Hawaiian Day

Last week Amelia's daycare had Hawaiian Day. She LOVES her daycare provider and has so much fun with her. We're so lucky to have found such a great place for her to stay while I'm working.

Today we have a birthday party and tomorrow we are going to the ZOO! So I'll have lots of cute pictures from that :) Amelia's been sick but is feeling better today - I was worried that our zoo trip would have to be postponed but as of now it looks like we're on. I'll put some pictures up tomorrow (hopefully).

Visiting Nonna and Papa

Just a few pics from Father's Day weekend - swimming at Mark's dad's house. Amelia's Uncle Eric brought his dog Ozzie along - he was just Amelia's size.

After a nap (with some M&Ms) Amelia was ready to go again. Lots of candy later we headed home.

Another Day, Another Picnic

Today was our playgroup's start-of-summer picnic. We were a little worried it was going to get rained out, because it monsooned all morning. However a little after noon the sun started to come out and we had beautiful weather for the picnic. The kids ran around the park and played games, it was a lot of fun! Now it is pouring again, like it has on and off for the past, I don't know, four days? This is getting really old!


Here's some pictures from today:


Amelia and Haven, playing "baseball":




Getting a lesson from Daddy:

Amelia LOVES Tiffany's daughter Chloe!

Heart Institute Picnic

Today was the annual Heart Institute for Children picnic. Families whose children have had surgery at Hope come back every year to see the doctors and nurses who treated them. We were so excited to go and see some of our favorite doctors and nurses. Lots of them were there and it was great to see them again, and for them to see how big Amelia has gotten.


Amelia's cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Ilbawi:

Our primary cardiologist, Dr. Husayni. There are not enough good things I can say about this man. I am so grateful for everything he's done for us in treating Amelia and in helping me stay calm and not freak out. I am so glad to have a doctor I can trust her care to completely.

Amelia had a blast - Daddy gave her lots of treats! She loved watching the other kids there and did her best with the hula hoop (which wasn't much, but she had fun).

What a great day! I'm so glad they have this picnic every year - for the first six months of Amelia's life, the hospital staff made up most of my social interactions. They are very special to us and we owe so much to them, they will probably never know. It's great to see them, to catch up, and for them to see how wonderful Amelia is doing. I just hope they realize how big a role they played in that, both by caring for her and reassuring me so much!

Pinecone Ornaments

Someone sent me to the Inkspirations blog, where there are instructions on making pinecone balls. So I've made a couple and want to share them here. They are incredibly easy, a bit time consuming, but after you get all your paper folded it goes pretty quick.


I especially love the red/gold one. These were fun to make!

Pure Joy

This is a layout I did for a contest on another blog, Blueprint Sketches.

No, it's not Amelia, it's her BFF Haven. All papers, stickers, and the tag are CTMH, rubons are Fancy Pants and the buttons, brads, etc. are just stuff I had.

I hope to start posting more of my work here. It is kinda why I started the blog....I need to keep up better!

Hospital adventures....

So we are back from the hospital, after a week's stay. Amelia went in for her cath on Thursday, October 11. She had something of a hard time coming off the ventilator, and needed oxygen for a couple days. Then on Monday, our cardiologist discovered that his orders had been entered wrong and they had not taken her off both her meds like they were supposed to, so we got to stay a few extra days, yippee. Amelia took it in stride, though. Once she got to feeling better, she was rarin' to go and go we did. Around and around the unit, in a wagon, on a rolling chair, walking, running, any way we could. We went to the playroom and spent a lot of time looking at the murals of Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore painted on the windows at the end of the hall. As usual, Amelia charmed all the staff, and amazed me with her positive attitude. I honestly don't think she minded being in the hospital that much once she was able to leave the room when she wanted. I know for a fact she enjoyed having me all to herself - no other kids, no laundry, dishes, cooking, or cleaning to be done....we are going to have to adjust to that again! She also watched Dora practically nonstop so we are on a TV strike now.

Here's some pictures from her hospital stay:

This was in the PICU waiting for them to prep her. I was SO tired, can you tell? I went to bed at midnight the night before and got up at 3.


Friday, the day after surgery. They had to give her so much sedation to get her to sleep that it took a while to work its way out of her system. She was getting restless so they let us take her on a wagon ride.


Our favorite nurse, who has seen us through all the surgeries:


In the playroom, once she was off oxygen and a little more mobile. By this time she was rarin' to go.


She got to go outside Monday, to help with her croupiness.


I left her at the nurse's station while I went to get dinner, and when I came back she had a mohawk:

We took her froggie and baby for on a wagon ride in the hall:


She kept pulling off the leads on her chest, so the nurse made her a backpack to hold her telemetry box so it wasn't dragging behind her.


Sharing her binky with Pooh, Piglet, and Eeyore.



We borrowed the nurse's rolling chair and rode around the halls:


We were ready to go home and she was no longer hooked up to the monitors, but she refused to take off her backpack. She actually wore it to bed the last couple nights, as well as all day.


Sacked out on the way home. It didn't take her long to fall asleep - I think she was relieved to be in a familiar place and know we were going home.


So as you can see, we made the best of a crappy situation and Amelia managed to have plenty of fun while we were there. The nurses, doctors, and all the other staff absolutely loved her and she had plenty of fans coming in to visit her any time she was awake. I really can't say enough good things about the staff there - even the custodial staff is friendly and asks if there is anything you need and will help you as much as they can. Hope you enjoy looking at the pictures!