Happy Thanksgiving

Don't we all have so much to be Thankful for? I know that I feel over flowing with Thankfulness. I remember the Thanksgiving after Evan's 1st surgery and how the entire day I would find myself looking at him and thinking - Thank you... thank you... thank you... I should be thankful all the time, and I am but my emotions are still very raw from his surgery. We are so blessed. I also wondered this, how do you thank the surgeon, cardio and nurses for what they did for our baby? You hope that they know and see the rewards when a life is saved. I found that on Walgreens you can make a postcard and from the site put the address in and they will send it. I had taken a pic of Evan and his surgeon and had it put on a postcard with a Thanksgiving scene and wrote a note on the back to him... I hope he gets it and I hope he knows how Thankful we are for him. These people devote their lives to this work and if they didn't our son might not be with us. Thank God for them. I also thought of the individual who chose to be a donor and their family and wonder if they received their letter yet saying that a 4 yr. old boy received the pulmonary artery and valve. I hope they find some comfort in knowing their loved one has given my baby a chance for a normal life. I'm Thankful.

Evan is loving being back at school and is learning so much... he amazes me and has a memory that is scary. His school is awesome and I'm already sad that they don't have elementary there. He learned about pilgrims this week and made some hats. One day after we got home and I was cooking dinner (yes... I did) he was in the living room playing and came and asked for help. He had drawn all these King, Queen and Pilgrim hats, colored them and cut them out and taped them. I thought he did a really good job and he said he wanted everyone to wear them at Thanksgiving. I got a pic of Evan, Mamaw and Munc displaying the Thanksgiving hats Evan made.

We are finally settling in and are hanging pictures this weekend so that we can work on getting Christmas out this next week. If you couldn't tell before, I'm a bit of an OCD type of person. I took a couple days deciding where things should be hung and my husband was to help me tonight get the pictures up. I walk in with my laser level, hammer, tape measure, ruler and nails. He holds the picture up and I'm like, oh... no, no, no. We have to measure the area, then measure the picture and then measure 60" from the floor and add 1/2 the picture measurements... etc. He went along - knowing it was best to do so, LOL. We were almost finished with Evan's room and I was measuring away - laser lighting the mark for straightness - show him the mark and he hammers the nail and I hang the picture. I hung up the last picture in Evans room and he stood back and laughed. I looked up and saw this... Okay... so, I'm not ALWAYS perfect... almost though. You should see my plans for the stairway...

Croup

How do we tell it is truly winter??? Evan gets croup. He has these breathing issues every winter. He had such a horrible night. It started Mon. night and I thought his undiagnosed asthma was acting up so we gave him a breathing treatment of Albuterol and Pulmicort and it seemed a little better. He went to school on Tue. and they said he did fine there. Last night he started the barking cough and we did another treatment and attempted to go to bed. It got worse and worse. Evan has reflux so anytime he coughs more than a couple in a row he also vomits. There was no sleeping going on here. The shower was not helping so we wrapped him in a blanket and set on the deck in the freezing cold and while we were out there he would stop but the minute we came in it would start up again. We went into the Dr. today and she confirmed croup and gave him Prednisone in a dissolvable tablet - he didn't take the liquid well last winter. So we go home and I give him the tablet which he immediately starts vomiting back up. I call and they say try again so... I get smart and go to the bathroom and put him in the tub and try again... He had it in his mouth with this determined look to get this overwith and then I see his cheeks puff out and he covers his mouth and then just lets loose. I called the Dr. and they say to try again in the morning and if he doesn't take it then we will head back for a shot. So... we are pretty much where we were last night. Pray for a good nights rest... while your praying for us pray for Elijah and his family as they are in this same croupy boat.

It's been a while... Did I say in my last post I'm never moving again... if I didn't, I'm never moving again. Seriously... I'm a creature of habit and I've felt upside down and crazy ever since the move and *need* to get things in order before I loose it.
Evan is doing wonderful. He was so excited to go back to school last week. I have to tell a story about that. Evan's school is awesome... I love them. We walk in on that first day and I know that some of the teachers knew that Evan was supposed to be back that day but also knew that if he ran a fever over the weekend that he would not be there. So.. we walk in and the sign in is across from his room and I can see his friends playing. His two closest friends at school, Olivia and Blake, turn around and see us and they started jumping up and down and yelling for him. Evan beamed. We got signed in and went into the room and they surrounded him. Evan raised his shirt up and said this is my first day back from my heart surgery, see? There was his friend Blake, Olivia and another little girl just hunched down staring at his little chest and the little girls reminded me of little old ladies.... the conversation went like this:
little girls - oooohhh Evan did it hurt
Evan - No... I was asleep but it hurt when I woke up
little girls - awwwh... Evan I'm so sorry
Evan - I'm okay
little girls - awwwhhhh Evan... what are those scratches
Evan - It is my scar...
little girls - awwwhhh... can we touch it
Evan - well you can but be easy, it still hurts a little
little girls - awwwhhh... well Evan then we won't touch it
little girls - Evan, you want to play kitchen
Evan - not right now
little girls - (taking him by the hand) well Evan then lets go color

I left with tears in my eyes... seeing his little friends be so sweet leading him off to color.
Evan had a great first day back and was like he never missed a beat. Me... I cried. Five weeks off with my beautiful, brave little boy. I owe you pictures and if I promise I will post some.
My Mom and brother are taking a much needed vacation to CA to visit family. LA friends - they have a lay over in LA today- could you go hug my Mom for me??? I'm a Mama's girl and I'm so going to miss her this week.
There are some things I want to to write about... as much to share as to have a place where I can read them. I have no memory and seem so forgetful as of late.
During his pee pee crisis - he would be trying to go and he would have sweat on his brow and be trembling with pain and I would be sitting in front of him letting him lean on me and rubbing his back and he would look up and say, "Mommy, I need a kiss" and would pucker his little lips out and we would kiss and both have tears rolling down our faces. The first time he pee'd without pain he cried and through his tears said, "Mommy... it doesn't hurt anymore, it doesn't hurt anymore." Since Evan's surgery he often - especially at bedtime will tell me, "Mommy, I Love you, I Love you more than anything." He was telling me this a few nights ago while we were watching the CMA award's (he LOVES Taylor Swift) and fell asleep. The next song was Trace Adkins, "Your Gonna Miss This." I cried and cried. He came home the other day with a picture he drew at school. There were lots of little smiley faces with little stick legs and arms. I asked them who they were and he was saying, "Mommy, Daddy, Mamaw and that one is me." I looked and his had a line drawn down the middle and dots around it. I asked him what it was thinking I already knew and he said, "that is my scar and chest tube scars."
I promise pic's next time.

Getting back to normal

We are starting to slowly dig ourselves out from under boxes... and are in a little shock of actually having tv and internet access. I'm never moving again... but... I'm glad we did. Evan after his 5 day fever scare has been given the A-ok and has been doing great and will return to school on Monday. I... get to go back to work on Monday... I'll be catching up on all of you and hope that things have been going well.