Happy Holidays!

Merriest Wishes Snow Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

2010 Holiday Cards

Each year, beginning sometime in November I begin to browse website after website to see all of the different designs being offered for Holiday Cards.  Besides the fact that I'm just plain picky, choosing a Holiday card that represents our large family is actually quite the task!  So what am I usually looking for in our card?  First, a card that has the right layout to fit as many pictures as I want to include in it!  Getting a photo of our six family members, where we ALL look decent can be daunting, so I usually look for a holiday card that will fit individual photos of each of my kids.  I usually end up just getting my cards from either Costco or Sam's Club - the standard photo card.

This year, I've been asked to check out the cards that they have to offer on Shutterfly and to blog about what I think of their 2010 holiday card line.  I have to say, I just spent the last hour going through all of their cards and I absolutely loved 90% of them!  They have so many different styles to choose from; Classic, Modern, Fresh and Fun!  My absolute FAVORITE card they offer this year is very simple, but I just love it.  It is called Merry Rainbow and can be found by clicking on the link.  The photo I wanted to use for our cards this year, doesn't fit quite right with this card design, so I may just have to take the kids out on another photo shoot this weekend to make it work! 

Instead of the standard flat card that I usually send out every year, I would like to go ahead and order folding cards.  Shutterfly makes it very easy to make your cards fit your family's needs by offering many different layout styles for the inside of the card.  They have anything from time lines of the year, to various photo options, and 2010 highlights.  Their website is pretty user friendly too. 

Shutterfly is offering 50 Free Holiday Cards to those of you who also have a blog and would like to blog about your experience, or opinions of their cards.  Let me know if you participate too!  If you don't want to blog about shutterfly for free cards, their prices seem very reasonable too.  We are really counting our blessings this year and getting excited that the holidays have finally arrived.  They are much welcome in our house after such a stressful last couple of months!  We LOVE getting cards too!  The kids and I find ourselves so excited checking the mail each day during this time of year.  :)

If you want to browse through the Shutterfuly card collections, here are the links below:

Christmas Photo Cards
Christmas Cards
Holiday Cards
Photo Mugs
Birthday Party Cards
Holiday Invitations

Cutest Halloween Kids Ever :)

I think I can say rightt?  I do realize that my opinion might be a little biased.  ;)

Feeling like a loser mom today :(

Just sitting here with my 1 yr old sprawled out sound asleep across my lap, checking emails, blogging, facebooking, and feeling like everyone at the kids school must be so fed up with me and all of our "drama".  Last year, I felt like I wasn't really able to do much at Hayden's school, because of having a newborn, and then working full time the second half of the year.  I felt so bad when he would ask me to work in his class, but I couldn't because I had THREE little ones at home.  This year, I vowed I would do more at school, so Hayden will feel like I'm more involved - like his friends parents.  The year started out good too!  I said I would help with Co-Fundraising on the PSP (pta) Board, I volunteered to chair the Jogathon, signed up to work every other week in Kindergarten, and 3rd grade....Heck, I even volunteered to be one of the music docents in 3rd grade when I can't carry a tune to save my life!  Then we found out about Evan's heart.

I had to step down as chair of the Jogathon, and haven't been able to go to a PSP meeting since.  I haven't worked in Hayden's class at all, and have only "helped" with one music docent lesson so far.  The kids Harvest Carnival is coming up tomorrow, and I'm THAT parent, who hasn't signed up for a shift for either the Kindergarten, 3rd grade booth, OR PSP table!  Everyone is probably annoyed that I haven't, but I just can't bring myself to commit to anything yet.  I thought we would skip Harvest Carnival altogether this year, but of course the kids have been begging to go, and we could probably use a little fun time around here anyway!  I feel so guilty taking the older kids, and not working.  I feel like I should just go hide!  Ugh.  :(   Evan still has to stay home, which means either Obee or I have to stay with him and the other parent gets to take the three to the carnival.  Hopefully the other parents won't be too mad that I'm there and really NOT doing my share of the work.

Follow up Visits Complete....and he's lookin' good!

Evan with his very special cardiologist.  He is the best!!!

So last Friday, Evan had his follow up visit with Dr. Manohar (his cardiologist), and yesterday he had his post op xray and visit with the surgeon's office. He is doing SO wonderfully, even better than I ever could have hoped for! He hasn't had any Tylenol for almost a week now, and doesn't seem to need it either. Sometimes I wish he wasn't so little so we could explain to him that he just had open heart surgery, and he needs to let himself rest and heal! Yeah right! He sure doesn't think so! Because he isn't walking yet, and loves loves LOVES to crawl, caring for him has been a little more difficult in some aspects. For instance, we must either hold him in our arms ALL the time, OR he can go in his walker. It's funny, because before the surgery he absolutely HATED the walker (I even almost donated it) but now he loves it since it's his only source of freedom from us! 'Haha! I worry about putting him in it too often though, because he does push on his belly and chest to make race through the house! If we put him on the floor, or in the crib, he goes straight to the crawling position. The countdown is on....4 more weeks til Evan can CRAWL!

"Oh noooo, Not AGAIN mom!!!!"

Incision 8 days post op

Incision 12 days post op,  Looks good!!  Our little warrior should be proud of that scar!

I said No more pictures MOM!!!

Taken today....Mmmm bouncy ball!

 We have had the kids home this week...sort of. We decided we missed them too darn much to have them gone so long!!! They have been switching off nights between home and my parents house, and it has been some great one on one time with each of them too. I think I have the best kids ever! {Okay, okay...I know...every mom thinks that right?? Especially when they've been gone for two weeks!} I'll come back to reality in a few days, but for now I'm going to just enjoy the abundance of love!

Anyway, Evan is doing great. Thank you for all of the delicious meals, and for those to come! I cannot tell you enough how absolutely WONDERFUL it has been not having to worry about cooking dinner while holding Evan at the same time!!!

Quick trip in the fresh air to Green Acres

This girl is gonna move mountains someday!!!

On a side note, I came down with the most horrible pain in the back of my ear on Sunday.  Within hours, my ear, face and neck became red, swollen, and HOT to the touch.  I went to the ER on Sunday morning where the ER doc basically had no idea what the problem was.  He gave me two antibiotics and sent me on my way, suggesting that I might have shingles.  I was pretty sure I didn't, and wondered how antibiotics would help with shingles, but figured I'd give em a whirl.  The pain and swelling continually got worse over the last two days, to the point where it was unbearable.  I went back to the ER this morning, where called an ENT in right away.  He said I probably have cellulitis, and prescribed a different antibiotic, steroids, and some pain meds.  After one dose, I am already feeling slightly better!  I go back to see the ENT on Friday, so please keep your fingers crossed that I'm well by then!  Thank you!

School Pictures are here

Ellie Grace - Kindergarten Photo

Not really the best quality, because I took a picture of them with my camera, but I thought I would share them on here anyway! Gotta love those funky smile - super posed-stiff school photos! What is it about school pictures, that makes me think I HAVE to get them every year, even though they aren't really the best representation of my kids? I don't know! I will probably continue to get them though. They are pretty cute kids! 

Hayden Anthony - 3rd Grade

Welcome Home Evan!

We are home!!!  Hooray!  I have to write this quick, because this little man does NOT let me put him down, and even when I do put him down, he wiggles so much that I think he might hurt himself.  We loaded up the wagon at the hospital with all of our stuff, and headed home yesterday.  We came home to find the house all decorated for Halloween, with two welcoming posters in the front!  One made by my mom and the kids, the other one is a mystery!!!  We love love loved all of the neat stuff to come home to!  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!  We also had some new Halloween decorations in the yard, from our mystery person!  The kids were so excited to see the signs and the blow up witch!  Thank you! 

Evan all packed and ready to leave his hospital room to go home.  His first chance to get his hands on all of the beautiful heart beads had been admiring all week above his bed!

Walking out to the car

Yay!!!!  So excited I get to go home!

The fun decorations and posters we came home to!

So far, being home has been an experience.  We still have to give him the lasix medication every twelve hours for the next four weeks.  This medicine is a diuretic that keeps fluid from pooling around his heart.  Makes him pee a ton!  Evan is going through some anxiety after his whole experience, and is not really back to his normal happy go lucky self yet.  He whines/whimpers every time either one of us leaves the room (even if he's already being held by one of us).  He still wants to nurse ALL the time, and when he falls asleep, if I move in the slightest  bit, he gets upset that I might be leaving his side.  We can't put him down because he tries to crawl - but can't - and ends up falling down on his chest because it's too painful to put the weight on his arms.  (He's not supposed to crawl for 6 weeks anyway though, so we basically have to hold him all of the time)  I love holding him, but being able to go to the bathroom or brush my teeth, is always a little easier without a baby in your arms!  

Thank you for all of the meals we have already received and will be receiving this month!  I felt a little guilty accepting them, but am so grateful for them!  Especially now that I see just how demanding caring for him is going to be!  Thank you!  I am continually amazed by how lucky we are to have all of the wonderful people we have praying, thinking of him, helping us, and taking care of my family! 

All Packed...Discharge probably today at 3pm :)

The three of us woke up bright and early this morning at 6am.  Knowing that today is probably "go home" day, we started packing up the room, first thing.  Took down all of his cards, his string of heart beads, packed up all the pillows and blankets and misc stuff in the car.  It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate here in just 6 days!

Last night, while I was eating my lunch (yes, I didn't get lunch in until dinner time), Evan was begging for some real food.  We ordered him up a dinner tray, and a high chair and he was SO happy!  I think just putting him in the highchair was a nice relief for him....we're all getting a little tired of this hospital bed.  Right after eating,  he did throw up, but at least he's keeping down the breast milk now. 

Yesterday, the surgeon told me I was NOT to breastfeed him anymore, because they needed to know exactly how much he was taking in, in order to set up his prescriptions for going home.  He will be on antibiotics, tylenol, and lasix (not sure of the spelling) to keep draining fluids out of him).  Well, that lasted for about a 1/2 hour of him screaming/crying bloody murder and refusing to take his milk from a bottle, before I finally gave in and decided it wasn't going to work.  Our fav nurse agreed, that I should probably just breastfeed him, but I think she was afraid the surgeon would be upset.  I assured her I would take the blame.  Later I told him that breastfeeding seemed to be our only option, and he seems okay with it, so that's good!  Only dilemma now is that he went without nursing for so long, that he's got some kind of anxiety about the whole thing.  He won't take a bottle for Obee now, and he seems to want to use me for a pacifier 24/7!  Hopefully that won't last too long and he will be assured he won't lose the nummies again for awhile.  haha.

They are getting everything ready for us to go home around 3pm.  The surgeon asked us if we want to go home today, as Evan is doing so much better!  We said yes!  I did mention I am a little nervous about taking him home and caring for him, and he said we can stay a few more days if we would prefer.  We opted for going home, so wish us luck that things aren't too difficult once we get there!  We have to keep him away from people as much as possible for the next month, and he is NOT allowed to crawl for at least 6 weeks....um...that should be a lot of fun.  {can you feel the sarcasm in my voice?}  He can't use his arms to pull himself to standing either.  Putting him down, and keeping him from doing those two things would be virtually impossible.  I see myself holding him or breastfeeding him all the time for the next six weeks in my future!  Hopefully it will go by quickly.

We return here to see his cardiologist on Friday morning, and then return here AGAIN to see his surgeon on Monday and to have xrays done.  On Thursday I'm supposed to cook in Ellie's class and do music docent in Hayden's, so I see a busy week ahead already and am feeling a little stressed about how everything will fall into place. 

We unplugged Evan from all of his machines today, and have been giving him wagon rides around the ICU unit. He has been playing the ipod and singing as we go around the floor in circles, enjoying himself.  I'm glad that everyone here now gets to see the real Evan, and not the Evan they met that first couple of days/nights!  He's a little charmer, that's for sure.

Day 5...and hoping to be home tomorrow!

Well, Evan is doing great today!  The "downs" from yesterday have been mostly resolved and he is looking like my boy again!  We had a little bit of a scare last night before bed because his heart rate dropped down into the low 60's, the pacer wires had already been taken out, and it was staying in those numbers pretty steadily.  The surgeon was a little concerned, so he did an EKG which showed everything normal.  He also ordered an Echo for this morning with the cardiologist, just to get a better look and see that the repair looks normal.  Evan was also very sweat while sleeping, (in this room that's always set to 59 degrees!)  so he was concerned that those two factors could  mean he had fluid around the heart that wasn't draining properly.  Turns out, everything looks normal!

Evan is also doing so well today!  We tried breastfeeding again this morning, and he did it just fine without throwing up or choking.  Once he knew the breast was back, I could NOT get him to stop!  If I go more than two feet away from him, he freaks out because he doesn't want to be too far from the milk!  Ha!  Unfortunately, the surgeon said we have to bottle feed him so we can get a good measurement of how much milk he is drinking.  Well, at least I got a few feedings in there, right?!  His heart rate is back up this morning too.

I decided this boy needed a bath.  He was gettin' kind of smelly, and he was all gooey from all of the tape marks all over his arms, legs, belly, and chest.  They gave us some soapy cloth things and we cleaned him up as best as we could.  He's not allowed to get ANY water on his chest for awhile either, so sponge baths it will be for this boy!

They removed two of the IV lines, and his final chest tube today!  Yay!  SO, he is much more free now, with only the central IV line (near the groin) and the wires to monitor his heart rate and oxygen levels.  We actually got to take a walk around the sixth floor and it was SO nice to get out of this room with him for a few!

Day 4...Ups and Downs

THE UPS:

- The smiles are back!

- We are loving our nice big hospital bed that we can lay right next to him in

- We no longer need a fulltime nurse in our room 24/7 (so I don't have to be quite so embarrassed about not being able to carry a tune when singing lullabies to my lil' guy)

 - Bubbas can keep his heart rate up now, and we got to remove the pacemaker wires altogether

- The nurse that told me to leave the room every time Evan cried is off for the weekend

- Evan got to try to breastfeed today

- We are off of ALL the meds, except for tylenol, diuretics to drain fluids, and antibiotics

 
THE DOWNS:

- Evan can't keep any food down anymore (he had 1 day of pedialyte feedings, and one day of bottle fed breast milk feedings with no problems, but today he is refusing my milk, and ends up throwing up with just one sip of it) 


- Evan is hungry, but can't eat because he's throws it up  :(


- The final chest drainage tube has to stay in for another day


- Oxygen stays on for at least one more day


- Obee and I are so exhausted from lack of sleep that we had a bad morning of being irritated with each other (luckily a shower for each of us, and lunch helped that tremendously)


- Although Evan is SO much better today, I feel like something is "off."  I can't put my finger on what it is, other than the fact that he's super sweaty, vomiting, and can't/won't eat.  The doctors tell me it's a side effect from the general anesthesia, but it seems odd to me that he had liquids just fine for two days after surgery, and this is happening just now.  If anyone has any ideas/advice to offer about this, I would love to hear it!

Good Morning!

Good Morning From Evan's hospital room!  I was going to write, "This is the view we woke up to this morning" but had to rethink it since it's really just the view we were ALREADY awake for!  Ha!  Yeah, the lack of sleep is really starting to set in.  We're getting a little grumpy, and could both use about a week of sleep!  I've probaby slept about 8 hours total Since Wed. night.  Obee a bit more, but not much.  I could really go for some starbucks this morning, but neither of us feels like leaving..,,SO, I'll probably settle for some more apple juice or hospital coffee.  ;)  Poor little Bubba isn't getting enough sleep either.  It's great that he's in a bed we can lay down in now, but everytime he falls asleep, they need to do an xray, take his blood pressure, pound on his back...you know, the norm around here.  Hopefully he'll get a little more rest today.  I keep falling alseep, even while writing this!  Oh my. 

If you're thinking about coming to visit while Evan is in the hospital, we love having visitors!  We just cannot have anyone coming if you think you might be even the slightest bit sick.  We are at Sutter Memorial on F St in Sacramento, 6th Floor Picu.

Ummmm....just fell asleep again.  Going to end this now and get some rest....maybe.

Prayer Beads & Get Well Wishes

So, once things started to settle down here, we finally got his room all decorated.  We brought the cards that everyone sent him, all of the drawings that Ellie and Jordyn have been making him, his balloon, and his prayer beads.  Some may think it's a little silly decorating his PICU room with all of this stuff, but I have to tell you how nice and comforting it is walking into this room - because of all the those items!  Evan's room is directly across from the nurses desk, and the doors to the room are glass sliding doors (they pretty much take up the entire wall, so the nurses can easily see in here and gain quick access when needed.

We strung most of the heart beads he has received to hang up on this glass door.  Some of the beads, we used to hang right around his bed, to be closer to him.  Then, I taped up a bunch of his cards on the glass door all below the string of heart beads.  If you don't see your card here, it's because I taped the cards back to back, so it looks nice when you are entering the room too (and not just when you are IN the room).  Anyway, the beads would NOT stay up on that window!  I had like 5 pieces of tape on each side and every couple hours they would fall...SO frustrating!  We decided to hang them instead, from some hooks on the ceiling above his bed.  It's not as pretty as it was hanging on the glass, but I think it was a better solution because now HE is enjoying them more than anyone!  He lays in the bed and stares up at them when he's awake, and is completely mesmerized by them!

Thank you everyone who sent him a heart!  You have no idea how special this is to us, and will be in the years to come.  Thank you Renee for giving us the idea to do this!

 One of the funnest surprises we got this week, was the giant card made by Ellie's Kindergarten class! We LOVE LOVE LOVE the card and it looks just perfect hung up on the sliding door! It says, Happy Birthday Evan on the Front, and inside it says Get Well Soon and Feel Better! It is colored all over (front and back) and has been signed by all of the kindergartners, her teacher and her principal. When I'm sitting here feeling discouraged, or just plain exhausted, I can't help but get a huge smile on my face when I look at it! I think it was also WONDERFUL for Ellie to be able to make this with her class. THANK YOU!

Card from Ellie's class

Day 3 Big Day!!

I'm so VERY exhausted, but didn't want to end our day without first updating everyone on how great today was for Bubbas!  Here was how the day went {in pictures}...



He decided to start waking up without screaming, twisting, and flying out of the bed around 2:30am for about an hour at a time every four hours.  By the morning, he was staying awake for a few hours at a time...still no smiles though.  As you can see, he HATES the Oxygen blowing in his nose, but can't seem to keep his oxygen levels up high enough to do without it. 



At 9:30am, he FINALLY got to drink some breastmilk!!!  Yay!!!!  He's getting 2oz every four hours.  I'm hoping that by tomorrow afternoon we are allowed to actually breastfeed!

Holding Daddy's healing hands

Awake, and we can't seem to take our hands off of him!

One of the test tubes and the arterial catheter come out!  (This is our nurse, and his surgeon in the photo)

Time for another chest xray

Special Visit from Gramma and big brother and sisters  :)

Ooooh, things are looking brighter!  Letting that sunlight shine in his room!

And the BEST moment of MY day!  My baby back in my arms for the first time in 56 hours!

He moves from the gurney to a big boy bed, where we can lie down next to him!  (That's where I'm sleeping tonight too)

More special visitors, Lupita and Anna, kept ME sane tonight by staying for awhile and just "hanging out" in the room with us