Trips to Seattle

We've had a few trips to Seattle lately and I never tire of it...it's become a home away from home for us I guess. The end of June, we took the kids to a Mariner's Game and Pikes Place Market. The Mariner's won and Ichiro had 2 home runs. I love Mariner's games and the atmosphere is just relaxing. The Children's Hospital playground was a nice diversion for the kids when they were sick of sitting at our seats...it brought tears to my eyes watching Maddie play on the Seattle Children's Hospital Playground donated by the hospital that's saved her life. When I see the Children's logo now, I am touched. Before Maddie, I don't even think I noticed it.

Maddie had her annual Nephrology appointment on Tuesday in Seattle. Her appointment went well, we'll see Dr. Hingorani in a year. Her ultrasound still shows dilation of her kidneys and mild reflux but she can stay off of her Bacterim. No UTI's yet...so that's a great thing! Her left kidney is still smaller than her right, it's still small for her age. But it must be working. She'll have a repeat ultrasound next summer to see how they've progressed.

So Nany, Maddie, the boys and I loaded up the Suburban and headed out early so we could hit the Pacific Science Center before her appointment. We had lots of fun in the Butterfly exhibit, bug world and the boys loved the space, dinasour exhibits and Pudget Sound hands-on aquarium. Maddie loved the tots playground and wore herself out..

Another Scorching Summerfest

As always, our annual community days was HOT! I enjoyed the 5K run early in the morning and was surprised when I ran most of it (haven't been exercising or training) and finished in 34 minutes. After the run, I hurried home to get the boys and Maddie ready for the parade. Here's Ba and his girls enjoying the parade from the tailgate of Nany's car...big brothers Jace & Cade rode their bikes in the Kiddie Parade as well as cousin Braydon.

these slipping slide/blow up toys were a hit. For $3, the kids could enjoy 4 different toys all day. Here's Jace going down the giant slipping slide.
We hung around the park until the annual Ping-Pong drop took place. Our local cropduster loads up his plane with hundreds of ping-pong balls then flies overhead and drops them in a field full of kids, raising their hands to the sky. Each kid gets to pick one numbered ball then go retrieve their prize in the park.
And one of the winners was......MADDIE! She won this darling pink bike and boy, is she ever hot stuff on her bike! Small towns are the greatest and we're so happy our kids get to enjoy the same community days that we grew up attending.

Let's get caught up

We have much to share...the end of the school year was a busy time, well last couple of months for that matter, and moving into our home added to the chaos. I'm determined to get caught up on the blog and share some of the recent highlights of our three musketeers...
We'll start with Jace:
Jace finished up Kindergarten with a bang. What a wonderful year he had...so much learned and many new friends made. This is Mr. Jace being ever so tall for his last day of school picture!
Mrs. Stewart, aka Aunt Jessica, was an outstanding Kinder teacher and I worry we'll never be able to "top" this year, or teacher for that matter :)
Receiving his Kindergarten diploma

It's been an amazing year watching him progress from a pre-reader to a fluent one! This boy can sound out just about anything! The best part is he enjoys it, which makes this teacher-mommy so proud :)

I was able to volunteer in Jace's class several times during the year and brought in this alligator skull (courtesy of one of the subs on our home) to show his class. Of course, he thought of putting his head in there for the picture. Always a funny guy.

They learned about the life-cycle of butterflies and here's Jace with the caged butterflies they hatched from tiny caterpillars.

They also had a super fun "beach day" instead of a field trip. All 6 kindergarten classes spent the afternoon playing water games, making crafts, slip-n-sliding and splashing. I love this picture...he lost his tooth the night before the play day then lost the other tooth a week later so he ended the school year with no front teeth.
Stewart cousins at the Kindergarten evening program...Jett & Jace were two of the cutest bumblebees in the room
Jace and his buddy Luke getting ready to perform...
Baseball season was fun to watch...Jace really improved throughout the season and surprised us with his short-stop skills!

Daddy and Uncle Mike coached the team which was special for him too...

In May, Jace was a ring-bearer in my cousin Will's wedding. He was all smiles and took his job very seriously. When the pastor asked for the rings, Jace held his little (ringless) pillow up throughout the vows, pushing it higher and higher to get the pastor's attention until my brother tapped his arm and had him put his pillow back down. It was so cute. I guess he forgot that the rings were in Uncle Ryan's pocket.
Uncle Ryan, Will, Jace and Uncle Jason at Will & Jody's wedding

Now, on to Cader's news...

Cade's all about being original...this is just one of his "signature moves" when you say, "smile" or "cheese". He's also about worn out this shirt. I do have more variety for him but he's content with wearing the same clothes over and over and over. Talking him out of it takes too much energy sometimes!
Uncle Ryan took Mr. Cade on a very fun & successful fishing excursion one day. He caught his biggest fish yet. Also got to ride Special at Nany's that afternoon too. He's still talking about this day. Another memory of Cade I don't want to forget was when he brought a little fish he'd caught (another time, another day) with Uncle Ryan to the baseball games in a ziploc bag. He wanted so badly to turn it loose in a puddle by the dugout...instead, he just walked around with it in his bare hand, showing every kid to see.

With Mrs. Becky going over to Children's one week a month for Jackson's chemo, I was able to sub for her in Caden's preschool class. We had lots of fun...lots of fieldtrips. This was the class at my folk's ranch. Cade refused to dress like a cowboy on this day.

Mrs. Becky and Cade at the preschool graduation. Thanks Mrs. Becky for all of your time and commitment over the years to these cute kiddos! I hope I'll be able to measure up...I'll be teaching preschool now, solo, from the basement of our home. It begins this fall with 12 kids. I'm excited, nervous, scared, and need to get to work! I have some fun things in store!!!

Cade with his best buddy Carter and best brother Jace

After recieving his "advancement" diploma (he has 1 more year of preschool) he started this telescope...was a little naughty on stage but still cute. Cousin Randi Kay joined him in seeking their family in the crowd :)

For Cade's end of preschool party, Mrs. Becky and I as well as few other mom's took the kid's to Moses Lake for swimming and McDonald's at a hotel. It was so fun and with our cool spring, it worked out perfectly for the kids to enjoy some swimming, indoors!

Cade & Randi Kay playing tug-o-war

Now onto Miss Maddie...

Maddie's spent much of her spring/early summer as a spectator at Jace's games. She calls them all a "socca game" no matter what the sport. By the end of the season, she started getting brave and wanted to go play on the playground with the big kids. Our baby girl is growing up.

Her big brother's definetely keep her hopping! Here she is at the preschool swim party.

Cousin Savanna (whom she adores) came over one evening and played dress up with Maddie...Maddie was in heaven and was transformed into an adorable little Tinkerbell or "binkobell" as Maddie calls her.

Smores, smores, smores....love me some smores.

Now these two...they are helarious together. Miss spunky,aka Kylie Rose, and mellow Mooms make quite the pair. Thank God for Kylie...she keeps Maddie on her toes and challenges her to do more than she knows she's capable of.

These are Nany & Ba's youngest 3 grandkids. Poor Tripp, he's in for it with these two girls. Luckily he's a happy-go-lucky little guy and will probably just tune out all of the bossing that is to come!

Most of Maddie's spring was spent with me at the new housesite or in the car. One afternoon she was tootling around outside while I was cleaning up and this cute little dog was following her around. Our neighbors live about a 1/2 mile down the road and it was their dog. She dubbed it her "fuffy" (puppy) and sqweeled, loved on, and bossed this little mutt around. Sweet little dog.

And it hasn't wandered back for more lovin...wise too.

Icecream and waterslide fun at Grandma's house
and fun with cutie-pie cousin Jilly!

June cardiology appointment

Miss Maddie got this awesome shopping cart from her Nany after her recent June 24th appointment. My mom went with Moom's and I, and Nany's heart breaks when she's with us at doctor's appointments. So she insisted of doing something positive and rewarding after this dr's visit since Maddie spent most of the time in tears and begging to go and be "ah done" until she cried herself to sleep. Does your heart baby enjoy the docs office as much as Maddie? So we went to Gillman Village on the way home to get some icecream for her, WITHOUT the plan of buying Maddie anything, but when my mom saw this adorable shopping cart, she just couldn't resist and I realized I wasn't going to talk her out of it. It was so cute watching her walk down the storefront paths pushing this. Her babydoll fits perfectly in the kid seat too...just like the one she rides in with me at the store.

Back to the appt, her sats ranged from 72-77%. Dr. Chun explained that this is probably as "good as it's going to get for Maddie" and she's not going to be a high satter...even after her Fontan, he said we'll be lucky if she sats 93. Her pulmonary arteries are small, even with the ballooning she had in May, she's not able to produce higher oxygen saturations. Most kids at her stage have sats in the 80's then start trending down as they grow and need the Fontan surgery. Maddie doesn't have a lot of room for trending down which puts her in need for her Fontan sooner than later.

We talked a lot about this next big surgery...how it's "just a Fontan" and not a fix or cure. Of course I already knew this but to hear Dr. Chun say these words was tough. Her heart condition isn't fixable and that's difficult to wrap my mind around. There are many complications that can still arise, so it's never really over like I'd want it to be. I've spent so much time gearing up for each surgery, trying to prepare and focus on the "next step" that when step 3 was over, it feels like we should be "ah-done" with procedures and she shouldn't have to endure anymore pain or discomfort. So I'm trying to stay positive and give Maddie's broken heart some credit...she's done exceptionally well and hopefully will stay on this same track.

As for the plan, Dr. Chun hopes she won't need any intervention until next spring when she'll have her pre-Fontan cath and then we'll schedule her surgery for summer. So a year from now is surgery #3. She'll be an earlier Fontan than most kids at Seattle Children's (they do the external conduit Fontan and like to wait until 4-5 yrs. old), so weight gain is still our priority. She'll have a permanent gortex conduit put in with this surgery and the size of this shunt is critical for its success. We need her bigger so she can have a larger shunt placed that she'll be able to maintain for life. She's 12.6 kilos right now (27 lbs.) and we'd love her to be at least 15 kilos (30 lbs.+) for the surgery. Good thing she's still enjoying eating. What a blessing this is. We'll head back over for her next appointment in September.

Even though doctor's appointments are no fun for Maddie, we're making some special memories going to them.

As for her "current status", Maddie's battling a bad case of thrush in her mouth due to the amoxicillian she was on from a recent ear infection. Her left ear still isn't clearing up so she's now on Bacterim and the yucky, painful sores in her mouth are finally starting to heal. So much for gaining weight! She's pretty much been on a liquid diet since Thursday.