First Birthday Stuff

I've been working on plans for Chase's first birthday party for at least 2 months now. For most of you who know me, that should come as no surprise! Since I mailed the invitations out last week, I'm so excited to share with you what I created! I wanted to do something different, but needed it to match his party theme, and wanted it to include his photo, too. No easy task, right? Well, after googling some ideas, I found one that I loved and created it for Chase's first birthday invitation. Without further ado...

His party theme is mod monkey:

And here's the matching invite (click the photo to see a larger image!):

It was SO MUCH FUN shooting those pics of the little guy. He was in such a great mood and was all smiles for mommy! I had a ton of pictures to choose from and I think the final product was absolutely perfect! Yay!

While I'm on the subject of his birthday invitation, I have to share the redneck/MacGuyver solution my husband created for me so I could get perfect, even coats of spraypaint on those letters you see in the photos. It was hilarious! It involved two step-ladders, some string, a level and 5 screws...

Wow, right? Seriously though... THANKS, HUBS!!!

Last week I was also finally able to order one of Chase's birthday presents: a bean bag! As you may recall, we bought LO a bean bag for her first birthday that matched her nursery decor and it has been the biggest hit over the years! She plops down in that thing several times a day and it has held up wonderfully. We thought we'd keep the tradition and find one for Chase, too! Well, it turns out the company I ordered LO's from just didn't have a pattern that I loved, so of course I had to make things difficult and order a custom one with fabric I found online. So his bedding is called Jungle Tales and is totally cute like this:

Lots of dots n' stuff. I was inspired by the dots and the chooclate-y color scheme, as well as the dots from the cribsheet. You can't see the sheet very well in this photo, so here's a close-up of:

After some online fabric shopping, I decided on this fun pattern of--of course, dots!--which all happen to match the overall color scheme of his room quite well!

This fabric obviously doesn't incorporate all of the colors of his bedding, but the ones it does include definitely match nicely! Besides, I figure the bean bag will reside in the living room next to LO's, so it's not like I'll be comparing it side-by-side with his bedding set! Plus, I'm sure one day his bedroom will turn into the latest Disney craze (Cars, Toy Story, etc.) and it won't matter anymore, anyway! If he enjoys his bean bag even half as much as LO, it will be money well spent! So typical me, I ordered this fabric over a month ago and have been waiting anxiously to send it to the bean bag company (highly recommended, by the way--their bean bags come with a TEN YEAR warranty!!!) because they only take about TWO DAYS to turn around a custom bean bag. I finally shipped the fabric to them last week so I could cross this item off of my To Do List. Yay!

Over the weekend, I made some serious progress with some other party-related items on my list. I'm putting together what I hope will be the cutest little treat bags for our party guests, complete with some very relevant and personalized items from Chase! So cute!!! I've also got to fine-tune the details surrounding the party food and also sketch out the cake design in my head so I can put some serious effort into creating a masterpiece! Haha... I know it'll NEVER look as good as the one I have in my head, but I've been putting a LOT of work into finding the perfect cake recipes! I have a wonderful chocolate recipe, but am still completely without a white cake recipe that (A) doesn't come from a box and/or (B) doesn't taste like cornbread (yes, for some reason all of my "from scratch" white cake recipes come out tasting like cornbread--gag!). So, I'll figure that out soon. I also worked with some fondant last week and decided that, as cute as it looks on the cake, I absolutely hate it!!! It was super-easy to work with and definitely did give me the smooth finish I wanted for the cake, but it tasted awful (even though I made it myself from a very trusted recipe) and is all but impossible to eat! I'll stick with a super-duper vat o' buttercream for these cakes!

So, that's a little update on some of the birthday stuff I've been working on for the past few weeks. There is much left to be done, so I'd better get my little guy out of bed and get this day moving! My poor fella has his first RSV shotS this morning at 10:30 AM, so hopefully he'll get through them okay. Last year he only had to have ONE shot per month, but since he's bigger (weigh-wise) this year, he'll get one shot in EACH leg, once per month, from October through March. My poor guy!!! But I sincerely believe it's worth it when you consider the alternative (a respiratory virus like RSV would be devastating to someone with a special heart like Chase!).

Random CHD Question

SO... This is totally random, but does anyone know if there has ever been a "color" tied to Congenital Heart Defect awareness? You know, similar to the pink color/ribbon for breast cancer research? I wonder if one hasn't been "assigned" if we, as a heart community, can choose a color that isn't already designated to another cause and adopt it as THE color for CHD support/awareness. Seems like this might be a good way to unite all of our efforts and make a visual impact for the research and funding that needs to occur to help further treatments and improve outcomes for our sweet heart children, as well as those who will follow them.

Anyone know of anything?

Another Angel Earns His Wings

Another brave HLHS warrior earned his wings this morning. Sweet little Joshua received complete healing in the arms of Jesus. Please lift up his family in your prayers.

August 16, 2010 ~ September 6, 2010

Train Fun!

Our little family had a fun little adventure today to a local park complete with... wait for it... A train!

As you can imagine, LO was beside herself with excitement. We met hubs for lunch and then headed over to the park. She had a great time on the train, and of course we went around a second time. It was a blast!

I took a ton of pics of the kids, but since I can't stand uploading images on Blogger, I've created a Flickr account instead for those of you (ahem, family mostly) who want to see a bunch of close-ups of my little cuties. There's also a video of LO below the Flickr stream.

Enjoy!

Oh, for the record, I can't for the life of me figure out why this embedded Flickr object only shows ONE image and not the entire set. I guess you have to click on it to open it in a new window in order to see a slideshow of all the images. UGH! If somebody knows what I'm doing wrong, please advise! :)

Effective Support Systems

The other day I shared some thoughts out here and was very surprised by the feedback and support I received. Thank you again, to each of you who took the time to respond to me, validate my feelings and help me try to get to a place of understanding with all of this. I appreciate that more than you can know!

Today I happened to find myself on a blog, it's a sort of forum for CHDs (congenital heart defects), and was surprised by the latest post titled, "Effective Support Systems." It seemed like a good idea to write a post to the family and friends who are supporting families affected by CHDs, and so why bother writing a new one when I can just link to this one? Although I will say that we probably wouldn't like for anyone to take our kids off our hands to give us a "break" (unless you've been through our stringent evaluation/screening process which, quite frankly, I'm not sure anyone has really passed... yet), and we certainly don't need anyone organizing our medical files (hubs is already on top of this and it is crazy-weird how good he is at stuff like that... and he actually enjoys it!). And this list doesn't include the ONE THING that is most precious to us and means the very most: prayer. God has brought us through so much and I firmly believe it is only through the prayers of His people that Chase continues to do as well as he does. We are so blessed!

Let me know if you find the time to read this blog post and what your thoughts are after reading it. I obviously know what it's like to be on this side of the CHD fence, but I would value and appreciate feedback from friends and family on "the other side..."

Hat Fetish

So the family went out on a little adventure today to shop for costumes, and while we were at the party store, I thought I'd try a few "1st Birthday" hats on Mr. Man to see what he thinks. It was hilarious and so much fun!

The first hat I tried on him was WAY too small! It's a 1st birthday hat.
Why wouldn't it fit? He's only 11 months old, but this thing was TINY.

The next hat looked too much like a bonnet. Am I right?

This one was just plain funny! Too bad we didn't buy any crazy 1st birthday hats!

Next we ended up at Target (big surprise) to buy the boy some cool weather clothes that fit. It's funny, buying size 18 month shirts but only 12 month pants. Anywho, I needed to try some winter hats on him. Another round of fun! :)

This hat was my absolute favorite, but only came in size 12-18 months. It was the most adorable thing ever, but way too small for his big ol' head.

Oh my word, right?! SO cute! I loved this one and it was actually big enough to fit, but it just looked a little much on the lumberjack side for my taste.

Ohmygoodness. My NEW favorite picture of Chase of all time! Can you even try to get over that expression?! Gracious. And the hat? Size 2T-5T and barely fit over his noggin. He sure has a lot of brains in there, that boy!

By the way, I've had a surprising response to my earlier post and will probably share some follow-up thoughts soon. Stay tuned! And thank you to those of you who reached out to let me know I'm not alone. You are loved!

Thoughts

So there's a post or two that I really want to write, maybe even need to write. You know, just to get my thoughts out of my head and into the world, a chance to find out whether or not I'm taking crazy pills or if it really is what it really is. But it's so hard. While I want to express my thoughts and share my mind, I'm pretty sure I'd be told this isn't the place to do it. Which sucks. 'Cause this is my outlet. So I'll try not to get into the detail of what is truly going on in my life. Honestly, I don't believe a person exists who I can share my personal issues and struggles with, and that sure does make life awful difficult. I mean, once upon a time I had some very close friendships and even (believe it or not!) family who cared about how I am honestly, truly, seriously doing. Not one of those, "How are you?" "Oh, I'm fine." type exchanges, but the kind that really gets to the bottom of things and offers the kind of support I hope and pray I offer to others. That ear to listen. That shoulder to cry on. That hug that says everything's gonna be okay. That doesn't exist for me anymore. What's that leave me? Alone. Totally alone.

Before Chase's diagnosis, I still had some tight friendships and, if I recall, was still somewhat close to my family. Well, through all we've been through with our sweet miracle child over the past year, we've had to put up walls. Not walls that we enjoyed putting up. Certainly not walls that we were eager in any way to put up. But walls that meant safety, protection. Walls that meant health for our children. But in the midst of protecting wonderful  Chase (and for the record I wouldn't change a thing--he's healthy and I'm grateful!), we seem to have alienated those who once upon a time were closest to us. I thought maybe after the "bubble" popped and we were able to rejoin civilization that maybe those friendships and relationships would work themselves out and return to "normal" (albeit a "new" normal since our lives will never be what they were before Chase's diagnosis). Those people who I had to inadvertantly distance myself from since I was unable to leave the confines of my home so as to keep my child safe. Those people who used to be a part of my life. Those people who I miss greatly. But alas, that is not the case. My world revolves around my life as a wife and mom, and notsomuch as a daughter, sister, friend, in-law and the like. It's not easy. And it hurts. And I'm trying to make sense of it all.

I don't know if this is normal. I can't help but feel that after experiencing the emotional roller-coaster I've been on the past 12+ months that maybe it should be expected that life would end up different. That I would end up different. Guess I was just expecting different, not bad-different. I feel lost in my own life and I don't know where to turn. What is a person to do after going through the entire gamut of emotions I've been through? Is there a "diagnosis" for this condition I have? Is there a fix for it? I sure hope so.

In the meantime, I'm going to try my very best to get myself back to the foundation of all that matters: my relationship with Christ. I know that if things are right between me and God, that things can be right between me and the rest of the world. I guess it'll take time. More time. But as of now, I guess that's all I've really got: plenty of time to sit and wait and hope and pray and dream and wish for things to be all that I desire them to be once again.

Please Don't Touch!

My sister is a labor/delivery nurse at a local hospital, and she saw this today and thought of me (no surprise):

It's from a website called MyTinyHands and I am SO wishing we had this little sign when we first brought Chase home from the hospital after his surgeries! Granted, the boy was confined in our home "bubble" for the first 6 months of his life, but when we started taking him out, it would've been nice to have a sign like this so we wouldn't have to keep asking people NOT to touch our son.

Unfortunately now that he's out of his carrier, we don't have the option of carrying around a sign with us. But it's still as important as ever to keep him safe from germs, especially now that cold/flu/RSV season is here. I thought about making my own onesie or bib with a similar sign/saying on it, but haven't quite gotten around to that. It sucks, though, because Every. Single. Sunday. Morning. at church, there are a handful of people who inevitably want to greet us and go straight for Chase's hands. I for one am VERY excited and blessed to be able to show my son off to our church friends and family, but it's getting SO tiring whipping out the Purell or wipes to clean off his hands after he's been "attacked."  ;)

Honestly, people don't seem to realize how germs are transmitted from one person to another. People don't think, "Hey, I've been standing in the foyer, welcoming each and every person who has come in for church for the last 20 minutes by shaking their hands, so maybe I shouldn't touch that little baby with the special heart, or maybe I should wash my hands first..." I hate having to be "that mom" when it comes to this issue, but my baby's health and safety is my NUMBER ONE priority. It definitely isn't easy asking people not to touch Chase, since it's such an accepted practice (for what reason I'll never know -- almost as bad as touching a pregnant woman's belly). I do NOT like to hurt people's feelings, especially when they're just trying to be nice and get a good look at our little miracle boy. But really, what may be a simple cold or irritating flu to heart healthy people, could potentially result in a hospital stay for my son. It's that simple.

I didn't intend to write a post about keeping your hands off my baby (unless you're willing to Purell or wash your hands first), but I guess that's what this has turned into. I guess I'll leave you with a few quotes I found on the MyTinyHands website. Maybe after reading these quotes, you'll understand why keeping dirty hands off little babies is so important and should be obvious!

"The biggest danger to babies is other people's hands."
     —Ken Haller, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine

"Since people who don't know they're sick can also spread germs, it's completely appropriate—and not rude—to make everyone wash their hands before touching [your] baby."
      —David Geller, M.D., Children's Hospital Boston

"When babies are born, their immune system is not mature, making them susceptible to any germ they come in contact with."
     —Bryan Sibley, M.D., Beacon Children’s Specialty Hospital, TX

"It's not a problem to have close friends and family hold your newborn, as long as they wash their hands first and avoid coughing or sneezing near him."
     —Lane France, M.D., Pediatric Health Care Alliance, FL

"Washing hands is the simplest, most effective thing you can do to reduce the spread of colds, flu, diarrhea, and sometimes even serious or life-threatening diseases."
     —American Society for MicroBiology

"Eighty percent of infectious illnesses are spread by touch—by coming into contact with contaminated people or objects."
     —Philip Tierno Jr., Ph.D., director of clinical microbiology and diagnostic immunology at New York University Medical Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center

AND... thanks for letting me vent! :)

On the move!

Way to go, Chase!!!

Posted from my iPhone

11 Months!

Happy 11 Month Birthday, Chase!

Mommy loves you!

One more month and we'll be celebrating a milestone I had been praying for since we first learned of your special heart! God has been so faithful and gracious to us and words cannot express how blessed we are to have you in our lives!

Hi! This is Chase here. My mommy asked me to tell you guys how much she needs your help. Won't you please give her some yummy food ideas for my 1st birthday party? Good thing is: I'll eat ANYTHING! :)

Feedback Required!

NOTE: If you're reading this post (and we both know you are), you are hereby REQUIRED to submit SOME FORM of feedback. Help a girl out!!!
FOR THE RECORD: I've had over 30 visitors since this post went up earlier today... Where y'all at

Okay, so Chase's big birthday is just around the corner... a short 31 days away! I've already been in full planning mode for at least a month now, and am happy to say the invitations, thank you cards and one of the little party favors have been designed and ordered and shipped... just awaiting the delivery! The paper goods are purchased, and a few cute little ideas to bring out the colors and theme of the party are figured out (although I can always use more cute ideas like these if you have any).

So now I'm moving on to cake. Of course I've ordered cakes for all three of LO's birthdays, but have been dying to start the tradition of making the kids' birthday cakes myself. Chase's first birthday seems like the perfect opportunity to start! So I began with an unconventional (in my opinion) cake idea: banana. I found a recipe (along with a cute monkey-themed cake idea that I don't plan to use) at smitten kitchen. I paired it with a quick and easy one-bowl dark chocolate buttercream recipe from Hershey's.

Unfortunately, the cake tasted very "banana bread-y" (too dense, in my opinion) and it just didn't seem right to have chocolate buttercream on it. Oh, well. I might have to settle with plain ol' chocolate and/or vanilla. Boring, but typically accepted by the masses.

Okay, so once the cake is figured out, I've got some food planning to do. Problem is, I have no idea what to do! I'm tired of the ol' finger food approach, which almost always results in a veggie tray, fruit tray, chips, meatballs, little sandwiches, etc. But I don't want to do a huge sit-down type meal when I have nowhere near enough seating for as many people as will be attending. The party will most likely be during the lunch time frame, so I definitely want to provide a meal of some sort, but am at a complete loss of something "new" and "fresh" to serve. 

THIS IS WHERE YOUR FEEDBACK COMES IN!

Can you help me? I need to think of something other than finger foods to serve at Chase's birthday party. I don't want to do anything that's too difficult to eat (considering there will be lots of chairs, but no tables), or too heavy (it'll be lunch, not dinner). I don't mind the time and effort that goes into making whatever it is I make... but I'd love it not to be too time-consuming, considering the plethora of other things on my plate the day of his party. I'm open to ALL suggestions, and am hopeful one of you will have THE suggestion that will relieve the insane amount of stress I've been carrying when it comes to the decision of what to serve at the party.

Okay, so... it's FEEDBACK time!!! Help a sista out!


Please??

Feeling Better

Well, I'm happy to say my little guy is finally feeling better. He had a very rough day yesterday. He just wasn't himself at all -- wouldn't eat, take a bottle, sleep... his eyes said it all. Normally he's a happy, smiley baby, but yesterday, he just looked so pitiful! We took him to the doctor, who of course said it could either be as simple as constipation or as not-so-good as the stomach virus (including vomiting and diarrhea) that's been going around. We hoped for the first one, but made the decision yesterday to nix our plans to travel to Charleston for the heart walk and Pediatric Cardiology reunion. :( This totally bummed me out, but we were told if he had the stomach bug, we probably wouldn't see the worst of it for another 24-48 hours, which would have been smack dab in the middle of our busy day in Charleston. I had been looking forward to that trip for a while, so it totally sucked that we had to make the decision yesterday (cancel hotel reservations, etc.) based on how Chase was feeling. But on the BRIGHT SIDE, I'm so happy to report that he's feeling much better and so much more like himself:



See what I mean? ;)

Start! Heart Walk

Hey, folks! If you haven't had an opportunity yet and would like to support us as we walk this weekend for the American Heart Association's Start! Heart Walk, please click here to give a donation in Chase's honor. I set a fundraising goal of $500, and am happy to report that we exceeded our goal and have raised $520 for heart research and treatment! The money we've raised will help fund research to develop new treatments for heart disease, heart defects and stroke. Just imagine the small gift you give today can very well make an impact in Chase's sweet life down the road. He has one more scheduled heart surgery already planned, and there's no telling the countless things that could be required as his body continues to function with a single-ventricle heart. There are babies all over the world just like Chase who desperately need newer technologies and treatments to manage Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, as well as all other congenital heart defects. Unfortunately there will be thousands more babies born with a special heart like Chase's in the years to come. My greatest desire is to determine what specifically causes heart defects like HLHS. If we can find what causes it, we can take a huge step forward in eliminating it! Research to determine what causes heart defects is not cheap! We need to do all we can to figure out how to prevent CHDs and how to treat them successfully.

Please consider giving a donation in Chase's honor. Your contribution will make a bigger impact than you can imagine!

Oh, and Chase wanted me to give a big "THANK YOU!" to all of you who have already supported us and to each of you who will give a gift in his honor. See how happy you've made him?

Pray for Joshua!

Please pray for sweet little Joshua. He's had a VERY rough morning and his poor mama is understandably a mess! Here's a quote from her blog:

What we know right now is that he has severe acidosis. Basically his lungs are hogging his oxygen and his body isn't getting enough. This came on quickly and with no warning. His 5am blood work came back all within the normal ranges.

Right now, his shunt is open, and blood is flowing. The cardiologist wants to treat him for the acidosis and go from there. He also is going to talk to the surgeon and talk about the possibility of the shunt being too big. If that is the case he will be looking at another open heart surgery.

This is such a difficult journey to be on -- especially when standing over your helpless child, who is struggling to breathe, and you are completely unable to help him! Please please please stop what you're doing right now and say a prayer for this sweet boy and his mama! God hears and answers prayer!

Thank you!!!

A Little Beach Fun

Over Labor Day, my family went on what we're calling our "1st Annual Family Beach Trip" to North Myrtle Beach, SC. We left the Thursday before Labor Day and came back the Tuesday after. There was a total of 20 of us staying in a PERFECT condo right on the beach. It was a wonderful vacation, and we've already begun planning our 2nd annual trip for next year!

I thought I'd share about our trip visually rather than drone on about it. Honestly I think the pictures say it all!

Aren't I cute?

Cheese!

What LO did during her "down time." I think she and her 9 cousins watched Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs a zillion times!

Chase enjoying being the center of attention. Such an animal!

She loved flying her Yo Gabba Gabba! kite!

Playin' in the sand!

I included this pic just because I think it's awesome!

I thought this one was pretty awesome, too!

SOMEBODY loves playing in the water!

My little cuties!

Uh, I told ya he likes the water.

See??

Oh, and let's not forget the cute little mohawk he's sporting, thanks to the wind! Just darling!

Love these two!!!

Somebody's having a great time! What is she up to?

Oh, that's right... riding in the "Thomas" train at the little carnival down the street from our condo.

"Hi, Mom!" This girl loves her carousels!

So while we were on vacation at the beach, we DID visit this joint pretty much daily.
It was a close walk from our condo and SO worth it!

She really was happier than her face says in this pic...

Honestly, I think she enjoyed her ice cream... ;)

The ride home from the beach. It was a VERY fun and enjoyable vacation!

Chase's New Toys

Pray for Bowen

Please say a prayer for Bowen. He had his Norwood surgery yesterday and is not recovering well. He is on full life support and needs your prayers to keep fighting and recover. Please also pray for his parents, Matt & Sarah, during this extremely difficult time.

Stuff

• I'm praising the Lord that both Bodie and Bowen had successful surgeries today! Please continue to lift both these little ones up in prayer especially over the next 24-48 hours.
• I'm so very pleased to report that LO had a great first day at her new preschool! I haven't had a chance to share much about that here, but essentially we've taken her out of her previous preschool (it was actually a daycare affiliated with the Baptist church that very much treated her like a daycare kid - not cool.) and started her in a private school that is an actual school, which has an early education program all the way through high school. She had been going 5 days a week to the "other" school, but will now be going 3 days a week at her new school. Honestly I had a difficult adjustment to not having her at home in the mornings 5 days a week. She'll be stuck getting up early and going to school 5 days a week for 15+ years, so I figure it'd be nice to still have a few mornings each week to hang out in pajamas with her mommy and brother and just enjoy being together. I think this new school is going to be a MUCH better fit for our family. Here are a few pics:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Chase had his first flu shot this morning. He's been pretty good most of the day, just taking one extra nap and not really eating quite as fervently as usual. But this evening he stepped it up with a low fever (101.5!) and lots of fussiness. He's had some Tylenol twice and I gave him a nice bath before putting him to bed. I pray that he'll get a good night's sleep tonight and feel much better tomorrow!
• We picked up our Sienna today, complete with DVD player #4 installed. Unfortunately, we also now have a huge gash on the front fender, some greasy fingerprint stains on my leather seats, and some issues with the panels under the dash board that they removed to access the wiring. My biggest disappointment, however, was that NO ONE was there to walk us to our vehicle, make sure we were satisfied with the work, etc. We basically picked up our keys from the cashier and were pointed in the direction of the parking lot where we could find our vehicle. I couldn't believe this considering all we had been through already and also because hubs spent so much time with the service manager last week and was very patient with the situation. You might not be surprised to know that there was a voicemail placed this evening to that service manager, and we will be discussing all of this with them tomorrow.
• I'm thinking of moving my blog to Wordpress. I know this is totally random and I have no idea why I would want to move, other than the fact that I Love! Love! Love! the way Wordpress blogs look on my iPhone (the mobile version) and I don't believe Blogger offers that sort of thing. I know, I said it was random.
• Do you know how long it takes to clean/disinfect all of the toys in my house? A long time. Soak in bleach water, rinse, air dry. A LOT of stuff. Then wash all the cloth toys and things in the washing machine. And wipe down all of the electronic toys. This was about a 4-day process. So tiring. Now I know why I don't do it as often as I should. Loser mom, here!
• I had a great family vacation last weekend, but I'm pretty sure I haven't yet blogged about it. Not sure why. Lack of time, I guess. I'll try to get on that soon!
• So I'm dealing with this "issue" regarding people. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here, but suffice it to say that relationships with people that used to just "be" there, are no longer there. It's disappointing and it hurts, and I don't have the slightest idea how to even begin to rectify it (assuming it's all my fault, of course, since I'm the kind of person who typically assumes I did something wrong but just didn't realize it).
• I'm a mere $50 away from meeting my $500 fundraising goal for the American Heart Association's Start! Heart Walk. Don't you want to help me reach my goal and make a little donation? Don't you??
  
• It's only 8:44 PM and I'm ready to call it a night. Is that wrong?
  

Prayer Request

Please pray for two little heart buddies who are having surgery Monday morning. Little Bodie (the cutest little thing ever!) is having his Glenn (the 2nd surgery for HLHS). Please pray for his mommy & daddy, his big sister, and of course the surgeon and all the staff who will be working on sweet Bodie. He's had a tough journey but I'm praying for smooth sailing -- he's earned it!!


One of the newest members of our heart community is Bowen. He'll have his Norwood Monday morning. Bowen's daddy is the lead singer of the Christian band Sanctus Real. This family is new to the special heart world and can definitely use your prayers as they turn their sweet little one over for his first heart surgery. It's a scary place -- but I find peace in the promise of knowing that the Lord is watching over them and will see them through every step of their journey.



Thank you in advance for lifting these families and heart babies to the Lord!

The Toyota Drama

We bought our beautiful new 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE back in April. So do the math: that's just over 4 months ago. I'd still consider her pretty young for her age, wouldn't you? Follow along with me.

• April 2010 - We researched and test drove the heck out of several SUVs and minivans. We decided on the 2011 Sienna, and after LOTS of research (considering Toyota was dealing with the faulty gas pedal and/or floor mat issues at the time), we purchased the vehicle.
• April 2010 - Less than a week after purchasing the vehicle (and having an aftermarket roof DVD player installed by the Toyota dealer's 3rd party vendor), we noticed a lovely crack in the DVD player housing, right next to the button to release the screen. This was while we were on the road, traveling to Cincinnati. Luckily the unit still operated fine.
  
• May 2010 - The cracked DVD player is replaced by Toyota's 3rd party vendor with an identical unit: our now 2nd DVD player. Oh, can I just point out here that the unit they installed (the first and second times) were actually BEIGE when our interior is dark gray? Just had to put that out there. Of course I voiced my dissatisfaction when I saw the first DVD player for the first time, but was told the model they installed only comes in that ONE color, you know, so it can match a variety of vehicle interiors. Right. Beige is the same as dark gray. Good to know!
• May 2010 - We're getting ready to run out as a family to grab some dinner and get some errands out of the way. We walk out the the garage and... And... the Sienna won't start! It was less than a month old! It wouldn't turn over At. All. I'm pretty sure the lights on the instrument panel didn't even light up. It was beyond dead. I knew it wasn't possible that I had left any interior or external lights on, and even if I had, there's no way it could've drained a battery as new as this one in the short amount of time since it had been driven last. This "fun" resulted in hubs using our Jeep to jump the Sienna (it was an act of congress to get the thing to turn over, running the Jeep at 4,000 RPMs or more, then taking it to the dealership the next day, and waiting around for the battery to be changed. A brand new battery. Went dead. They said it had been happening with other batteries, too. Ah. Good to know. Thanks for putting such a quality battery in my ride to begin with. ((sigh))
  
• June 2010 - On the road again! This time headed to the beach in Charleston with LO and some fam. I went to play a DVD for her and -- guess what?! The DVD player was bro.ken. Totally. I made 12 calls while driving (to the Toyota dealership, their 3rd party vendor, and the DVD manufacturer) and was essentially, completely, and totally out of luck. No DVDs to watch on this trip to Charleston and back (about 3-1/2 hours each way!).
• June 2010 - Our second DVD player is replaced with a third DVD player. This time I was adamant that they replace it with a DIFFERENT brand since the previous one just seemed to be a cheap brand, plus I was hoping a different kind might last longer, etc. So here we go with DVD player #3!
• September 2010 - It'd been just over 2 months of having no issues or problems with our 3rd DVD player. Yay! We were thinking our problems were behind us. Notsomuch. Guess what we were doing? We were driving on our family trip to Myrtle Beach when lo and behold... DVD player #3 DIED!!! LO had watched Cars start to finish, and we put in Toy Story for her next feature film. It barely got through the opening scene of Andy playing with his toys when %@!!BAM!!@%. Kaput. Are you kidding me!? I couldn't believe it. Well, actually I could. Unfortunately. Luckily this time, hubs thought ahead and brought our portable DVD player that easily hooks onto the headrest so LO could still enjoy some movies on the way home. Phew!

What a lovely little journey, right? Well, it doesn't end there. Today the guys from Toyota's 3rd party vendor came to pick up our Sienna and replace the broken (#3) DVD player. They took it to their shop, did the install, then took it to the Toyota dealership to get the code to reactivate the electronics (this is necessary each time the battery is disconnected on the vehicle). So imagine our surprise when hubs gets a call from Toyota. It goes something like this:

Unfortunate Service Department Worker at Toyota Who Got Stuck Calling Hubs: "Hello, is this Mr. Hubs?"
Hubs: "Yes."
Toyota: "This is 'Elaine' from the Toyota service department. We've got your Sienna in here and it seems that the accelerator pedal and several electronics are broken and/or malfunctioning. We're not really sure what's going on and will need a few days to look into it."
Hubs: "Um, I'm sorry? What??! How is that possible when it was working fine this morning!?"
Toyota: "I'm not certain, sir. It seems that when the vehicle was turned on, several errors were displayed, including issues relating to the accelerator pedal. The pedal itself is not functioning at all."
Hubs: "You've got to be kidding me. I'm on my way up there and I will speak with the manager there and this will get resolved today." ((hubs did apologize to the poor lady and said obviously this wasn't her fault but that he was obviously irritated at the situation))

The dealership sent a 2011 Sienna LE (a base model version of our rockin' Swagger Wagon) and not long after, hubs was on his way to the dealership.

I told him to tell them we wanted them to replace our vehicle with another 2011 Toyota Sienna XLE with the factory-installed dual-display DVD player in it -- at no cost to us. I figure we've been through enough and honestly, this is the only thing I believe will rectify the situation. I think there is some kind of underlying issue with the wiring or electronics of our vehicle, hence the dead battery early on and the fact that we were now onto DVD player #4. This just was getting to be too much! The Sienna isn't even 5 months old yet. Waaaay too much drama for my taste! I think a factory-installed DVD player in another 2011 XLE is the only way we'll eliminate these issues.

So hubs calls me later and tells me what they've found. Apparently, Toyota is saying that the 3rd party vendor who installed our now 4th DVD player had been running some wires near the accelerator pedal and was installing some kind of bracket to help hold the wiring in place. When he screwed in the bracket, one of the screws went right through the 60+ wires in the conduit of wiring that controls the accelerator pedal (along with several other electronics). Yes, so he screwed through the wires, obviously causing several of them to malfunction, resulting in the broken accelerator pedal and several electronic errors.

Gee, thanks.

As of now (8:30pm), the plan is for Toyota to keep our sweet Sienna over the weekend, and then drive it around a bit Monday morning to make sure everything is functioning properly. We'll pick it up Monday afternoon.

Argh. I'm so tired of drama. You have NO IDEA how much drama I've been putting up with over the past few weeks. Did I mention we've taken LO out of her former preschool and enrolled her in a private Christian school starting Monday? And then you've got pediatrician offices who are supposed to keep you informed on when flu shots are available, but don't. And then a pediatric pulmonology office that's supposed to call you to schedule an appointment for your son's RSV vaccine (monthly shots October through March), but don't. That's just the tip of the iceburg in my little world these days. Maybe after this drama rant, I'll post about the "woe is me" world I'm living in. Nah... I think I'll spare y'all from suffering through reading that kind of post, and maybe instead I'll write about butterflies and rainbows.

Peace out, craziness!

And the Drama Continues...

Remember my recent debacle with Apple regarding my iPhone? Well, lucky us! It's happening again... this time with Toyota.

More drama coming soon (once I can cool down long enough to gather my thoughts and communicate them in a proper manner suitable for small children)...

Happy Labor Day!

Hope you're finding a way to celebrate the holiday today!

Many blessings to you and your family!

Another 5k!

So for the record... I just wanted to share that I ran my second-ever 5k two weeks ago! If you recall, I mentioned in this post that I ran my first 5k back in June and was totally stoked to beat the time I had in my head (I was aiming for under 45 minutes and came in at 40:18!). I "trained" (I use this term very loosely) for all of 9 days before my first 5k. And my second? Zero. I trained for zero days. I figured I'd just consider this 5k a little extra cardio and wouldn't pay the slightest bit of attention to what the clock says. And I convinced my super-awesome friend H to run it with me.

The race started at 8am and I had a pretty good jog going for the beginning. But I was SO irritated because (A) I didn't sync my Nike+ shoe thingymajig with my new iPhone 4 so I couldn't track my distance of get "credit" for my run; (B) the band I was using to hold my iPhone on my arm kept slipping The. Entire. Race.; (C) my ear buds wouldn't stay in at all; (D) I almost immediately had a terrible pain in my right shoulder and my right side. So in case you can't tell, this race was NOT my best work. But I don't think I could've been more surprised and excited when I saw my time as I came across the finish line: 39:12!!!

I beat my first time by 1 minute, 6 seconds! Yay, me!!!!!

I'm already planning my next 5k for the 18th... only 2 weeks away! And I'm hopeful I can convince myself to somewhat train for this one... at least a little bit. :)

Start! Heart Walk

Later this month, I will be participating in the Start! Heart Walk sponsored by the American Heart Association. I felt like this would be a good way to do something to help raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association. I set a personal goal of raising $500 and am ECSTATIC to report that as of this post, I am only $75 shy of my goal! That means I've raised $425 for the American Heart Association!

Won't you consider helping me reach my goal? Click here to access my page and make your online donation. It's easy, hassle-free and secure! Take a good look at the little kiddo below with a special heart and do whatever you can to help us meet our goal.

Thank you in advance for your participation! And thank you again to all of you who have already given a donation to support us!

Cuteness!

cute |kyoōt|
adjective

1. attractive in a pretty or endearing way : a cute kitten.

DERIVATIVES:
cute•ly adverb
cute•ness noun

ORIGIN:
early 18th cent. (in the sense [clever, shrewd] ): shortening of acute.

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So now that we all know the definition of cuteness, let's take a look at a few images that define the word:




Yes, that's right, folks! Somebody had some 10 month pictures taken last Saturday! Is he not the definition of cuteness? He did absolutely amazing and we had a TON of adorable pictures to choose from. He was ALL smiles! I took him to a new studio and have to say I was shocked at how awesome it all went. First of all, it's a small studio that recently relocated from a location that was waaaay too far for me to drive to. So yay! Secondly, we were the ONLY appointment scheduled at the time and never ran into customers before or after our session. I loved the one-on-one attention. And the best part? Our photographer has a teenage son who has had a variety of medical problems (unfortunately--but he's doing well now!) so she knew EXACTLY how to handle us without us having to ask! She washed her hands before beginning our session. She sprayed down everything that Chase would sit on with Lysol and then dried it off with a paper towel before I put him in each chair. She was also smart enough to save the shots of him on his belly 'til the very end, since she imagined he probably wasn't a big fan of tummy time (boy was she right!). Overall it was without a doubt the very best photo experience I've EVER had with either of my kids! I can't thank her enough for how great she was! We will DEFINITELY be back in 2 months for Chase's ONE YEAR PICTURES!!!

Hope y'all enjoy these pics of my handsome little cutie as much as I do! :)

Dinner for Two

When LO was very young and just starting out on table food, we immediately realized that she had some serious "texture" issues. The child wouldn't touch anything that had a weird texture: the "stringiness" of chicken, the "gooeyness" of cranberry sauce or jell-o, the "sliminess" of pasta. We knew we would have our hands full keeping this kid fed and satisfied.

Fast-forward a couple of years... she's still as picky as ever. Still almost impossible to get her to try new food. Still feeding the child at least one pb&j per day--every day. So I guess I was imagining Chase would be just as picky. But you know, he'd probably enjoy all the opposites of what LO likes, thus making dinnertime in our house a MAJOR source of stress.

Well, wouldn't you know it's as they say... every child is different, and a lot of times, you end up with kids that are exact opposites. In this case, it means Chase will pretty much put anything in his mouth that isn't nailed down to the floor. He's not picky. At all. It's awesome. And now that's he's pretty much shunned all forms of "baby" foods, I have no choice but to figure out ways to feed him table food -- enough to keep him full and happy.

Imagine my surprise when I was preparing dinner Monday night, and had a great epiphany: my kids can both eat the SAME THING for dinner!!! What an amazing realization! So I went to work making ONE meal (for the kids--hubs and I flaked out with some Joy of Tokyo take-out) for both of my kids, just slightly modified!

• Grilled cheese sandwich
• Apples
• Cheddar Cheese
• Crackers
• "Ants marching on a log" (for LO only... until we confirm Chase doesn't have a peanut butter allergy) ;)
  

What a relief it was to not have to make THREE different meals for dinner. Usually it's one for hubs & I, another one for LO (Little Miss Picky) and one for Chase (baby food, etc.). I can definitely get used to this two-meal situation! And of course, the nights when I cook dinner (and don't go for take-out), I typically give both kids some of what we're having, which takes us to -- you guessed it!! -- only ONE meal for dinner! Yay!