Spa Day?

Today Olivia and I were privileged enough to spend the day with our cousin Cassidy, who is nine and lives in town with us. After some Wii while Olivia napped and lunch at McDonald's the fun really began. Cassidy gave me a manicure (unprovoked I promise. Definitely not into child labor) and then gave Olivia one too. Mine was slightly more subtle, but Olivia got magenta nail polish for her first mani experience. Cassidy did quite the job for a squirming toddler.

Next we put Olivia in her swimming suit for the first time ever, and since it was cooler and raining, they decided to fill up her new frog pool they bought her in the kitchen just to make sure she could swim today. So sweet!!!

Thanks Aunt Beckie, Uncle Bill, and Cassidy for letting us come over to play. We had such a good time!

On a side note, just wanted to say that this is our 100th post. Thanks for still pretending to be interested!!!

video from grandma's camera

Olivia was really tired from church at lunch, but still managed to give us some entertainment. Thanks for sending me the video, mom!

Shame on me...

I have absolutely no good explanation for my absence, except that finding time to update the blog at the hospital is easier than trying to do it at home where there are many other things that need to be done.

We came home last Monday (yes, thats right, almost a week ago). The reason I have no time is because this kid at my house is new to us. Almost no seizures, sometimes one, at the most two a day, excessive wakefulness, increased attention, better control and use of especially hands and arms...I don't really feel like there is a way to explain how different Olivia is since the surgery. Medically, it doesn't make much sense. She was supposed to have more energy and get off the oxygen--which we have done as well, yet more energy doesn't begin to touch the changes in my child in the past two weeks. She is honestly herself finally come to life. I truly believe it solely the work of God.

We are so blessed and happy to have her at home and doing so well. We will post pictures soon, but my promises seem to be pretty empty lately.

Thanks for your prayers. We truly believe they made a huge difference.

...and we're back...

I know its late notice, but we had to come back to the hospital via the ER early yesterday morning--about 3am. The long and short of it is that Olivia has pneumonia, which really didn't surprise them any. They are giving her good doses of antibiotics and checking her chest x-ray every morning. She is doing well besides that--being funny and playing games and such. I don't know how long we'll be here, but probably at best another few days. Sorry for the late notice.

Four Years

What, two posts in one day? Thats right, people. Mostly they are dedicated to my beautiful daughter, and rightly so. But this post is to celebrate my incredible husband and our now four years of marriage today!

Brian: I love you more than I did on our wedding--more than even yesterday. You are the love of my life, my partner, my support and my inspiration. You are the person I want to be and you help me realize I am glad for who I am. We have a marvelous family together, but it started with you and me and today that is what we will celebrate.

Home Sweet Home

We got home yesterday around noon and Olivia is doing excellently. She seems to have more energy than before the surgery and is awake more. The pain doesn't seem to be bothering her too much-- she hasn't been on anything for pain more than ibuprofen for the last three days. She is still on just the littlest pinch of oxygen, which we may eventually get rid of, but we can't be sure. The right side of her heart is still enlarged which could be still recovering from the surgery. We will know for sure when we do a repeat echo in a few weeks. Either way, she can be off the oxygen for 45min-1hr and still do really well, so if we go outside to play or something like that we can take her off the oxygen. She is supposed to be working on taking her nap now, but is finding it difficult with all of her renewed energy. Here are some pics from the last week

This is when she was still vented the day after surgery--Thursday.

This is from Sunday-the day after extubation. Some kind of goofy grin...

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This is yesterday, waiting to go home and resting with daddy.