Good News

I took the GRE today at noon. It was not fun, but I did pretty good. The requirement to get into graduate school is to make a total of 1000 on the verbal and quantitative portions of the test. Well.....I made a total of 1010!!! Yeah!! I am so happy, even though I made the lowest score possible. Who cares that I barely made what I needed....I made what I needed!!
Nurse Practitioner here I come! Now I just have to apply.

Thanks for the prayers!

The dreaded day!

So, today is the day. I am taking the GRE today at noon. Please pray for me. I am really nervous!!

I will let you know how it goes.

Back to Normal

Well, life is finally getting back to normal in many ways. A new person was hired at work. I have been training her for about a week and today is her first day to sit by herself. This is my first day to sit at my own desk with my own work in about a month or so. It feels so good, but it also feels very overwhelming...I have a TON of work to catch up on, but I am not complaining! I am so happy that the new girl understands her new job and is going to work out. (just pray she doesnt quit!!)

Also, Parker is pretty much back to normal. In the last 3 weeks he has had 2 of his two year molars come in!! They were like four teeth each, because each point had to come through the gum at different times. He also had 4 other teeth come in at the same time. He was really fun, let me tell you!! Last week I had to go get him early from mothers day out and I had to get him from PT early because he wouldnt stop crying. He wouldnt eat anything. We were doing good if he drank one bottle of pediasure the entire day!! I was getting worried about him but now he is drinking and he has started eating solid foods without gagging!! I am so excited and so proud of him. He has only had 3 visits to speech therapy, but it seems to be working. He is talking so much. He has learned to say more and sign it with his hands! I am still working with him to want to eat solid foods but he has come along way in the last week or so. We are also all sippy cup all the time!! I guess it has been about a month since Parker drank from a bottle--PTL!! He is still taking about 6-8 steps and then he gets scared and sits down. We are working with him to walk without his AFOs (leg braces) and that is going pretty good. I have an old video that I never had time to post of him walking. I will post it but he is doing so much better than this now. I will try to get an updated one soon.

We have alot coming up in the next two weeks...

--I am a nures (for those of you who didnt know) and I have been thinking about going back to school to get my masters in nursing (nurse practitioner). Well, I am taking the GRE on Thursday. I am pretty nervous!! It has been a while since I have had to find the area of a cirlce!

--Parker has a few appointments coming up. He will get his last Synagis shot for the year on the 18th. He has a swallow study on the 24th. Please pray that he passes this time. I really want to stop thickening his food!!! April 1st is the long awaited Cardiology appointment. I always get nervous about going to the Cardiologist, but I am sure everything will be just fine.

--We also have the Heart Walk on April 4th. I will post about that later today.

I better get back to my real job! Of course, I will leave you with a picture of Parker from this past weekend. It has been so warm and he loves to be outside!! Here he is in his new go cart. It is the kind that is battery operated that you have to charge. The button is right on the steering wheel. He is still figuring it out, but he loves it. The second picture is Parker's new trick. He does this whenever you say "touchdown"!! His daddy LOVES it!

I'm Still Here

It has been a while since I last posted. I have been working non stop. Two weeks ago a girl at the office went to lunch and never came back...we looked at her desk and all of her stuff was gone. SO, I started doing her job and mine. I have been working until about 8 everynight and on the weekends. This week another girl in the office started helping me. We are both doing the other girls job now and it is making my life alot easier!!!

In other news, the charger to my camera is MIA and my camera is dead. I cant charge it, so I cant use it. I am so sad!! Parker has starting really taking steps. He can take about 6 to 8 steps. We videoed him tons last night! I am so proud of him after all of his hard work. He got his braces (AFOs) last week and that is when he really started doing good. I think he will be fully walking in the next month. My dream is that the next time we go into the Cardiology clinic (April 1st) he can walk in holding my hand! Those nurses would just go crazy if they saw that!!! I have been pretty emotional lately about Parker making such huge hurdles after all he has been through. We are still having some issues with eating, but I think that will be a lifelong battle.

Parker started speech therapy last week. His therapist is the cutest thing and Parker just flirts with her. They are already best buds! He is doing good, she is justworking on eating foods without gagging, drinking from a sippy cup, and other stuff.

This past weekend was good. I didnt have to work on Saturday. Me and my mom did a Valentines brunch for some ladies and Dennis took Parker for some "man" time. I think they had lunch at wing stop! After that Parker took a long nap and we just watched tv (it was so nice). Valentines Day is my sister's birthday so we usually just celebrate her birthday, we went out for a family dinner.

What a great hubby I have. Dennis got me the cutest sunglasses for Valentines Day. I had been eyeing them for months.

Anyways, I am still here and will try to post some pictures of Parker walking as soon as I can.

CHD Awareness week

This week is CHD (Congenital Heart Defect) awareness week. Before Parker was born I knew what a CHD was (only because of my nursing background), but I never really "knew" about it. I just wanted to give some facts to those of you who dont really "know" about CHDs..

1. CHDs are the #1 birth defect and #1 cause of infant death related birth defects. 1 out of every 100-150 babies born will have a CHD.
2. 1 in 10 of those born with a CHD will have a fatal defect.
3. In the US there are nearly twice as many deaths due to CHD than that of all forms of childhood cancers combined. Yet there is 5 times more research for pediatric cancer than for CHD
4. There is no known cause for CHD, but genetics and environmental factors may play a role.
5. There is no cure for CHD, but advances in medicine has significantly decreased the mortalilty rate.
6. Only 5% of adults who can give blood do. Someone needs blood every three second in the US; it is often one of the many heart children.
7. Only 30% of the children who need a heart transplant receive on in time.

These are just a few facts about CHD. Please spread the word and raise awareness. If you can....donate blood (Parker has used many units of blood throughout his short life) and register to be an organ donor (Parker's life may depend on one of these selfless people one day).

Parker was born with one of the most severe CHDs. Fortunatly he is doing wonderful. I am so thankful that he doesnt need a heart transplant yet. Maybe he will never need one, but I have many friends (sweet, sweet babies) who are on the heart transplant list and they NEED a new heart to live. Please pray for them. Just remember and pray for all the precious children this week who are living with a CHD.

Go here for more info.

Little Red Wagon

This past weekend it was so beautiful outside!! It was 70 degrees outside and sunny! So, we took Parker and Bentley (our wonderful dog) for a walk in Parker's wagon that he got from Santa. Parker had so much fun, he couldnt stop smiling and giggling. Bentley just loved being pulled around and not having to walk!

On Sunday we watched the superbowl. I must say that it was a very fun game to watch. I didnt really care who won but it was a good game.

This is how Parker watched most of the game....on the stool or in Daddy's lap.

On Monday I took my camera to Parker's therapy. She says that Parker can take 6 steps by himself. Well, being the stinker that he is, he wouldnt do it for me the day I take my camera. I did manage to get a picture of him standing by himself. I will try again Wednesday.

He was evaluated for speech therapy yesterday and he qualified. She said he is really behind and wants to see him at least twice a week. I am glad he is going to start going to speech therapy. It will help with eating table food, sippy cup technique, and alot of other useful things. She said they will work on following commands (handing her a toy, saying no....etc), also teach him to chew (I dont know how they do it, but I am so glad someone can) and of course getting him to say more than "mama" and "bye-bye". We start next week, wish Parker luck!

Full of Energy

Yesterday afternoon Parker and I went to Rock Creeks play area. We went with Sarah and Sydney and Sarah's sister and her daughter, they had been there before. I had never been there and I was so surprised at how crowded it was. Parker absolutely loved it!! He did not stop from the time we got there until I had to peel him off of the mats to leave. We will definitely be going back. He learned how to climb up and down stairs (we dont have stairs at our house). He also learned how to slide, and loved it!!! I think he will learn alot if we keep going there and it is a good time to have interaction with other kids.

Welcome to Blogland!!

One of my best friends, Sarah, has started a blog!! You have seen many pictures of her daughter Sydney. We pregnant together and Sydney is like 2 1/2 weeks younger than Parker. She is a great friend and has always been there for me when I need her. We took child birthing classes together, we have been on countless trips together and now our kids get to grow up together! Her and her husband were right in the thick of things with us during Parker's diagnosis. We cried together and laughed together during that crazy time. I will never forget the first time she met Parker....It was at Childrens' hospital. I was standing by tiny little Parker in his ICU bed and she walks into his room. She came over and hugged me and we both cried and hugged each other for a good 5 minutes. I had been trying so hard to be stong for everyone and not cry, but when I saw Sarah the tears just started flowing. I think it was at that moment we realized that what we had planned and anticipated together for the last 9 months was going to be very different than what we thought. I rarely let people see me cry like that--besides Dennis. Even though this last year was VERY different than we thought, I wouldnt change it for anything. I love watching Sydney and Parker, and I am so excited to see them grow up together and become close friends! Maybe sometime I will share the experience of when I met Sydney for the first time (it was an amazing day, but emotional)....

This is Sarah and I in Wyoming

Anyways, Sarah is a very good friend and I would love it if yall would go check out her new blog and say a quick hello!!

I will leave you with a few cute pictures of Parker and Sydney from their first meeting to a few weeks ago...

First Steps!

Today Parker had MDO and he did amazing!! I walked in and I see him coming down the hall in a walker with a huge smile on his face!! All of the teachers told me how good he did. They said he didnt cry at all. And he had ALOT of food on his face....that always means he had fun! I worked all night at the hospital last night so, after I dropped Parker off I went home and slept until it was time to get him (about 2 1/2 hours). After MDO I took him to PT. He did alot better this week, he wasnt so tired (could be the change in meds).

Dennis and I went to pick him up and we walked around the corner and just stuck our heads in the door so we could watch him without him seeing us. We looked in and we saw Parker walk 4 steps all by himself!!!! We could not believe it! We went in and he walked a couple of steps to me--he had the biggest smile on his face!!! It just melted my heart. He has worked so hard for this. His therapist thinks that we should get his leg braces next week and she thinks that they are going to do wonders for him. He should be walking really soon! I didnt have my camera! I will try to get a picture posted as soon as I can. What an exciting day!

I Love Pink!!

I love everything pink, but I didnt want my blog to always be pink because it represents my family (and I am the only girl in the house!). SO....since it is almost Valentines day, I thought it was an excuse to "pink it up" a little!

We really havn't been doing much, so I thought I would just post some random pictures from last night and today.

Last night I tried my hardest to get a good picture of Parker in front of our pretty fire. Well, here are a few of the attempts

Look how serious!

These are just some pictures of us being silly last night.

Here is Parker playing peek-a-boo...

Peek-a-boo!!

The weather has been so cold here (for Arkasnsas!). Here is Parker and daddy about to brave the freezing cold!