CR words. If she slips and says it then she tries to pretend that mommy and daddy have poor hearing and she really did say O CRACKERS. Seriously we do have bigger battles to fight with her like EATING! or not sucking her THUMB! but crap is what is the heated debate right now.

It got me to thinking though, when did I start using those words my parents forbade? I know there is a story out there from my Aunt Libby and I think I was around Grace's age. My Aunt and mom had taken us country children to the big city of Gatlinburg and we were staying in a fancy hotel and all. My Aunt takes us to the hot tub and upon climbing in this country bumpkin says "shit, this is hot!" Yes I am that country bumpkin and I know I have said much worse since then. It was on this same trip that many other things were learned about the big city. Such as Linen napkins make a restaurant fancy and no cousin Kevin they are not towels. His exact words upon picking up the napkin were "What is this a towel?" country drawl and all. We also saw Cherokkee indians on this trip and I think someones fingers got mashed in the car door. but I digress.

So those words out there, you know the ones we are not supposed to say, WHY, what is it about those words in the English language. I sometimes think that if we did not make a big deal about them then they might just disappear. Until that day I say..................................................

OCRACKERS!

It Did, It Did, NO School, NO SCHOOL!

Well it snowed. Not much, just enough to make a few small snow balls yesterday and melt and make nice black ice today. It was nice to see the flakes falling and the kids playing in it. But like all things frozen in Georgia, they don't last. The girls enjoyed playing in it and sledding on the wet leaves. Today not so much, I think we lasted outside in the frigid temps 30 minutes. The snow is either too powdery or packed down and icy. No snow balls, no snow angels, only frozen fingers and faces. I think we need to make a trip to somewhere snowy so that Grace can truly get the experience of sledding and snow angels. We'll see..............

Until then, here is our SNOW DAY!