almost everything going on in our world

What a difference 6 months makes

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:28:26 -0600

A few days ago we passed our 6 month mark since Adair’s surgery. It is hard to believe we are 6 months out! She couldn’t be doing better. We are so relieved and thankful to have that particular chapter behind us. The difference in her energy levels and her abilities is mind blowing. She’s grown by leaps and bounds and is several inches and several pounds up from where she had sort of stalled out last spring. She’s always had a big growth spurt in April and last year she just sort of skipped that but made up for it after her surgery. Especially that month before her surgery when we’d get together with friends and she was so quiet and not herself, she’s definitely not that kid any more! She’s back to the singing, dancing on the go girl we love!

It’s been a whirlwind. I would say that I think it’s been the craziest 6 months we’ve had except for when she was born but we’ve had nothing but 6 month stretches of craziness since I got pregnant with her so that would be a lie. As long as I keep seeing them in 6 month stretches I think I’ll be okay with the craziness. I’d say I was looking forward to some quiet and uneventful time ahead but I also know that’s Karma’s cue to throw something into the mix. So we’ll just take whatever roller coaster ride is ahead.

After months of trying to get it ready, we’ve finally gotten our house on the market. We keep getting asked why and the biggest reason is the constant 6 month stretches of craziness we’ve been through here. We are in need of change that’s deliberate, not thrown at us like from a monkey in a cage. I’m looking forward to it this time!

4 month post-op checkup

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:51:17 -0600

We are blessed with the greatest team of doctors at Ochsner. I’ve heard enough nightmare stories that are sadly the norm about kids having to go in and repeat surgeries and repairs that aren’t that great, stents right after surgery etc to know we have a world class team of doctors at our beck and call. Not only do we heart Lucas with his ability to bring out smiles in Adair every visit (my vote for best bedside manner ever) but we really couldn’t ask for a better quality of care.

Things look great for her right now. The echo looks great, the EKG looks normal and we’re just not expecting to see anything unusual with her Holtor monitor at all. We never have but with a new valve there’s a chance we might see something different but I’d be really shocked if that were the case.

She’s one tough little girl, tougher than most grownups, myself included. The best thing is she has no idea. She’s the sweetest, easiest going charmer I know. I’m probably biased but she’s pretty darn amazing!

We don’t have to go back for 6 months. Mark said we’re going to miss Dr. Lucas! Can we just go visit? When he asked Adair that she was like, uh, yeah, you can go Daddy but I’m not. HAHA! She’s funny.

We are literally halfway through figuring out our next step. Having her healthy for a good long stretch opens up worlds for us. We have plans we feel like we’ve been sitting on for years that we are ready to jump on. It’s such a relief to feel like we can make plans at all in fact. We’ve spent 7 years waiting for this second surgery with 5 of those overdue! It’s an understatement to say we’re grateful.

2012

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 08:40:28 -0600

This fall got away from me! Adair’s been doing great. You wouldn’t know she’d had open heart surgery! She’s doing fantastic and it’s so reassuring to see her energetic and happy. We hadn’t realized how cruddy she must have been feeling before but the difference with her afterwards is really amazing. We’re blessed to have modern medicine!

We headed up to Chicago at the end of October and had a great trip, I love Chicago, there’s stuff to do no matter what you feel like. We enjoyed visiting Ash too! It was a fun trip. I’m ready to get back up there but I think we’ll wait until it’s not 4 degrees to get back there.

Fast forward through Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas and here we are in January! Hard to imagine we’re here already. After a trying break, a long couple of weeks with a very packed schedule and more than a couple of fun events, Adair is back in school today. Mark’s dad has been in the hospital for a week getting tested for something different pretty much every day so we’ve had a lot on our plates this week. His 90th birthday was great, we hosted it here right before Thanksgiving and had about 30 or so people who seemed to enjoy dinner a lot and I think he really enjoyed himself which was special for all of us to do for him.

I’ll admit I was ready to boycott Christmas after that weekend but I didn’t and we enjoyed it. Adair loves Christmas. Our little Elf, Owen, found a new spot every day and she had so much fun finding him every morning that I think we’ll all miss him! Maybe he’ll make a few appearances throughout the year just for fun. Ash’s girlfriend Caroline has been here visiting since after Christmas which has been nice. I think they’ve been out every single night so I think they’ve seen it all this trip. Including a little overnight to Natchez.

spoooookie

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:26:16 -0500

Well, not really all that spooky. Adair had her well check up for turning seven yesterday and I am stunned by how much she’s grown since her surgery. She’s 3/4 of an inch taller! I was surprised, I knew she was taller but that’s a lot in eight weeks.

Halloween is almost here! The house is all decorated and I’m ready for it to be here. The Stellaween block party is Halloween night as usual. I’m feeling like I need to get it in gear because I haven’t even looked to see what’s up there still. It’s nothing that can’t be gotten at the last minute but I would rather be prepared and send in my list if we need anything. It’s sort of one more thing I’m struggling with to get on top of. I need a break from it all so I can get myself back on track. Come on, it’s been eight weeks since we’ve been home! Maybe when I get someone to volunteer to be my assistant I can be more organized...

8 weeks.

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 06:42:23 -0500

It does not seem like eight weeks ago we were sitting at the hospital all day while Adair was in surgery. I can’t even express how glad I am to be beyond all that. It was pretty horrific.

Adair is like a different kid. She’s got more energy than I’ve ever seen in her. She’s doing fantastic. She’s a lot more pleasant all around, not that she’s ever been much of a pill, she’s always been a sweet kid but she’s not as tired so she’s more predictably pleasant. I’m not sure if it’s just her being seven or what but it seems like school is going easier for her as well. I think we can be sure the timing of everything was right.

It’s finally fall here today! Yes! Cool weather has arrived. We need it in the worst way, I am so over the heat it’s not even funny. Six months of miserable hot humid weather makes me want to move every fall. Not sure where because I don’t really want a cold six month winter but I always miss having a fall here. Mark has gone to Highlands for a few days, he’ll be back before we go visit Ash in Chicago next weekend. He wanted to see the fall colors and had someone ready to go with him so he really couldn’t put it off (even though he wanted to).

mmmmm apple chutney

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 14:49:28 -0500

Canning is really fun. I’m making sure to use up all those apples because it would be much worse to let them go bad than try a few new recipes and see how canning works.

Today was apple chutney. I tasted it while it was cooking and I have to say it’s got a pretty good kick. I have two jars that didn’t go into the waterbath so we’ll try it soon with a meal since those have to go in the refrigerator. I hope they aren’t too spicy for Adair.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 7 weeks since her surgery. She’s a completely different kid, she’s got so much more energy and she’s sleeping well enough to wake up ready to go. Her color looks great too. It seems like a lifetime ago that we were getting her ready for her surgery. I’m so glad to have all that behind us. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we are lucky enough to have the same longer than normal window of time before she has to have anything else done. I’m pretty confident that’ll be the case, not sure why but it worked last time so we can just stick with that same thinking this time, right?

forcing fall to hurry up and get here

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:56:37 -0500

When Mark came back from Highlands, he sort of misunderstood when I said I was making mini pies for Adair’s classroom treat for her birthday and we’ve got a lot of apples. There’s quite a difference between 26 mini pies and 26 pies! For the record, I probably would not have had enough for that many pies but we’re knee deep in apples around here.

Having eaten my fill, I’ve starting in on cooking. I’ve made applesauce before but I have never actually canned anything so today I decided to give it a try. I peeled about 10 apples and it filled almost 4 pint jars. The 4th wasn’t filled enough so it went to the fridge and we’re going to go ahead and eat it, it’s not going to last long! I’ve got apple chutney on the list for tomorrow. Sounds pretty good to me.

So even if it’s still 80+ degrees outside and there’s nothing like an apple growing within a day’s drive of here I’m forcing fall on this house.

birthday party success

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:18:59 -0500

Big week for us around here. Adair had her 7th birthday. We’re a pretty thankful family to be able to celebrate her growing up.

Her party with her buddies was Sunday at the Prytania Theater. It’s an easy party. Pick out a movie, bring everything, the kids sit (more or less) and watch then cake and everyone heads out the door. Not too bad for a couple of hours to entertain kids. I was tired by the end of Sunday, I got all the cupcakes and the cake baked and we decorated it and had everything ready to go for Sunday. We’d already done real birthday dinner and cake so it was a big week of prep work and people around and a lot going on.

Since Adair still has some restrictions for another two weeks we couldn’t do the bowling party we wanted but this turned out better I think. I can tell you we will be counting down the days over the next two weeks until we’re really back to normal activity. Not being a fall risk is going to be a huge weight off our shoulders from watching out constantly.

She went back to dance class for the first time Thursday and it was nerve wracking for me. Her teacher was great about keeping her to the side and away from any accidental bumps. Out in the zoo of a hallway with the changing shoes and changing classes was the toughest for me, there were way too many people jostling around out there. I think every single kid between the ages of 3-7 is in that hall on Thursdays, it’s a really crowded night. It works out great for those families with a bunch of kids close in age who spend a few hours out there at once instead of having to get there more than one night a week. For us, it’s just crazy. Adair is signed up for Musical Theater as well as dance and I can’t wait to see how she enjoys it. It sounds like it’s right up her alley.

I was looking forward to a little quiet today but it’s going to be one of those weeks that starts out like a little snowball and keeps rolling downhill getting bigger. It must be nice to find free time in a week!!

We are happy!

Mon, 3 Oct 2011 10:35:33 -0500

I took Adair this morning to her one month home post-surgery checkup. It went great! She sounds good, she looks great and everything is going along perfectly.

She can get back to anything she wants to do as soon as we’re not worried about the fall risk. We’re counting down the days for that. Three more weeks. She will be getting back to her dance class Thursday. She can just be off to the side so there’s no worry about her getting bumped and knocked over and we’ll let her take her time getting back to full speed. It works well, she’ll be back to herself by the time she is no longer having to watch out for falls.

We are happy as can be that she’s done so well. There’s no telling how long her repair might last but it looks perfect for now and if we’re lucky we will again be way on the outside end of the window (which, for the record is about 20 years) We go back again in three months for a Holtor Monitor and the regular run of tests then we will be looking at 6-12 months between visits. Couldn’t be happier to hear that! Adair even smiled!

Doing fantastic

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 05:15:10 -0500

We have definitely gotten back in the swing here. The first couple of days of school were great. Easing back in with half days was the right things to do. She was tired but it wasn’t too much, normal back to school tired stuff. This week she’s been going full days and I can tell she’s happy to be picked up and she’s more than ready to go to bed when it’s time.

She’s sitting out for gym and recess which is fine. I think the gym part is easier than the recess because she’s been staying in the classroom catching up on work during gym. For recess she’s sitting outside and having to explain why she’s not running all over and swinging and climbing etc. So I think she’s feeling singled out during recess a little. I’m pretty sure it’s something she cares about a lot more than any of her friends.

She’s back to a regular schedule which is helpful for all of us. After the last 6 weeks or so we need it. This has definitely been one of the more exhausting things we’ve been through. Sometimes it is easy to think about how much work the last seven years has been and forget the good. We’ve certainly been kept busy with a lot of drama since she’s been born! Not all of it Adair drama either but we’ve definitely had our fair share and then some of challenging things we’ve had to deal with. I’m hoping this means smooth sailing for us for a while. It would be really nice to not have to face any huge hurdles for a little bit, please.

The timing of her being restricted ends perfectly for us. We’re heading to Chicago to visit Ash that weekend so it’s going to be nice to know if she’s got to pull her little rolling suitcase she can actually do that. She’s so excited to get there and see dinosaur bones at the Field Museum. I am excited to see Ash and check out his room and meet his roommate and all that! Not to mention Chicago is a great city! A little family break is just what we all need!