We went to NY for the week and Uncle Tommy and Grammie bought Lorelei a water gun. She was having a TON of fun getting everyone else wet but would NOT want anyone to shoot her. It was pretty funny!
We also visited some playgrounds with our cousins.
We went to Grampa Don's land and sat on the tractor.
And rode the golf cart around the land.
I got to see my Grandma, Lorelei's Great-Grandma Charlotte. She will be 90 at the end of the month! Doesn't she look great!
We also met up with some friends I haven't seen in years and their kids and went to the splash pad. We had lunch and played in the water!
She wasn't too sure about the water because it would come up at different times but by the end she played a lot!
Lorelei and Grandpa Don!
She was a little tuckered out after running around with her new friends at the water park. This is how I found her. :o)
We talked seriously with cousin Jack while getting ice cream!
Jack and my sister Jeannette.
We looked at our new cousin, Delaney.
Grammy made forts with cushions.
We played around Grammy and Papa's pool. It was WAY too cold to go in, I am not sure why John is in there!
We played with Jack and new friend, DJ. He is my very first friend's child.
Beth and Jill, yes they are twins, are my very first friends. They are 6 days younger then me and my dad drove their mom to the hospital when they were born.
Happy Easter everyone! We have a tremendous gift given to us today, yes the Lord has Risen, but we have Lorelei! Three years ago today, Dr. Bradley gave Lo a second chance at life. She had her first open heart surgery at just 6 days old! We knew she was a fighter when she was breathing over her breathing tube and ready to go home sooner then later. I am glad to be able to celebrate her today too!
Speaking of the little miss, she has been sick all weekend. We had fun plans for the entire weekend, like dyeing easter eggs, birthday parties, egg hunt and brunch but she has a form a strep and then had a rash over her entire body (might be from antibiotic but more then likely from the virus itself but we changed antibiotics just in case)
She has had a very busy week though. She had her cousins visit last Friday night as they stopped at my mom's on the way to Florida. John's parents also came in that night and stayed the entire week. She loves her Grammy and Papa. Then on Saturday, she had her 3rd birthday party at a Gymnastics Center here in town. She had SO much fun! We also went to the Zoo on Tuesday and she wanted to feed every animal she saw but we did feed the giraffes and goats. She rode the pony and I rode the train with her. Grammy got on the Carousel with her too! She loves to go on the Carousel.
Hey everyone, the cookbooks ARE HERE! They are $12 a piece. I will post a pic soon after I get some on Saturday. Please let me know if you want one and how many! It's a really GREAT cookbook. I will also be updating the blog soon because Lo is having her 3rd birthday party this weekend. I cannot believe she will be 3 on Monday! Plus, her Grammy and Papa and her cousin Jack Jack will be in town so I can't wait for the fun that will be had! Keep watching!
Yesterday we joined some friends at the Zoo! We saw the gorilla who didn't really care that we were there.
The kids were so happy to be there. We were on our way to the carousel. She loved that so much.
The three muskateers watching the Elephants.
This past weekend we went to the beach to visit John's uncle and aunt. Lo wasn't feeling so well so she napped with Daddy for a bit.
We found a bunch of shells!
She got her face painted.
We rode the ponies! She LOVED this, I hope she's not going to want a pony when she gets a little older.
We have been trying to get ready for spring! Lo helped Daddy plant some flowers.
We do crazy acrobatics on the chair (and scare Mommy half to death).
We went to the zoo back in January and this is Lo and E watching the shark swim around. They did this for EVER! It was so funny!
So we've been pretty busy as you can tell. In a month, my baby girl will be 3! Can you believe it?? I am trying to plan a Tinkerbell party for by birthday girl! It's going to be so much fun! I will be updating later!
First off, the Hope for BraveHEARTS cookbooks have been ordered and are being processed as we well, as I write! We are taking pre-orders, the cookbooks are $12 a piece and contain a fun variety of 200 recipes! Leave me a comment if you would like to buy one and I will get in touch with you about how to get them. (We are supposed to have a PayPal button on the Hope for BraveHEARTS website soon!)
Secondly, I have been completely amazed at how God just places Heart Families into my life. During the month of Feburary for CHD Awareness and Heart Month, I received several new friend requests from Heart Moms and CHD survivors. I am so humbled by this. It is so nice to see a community come together like this! Also, Lo and I went to her first ever friend's birthday party for a little girl in her class on Sunday. I was talking to the girl's mom and she asked if Lo had a scar on her chest. I said yes, she has had 2 open heart surgeries and guess what her nephew (who was at the party) was born with TGA! I met his parents and now I have a new heart family friend! It is so funny how I meet Heart Families!
I am so grateful to have all of these wonderful people in my life. I am so glad that I no longer feel alone in the heart community. When we were first diagnosed we didn't know what to do but I think I may have found my calling. :O)
Last thing, I had to go to the dentist today for a toothache and now it hurts like the dickens and ibuprofen and tylenol #3 aren't cutting it, any other suggestions? I get it pulled next week because I AM NOT going through another root canal, after my last one I had lock jaw for a month! Have a great week!
I got this idea from talking with one of my heart mom friends, Rhonda the other day so....Here goes:
When we were in the hospital in Columbia, we didn't know of anyone who had a child with a Congenital Heart Defect. Then we go to MUSC and meet some families who have children in PCICU. We met Sierra and Brent, whose son Montgomery was next to Lo in PCICU and Stacey and Jason, whose son RJ was also next to Lo in PCICU.
Then, while we were still at MUSC, Rebecca came into our lives. She was from the same town we live and she started Annabelle Baskets after her daughter, Annabelle, passed away from a CHD. Rebecca and her family have been great to us and I am so glad to call her my friend!
We got involved with Palmetto Hearts while at MUSC and met some great people through them too! Sara (founder of PH), whose son, Kaden, has a CHD became one of Lo's first heart friends. We also met Wendy and Jeff (Luci) through PH's family program that puts you with another family that has the same or a similar defect. We love Miss Luci! When we went to the first Heart Walk after Lo was born we met Abbie (Elijah) and Rhonda (Zeb) who have become great friends as well. When I first saw Rhonda at the Heart Walk I instantly felt like I knew her.
I met Mandy when she came into the pharmacy where I work and got a prescription for Evie. I couldn't believe that He was showing me families that I needed to be friends with. I was so happy to be finding all of these people who I could talk to, who had similar experiences.
Shannon, I have known for a long time. We used to work together then she moved to VA with her husband so he could finish up school and then when I found out she and Justin were having a child with a CHD I had to get in touch with her. Derrick is the cutest little thing there ever was and I am so happy to be a part of their lives.
Shannon, Abbie, Rhonda, Elizabeth (an adult CHD survivor) and I have started Hope for BraveHEARTS so that we could help fund research to help other families in our situation and maybe someday there will be a cure!!!! I know that we are here for any other family that needs to vent, needs advice or just needs someone to listen. We all are a family, a CHD family!
I have also read some blogs and continue to read blogs so that I can connect to other families out there who are CHD survivors and parents of CHD Warriors and Angels. Just this month I have connected to several people on facebook that are a part of the CHD family!
I have also met several Mom's and Survivors on Facebook and through reading other blogs. I am looking forward to get to know them better too!
I am also glad that Lorelei will have some friends who have been through what she has been through so she won't ever feel alone in the CHD world. It's awesome that we have all met and can talk and appreciate what we have all been through, some of us worse then others. When we first had Lo, I don't know about John, but I know I felt so alone and didn't know where to turn. I now know many Momma's and Daddy's that I can turn to in a minute if I needed them! I am Blessed to call them my Friends!
This is coming from a Blog Event over at Stefanie's blog. She asked her readers this question and so I think I need to respond to it!
My relationship with my husband, John, has grown in ways I never new were possible. When Lorelei was flown to MUSC that Sunday night, I knew that this was a make it or break it point in our marriage and we talked about it, since we couldn't sleep. He held me as I cried for hours about Lo. We struggle day to day like all couples but we agree to do what's best for Lo and our marriage. We try to communicate with each other and of course sometimes it's hard. We knew that this would be hard on us and we agreed to go with it and you know what, it has made us stronger as a couple and as parents. Of course, we argue I am a fly off the handle kind of girl but he has the patience and yes sometimes its an all out screaming fest but we ALWAYS work it out.
My relationship with my family, well that might be a different story. Everyone came together when Lorelei's diagnosis was made and I became tremendously closer to my in-laws. My sister, JD, couldn't come down from NY to be here with us but helped us by giving updates to friends and family up there and even collected money for us. She had just had a healthy baby boy so she was worried and tried to help as best as she could. Others in my family were there for us too but now some still don't get how serious it is. Lorelei has had 2 surgeries and there is always a possibility of another.
Friends, that is a hard one. I knew some people would not be there down the road, especially when I called one of my good friends when we got her diagnosis and she didn't even ask us how we were, she started talking about another friend who just had a baby! I was so furious and haven't spoken to her since. However, I have seen people I grew up with be there for me and those friends who I hadn't spoken too in a long time I have become close with again! I am also blessed to have met many Heart Moms that I get to call my friends (stay tuned for another post about them).
God, I have found Him. Before Lorelei, I believed in Him but didn't live it. I have now seen what He can do and I have become Catholic. I know I swore that I would never do it and not many people know that I have changed. I feel that John and I needed to be on the same page with this since He has a plan for my Lo, I just know it!
My relationship with myself has been a struggle. I keep asking myself what I did that made Lo's heart the way it is and I feel like it's my fault but I am getting better about this. I am starting to lean on the Lord and know that this was His plan all along! I was even jealous of my sister and my friends that have had children for having a healthy, "normal" babies, but I now know that life is too short and too enjoy my "normal" to me child.
John and I treat Lorelei like she is any other child. She gets punished when she does something wrong, she can do whatever she wants to do, within reason! She knows when she needs to stop and rest. We talk about her "zipper" and when she understands a little better we will always tell her the truth and treat her like she is normal, which she is to us!
