Gavin's 3rd Birthday!

I can't believe my baby is 3! He is a little guy--compared to all my other kiddos--so that means he's probably about 50th percentile--which is perfect, of course! We measured him on the wall and he is seems to be exactly 3' tall that's 1" shorter than Elizabeth at age 3, and 4" shorter than Levi's age 3. You can see on this photo that it took Liz a whole year to catch up to her brother's 3 yr height! It would be better for his heart if he is smaller in stature than his siblings....but I guess only time will tell!

The cake is a green version of Lightening McQueen's Mac. :)  As you may notice while reading this post, Gavin is passionate about anything 'Cars' related! He also loves the movie 'Speed Racer' and has named all his hotwheels cars 'Mach 5' or 'Mach 3 or 4'....but ever since Uncle David sent Cars 2 for Christmas, he has been ALL about McQeen. After a quick google search...I found this sweet Mac cake idea! Since Santa had brought a green semi, Mac has a fresh coat  of paint for the party (he's normally red, if you are not up on your Cars trivia).  Rachel and Levi baked 2 chocolate cakes and I cut them into 3 long sections, stacked them, and cut out little 'windows' so that you could see inside that the trailer was carrying some pretty cool cars! He loved his cake. I frosted the cake during the dead of night, and then placed it on the highest shelf in my room--so that the Oreo wheels would make it to the party. :)

I loved how, within moments of bringing the cake out, the kids had placed all varieties of cars next to and in front of it...the semi looked like it was moving in freeway traffic!

We played a group game of Guesstures--my favorite game for including players of all ages! It was great to have our friends the Garcia and Williams families there to celebrate with us. And Grandma and Grandpa Conway-who drove the farthest to be there!

Present time was just precious. He was so purely tickled and you've thought he'd just caught the winning touchdown pass each time he opened a gift! And he was full of cute remarks, like..."Are you kidding me?!" or "Yes!" or "Holy K-Molie!" 

3...2....1...

Perhaps his favorite toys were these mini Cars that can slide onto a spring-loaded launcher (one that a 3 yr old can actually manipulate!)  He has nick-named these cars his "Blast-offs." I love these two pics!

Make a wish!

Family shot!

Silly shot!

My baby.

We both love you so much, Gavin. Your brothers and sisters adore you. You keep us smiling and laughing, and running around the house all day! I love how your favorite meal is PB&J sandwiches but only if they are cut into cookie cutter shapes...I love how you have a special ritual at bedtime that includes the exact order of which light is turned on first, by whom, etc.  I love that you are so bright--you have your colors down packed and some letters even! I love how when you tell me "I have a snowball"..it means you need a diaper change. :) I love the python-tight body hugs that you readily give. And the way you like to rub the back of your hand in my neck (some kids just suck their thumb!) is cute too--even though sometimes I have to beg you to 'be soft!' :)  You are a blessing to us, sweet baby Gavin!



911 Call for Elizabeth!

Friday, June 15th was supposed to be a quiet night. Tim and Spencer were in the mountains on a campout and I had planned a quiet, rainy evening working on my blog and other projects--I had dinner done early and Liz and Gavin in the tub by 7 p.m.  (Pretty early for a summer night--even if it w)
as rainy!)

Elizabeth was having a little too much fun splashing water and I had asked her to stop getting the floor so wet--but when I left to get the towels, things took a turn for the worse when Levi got upset at Elizabeth for splashing soapy water at Gavin. So he grabbed the nearby Clorox Cleanup bottle (my bad) and squirted her face--the bleach got in her eye. I was so shocked, scared and angry.

Levi felt unjustly punished ("isn't soapy water just as bad for your eyes?") until he realized that the firefighters were coming to check Elizabeth and that we hoped she wasn't going to be blind...he began to cry-no sob- in agony, louder than his sister. To the point that Liz stopped crying and asked why Levi was crying, and I told her "because he is worried about your eyes, because he loves you so much."  That made an impression on her.

Meanwhile, I had decided on calling 911--with Liz screaming, Gavin and Levi too, and me trying to flush her eye--I couldn't really decipher the label on the cleaner for accident procedures. The firefighters were there in a few minutes--Liz wasn't even dressed yet. We slipped something on her and laid her on the bathroom counter where the 'rescue hero' flushed her eye with saline solution for 10 minutes. (It was more a flush, blink, rest, repeat process.) During the process and following it, they determined she was more than likely just fine, but that we should take her to urgent care for a professional checkup. 

Meanwhile, Elizabeth was becoming very enamoured with her rescuers! They really are rescue heroes--coming in with all their muscles and confidence and smiles and just taking over. She immediately calmed down--she would never have allowed me to run water over her eye like that! When it was determined she was ok, the mood was very light and they were friendly and chatty and full of praise for Elizabeth. They even let her sit inside the aid car and told her how the computer helped them find our house, etc. She was basking in the attention. :)   They also asked who sprayed the cleaner...Levi fessed up. They made him promise not to repeat that. I think he has definitely learned the hard way--hopefully all my kids have learned  from this experience not to spray any substance at anyone's face, EVER!

After the firefighters left, putting on their lights for a show and all, I was able to leave the three other kiddos at my dear neighbor, Myfa's home, while I took Elizabeth to the urgent care clinic. We checked in at 8 p.m. and finally saw a doctor at 9:30 or so--the doc put some yellow drops in her eye then turned out the lights and turned on a black light that made her eyes glow yellow--Freaky! The doc was looking for damage from the bleach--but she checked out just fine. At that point I was quite sure she was OK, but is a relief to know for sure.

Elizabeth was feeling so fine during this part of it, that the outing felt to her more like pampered time with Mom--like a Mommy/Daughter date. We colored together and chatted together, etc. And then she even got a sucker from the nurse.

On the way home, she asked me, what if I had squirted Levi with the bleach? Well, he would have had to have his eye flushed out and gone to the doctor (been possibly blinded...) She quickly replied, "Good thing I was the lucky one!"  You don't want to do that again, do you?(I asked, amused but a bit concerned.) "Oh NO!" she replied.

Making Jam with the Girls-July 14th

During the summer we try to pack a lot of fun adventures in...but we also treasure those days spent at home. This particular day we were all grateful for a quiet day after I had spent 2 days helping at cub camp and the kids at playdates with friends and with grandma.

So today I took advantage of our quiet day and taught the girls how to make strawberry jam! We made a batch of freezer jam and a batch of cooked jam. They like the freezer jam style best, of course--much safer process! And it sure tastes good!

We also accomplished a second project...scrapbooking last year's schoolwork (i.e. putting the papers/cards/memorabilia together in 3-ring binders). I have a new organization system that I implemented after a class at Education Week last summer--and it worked! I bought a file drawer that I actually keep in the kitchen corner so that I can easily use it throughout each day. Among other things there is a file for each kiddo where I place the"keepers"--schoolwork and memorabilia that I think they will want to keep. Today I took a file out one at a time and Rachel and I put them into their binders. This was SO much less painless than my previous method of stacking all the papers in the cupboard in one big messy stack! It also helps that I had the help of my wonderful daughter--four hands sure make the work go faster!

July 2, 2011 Levi's Baptism Day!

I guess you might say this is a 'welcome back' to the blog post....it has been a while! I try to keep my journal current, but sharing photos is just so fun--so I'm hoping that if I find time more often, that it will get easier!

A very special event prompts this post--Levi's baptism! It turned out that his baptism fell on a date almost a month following his 8th birthday--which was difficult for him to wait...but was fun for us to share his anticipation and excitment! He glowed the whole month long!

We spent several family home evenings focused on baptism--one of which we talked about the significance of names. We took the opportunity to use an example of Levi's name...opened his baby book and read about why we chose his name ('Levi is from the scriptures, it also means 'to join'-which is applicable for the 3rd of 5 children, the Levites were given charge over temples, and 'Martin' is his Grandpa's middle name). We spent a few extra minutes sharing other cute things we had written about baby Levi. He felt special. Then we tied the discussion into baptism by pointing out that just as Levi's name is special, so is the name of Christ and when we are baptised we promise to take the name of Christ upon us. I'm not sure why I wrote about this...except just to try to remind me down the road of some of the special moments leading up to his baptism.

We were blessed to have many family members attend his baptism and share this milestone with him! Grandma and Grandpa Kovacs from Arizona were able to come, as well as Tim's sister Kirsten and her family from Logan, UT! (more to come on that later!) Grandma Conway and many of my siblings and friends were able to attend also.

The baptismal service was perfect. Beautiful music and thoughtful talks. A highlight for me was that our family was able put together a musical number with lae-night rehearsal with the Bartons (Tim's sister) and Gma and Gpa Kovacs, a Janice Kapp Perry arrangemnt of "I Love to See the Temple." The children sang the traditional music and the adults sang a verse titled 'Teach a Child.' Grandma played the piano. My favorite moments were those spent practicing around the piano at home-but the performance was good, too, I'm sure. :) The other moment that I will always treasure is the one that we shared the night before his baptism when he and his Dad and I met in our bedroom for a quiet moment away from the happy hub-bub of a house full of loved ones. There he and Tim practiced the best way to go under the water, and we gave him a picture of Jesus and a white towel towel to remind him of the Holy Ghost can provide throughout his life, as he lives to be worthy of such a gift. It was 'cream-of-life.' :)

Most memorable, however, was the fact that Levi just glowed at his baptism. His Dad and I are so proud of him! We are so proud of the faith that he has and for the goodness in his heart. We are so pleased when we hear him pray, that we can feel the faith he has in a listening Father in Heaven. Levi has a heart of gold, and a smile that warms our own hearts.

A Letter to Levi:
Levi, I am so proud of you for accepting Christ into your life, by being baptized into Heavenly Father's church, by the same priesthood authority that John the Baptist held. I believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of God, restored in its fulness through the prophet, Joseph Smith. I know that this church is led by a prophet of God today, just as in ancient days. I believe in Christ. I believe that he showed us the way and gave us divine guidelines, or commandments, that will bring us peace and comfort and even joy as we journey through life. Choosing to be baptized is the first step in that journey back to our heavenly home. We sincerely pray that you will always find joy in choosing the Lord's way. We love you, Levi. Love, Mom & Dad

Not What I Wanted to Hear

Today I heard the cardiologist reassure me, "Don't worry, this is what we want to see"-- right after she told me that today's echocardiogram showed that Gavin's aorta repair looked perfect (Hurray!), but that his ventricle tissue had thickened in over the last 6 months and he would need to go back on meds, probably for life. Wow. That threw me for a loop. I had left for today's appointment announcing to anyone near that this would be Gavin's last surgery follow-up and that he would be officially weaned from his last blood pressure med today! So this news, while not devastating, is a far cry away from the outcome Tim and I were expecting since the time Gavin's coarcation was diagnosed.

I remember them saying that he would be off the meds a few months post-surgery. Then wait--if I think harder, I also remember them mentioning that a very few kids end up on medication indefinitely, a statement that was quickly qualified by a soothing but don't worry, that hardly EVER happens... And so worry I didn't. What is the point of too much worry anyway. But the fact remains, that Gavin has found himself numbered among the very few. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, considering what a difficult time he had in the hospital with regulation his blood pressure. But still. So what the doctor meant, I believe, by "this is what we want to see" is that his condition is treatable and not an emergency.

So I'll try to explain why he needs medicine:
As I mentioned, Gavin's heart tissue has thickend. This is not good, because it shows that the heart is being required to work harder than it should (so it builds more muscle). As far as I understand, the doctor doesn't really know why his heart is having to pump harder, but the medicine (Enalapril) that he is back on, will help the arterties in his extremities expand, thus allowing better blood flow. Another factor to mention here is that Gavin has a bicuspid valve--this is a very common thing and not necessarily a problem--but the doctor says there could be a correlation between the valve and the tissue issues: "People with a bicuspid valve sometimes have less elastic tissue" or something to that effect. It is all a little hard to fully digest. His blood pressure today (while active) was 110/53 which is in the normal realm. If it weren't for his heart tissue issue, he would be off of the med. I'm sure it would be smart to have a 2nd cardiologist take a look at his Echo at some point down the road. But for now, it is comforting to know that we can help his little heart with just the minor inconvenience of medicine once a day.

Having said that, it is not a small deal to have to take medicine every day the rest of your life. I don't even have to worry about my blood pressure and am completely independent of medicine. It is sad to think of a child having to worry about medical issues. On the other hand, Gavin won't know any different, so it probably will not be a big deal. As he gets older, he'll just give himself a little pill, I'm sure. As for now, we have to deal with the inconvenience of having to keep the liquid med cold in a fridge and remembering it when we visit Grandma's house, etc. Remembering to order the refill before you run out and on a day when the pharmacy is actually compounding medicine (3 days each week), is actually the biggest headache. But hopefully they'll fill bigger prescriptions for us and then we won't have to get refills as often. The doctor says that Gavin will be able to participate in any physical activity or sport--he will just get monitored on a treadmill at the doctor's office first, so they can adjust his meds if necessary. This makes me so sad. So this is a sad night. In the doctor's office, the nurse and doctor were so positive and reassuring that I was OK, but by the time I got to the parking lot, I felt a fleeting panicky feeling --a dejavu feeling to those weeks back in March. But by the time I had finished talking to Tim and Mimi (and finished a strawberry shake I might add :), I am feeling....OK.

It was just hard for me to finish that last sentence. 'OK' might not be the right word. Probably it is. What I know is this, that Gavin will be fine. I will be able to take care of him, and we'll just make this medicine a welcome part of our family. What a blessing it is to live at a time when we can help our little ones grow up. Not many years ago, babies like Gavin would have had to suffer a sickly childhood, if they survived at all.

I have not been a very faithful blogger. At least once a week I think about posting a blog. Tonight the dishes are not fully done, a christmas pagaent robe still needs to be sewn this evening and I've got Girl Scouts to plan tomorrow, laundry to fold and email to go through....all these are the kinds of things that thwart my desire to record our family history--but this all takes second place as I take time to contemplate and record my feelings.

Gavin is 11 months old today. He weighs 20 lbs and is 28 3/4 inches.













Gavin with his cardiologist Dr. Vernon


Today is Tim's birthday! We celebrated on family night. The guy at the local GameStopper store thought it was great that the DS game I was buying last week was for my husband--BrainAge. The kids thought it was funny when I told them that I had bought Daddy an "outfit" and a "toy" for his birthday. I told them, grownups are just big kids, we still like new clothes and toys. I made Tim a football cake at Rachel's suggestion. Happy Birthday Honey! Love, "S"

Elizabeth is 3!!

Have you ever seen a happier birthday girl? You could almost literally see her soaking up the attention that had been so sparse in the days prior while we were in the hospital. She was so happy and soooo proud to FINALLY be three! And I was so happy her cake turned out! (It is a Barbie pushed into an upside cake-baked-in-a-bowl. I made the wings up an hour before the party! Can't believe it came together!)

Elizabeth had long been planning her "Mariposa" (butterfly fairy) party! It turned out she had to wait longer than the 12 months normally between birthdays, due to Gavin's hospitalization. Needless to say, she was confused as to how she could be three (March 9) when she hadn't had a birthday cake! The babysitters told me about the arguments she was having with her siblings about it and it was one of the hardest things about being at the hospital-she was already having a hard time adjusting to the baby....but, I knew, once we were home, she would have her big day, and her "world" would be right again in more ways than one! (Refer to the photo in the previous post to see how she was feeling on our homecoming day) :)
Following are some highlights of the party---sorry in advance for the sideways photos. I downloaded them before I rotated them and now to fix them I'd have to download ALL of the photos over again-and I am just refusing to do that!)

First, the butterflies were given their wings and danced while we waited for guests to arrive.

Cousins Eli and Isaac were the butterfly kingdom "guards." So cute!

Cousin Cayla made a beautiful butterfly fairy, with "Prince" Levi!

The remainder of the party revolved around enacting our version of the Mariposa story. First, the disguised evil fairy "Henna" (Rachel) poisoned the butterfly queen (Aunt Beebs). Then Prince Carlos (Levi) led Mariposa (Elizabeth) and the other butterfly's on a journey to find the magical flower--the antidote to the poison!

Wouldn't you know it, but the magical flowers were being guarded by the "Skeezites!" Giant butterfly-eating bugs! The girls carefully picked their flowers, making sure not to wake the sleeping bugs (Tim, Spencer and Cameron).

Hurry! They're waking up!











AAAAHHHH!!!!

Attack! Throw the "balls of light!" (Foil) Skeezites can't take the Light! (These costumes by the way were a complete surprise to me. Kudos to Tim and the boys! The girls were extremely thrilled by the whole skit--largely due to the half fascination/half fear of the Skeezites!)

Just in time, the butterflies save the Queen with the scent of the magical flowers! (Allergies, Anne? Eve? Are you in there somewhere?) Little side note: I sent Tim to the store that morning for a bouquet of carnations to divvy up for this skit, and he came home with these beautiful little bouquets--turns out the florist at QFC found out what Tim was using the flowers for, and made these up for him all for just $6 total! I was amazed!

Sweet moment with Auntie Beebes.

Getting a little tired at this point. :)
Cozy with Grandma Conway her new blanket for her "big" bed in Rachel's room! (the trundle)

Follow Up on Gavin

Well, we've been home a week now, and we thought we'd give a short update...everything is going great for Gavin. Today he had his first visit to his official "cardiologist" today. They did a follow-up ECHO and found his aorta healing perfectly from surgery
and the blood is flowing well, etc. As of yesterday we started cutting one
of the doses of meds in half, and his blood pressure is still stable. So
we're moving in a good direction!

He had a stitch from his side removed today (from the wound where the chest
tube came out). He would not hold still and the stitch was embedded and so
he got poked with the scissors and was bleeding. It was a long five minute
ordeal for both of us! I have a follow up visit
with kidney docs later this month (they are the ones monitoring his BP right
now). After his BP regulates, the kidney doctors will "drop" him, but Gavin will always have a cardiologist-to check for recurrance with his coarct and for (rare)complications down the road with his bicuspid aortic valve.

We are keeping a pretty low key pace with regards to other activities this month, which is nice. I pretty much have no obligations during the day except the doctor visits and Gavin's meds, and a few household errands. (Yesterday I took Rachel to get her prescription for her 1st pair of glasses!) In the evenings we have gymnastics and cub/girl Scouts things though, piano wed mornings. But the slower pace during the day is very nice--especially for Elizabeth and I to have plain "old" time together.

I just want to add another quick note of thanks to those reading who may have helped us on the home front while I was at the hospital. So MANY hands helped with child care and meals, even laundry! This all went on without my knowing who did it, as I was away, so there is no way I can properly thank all of you. Please know that your service was of tremendous help to my husband at home and to my peace of mind at the hospital. We look forward to a chance to "pay it forward!" (return the favor)