He's well... they aren't

Taken by James himself with his V-tech camera :)

So I don't think I will ever forget James' 6 year well check up that happened Friday 12/14. My 6 year old kindergartner is doing well, he's 47" tall and weighs 46lbs. following the growth chart perfectly! He flinched when the doctor looked inside his ear, and giggled with she tapped his knees to check his reflexes. We talked about his picky eating, his speech and his sleep walking. And when we left the office visit he picked out a sticker of a race car. 

Thankful. My child is well. Devastated because on this very same day 20 other children, many of them 6 and in kindergarten like James, had their lives taken from them. No more well check ups for their parents to take them to. No more learning how to read and write in school. Their families will never hear them giggle again. Heartfelt grief is how I am feeling.

Candles light up a memorial outside of Saint Rose of Lima Church in Newtown.

I share with millions of others in closeness in prayer to the victims and their families. Like the Pope conveyed in his message yesterday I too ask, "God, our Father, to console allthose who mourn and to sustain the entire community with the spiritual strength which triumphs over violence by the power of forgiveness, hope and reconciling love."

What saddens me is knowing that those young children were experiencing terror and fear in their last moments. What brings me peace is knowing they are now experiencing eternal joy with our Lord. 

Frey Family Visit & Madeline Update

 Wow it's been over a week since I last posted. Over the weekend our family friends, the Frey Family, came to visit us. Tim was Stephen's best man at our wedding. And Kacey caught the garter at our wedding, they got married the following Spring after us (they were already dating :). Anyhow they live in AZ and anytime we pass through there they are always so gracious to let us stay with them. So I'm glad they finally came out to stay with us. We took them to the famous Salt Lick BBQ. We had a yummy lunch, they really enjoyed the food.

The kids had a lot of fun together. Elizabeth is 3.5 and Matthew is 1. 

 The girls had a ball playing all weekend long!

 I remember when we moved to Texas and made that long drive we stayed with the Frey's and Kacey was pregnant with Elizabeth. The following year we flew out to AZ for her first birthday. She's growing up and such a pretty girl!

 Last summer when we drove home from our CA visit we stayed with the Frey's and it was the first time we met Matthew a.k.a Matty. He was only 3 months old. I remember feeling like I was coming down with a cold so I didn't want to hold him on that visit and get him sick. Well I got my Matty fix this time, he's such a sweet baby - well I guess toddler now that he just turned 1.

We took them site seeing all around downtown Austin. Here are the kids running down a hill at the capitol building park area. So cute!

 Our 6 year old BBQ that we brought with us from Oregon finally bit the dust so this weekend we got a new one and Stephen and Tim assembled it. I made Stephen put on this BBQ apron my mom brought Stephen back from one of her Las Vegas trips. Yes if you look closely it has pockets for his BBQ utensils, salt & pepper shakers and an oven mit. :)

Madeline wasn't scheduled for her Pediatric Cardiologist appointment until the end of April but her appointment got moved up so I took her yesterday. They took thorough blood pressure readings (6 times) and checked her oxygen level - all were normal. They also ran another EKG test which looked normal. Then the Cardiologist and his intern asked Madeline and I a lot of questions. They listened to her heart for a long time. They heard her heart murmur near her left clavicle. So just to make sure everything functioned normal he had Madeline get an ultra sound ecocardiogram test. Madeline did great and stayed still the entire time. After the Cardiologist and intern reviewed the test they came and gave us the relieving news that everything is normal and functioning well with her heart. Hallelujah! So what is causing her to get tired easy and have chest pains sometimes? Well he said that her stamina is probably not as up to par as maybe her brother and other friends we've compared her to. She enjoys participating in PE at school, doing dance and cheer, jumping on the trampoline and riding her bike - but I guess we'll have to work on her stamina a little more. While he was listening to her heart during the exam he put pressure in several different areas of her chest and stomach asking if any of them felt like the chest pain she would sometime get. The pressure on her chest wall and chest muscles did. So he said the pain has to do with that, sort of similar to growing pains. So when she gets them just to have her rest for a few minutes, but that it was okay to encourage her to keep playing or exercising if she wants to. He assured me though that there is nothing abnormal with her heart and that we need not worry of her having a cardiac attack or any heart problems or disease. Oh and lastly the ecocardiogram confirmed that her heart murmur is an innocent functional murmur, and that the blood flow from her heart to her head has a blood flow dynamic that causes a swishing sound in the flow. So thanks everyone for your thoughts, concerns and prayers. After some very expensive testing :)  we have peace of mind that are baby girl is healthy and normal.

Well Check Up

Yesterday I took our baby girl (okay so she's not a baby anymore) to the pediatrician for a well check up. She hasn't been for a few years, because she was all caught up on her immunizations for school so I saw no reason to take her in. Here's her stats:


Height 50 1/2" - 90th percentile
Weight 65 lbs. - 90th percentile


I told the doc she was always high on the percentile chart, she said that is good and where you want to be on the percentile curve chart. So she's growing great!


The reason I made an appointment for a well check up is because at her last one a few years back the doc discovered she had a heart murmur. They are pretty common with infants and young kids, most grow out of them and they don't usually cause any problems. Doc did tell us at that time to keep an eye out to see if she gets tired easily while exercising or running around. Well we've noticed she does sometimes get tired easily, much quicker than James - but he's a boy and has like unlimited energy. But in recent months along with the tiredness she will complain, "my heart hurts". She would complain of these chest pains and that she would feel her heart in her neck, so I explained to her about her pulse. These chest pains have been occurring more frequently so we thought we better get it checked out.


The pediatrician said she could still hear a slight heart murmur when Madeline was laying down. But she wasn't sure that the murmur was causing the chest pain. She wanted to check the heart by doing an EKG test. Madeline's test looked good, so hopefully that means everything is okay with her heart valves. She said sometimes in kids certain things like exercise, asthma, and other things cause a heart arrhythmia and maybe this is what she is feeling. She asked about family history, anyone having an arrhythmia or a pacemaker. And then she referred Madeline to see a Pediatric Cardiologist for further testing but she seemed confident that nothing serious was going on but wanted everything checked out. She restricted Madeline from participating in PE, exercise and running at school and home until we get an okay from the Pediatric Cardiologist.


So if you will, please keep Madeline in your prayers that everything checks out okay with her heart. 


O Heavenly Father, I commend my children to Thy care. Be Thou their God and Father. Pour Thy grace into their hearts, and strengthen and multiply in them the gifts of Thy Holy Spirit, that they may daily grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.


I'll keep y'all posted.

Stats

Life has been busy lately. But on Monday James had his 4 year well check up. Doc said it looks and sounds like James is on track. He passed his hearing and sight test with flying colors. He's a "tall and slender" boy being 41.5" in height (75+ percentile) and 34 pounds in weight (25- percentile). Doc says just keep feeding him. He was due for many vaccinations, 6 in total. Doc want to split them up and do some this visit and have him come back in a month for the rest. So he got 3 injections and was NOT HAPPY about them. Ya he really dislikes the Doc now. He was very upset they "hurt" him. And try explaining to a 4 year old why something that hurts is actually good for you and will keep you healthy. "No it won't!" he says to me. I think it gets much harder as they get older to get these shots. But afterwards we went to Chick-fil-a, he played and got a book, and rode his bike all evening in the culdesac. So the shots didn't even phase him. He's such a big boy!

Madeline cheered at another football game this weekend. She's got 3 more games until the season is over. I was able to get a great shot of Madeline getting lifted up for a cheer stunt. She had to yell, "Hi my name is Madeline! Go Invaders!".

Quick Update

So Stephen had his first review last week. It went well, no raise but he definitely qualified for the last quarter bonuses (2 of them), as well as last years annual bonus. Can't wait to get those checks!

I kept forgetting to mention that I think I've sprained my right wrist. It happened the other week when James was not feeling well, running a fever and having his molars cut through his gums. The reason I think I sprained it then was because I was holding him 24/7 including every morning from 6-8am - it was the only way he would continue sleeping in the morning. I thought it was just sore for awhile, but I think I seriously hurt it. And since it's my right side and I am right handed, I continue to use it which probably doesn't allow it to heal. I try to remember when carrying James to carry him on my left side, but most of the time I just ignore the pain. It's when I do simple things like lifting my drinking glass, or getting the gallon of milk out of the fridge, or even when I type! It's pretty painful. I am going to ask the kids doc about it tomorrow.

The kids have their well checkups tomorrow. I'm curious to see how much each has grown. Both are up for some vaccine shots, they won't be too happy about those. But I will be back tomorrow to post about their current stats and will try and update their online web pages.