*there's a quick announcement

I'm just spreading the word for other blogging mothers that Stefanie (of When Life Hands You a Broken Heart, Create Hope) is hosting another Every Heart Has a Story blog event on Feb. 15th for Congenital Heart Defect Awareness week.

This is where she explains what this year's topic will be and what to expect.

I'm planning some special posts for that week too. I don't like talking about heart stuff all year long so I'm going to fit a lot into this month.
~Jody

*there's the Pediatric Heart Institute

Watch this to hear some of the staff that I've talked with about Will talking about their work: Dr. Bichell (Will's surgeon), Dr. Baldwin, Dr. Dees, Dr. Fish, Dr. Johns (Will's cardiologist), and nurse Yvonne.

*there's a million visits to the doctor

ER trip #4

Yes, that's an exaggeration. But I was wondering about this a few months ago. Every time we leave an appointment within the Vanderbilt system I'm given a print out of future appointments. Each time that sheet has 6-8 appointments listed. So I checked my calendar, looked up Will's info on the medical records system, and remembered what I could about the rest of them...and came up with the following totals between February and November of 2010:

14 Pediatrician
4 Cardiologist
1 Cardiac Surgeon
3 General Surgeon
3 Gastroenterologist
2 Urologist
4 Emergency Room
9 Home Health Nurse
5 Early Intervention Coordinator
10 Early Intervention Teacher
16 Speech Language Pathologist
10 Physical Therapist
1 NICU Follow Up Clinic
1 Ophthalmologist
1 Hearing Screening
1 Nutritionist
 = 85
+ a handful of other miscellaneous medical things (weight checks, etc)
= 92

If only there were some way to estimate the phone calls...

I just wanted to add those up in an attempt to try to measure what we have accomplished as a family. I don't have to wonder "Where did the time go?". It went to Vanderbilt! Luckily it is a nice place with good sweet tea. And sometimes they came to us so we didn't have to leave the house. Soon enough these visits will be replaced with visits to a school and a critique of the tea from that cafeteria.

But back to the near future, these upcoming appointments remind me of this:

February 2010, Will's discharge from the hospital

Next month we see the cardiologist again and will record year #2 of this photo. If he gets the all clear for annual appointments then we will won't be able to get the 3rd installment of the photos until February 2012!

*there's a video

Sorry, not a video of Will. We still haven't figured out how to get those on the blog. But this one is really fun too. Remember this guy?



I almost warned you to get a tissue but maybe that was just me. (I think the girl named Ellie is my favorite.) That is OUR hospital with doctors, nurses, kids, and parents that we recognize! I could take you to all of those spots. Better yet, I will pray that you never need to go there and see the inside that hospital. The brunette nurse holding the butterfly sign is Brittney that I've mentioned before (Best Nurse PCCU Category; Medical Division). I told you she was beautiful!

*there's his first play in the snow!

 And by "play", I mean sat without moving and stared at it.

Maybe the snow suit was too big or too puffy.

 Will's tiny snowman

Katie tried to show him how to play.

 

He just didn't know what to think. 

*there's several firsts

Today I took a nap after dinner. When I woke up Will had learned to clap! He had been doing something else with his hands for months when we would clap with him. I don't think he realized there was another way to do it until today.

 This month he also learned to drink from a sippy cup
and walk really well behind a push toy.

 

 

This is an example of the pre-cut craziness that had become of his hair.

I love this photo because his cheeks look huge. 

He could store walnuts in there don't you think? 

*there's his first haircut

Before anyone gets angry with me for allowing the curls to be chopped, I promise they are still there! They just look less crazy. When his Daddy started to call him "Little Gene Wilder" I knew we had to do something.

This was an old fashioned barber shop. Can you see the built-in ashtray in the arm of the chair?

Can you spot the tear on his cheek?

If Will could talk he would probably say that his first haircut was awful. Somehow the crying and screaming weren't caught on camera. I think he'll like it more when he's older. The barber was perfect and they had a really neat miniature town and train set in the front window.

"...graduated from babyhood..."

I don't think so.

Will sends a big "thank you!" to his biggest fans for the fun time he had this morning!

*Merry Christmas!

Will has had a great Christmas day. We had to call the doctor last night because he's not tolerating feedings very well but otherwise he is fine and having fun playing with his new toys. Luckily a store was open so we could get him some Pedialyte. Hopefully the mysterious tummy trouble will leave as quickly as it came.

Christmas jammies

White Christmas 2010!

*there's Santa!

We attempted to get a picture with Santa on Saturday! We went to this year's holiday party at the hospital for families of kids with CHDs just like last year. It was a fun little party complete with cute kids, food, and crafts. I finally got a copy of this book I've been wanting and songs were led by Mark and Jay O'Shea...country artists from Austrailia that were on season 2 of a reality show on CMT called Can You Duet. Like Will, Mark has TOF. Here are some photos of the song portion of the day:

 

Our sweet friend Kobe Preston doted on Will the whole time. He showed him how to sing, he patted him on the leg, he patted him on the head, he patted him on the back, and he even showed him how to clap!

 

As the songs were winding down Will was just getting started with his own lyric shakin' screamfest!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And here is Santa!

 You can't tell by looking at this picture but Will is crying! 

Santa was fine from a distance but sitting

down next to him was too much for Will. 

This is the best (and only) picture of Will with Santa this year.

...notice Santa has removed his hat due to 

one of Will's previously mentioned phobias...

 If only it had helped!

Go here to see what the visit with Santa looked like last year.

Back at home cuddling with Daddy:

 And here is Mommy showing him his Baby's First Christmas ornament:

Recent news: Will's Mommy turned 35 yesterday!

*there's a tooth and some phobias

Do you remember when we had a teething false alarm? That was back in July! And we have heard "he's probably teething" ever since. This time there is actually a real tooth. Will is 13.5 months old, which would be 11 months old if you correct for prematurity...so either way he is pretty late in the tooth department. This time we are absolutely sure there is a tooth there because you can see it, feel it with your finger, and the pediatrician confirmed it is there! Stay tuned for photo evidence. And that little rough white spot that was on his gums back in July? The tooth isn't even in that spot. It has been there ever since! A cyst I guess.

Since this has come up several times lately I thought I would also make a record today of Will's current phobias:
*balloons
*hats

He didn't like the balloons at his birthday party. That one is sort of understandable...but hats? We first noticed that he cried when his Daddy put on a hat at home. Then one day I went to pick him up from daycare and he was screaming but no one knew why. I looked around and saw that there was a father there picking up his child who was wearing a hat. As soon as I walked Will into another room where he couldn't see the hat he calmed down. Here is where I am going with all of these details - he also starts to cry sometimes when there he sees a new/strange man. We missed his first opportunity to meet Santa last weekend because he was sick. Next weekend will be his second chance to meet Santa. Assuming everyone is well and able to get there this time, we wonder how a situation of meeting a new man in a hat is going to go! And if there are balloons nearby I'm guessing Santa will not get a warm welcome from Will. Check back for news and hopefully pictures of how that goes.

Pictures from this week. 

One day he woke up with this cute little hairstyle:

And here is Will and the snow at our house this morning!