Monday, February 23, 2009

11 months old!

As of 2 days ago, Teagan is officially 11 months old. I can hardly believe we're this close to her 1st birthday already! She is getting stronger and louder everyday and growing into quite the spunky little lady! Her favorite things to do right now are: clapping, waving and saying "hi", trying to crawl (she's so close!), sleeping on her tummy, throwing food off of her highchair, screaming when Gavin does, and putting things in her mouth and letting them hang there. (see pics below) She'll stick something in there and then make a grunting sound to get you to look at her and see how funny she is!
She is trying to pull up to things but can only get up on her knees. She's really good at standing while holding on to something but not quite 'cruising' yet.
Eating is still an issue but thankfully there's no talk of her NG tube coming back. Right now she weighs around 16lbs and isn't gaining much at all. She's taking 4 bottles during the day in between 'meals' and I still feed her at midnight every night when I give her last meds of the day. She's probably drinking a total of 20-24 oz total and I'm still fortifying to around 28 cal... I'm not sure yet what we'll do at the 1yr. mark with the formula/pediasure/whole milk decision. She will need more cals than the whole milk alone but right now its a challenge to get her to drink her formula let alone anything else! (thats a whole other post!) Right now part of her formula is covered by the state but that ends after this month leaving us with a bill of $280 a month if we continue with the formula! I put the word 'meals' in quotes because she's not eating much solid food either, not hardly enought to call it a meal! There are certain foods that she likes but she only takes 2 or 3 bites and then doesn't want anymore. Most of the food that we try ends up on the floor. I'm working with our OT therapist trying to figure out some ways to get Teag to enjoy eating more, they're thinking she may have a food aversion in general after all of the tubes, hospital stays, etc... We were joking that she didn't get either side of our families 'eating genes', we all love to eat more than we should! Even though she's not eating as much as she should, she is still happy and thriving so the plan right now is to keep at it and hope that soon she starts to enjoy food as much as we do!
Our last cardio appt. was in early Jan. and our next scheduled one isn't until April! We go in every 1 1/2 months for a sat check to make sure she is doing good and last week she was in the mid 80's! Right now there is no talk of any upcoming cath's but I know all too well how quickly that can change, so we are thankful for her health today and have been so blessed to have had a pretty uneventful last few months (heart wise).
Several of our heart buddies are having a difficult time right now and could use some of those special prayers like the ones many of you have said for Teagan over the months. Gracie is a sweet little girl who was born with a heart defect similar to Teag's and has had a very rough road from the start. She was born the day before Teagan and her blog is one of the first ones I followed and met many heart friends through. Gracie just underwent a heart transplant and the new heart is not working like it should. Please take a minute to pray for her and her whole family, you can follow her blog in the sidebar or here. Also say a prayer for Lindsay and Owen who are both waiting for a new heart. I cherish the friendships I have made with our 'heart buddies' and their families- we'll praying for all of you!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Daddy's Birthday

Trent's birthday was a few weeks ago but I wanted to share some fun pics that I finally uploaded! He had to work on his big day (of course!) but the kids and I had a few fun things planned. We snuck over to the carpool parking lot and decorated his car before he got there. Here's Gav being 'sneaky'! We decorated and had dinner and cake ready when he got home!Then it was time for presents... To reveal his surprise we wrapped up an appropriate 'outfit' to give him a clue. Can you guess? Flying Lessons! Gav stuck with the flying theme too when he picked out a rocket to give Trent as 'his present'.
Here are the guys last week launching the rocket...The flying lesson got rescheduled twice due to fog, but he finally went last week and we all got to watch! Gav got to walk around the plane with the guys while they did the pre-flight check list and then the kids and I watched them take off and land from inside.
Trent had a great birthday and really enjoyed flying. Getting his pilots liscense is on his 'list' of things to do one day and now he's one lesson closer! I can't wait for him to take us on some fun adventures one day! Happy Birthday Daddy, we love you!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

My little Valentine's....

Here are my little Valentines! We had a pretty quiet day around here on Sat. Trent had to work so we made V-day cards, ate candy and had a yummy dinner ready for daddy when he came home!

Here's a pic of "the face"! She makes the best noise when she's doing this face but I can't seem to catch it on video... Showing off her one and only tooth!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Girls Weekend!

Last weekend Teagan and I met up with Katie and Maddie to head over to Seattle for a fun girls weekend! We wanted to attend the Heart to Heart support group at the hospital on sunday and decided to make a weekend out of it! We checked in to our hotel near Bellevue Square saturday afternoon and then headed down to Puyallup to meet up with a few other heart moms, Jesse and Mimi. (Luke's mom and Mia's mom!) We headed over to pick up Mimi and got to see Mia for the first time since receiving her new heart! She's doing really well and looks great- so pink!

Here's a pic of Maddie and Teagan with Mia! (They all look a little dazed but they were really happy! ha..)


We met up with Lukes mom at a nearby restaurant and spent the next 2 1/2 hours talking non stop! I was so excited to chat with the ladies I almost forgot we were there to eat! The girls did great in their highchairs and had fun munching on pasta and pizza crust.


Sunday morning we got ready and headed out for coffee and a little shopping before we went over to Children's. We visited with Joshua's mom and Carlee's mom up on the ICU floor for a bit, dropped off doughnuts to the CICU dr.'s & nurses and then headed down to the support group meeting. There were quite a few families at the meeting and it was neat to hear about the new things in the works for the heart program. Its always amazing to see how many other kids are going through the same things Teagan is and it only really hits you when you see them all in one place! I had mixed emotions going back to the hospital for the first time since Teagan's sept. surgery. It was nice going back for a fun visit and not for an appt. or surgery, but it was hard seeing all of the exhausted and sad parents walking around with their bright orange 'parent' tags. I wanted to hug each one and make it better, I don't think that ever gets easier. I kept telling Katie that one day when Teagan is older and I have more time I would love to be able to give back to those other parents in some way. I feel so blessed to have Teagan at home with us and doing so well!

Here are the girlies in the tub sunday morning getting clean for their big day at the hospital!
I forgot to take a picture of them all dressed up :( they were so cute!