Teag at 13 months!

The last month since Teag's birthday has flown by! Our big girl is 13 months! She is sassy, spunky and fiesty as ever and is doing new things everyday! Her favorite words to say are "nigh nigh" (night night) "daaaaaaddy!!" "ah, ah, ah!" (while shaking her finger back and forth at Gavin) and "dis" (this) She also makes a really cute puppy and kitty sound. She loves to perform 'on command' and will sing "ee ii ee ii uuunnn" if you start Old MacDonald, wave hi or bye, or try to repeat her favorite words when asked. She is in love with her brother and loves to pat him on the back and pull his hair. She is a definite booty shaker when she hears music, clapping her hands and bopping her head.

She refuses to wear a bow or headband most of the time but has no problem piling food on her head and rubbing it all over her face...

She's a good napper, taking two a day and waking up with some serious sleep lines!

She loves:

To sit like a big girl in brother's chair!

Pushing around her cart and trying to walk...

Climbing up onto everything she can...

..and peeking up into the kitchen from the playroom!

Here are a few of her 1 yr. pictures!

Happy Easter, HE is Risen!

Our Easter weekend was busy and fun! Saturday morning we dyed eggs in our pj's since it was cold and rainy. Gav managed to dye both hands blue and the table/floor where he spilled one of the cups... He said,"its ok mom, accidents happen!" We were laughing and I was loving my blue-handed silly little boy, so happy to be home this year to do fun easter things!

That night we made resurrection cookies and I think it really helped Gav understand what Easter is all about. He loved helping and sealing our cookies in the 'tomb' (oven) overnight until easter morning. We're planning on making it a new tradition, only next year we might revamp our recipe...

The kids weren't too excited about Easter photos but I squeezed in a few after church in the front yard. We had yummy ham and potatoes for lunch and then an afternoon egg hunt!

I can't express how thankful I am to be home to enjoy spring and celebrate easter this year! Last spring is a blur and this year I'm trying to take it all in. Easter was in March last year, Teagan was 2 days old. She was born on good friday (and what a good friday it was!) We didn't learn about her special heart until saturday and she was airlifted that afternoon with daddy at her side. On Sunday (easter last year) I was released from the hospital and drove the 3 1/2 hours over to Seattle Children's where Teagan was. Six days after that she had her first surgery, and 1 month after that we came home. (sorry if that was confusing!) Here is a picture of my little bunny last year on April 14th!

Happy Easter! HE has risen indeed!

Cardiology Update

Teagan's cardiology appointment on wed. went really well! This was her first appointment since January and her first echo/ekg since Nov. so I was a bit nervous to see how she was doing. I knew it would be interesting to try and entertain Teag for a half an hour laying on the table for her echo, but she did pretty good. We put on a baby einstein video, gave her a sucker and blew bubbles... she was quite entertained until the last few minutes of it. Here she is during her echo.. Next up, EKG... this started out great but ended with a few screams. Something about 12 stickers with clips and wires all over her body that she just wasn't quite ok with! (I don't blame her!) Here she is at the beginning- no wires yet. You can see how distracted she is by her baby einstein...

Here come the clips...

...and the screaming!

This only lasted for a minute, until we were done and I took all those stickers back off! We checked her weight and sats next and then chatted with Dr. Toews. Her sats were actually really low compared to her norm (they were 74, normal is 85) But she has been fighting off a yucky cold so we'll check back in next week to see if they're coming back up. The results of her echo were pretty good. Her heart function is in the 'good for a single ventricle' range, which was nice to hear. My main concern is her tri-cuspid valve regurg. since this has been an issue in the past, but Dr. Toews said that he thought it looked the same or maybe even a little better! He said right now Teag is in a holding pattern and we'll just keep checking in every 3 months or so to see how she is doing. Right now there are no plans for a cath this summer and our next checkup is in July! I asked him if he had a time frame in mind for her Fontan and he said the way things are going that she'll probably be atleast 3 or 4. (and hopefully 35lbs...)

Here is a picture of Teag and Dr. ToewsIn between screams Teag was totally hammin it up for everyone in the office. She was waving and saying,"Hiiiii!" and "uh, uuunnn" (uh,oh). Dr. Toews is keeping her on all of her current meds and doubling her dose of Captopril. He reassured me that this is not because of her heart function but just to adjust for her weight. I guess she was on a really low amount compared to most kids? So now she is taking Captopril 2mls- 3x's/day, Lasix .6mls-2x's/day, ranitadine .5mls-2x's/day, and 1/4 of a baby aspirin once a day. She's also still taking amoxicillan 2x's/day for a few more days to help fight off this yucky bronchitis stuff. -Lots of meds!

Thank you to everyone who said a little prayer for Teag yesterday. I am so thankful to receive such a good report on her heart status. With so many of our heart buddies headed towards a transplant, I know every day we have with Teagan's little half heart supporting her is such a gift!

Sister's on the move!

Teag is on the move and crawling everywhere! She crawled for the first time the week before her birthday and has been on the go ever since. Here is a video from the day she first started.

She's mastered pulling up to things now, and has learned how to climb up the stairs. Our house is even louder now as she shrieks with delight at every new accomplishment and Gavin is usually right there with her 'cheering' her on! Here is a video of her from yesterday- crazy girl!

Tommorrow Teagan has a cardiology checkup, her first one since January! She hasn't had an echo since November and I'm more than anxious to see how that little heart of hers is doing. Lately she has been a bit bluer around the mouth and I'm hoping its due to a cold that she's been fighting- and nothing else! Please say a prayer for her that all goes well tommorrow and that her heart function is the same or better!

Party girl!

Teag's party was a big hit and so much fun, I still can't believe she's already ONE!! We started at the local gymnastics place for some serious playtime and cake, and then headed back to our house for more food and fun! Our theme was cupcakes and I had so much fun picking out pink and purple everything! Here's my birthday princess on her big day!

Here are some pictures from the party:

I love cupcakes, so much so that Trent and I opted for wedding cupcakes on our big day instead of the traditional cake! Teag's birthday 'cakes' turned out so cute and were delicious!

Teag wasn't too sure about her cake until she got a taste, then she was into it!

Gavin was happy to show Teag how its done!
Here's Teag and bff Maddie, now that they're both on the move it was fun to see them play!

Crazy girl!

Teag and Grandma (my mom) T is doing her 'blah' sound- if you've ever seen baby einstein she's trying to act like the dinosaur puppet!

Here's a pic of us with Teag's physical therapist Julie. She's so sweet and T loves her! We were so glad to see her at the party! She has helped Teag go from not using her legs at all in Oct., to crawling everywhere and trying to walk! Amazing... Here's a pic of the boys, they were having a blast! Gav had so much fun playing with all of his friends!

Teag has become quite the 'ham' for the camera! Here's what we call her 'cheeser' face! Silly girl!

Last week we went to Maddie's 1st birthday and this week her family came to Teag's! Like always, so fun to get together with the Allred's and get the heart sisters together! Katie and I have been talking alot about where we were and what the girls were faced with a year ago and its hard to comprehend how far they've come. I was so busy with the party and all of our friends that day that I didn't really stop and take a moment to let the magnitude of the last year sink in. We have been blessed time and time again in so many ways, and we are so grateful for Teagan's special heart and all that she's taught us this year. Thank you to everyone that came out and shared in Teagan's special day! Thank you to all of you who have prayed for her, helped our family, given comments of support and read our story! Here's to many more years of girlie parties, lessons learned and lots of fun!