Christmas Eve and Christmas

Here are some pictures from our wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas...

Carlie LOVES La La (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty)!

Can you see the joy on her face?

"La La!!!"

Santa brought Carlie a new baby.

Santa brought Caiteyn a Barbie house.

I hope that your Christmas was just as special as ours was...Merry Christmas!

Visit with Santa Claus

I thought this year I would be more successful in getting a great picture of the girls with Santa Claus, but I guess not. Carlie still wasn't fond of the jolly old man...maybe next year!

Cardiology Check-up

Yesterday Carlie had a cardiology check-up and an echo. As Carlie has become more aware of her surroundings I was curious how she would do during her echo. In the past I had to get up on the bed with her and have her sit between my legs, but this time she laid on the bed by herself and with some cookies and a movie, she did great.

After the echo we walked over to see Dr. Mulla. The girls love Dr. Mulla's nurses and why wouldn't they, they always spoil them! It was good to see everyone again, it had been four months since our last visit, and of course it was great to hear them all say that Carlie looked so well.

There was really no change from our last visit, which is great! Carlie weighed in at 26 pounds, 34 1/2 inches tall and best of all her sats were between 95%-96%. Her mitral valve regurgitation was mild (which is her baseline), function great and her aorta was WIDE open. So needless to say, we had a great check-up! The only downer was that all her meds stayed the same. I was hoping that her Lasix would be reduced (we've tried potty training but when you have to go to the bathroom several times, it makes it hard to be successful) but Dr. Mulla wants to wait until winter is over before dropping the dosage...oh well. As long as Carlie's good health continues she doesn't need to be seen for six months...it's crazy to think that just 2 1/2 years ago we were seeing Dr. Mulla once a week (which went on for six months) and now once every six months?!? All I can say is that we are VERY THANKFUL!!!

Gingerbread Houses

Last year right after Thanksgiving Carlie had a heart cath scheduled to prepare for the Fontan. As we were waiting in the lobby for Carlie's cath to be finished, we noticed several tables set up. About a half an hour later patients from the children's hospital came down and began to decorate gingerbread houses that would be displayed in the children's lobby through Christmas. One of the volunteers came over to Caiteyn and asked if she would like to decorate a gingerbread house too. After we explained that she wasn't a patient of the hospital, they said that any child was welcome and so Caiteyn gladly accepted.

This year Caiteyn kept saying to me, "Remember last year I got to decorate a gingerbread house at Carlie's hospital? I really wish we could do that again." Subtle hint huh? So one night Nurse Jen (as she is known in our home because the amount of Jens that we know) brought over two houses for the girls to decorate. Nurse Jen is an extraordinary nurse that we met right after Carlie's Norwood. During Carlie's several admissions to the hospital between the Norwood and Glenn, I got to know her better and we soon learned that we lived in the same city. Since then we have spent time together hanging out; she even had dinner with us the night before Carlie's Fontan. She has become a great friend and the girls adore her.

Disney fun

I received the following email from Disney today...

Dear Shannon,

As an Annual Passholder we wanted you to be among the first to see this fun new video. In 2009, there will be no better place to turn a special occasion into a magical and unforgettable celebration than at Disney Parks. With that in mind, we thought you might like to share the fun with your friends and family, so feel free to pass it along!



Best,
Your Friends at the Disneyland® Resort


Too bad it isn't true...enjoy!

Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! The girls and I spent the week at a campground that we belong to (which is what we do every year) and it was very relaxing. My parents were up there as well and Mike was able to spend some time with us between his work schedule. The girls love playing in the dirt and watching the squirrels gather nuts and jump from tree to tree. Here are a couple of pictures from the week...

I have so much to be thankful for, as I do every year, and know that I have a very blessed life! This time of the year always gives me butterflies because of all the excitement the holidays bring...

Happy Holidays!

oh...enjoy the Christmas music; I had fun putting it together!

CHD Awareness Montage

Here is the montage that I put together for the charity event that I participated in...enjoy!

Thanksgiving Feast

At school today Caiteyn was part of the kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast. For the last couple of weeks the kids have been doing different projects to prepare for today and it was so fun to see it all come together. The kids moved through eight different centers of Thanksgiving activities which included turkey bingo, making edible cornucopias, making upside down pumpkin pie, making trail mix and other fun activities. After the students were done with the centers they went to the cafeteria to find their feast waiting for them. The kids had a lot of fun!

Caiteyn making her upside down pumpkin pie.

The Feast: upside down pumpkin pie, trail mix, cornbread with butter that they made in class a couple days ago, and edible cornucopias.

Matterhorn Bobsleds

This past week the girls and I made a trip to Disneyland. The last time that we visited we tried to get Carlie on the Matterhorn, but she was just a little too short. The operator made the comment that next time she should wear taller shoes and she'd make it on. So that's what we did and she was able to get on the ride. At first she wasn't too sure about it, but Caiteyn kept giving her a pep talk and telling her that she would be sooooo proud of her. I took some pictures as we were on the ride, and although she doesn't look like she is having fun, when we got off I asked her if she had fun and she said yes, she also said that she didn't want to go on it again...

Waiting for the ride to begin...

This was taken in the middle of the ride while we were 'inside the mountain'.

As soon as we were done with the Matterhorn Carlie kept saying 'round, round, round' and at first I didn't understand what she was telling me until I looked over...she was talking about going on the Tea Cups. Both girls love the Tea Cups, and I do too, we like to see how fast we can spin!

Fun on the Tea Cups!

Since our last visit Tinkerbelle's Pixie Hollow opened up and we were able to meet Tinkerbelle, Rosetta and Iridessa. Carlie talked to the fairies, but did not want her picture taken with them.

Caiteyn with Rosetta and Iridessa.

Cute song/video...

I came across this video and thought it was too cute so I wanted to share it...enjoy!

Halloween

I wanted to share a picture of the girls from Halloween...it was a warm night, about 80 degrees, which made it nice to walk around. Carlie did well walking on her own and they each managed to get a good amount of candy, most of which will not get eaten. Before we went trick-or-treating I wanted to take their picture but Carlie wanted nothing to do with it and as a result this was the best that I was able to get. Caiteyn on the other hand was a total ham, as usual, and didn't want me to stop taking her picture. I hope that everyone had a fun night...enjoy all that candy!

So sleepy...

The other day Carlie told me, "Baby tired". She threw some pillows on the floor, placed her baby on one pillow and then covered her up. She then laid down on the other pillow covered herself up and was out in just a couple of minutes...if only it were that easy every time!

A couple of days later, Carlie came to me and said, "Carlie eat hot dog". So I made her a hot dog and just as fast as she was eating it, I turned around and she was asleep. I couldn't help but laugh (and take a picture); I guess the cold that she has right now is sucking all her reserve energy right out of her.

Pictures needed...

This is for all the heart families out there...next month I will be taking part in a charity event that will help raise awareness of CHDs. I would like to make a montage to include in my presentation and need some pictures of the wonderful heart babies out there. If you’d like me to include your heart child, e-mail a picture to CHDMommy@ymail.com and please include your child’s name, birth date (and angel day if he/she has passed) and your child’s defect. Thanks so much!

Unknown Presidential Candidate

You are not going to believe this, but it looks like I made the 6 o'clock news...

The Ridgways

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of meeting the Ridgways; for those heart families out there, this is Angel Eden's family. I have been following their blog for a while and I was excited to learn that they would be visiting Disneyland for a couple of days, I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet each other. I contacted Keisa and we set up a time that we could meet. As soon as Ainsley and Caiteyn met, they became best friends. They planned out our day down to what rides we would ride next...they had a ton of fun together! Emerson and Carlie had fun getting to know each other as well and hopefully next time the Ridgways visit, Emerson and Carlie will be tall enough to ride on some of the bigger rides with their sisters. I had a great time getting to know Marcus and Keisa, they are really great people, and I look forward to spending time with them again when they return in January.

Here are a couple of pictures of the girls together...

Waiting to get on Winnie the Pooh

Not the best picture, but at least they are all sitting down...

Fun with our cousins from Colorado

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, we had relatives visiting from Colorado and so we took advantage of their trip out here and went to Disneyland. My cousin has three girls, Miranda (10), Maycie (3) and Emmy (1), so I knew that Caiteyn and Carlie would have a ton of fun with them. Caiteyn spent most of the time going on the big rides since she had Miranda and Mike to go with her. The rest of us hung out and watched the parade and waited in line to meet the Princesses (Caiteyn made sure that she didn't miss that!). We had so much fun that the next day we decided to go back after Caiteyn got out of school to meet up with them again. I only wish that their stay was longer so that we could have spent more time together...

Here are some pictures from our visit...enjoy!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Charity Softball Game Update

The softball game was a lot of fun and ended up being pretty successful for our first one. There were around 200 people who showed up and we took in about $4000. I am so thankful that people were so generous, especially given economic times, and the Loma Linda PCICU children and families will be very appreciative as well. Hopefully this will become an annual event that will continue to grow and grow.

Thanks again to everyone for your support...oh and we won! Rancho Police beat Rancho Fire 23-11. Way to go guys!

Rancho deputies and their children before the game started.

Del Mar Beach at Camp Pendleton

This past weekend my cousin Jeremy, who is from Colorado, graduated from the Marine Corps. My Aunt, Uncle and cousins flew out to watch his graduation and so we took advantage of being able to spend some time together. We headed down to Camp Pendleton Thursday afternoon and stayed at the base campground that is right on the beach; it was beautiful. As soon as we got there the girls wanted to run down to the water so I grabbed my camera and we walked down to do some shell searching and play in the water.

The first thing Caiteyn did was grab a stick and start writing our names...

I told Carlie that she was too far in the water, but she refused to listen to me. Right after I took this picture, she fell and this is what she looked like...

But she was still all smiles...

and Caiteyn was too.

Congratulations Jeremy! Thank you for dedicating yourself to our country; we are proud of you and your accomplishments.