December brought...

Very cold days, snow & sledding
an excited little girl who looked like a blueberry every time she ventured outside in the cold Jace's school Christmas program. Hearing those sweet kindergartners sing "Little Drummer Boy" warmed our hearts
Caden repeating his part of the preschool program, very speedy like, with a huge grin and giggles decorating for Christmas...my favorite time of year
creating and eating a Gingerbread house
an overnight trip with the boys to the westside for a Seahawk's game and
last minute Christmas shopping at Bellevue Square, my favorite place to shop!
celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary at home with the kids this year!

Merry Christmas!

May your hearts be filled with love and peace!

Ice cream at midnight...

is a little habit that we finally broke for little miss! Instead of getting her yummy bottle (not actually icecream) at 2am, Maddie's finally sleeping through the night! It took almost 21 months for this to happen but as soon as she was weaned from her bottle and I quit getting up with her with every peep she made, she did it! I have hesitated to post about this since I had some doubts it would be a success but we're going on two weeks, so I'm crossing my fingers this is our new norm. Maddie still sleeps 6 steps from our bed in her crib in the little nursery nook (due to lack of bedrooms in our home) so I thought it would be nearly impossible for her. Naps are still a hurdle, the girl hates to sleep in a room by herself and throws some major fits. Boy is it going to be a rude awakening when she has her own room someday soon and loses her two favorite roomies, mom and dad!

I was procrastinating on weaning her from her bottle since it was "drilled" into me from day 1 how important it was for her to have enough calories and keeping her hydrated is critical with her anatomy. For her first 6 months of life or so, I forced her to eat and worked so hard to get her to the point of wanting to take her bottle. She went from an NG tube, to bottle feeding only an ounce at a time 24/7, and I kept a record of every ounce she ate until she was 10 months old! Yes, I've made some progress. But by about 8 months old, she started liking her bottles and we finally were having success. She was gaining well and enjoyed eating, her reflux was minimal and feeding her wasn't a battle like it had been. As weird as it sounds, I've actually loved getting up with her every night, it was our cuddle, quiet, alone time together and I felt reassured with getting a few more ounces in her this way. I was also convinced she was a better eater while drowsy and it was my security blanket and hers.

BUT...at her 18 mo. visit, her pediatrician mentioned getting her weaned ASAP as well as no more "social hour with mom" in the middle of the night. The habits we were creating were going to be tougher to break as she got older. I wasn't convinced yet to start this until we had our visit with her cardiologist. Dr. Vernon reiterated that she does not need a bottle anymore, she can take a sippy just fine and the last thing she needs is to still be getting up through the night. So, after crying to Bryan after leaving the office visit, we made the decision to "tough love" her though the night, starting that night. Amazingly, she actually just fussed a bit then went back to sleep! Every night since, she's slept through the night without waking up. No puking or crying herself into hysterics (she's great at this and has learned that if she pukes, she gets out of her crib. I know, very spoiled.)

I guess Maddie was more ready for this than me! So no more ice cream at midnight for our little love and I actually feel more rested these days. It's amazing how well you feel after having a full night's sleep...it's a good thing for all of us!

Cardiology appointment

Giving daddy kisses while waiting for Dr. Vernon

Last Wednesday, Maddie had a cardiology check-up in Bellevue. She had an echo done as well as a thorough exam and visit. Her sats were surprisingly high, 77% (she's been running in the low 70's at home) and she weighed 24 lbs. and 33 inches in height. It's impossible for the echo-tech to find her Glenn site (same story each visit, wiggly toddler and lots of scar tissue doesn't make it easy) but with the pulmonary blood flow they can see, it looks like the re-plumbing job is still working. Our burning question was when will she need her 3rd surgery...well, Dr. Vernon believes that Maddie will likely be 3 or 4 before her Fontan. That's really nice to hear but at the same time, I wish we could just get it over with. She needs to be around 15 kilos for it (30 lbs.) so we probably do have a ways to go since she hasn't gained any weight for almost 2 months and is just getting busier by the day.

I'm always nervous before her appointments and find myself mentally preparing in case we recieve bad news. Maddie was sick pretty much all of November so I was apprehensive that she'd have such a good report, especially since she's turning more smurf-like each day and the sat monitor at home enjoys 72-74%. Even with the increased blueness, her Card. believes she's doing well. And the best part of the visit was hearing we don't need to come back for 6 months!

She also recieved her first round of the Synagis vaccine today with Jana at our local clinic...2 pokes & 4 doses were given = a $5400.00 immunization! That's just crazy. She'll continue to have these throughout the winter and we're jumping for joy that this is the last season she'll be getting these costly shots!!!

all I want for Christmas...

Jace lost his first tooth tonight and we're all gitty about it!

Pictures from the Festival of Trees

A little recap from the Festival of Trees... Nany, the kids, and I all braved the pass and drove over to and from Seattle in one day to enjoy...
watching this little angel strut her stuff at the Festival of Trees at the beautiful Olympic Hotel. Daddy had to stay home and work which was a bummer. But Maddie's cardiologist, Dr. Vernon and her family, were there and what a treat it was to see them! We were also lucky to have Aunt Lesa, Uncle Mike, Savanna and Braydon as well as Maddie's great-aunt Janet S. there enjoying the evening with us too!
Cousins Braydon and Savanna standing by Maddie's tree & looking very sharp for the fun evening!
The patients wore red ribboned bells while the siblings wore green necklaced bells. The big brothers were very proud of their sissy's tree although Cade kept wondering where his was. I'm sure he was envisioning a spider-man themed tree.
Maddie and Jackson...another tree honoree. We all live in the same little town, he's Mrs. Becky's son (the boy's preschool teacher) and is currently undergoing chemo at Seattle Children's. He's a great young man and his family is wonderful. Maddie wasn't thrilled with taking any pictures at this point though, even with this handsome boy.
The beautiful tree in Maddie's honor..."Sophisticated Snow Ladies" and very elegant it was. There were over 20 different trees throughout the hotel lobby, all fully decorated with their own theme. Some are still up for auction if you're interested!
And Miss Maddie was not a fan of Santa. The boys loved him. Cade was speechless with a perma-grin while Jace talked his leg off, rattling off all of his wishes. Maybe next year she'll give Santa a chance?
What an honor it was for Maddie and for our family to be given this opportunity. My eyes welled up with tears many times throughout the evening...realizing the reason we were there and also feeling so fortunate with how things have turned out for Maddie thus far. In the opening ceremony of the tree lighting, the speaker mentioned that his life has been touched forever by the children at Seattle Children's and he's reminded of the saying, "but for the grace of God, there go I" when he sees the children and the families this wonderful hospital serves. I learned this saying at a young age from my grandma Nany and when the master of ceremonies said that, I realized that some may think this of our situation. But I don't look at it this way, it's by His grace that we have Maddie. We have been blessed beyond words with our little girl. Her heart has both softened and strengthened all of ours and we have so much to be grateful for.

this little turkey...

and the rest of us wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Having a kindergartner has been so much fun. Jace is doing great in school and we've loved watching the progress he's made. His joy for learning is contagious around here. Cade is all ready for kindergarten, thanks to his big brother. Too bad Caders still has another year to wait until his kinder debut.

Along with all of the academic progress he's made, we're also learning what's hip in kindergarten. One of his new sayings is..."ya-yuh" which is just 'ya' with a little 'uhh' added on for extra emphasis. He's also given us the "whaaaat" (in a punk, shoulder dip, sort of way) when I ask him something, and he's becoming pretty quick with his jokes and comebacks lately. He keeps us laughing and we often reminisce about our elementary school days with the stories he shares about his day.

Here's a little note he wrote me the other day..."Jace Hfus Fun" which translates to: "Jace has fun." And yes, he's got this one down. He's the creator of fun in our house most of the time from rock-n-rollin' on the bed to inventing super cool contraptions. And his note is a great little reminder for us all..."have fun". Not a bad motto to have.

 

Festival of Trees

Our little lady will be honored as one of Seattle Children's kids at this year's Festival of Trees! Maddie has her very own tree that will be auctioned off and sold for Seattle Children's Uncompensated Care Fund. The trees are valued at $2500 and sell for anywhere between $4000-$10,000! Here's the website with all of the information: click here. You can read Maddie's "signage" under the featured patients tab and she's not the only one you may know...we have a couple of friends being featured too!

little sis is 20 months...

and smiling from ear to ear about it!
and here's that same beautiful smile (minus all those teeth!) one year ago today...

Miss Maddie's back...

Our Maddie is back after spending the last couple of weeks under the weather. For about a week and a half, we couldn't figure out what it was. She was really blue, had a lack of appetite, was so tired, and was a super needy girl. When she began running a fever with no other visible symptoms, I took her in. She had a thorough exam, a urine cath, Dr. Milnes started her on Tamiflu just as a precaution, and she also had blood work done which was pointing to something viral. But what? We were stumped, her sats were low, the fever kept hanging on and she just felt crappy. After 5 days of fever, it finally ceased and a rash covered her belly and back. Voila, it was Roseola! The boys both had this at around her age and I hadn't even tripped to her symptoms being this. I tend to panic and think it has to be something with her heart instead of focusing on the normal illnesses. She's now rash free and back to her normal self. Since we're still a little stumped to what's causing her increased blueness and low sats, we've bumped up her next cardiology appointment and head over to see Dr. Vernon in just a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we're happy to have the little girl back who loves to...

shake her little booty!!!

halloween hullaballoo

We enjoyed lots of Halloween festivities, starting with Caden's preschool party. Halloween doesn't take place on one day anymore...it DRAGS on and I find myself up late a few nights during the Halloween week making goodies, filling treat bags, and finishing final touches on costumes. Anyway, Cade showed some talent by eating a sucker + singing to the crowd of parents during the preschool's performance of spooky songs and he made a super cute Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, the red one named Rafael, of course. He has some great ninja moves too...didn't get those on camera though. Next was Jace's Kindergarten Harvest Festival...here he is enjoying the classic "donut on a rope" game. Again, takes some talent. I had fun volunteering and meeting MANY Kindergartners. It's a huge class for Royal, over 150 of them!!!The Halloween party in Room 111 was a hit, everyone totally out did themselves with treat bags, cookies, goodies, and fun...and so did I with Jace's face paint that morning! Yikes! He only made it to lunch then wanted Mrs. Stewart to wash it off. This rookie mom has now learned...#1 paint your kid's face just "minutes" before the party and not 7 hours before it starts #2 buy the paint that dries and is not shiny, oily or wet #3 go for a more "subtle" child skeleton look, instead of Gene Simmons from Kiss... On Saturday, we enjoyed a fun afternoon at Pa and Grandma's for Papa's birthday party. Great food + great company= great fun. Here's a few of the cousins posing with Pa before heading out to trick-or-treat.

Maddie, our witch in a tutu, posing with cousin Kylie who was the cutest, cuddliest teddy bear ever! We all enjoyed a break at Nany and Ba's after trick-or-treating. We made it to 6 houses in 3 hours...more visiting than treating goes on in our neck of the woods. It's a great time to catch up with family and friends :)
And finally, our three little spooks... Happy Halloween!!!

Pumpkin Patch Pals!

We've enjoyed a few trips to the pumpkin patch this fall...first with Maddie's heart bff Teagan, her big brother Gavin and mommy Susie to The Country Mercantile. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! There was tons to do there and when you're with great friends like the Maxwell's, it makes it even more enjoyable. The kids kept us busy chasing after them in a straw bale maze, corn maze, barn full of farm animals, corn pyramid, and the pumpkin patch of course.





We also enjoyed a pumpkin carving party last weekend at the Schonewald's. This picture should include all of the kids at the party...crazy thing is Bryan and I grew up with at least one or both of all their parents! It's so unique that now all of our kids are growing up together and making fun memories like this! What can we say, we can't leave our quaint town of Royal. Should start a colony here...(our 3 kiddos are on the left side of the photo)
And our third and final trip to find that "great pumpkin" was with the preschool class on Tuesday. The highlight of this trip was driving Cade's entire preschool class, teacher and a couple of mom friend's in our farm's bus :) Good times!

H1N1 Vaccine

Yesterday Maddie was able to get her swine flu shot! Phew. Our family doc, Dr. Allred (uncle), called and only recieved 10 shots for his clinic...Maddie was lucky to recieve one being she's in the high-risk category and in 30 days will recieve the rest of the dose. The boys were also able to get the H1N1 flu-mist so a big SIGH of relief for us, hopefully we're covered now! We've had our Flu shots, H1N1, and Miss Maddie now waits for her VERY EXPENSIVE, monthly, super ouchie, 2 pokes each time Synagis shots regime to begin. Poor thing.

baby blues

The biology lesson I remember most was learning how to create the Punnett Square. It was a way of working out what the possible offspring traits of two parents would be by recording the dominant and recessive genes. It's funny thinking back to that same high school biology class that my future husband sat just a row away. We were great friends, who knew we'd eventually fall in love and marry? So what are the results of our square you may ask? We have one of each, how I love variety. Our calico kid's eye colors are as different as their personalities. It's been fun guessing whether the blue eyes these three were born with would change in time or not. But it looks like Maddie's baby blues are here to stay! Here's our little darlings, all at the same age, 18 months...

Maddie with her blue eyes, inherited from my side of the family...
Cade has the darkest eyes of the bunch...brown. He also has the LONGEST lashes too, maybe this darkens them up a bit more from the hazel color they used to be?!? And yes, those lashes have grown back after his trimming :) Jace has his daddy's green eyes that tend to change with what he's wearing...he's our chamelion

soccer fun

It's been so fun watching Jace play soccer this fall! This has been his first organized activity to participate in and it's been great watching him progress. He even scored a goal this season! Bryan coached his team and he and Derek have done a wonderful job with the kids. Before the season began, Bryan and I laughed that he may feel like Will Ferrell in the movie, "Kicking and Screaming" but this blue team was impressive. I do really wish I could have found Bryan that tiger striped blue sweatsuit to coach in though :) They've improved all season long and the smiles on the players faces prove that they've enjoyed it as much as the parents have! Way to go blue!!!