Trying Again in 2010

I guess you could say that is my theme for 2010. I don't really have resolutions for the upcoming year, there is nothing to resolve, but I do have some goals (some would say that's the same thing). I seem to bail out, stop trying or conveniently forget the goals I set for myself each year but maybe since I am actually writing them down it will motivate me more.

1. Daily Bible Reading Now I have tried this one several times & haven't made it through the Bible yet using the One Year Daily Bible Reading Bible, but I am going to give it another try. Even two of the congregations we have attended did it as a group & I still didn't finish. Sadly, I think March was as far as I read & I even tried to double up my readings to catch up but that didn't work either.

2. Losing Weight I know everyone says they are going to lose weight in the new year, but the difference here is I am not going to put a limit or goal on the weight lose. I did set a goal for myself last year of losing all my baby weight & I did that, only now my body isn't shaped quite the same (go figure). Now I am not the exercising type or the dieting type but I do enjoy walking + I have been on Weight Watchers several times so I know how to do it. I just need to get busy. If we had the money I would join WW online again but we don't, so I am on my own for now.

3. Make Money I wish I had a plan already setup for this one, but the truth is I just don't. We do know that we probably will not be able to afford for me to continue to stay home with Emma unless some additional funds are coming in. I was receiving unemployment benefits until Nov. 09 but my benefit year has expired so now I must look elsewhere. I hope to do some kind of work from home, whether its freelance design or some other home business but worst case, I will have to return to the work field (BOO). I did get a book that hopefully will help me Making Work @ Home Work. Oh, if anyone has any suggestions on how to bring the $$$ I am all ears.

4. Get Organized Although I have already started this one by cleaning out my drawers I am not sure what my ultimate goal is except maybe to get rid of all the piles on crap in each room. It seems that the only room that does have a pile of things to sort/organize is Emma's. I have been pretty good about keeping her room in order. Now the office & the storage room are most definitely the worst but the entire house needs a complete overhale. I plan to try to do a little bit each week to get this one accomplished ASAP, the clutter & piles are driving me crazy. We may even have to invest in a storage unit or something since our attic is extremely small. Stay tuned to see how this one turns out.

So that is all for now. It has been probably the happiest & most stressful year of my life & I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store. I do have some wishes, prayers, concerns & hopes for the upcoming year but none of these are things I can control, plan or change so I will leave all of them in the hands of our dear Lord. But I do wish you all a Happy & Safe 2010.

Christmas 2009

Even Emma is smiling for this one.

My fam at Karen & Bob's house Christmas Day, minus Chris (he's taken the pic).

Emma starting to open her presents.

The babies sharing toys.

Cousin Morgan with her basket of food that goes with her shopping cart.

Emma playing her Bee Bop Drum from Santa.

Emma in her new wagon from Santa & her monkey from Paw Paw.

Emma after opening her Sesame Street CD player from Santa.

Emma reading her monkey book from Grammy & Paw Paw.

Emma's remote control puppy from Grammy & Paw Paw.

We really had a great Christmas this year. Emma got so many great things: from Grammy & Paw Paw - a remote controlled puppy, musical marocas, a large monkey & some books. From Santa she got a wagon, Bee Bop Band, books & stocking stuffers. Then from my family she got a Little People Sounds House, Little People Noah's Ark, See n Say Elmo & some dresses.

Tonight we are going to celebrate Christmas with our cousins (Emma's second & third cousins) at Gram's house. I can't wait to take pics of her with cousin Alex, 2.5, Carson 4.5 months & hopefully some of her other older cousin if they ar able to make it.

A Special Christmas Prayer

I come to you tonight with a heavy heart for three families that I don't even know but have still added to my prayers. We didn't become friends with any of the other families while we were there due to the extreme seriousness of most of the cases. Most of the families that were close all stayed together in the Ronald McDonald House & we felt Emma just wasn't sick enough for us to use one of their rooms. There were just too many really sick kids whose parents needed it much more than we did.

As of this week I have heard of three families from MUSC Children's Hopsital PCICU lost their children this since Emma was there. All of these children had the same heart defect HLHS (hypoplastic left heart syndrome) which I am not real familiar with but I do know its pretty serious. I can't imagine the heartache these families are experiences after such a lose & especially during the holidays. If you could say a special prayer for these families, I am sure they would greatly appreciate it.

Hope you all have a great Christmas & Happy New Year.

Follow ups

Emma has had 2 follow up appointments this week, one with her pedi & the other with her cardiologist. Her pedi, Dr. K, thought Emma looked great & sounded great. Emma only has a very slight murmur if any, which is much much different than before. Emma is also eating as much as she was before her surgery in Oct & she has been since we got home from Charleston last week. She got her RSV shot while we were there & we are going to switch her to Pediasure as her milk. Right now she is still getting formula in her bottle but we are giving her Pediasure in a cup at meal or snack time, which isn't going very well. Emma just isn't interested in drinking from her cup at all & when she does its only a few sips. Our main goal right now is to get Emma to gain some weight & how we do it (bottle or cup) isn't as important.

On Wednesday we saw, Dr. O, her cardiologist & he was very pleased with Emma. The notes her received from MUSC said they patched all the holes except 2 very tiny ones & those didn't show up on the post surgery echo. Dr. O did his own echo & he didn't see any holes or blood flowing across the heart. He showed me wear the very large hole in the apex was, its gone, where all the other holes were, there gone. He told me that Emma's case was a very hard one since she had so many holes everywhere & he was very impressed that Dr. B was able to fix them (we all know WHO is really in charge & who assisted Dr. B in his craftmanship). Dr. O also decreased Emma's Lasix to once a day & said he wants to see her again in one month, then he said if all is good he wouldn't have to do another follow up for six months.

Is it possible that our baby girl's heart is normal or at least as close to normal as it can be. You better believe it. We have prayed, cried, wished & hoped the day would come when someone would tell us she is really going to be okay & Dr. O says we are almost there. All we have to do is hold on for one more month to make sure no infection sets in & this will all be behind us. Could we ask for a better Christmas present? Not at all. GOOD IS SO GOOD!!!

New Words

Our little one is now saying more words & some of them we may wish she had not learned quite so soon. The first one we noticed was while we were at the hospital she would tell the nurses "No". She also has been saying it when we try to feed her when she doesn't want anymore & she said it several times to the therapist on Monday when she didn't want to work anymore. Now as of right now she is saying it in a sweet & pitiful little voice but I am afraid it may change.

She is also saying "more" & its usually when we are reading books. This little girls loves her books & could sit all day long while you read, especially if you sit in the floor with her. We also think we have heard her say "Uh-Oh" several times. We are trying to teach her what Santa says, Ho Ho Ho, but it sounds more her monkey noise than it does Santa.

Now I have saved the best one for last. Last night she said "Dada" several times & man was Chris excited, she made his night. It is so much fun watching her learn & hearing her start to talk. What a sweet little voice she has, except right now its still hoarse.

Home Sweet Home

Yes we are home from MUSC Children's Hospital & I am not sure who is the happiest, Emma, Chris, myself or our cats (we haven't picked up Spencer yet from the in-laws). Regardless, we are all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds & not being woken up every 3 hours by someone needing to take Emma's vitals. Emma got to the point that every time the door opened in her room she would cry, regardless who was on the other side, poor baby.

The word on Emma's heart is that there are no residual VSD's & they didn't hear a murmur anymore. Her last echo on Tuesday showed no VSD's which means that either they were too small to register or the two that were left have already closed. Either way it doesn't really matter because there was no blood flowing across the heart which is a good thing. Her feedings should now start to pick up & her weight should start to climb.

The only issue with Emma right now is the vent apparently damaged her larynx & it may take 4-6 weeks for it to completely heal. She is really hoarse & is coughing a lot but there isn't really anything that can be done for it. If they give her steroids it will only delay the healing process of her heart & incision. They also told us that Emma may have had a narrow airway, which is very common in babies but you sometimes don't find out until something like this happens. She is to have a follow-up appointment with the ENT in 6-8.

Emma also has a follow-up appointment with her local cardiologist next week + she will need to get her next RSV shot. She will also start back on her physical therapy which has really helped her out a lot. Before we left for Charleston she was pulling up & cruising on the furniture in the living room. Emma's therapist is going to be so glad when she hears. She has already tried pulling up yesterday & today but she isn't quite strong enough yet, which makes her mad. Poor thing, she doesn't understand but she will return to herself very soon.

Still in Charleston

The doctors just made rounds & they told us they would like Emma to stay at least until Thursday or maybe Friday. They are a little concerned about her potassium levels which were really low while she was in PCICU but they seem to be coming back up. They also want her feeding & urine output to increase + she had some blood in her poop yesterday that they want to watch for too.

She still has a cough from an inflamed throat from the vent & is running a low grade fever. She is having a hard time staying awake today so she may not feel good. Thankfully the nurses are real good about staying on top of her pain meds so her pain is being managed a well as it can be.

We are hoping Emma will be up for either a trip to the Child Life Atrium (playroom) or a quick walk outside, its suppose to be in the high 70s today but its raining too. She hasn't been very interested in playing with her toys that we brought only wants to read books, be held or sleep. Poor baby, I know she has to be bored & can't wait to go home.