Cardiology Check up

Today we took Charlotte to see Dr. Horne for a check up and we got a pretty good report.  Looking at her Echo, things still look about the same and believe it or not, we can still see the shunt!  Dr, Horne said that it seems the shunt is doing a very small amount of work, but he feels that her heart is doing most of the work.  Charlotte was scheduled for surgery this past January, but Dr. Horne felt like she needed to wait and see how her heart functioned on its own.  Usually in this wait and see game, the clocks ticking speeds up quickly as each day passes, but Dr. Horne said that in Charlotte's case, each day that passes, that ticking slows down.  The longer Charlotte goes without surgery, the better for her to have a two ventricle repair!!!  The plan at this point is to schedule a heart cath for March/April and it will be a diagnostic cath because Dr. Horne wants the shunt and the ASD closed off to see heart pressures and how the heart functions.  If all goes well, then possibly close them off, if things go bad, leave them open and probably schedule surgery for the summer of 2013, as long as she continues to do as she has these last 19 months.  Lord I pray for a good report and good results during this heart cath!!!  I pray for no surgery and I pray that this heart cath is NOTHING like the last one!!    

"Witch"

For months I have asked MANY moms that have nursed babies how to wean and I have gotten lots of advise, but nothing never worked for Charlotte.  I never intended to nurse her this long, but for some reason Charlotte's pediatrician recommended that I nurse her as long as I could and I have ended up with a monster!!!  Every waking moment, Charlotte asks me for "witch".  I am sure you are wondering how it got the name "Witch", well let me tell ya.  When Charlotte was old enough to point and poke my breasts and cry for milk, I would ask her if she wanted "nene".  For a while, that is what it was called, but as she nursed, she would cry after nursing one side because she wanted to switch sides.  I would ask, "you want to switch sides"? and she would shake her head and say "peeze", so I would switch sides.  Eventually, she just started asking for "witch" and it was so cute.  Charlotte would walk up to me and rub my shirt and smell my shirt and smile that sweet smile of hers and "witch, witch, peeze mama".  I would pull her up to my lap and she would lay herself down in my lap while I prepared to nurse her.  How could I refuse?  I have had women tell me that because she was old enough to ask for it, she didn't need it anymore.  I wanted to give her all the "witch" she wanted because I know it's good for her, but boy, 18 months is a long time. and I was ready to try weaning.  So I started taking the morning and afternoon "witch" away so that she only got it at bedtime.  Boy did you know when it was bed time.  She would get all giddy and sweet and start yelling "WITCH", and run through the house looking for me.  I had been to a meeting Monday night and when I walked in the garage, I was greeted at the door by Charlotte and my husband and she was the sweetest baby ever.  So happy to see me, but more happy I was home for "Witch"!  I let her nurse her self to sleep and she had this look of satisfaction and peace on her beautiful face.  I don't know what has happened since Monday night, but Charlotte hasn't ask me for "Witch" the first time!!!  Tuesday night, Charlotte asked for milk at bed time, so I gave her a cup of milk and the rest is history!  Today is Friday and let's just say I am a little sad :(  I can't believe just that easily she has decided to give up "Witch"!  I wanted this to come so bad for the last few months, but now that it has happened, I am sad.  My baby is growing up!  Her first big decision to wean herself, and she had done a fine job.  I give her credit,,,, she has walked up to me and rubbed my shirt and smelled my shirt, but not once has she asked me for "witch", and I am so proud of her!!!     

18 Months

These last three months have really been a blur.  When I look back at the blog and I see how Charlotte has grown, it makes me HAPPY:)  Charlotte is getting to be a big girl and she is building up a vocabulary!!!  There really isn't anything she can's say.  I have a neice Hayle, well here lately Charlotte has been walking around the house saying,"Ayle -Boo".  If you decide to listen to this short video, scroll down to the very bottom of the page and pause the play list listed on the right side.  You may be able to click it quickly and hear it without pausing??

Charlotte is a smart little thing too... you can ask her where her nose, eyes, ears, arms, fingers, toes, mouth, teeth, and tongue are and she will point to it and say the name.  I need to make a video of Charlotte to show you how full of life she is.  Charlotte can hear Brian pull up from work and she starts saying "Da-Da" and when he walks in she dances and does the two step til she gets to him.  It is the sweetest thing to see.  When the girls come home from school, after snack time, they lay in the floor to read and Charlotte takes full advantage of floor time with them:)  She will walk up to one of them and kicks her leg over and sit on their stomach or back.  Then she  bounces up and down til whom ever she is sitting on begs her to get off.  I usually have to pull her off because she isn't very cooperative:)  I love to see all my girls play and have a good time.  I thank the Lord every day that He has given us this opportunity!!!

Charlotte had her 18 month check up this past Friday, and let me say it wasn't a good visit.  We get synages again this year for RSV and Charlotte got her first round of shots and a flu shot, OOUCH:(  Synages will be 2 shots every month for 6 months, this makes for a sad little girl.  But hey I am all for it if it keeps her healthy!!!  Last winter, Charlotte was hospitalized twice and I sure don't want to do through that again this year. 

Halloween was fun this year.  Our church always has a festival with trunk or treats, hay rides, face painting, food, and cake walks.  The children love it because they get to play with all of their friends and have a fun time.  The girls got to dress up and I wish that I had taken pictures of all of them, they were so cute.  Charlotte was a bumble bee, Lily and Emma were cats, Anna was a hippy chick, and Maggie was a bride (really wedding dress). 

Time flies

Wow, where has this month gone?  It doesn't seem like it is September.  I close my eyes and see the summer flash before my eyes.  August was such a busy month for our family.  We have had two weeks of Camp Meeting, 3 birthdays, Pediatrician appointments, Cardiology appointment, Immunizations appointment, dental appointment, and to top it off..........school.  At the beginning of summer, I had wondered how I was going to make it at home with the 5 of them.  Now that school has started back, I find myself wondering how I make it without having all 5 of them here.  I really miss my girls and I know Lily and Charlotte miss them.  Every morning Lily comes straight to me asking, "where's Emma, where's Maggie and Anna, I go to school today mama?"  I think Charlotte likes them being gone, she has the house and all the toys to herself.  Poor Charlotte, when Anna is home, Anna is constantly trying to hold her and carry her around the house.  Charlotte has learned the words no-no and shakes her hands like she is shewing her away trying to get the point across that she doesn't want Anna to hold or carry her.  Charlotte misses Emma..... Emma is the only one that just plays with her, and not aggravate her and Charlotte misses that.  As soon as Emma walks in the house, Charlotte follows Emma around til she sits in the floor and Charlotte hugs on her and pats her back.  It is the sweetest to watch.  Then there is Maggie.... she tries to play little mama to Charlotte.  When Charlotte gets enough of Maggie, Charlotte shews her away and it makes Maggie so mad:)  As far as birthdays, Maggie celebrated her 10th on the 7th, Emma celebrated her 5th on the 16th, and Brian celebrated on the 17th.

Cardiology appointment went well, Thank you Lord!!!  Dr. Horne said that he could hear the shunt, that it was getting louder due the shunt getting smaller and that we would go for a heat cath sometime in the spring or summer.  I was about to scream out loud because I get it in my head before the appointment that we're gonna get bad news.  I always get stressed out and worry so much just before the appointment and then we get there and nothing really to talk about because nothing has changed.....  Vicious cycle, vicious cycle. 

15 month check up and Charlotte is in the 75th percentile of weight and height and 95 percentile for head size.  I wasn't to happy about her O2 level,....... 70's.  Just last week it was 86 and today it took forever to get it out of the 60's.  I think my stomach is still queezie from reading the monitor.  I just knew that Dr. Donna would say something, but she didn't.  Never really batted an eye, so I think that maybe the monitor just wasn't working well.  I tried to get a reading with the machine I have at home, but it never reads what the office gets, so I just left it alone.  I can look at Charlotte and tell that she looks good and her color looks good, so I'm gonna try not to worry and just let her be.  Maggie and Emma had check ups and got good reports.  They both were so worried about getting shots, but VERY happy when they found out no shots til age 11.  Then Maggie realized that will be next year for her :(

Camp meeting this year was great..... Anna got saved this year and I am so happy and thankful to the Lord for answering prayers!  It is truly amazing to see your child change right in front of your eyes.  Anna has always been so sweet and loving, but the night she was saved, she hugged just about every person she new and just cried and smiled and laughed all at the same time.  It was truly beautiful, and such a blessing. 

Palmetto Hearts 5K Run & Walk

 

The event is scheduled as follows:

Palmetto Hearts 5K Run &Walk

presented by

Spartanburg Running Club

9:00 AM

Duncan Park, Spartanburg

Registration will be $25 per person. Children 13 and younger are free. All proceeds go directly to Palmetto Hearts and will benefit the families of children with CHD's. The registration fee is tax deductible.

Every paid registration will include:

Entry into the 5K Run & Walk

Event T-shirt

Entry into a raffle

Prizes will be given to the top three finishers in each age group, with divisions every five years.

This event is to raise money as well as awareness for Congenital Heart Defects, so I hope that you will register and participate!!!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Laughter

laughter fills my house and it is so wonderful.  Last night the girls and I had been swimming and having a wonderful time til the Bats decided to nose dive at us.  We quickly decided that swimming was no longer fun, but scary so we decided to get out.  But before the bats came out, we were having a pretty good time playing in the pool.  Charlotte likes the pool, but she would rather just walk around the deck naked and walk up to the edge of the pool like she wants in then runs away.  She is so funny, her little personality is really coming out.  "No-No" is her new word and that is all we hear.  No matter if she wants it or not, "No-No" and shakes her head no.  Charlotte likes to play boo and we walk around the cabinet that separates the kitchen from the living room.  I let her see me walking around it a few times and she begins to follow, then I get a little ahead of her and scare her:)  Then she turns around and chases me around the cabinet and you can hear her saying "BOO".  Charlotte is such a sweet and loving child.  She loves her sisters and she loves Daddy and me:)  Brian walks in from work and Charlotte gets a grin on her face that covers her whole face and squeals and squirms til Brian picks her up:)  If any one lays in the floor, well you may as well be ready for a wallering.  Charlotte will sit on top of you and try to tickle your neck and bounce on your tummy and just waller you to death.  It is so funny to watch her do this to her sisters.

There are so many things about my little angel that I just love and then there is one thing that I hate.  I love every thing about her, I love to hear her laugh and cry and scream and grunt for me to hold her.  I hate that we live from Cardiology appointment to Cardiology appointment wondering when we have to go back to Charleston for what ever has to be done.  I hope that by her second birthday we know what we have to do.  Last cardiology appointment, Dr. Horne told us that a heart cath will determine if surgery is required or not, so we wait for the day for the dreaded heart cath.  Remember last heart cath, 2 days post cath Charlotte ended up in the hospital for a week with a partial bowel obstruction:(  So I am not looking forward to a heart cath for many reasons.  We have a cardiology appointment August 18th so hopefully we have a little more info then.

Anyway, back to the good things in life...... I am just so thankful that we have Charlotte.  I am thankful that we get to hear her laugh and see her play and pretty much act like a normal little girl.  Life has been so much better having her in it!  Thank you Lord for all that you have done for us!

Vacation

Ok, so the school girls are out of school and I decided a few weeks ago that I wanted to "try" and get our family on vacation as soon as possible.  I found a nice place at Ocean Lakes and off to the beach we went.  The first week out of school and at the beach, what a way to start summer vacation.  I had some reservations about going to the beach with Charlotte, Dr. Horne gave me a 30 minute sun exposure limit and I thought what would be the use in going.  Well it turns out that those 30 minutes was the best 30 minutes of every day.  Charlotte absolutely LOVED the beach, the feel of the sand on her feet and hands and the waves rolling in over her legs.

 Every time Charlotte looked out into the ocean and saw her sisters playing, she would wave and squeal and scream like she wanted on her boogie board.  A friend of mine was also down with her two children and her son had dug a hole for Charlotte to play in.  Charlotte realized while playing in the hole that there was stuff in the sand......needless to say, as close as I was sitting to her, I didn't get to her in time to stop her from eating a fist full of sand!  I panicked, but it only took her a minute to realize it wasn't something that she wanted to do again!  When we were at the pool, she liked playing with the balls that sprayed water. Charlotte could spray herself  and love it, but if another child came running up splashing her in the face, she didn't like that.

 Playing outside at the beach and pool definitely took its toll on her.  Charlotte would usually be asleep on the ride back to the house, but one afternoon, she feel asleep at the pool and napped on a table for a while.  Now you know that was good sleep.... nice breeze blowing and snoozing by the pool.

 Usually the heat bothers Charlotte, but it didn't matter how hot she was, she begged to go outside and play.  So, usually in the late afternoon, I would take her out and let her roam and search and discover new things in life.  The pond beside the house usually had 2 geese and 5 gosling's, and Charlotte would just talk away like they knew exactly what she was saying.  Seeing Charlotte around animals, I can see she has a love for them.  Every day we usually went for a ride on the golf cart, Charlotte wanted to drive and would get extremely mad when we wouldn't let her.  One night, we drove to Barefoot's landing and walked around.  The girls had their faces painted and we rode the Merry Go Round.

I must say that this vacation turned out to be GREAT!  I think it was something our family definitely needed.  Seems like it's hard to keep a good thing going though.  On Friday evening Charlotte woke from her nap burning hot!  I panicked of course and straight to the drug store for some Tylenol.  With a fever of 102.4 I began wishing we were home so that I could call the Dr.  Saturday, I medicated Charlotte and we made it back to the beach house around 8p.m.  I called the phone nurse and she referred me to the Evening Clinic.  Let me just say that the Evening Clinic was not a good experience.  Seems Charlotte had an ear infection, or so the Dr. thought.  Tuesday I took Charlotte to see Dr. Donna because she still didn't seem to be herself.  Seems somehow Charlotte and Emma and Lily have the hand, foot, and mouth virus which causes very painful blisters and high fevers.  So, with nothing to treat this virus with, its just a wait it out and tend to 3 little girls who are VERY whinny!