Doing GREAT

Amelia did very well again.  The doctors could not have been happier.  We do not know results yet, should have them Friday.  Thank you for your prayers.

Heart Birthday

It has been almost a year since Amelia received her heart (Friday March 15th is the actual day).  She has been doing exceptionally well since last year at this time when she was in sever heart failure.  She has grown by leaps and bounds, she runs around the house, almost faster than Kim and I can catch her, she has lots of teeth and seems to be about to walk through the door of talking (she has started to repeat things Kim and I say...kind of...at least mimic what words we say).

With the excitement of her "Heart Birthday" comes a scary time each year as well as she will need to have a cath and biopsy performed to check for cellular rejection of her heart.  Her first annual biopsy is scheduled for tomorrow, Wed March 13th.  Kim and I are really not looking forward to this hospital visit because for the last 6 months or so, Amelia has been very upset when going to any doctor appointments, even when they are not her's (example:  Kim at the OB).  This is normal, even for healthy kids when going to the docs between about 18 and 36 months of age.  As an example of how we know she is aware of what the doctor is and what it means for her (especially her), when she bumps her head or stubs her toe at home, she points to the inside of her arm where she gets her blood drown and has a sour face.  We ask her if she has an owie and she will point to where it hurts.  It is both comical for Kim and I, and sad that she attributes that part of her body to being hurt.

Please pray for Amelia and the doctors as they check Amelia's heart tomorrow.  Please pray for mom and dad too as they have to give their little lady to the hands of the docs and nurses to complete this procedure.

Bless God

Amelia, Kim and Brian

Another Exciting Year For Amelia...

We had another exciting year with Amelia.  It started with us hoping to stay out of the hospital for a few years and that quickly changed.  Since getting her new heart, Amelia has been thriving beyond all we could hope for.  She has had an amazing last 9 months.  We are now looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and thrive.

Amelia on the other hand is looking forward to something else entirely...being a big sister!  Kim and I had our 20 week ultrasound just before christmas and our second child has been given a good bill so far.  We are looking forward to welcoming him with us in May (no...we do not know the sex yet and if you want to know why I say "he", look back at one of our first posts).

Amelia, Kim and I pray you have a wonderful new year.

Bless God!!!

Gummy Smile is Gone

That's right...Amelia has...a...tooth.  I am not going to try to post a picture of it, cuz that would just be rude!!!  But the gummy smile is no more!!!

One More Post...This is the BEST ONE for today too!!!

Well, Amelia did it last week.  She officially, without any help from mom and dad (other than a nudge), started walking on her own.  Now, in the last week or two, she is doing it all the time!!!  She moves from the coffee table to her toys and the kitchen all the time, all by her self.  It is so much fun to come home from work and have Kim make her stand up and have her walk to me.  Puts me on the floor!!!

It is interesting what perspective does:  Everyone tells us that we are going to be sad when she starts to walk because we will not be able to keep track of her and she will start to get into everything.  But for us, she is still her and able to walk!!!  That makes every milestone for us so special with Amelia.

Here she is walking in the kitchen.  I was just able to snap this before she was in my arms!!!

Out of Cath

Amelia is in her recovery room (kind off...more like a recovery shared space with 25 others).  Docs said she did REALLY good.  They are very happy with how she is doing and did not find any problems visually.  Now we wait for biopsy results that will test for several layers of rejection.  We should be home by dinner...a thought Kim and I are very excited about.

Thank you for continuing to pray for Amelia.  She continues to thrive and grow.

6 Month Cath

We have checked into PCH for Amelia's 6 Month Cath.  After getting up at 4:15 to be at the hospital by 5:30, we were delayed for a short time for an emergency from another patient.  Amelia was finally taken down for her cath about 8:45, which was just over an hour delay.  We were not too upset since we are no longer at the place that we are the emergency.  It worked out OK too since we got her up at 4:40 and she did not sleep in the car.  She slept in Kim's arms and then in mine for about 1:30.  This got us through the wait.  Now we wait for the doctors to complete the procedure and the results.  We are expecting to go home today.  When we got our phone call for the schedule, we were told to pack overnight bags.  After talking to our nurse, she said she did not think we would be staying.  Our cardiologist also assured us that we should be headed home today, so we did not pack bags for the night.