Two thumbs up!

Andrew wants to pass along the good news!!!  We got two thumbs up at his cardiology appointment on Friday!  Thanks for all the prayers!  Dr. M said that his right ventricle looked "happy" and things have remained unchanged since his cath in January.  He said there was no need for him to have surgery in 2 months (like we were originally thinking).  We have once again been given the opportunity to enjoy our summer...surgery free!

And we couldn't be more thrilled.

The catch?  Well, there really isn't one.  Except that he couldn't guarantee that Andrew would be able to wait until next summer, either.  So we are fully aware of what this means.  We are basically living appointment to appointment at this point.  We will go back every 3-4 months and expect that at anytime he could be sending us to the OR.  We know this could potentially interfere with next school year.  But the bottom line is, we will do what is best for our son, not what benefits us with work.  Sure it would be a lot easier for us since we have the summers off, and my sick leave is running thin, but we certainly aren't going to put Andrew through surgery this summer if he doesn't need it!

We are just so grateful things looked GRRRRRR_REAT!

(On a side note, I have eaten Frosted Flakes pretty much every day of my life since I was a little kid.  It is my favorite cereal and it is one of those things, like coffee for some people, that my day just doesn't start out well without it!  My mom got Andrew this shirt as a joke, sort of, and he loves it!  He looked at it and said "Mama's cereal!"  Ha!)

His audiology appointment didn't go as well as we had hoped, but we are okay with it.  His hearing is unchanged since his tubes were put in.  Sure, we were hoping for a miracle and that his hearing (or at least some of it) might be restored.  But deep down, I knew his hearing loss wasn't caused by fluid behind the ears.  We knew that all along.  So there really is no reason this would have helped.  We really won't know how well he can hear until he is able to tell us.  We aren't quite there yet.  He did well with his hearing test in the booth.  They use play audiometry, where he listens for the beeps and then puts a toy on a toy sorter when he hears it.  It keeps getting louder and louder until he hears it and that is where they mark him down.  He could potentially hear the beeps before he reacts to the sound, so for now we just program his hearing aids the best we can, based on his reactions, and we can still have hope that he can hear more than he lets on.  The good news is that he is doing awesome in preschool, and he is learning so many new things and talking so much more.  We are so grateful.

We have had an awesome weekend!  Yesterday we got to have a play date with Andrew's special little friend, Ava.

This is them almost two years ago.  Ava has a special heart, too.  We were so blessed when Ava's mommy offered to watch Andrew last year when I went back to work part time. 

 They had the best time together.  Sadly, Ava's daddy was diagnosed with cancer last spring and passed away in February.  They are coping as best they can, but I am just heartbroken for them.

This little sweetie was born just before the diagnosis, and he is a spittin' image of his daddy.

Andrew and Ava hadn't seen each other for almost a year, but they picked right up where they left off!

"C'mon Aba!" (that is how he says her name)

I think it is so adorable, almost every picture I took of them they are looking at each other.

Like long lost friends!

 You can just see how happy Andrew was to be reunited with Ava!

I love this picture of Jessica with the kids, because it just reminds me of the fun times these four had together last year.  Andrew was always excited to go to Ava's house, and Jess took such good care of him and always did special things with all 3 kids.  We were so blessed that Andrew got to know this special family.

I had made dinner for Jess and the kids to take home, so Andrew, Craig and I went and tried this new place that just opened.  Has anyone been to Smashburger?  It was pretty good!  Andrew had a cheeseburger for the first time!

 We had to get him ice cream because he ate so well!  He was a happy camper!

We consider Wendy's Frosty's "ice cream."  They are so good!  Andrew ate the whole thing!

Rarely a weekend morning goes by that I don't make chocolate chip pancakes for my boys!

It's just been lately that I've acquired a little helper.  It was so cute, he kept putting his hand up and saying "gotta wait, that's hot!"  We told him not to touch the griddle because it was hot and he stayed far away!  I love how he's gripping the side of the counter!

Mmmmmmm, pancakes!

Some of you made me laugh with your comments about my last post and my broken camera and how I was able to take a picture of it!  Hahaha!  I was able to salvage my memory card so I used my mom's camera.  It's been the "fill in" until our new one gets purchased.  I am doing some research and making sure I get exactly the right camera for us.  I am thinking by next week I'll have made the decision on what to get.  I am so excited!

It's another beautiful, sunny day here and I'm going out to play with my little monkey!