Stormy weather

The last three days have been filled with excessive rain, winds and tornados!

This is my back porch during a hail storm. We had larger than golf ball sized hail. It was about a 2 inch layer of hail and it sounded like the roof was going to cave in!


It looked like it had snowed. And our front yard looked like A lake.



Everytime it thundered Parker would say "I'm not scared!"
We all hope the tornado season is over!

Busy Easter Weekend

This weekend was so busy but a lot of fun!

Saturday morning, we went to an Easter egg hunt at the country club. There was a really fun petting zoo! Tyler loved the little pigs =)

And Parker loved the goats!

We went and saw the Easter bunny and then it was time to hunt! Of course, as soon as Parker's age group is running to the egg area, Parker has to go to the bathroom! We were a little later but he still managed to get about 5 eggs!

On Saturday afternoon we went to Sydney's third birthday party. It was a my little pony theme and there was a real pony!!

Parker played soccer most of the time, but we did manage to get him to ride the pony for a very short time. (Isnt it cute? they painted it to look like a my little pony)

Saturday night we went to a park, we played and hunted Easter eggs with Dennis' family. It was very relaxing and a lot of fun. He loved granny pushing him on the swings. I think he would do that for hours!

Sunday morning we went to an amazing church service and then had a family lunch.

My favorite boys =)

All of the brothers and sisters.

The best family picture we could get.

It was such a great weekend! This is one of my favorite holidays...It is in the spring! Cute little boy clothes, seeing sweet Mallory in her Easter dress =) and it is the most important holiday for us as Christians...He is Alive, the tomb is emtpy and we are forgiven.

Thank you Jesus!

Eggs...

Just wanted to remember our fun night of dying Easter eggs with the family....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Parker, friends and school

This week has been a little crazy! Parker is back in school full time and loving every second of it! He is just so much happier when he has a schedule and a routine. I have been busy wrapping up this semester of school. A few papers and presentations have been turned in. Only a few more papers, one more test and about 44 more clinical hours to complete!! A two week break is in my very near future!!

On Monday night Sarah, Brittani and I went to a fundraiser for the Rep (a local theatre thats puts on some great plays). It was called Pashion for Fashion. It was a spring fashion show of bathing suits, sundresses, and more. The play that is going on right now at the Rep is Hairspray, so the cast did some bits from the play and they were hilarious!! I may have to see this one before it leaves town.

This week Parker had his Easter egg hunt at school. It was rainy and cold yesterday but they were still able to do it outside. Parker's teacher sent me a few pictures.





He had a blast and could not stop talking about how many eggs he found!

Yesterday Parker also got his blood drawn to check his Coumadin levels. They were pefectly in the range he needs to be in and we dont have to go back and get his blood drawn for a month!! I am just so shocked at how easy this Coumadin transition has been. Everything else is going great for Parker. He is still a little timid when it comes to jumping but he does everything else without hesitation. Everywhere we go he has to show people his booboo and tell them that it is doing better! He is such an amazing kid!

This weekend will be filled with family time and Easter celebrations.

Happy Birthday Diane!

Today is my best friend's birthday. This weekend 20 of us went out to eat with no kids to celebrate hers and another friends birthday. We had the best time!!

It is so rare that we all get together. I havent laughed that much in a long time!!

God has truely blessed me when he gave me Diane as a friend! She is such a wonderful mom, friend, an amazing support system, shoulder to cry on and someone I can complain to and know that she will not judge me.
Happy Birthday Diane!! You are such an amazing friend...thank you!

Baseball!

Tonight was the opening game for the Traveler's baseball season. I have actually never been to the new stadium, so I was excited!! The weather was perfect and Parker was beyond excited to see Sydney!! They havent seen each other since two nights before his surgery. So, it has been over a month!! He missed her =)

Parker was very excited to go see a baseball game! I think that he thought he was gonna get to play!
There is a kid play area. I was a little nervous about him playing around other rowdy kids, but I found a small bounce house that was empty (except for a tiny little girl). He had a blast jumping and it didnt seem to bother him at all. I still cant believe that he had heart surgery 4 weeks ago!
We sat over on a hill behind the out field so Parker and Sydney could run around. Well, Parker spent most of the time sitting in my lap. Im glad that he limits himself and rests when he needs to. I thought this picture was funny...He is definitley Mr Personality!
When he wasnt in my lap eating cotton candy, he was throwing the baseball back and forth with Stephen.
We had such a fun evening, thanks Stephen and Sarah for inviting us! I can see lots of evening at the Travs games in our future. We stayed out kinda late tonight and parker went to bed later than he has been, but he handled it great! We love this time of year! The neighborhood is coming back to life and everyone is out in their yards and hanging out on the driveways...my favorite time of year!!

A little catching up to do

Parker has been home for over a week and it has been heavenly!! He is a different kid and after this past weekend, we are different parents! Dennis and I were able to go to the lake for a night without Parker and just relax. And that is exactly what we did!! We fished off the dock, got some sun, rode around in the boat, got a little more sun and laid around. We havent really had a chance to sit and talk very much lately and if we have, it has only been about hospital stuff or heart related things. I love my sweet husband!

Today was a big day....Pareker got to go back to school for a few hours this morning. He was beyond excited!! I told him when he got up and he would NOT eat breakfast and could not get dressed fast enough.
He was a little shy when we got there and would not let go of my leg! This is sooo not him. I think he is still adjusting to everything.
When we got home, he took a very long nap. He was worn out after playing with all of his friends. His teacher said he did so good. She was surprised at how little he whined! He really is a different kid since his surgery. WAAAYYY less whiny. I think he just feels better and isnt as tired.
This afternoon we played golf for a very long time! I hope he can get into this sport...it is a sport I can actually see him being able to tolerate (endurance wise).
Daddy got in on the action too! The club was a little small!
He has lost quite a bit of weight (but he is gaining it back, slowly) since his surgery. I didnt really notice until we got home and all of his clothes are falling off of him!! I tried to capture his saggy pants in the above picture. He is so funny, walking around pulling his pants up all the time. I cant put a belt on him because then he wouldnt be able to go potty a million times a day (those diuretics are tiring!). Things are going great! He will go to school a couple of morning this week and then maybe go a little longer next week. I still cant believe how fast he is back to normal. He does still have some soreness but nothing too bad. He loves to lift his shirt up and say "my booboo looks better!!" in this high pitched voice. I guess thats what I sound like =) so funny!

Cardiology post op appointment

Today was Parker's post op visit. We have been home for 4 glorious days. Even though I have spent most of them studying for a huge test that I had this morning, It has been amazing to be home.

Parker did great today. I am so glad that he did not kick and scream when we went to the hospital today, he was so happy to go see the doctor!! His pulse ox was 95% WOW!! 95!! This is so amazing to me. What is even more amazing, is how pink he is. I just cant believe the difference. He is still skinny but has gained a little weight since discharge. 12.2 kg to 12.4 kg (thats like 27 1/2 lbs). He really has been eating everything in site (well, everything that is low fat of course!!).

His chest xray lookd perfect, no fluid. His INR was 2.4 so we decreased his coumadin a little and will start getting his blood drawn at our pediatricians office. We will get it checked again in 2 weeks. Two weeks isnt so bad, I was expecting every week for a while. All of his other medications will remain the same. He is on Diuril, Aldactone, Enalapril, Digoxin, Aspirin, and Coumadin. I dont think it is too bad of a list.

Dr Seib told us that if we felt comfortable with it, Parker could start going to a few half days of school next week!! NEXT WEEK?? didnt he just have major open heart surgery?? He truely is the stongest person I know. Everyday we have been home he has done more and more. He is back to his old self with a little fatigue here and there and still some soreness. We still need to watch what he does (no jumgle gym or climbing high), we dont want him to injure his chest, still cant lift him under his arms but other than that he can pretty much get back to normal. Since it is late in spring, he isnt worried about the flu or those kinds of sicknesses. Of course, we will need to make sure he isnt around anyone sick and have good hand hygiene, but we can get out and about!! woo hoo!!

All of this is blowing my mind. I guess I thought we would be in seclusion for 6 weeks. Praise the Lord that Parker is doing so great. He is the same Parker but different at the same time. I am so excited to start living without a planned surgery in our future...so weird!!

Smiles!

Sunday was our first whole day at home. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we decided to go out on the boat. We went out on little maumelle river. It Is a small river off of the Arkansas river that is really smooth and we could go really slow. Didn't want to bounce Parker too much. He loved it! I just love that sweet smile!

After a really long nap, we did Parkers most favorite thing...rode the ranger! We went and saw all the neighbors. They were all praying for him and were so excited to see him out and about.



Then Parker flew a kite for the first time, he was so proud of himself!



Parker is doing great at home. Having some nightmares and issues being alone, but we are working through those. He is eating and drinking better and is doing really good on the low fat diet (except he HATES skim milk...but who doesn't?)!!

We go back for our follow up appointment with cardiology this week. We will see how Parkers INR looks and get another xray. I'm sure everything looks great :)

Home

After battling another day of dehydration and doing everything I knew to bribe Parker to drink, drink, drink, we got to come home yesterday!!

It was the absolute best feeling! and Parker did not know what to do with himself!! On the car ride home he started remembering all the fun things there are to do at home!
And when we got there all he wanted to do was swing, pajamas and all.
Then he got to wear real clothes! It was so funny, when I put shorts on him, he was very confused. He kept telling me to fix them and was trying to put them down like pants.
He has done so good at home so far! We are all getting back into our normal routine and we all slept so good last night! I was worried that Parker would wake up a bunch (because thats what he was use to in the hospital), but he slept from 8:00 pm to 8:30 am.
This picture is of Parker putting on daddy's chapstick (a part of his night time routine at home). We are just thrilled to be home! We still have to watch his water intake, but everything is going pretty smoothly. Thank you for all the prayers, gifts, notes, and dinners! We could not have made it through these 2 1/2 weeks without them! I know that we were in the hospital for a short time compared to a lot of people and that we are so blessed, but my bed was so heavenly last night =)