Toothfairy!!

Tristyn lost her 1st baby tooth today. The bottom front tooth. She's only 4 1/2, but I have heard that if they cut teeth early, they loose them early too, and Tristyn cut her teeth at 3 mo old. Maddy did too, so she will probably loose her baby teeth early also. I'm excited that Tris is growing up, but I'm also sad, I remember when that first little tooth poked through! I am glad she didn't loose it at school or daycare or swallow it. I have it in a little glass jar with a label & it will stay with her other keepsakes. The tooth next to it is also loose, so I bet that one will come out in the next week or two. Tris was so excited when the toothfairy came, she got a dollar to put in her piggy bank and some candy Dots.

I'm Thankful For . . .

Jesus Christ - my savior - dying on the cross for me!

My loving Husband, Tony, who has put up with all my quirks for over 8 years now!

My sweet daughters, who are both blessings!

My family & friends

My furry companions

Smart & skilled doctors & surgeons.

The sun, the snow, the rain, warm weather & cold weather

What are you thankful for?

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Lighten Up & Laugh!!!

I heard this story on the radio this morning, it's so hilarious, I just had to share.


A woman let her dog outside to use the restroom. She checked on him a few minutes later and to her dismay he was playing with a rabbit. Upon further inspection she realized it was her neighbors rabbit and it was very DEAD! She and her neighbor have not always gotten along the best and she knew her neighbor would be furious, so she devised a plan!

She put the dead rabbit in the bath tub, cleaned him up, blow dried his hair, and gave him a thorough brushing. This rabbit looked GOOD! Then, before her neighbor came home, she propped him up in his cage in the back yard.

A few hours later the neighbor came home. She heard her neighbor start screaming and ran out of the house pretending to be surprised “What’s wrong!” She was sobbing and the color had drained from her face. “My rabbit died . . . . 2 WEEKS AGO . . . . we buried him, and now. . . . HE’S BACK!!!

"Simple" TGA ???

I never knew there were several kinds of TGA. I had never even heard of TGA until 6 1/2 months ago when Maddy was born. There is "Simple" TGA, "Complex" TGA and "Congenitally Corrected" TGA. Who knows, there maybe more kinds that I am not aware of.

Maddy was born with "Simple" TGA, meaning TGA was the only heart defect. Although it may seem illogical, babies born with "Complex" TGA have a better chance of survival. This is because with they have other defects such as a ASD, VSD (holes in the heart) which allow for mixing of the blood. Maddy did not have this advantage, she had no mixing of the blood and her PDA was very small. Therefore she needed an emergency stent (hole) put in her heart, just to survive long enough to have the surgery to correct her TGA. She was about 10 hrs old when she had the stent put in, by this time she had already coded twice and we almost lost her. Luckily they didn't inform us of this until she was stabilized, or we would have been basket cases (like we weren't already)!

Most of the info on TGA I have learned after the fact, by talking to her doctors and reading online, it's been 6 months now and I am still learning about TGA, and I think the doctors are too. They still can't say what the long term affects will be, the procedure she had is still relatively new, it was 1st performed in1975, so the first patients are only hitting there late twenties - early thirties

I am not complaining though, we have come along way. Up until the 1950's most parents were simply told that nothing could be done & to take their infant home and let nature take it's course. The 1st successful surgery was performed in 1958, but through the 1960's the mortality rate was very high simply because of lack of technology. I am so happy to live in this day and age, because now the doctors can tell me she has a 90% chance of reaching age 30 & that's as far as they can predict. I Pray that this age just keeps increasing with Gods Blessing.

Cover Girls & Kittens - Oh My!

I am so excited. I work in an office that publishes a local weekly buyers guide. Quarterly we puslish a coupon book. The last to coupon book covers have featured some of my co-workers grand babies, well this time it's Tristyn's & Maddy's turn. The cover is so cute, our production department does an excellent job! The book has a distribution of about 32,000 houses & businesses, so this will be their 15 minutes of fame. I'd post a picture of the cover, but it's copy righted & I don't want to get in trouble. Here is the original picture before they did their magic of editing to it. They enhanced the color, zoomed in, and added some wording.

Lucky, came home this weekend. Our older cats, Jasper & Spunky were not too happy, but they are warming up. He is such a cutie & very playful. He has made a great recovery, he has a slight limp in his back hip, but that's all. Here is a pic.

Teacher conference time! Yah!

We get to meet with Tristyn's teacher tomorrow. I am looking forward to discussing some praises & some concerns. The praises include: her becoming more independent, like feeding and dressing her self. She is also becoming a very good big sister. The concerns: she almost 4.5 and no where near potty trained. Although her speech has improved greatly she still struggles with comprehension. I want to talk with her teacher on how to improve this. I long for the day when I can have a conversation with her & find out thoughts and feelings. I want to ask her what she did in school and get a different answer than "played with the kids" or "sang a song" which are the answers I get everyday. Don't get me wrong I love those answers, and last year at this time her answer would have been yes or no. But I am looking forward to something more. And I know it is so frustrating for her when she can't communicate things to us. I was looking back at Tristyns baby book and comparing her milestones to Maddy's. I am relieved that Maddy is hitting her milestones 3-5 months ahead of when Tris hit them, its nice to know we have one less thing to worry about.

Ok done venting, I know the comprehension will come, its just everything comes slower for her.
It is hard on a parent when their 10 mo. old can't sit yet, 19 mo. old doesn't walk yet, their 2-3 year old only has a vocabulary of 10-15 words, and their 4.5 yr won't use the potty. I love both my girls just the way there are and I wouldn't change them for the world, but I just wish things would come easier for Tristyn.

Katie's at peace now

Sadly Katie passed away Sunday evening. Our Lord took her home and she is at peace now. I Pray for peace and comfort for her loving family. Please go to her blog and offer her family some support.

Please pray for Katie

She is having a very rough time after surgery. According to the last update she is really struggling and fighting for life. Click here to go to her family blog.

Lucky gets to come home

Lucky is doing great! Right now they are deworming him, getting rid of ear mites and just shining him up a little bit :) Looks like he'll be ready to come home sometime next week.

6 Month Doctors Appointment

Maddy had her 6 mo Doc appointment today with her Pediatrician. She now weighs 13 lbs, 14 oz, and is 26.5 inches long. Her doc. is not happy with Maddys weight gain, she only gained 14 oz. in 2 months and dropped from the 25th percentile to the 10th. She also noted that her heart murmur has gotten slightly louder. Maddy will always have a murmur because even though her heart is "fixed" its still not quite anatomically correct and therefore there is some turbulance in her blood flow. (In a normal heart the aorta straddles the pulmonary artery. In her heart in the pulmonary artery is in front of the aorta). The Doc is not real concerned, but please pray that this is not a sign of a more serious problem such as narrowing of the arteries, leaky valve, or a leak at the switch correction sites.

On a good note Maddy is hitting all of her milestones on time and some of them ahead of schedule. She is a very alert and happy baby, with good muscle tone, and she doesn't seem to get tired easily. She really likes baby food, we have progressed from just rice cereal, to oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and applesauce.