(Almost) Wordless Wednesday!

Well, I have no words for this picture...but we all know I can't really do a blog post with no words!  Seriously.  This is one of the funniest kids I know!  One day he just wanted to wear his Elmo slippers that are too small, and put on his Gabba glasses.  He was very serious.

 Mom, this is serious business...

I am getting behind on my blogging again!  It has been a busy week and Andrew has been sick over the weekend.  He's had a temp and sore throat so we've kept him out of school all week so far.  He's back on breathing treatments again, but we are hoping we can wean him off in another month or so.

I am also in camera transition mode.  The new camera has arrived, yet I am not finding the time to delve in and learn how to use it!  It's complicated!  I absolutely love it though, and I have been playing around with it.  The other night I took about 100 pictures of absolutely nothing (well, of Andrew playing around!) just because I was having fun! Ha!  Now I just have to figure out how to do the fancy stuff, and upload to my computer, but I'll get there!  I've been getting by on my mom's camera, thank goodness!  Because I would have been lost without a camera for this long!  Ha!

The other night we went to Papa and Ga Ga's house to grill out.  It was just beautiful grilling weather and Andrew had a blast playing with Papa's old tricycle!  Except he still refuses to pedal!  Ha!  He still walks it like Fred Flinstone.  I welcome any suggestions on how to teach kids to pedal!

 I am sure once he learns to pedal, he'll be going nonstop!

 This is what Andrew did when it was time to eat dinner...

 That is quite the face, Andrew!  Grrrrrrr!

He perked right up when Ga Ga tickled him!  This boy just adores his Ga Ga!

 Tonight when I got home after being gone at school all day and all night because my students had a music concert, Andrew wanted nothing to do with me!  He only wanted Ga Ga!  He was laying the guilt trip on me, and he knew it, too!  He'd cuddle up to her, look right at me and grin!  Stinker!

This little chair was mine when I was a little girl.  Andrew loved sitting in it and eating cookies!  Ga Ga let him have cookies even though he didn't eat all his dinner!  My mom just says "that's what grandma's are for!"  It's hopeless!

 

I am working on a post soon about the upcoming Heartwalk.  I feel so behind!  I am late getting the links up and running for online donations and I have been procrastinating for a couple of reasons which I'll share in my next post.  A few things have changed (or at least been brought to my attention) and I have been researching some other ways to donate.  For now, I'll share the date of the walk because many have asked... it is June 19!  We hope our usual team of walkers will be there with us, as well as some new ones!  It is always a special time for Andrew and our family.  More to come...

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!

Bits and Pieces...

Ever wonder what the inside of a camera looks like?  Well, wonder no more!

Yes.  You are seeing this right- this is my beloved camera.  Yes.  My camera is like my third hand.  I never leave the house without it.  I try not to never miss a moment of Andrew's life.  My husband tells me I don't always have to blog about every little detail...every bowel movement our son makes!  Ha!  And much less take pictures of it!

I just can't help it.  I love pictures!  I love documenting every detail of our lives.  Sure, someday Andrew's wife might not care how old he was when he wore his first pair of big boy undies, or that I captured him wearing no pants and huge brown dress shoes at the same time.  But seriously?  She might just get a kick out of it.

So.  I know you are all wondering what happened to the camera.  Suffice it to say, it hit the road.  Literally.  

 It happened right after this picture was taken.  Andrew and I went up to Daddy's school for a soccer game last night.  Andrew rode the "alligator."  A fun time was had by all.  Until Andrew started getting naughty and wanted to help daddy announce the players from the press box.  Then he wanted to run onto the soccer field like he was part of the team.  Then he ran around the track, laughing all the way as mommy broke a sweat chasing after him.  Then I made the decision to leave.  Asap.  Andrew literally kicking and screaming the whole way to the car because he wanted another "alligator" ride.  I was not about to give in.  He had to learn somehow, right?  In this case, the lesson was learned by me.

Never leave your camera unattended on the trunk of your car as you wrestle with child in the back seat, drive off and forget it was there.  Then get all the way home and realize you don't have it.  Gasp because you remember where you left it.  Frantically call husband to retrieve said camera and when it doesn't turn up, retrace the drive, only to find it shattered on the highway a half mile from the school.

Yeah, it made it all the way to the highway.

I'm not gonna lie.  I was a little sad.  This camera has been with us for Andrew's whole life.  His birth, his NICU stay, surgeries and special memories over the years.  It is almost like it became part of the family!  Ha!  But I'm also not gonna lie about the fact that I'm not too heartbroken. 

Our tax refund is here and soon this puppy will be joining the family (Sorry mom, it's not a baby!):

It was time for an upgrade anyway.  And I've already promised my hubby not to leave this one on the trunk of my car!

It's been a busy week aside from the camera fiasco.  We spent last weekend at Craig's parents house since we didn't make it for Easter.  It was also Grandpa's birthday, so you can imagine how excited Andrew was about that!

He got to have a special ride with grandpa in the bulldozer.

Grandpa said he loved it- he sat so content, and very serious, like he knew it was a very important job!

It's been a long, hard day.  Ha!

Cousin Jack and Andrew took a ride on grandpa's gator!

Look out world!

Don't worry.  Uncle Keith rode along!  Ha!

Andrew loved being on the farm.  His favorite thing was climbing on this giant rock pile.

I think he was shocked I was actually letting him get this dirty.

Rock slide!

After we cleaned up and had a delicious meal (Craig's mom cooked every meal for us the whole weekend!  Yum!) we celebrated grandpa's birthday.  Jack and Andrew helped blow out the candles!

We got our first lesson not to let Andrew watch Scooby Doo before bedtime.  We have to remember that Jack is a couple years older than Andrew, and just because it is his favorite show, Andrew was a little too young!  I honestly thought the kid had no fear of anything.  He never gets scared.  So I figured he'd be fine.  His eyes were glued to the TV the entire movie.  But he woke up and had his first nightmare!  Oops!  No more Scooby Doo!  He wouldn't let daddy out of his grip for most of the night, as you can see!  Ha!  Although we were at the grocery store the other day and he begged for Scooby Doo fruit snacks!  Oh boy.

In the morning he had some quiet time with grandma, watching Woody and Buzz.

And one last gator ride with grandpa before we headed home.

We had to make a pitstop at Ga Ga and Papa's for a delicious grill out!  Papa even made Andrew a hot dog shaped like a real dog!  Andrew loved it!

Then he took a bath at Ga Ga's.  He loves taking baths there... I wonder why??  

She got him some finger paint for the bath tub and he became a serious little picasso.

Andrew has back to back appointments on Friday morning.  First with the audiologist to check his hearing after the tubes were put in.  We are praying that it might have improved some.  I am looking forward to this appointment as he hasn't been tested in a while and we need to make sure his hearing aids are set correctly.  Next is our big cardiology appointment.  We will be following up from his cath in January and discussing surgery options.  We would appreciate prayers for both of these appointments.  That we would get some answers and that the doctors and we would make the best decisions for Andrew.

Thank you!