Open Heart Surgery!

Well poor little Lizzy only gained three ounces at her last weigh in. Dr. Samyn the cardiologist thinks she should have surgery to fix the hole in her heart as soon as possible. They are going to squeeze Lizzy into the December surgical schedule. We just found out that it is going to be on Monday December 10th. After the surgery Lizzy will be in the hospital for seven to ten days! Thank goodness My mom and Andy's mom are coming to help out! I am soooo grateful for their willingness to come, espically so close to Christmas. I know they will be sacrificing a lot to come during the busy holiday season. Keep Lizzy in your prayers. Keep me in your prayers too- The thought of my baby's chest being cut open makes me nauseous and weak at the knees but I feel confident things will be okay. I love you all!

Grammuh and Grampuh's Visit

Grammuh Marilyn and Grampuh Gary visited for Lizzy's blessing and we had a great weekend with them. They showed up with all sorts of goodies and presents for all of us and we LOVE everything they brought. We ate at some yummy restaurants and had our own Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday after Lizzy's blessing. The food was delicious, I love Marilyn's cooking. Tyler had a lot of fun joking around with his grandparents, he especially loved playing with Grampuh Gary. We did lots of fun things including the Discovery World Museum in downtown Milwaukee and the Mitchel Park Domes where there are beautiful indoor gardens. Thanks for the fun visit Gary and Marilyn, we love you guys!

Lizzy's blessing

Lizzy looked like an angel in the beautiful blessing gown from Grammuh Marilyn. Andy gave a very heartfelt and sweet blessing. We were so glad to have Gary and Marilyn and our close friends there for the blessing. I only wish all our family could have been there to share the wonderful day with us.

Han Solo

Tyler put on my Baby Bjorn and said "This is my Han Solo costume!" He would shoot his gun at the storm troopers on T.V. while we watched Star Wars.

Winter is coming

Tyler had fun trying on all the winter things as I pulled them out of a a box from the basement. He put on the ski goggles and said he was a storm trooper. He wore them for at least an hour- even sitting by Andy to watch a football game.

Another medical update for Lizzy Grace

Lizzy had a bit of a disheartening visit to the Doctor’s on Monday. She has been starting to have more pronounced symptoms of the heart failure and so I called the doctor to let her know. She told me to bring her in and get another chest xray. Lizzie’s xray showed her heart had enlarged a little bit more. Dr. Samyn prescribed another medication called Captopril. Captopril will reduce the pressure on the left side of the heart so hopefully less blood will escape through that hole going the wrong way. She takes it three times a day so poor lizzy has to gag down medicine five times a day. She actually is really good at taking it- what an angel.
The worst part of our visit is that Lizzy had not gained ANY weight since the last visit which means that she truly is too tired to take in enough food. I am going to try more frequent short feedings and I have been advised to wake her up every three hours in the night to eat too. Hopefully along with the medication and more persistent food offering she will eat enough to gain weight. Dr. Samyn said it sounds like she will definitely need surgery and the sooner the better. The surgery schedule is totally full for December and kids who are already in the hospital waiting take priority so it looks like maybe January. Hopefully Lizzy will start gaining weight- the last resort is to insert a feeding tube. Does anyone have any advice getting babies to take a bottle? It would be nice to fortify her meals sometimes but she is not much of a bottle lover. We will keep trying. Thanks again for all your support and love.

My New Love

When Marilyn was visiting us to help with baby Lizzy she bought a varity of yummy treats. One of them was Haagen-Dazs Mayan Chocolate ice cream. I instantly fell in love with that chocolatey cinnamon flavor. I finally let myself buy some the other day and I have some every night before bed. Thanks Marilyn- I will blame you for not losing any of the baby weight. Just kidding. If any of you haven't tried it you must, it's heavenly!

This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween

Lizzy made a very cute pumpkin.

Tyler was Buzz Lightyear for Halloween-complete with wings that light up! He loves his costume that grandma Marilyn got for him. We went trick or treating at the Medical college along with a zillion other children of med stuents and residents. The trick or treating went into offices and rooms throughout four levels of the college. It is a really fun tradition they do every year.

These are Ty's two best friends: Mikayla Hunter (a bride) and Sam Crosby (a power ranger).

I was hoping to post some video clips but I can't get ours to upload- I'll try again tomorrow.

Pre-Halloween festivities

Pumpkin Carving

This is a Halloween "haunted house". Tyler and some friends got together at our apartment to make these cute haunted houses. They are made from chocolate graham crackers and various halloween goodies.

Tyler mostly had fun eating it afterward.