It's My Heart

On the top of our blog I put a countdown to the It's My Heart Walk. I am so excited about this walk and hope that we can raise a lot of money and generate support for It's My Heart. It's My Heart is a wonderful non profit organization created to provide support to and advocationg for those affected by Congenital and Acquired Heart Defects. Through awareness, resources and education, It's My Heart creates alliances and networks among families, groups, hospitals, and the community. Did you know: * Nearly twice as many children die from Congenital Heart Disease each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined. Yet funding for pediatric cancer research is 5x higher than funding for Congenital Heart Disease. (Source: Children's Heart Foundation) *Congenital Heart Defects are the # 1 birth defect (source: March of Dimes) * Congenital Heart Defects are the # 1 cause of birth defect related deaths (Source: March of Dimes) * About 1 out of every 100 babies born each year will have some sort of Congenital Heart Defect - approximately 40,000/year (Source: Children's Heart Foundation) * The American Heart Association directs only $0.30 of every dollar donated towards research. The remainder goes towards administration, education and fund raising efforts. Of the $0.30 allocated for research, only $0.01 goes towards pediatric cardiology. (Source: Children's Heart Foundation) * The cost for inpatient surgery to repair Congenital Heart Defects exceeds $2.2 billion a year (Source: Children's Heart Foundation) * Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding, only a fraction of a penny goes toward Congenital Heart Defect research (Source: Children's Heart Foundation) * Though research is ongoing - 35 types of Congenital Defects have been identified I'm feeling a mixture of emotions as I write this because September 24th is the one year anniversary of Elle's first open heart surgery. However, this Thursday, September 23 (Elle's 18 month birthday) we will see her cardiologist to determine if she will be having another open heart surgery before the end of the year. We fully trust in God's perfect timing and know that through HIM all things are possible! Please go to the It's My Heart Website for more information about Congenital and Acquired Heart Defects.

Labor Day Weekend and a Quick Trip to the Big Easy

Labor Day weekend we went down to Matagorda with my parents. We did some fishing and Elle got to the drive the boat a few times. She is such a super trooper. She and my dad sat on the front of the boat while Lee, my mom and I all fished. They read books and Elle learned the art of throwing crackers overboard and watching the seagulls grab them. We even saw an alligator - not the greatest of experiences because it surfaced 8 feet from our boat and scared the crud out of me...but...Elle got to see an alligator. My mom and I totally out fished the boys. That only happens once in a blue moon so I do feel the need to mention it!

Elle and I had our usual uber busy week and then last Friday we were lucky enough to have dinner with my bestie Shay and her family. Shannon is the busiest person I know and it was so great our schedules worked out that we would both be in town on the same night. We were all so glad that we were able to spend a few hours with her and her wonderful family! Elle was hamming it up big time.

i think this pic caught her staring at Shay's beer bottle...we're going to have to keep a close eye on Auntie Shay and Elle...this seems to be a problem when the two of them get together

Elle and Auntie Shay in July of 2009 - again - Elle only had eyes for that bottle!

Saturday morning Lee and I left Elle with Mark and Vickie and drove to New Orleans for the Ole Miss v. Tulane game. We met up with my parents and all our friends for lunch and then headed to the stadium for some tailgating. Oh New Orleans - how I love and hate you all at the same time! We had a great time - watched some of the game, caught up with old friends and got to see our long lost friend Becca. She's not really lost - but when you call St. Thomas home it's not very often that you make it back to the States!

Patrick, Becca and Me inside the Super Dome

Eating lunch with our fabulous friends who we don't get to see often enough!

Laura and Me before the game...Lee was mad we took him away from the free beer at the tailgate and made him go to the stadium....not sure why the pic of Lee and me is so tiny but we were having a good time! And I do have to point out that these pictures were taken after many hours outside in the blazing heat and after a few Blue Moons....

The only good thing about the drive back on Sunday was we got to stop in Baton Rouge and meet Laura and Matt's 3 month old son, Jackson. I am so in love with that little cutie pie. Words can't even begin to describe how cute he is and pictures do not do him justice!

We made it back to Houston and headed straight back out the door to go eat for Mark's birthday. Happy Belated Birthday Big Daddy!

Shamless Subliminal Message

It's college football time and I am preparing Elle. She has a huge selection of red, white and blue outfits - all embroidered with "Ole Miss" or "Rebels." And this is my latest tactic to ensure Elle's blood bleeds red and blue just like mine...

Family Vacay

August 25-29 we loaded up Lee's truck and headed down to South Padre Island for a mini vacay. We went with Lee's parents and the added help with Elle was definitely needed for our little go go getter! I didn't take any toys for Elle to play with - only books and her flash cards. If you don't already have an LL Bean large tote - get one (plus Nina Garcia says that every woman must have one)! The thing is perfect for loading up books and toys for car trips. It sits right next to Elle and she can reach in and grab as many books as her little car seat will hold....plus it's made out of uber durable canvas...the thing is indestructible! We made it down to the island late Wednesday night and woke up early Thursday morning. The day was perfect and our morning walk/run was wonderful on the beach. Even the dogs got to enjoy a morning run. Later on that afternoon we went over to Port Isabell for some shopping.

Friday morning, Lee, Mark and I went fishing with a guide. Vickie stayed with the princess while we enjoyed a morning of good fishing.

Being Animal Print Friday, Elle was sporting her new bird outfit. I just love it! It has birds and eggs all over it and is just too super cute!

The last time we went down to SPI, Elle started crawling and pulling up and cruising all in the same weekend. We were hoping she would start walking during this trip. She didn't start walking, but she did start coloring which we have been working on forever!

Saturday we took Elle to Paragraph Books on the island and to some other cute shops on SPI. We found some great toys for Elle. She is way in to matching things right now and we found Animal Bingo. There are cards with the animals on them and you match the game pieces to the cards. Elle was in hog heaven playing the matching game with the animals! She also talked Big Daddy into buying her a new bracelet. She really did talk him into it - or rather "signed" him into it. I have never seen so many "pleases" and "yes please" signed by this little lady! We also had a few photo shoots!

We had such so much fun with ViVi and Big Daddy. No one wanted the weekend to end!

17 Months

I can't believe our little lady is 17 months old. Crazy that it has almost been a year and a half since we were blessed by our little angel. Since I haven't done an update in the last few months - here is what our little lady is up to...

- She is weighing in at 22 lbs and is 30 inches long

- She is in 12 month clothing and some 18 month clothing

- She is still a super picky eater and hasn't finished another jar of baby food since the first one she finished. We just haven't found that one thing she really really likes. Although, she will try anything at least once - which is good. She is still fed with the feeding tube.

- She is super active and goes goes goes all day long - with the exception of an hour long nap around noon.

- Her favorite thing to do is either read her books or play with her sign language flash cards.

- She is so super smart - she knows over 70 signs and will verbalize most of the words she signs.

- She loves to play the "where's game." She will sign "where" and we will ask her where something is (in sign language and saying it). We play it ALL DAY LONG. I run out of things I know the signs for! The easiest things to ask "where" are her body parts - she pretty much knows everything from her head to her toes.

- She recognizes same objects - she looks at a picture of a bear and will point to the bear toys in her room...pretty much anything she knows the sign for - she will put two and two together

- When she is playing with her sign language flash cards - she recognizes both the sign and the picture - so if the card is flipped over to show the sign you can ask her "where is the ____?" and she will find the flash card either way - with the picture facing up or with the sign facing up.

- we are working on recognizing the colors, letters and numbers....I know she will figure it out soon!

- She is pulling up on everything and will walk assisted all over the place. I heard a loud bang the other day when I was getting ready for church - I walked into the hallway and there was Elle - cruising up and down the hallway banging on the wall as she went up and down the hallway. We practice walking between two surfaces everyday - she can now take about 4 steps before falling. I know she will figure out this whole walking/balancing thing in the near future!

- She is starting to get a little attitude. If she is playing with something and you say it's time to put it up - she will hide the toy from you. She hides a lot of things - another one of her favorite games to play. If you take whatever it is away from her - be prepared for an all out hissy fit - complete with leg stomps and hands flailing around in the air. Most of the time she puts her hands on her cheeks and just cries the biggest alligator tears ever.

- She is still uber active with therapies and goes to physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy as well as gym class and pretty soon we will be starting music class!

- She loves to sing and sign "Jesus Loves Me" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." We have crosses on some of the walls in our home and she will crawl up to them and point and sign "Jesus." Melts my heart every time.

She is such a fun little girl. I laugh all day long at what she does. Everyday she learns something new and it is so exciting for both of us. We are so blessed by our little Elle Belle!

Another week....another illness

Well....Elle finally got over the puke monster and then was hit again with a nasty runny nose and cough. Last Tuesday (8/10/10) at gym class, one of the moms brought her daughter to class with a seriously runny nose. I really didn't think anything of it until Elle woke up on Wednesday with a runny nose. Ugh! Runny nose = puke in our house but thankfully we escaped Wednesday puke free. Wednesday night Elle woke us up with a terrible cough. I woke up first thing Thursday morning and made an appointment to see the pediatrician. I just love our pediatrician and her staff. Thankfully, she basically said that Elle had a summer cold and would be fine - just to watch her and make sure she didn't develop a fever. Come Saturday, Elle was feeling much better and we both needed to get out of the house so we went with Lee to his hunting camp.

Elle playing with the duck call - she's ready for hunting season

He needed to put up some game cameras and Elle and I wanted to see what The Moose Den was all about. We left early and got to his camp around 9:00am and were finished putting up the cameras by 11:30am. Elle's favorite part was getting to drive the mule! It made being outside in the scorching heat worth it!

We left Lee's camp around noon and headed over to my dad's camp 20 minutes away. Our intent was to go fishing but it was even too hot for the fish to even think about wanting to be caught! Elle was such a super trooper and hung out with Grampy in the shade while Lee and I tried to catch some fish. It was a pretty exciting day for Elle because she not only got to see cows up close and personal, but she also got to see horses and butterflies.

She had a butterfly on her shirt and when I pointed to the butterfly flying around she signed and said "butterfly" and then pointed to her shirt and at the butterfly flying around. She amazes me everyday with what a smart little girl she is! After fishing for a few hours we headed back to Lee's camp to drop off a 4 wheeler and so I could shoot a handgun for the first time. I'm not going to lie - I was scared out of my mind to shoot a gun. It's been 12 years since I even held a firearm so the fact that Lee was going to teach me how to shoot was pretty intimidating. Lee videoed me shooting the handgun and all I can say is that I was impressed that my arms didn't flap in the wind - thanks to lifting up a 20lb baby all day long!

It was a long day in the sun and wore us all out. Sunday morning we woke up and Elle had a terrible rash all over her that progressively got worse as the day went on. It was from her face all the way to her toes....worse than any other rash she has ever had. I was able to get in with our pediatrician on Monday and she said that the rash was most likely caused by a combination of the virus she had that gave her the runny nose and cough and possibly some plant she rubbed up against at the deer leases. Who knows. By Tuesday she was much better and we were able to resume our normal busy schedule.

Poor little baby - the pictures of her torso and legs are too gruesome to post

The rest of the week pretty much flew by. Animal Print Friday, Elle's normal sign language teacher returned after her summer break. It took Elle about 10 minutes to realize that Mrs. Katy was back to play with her. She was so funny when she put 2 and 2 together. She showed Mrs. Katy all her favorite games like taking all her shoes out of her armoire and then putting them all back in again and playing with her flash cards and reading her favorite book Brown Bear Brown Bear.

Animal Print Friday outfit - pink gingham with frogs all over it

The next few weeks are going to be super busy with appointments and other activities that are starting up. I signed Elle up for a music class that starts in September. I am so excited to see how she reacts to all the music. She is such a funny little girl. I asked Lee this morning if he ever thought that being a parent would be so much fun. Everyday she does something that makes us laugh - she is just such a fun little lady (even when she isn't feeling 100%)!