Christmas

Early Christmas at my parents...

Great Grandma Shirley (Maddie's only living great grandparent)
Spiderman & Transformers, yeah!
Stewart grandkids with Nany and Ba
Christmas Eve at our house...
Grandma Nany & Maddie

Christmas morning...

Maddie's favorite was the candy canes!

Christmas Day at Grandma & Grandpa Allred's

Maddie & Grandma Allred

Cousin Jillian & Maddie (they're 6 weeks apart)

Auntie Lesa & Maddie bonded this Christmas

Jace & Mooms, Cade was napping and missed the photo

Our family get-togethers began on the 22nd and lasted until the 27th! We've been so low-key this year, it was a busy week! Luckily, everywhere we went is less than 10 miles from our home so we didn't have to travel with the bad weather and roads. Christmas was wonderful and watching the boys relish the "magic" was so fun. When Jace woke up on Christmas morning, he came into the living room and saw his gifts and stocking under the tree but didn't go over to it right away...he had to first see if Santa left any cookies and milk, his first words were "Yep, they're gone, Santa came!"

I was emotional this Christmas and just entirely grateful for His grace in our lives. Isn't it amazing that God sent His son to save us, as a sweet, helpless infant? What HOPE a baby brings, symbolizing new life and new beginnings. We know of this first hand. With each of our babies, our lives have become more enriched. But a whole new world opened up for us with Maddie, one we didn't even know existed, and I feel so blessed for this...what hope Maddie's life has brought to us all...that a baby can be born with only 1/2 of a functioning heart is a miracle in itself. Through this journey I have experienced the most heartache and the most joy I've ever known. But on Christmas, my heart went out to all of our heart friends and I couldn't help but feel some guilt that we were home spending the holidays with our healthy daughter and family while many of them were in hospitals or at home with empty arms, their baby was spending the first Christmas in heaven. This sure makes us keep perspective, knowing that life can change quickly and that we should relish every minute. Even though Maddie's heart can never be fixed, and it feels terminal at times, I wouldn't trade this. The blessings we've learned through her are immeasurable and life is much more amazing than ever before! This first Christmas with her will be one I'll forever cherish.

Our Christmas gift this year...

Maddie, our miracle, at 9 months

Twas the night that you joined us...all eyes were on earth.

Awaiting with joy for a most special birth.
The angel's stood ready...for each need and care,
But all of them knew... that the Lord would be there,
And I labored on... and daddy was scared,
We waited...and wondered... and hoped we'd prepared.
We knew you were special...but so very sick,
Yet hope had grown in me... with every kick.
And soon it was time...into this world you came,
I heard a soft cry... then I called out your name....
And God held your hands...while the angels stood by,
Since I could not hold you...they hushed your soft cries.
One small angel looked to the father and smiled,
"Can you truly teach hope... through such a small child?
An infant so helpless...a baby so new...
Oh please tell me Lord...is this what you will do?"
God looked from the angel...to the baby's sweet face,
"Through her my young charge... they will learn about grace.
I penned this child's journey...quite a long time ago,
And through her great courage...such true love will grow.
Every hair on her head has been numbered you see...
It's my hope that through her... they will learn to see me.
Oh my little one with a special heart...
Great love will see you through...
See look that is your family...They've been waiting for you...
I send you to their waiting arms...for a time we'll be apart...
But I'll always be with you...for I live within your heart."
And so we held you in our arms...And thanked our Lord above...
In you...we see the miracle, of His undying love.
So when it's Christmas morning, And I watch my children play,
I'll need no great reminders, For I see my gifts each day.

Written by Stephanie Husted (Mommy to Braeden, HLHS)

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Some highlights & happenings...

December is flying by and we've had some fun along the way. Only 3 more days until Christmas...yikes, let the festivities begin! Here's a few of our recent highlights & happenings...

Jace & Cade's Preschool Christmas Program (cousin Kate in the middle)

They said their lines, sang their songs, jingled bells, and kazooed...all while smiling to the BIG crowd!
More cousins...Jett & Boo

Our fun baking day at mom's. She made us these cute Christmas aprons...boy are we festive!

Miss Maddie & Miss Kylie in their adorable matchy-matchy gingerbread outfits...courtesy of Aunt J
We'll be having a WHITE Christmas after being dumped on this weekend. The boys are loving the snow, especially being pulled behind the 4-wheeler, even in the freezing temperatures (low teens!)


And Maddie has been enjoying the Christmas tree...pulling off lights, garland and ornaments. She's keeping busy!


She's also enjoying table food these days!

Blood Drive:Part 2 was Friday, with another great turnout! This was organized by the Red Cross for the people who weren't able to donate back in October. Another 29 units of blood were donated (Bry & I included). Our little town is amazing and our thanks go out to all that volunteered and donated.




Finally, it's our anniversary today. Here we are 8 years ago, sealing the deal...seems just like yesterday!

Maddie...

• is 9 months old!
• loves to rock on all fours
• just started crawling backwards
• rolls where she wants to go
• has 2 bottom teeth
• yells "AHHH" super loud to get our attention
• says "ma ma", "da da", "ba ba"
• is a little shy and hides her face to others
• thinks her brothers are so funny!

Sky-high Synagis

Maddie started her Synagis series yesterday. We drove to Ephrata to Dr. Allred's for the appt. and the minute I laid her on the exam table paper, she started crying. Pretty much the entire time we were there, she fussed. Amanda, her nurse, is quite the "bad guy" in Maddie's eyes! It took 2 pokes, one in each thigh since she got a dose of 1.6 ml and her legs are a little too puny to handle that much vaccine in one spot. Her shots are shipped from Central Washington Home Infusion up in Wenatchee to Dr. Allred's office and she'll have her Synagis shot every 28-30 days until the end of April. Our insurance company covers the shot from Nov-Apr but the state of Washington didn't consider us in RSV season until December 1st. The shocking part of this is that it is $1350/50 ml = $4050 for Maddie's shot EVERY MONTH!!! How ridiculous is that!?! I'll be anxious to see what the EOB says and if its price reflects what the home infusion company says it is. Luckily we've met our deductable but starting in January, we're going to have a costly co-pay until we meet our deductible again. We'll do anything though to keep this lil' girl healthy and RSV could be life-threatening if she caught it. We also weighed her while there and the little stinker weighs 16 lbs. 14 oz.!!! She's up 8 oz. in 16 days. That's a great gain for her and needless to say, I'm ecstatic about it!

Sus & Teags

On Monday, my mom, Maddie and I went Christmas shopping down to the Tri-Cities while the boys enjoyed a fun day with Grandma Allred. I got quite a bit of shopping done and enjoyed getting out of the house. We met Susie and Teagan (our heart buddies) for lunch and enjoyed catching up with them...even though Susie and I talk on the phone a couple of times a week! Teagan is so cute and watching her grow up has been so fun. These two girls are pretty amazing cardiac kids!

Gingerbread house experts

We had a great time eating candy & oh ya, decorating Gingerbread houses last night! The kids were so excited for this little tradition with the other Allred's (Bryan's cousin Derek's family)and to have people over! Yippee! We can count on one hand how many times we've had company this year, I think we've deprived the boys trying to keep "germ free"! They were so psyched for having people over. The houses turned out really cute and we had a fun time catching up with our cousins. Even Maddie got in on a little piece of the action!

Frosting may have to take precedence over baby food...she ATE it and loved it! Extra calories are good for her, right?!?

Carly and the kids decorating away, it was serious business!

Poor Kate is the only girl...she's used it though with all these boys. Someday soon Kate, give Maddie a few years, although she'll probably prefer Thomas the Train too! First course=Candy, Second course=hot chocolate & cookiesThe daddy's really did help, especially in the construction of the houses. They must have learned something from last year because the houses didn't collapse! They love pictures, don't they?

The finished project with a smeared candy faced boy!

Kids+Christmas = Good times

Each year Christmas (and the getting ready for) gets better. The "kid" in us shines through with our little guys and gal. Clark Griswold, aka Bryan, did a wonder on the house. Our lights can be seen from miles away, he totally outdid himself! No really, it looks great and the boys and I LOVE it and it looks much better than when I've put them up in the past! He even brought us home a beautiful, fresh Christmas tree...usually we don't put up the tree until mid-December so we're really early this year. Our house smells so good and Jace and Cade are still waiting for Alvin, Simon and Theodore to race out of it! Here's the kids opening their ornaments this year as well as Jace decorating the tree, he really got into it. Even making a few paper transformer ornaments!

As usual, I had no luck getting Xmas pictures of the kids...what's the trick for getting three kids under 5 to all look at the camera, smile, not blink or make a weird face or gesture, cry, or turn away? Really? This year our card will have to do, minus a smile from Maddie...she's pretty stingy with them. The funny part of taking these shots was having the boys yelling "CHEESE" in unison while Maddie joined in by saying "EEEEEE"!

Thanksgiving Pictures

We had a great Thanksgiving this year at my parents. Normally we juggle going to both of our parents' houses for dinner, on the same day, which is too much turkey and way too much running around. So we simplified things this year and started the "switch off" for Thanksgiving dinner. We did miss Bry's family but caught up with them the day after with left overs and games. We had a fun, relaxing Thanksgiving day at my folks' and just enjoyed spending time with one another. Here's a few pictures from turkey day at Nany and Ba's... of course I didn't capture everyone on the camera (couldn't interrupt the guys from watching their football!)

My sister-in-laws & all of our kids...whoa, when did this happen?!?

Maddie really does smile...just never for the camera!

A very exhausted Nany with her wild grandsons, still going strong!

Mooms & Nany just kicking back after all of the action of the day!