Long over due post.

Wow I cant believe it has been so long since I made a post on how things have been going!

So alot has happened the last few months. Some sad and some good. Where to start off?? well lets do the bad first.

Alyea and her Grandpa

On March 3rd Alyzea lost her grandfather after a month long battle in the hospital. He went in to have a cath put in and two days after that he had a heart attack. When he was in the hospital they also found out that he had phonmuna(sp) in one of his lungs. Two weeks later after they had done a heart cath to see the damage the heart attack had done he suffered from a stroke. It was then we also found out that he had Cdiff and they had to put a feeding tube in his stomach. After about a week in the hospital they moved him to carelink. For a bit there he was able to do the therapy they wanted him to do, but then his body stopped doing anything. The Cdiff wasn't clearing up, dialysis was making him weaker  and his food wasn't digesting like it should have been. When his family made the decision to stop dialysis and make him a DNR it didn't take him long at  all to pass. From what we have been told he didn't suffer and that make us feel just bit better. Both Rob and his family are taking it one day at a time. His mom is so use to taking care of his father that she hasn't known what to do. 

Bella not long after we got her

So a week later we got the family a puppy. They say they got it for Alyzea and that it was her puppy but I believe its for all of them. Her name is Bella and she is a 15 week old beagle/black lab mix. I couldnt have asked for a better puppy for the family. She does so good with Alyzea and she just loves Bella.

Because of what had happened to his dad Rob never went back to work. He has been taking care of his mom and at the time his dad also. So now he is a Stay at home dad. Around the time his dad had is stroke I started working at Allegiance Health Hospital as a Diet Aide. I really love this job, I help paitents order food and bring it to them when it comes up from the kitchen. It is actually a job I like going to everyday, and working here I found out that the hospital has taking to doing a pulse ox test on the all the newborns 24 hours after they are born to screen for heart defects. I was SOOO happy to hear this.... 

How big Alyzea has gotten

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.