GREAT NEWS!!!!

Going to see Santa

Wow I have been so busy lately that I just havent had time to do what I normally do. So I havent had time to get on here and tell the great news about Alyzea's cardiolgist appointment.
We saw Dr. Loker on the 4th of this month. Since they did a echo on her back in October, when we were in the hospital they didnt do one this time. He came in and told us that Alyzea's pressure gradient went from 40 to 33! It was so awesome to hear that, All they told us when we were in the hospital was that the echo came back good. Dr. Loker happened to be out of the office at the time so thats why we didnt see him when we were there. He also mentioned that when they echo she was running a fever and was sick, and that there is a chance that her gradient might actually be lower then what it was at the time of the echo. The other great news we got that day was we have been graduated to 6 month appointments! She has been doing so great I am so proud of her. 

Holding both the girls

Ally trying to rock Lily

In other news, rob has been doing great after his surgry. He has some pain in his lower back but we think that might be because he cant sleep the way he normally does at night. My sisters baby has also been doing great. Ally and myself spent the night with the two of them at our parents house the other night. I helped my sister with the baby giving her some rest. I have been nerves that Ally might be mean to Lily but she did great with her. We got Lily's newborn, Ally's 1 year, and the girls Christmas pictures done when we were together. We took the girls to see Santa but Ally wanted nothing to do with the man.

Introducing Miss Lily!!!!

So my sister had her baby on Nov. 28th! It was the greatest thing being there with her when she was in labor. Dee did have some complications, she was in labor for over 24 hrs and she only dilated to 5 1/2, and that is with pitocin(sp) running for 4 hours. The baby's heart also was dropping to around the 86 so they decided that a c-section would be the best route to take. Dee's boyfriend is not someone who can handle blood so he ask if I could go in with Dee. So I got to go in with her and be the first person to see and met Lily. Being in the room when she was having a c- section is something I never thought I would do, and without a doubt I would do it again. It turns out that Dee's hips are to narrow and Lily wouldnt have been able to be born naturally.
Both mom and baby are doing great, my sister is acting like nothing happened to her and has been handling the pain great. All of baby's test have come back great and they made sure to check her heart which also has come back good. That right there takes alot off my shoulders. Knowing that my sister wouldnt have to go through what I went through.
The other thing that keeps playing in my mind is that fact that me and my sister both have a beautiful baby girl. It's so unreal thinking about her and me having children.

Just thoughts and random things

So alot have been going on but it is not based on Alyzea so much. She was in the hospital over night for a fever and an ear infection. The only reason why we had to stay was because her heart rate was up and the ER doctor wasnt sure if she felt comfortable sending us home. As much as we dont like staying at hospitals I would rather be safe then sorry. She has also taking off walking like she has been walking for years. She is so small and cute walking like she does.

As I said alot has been happening. Rob aka daddy, had a cervical fusion done last monday. Everything went great and he has been doing good. He is not liking the fact that he cant hold his baby. When I took Alyzea to see him in the hospital she wasnt happy in his room, so I am thinking that she has some anxiety to hospitals, can you really blame her?

Sometime this month my sister is having her baby. I cant wait to meet Lily, it is going to be so cool having a niece around here. I really wish that my other niece and nephews could be around more.

So I have been thinking about doing something for CHD awareness week, I know that its not till February but I got to start it now so that when that week comes I can have it done. I am thinking that I am going to collect pennies from now till then, once that week comes I am going to turn in all the pennies and the money that I have collected I am going to give to Mott's as a donation. I get so tired at seeing things for cancer, and stuff like that but nothing on CHD. DONT GET ME WRONG, having a child going through anything like cancer or a heart defect is wrong, and children shouldnt have to go through anything like that. I just hate seeing that they will promote other things but people never really promote for CHD, but I cant sit here B*t*hing about it, I have to get up and start doing something. Its just going to be hard cause I have always been a follower not a leader.

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY ALYZEA!!!!!

Alyzea and her dad

Well her actual birthday is tomorrow but we had her party today. It was a bit depressing cause the weather wasnt that good, but we made the most of it and it turned out to be a great day. I really didnt have to worry to much about Alyzea getting cold because she holds heat like her dad does.

 She got a lot of clothes and a good amount of toys. She loved smashing the cake! she didnt eat to much of it but she just loved playing with it. What I really loved about today was my close friend has a disabled son, and Alyzea just loved him. When I was talking to him she just had to come and sit with him and me. There was a time where she actually wanted to sit on his lap. When we put her in his lap she leaned down and gave him kisses. I just cant believe that she is turning one tomorrow! I love her so much....

Giving Kisses to Noah

Getting all over him

Sharing our cake together

mommys little monkey

I love this pic of her and her dad!

She has also started to walk by herself. I my self consider her to be a walker. She crawls a lot still but she is taking about 15 to 20 steps at a time now. She is also pulling herself up and instead of dropping to her knees to crawl she has be just turning around and walking instead.

Again the pics dont want to go in any kind of order!!! sorry!

Her cardiologist appointment today

So we just got back from her appointment and we are in the clear for 3 more months!! She is now 29 inches long and weighs 20lbs. Her Bp was 78/00, pulse was 115, her O2 was at 99%. He didnt do an echo today because he said that she was looking really good and sounded great. He says that her murmur was also softer. When we go back in Dec. we will have an other echo done to see where she is at right now. All in all it was a great appointment. She acted shy around him today which was a shocker, but she also hasnt seen him in 4 months so that may be why. 

On another note we actually got Alyzea to use a walking toy yesterday and got a video of it. I uploaded it on here so hopefully it works. Soon very soon she will be walking. As much as I dont want to have her grow up I cant wait to see her walking on her own.

Where Alyzea is right now....

I figure it was time to write a post on how baby is doing....

And let me tell you that she has been doing great!! On the first of this month we took Alyzea to the Toledo Zoo. Rob was on vacation and we really wanted to do something as a family. Even though Alyzea really didnt pay attention to the animals, we had a great time, being able to just spend time as a family. 

Alyzea has gotten crawling down to an art and she is getting into everything that she can. She likes to come into the kitchen when you are cooking, and pulls out all of the pots and pans and "help" you cook. She also loves to crawl into her grandparents room and stand at the end of their bed and just "talk" to her grandparents. She loves going outside and just sitting on someones lap looking around at the trees. Then she sees one of the cats and then its a fight to get out of who's ever lap she is sitting on and get to the cat. She loves the cats, but the cats aint so sure about her.

She has also been standing with the help of things. Sometimes she forgets that she doesnt have good balance and would turn to start walking and fall down. She has been trying to stand on her own but she just hasnt been able to get that other foot under her and stand. I was out one night but I was told that she stood without holding on to anything waving a stuffed animal at everyone for about 4 seconds. When you grab her arms she will take off walking and sometimes even running, so I know that we will be seeing her walking very soon.

She has just popped out her fourth tooth sometime this week. I have noticed that I will see a tooth coming in and will watch it, but it wont come through till I stop watching it. I didnt even noticed that she had her third tooth till I was tickling her and saw it.

We have been fighting with her on taking bottles and sometimes eating. Its like she is getting tired of the taste of formula. I find that when I feed her at night she doesnt fight the bottles as much as she does during the day. So where she wont drink as much during the day I will make her bigger bottles at night so that she gets her intake that she needs. As for eating, she eats what she wants. I could make her an egg on day and she eats it all, but then two days later I make her another one and she wont touch it. She is doing pretty good at feeding herself but its just finding something that she likes. I could give her something to eat and she will take like 4 bites then start spitting it out and doesnt want it anymore. The one thing that I have noticed she loves to eat are blueberries. So we went to the farms market and got 5 pounds of blueberries and froze some of them for later.

So we go and see her cardiologist on September 4th. I am feeling very confident that everything is going to be good, but we will know for sure in a few weeks.

9 month photobomb!

Family shoot

When cousin Jo was up in Michigan we got photos done. They were a combo of Alyzea's 9 month and family pictures. Rob is not in any of these ones because he was working, but when Alyzea turns a year old we will be getting family photos done.

mommy and alyzea

cousin jo

cousin jo and alyzea

aunt heather and alyzea

aunt dee and alyzea

love that face!!

my sisters and me

Aunt Dee is actually 23 weeks pregnant with cousin Lily

 I should make a note that I have tried everything to get these pictures in a order and nothing is working. Sorry that they jump around!

Cousin Jo's visit

Alyzea and her cousin Jo

So Alyzea's cousin came to MI at the beginning of the month. She comes once a year, and this was the first time that she got to meet Alyzea. Despite their age differences( 14 years) they both had a blast, and I loved seeing them together. They went to the zoo together, we went down to IN to see family, and everytime I went to my parents house we went swimming.

It was really nice going down to IN and seeing my grandparents. About 3 years ago(I believe) my grandfather had a massive heart attack, and ever since then he has been weak and having other health problems. Knowing that he has been able to see Alyzea twice so far has been great. 

Alyzea and her great grandpa

As for swimming, Alyzea LOVES the water.... and I have a feeling that once she gets older I am going to have a fight on getting her out of the water. For now I am just loving seeing her so active and not having any problems. It bothers me that I keep thinking at night before bed, that one day she is going to take a turn for the worst like she did when she was 6 weeks old. Then every morning I wake up to her laughing and talking in her crib. Then watch as she crawls ALL over the place and watching her trying to take steps even though she has no balance at all. Thats when I tell myself to stop worrying about things that yes, it could happen again, but for now she is a happy baby, enjoy it.  

playing at the edge of the pool

I love that smile...

Alyzea's 9 month check up

So it has been a while but Alyzea had her 9 month check up last Monday. Everything was great!! she is now 27 inches long and weighs 17lbs 14oz. The doctor was really happy with how well Alyzea has been doing. She has really become very mobile now and she is getting into everything! They checked her blood for lead and since they were doing that I ask the Doctor to do a full CBC on her. In the past her platelets have been high and I was wanting to see if they were still up there. I got the call the next day and her blood work came back good, so that is always a plus.
This time around we saw a different doctor and while we were in there we were talking about how during the winter everytime they saw a child with breathing problems they questioned if it was just a cold or if it was a heart problem. It makes me feel good knowing that the doctors are putting more thought into a diagnoses of a child then just saying oh its a cold. If it wasnt for this office and the doctors there my daughter might not be here today. I will always be thankful to them and Dr. Loker and to Mott's.

We Got the Beat! day full of fun...

Alyzea in her We got the Beat shirt.

So today Mott's had a picnic for all of the heart patents, and let me tell you they go all out for these kids. Even though Alyzea was to young for anything it was just great to walk around and meet new people. Adam and Jessica came with me and Alyzea in the morning but had to leave cause Adam had to work today. After they both left me and Alyzea walked around and then got our picture taken and had lunch. After lunch I met up with a mom and her family that I met online. It was great being able to talk to someone that is going through pretty much the same thing as us. It was my actual first in person conversation with another parent of a heart baby. Do to some problems at work rob got to us a little later then he had hope but it was fine. He was able to eat and look around.

Trying to get the pony with cousin Adam

While rob was eating we ran into Dr. Thor Thorrson(I belive thats how you spell his last name). Dr. Thor was the leading Dr. for Alyzea when were at Mott's for the first time. What really got me and Rob was that after only meeting us for one week 7 1/2 months ago he remember us. All we had to tell him was what was wrong with Alyzea and insistently he knew who we were. He sat down with us for a bit and ask how Alyzea was doing and while he was talking to us he laid his hands on Alyzea's chest and was feeling her heart beat while she slept, checking her over. All of the doctors are awesome at Mott's and I am happy that we go there. But I cant forget Dr. Loker either, he was the one that found that there was something wrong in the first place. 

On a side note.... I would like to point out that last week Alyzea started to crawl. She may not be crawling on hands and knees but she is crawling in her own way that is very cute. We go to her check up on monday so we will be able to see how much bigger she has gotten. 

 

Alyzea's first time swimming

mommy and Alyzea in the pool

So yesterday we took Alyzea to my parents place to go swimming. You could tell that she wanted to play and have fun but the water was just to cold for her. She was in there for about 5 minutes then we got her out and she sat in a chair and played with her grandma. 

Spending time with daddy

In other news Alyzea is starting to really become mobile. She is now laying on her tummy and sliding backwards, going from a sitting postion to laying on her tummy, and she has also started to go from laying on her tummy to getting back into a sitting postion.  Sometimes I think she might bypass crawling all together and go straight into walking. I have been holding her hands and letting her "walk" to things and she loves it. So at the end of the month we go to her wellness check and she how she is doing.

A Day at the Park

So today Alyzea and I went to the park with her grandparents and her aunt Dee. She is still a little to young to be able to play on anything but Dee and I grab a blanket and had her going down the slide. 

The parents dogs arent use to being around babies but they have been doing really good around her and she is loving them. She was a bit cranky so she ended up taking a nap for about an hour. It was just a really nice day being able to relax and enjoy spending time outside. 

On a side note Alyzea seems to be doing great, she has started to move from a sitting position to laying on her stomach so pretty soon my sweet little angel will be getting ready to crawl. She has been eating great and just over all being a happy baby.