Today I'm thankful for:

Modern medicine.


See this little guy:

Cheese!

In the next couple weeks, he will benefit from modern medicine in a HUGE way.


You see, long before we met our sweet little guy, we had a few lot of ultrasounds.  We found out that he would be born with an Atrioventricular Septal Defect or AVSD, or AV Canal.  All of these are fancy ways to say that he has a hole in his heart that has to be fixed.  Some holes clear up on their own, but this was not an option for him.   My doctor and the pediatric cardiologist monitored his growth throughout the pregnancy and they decided that there wasn't any reason that he couldn't be born in Scottsbluff because they would wait until closer to 6 months until he had surgery.  


So Sam came into the world and has shown that he is a strong little guy. 

He gets lots of hugs and squeezes from his big brother

If you didn't know he had a heart defect, then you wouldn't know anything was wrong.  His cardiologist always comments on how chunky he is and how they aren't used to seeing chunky babies.

Who you calling chunky???

You may be thinking-"Hey, I've talked to them in the past year.  Why I know about this???" Well, we really didn't tell all that many people, unless they asked the right question on a day where we felt like explaining it.  We wanted Sam to make his mark on the world without people worrying about his heart giving out on him at any time. We wanted him to have the same expectations as other kids his age. He has met his age appropriate milestones (the teacher in me has to check it out on a regular basis.) And he wins us over daily with his smiles and giggles.  

Current favorite toy...toes!

Showing off rolling skills at our most recent visit to see the Cardiologist 

So on July 26th, we will be headed to Colorado Children's Hospital to have his heart patched up.  I have had the opportunity to talk with some of the staff at the hospital and they are great. I'm pretty sure they eat rainbows for breakfast and ride on unicorns to work.  They are that cheerful. I guess you have to be when you spend your days talking to moms and dads who are facing heart surgery for their little ones.  

We are anxious for the day to arrive, but know he will be in great hands.  I have some wonderful family members in the medical profession in Colorado that have helped me figure out which surgeon to choose.  We have family members whose daughters have been through heart surgery when they were babies so they have been great resources for us as well.

Here is an (over)simplified drawing of the issue and how it will be fixed: 

So, today I am thankful that we live in an age where medicine can fix a problem that many years ago would have gone untreated. Sam will have the option to be as active as he wants to be without being held back by the capacity of his heart.  The sky is the limit for this guy and I can't wait to see where his life takes him. (and us too!)

Not a care in the world!

Oh yeah, I also want to point out that I am also thankful for prayer.  If you have any extra prayers to throw our way for Sam's surgery, we will take those too!  Thanks.  

To compare or not to compare??

One of the questions we got a lot when Sam was born was-does he look like Mason did when he was a baby?  Wait a second...I thought we weren't supposed to compare kids. So I decided to put some pictures together to see if they look alike.  Aside from the hair and eye color, the answer is.......no, well, maybe, I don't know!  You can decide for yourself:

We didn't know what to do when Sam didn't have a head full of hair!

Sam is a little blurry in this one, but you can see the blue eyes well!

Same toothless smile

Just a little different head shape

Maybe more alike here, or could it just be the stripes? 

Both cute guys, no matter who they look like!!

Mini-Vacation

This year instead of one big trip to a new place, we have decided to take a few smaller trips. When our plans for the 4th of July needed some tweaking an we were looking at being home for yet another weekend, Bryan took to the internet to see where we could go on a quick trip.  We decided on Breckenridge, CO.  It was a great mini-vacation.

Sam is learning that with us, the road trips are endless.

Mason's new way to entertain himself on the road.  He loved going through the mountains and looking for waterfalls.  He thought the Eisenhower tunnel was pretty cool.

Some of our favorite eats for the trip were: pizza at Pizza Parlor, dessert at Rocky Mountain Cupcakes, breakfast at Cool River Coffee House.  Per our tradition, we checked out the local brewery, Breckenridge Brewery. 

Exploring Breckenridge

The Peak 8 Fun Park provided us with lots of entertainment.

Free gondola ride up the mountain.

After the looooonnnnggg line, Mason thought it was great.

We even got to see a great patriotic parade while we were there.  

We stopped in Frisco at the Dillon Reservoir.

Learning how to skip rocks

Putting his feet in the water

Sam enjoyed being outside

Just a little angled, but a family picture to cap off a fun trip.

So excited about something!

We made it home in time to light of fireworks of our own at home and enjoy the fireworks around town.

Happy Independence Day!

First year of T-Ball

Mason played his first season of t-ball this summer. He had lots of fun and I think he will even want to play it again next year. Here are some pictures:

I'm ready!

Swing batter, batter!

The anticipation...

How'd I do??