"She has no heart condition"

"She has no heart condition."

Those were beautiful words to my ears. We saw the same nurse practitioner and same pediatric cardiologist at our appointment Thursday at the Boston Children's Hospital extension in Weymouth that we saw when Sarah was six months old.

I can remember coming out of the bathroom after my first postpartum shower to find Dave intently listening to a doctor. This doctor turned out to be a pediatric cardiologist who was explaining to Dave with a diagram and plumbing analogies that a child's heart has three openings in utero that are supposed to close at birth. Our precious not-even-24-hours-old baby girl had an opening that wasn't closed. Seventy percent of the time it closes naturally during the first couple of weeks of life out of the uterus. Either way, she would have a normal quality of life.

Whoa. Talk about post-shower information overload! In some ways, I am glad it was my firstborn. I think that at the time I thought making visits to the cardiologist was normal. We went twice in Louisville and then the first visit up here when she was six months old. Each visit went well, and they were pleased with her progress, but wanted to see her one last time at 3 years old. "To see how cute she is," the cardiologist said.

I was so proud of Sarah (and a patient Josiah!) during this visit. First, a really kind nurse hooked Sarah up with thirteen stickers for an EKG. Sarah was nervous, but interactive and obedient. She then had her "arm hugged" when they took her blood pressure and her heart listened to twice. And when I say listened to I mean really listened, not just your average tour of the chest. They needed silence in the room (Josiah, of course, chose that moment to clap and squeal) and Sarah to be very still, and then they listened quite intently to just her heart.

The conclusion. There is a slight murmur to the rhythm of her heart beat, but the hole has closed. Praise the Lord! We are thankful for His healing hand.

Happy 15 months, Josiah!

We have had an exciting three months since Josiah's birthday! He is walking now and starting to say a few words. In general, we are on the brink of good communication, to which we greatly look forward. His little personality is really blooming!

Weight: 27 lbs 13 ozs (96%)
Height: 33.75 in (99%)
Head: 18.75 in (72%)
Diaper: cloth and size 5
Clothing: 18 and 24 month, some 2T, shoe- size 5/6

Likes: being chased, doing whatever Sarah is doing, digging, splashing, drawing on the magnadoodle, putting things in and taking them out (ex: crayons, markers), drum sticks and maracas, holding straws and silverware, playing peekaboo ("where's Siah?"), tickle time, playing on Daddy

Dislikes: being hungry in the car (I guess I can't blame him), being told no/having something taken from him, being put down when his plan is to be held

Schedule: We have been pretty much on target here lately, with the exception of travel and illness.

7 am: Wake and eat
7-9 am: Wake time
9-11am: Nap
11am: Wake and eat
11-1 pm: Wake time
1-3 pm: Nap
3 pm: Wake and eat
3-7 pm: Wake time
7 pm: Bed time!

Sleeping: For a while we thought Josiah might be beginning to drop his first nap, which I was not at all ready for. Sarah started going to one nap at 14 months, so I knew his resistance might not be a false alarm. Miraculously, he hasn't dropped the nap! He generally likes to go down for both naps and sleeps 1.5-2 hours (enough time for Mommy to do things!). I am thankful to say that he has been doing really well at night. He consistently sleeps until 7 or 7:30am now, which is such a blessing.

Eating: Josiah loves to down his cup of milk now, though if he isn't in his chair or being held, he is easily distracted. He is not distracted when it comes to eating, though. When he is hungry, he can put a lot of food in his belly. He definitely has preferences, but it is neat to see him liking some foods he didn't enjoy early on (like eggs). Favorites are grapes, mozzarella cheese, watermelon, pulled pork, and pizza. (Note that veggies didn't make the favorites' list . . . he eats them, but they are not his first choice!)

Moving: Josiah is walking well. He also squats, climbs the stairs (though we don't let him . . .), bounces/jumps on the couch, slides, and pushes (chairs, push carts, etc.).

Communication: His best words are still Mama and Dada. He has started mimicking words (and actions . . . he can both say and shake his head "no") and seems to really be soaking in what he hears and sees around him.

Teething: We seem to be past the really challenging ones. He had another two come through early this month that we didn't notice until they were all the way through. That brings the total to eight teeth.

Next appointment: Monday, November 4, 2013 at 10:20am

Library fun!

It warms my heart when they like to play together :)

"Just don't make eye contact and she won't know it was me . . ." 

Always love a sleeping baby!

Kids and their boxes

He kept this rubber duck's head in his mouth for a whole wake time.
This being my boy who would never take a pacifier!

Feeling legal, huh?

He has enough hair to be messed up!

Maybe a mohawk? Lot of kids get their mohawk along with their first bath,
but we waited until he was old enough to handle it :)

Somebody has some moves . . .

. . . and somebody likes it!

If our May 4 babies get married, this is being blown up bigger than life sized. You wait and see. Too cute.

Sarah wanted to hold Josiah's hand as we walked through the airport.

First time to watch the magic of Krispy Kreme unfold.

Hello, Gulf of Mexico!

Vacation With the Howells

Tired and yet somehow refreshed, we have returned from vacation in Mississippi and Alabama with the Howell side of our family. It was a great trip, the kind where you wear yourself out and sleep well. 

First, Emily and the kids flew down to spend some time in Hattiesburg while I stayed behind. I made myself useful caring for our lawn and tackling our upstairs wallpaper/paint project. I didn't tell Emily about it until I got there, but I knew she had been wanting to do it for a while. Every since we had taken down the wallpaper and painted our downstairs, we both wanted to finish the job upstairs. But there never seems to be a good time to get out a ladder and paint bucket when you have small children to play with. When they left for a few days, I saw the opportunity. 

Goodbye, last of the wallpaper.

Hello, paint!

Then I flew down South and Emily picked me up to take me to Dauphin Island, AL. Emily's parents and cousins had all rented a house on the beach, where we would spend most of our vacation. We fished, kayaked, swam, played on the beach, and played board games until we wore ourselves out. Then we took a nap and did it all some more. 

Sarah putting sprinkles on some cupcakes under the supervision of her cousin Maddy.

Yay for the beach!

Baxter and JT flounder gigging under the Milky Way

Josiah swinging like a big boy.

Sarah is loving the swing more and more now.

Josiah's first snow cone.

It was cold, but then he asked for more.

The kids loved swimming. 

Sarah even let us let go of her some so she could float. 

After a few days together in Hattiesburg with Goggin and Papa, we flew home to Cape Cod and settled back in. Then everyone got some much needed sleep!