Snow day....

So, yes I know. I'm a little behind on the blog, but here are our snow pictures. Sam and Dad spent the morning out building a snowman, having a snowball fight, and of course knocking the snow off of my trees and plants.




I'm so glad that he got a hug in before the sun came and melted him!

Of course, a guy needs a BIG hot chocolate after a cold morning of play!

Alex and I stayed in where it was warm. I know, we're wimps! Besides it was time for cereal, and a guy doesn't want to miss a meal. While I was getting cereal ready, he was gettting fussy, so I gave him Sam's Elmo to play with. He wasn't so sure about him at first. It's kind of intimidating having this big red guy set on your lap.


Now listen pal.......don't try anything funny!

Two tough Triceratops!

Tell me if you've ever seen anything cuter!! Sam wanted to put his mask on and of course wanted Alex to join in the "fun".

"Are you sure this is okay Sam?"

Sam is so funny! He was so excited to do this with Alex. Thank goodness Alex isn't big enough to fight back yet. Sam is such a great brother and always wants to involve Alex in everything he is doing. What cute boys! They always bring such joy into our lives!

Harvest time at the Pumpkin Patch

We decided to head to the pumpkin patch before the weather turned sour on us. We took an evening and headed to Pack Farms Pumpkin Patch. It is such a fun thing for the kids to do. I'm not even sure what they charge per pound, but the experience for Sam is well worth going there instead of the grocery store.

They have 2 corn mazes, one full size, and one for kids. Sam had to go through this about 10 times, exploring each new route. It's basically made so that every turn leads out, but the kids don't need to know that!


"Ta-da! That was a piece of cake mom!" That smile makes my day!
He had so much fun walking through all the pumpkins looking for just the right one. Of course to a 4 year old, they're all the right ones!

Here are some of the "right ones". Just the right size for Sam and Alex.

It takes a big strong cowboy to push a wagon full of pumpkins. Good thing we had one!

Alex slept through most of the trip, but did wake up at the end with a smile.

Results........

Alex's appt. went really well today. There was some confusion in scheduling, so the MRI didn't take place. He did, however, receive the sedated echocardiogram. He was so cute! They had to give him a little more to sedate him than they typically do with other kids, which proves that he really is a pistol! He is definately not like his brother! Sam is so docile, and Alex is a firecracker! We knew he would be, because he has to be! Here is a cute pic of him sacked out and happy!

He weighed in at 15 lbs. 6 oz. and 26 in. long. The cardiologist was again pleased with his progress. The surgery is still planned for Nov. 4th as long as his blood work on Nov. 3rd comes back good and he is free from any sickness.
So, here we go. I will try to explain this so that it is understandable. It confuses me until I have time to sit and re-hash it in my mind. His cardiologist said the he still has more blood flow to his lungs than they like to see. He should have oxygen saturations between 80-85%, and he is usually 85-92%. So really by now most kids have a bluish coloring to them, luckily (for our eyes) Alex doesn't. The only problem with his increased blood flow to his lungs is that it might make it more difficult to treat him post-operatively, leading to a longer hospital stay. He has increased his diuretics to hopefully remove enough fluid before surgery to help this out. The cardiologist will talk with the surgeon this week to discuss if they want to do a cardiac catheterization prior to surgery to get an accurate pressure reading (how much blood flow) in his pulmonary arteries. That way they will have a baseline before surgery. The cardiac cath would be just a same day in and out kind of thing, but still sedating and doing a procedure on him.
So right now we are just waiting to hear from the hospital if we are going to do this. We really hope we won't have to for Alex's sake, but we want the very best for him. We feel very confident with our doctors and their decision making, so at this point, that is what we have to go on.
We can't thank each of you enough for your continued prayers and support. It means so much to us. We know that Heavenly Father will continue to bless Alex. He has been so merciful and poured out his blessings unto Alex and our family. Your prayers have blessed us in so many ways and we are so grateful to each of you for taking the time to think of and pray for our family.

Echo and MRI

Just to let everyone know, Alex goes in for his sedated echo and MRI tomorrow morning @ 7:00 a.m. We will post results of this appt. tomorrow when we know more. Thank you for your continued prayers, love and support!

Decorating for Halloween

Sam has been really excited this week because we've put out what very few Halloween decorations we have. He has to ask anyone that comes into our house, "do you notice anything in our house?". You would think that we were decorated to the hilt the way he reacts to it, but hey if he's happy with our 3 decorations, I think that's great!

We have this big spider which has been moved to about every spot in the house, because Sam just can't decide where it looks best. In his moving he decided that Alex's head was a perfect fit. He looked so cute with it sitting there that I had to grab the camera. Sam did get a little frustrated because it kept slipping off of Alex's head. This explains the hands is this picture.

I guess this is all part of being the younger sibling. And believe me, I know it's going to get A LOT worse!!

Toga anyone?

Which way to the Toga Party?


Does this toga make my butt look fat?

New additions to the yard

Well, we did it. We bit the bullet and bought a fence! The price tag stinks, but the finished product is heavenly! It's so nice to be able to send Sam out in the yard to play and not have to worry or be out there with him constantly. So along with the fence we thought why not throw in a sandbox. He has had a small sandbox for a couple of years, but has outgrown that one. He had enjoyed it so much. They are awful for the mess, but the smile on his face is worth every grain of sand that I find on my floor, and bathtub and deck, etc., etc., etc.

On the first day, his friend buried one of his dinosaurs and he couldn't find it before dark. It was pretty traumatic to go to bed knowing that one of his buddies was going to have to spend a cold night alone. We did, however, find it the very next morning, and since then it's been okay to bury them. It's been a great addition to the yard, (even though I'll be cursing it constantly), every kid needs a sandbox growing up!

Good day for a hike.

Well, this summer has come and gone. We've never spent such little time in the mountains in our lives, as we did this summer. When they say having a baby changes everything, they're not kidding. Of course we've been through this once before and know that, but I think you forget with each kid. Obviously Alex has had reason to keep us at lower elevations and we understand that, but the mountains seem to be our second home, and we've missed them!!

Sam was SO excited to go. He decided that he was going to carry his backpack with water and snacks for all of us. He did great and never forgot to ask every few minutes if we were ready for a drink yet!

Who's the tough guy?

He even had time to stop for a Spiderman pose!

Alex had good intentions of staying awake and enjoying the scenery............

but, after all, hiking can wear a guy out!

Giggling Alex

Here is a cute video of Alex. Sometimes he can be very particular with who he shares his smiles and giggles with. Now hopefully you guys will believe us that he does let down his hair (what little he's got), and giggle.

Don't worry about the color. He's not jaundice, it's just bad lighting. What do you expect when you grab the camera quick!

Asking favors.....again!!

I hope that each of you who read this blog know how much we appreciate your love, friendship, thoughts and prayers. I hope that we have expressed enough times that we know your prayers and fasting in behalf of our family have worked! Your prayers for us are such a comfort to our family. So, once again, I ask for your faith and prayers in our behalf. I'm not sure if any of your wards are doing the same as ours, but our fast Sunday is next week (Sept. 28th). I know it's a couple of weeks early, but Alex goes in for his testing (sedated echocardiogram and MRI) on October 6th in preparation for his surgery (Nov. 4th). We ask any who are able or interested to remember him in your fasting and prayers. We pray that as he goes for this testing, they will find that all is well with him, and that his status is appropriate for proceeding with surgery in about 6 weeks. We know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. That has been proven to us countless times. We know that your prayers have been heard and we feel so blessed because of your service. And I'll just put it out there now, we would love your prayers and fasting for November, since Alex will be going into surgery 2 days later. Thank you again to all of you for your continued support!

Baby Toys or Big Boy Toys?

So we finally decided get the exersaucer out for Alex. When Sam was a baby he absolutley adored it. After getting it out, it's apparent that the adoration never went away!

Although it has provided Alex with a lot of entertainment, I think maybe it has done more for Sam! I think that Sam wishes Alex found it as exciting as he does. He is constantly trying to get Alex to grab all the toys and trying to shove them in his mouth.

Here are a couple cute pics of Alex playing by himself.

Time for a Treat!

Doesn't everyone love chocolate pudding?! Sam sure does!

We Gave In!

We finally gave in and bought a trampoline for Sam. He has had such a great time in the few short weeks we've had it. It was a tough decision for us considering that we're both nurses and have seen what can happen, but in this case, I guess the parent in us beat out the nurse. I searched for one of the safest ones I could find. The safety net is attached to the mat so it eliminates any injury made by falling through the springs. Now as for the other accidents, right now we are just pretending that those don't happen!!



Sam and Dad being Donkeys!



And of course, Dad has to do his knee flips. Although we're not impressed, Sam is!

5K/10K

Gary and I (oh, and the kids too) participated in our first race. Gary did a 10K and I did the 5K and pushed the kids in the stroller. Our friends Scott and Kari asked us to come and join them in the race so we gave in and had a lot of fun doing it. It was something different than we've done before and we were glad to join. It was the Classic Race in Layton and the money donated goes to support the heart program at McKay-Dee Hospital.



We still had muscles even after the race. Thanks Pounders for the invite. We had a great time!

IHH Walk

On September 6th we had the opportunity to attend a fun run/walk as a fundraiser for our support group. It was a really beautiful day all around. The weather was great, the spirit was strong, and it was a wonderful to see the families and children that are affected by CHD's. It's amazing that you can take that many strangers that are coping with the same type of struggles, and we can all come together as friends as if we've known each other our whole lives. We want to thank all of you who supported us in this fundraiser physically/emotionally and monetarily. Your love and kindness means so much to us. Words cannot express the emotions that we feel in response to your kindness and love. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I decided that it was easier to do a slide show instead of still pictures since we have so many to show. Sam received a "battle wound" as he was running the race with Joe. He wanted to be sure that we included a picture of it.



After the walk we stopped for lunch at Arbys with the family. Joe (as usual) kept the kids entertained or vice versa.

4 months old!

Can you believe it? Man does time fly. We certainly feel very blessed to be where we are now all things considered. Alex went for his 4 month check-up today. He looks great, and his pediatrician is "tickled" (his words, not mine)with his progress. Aren't we all!

He weighed 14 lbs 2 oz (50th percentile), and was 25 1/2 in. long (75th percentile). Right where he should be, and we couldn't be more pleased! He also gave us the go ahead on rice cereal, so we'll give that a shot tomorrow.

He is still smiling tonight because he didn't have to get any shots. The surgeons advised us not to get any immunizations 6 wks prior to or after his surgery. The bypass machine that they will use on his surgery has a filter that would filter out any immunizations given that close to surgery. He is right on the border of the 6 wks, but we felt that it would be best to leave him be, and not have to give him another needlestick/blood draw to check a titer on them. So he will recieve his shots at his 9 month check up. It seems a long ways off, but it will be here before we know it. He still is not rolling over, but we're not too concerned about that, it'll happen soon. We are so happy for Alex and so greatful for your prayers and love!

Brothers

Just thought I would post a few pics of the boys together. They are both growing like weeds. Don't mind the naked (sort of) baby pics. We decided that we should get as many pictures of Alex's scarless chest that we can, since that will change! They are such sweet boys. Alex is really smiley (when he wants to be) and has been starting to giggle. We enjoy our boys so much! Their sweet smiling faces always brighten our day!

First Day of Preschool

Sam started preschool on Wednesday. Hallelujah! It was definately time for a mix up in his life. He has had kind of a slow summer (life with a new baby), so he was excited to get started back again. Alex was born the same week that he finished preschool in May, so it was a big change to cut that out and add a new baby.

His teacher is Ms. Paula. I grew up in the same ward with her and her family. She has been teaching for 16 years, so she obviously enjoys working with children. She has already told me that she wished she had a whole classroom full of kids like Sam (GO FIGURE!!).

Sam told me on his first day back that he missed Alex while he was gone! Although I'm sure he enjoys some time without a crying baby, he sure does love Alex. He is such a great big brother!

Piano playing with Dad

Alex loves to play the piano with Dad. Sam was the same way when he was younger but now he's big enough to dance and sing while Dad plays. He loves for Gary to play "Follow the Prophet" and "Called to Serve" and its so cute to listen to him sing!

Sometimes adding a fist to chew on makes it even better! He has mostly been chewing on his fists, but in the last couple of days has decided to put the thumb in instead of the fist. Mom and Dad are trying hard to keep it a fist instead of a thumb, but we may have our work cut out for us!

Fundraiser Walk

Just wanted to put a reminder out there to anyone, that the fundraiser for our support group is this Saturday the 6th in Provo. We have heard from some of you that are going to participate, but thought that we would put it out there again just in case you missed our post from the beginning of August. If you missed our first post and want more info about it, scroll down to the older posts and you can read. If there is anyone that missed our first post and want to join us, could you please let us know. We are doing a little thing for those in Alex's group, and we would like to make sure that we have enough for everyone. If you have already let us know, then disregard this post. If not, then just leave a comment and let us know how many will be in your group so that we are prepared. Thank you to all of you for your continued support for our family!
By the way, the boys are doing great. I will post more in the next couple of days since I know it's been a while since the last one!!