18 Months...

Wow! How time flies! So much has happened since my last post. So many wonderful things. Maybe that's why I've neglected my "journal" here on my blog. When I come here I am reminded of our life as it is, you know-reality. It makes me deal with things I don't want to. Gracelyn is doing so well right now and I am comfortable living in an ignorant bliss, just feeling blessed and grateful for one more "normal" day. I am grateful for all of those that continue pray for our sweet girl and continually check on how she is doing. Thank you!

Like I said, a lot has happened since our last post. Our biggest news is that Gracelyn is now a big sister. On June 17, we were given a perfect baby girl with a perfect heart! She truly is perfect and Heavenly Father knew exactly what we needed. Gracelyn is a great big sister.I was a little worried at first. Gracelyn wanted to treat her the only way she knew how...just like she treated her baby doll. From the first time she held her she knew exactly what to do. She immediately began to rock her back and forth, it was a violent rock, but we've managed to calm it some. :)On June 5, Gracelyn celebrated her one year anniversary of having her Glenn surgery. It was an emotional day, filled with gratitude. I'm so grateful for the last year that we have had. It has been so much better than I ever imagined it could be. Coincidentally, the American Heart Association held their annual "Heart Ball" on the 4th and Jeff and I were GIVEN tickets...very expensive tickets. :) This year the association focused on congenital heart disease...what a year to go. Celebrating her one year anniversary and being already be emotional, it made it difficult to sit through. Grandpa and Grandma Hales kept the kids and when we came we found Grace with a new toy in celebration of such a great year. It was the perfect gift, a stroller for her baby. Every great celebration needs treats, so we finished off with heart cupcakes. I can't believe our baby girl is 18 months. What a ride it has been. She is so wonderful to have in our home. She is such a testimony of God's love, grace and existence. It has been so hard dealing with what we have gone through with her, but I would go through it over and over again just to have her in our lives. She has forever changed who I am, what I believe and what I KNOW.

Grace at 18 months:
-She is very girly. She loves her hair and nails done and will sit perfectly still while I do them
-She is the feistiest, sweetest little ball of happiness you will ever see
-She still has a binky problem and it's worse than EVER...we're going to have to start working on that.
-She started nursery and she loves it...she better enjoy the next few weeks while she can still go. :(
-There isn't anything she doesn't say. She is so fun to talk to and has the cutest voice.
-She mimics everything her brother says and does.
-She wants to do and go everywhere her brother does.
-She loves to be outside
-She thinks SHE is the mom. Poor Mr. C gets put out on time out often by her...not that he listens or cares.
-She has a slight shoe addiction
-It's taken a while, but she has finally began to bond with people. She loves her grandpa and grandma and has even chosen to stay with them over me.
-She has to dress herself
-She has set her own bed time of 8:30 and is begging to be in bed if we haven't put her in by then
-She can eat as much as her brother
-She loves the color pink and can always identify it when picking things out
-Her life has become a musical, as she sings about everything we do
-She is finally making friends with her doctors and doesn't scream and cry at their presence
-She does this weird thing where she takes her two fingers and feels under her neck (we think she is feeling her pulse) Jeff's mom will always tell her "You're still alive Gracelyn!" :)

Heart Mom Lunch

On April 30, my mom and I had the chance to get together with all the other "Heart Moms" in the area for a luncheon. They gave us each the chance to invite a women that has supported us through what we have been through with our heart babies and I obviously chose my mom. First they did Glitter Toes on us... so nice, especially since the ladies that were there doing it were all volunteering their time for our sake. Next they fed us lunch catered by Cafe Rio. After lunch we introduced ourselves, guests and who our child was. Last the played a video of all of our heart babies. They did such a great job on our behalf. Everything was decorated so cute, hearts everywhere of course, and it was finished off with darling heart cupcakes everywhere. It was nice to get together with some of ladies that I have come to know over the last year. They are definitely a source of strength to me.

15 Months...

My little lady is getting so big! She has me wrapped around her finger more than ever. She is such an amazing little baby. I told her doctor the other day that if she had a whole heart she would be pretty near perfect. She has really changed a lot recently. She has become friendly with others, even strangers. She is always waving to people and telling them " Hi!" She is so happy. We usually find her walking around the house dancing. She is a tease, just like the rest of them in the house. She will walk up to her brothers toys, grab one and put it behind her back until he notices. She'll sit on her binki and ask me where it went. I wouldn't expect anything different with Jeff as her father. A while back she started telling me when she needed to go to the bathroom or that she had in her diaper. My parents got her a little toilet and she has gone in it ever since. (She is no where near potty trained, but it's a start. It would be great to not have two in diapers) She only really signs two signs anymore, please and bath. She says anything she wants to and usually repeats the last word of my sentence. She sleeps through the night, almost 12 hours every night. If we don't have her in her bed by 8:30 she is standing at her crib begging to get in. She eats anything and everything. She LOVES to bathe. If someone in the house is getting in the shower or bath she'll cry until she gets in, even if she has already been in for the day. As far as her health she is doing well. Her oxygen levels have been low, making for some purple lips, but she has been congested for a while. Now that she has started to walk we find that she will play for a while and then she lays on the ground, get up and play for while and then crash again. It makes me sad to see, but at the same time I'm happy she can do what she does. She has recently gained a lot of weight, moving all the way up to the 50 percentile. Her doctor was shocked by the number. I give credit to the whole milk and all the bread she loves to eat.

Weight: 22lbs. 3 oz. 50%
Length: 30" 30%
Head Circumference: 49 cm 100%+ (I've never seen that % on any of my kids before. :) )
She is such a happy girl...
Waving to everyone that would walk by...
Lately she won't keep her fingers out of her mouth. She likes to feel her teeth...
Playing "peep a poo!"

Peace...

Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.

~Author Unknown

Gracelyn's echo and Fetal echo appointment...

On March 8 we had our two-for-one appointment at Primary's. Gracelyn had her 4 month check up and we had an echo done on the new baby. I always hated my fetal echos with Gracelyn. They are so uncomfortable. Laying on your back for at least an hour with some one pushing at every angle of your belly isn't pleasant. This time was at least an hour and a half. The baby wouldn't cooperate at all. ( I think this is why the picture looks like I want to scream, "Get me out of here.") Gracelyn wasn't exactly easy either. We were told that it was sedated, but when we got there they said it was just a limited echo and that they wouldn't need to sedate her. She didn't want to be there in the first place and starving her didn't help the situation. She cried the entire time. Great news is that Gracelyn's echo was good. She is sating low and we were told to monitor her for a few weeks. I'm not sure what we will do if she continues to stay low, but we were told to contact our cardiologists. The fetal echo also looked GREAT! It was such a relief to hear. We were told we could still have defects like holes in the heart (although it didn't look that way), but nothing compared to what we have been through with Grace. All the valves were working and the size was perfect. We are so excited for our new little one! I can't believe my BABY will be a big sister. Weird!!!

Disneyland

A couple weeks ago we had the chance to go to California with Jeff's family to "pick up" their parents from an LDS mission that they were serving. This was the first chance that Gracelyn had to meet her Grandparents.While we were in California, Jeff's entire family spent the week at Disneyland. We all stayed in connecting rooms at the Disneyland hotel. We had a lot of fun!

Gracelyn's favorite ride was definitely Nemo. We couldn't keep her away from the window. She just squealed and laughed the whole time.

Before we left Grace started showing interest in walking. While we were in California she really started walking everywhere she went.

We took her on every ride she could go on. She loved to take over the controls and drive. One of the nights we were there we ate at at Goofy's Kitchen. All of the characters would go around and visit the different tables. She never got scared of them, but most of our pictures look like this because she wouldn't take her eyes off of them.
She was such a great baby! We had such a great time and are so lucky for the chance we had to take her there!

Our Big Surprise/Good News

First-Our Big and Surprise (especially for us) News. We haven't really talked about this much. It has taken awhile to accept and digest. After a few ultra sounds I even questioned it, but I'm ready to spit it out. Actually I'm a little fat around the mid-section and it can't be hid anymore. In about four months Jeff and I are expecting Baby #3. I am due on June 27th, my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! I know it is true that Heavenly Father knows the true desires of our heart. Jeff and I didn't have the courage to even talk about having more kids, let alone having one. However, both of us wanted more. The chances of having another heart baby are double what they odds of Gracelyn even having her defect were. The percentage is small, but it is still very scary to us. Gracelyn was only 9 months old and 4 months out of surgery when I found out I was pregnant. On her first birthday we shared the news with our families that she would be a big sister. Even though it was a surprise and is very scary, we are SO excited. It will make Grace and the new baby about 18 months apart. At this point I'm not sure if I am more scared about another heart baby, two kids 18 months apart, possibly two heart babies 18 months apart or three kids under the age of four. What I do know is that, for whatever reason, this baby is supposed to be coming to our family at this time. We aren't finding out what the baby is. We want it to be a surprise. Tuesday we had an appointment with the perinatologist at McKay Dee. We were send there because they deal with high risk pregnancies and they wanted a good look at the heart. Below are a few pictures of our little one. On to our Good news: This little picture below is beautiful!! It is a picture of the heart. It shows four symmetrical chambers, functioning valves, a beautiful developed pulmonary artery and blood flowing in the right direction. It gives us a lot of hope. The heart is still the size of a finger nail, it's tiny. However, it was at this point the could see something wrong with Grace. The ultra sound doesn't show it all, but it's a good start. What we do know is that this little ones had ten good fingers :) We saw lots of pictures of them. It kept it's head buried, but waved to us often. We are so excited to share this news. We are confident all will be well. On March 22, Gracelyn has a cardiology appointment to have and echo done. We pray this will be our only "2 for 1" cardiology appointment, as we are having a fetal echo done the same day. We are so grateful for all the prayers that have been said on behalf of our family. We ask for continued prayers on behalf of our new one.