Our Longhorn Adventure

Yesterday we attempted to take the kids to the Longhorns game. They have both been separately (when they were about 5 months old, respectively), but we have never attempted to take them together, and since they've been mobile. We knew it was a long shot, but the 97 degree temps didn't help. We didn't even last one drive until we sought the relief of the air conditioned end zone club.

Our sweet friend Amy (who works for the football office) came and gave us a great tour of the athletic facilities and coach Brown's office. Needless to say Bryan and I thought it was beyond cool, Mason thought the coolest thing was Coach Brown's fish (he has a real Nemo and Dory) and Blake thought the mounted Bevo was pretty fly. Thanks Amy for such a fun diversion!

That's a real Heiman and a real Lombardi, and something other award that I know is very cool, but I forget.

My desk is not nearly as cool as Coach Brown's!

Mason in Coach Brown's custom boots.

Blake on Coach Brown's saddle.

Getting some relief in the end zone club. We don't look hot do we?

Weekend in Pictures

Mason taking Georgia for a tour of the back porch

Blake got totally into the piano

And this is his Jerry Lee Lewis face


Hook 'em Horns

Two peas in a pod

Thanks Nonni for staying with us this weekend!

Back to the old Blake

Doing great!

And he's out

Just like that and he's done. The doctor said he did great. He had pretty thick fluid in both ears (indicating he already had another ear infection even though he finished antibiotics last week). The doctor thinks we will see a huge change in his disposition, his hearing, and his sleeping patterns. He will be in recovery for about 15 minutes. I'll send a new photo when we get to see him again.

And we are off

They just took Blake back. They said it will go pretty fast and because they are just doing anestesia through a mask he should recover pretty quickly too.

Ready for surgery

In my pretty purple hospital PJs.

Time for Tubes

We are on our way to Dell Children's Hospital this morning for Blake
to get tubes in his ears. The procedure should be pretty quick
(scheduled for 11), but because Blake is special he will get extra
care from a cardiovascular anestesiologist. I'll keep everyone posted
here throughout the day. As always, please keep Blake in your prayers
today.

First Love?

Blake crawling up to give Owen a hug. I think he's in love. What you
don't see is that she planted a big smooch on his face after this!

Redeeming his Manhood

Just so Blake wouldn't feel so bad about the princess pool, I had to post another pic of his absolute favorite toy - baseball! He will swing the bat with such force and then throw a party when it screams, "Home Run!" (party pictured above)

What's wrong with this picture?

Blake LOVES the princess pool, I think even more than his sister!

Fun with Crafts!

Mason and Mommy made beautiful beaded animal necklaces.

Inspiration

I often read this blog, and I thought I would share it for all who are interested. This girl, has a similar heart condition to Blake's (but the right side of her heart doesn't function). She is now 31. I find it fascinating and gut wrenching to read about her journey - difficulties and triumphs she has faced in her life.

http://inspiringhearts.blogspot.com/

Update on the Pooch

Stanley in the hospital - poor puppy

Thanks to everyone who has asked about Stanley. Most of you know he's my first child and I probably treat him like more of a baby than a dog, so when he got sick unexpectedly, it threw me for a bit of a loop.

On Friday, I took him to the emergency vet because he couldn't control his bladder and had blood in his urine. Turns out he had a urinary infection, but in the course of discovery we found another problem. He had elevated counts in his liver (his ALT was 770 and it is supposed to be around 100) which could mean any number of things: primary liver disease, toxicity (from eating something), cancer, etc. He was hospitalized for evaluation and given a slew of drugs and an IV to try to cleanse his liver. After about 15 hours he was feeling better and they sent him home with the drugs. He rested and seemed to be doing better.

We took him to his regular vet yesterday where she examined him and rechecked his liver levels, they were better (318) which means he is not getting sicker (and doesn't need to be re-hospitalized), but they are still 3 times what they should be. She thinks that this indicates that we might be looking at an acute condition rather than a chronic condition. We are waiting on the results of other tests (that can take up to a week to get the results). So the net of it is, he is doing better, but we still have a lot of uncertainty around what's wrong with him. We will continue to monitor him and if he appears to be going down hill again, we will have to take him in for an ultrasound of his liver. Please keep Stanley in your thoughts and prayers.

Happy Heart Birthday

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Blake's 2nd open heart surgery (Glenn). Looking good monkey.

Oh yeah, Hook 'Em Horns.

Ode to September 4

Oh September 4, please go away.
Clearly you are not my day.
Last year with Blake in the hospital my head was in a fog.
This year Stanley is a sick, sick dog.
Next year I'd like to skip all this drama.
Maybe I'll take a day off from being a mama.

Willie and Georgia

Mason is obsessed with Willie Nelson and makes me play him every morning on the way to school. Usually she asks for a rotation of "On the road again" and "City of New Orleans". This morning "Georgia on my mind" came on and Mason squealed, "Mommy, Willie is singing about Georgia, that is so cool!". For those that don't know, Georgia is one of Mason's best friends so this might have been the highlight of her year.

Field Trip!

It's not very often that I get to participate in school-day activities, but today Mason's class took a field trip to the fire station just a few blocks from my office, so I got to pop over there for an hour and take a field trip too! Mason LOVED going in the fire truck, and she did a pretty good "Stop, Drop, and Roll." She did let me know, however, once the fireman was all dressed in his gear (including the dreaded mask) that she WOULD NOT like him to come to her house!

Hey, hey they're the Monkeys

I was reminded today by my dear friend Stacey, that I am long overdue to post some photos of my monkeys, so here you go...