Always Busy

This weekend went by so fast. The weather was awesome we hardly came in the house. The girls played outside all day Saturday at the park, they had a blast even Tatum. I wish our back yard was big enough for swings because both girls could apparently swing forever, and thanks to Zoe I did not have to push them :)
I know I am there Mom so I am bias but I just think they are the cutest things on swings ever, LOL . I think I did a good job wearing the kids out on Sat. during the day because we were all home and in bed by 10...This coming off of a crazy Friday evening...Thanks Dana LOL.

We did walk to the park on Sat. it was about a 2mile walk so I guess I got my Brady and Sophie's walk participation in...Maybe next year I can get a walk up and running for Tatum and some of the other children I have meet over the past yr.

Sunday we went to Church to see Tori's first Communion, she look beautiful in her dress. I think that the one thing I have always felt I missed out on by not being Catholic is the first Communion dress they are always just so pretty. This particular Catholic Church we went to was by far my favorite one ever. It was not your typical church it had a band and non traditional hymns...Some things were the same, Emma asked me if it was raining when the people walked by splashing the holey water. Aren't Kids a trip... After the Church we went to Angie And Joe's for some food and visiting. It was great the kids all got to run around and play and the adults got to visit. We do not always get to see Joe's ( brother in law) side of the family often so I think it is always nice when I get to visit with them. He has a terrific family.

The girls also got to see there Great Grandma...Emma was not being so cooperative so she is not in the picture....She was tired...whatever Emma...someday she is going to wonder why she is not in any pictures with her Great Grandparents and I'll just say you were tired... Grandma seemed to be doing much better so that was a good thing.

We ending our weekend with dinner at our neighbors...It was so good Tim cooked a great steak and all the kids had a blast running around. Again Emma was pretty much passed out by the time we got home....Believe me i am going to run her again tonight when I get home LOL, isn't spring and summer great!!

OH YEAH...Tatum is doing great we have a follow up apt on Thursday. I can not believe how much older she looks now with her eyes all straight. Everyday she seems to be getting better and less red...Such a relief I am hopping we can stay out of the hospital for a good 6m...I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Check it Out

So I feel like I have been up for a while Tatum got up at 5:45 and by 6:15 was ready to get up....I guess that is really not so bad. I decided to start breakfast and see if I could get a picture of Tatum's eyes for everyone....It was a bit hard because the girls are way more interested in cartoons then me. Imagine that... Can anyone compete with that... The big think that I noticed this morning is Tatum can say Dada and knows exactly who it is.

Chris came out of the bathroom this morning and Tatum and I were hanging out in bed. As so as she saw him all we heard was DADADADADADaDADA
Looks like Tatum has her Mommies eyes...the right one is a little smaller.. :) You can also tell that she can see much better, amazing what having two eyes that work can do. LOL

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!

Well I bet you all may be a surprised as me today...You'll never guess this one...

I am Employee of the Month...Very Cool huh!!! I got such nice compliments I thought I was going to cry. I guess I ma not doing as bad as I thought! :)

I'm a Freak!!!

So I am beginning to think that I am the biggest freak ever. This morning I called the emergency number from Tatum's surgery to ask the on-call Dr. if Tatum was being normal...I had to call twice to even get anyone...I guess no one is good in the morning...I have just gotten her to open her eyes enough to put her drops in and eat and now she is sleeping again...Is this normal?

The Dr. told us yesterday that she would be back to her old self when she woke up this morning...yeah right the only thing back to normal is her pooping and her eating...surprise surprise....Nice to know the chow hound is not starving herself right!!! She sleep pretty much all night ( in my bed) every time she woke up we would stick a bottle in her mouth and she would go right back to sleep. I have also been giving her Tylenol, i can not figure out it if is her swollen eyes that hurt or her swollen gums...her top teeth are cutting through you can see them right there just bugging her...poor girl.

I did call a friend of mine who's son has had quite a bit of eye surgery and problems and she made me feel a bit better about everything and told me specifics to look for. She said she would stop by and take a look...and actually a Dr. from Hopkins just called again to tell me she was sorry about the mix up this morning and seee how Tatum was doing now...she said it was normal unless her eyes become red and swollen and pussy...ewe...

I think Chris and I though it was not going to be so long and exhausting for all three of us...this is clearly the worst thing we have had to do to her so far and I am sure now that she is older it doesn't help much... We actually had a one of our earlier Dr.'s compare it to ear tube surgery....I am thinking that that lady never had tubes because that is a total in and out thing in by 7 out by 10 literally....I know Emma has had tubes twice... All I can say is thank God we did not do this at Shady Grove and more importantly that we have new doctors!!!

AHHHHH SHE WAKES...

Ok I feel much better now she just woke up and she has her eyes opened and is checking out her toy....I think we are going to be OK and I feel much better about going to work now..... I actually got a smile although I could not catch it...I'll keep you all posted but now that I am done freaking I think she is going to make it.

All Good

I promise I'll do a much better post tomorrow...It has been a super long day we got to Hopkins around 7 and got home about 7pm...All is good and from what I can tell her eyes looks great but she really has not opened them to much...We all need sleep, I know her post op nurse can tell you that when she found Chris Tatum and I all asleep in her bed at one point LOL...anyway she is crying so I have to run....

Anticipation

Welp this is our last day with crossed eyes....I can not believe the time is actually here and not getting cancelled...I guess three is really a charm, take one last good look at those eyes...

This weekend was beautiful...It was the type of weekend I had imagined the we would be having last summer, but that was not the case as you all know. Last summer I was the lady at the pool with a 6m old disguised as a newborn...This summer I am going to be the one with the show stopper, we no longer can go anywhere without Tatum getting a ton of attention ...I tell ya Tatum's hair is cute enough to stop traffic alone. She has just turned into this active babbling cutie pie.Finally we are getting more then DADADADADADA... Also it seems like I am going to be outside alot since that is where both girls seem to be happiest. Good thing the two of them tan very well...and I though Emma got dark in the summer, I do not think that she is going to hold a candle to Tate.

I love being outside so this is really nice that Tatum can play and entertain herself a bit more....she is even trying to eat by herself, but I think we are still a ways off before that happens...LoL But no worries believe it or not her dress even came clean...haha gotta love spray and wash.

The most recent development with Tatum and Emma for that matter is how much the two of them love each other. Emma has become very protective of Tatum and for Tate Emma is who the sun set and rises on....She cries when Emma leaves her and she is happy when she is around. This morning ( to bad my camara was dead) Tatum woke up while I was in the shower. I heard her talking in her Crib when I got out. I grabed my robe and went to check on her and to mu surprise I found Emma and Tatum in Tate's crib. Emma had woken up when she herd Tatum crying and went to take care of her...what a terrific little helper... I can not stress enough how good they are together.



We did spend the entire weekend with friends and kids...If this is any indication of how this summer is going to be I am very excited...I can not wait to enjoy the summer!!!

1 down 1 to go...

Well as always yesterday was not dull at all. Tatum was a dream come true, she could eat nothing and had a very good attitude about it. Once we arrived at Hopkins parked registered and everything we waited about 5 min.…How great that was, a nice change…

We meet everyone that was going to be conducting the MRI…Dr. Spevak his Asst and the Cardiac anesthesiologist; Dr. Brenner had made sure the pediatric anesthesiologist was from cardiology. He is most likely not going to be the same one next week but he is going to instruct the others on how she is under anesthesia. I was very pleased that he was there it was very comforting and really knew what he was doing. Chris went to the back to hold Tatum while she was put under (his job, I can not do it) then we headed to the good ole hospital cafeteria for breakfast.

Once back in the waiting room I figured we had about an hour left so I ease dropped on a stupid conversation these two grown ups were having…It was so bad I had to just turn on my IPOD…They were actually blaming Monday on rap music and Imus…(shacking my head…) I could not wait for them to get up so I could tell Chris how nutty they were. Before the time for that came Dr. Spevak came out to the waiting room…way to early… Thanks goodness his first words were Tatum is fine…But the MRI machine has gone down and to get it working again it is going to need serious repairs…Great!!! We (the doctors) decided to head on down to the CT Scanner to finish up. Although that machine would not be able to tell doppler and some measurements they felt that they had enough info from the MRI pictures before it broke, her last echo, most recent cath (done in October) an the new CT images to create a pretty good baseline.

The CT Scan actually produces very good pictures; comparable to the pictures you would get from a cath. Before we headed into recovery Dr. S told us that he probably did not have anything new that we had not heard although he did say that the branch pulmonary in the lungs are still very small…I guess only the beginning section is a normal size…also the smallest part of her aorta is the SVAS. It does get a tiny bit bigger descending after the arch size but still way to small. The Doctor commented that Chris and I were funny, in a good way and that he enjoyed watching the way we process information…He commented on how we role reverse compared to the norm…he said it was not bad totally normal, and a fresh change to be around…I guess that was a complement, right, regardless we love Dr. Spevak!!

We hung out in recovery for about forty-five mins waiting for Tatum to wake up. Once she awoke and started drinking they told me I could hold her. It was all over after I picked her up…still not fussing she just started taking anything that she could get unstuck off. The nurse took that as a sing she was ready to go and began to unplug…

On the way home Chris stopped and got me a anniversary gift (6yrs on Sat) such a sweetie, and I had nothing to do with it…LOL, yeah right… Anyway we got home about 2:30 and decided to go out for a nice lunch together…we are not going to go out this weekend so we took advantage of yesterday afternoon. It was really nice to enjoy lunch and a few beers with my husband we hardly ever get to do that, actually I do not even think that I can remember the last time.

I am sure we well hear from Dr. Brenner soon regarding yesterday’s results. Now we focus on the eyes…I got my days mixed up it is set for Tuesday not Wed. oops…I just want to get it over with.

Cry it Out

I must admit that I hate the term cry it out, and since we are being honest until last night it is something that we had really never done before. OK before you start thinking poor Tatum it is not her. Tatum is a pretty good sleeper and even when she is fighting going to sleep tooth and nail she is still out by 9...Now Emma on the other hand goes to bed at 8:30 but lately it has been 10-10:30 by the time she falls asleep.

When she was little she would always do bottle bed not fuss nothing, the later she would stay up the later she would sleep in, so on the weekend we let her stay up. We have been lucky that as babies both girls do this bottle bed thing without to much hassle.
Now that Emma is older she wants books every night and snuggle...Well snuggle has turned into staying with her until she falls asleep. We have been slowly trying to get out of her room more and more but for the most part Chris or I fall asleep in there too.

Our little Emma has become so fresh. Last night Chris had to put her in time out, one to many No's and random melt downs. I went to check on her after her room got quiet and noticed she has cried herself to sleep at 7...not good, she had not eaten, I woke her up not fun...anyway after about a good 15 mins of tears trying to wake up she finally was ready to come downstairs to eat.

After she ate and realized that there were no cartoons she asked to go to bed and read. During her second book she would not leaved me alone...hands on my face on the book poking...finally I said one more time and no book...not one min later she lost the book....I told her No book just snuggles and to bed. This did not go over so well snuggle was not enough so I gave her a kiss told her good night and was gone. She screamed in her bed for 30 mins...Chris and I think that is the longest we have had a cry it out in our house...I know we are suckers only handling 30 mins but...

Chris went to her room to talk to her explain why she was there, and try to calm her down...she is now keeping us awake...All was quiet when Chris came back to bed but he told me it was my turn. Emma knew I was only coming in for a kiss and a fast snuggle, that is it!I gave kisses and more snuggles then explained it was time for Mommy to go to bed....Again TEARS...I guess we won because this bout only lasted 10 mins...I sure hope she is getting the point because crying kids at bed time is no fun!!!

To close for comfort...

What is our world coming to!? I have Co-worker who has a freshman daughter at VA Tech. Thank god she is OK... You can not get on a plane with a ball point pen or a half full bottle of hand lotion but a gun on a college campus in the school buildings go for it...

My heart goes out to the 20 plus parents of the college students that were shot and killed today while attending there regular school classes...What type of place are we living in....It scares me more that my children are going to grow up in a digressing society then any disability they have.

This is said to be the worst school shooting in US history!!

When you care to send the best...

Props to Hallmark...

I am so not a card fan,it is not thta I do not like them I just don't like to buy them. I think that my friends and family should be able to let you know that it is a rare occosion you actually get a card from me. I never attach them to gifts and hardly ever buy one....I do send out Christmas cards but I think tht is different...
Anyway to my Point, This week I recieved two cards from my Dad, one for Easter and one out of the blue
...pretty cool everyone loves good mail... Anyway I think that they were the best cards and I wanted to share...
My Easter Card was so sweet it was a online card that played beautiful music and said the nicest thing...by far my fav online card ever...If that did not make you cry my Dad's comment did...

"I am so very proud of the way you have grown the past year. I know is has not been easy, but you are making it look easy." What a super nice thing to say...
On Friday I checked the mail only to find this ...

"In the face of such uncertianity believe in these two things...
you are stronger then you think and you are not alone.

"I can be changed by happens to me . I refuse to be reduced by it"... Maya Angelou

Anyway thanks Dad :) You always have the right thing to say.
Had I been out looking for Cards I can think of a bunch of people tht would have gotten this 2 one...

Early Start

I would love nothing more then to be sleeping right now but that is not really Tatum idea...She has been talking loudly since about 4...Finally I had to jump in the shower and take her downstairs...Lucky for me I TIVO'ed Rumor has It last night so I have something to watch.

Ahhhh another Friday, did I mention Tatum rolled off our bed this morning...LOL she is over it now, I guess it did not bother her to much.I wish I knew how kids can function on no sleep, Oh well. As long as I keep giving her girl scout cookies we're good...her fav's are Trefoils and Samoa's...kinda funny those are mine and Chris' favorite too.

We are STILL awake...someone is going to get a great nap today, to bad it is not me. The best part of being up this early is getting to watch a movie. Rumor has It was a cute movie if you have not seen it

Tatum got this piggie rocker for her birthday and she has recently figured it out...Emma has some competition now, this is the first toy that they both want at the same time... It is adorable ;)

Emma just woke up and informed me that she did not sleep with blankie last night, she actually stopped sucking her thumb about 3 weeks ago,anyway she said "I need to get the holes that hurt in her ears..."You don't think Chris has been talking to her about ear piercing do ya...
I better get moving breakfast time :)

Kim from Infant and Toddlers is coming by at 8am to do our yearly whatever it is called..review I guess...Hard to believe that Tatum has been in there program a year now. She has certainly come along way, she was so tiny when we started with them.Now look at our big girl...


Next Wed. we have a MRI and the following Wed. eye surgery, Finally...She'll be sedated longer for the MRI then the surgery...I think that I am not going to think about this stuff until next week...Have a nice weekend everyone!!! XO

Check out my Slide Show!

BURRRRRRR

What a Chilly Easter Egg hunt we had yesterday...I decided Easter dresses were out the window when we woke up to snow flurries...70 an Dec and 32 in April...what is the deal??? It was almost to cold to even hide the eggs...
Every year Emma gets the holidays even more, it has been a pretty funny thing to watch. I think that this yr takes the cake...at least until next Christmas who knows what she'll do then...

After the egg hunt and brunch at Chris' sisters house we headed over to Julie's house for a late lunch. We were a bit late so when we arrived they had already started eating and Molly was on the floor jamming to the Wiggles; and when I say jamming I mean it...she was moving, too cute... Chris and I quickly sat down to eat while my girls joined Molly...

The Wiggles could only hold my kids for so long, Tatum smelled food and made it over to the highchair and Emma well she is just a busybody so she had to check out the new seen...Anyway the My Mom said to Emma "Do you know what today is?" Emma's response was "Yes, it's Easter, do you have a basket for me?" I nearly died, although it was very funny. I guess I have to work on the real meaning of holidays with her...

I think that Chris and I need to go to a Easter Basket class, we could also use a stocking stuffer one too... She got a super lame basket from the Easter Bunny I'm not so sure what he was thinking...LOL
She looked at Chris and I and said I thought today was a special day, where's all the candy...OK so what do you do for a kid that does not like Chocolate??? I got her two big peez eggs...I think she was comparing baskets with the others she saw, OK so we have a bit of work to do...Grammy gave her a great basket that should count for something, right...

I have cute pictures of the freezing egg hunt but I can not find the cord now to download pics...this means I have to use the big computer at home sometime this evening...yeah right I am so sure I'll get to that...I did find the charger, I just wish I could find all the pieces at the same time...wouldn't that be great!!!

Widespread Panic

Well Chris and I had a terrific time last night. It is so nice to be able to just go out with him every once in a while...Since so many of you all ask Who is Widespread I have decided to share one of my favorite songs...They even played it last night :)ok so that was for the song Mercy that I orginally had up for you all. It did not play so had to change it...well Brandy had to change it... lol. They did not play this song but it is still good, they all are :)... Enjoy...

sorry if you missed the song :)


Oh yeah I also want to make a small correction the BP number I gave you all yesterday is the top number on her arms and am not sure of hte bottom numbers...I ma just trying ot figure outthe whole BP thing...Great something else to learn :)

Long Day

This morning Chris and I took Tatum to Hopkins for a Echo, EKG, and Dr. visit. We were a hour late due to the traffic, it was horrendous. It was raining but this was worse then rain traffic. It took us over 2 hours to get to Baltimore, this is normally a 45min trip. I did call to let them know we were in traffic and would be late.

Once there we were immediately taken off to do the echo. The tech took 65 pictures in less then a hour. I have never been more impressed by Tatum in my life. She laid there for a hour watching Sesame Street, not one cry the entire time...she was so easily entertained and pleasant all day, I think the whole office was impressed. She was the same for her EKG and while they took her blood pressure. It was the first time that we were actually told her blood pressure... 144/116 little high ya think... maybe that is why no one would ever answer that question...

Anyway the good new is that her branch pulmonary arteries are now measuring normal for a baby of 19lbs. The Dr. also said that she was not sounding like there was a blockage to be concerned about there anymore...or something like that. He mentioned that they would still be monitored, it is possible that they could grow to much...isn't elasticity a bitch..lol. This growth is common in Williams and almost expected from Tatum since she has grown so much in the last few months.

The Aorta is still very small from the arch on down, it to has grow but not anything substantial. Tatum is scheduled for a MRI on the 14, she'll actually be under longer for this then her eye surgery on the 24. The good thing about the MRI is that Dr. Brenner well get a complete view of Tatum's situation.
When the MRI is complete he is planning to present it to the whole group and get back with us. The MRI is also going to give the anesthesia people a chance to get familiar with Tatum prior to the 24....I might remember more later right now I am just so tired and we just got home a little bit ago. The girls are actually staying with Aunt Catina and the fam tonight. Chris and I are headed back down to Baltimore to catch a little Widespread...AHHH Such fun...I better grab a quick nap so I am ready to dance...

feeling old...a little

Today is a very special day...My baby sister turns 30...no more twenties for her...I do not know why it makes me feel old at least she is joining me...
Julie's husband had a terrific surprise party for her on Sat night...That was tons of fun. To bad I can not find my camera charger so no pictures until I get some emailed to me :(

....I gotta tell ya Julie you look just as good today as you did at 29 :) Love You...Happy B-day

I know I could not have made it this far without you..thanks for all your support

About Time...

I was finally able to get a decent picture of the girls over the weekend... Emma is a ham so I knew she was not going to be the problem and Tatum is a baby and you can just never get them to do anything on command. I was not so pleased with the pictures of them together but at least I got a good One yr Picture of Tatum and a cute one of Emma... I ended up buying a collage sheet so I could get print of the girls together without having to buy them...

Today Autumn and Gran Z came over for a early dinner. It was so nice to visit with them both Gran Z is AWESOME... I could have guessed that though because Autumn and Aspen are the best!!! Now to get Daven up here for a visit ;)

I have to give Autumn and her Mom credit they hit all the tourist spots during peak season...spring break and the Cherry Blossom Festival...I do not want to even imagine the crowds they had to endure. We stay as far away from the District that we can during this time of year, I am very happy seeing the Cherry Blossom's on the news...maybe we'll make it there some time...NAH... they usually bloom after the festival anyway...this yr was special they were on time...

They really are beautiful...I am not saying we do not see them we just bypass the festival ;) Maybe next yr it'll be time to take the girls to see them.

I hope everyone had a good weekend I know we did. I'll have to touch on it more later ;)