Wacky Wednesday

Since this is the last week of MDO before summer break the kids get to have some special fun this week.  Today was wacky wednesday and Hannah was extremely excited to pick out her wacky outfit.  She actually started to work on it yesterday.  She came up with it all by herself.   Here she was this morning.

And while Hannah was looking for silly things to wear yesterday she came across one of Scott's wigs.  You can take a wild guess about where the wig ended up?????

Yes, of course on Evan.  Now we know what he would like look with a full head of hair:)

He was a really good sport about it.....not that he really had a choice.  I am sure this will not be the last time that Hannah (and her daddy) will dress up little Evan.

Wonderful Weekend

I am catching up from last weekend where we had a great time celebrating my birthday and Mother's Day.  We finally had some beautiful weather around here and I started my Saturday off with a great GoPerformance workout.  I just started these workouts and I am loving it (I have been sore for a week now).  I am thankful that Scott has been able to watch Evan when I head to the gym.  I feel so much better, have more energy and am more well balanced when I get to work out.  After my workout I took the kids to Little Giggles to decorate some cupcakes for Mother's Day.  Hannah had a great time and made quite the mess.  She really enjoys Little Giggles and can play there for hours.  I have a feeling we will spend a lot of time there:)

It does not look so appetizing, but it was really good!  Hannah's got a little top heavy and kept tipping over.

Playtime after the hard work of decorating the cupcakes

I think she is getting a little too big for the cozy coupes

After playtime we met Scott for lunch and then it was time for me to get ready for my birthday massage.  That was exactly what I needed.  It felt great to take an hour and relax.  When I got home Scott had picked up another birthday surprise.....German cakes.  He ordered a couple of cakes from a local bakery that is owned by a German lady. He also invited some friends over to enjoy the cakes with us.  We sat in my new rocking chairs (another birthday gift) on the front porch and enjoyed some cake and beautiful weather.

My new rocking chairs

Our roses are beautiful right now

Four Months Young

Dear Evan,

You are already four months old now.  Sometimes it feels like this time has just flown by and I can't believe you are already four months old and other times it feels like this has just been a really long four months.  Your hospital stay is a far distant now, but it sure is still fresh in my mind.  Not a day goes by where I don't think about everything you went through in your first 4 weeks of life.  I am so proud to be  your mommy.  You are such a fighter and a rock star.  Oh, and you are very handsome too.

You are a very happy and content baby, but you do struggle with sleeping (just like your sister did too).  You don't want to miss out on anything, but you do need your sleep or you will get pretty cranky.  We have been working hard at your nap and night time routine.  Unfortunately you don't like to nap in your bed. You will nap exactly 30min in your bed every time.  I am always amazed how you make it 30min on the dot.  You sleep pretty good in your bed at night, but just don't like to nap in it.  Your favorite spot to nap is in the Ergo carrier.  We are blessed with two kids that don't like to sleep.

You love your big sister and she loves you very much.  She can always make you smile, but you also enjoy your peace and quiet when she is at school.  She just can't help it but to mess with you every chance she gets.  Your eyes get really big when you hear her come......I am sure that is not always excitement.  She loves to take care of you and helps me change your diaper and give you a bath.  She also likes to entertain you.  You were in your jumperoo the other day while I was showering and I asked Hannah to watch you and play with you.  Well, she started dancing for you and then I look over and she took off her clothes and was still dancing.  When I asked her what she was doing she said "he thinks it's funny when I dance like this".

You also really like "Patty cake, patty cake", it makes you smile and laugh out loud every time.  Your smile brightens up a room and it makes me very happy to see you smile.
We are so grateful to have you here with us today and look forward to spoiling you for many more years.

You still have pretty bad reflux and spit up a lot.  It doesn't seem to bother you and you are a "happy spitter".  I am always surprised by how much weight you are putting on with all of this spitting up.  You were 14lbs14oz at your last cardiology appointment at 3 months and 10days.

We love you to the moon and back!

One Medication Down

I am so happy to document that we cut one of Evan's blood pressure medications yesterday.  We cut the dose in half 3 weeks ago and his blood pressure has remained stable (a little on the high side, but not of huge concern right now).  I received the call yesterday from his Nephrologist to cut out this medication (Captopril) completely.  We will have to get his blood pressure checked tomorrow and next week and are praying that it remains stable.  I am really hoping that we can keep him off this medication.  It makes me really happy.  I am always so nervous about all the medication that has been pumped into his little body, so this is a huge step in the right direction. 
Next step would be to wean him off his second blood pressure medication (Propanolol).  They don't want to rush it and take it slow, since he was so hypertensive.  It is going to be up to his cardiologist to  make the call on this medication.  He will remain on baby Aspirin for right now (as a blood thinner) and his Prevacid (for his reflux). 

This little sweet face has really been struggling in the napping department.  He will only sleep for 30min in his bed, but that is clearly not enough.  I spend half of my life trying to get him to nap right now and by late afternoon we are both exhausted and I end up putting him in the Ergo.  He will sleep in there for hours.  I know that is not a longterm solution and we are working hard on getting him to sleep in his bed, but it has been challenging. 

Spring Fever

We have spring fever and are ready for the warm temperatures to return and stay.  We are outside any chance we get, but the weather has been a little crazy this year. 

 The temperatures went from mid 80's and this....

......to snow two days later on May 3rd and 4th 

Covering up our newly planted garden.  It is hard enough for me to keep anything alive and I don't need the additional challenge of snow!

We have managed to stay pretty busy during the cold days.  

Baking cupcakes with lots of sprinkles (and then only eating the frosting)

Baking more cupcakes with Ellen (and only eating the frosting)

Playing with shaving cream.....

.......and clapping her hands to "make it snow" (while there is real snow on the ground outside

Taking Evan for a spin around the house

Going to a princess party at chick fil a

What Did You Just Say?

I find myself saying that a lot after hearing something Hannah said. The things that come out of an almost four year old are very entertaining to me.  She makes me laugh so much and I always wonder where she gets all of this from.  I still only speak German to her, so I know she is not getting it from me.  Hannah still understands everything in both German and English.  She speaks a lot more English now and it is usually her first choice, but she knows a lot of German words. She also mixes the languages a lot, which is very cute to me.

Here are some of my favorite things she has recently said.

I was working on putting Evan to sleep yesterday (which can be very challenging) and Hannah was playing on her own, but she kept coming into the room every few minutes to check on us.  Finally I asked if she wanted to watch the ipad while I put brother to sleep.  Her response "Thank you Mama.  I though you'd never ask".

We wanted to walk to the Farmers Market on Saturday and Hannah didn't want to go, so Scott tried to convince her by saying that there is going to be a band playing music and she just said "Oh like Usher or Cee Lo?".  Well, maybe not at the Bentonville Farmers Market.

We watched a friends kids the other day for a few hours.  They were both taking a nap and when the little girl woke up Hannah went right in there and asked "You want to come out of your cage?  Come on, we are both nice".  Apparently to her a crib is a cage.......

I took both kids to Sam's Club the other day and they have the big shopping carts, so I was able to put Hannah next to Evan in the cart.  He had just gone to sleep, so I asked her not to mess with him and she said "Mom, that is not going to be so easy".  She just can't help it and has to mess with him when he is sleeping.

I am pretty sure she says "Yes surf" instead of "Yes sir".   She also says "meed" instead of "need" a lot.
Some of her favorite sayings are "Oh dear", "That is serious", "Long time ago when I was a kid....".  She also likes to say "I am just cheating" and she means "I am just kidding".

We have been talking to her about potentially taking her training wheels off her bike this summer.  She was excited about it and said "Yes, let's see if Dave can do it".  I think it is hilarious that our daughter has no confidence in Scott's handyman abilities.

Life with a toddler never gets boring!

Heart Update

We went to see the cardiologist today for another follow up appointment.  I was so surprised to see one of our favorite doctors from the CVICU walk in (the doctors rotate and come up to Northwest Arkansas once a week and we didn't know who was going to be here this week).  He helped to save Evan's life.  It was great to see him and he was genuinely happy to see Evan.  It felt good.  I think Evan was happy to see him too, because he put on a show and smiled, laughed and talked the entire time we were there.  One of my favorite things about this doctor is that he takes his time to talk to us.  He walked in, gave me a hug and sat down to talk to me.  He spent a long time with us asking questions and answering questions (I had a huge list).  The best news is that Evan's heart is looking good!  His blood pressure is a little on the high side, but not of huge concern right now.  We cut one of his blood pressure medications in half last week and his blood pressure remained the same.  That was great news and a big relief to me.  We will slowly start to cut back more medication and the goal is to have him weaned off all medications by the time he is 6 months old.  That is music to my ears.  The doctor was really happy with the way Evan looked (weight and skin color) and the way he was acting (happy and content) and developing (he was very engaged).  I have been so happy all day and feel a huge sense of relief.  We will have to go back for another renal ultrasound with the Nephrologist next month and then we will have his next follow up appointment with the cardiologist in 3 months.  We need to continue to go to the pediatrician once a week for a blood pressure check.    I am so thankful for such a great doctors visit and I am so proud of our little man and the fight he has put up.

I am going to celebrate our good news with a big bowl of ice cream now!