Happy Hearts

Happy Hearts

On April 4, 2007, Maggie Jane was born and changed my life forever.  Maggie surprised us a couple days after her birth when we learned that she was born with a double inlet left ventricle, transposition of the greater arteries, and an interrupted aortic arch.  These 3 severe heart defects can all be classified under Hypo-Plastic Right Heart Syndrome.  She had her first life saving surgery, the Norwood (slightly modified) on April 10, 2007 and came home exactly a week later.  Her second heart surgery, The Glenn, was on Sept. 20, 2007 and she came home 4 days later.  Her third and hopefully final surgery, was August 20, 2009 and she came home 1 week later.  We have been tremendously blessed with how well Maggie has sailed through these surgeries.  With the exception of some severe reflux and some pleural efffusions following her Fontan, Maggie has thrived.  Now that her Fontan is complete, she is as pink as ever and except for her special scar, noone knows anything is wrong with our sweet girl.

Maggie Jane's personality is quite hard to explain.  I've been pondering it a lot lately as I sit back and enjoy watching her live.  The only way I can explain it is that she is full of life.  She enjoys every second of every minute of every day.  She takes what comes and she conquers it.  She doesn't let her 1/2 a heart stop her from doing anything.  Our family is so blessed to have Maggie in it and we have all been forever changed because of her. 

I will not tell you that every part of this journey has been easy.  In fact, most of it has been very difficult.  It is not what I ever expected my life to be.  However, I am now and forever will be a "Heart Mom" and we are a "Heart Family".  Maggie's heart problems will affect her the most, but they have changed and will continue to change us as a family.  Ryan is a "Heart Dad", I'm a "Heart Mom", and Trent and Evangeline are "Heart Siblings".  God has chosen Maggie and our family to tell His story of love, power, mercy, grace, and healing.  This is the life God has chosen for us so we are learning to be happy and content with life as it is. 

We are a family of 5, with Happy Hearts. 

(If you would like to read Maggie's story from the beginning, scroll down to the categories and select "Maggie Jane")

A little organization each day keeps the dr. away!

Yes, I know, I'm crazy!  But, I LOVE to organize.  On days or weeks or months that I tackle an organization project, I feel like a new woman.   Our office is a little nook off of the kids' hallway that houses a small little computer workspace.  I try to keep this space relativley neat, but in the 15 months that we have lived here, I have not developed an organization system for this space.  

While I can't wait to get my hands on this space, I need to buy several things to do it.  Sooooo, it will have to wait until next month when the budget allows for such a thing.  So, I started on a different project that I've been wanting to tackle for awhile... the kids coloring supplies, workbooks, coloring books, and learning tools.  All of these items were in various places around the house.  Some were in Trent's closet, some were in the office, and most were in this:

This basket held crayons, learning tools, coloring books, and other misc. things for the kids to do.  I really liked that it was all easily accessible, however, I was so tired of it being in my living room for all to see.  So, today, I tackled this project.  

First, I rearranged a couple kitchen cabinets to free up the one I had my eye on to repurpose as the kids activity cabinet.  Second, I gathered all of the materials from the above mentioned locations, and put it in like piles.  I immediately discovered that they had a lot more coloring tools than I thought.  So, I used a variety of plastic storage containers to divide them all up and then I labeled them. 

I then used magazine holders for the coloring books and workbooks

and a basket for the misc. learning tools like flash cards, magnetic letters, and lacing cards.

All of these add up to a organized activity cabinet that is easily accessible to the kiddos and closes so I don't have to look at it.  Although, it looks so nice right now that I kind of like looking at it.

Oh, and the beautiful hand-made basket that once housed all of this stuff has now been re-purposed to take care of this problem: 
    

  Did I mention that I didn't have to buy one single thing for this project?  I call this a successful day!

Branson

We had a wonderful, week-long, getaway last week to Branson, MO.  We attempted to enjoy fireworks, enjoyed a day with Maggie's new heart buddy and his family, played mini-golf, drove go-karts for a couple hours, shopped, swam at the lake, and relaxed.  It was a very easy going vacation and I enjoyed almost every minute.  I haven't quite figured out how to get pics and juggle the kiddos so I'm a little bummed that I didn't get a pic of the 3 kids together or a family pic.  Oh well!

Sisters with matching clothes are about the cutest thing ever!

The fireworks echoed off the river bluff and were pretty loud

 

During lunch at White Water, we had a nice little rain shower. 

Maggie and her new buddy, Gavin, enjoyed playing in the rain.

  
 
 
   

A New Journey

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to adopt.  I even remember begging my mom to adopt when I was younger.  Ryan and I have always said that we would adopt a child at some point, but we never knew when that would be.

I love that Trent and Maggie are 19 months apart... they are becoming super close.  I want Evie to have that as well.  So, Ryan and I believe that it is now time for us to add our fourth child to our family.  I say this knowing that God CAN and WILL open and close doors as He sees fit and when He sees fit.  Saying that, we have begun the process of adoption.  We have started the research and are almost positive we will be doing an international adoption and have pretty much narrowed it down to one country and one agency.  The country has a mandatory age gap between the youngest child in the family so we will be waiting at least 3 more months to start the application process. 

Please be praying that God's will will be perfectly clear to us, and that we will follow Him faithfully on this new journey. 

3 Months

I can't believe that my sweet Evie girl is 3 months old.  I have to say, I'm kind of glad that the first 3 months flew by.  I love my newborns, but I don't necessarily enjoy that stage a whole lot.  I love that she laughs and talks to us now and that she is starting to play with her baby toys.  She is quickly outgrowing the clothes that Maggie wore at this age, and I had to buy her a couple play outfits in the 6-9 month size to get us through the summer.  As long as her belly is full and her diaper is dry, we have a happy baby.  Although, the little bit of a routine that we had before vacation is completely gone.  So the goal for this month is to get our "routine" back and to get her used to tummy time. 

 

Mags

When I see or talk to someone I haven't seen in a while, they almost always ask how Mags is doing.  I know I haven't updated in a while, but you can always assume that no news is good news. 

Maggie is doing really well... considering.  Most people would never pick up on the things my Mom, Ryan, and I see.  To most people she is full of energy and is doing fine, and for the most part that is true.  However, her energy is not what it was a couple months ago.  She is dragging a bit, gets "sleepy" (as she tells me) a lot earlier in the day, and her sweet fingers and toes aren't quite as pink. 

I've been observing this for the last 2 months and I just kept putting off the dreaded phone call to her cardiologist.  A phone call means action, and since February, I have know that a cardiac catheterization was a possibility for the end of this summer. 

I made the call this monday and Dr. S. wanted us to get her oxygen saturations checked and call her back.  We got her checked and they weren't horrible.  Honestly, I would really like to see them be about 6% higher.  Dr. S. called us back and we both decided that a cath was the best thing to do for her now.  She has these things called AVM's in her lungs which keep her from having the best circulation possible with her special heart.  SO, it's time to get them coiled and get rid of them.  Dr. S. believes that doing this will give us the higher oxygen saturations that we have been longing for since her Fontan, and with that comes more energy, and more of one of my favorite things... PINKNESS! 

I definitely hope that she is right!  I don't want to put Mags through this again in such a short time if it will not take care of the problem, but we'll never know if we don't try.  (I don't have a date yet because I still have to make that dreaded phone call.  I'll probably do that in the next week or so)