Dolly playing 101

Here's how Miss Maddie plays with her baby doll:

First, aggressively push baby in the stroller...
Next, gently pull baby out of the stroller...
Finally, hold down baby and poke on her eyes...
Fun!

Fun with Cousins

On Friday, Aunt Jessica took the boys and their cousin Jett for an afternoon of fun...they went to the movie Earth, played at the park for hours, and had two meals at the new McDonald's! Every kids dream and a real treat :) While the boys had their fun with Aunt J, Maddie had a play date with Kylie Rose here. Kylie is such a doll and a real go-getter...she's going to be so good for Maddie, a real challenge for her to keep up with! Having cousins is so much fun and when they're your age, BONUS! Thanks Aunt J for planning such a wonderful outting with the boys, they are still talking about all of the fun they had.

Break out those running shoes...

Summerfest, our local community days, is quickly approaching and this year's fun run charity is in honor of Maddie! All of the proceeds from your entry fee, EVERY PENNY, will go towards Children's Heart Research Guild. Check out the site...Maddie's story is showcased under the "our kids" tab. We are so excited about this event and hope that YOU will join us on Saturday, July 11th to walk/run the 5K race and help raise funds for Congenital Heart Defects Research!!!

Here's a tidbit of the race from Summerfest's website:
RUN ROYALE FOR CHARITY:
Moderate difficulty through farm land and rural area starting at Royal City Lions Park at 7am for adult 5k run/walk and 8am for youth fun run. Runners and walkers welcome on this relatively flat course partially next to farming ground. Hear the birds chirping!!

the latest with little miss

Lots of standing, preferably in the middle of the room without anything to pull up on and from a crawling position! It's amazing to see and something the boys never did. She did take her first steps Tuesday night...it was very exciting, involved lots of clapping but nothing since! Cousin Savanna and Auntie Lesa were able to coax her into taking those few steps...it was fun to sit back and watch :) She's surely exceeded my expectations for what she'd be doing at 14 months! Climbing up and down stairs...she backs up at least 6 feet before hitting that first step down, overly cautious?!?
We often find her sitting in boxes, laundry baskets, plastic totes, whatever she can fit/squeeze into and play in. A shoe box has been the smallest box I've witnessed so far.
And she loves to play with trucks...this red monster truck is her favorite. The big brothers really enjoy this and have taught her well. She makes some obnoxious truck sounds (aka: a loud, spitting noise) to go with her truck pushing.
Life is sweet...

Branding

I was raised on a cow ranch, just 12 miles from where Bryan and I live now with our little brood. We are so fortunate to have both of our families share the same zip code. Spring is busy on our farm and also on my folk's ranch, and the kids and I try to share in this whenever we can. I had a wonderful childhood and want the kids to experience much of what I did growing up. Riding horses, gathering and working cattle, and competing in rodeos was how I spent much of my time and this way of life was "branded" into me. It was such a fun way to grow up. Although there are fences all over the ranch, we kids were not fenced in and gained an early independence this way. So many memories and adventures... I hope my kids will experience this type of freedom as well.

Here's a picture of the Saddle Mountains that the ranch sits at the base of. This valley where I grew up is called Symrna and I always feel so peaceful when I'm down there. Life just seems to slow down a bit. Here's my cowboys...Cade's hat looks a little pilgrimish! Climbing fences at the branding with cousin Jett Henry. These three have so much WILD fun together...dirty faces, skinned up knees & elbows, and asleep at the dinner table. This sums up a busy day at the ranch for these boys.
Mooms and Nany relaxing in the sweet sunshine at the branding. Maddie "mmmmm's" (her moo sound) everytime she sees a cow or calf. She was konked out after her "mmmming" all morning.
Uncle Ryan and the boys getting ready to go mark the calves' heads. This is the little kid job. They really get off easy since my job at the brandings at their age was the "ball bucket"...yes, I had to collect the rocky mountain oysters with my bare hands after they cut the bull calves to save in the bucket for the crew who liked to eat them- and NO, I've NEVER tried them!!! Disgusting and I gag at the thought of it...heard they taste like chicken though!My older brother had his saddle made with the ranch brand on it, Circle 11. The ranch has been in my dad's family for 4 generations now. Between my dad and my 2 brothers, there are 4 brands that are used to distinguish who's herd they belong to. Bry and I also have a brand, as well as his parents and grandparents. We have a feedlot full of fat cattle, many of them were my dad's/brother's last calf crop. With the growth of our families, we may just have to start branding the kids in order to tell who belongs to who!
Here's the branding crew minus my mom, Grandma Shirley, and I (we were just the cooks...) Even Miss Maddie made the picture with Ba! Branding usually takes the month of April to get through all of the calves. It's a fun time!
Uncle Ryan got the boys their first ropes. He also dug out his old roping dummy so they could practice... I'm going to have to get back in the saddle soon so I can prove to them that I can rope! They don't quite believe me...mom's aren't supposed to do this, I guess. It's a great skill though and I may just need to break out my old ropes to get my kids in line... My dad filling a syringe of vaccine. All of the calves get shots, branded, and ear marked before they get turned out on the range with their mama's for the summer months.

Jason on a colt, coiling up his rope after "holding one" on horseback. We still brand the old-fashioned way, all on horseback and "rodeo" style-healing the calf and dragging it to the fire for branding. Sometimes it's good watching with all of the crazy wrecks than can happen!
Ryan branding a calf...this smell brings back so many memories for me. I know, I'm weird.
Nany, Maddie, Aunt J and Kylie Rose enjoying the branding from the side-lines. Maddie liked teething on the rusty fence...
They make pretty handsome cowboys...normally they're in "farm boy" mode until they get on the ranch. We'll see if any of our kids want to rope/rodeo like their mama did. Yes people, I was a cowgirl...still am deep down.
Here's the proof...

wordless wednesday

Heart Cath yesterday

The famous Dr. Tom Jones...he's very renowned for cath intervention and so kind too. This was Maddie's third cath procedure and Jones has performed them all. The photo was taken right before we left last night. She was quite puffy around the eyes from all the IV fluids, today she's looking back to normal...many wet diapers later :)

We arrived at the hospital bright and early to check-in, she was scheduled to go into the cath lab by 8:00 and 2 hours later, she finally went back! There were camera difficulties in the lab and the technician that was supposed to be there to fix it was stuck in traffic, so this held up the show. Maddie did great waiting in the pre-op area by taking a little snooze, played with my phone and enjoyed lots of cuddling before her procedure (we did too).
I was able to go back with her into the cath lab (all scrubbed up but didn't get a picture) and help ease her into getting put under...nothing about putting a 1 year old out is easy! She fought the gas mask and when I left, she was in a light sleep with her legs still kicking around! It was neat to see the cath lab and watch the nurses and anesthesiologists do their thing, but a little hard for mommy to hold down her girl against her will. I always wonder what she's thinking as I'm holding her down and saying to her, "it's ok...I know...shhh-shhh...be a good girl...mommy loves you...honey, I'm sorry..." But I do hope there's some comfort when the last face she sees is mine as she drifts off into la-la land.

The cath took 3 hours and Dr. Jones ended up doing a cardiac collaterization with embolization of collateral veins with coils. Whoo, that's a mouthful! In other words, he put in 4 metal coils to clot off some unwanted veins she's created. She had developed some large collaterals off of her innominate vein that were robbing blood and causing her sats to go down. These collaterals that she formed are useless. With her heart's anatomy, her body formed them to get more oxygenated blood to her extremities/lower half of her body since it's oxygen deprived. Her body is trying to "fix" her heart problems yet only causes trouble by doing this. Her sats in the cath lab were 74-76 and when she was finished with the procedure, veins all coiled up in tiny metal springs, her sats were up to 81-84! So coiling off these unwanted vessels helped out!

Here's a picture of one of the collaterals off to the right of the innominate vein...it swirls around, looping and stealing that precious oxygenated blood just received from the lungs. Here's a picture of the coils on x-ray, they'll stay in her forever. The long, skinny 1-inch looking lines are the wires holding her sternum together from her two surgeries.

Dr. Jones was also able to get a good look around her heart (he made 3 entry points/puncture sites: neck, arm/shoulder area, and her groin) and he gave us a wonderful report! Her pulmonary arteries have grown, heart function and pressures looked great, and her Glenn site is fine too! Her heart likes the Glenn flow :) There was a little narrowing at the site of the SVC and the PA but with her future Fontan surgery, the IVC conduit will be sewn into that spot and should take care of the problem. He said that she really looks wonderful and this procedure should buy us some time. In his "seasoned opinion" (his words not mine) Dr. Jones feels that completing the Fontan is better the bigger she is. He feels like the Glenn should be sufficient enough until she's 40+ pounds! We've been thinking her last surgery will be when she hits 30 lbs, so it looks like we may have a longer wait! It's actually a bit of a relief. Miss Maddie is 9.2 kilos, which is just 20.24 lbs...she's gonna have to double in size before that surgery so she may be 4 or 5 when she has her Fontan. It's all on a "need" basis...when she gets bluer, sats stay down, more winded with activity, and overall tired, these will be the indicators that it's time for her Fontan surgery. Dr. Jones' report of Maddie was so nice for my mommy heart to hear. I always wonder what's going on in that little heart of hers and after yesterday's cath, a lot of my anxieties are put to ease. If she looks and acts great, she's probably doing great. Thank you Lord.

This picture shows where the IVC conduit (artificial tube) will be sewn in at Fontan time. The SVC (Superior Vena Cava) is what was sewn to her pulmonary artery from the Glenn, it's her own tissue, not a tube. The branches off of the RPA and LPA go out to the lungs.

Luckily, I was able to go back with her in the first phase recovery room too and she was the feistiest kiddo in there! Her LOUD cry was hoarse (breathing tube causes that) and there was no making that girl happy. I do love this side of her though and feel that it's one factor of why she's done so well with her half-heart. She kept her swollen, puffy eyes on the nurse at all times and screamed when she came near. Poor baby... and yes, we did come home last night! Dr. Jones felt like she looked great after her 4 hours in recovery and didn't see a need for her to stay overnight in the hospital. Yay!!!

Our baby heart friend, Mia, had clinic yesterday so she and Mimi came and sat with us in our recovery room after their appointments. Man, I just love them!!! Mia looks so great and is the smiliest baby I've ever been around. Mimi is hilarious and like her daughter, can brighten anyones day. Time really flew by for us once they arrived.

Since we were starving and Maddie was geared up for her fav mac & cheese, we went out to dinner before our 3 hour drive back home. Mimi and Mia joined us as well and Susie and Teagan too(they were in town for an appt. today). It was a fabulous way to end a long but very happy day :)

Thanks for all of your prayers and kind words. Maddie is sure a blessed little girl!

Here's a short video that explains what a heart catheterization is: Click here to watch.