Two

Its been a while since I've updated and a lot has happened since then. First of all Caleb turned two! About that same time he learned to say two and he holds up one finger on each hand. It's really cute. It's also his favorite number because if he gets two of something there is one for each hand :). Around his second birthday we did the milk food challenge and he was cleared from the milk allergy. This made the birthday great and we celebrated with pizza, cake, and ice cream. Also he had his cardiology appointment and everything looked great! There was no change in his pulmonary branch stenosis or his aortic root dilation. That's what we were hoping for. So he was cleared for another year. He will see his cardiologist again when he is three and they will try at that time to do an un sedated echo. Hopefully he will learn to hold still this year. As for therapy appointments his PT and OT are going great and we see progress every month. In my opinion these are more pro active therapies and I'm not really concerned at this point. Speech is also seeing a lot of progress. He is putting several words together for sentences and learning new words all the time. But he still drops the ending sounds off almost all his words which makes his speech difficult to understand for anyone who isn't with him all the time. So that's where our focus is right now. We have also added a monthly speech consult at the hospital to supplement the weekly speech appointment he has with Early Intervention. Another reason "Two" is a theme in our life now is we just had our second child! Abigail made her arrival a week early on 4/3. I went into labor on my own and it was all looking promising till I got to 9 cm and stalled for 3-4 hours. My doctors agreed I should have another c section at that point. I was disappointed, but at least it wasn't an emergency and we didn't have to run down to the OR like we did with Caleb. We couldn't be completely drama free though. Because of scar tissue from my first c section, my bladder had fused to my uterus. When the doctor moved my bladder out of the way, it got a small tear in it. This meant I had to wear a catheter for 10 days. The doctors said it would heal fine so it was more of a nuisance than anything. However, our baby girl was healthy and she got to stay with me and go home with me a few days later so we were very happy! Caleb is adjusting to sharing mom. He loves to hold Abby and is concerned when she cries. But he is also a little jealous. We are feeling very blessed as we settle in to being a family of four. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Baby Abby will be making her arrival in April

About five months ago we found out that we were pregnant with our second child.  We were shocked since we hadn't been trying at all.  I think God knew we would be so nervous to try for a second that he had to surprise us.  Since Caleb was born with TGA (heart defect)  baby number two has gotten all the special treatment.  I had two ultra sounds in the begining to determine the due date and see the heart beat.  Then at 12 weeks I had an early screen ultra sound which screened for down syndrome and a couple other chromosome syndromes.  At 31 weeks we had a fetal echo at the hospital where our son goes.  This was a long test and my husband and I were lettting our imaginations get the best of us.  But finally the doctor came in and told us that the baby's heart looked great.  Later that day we had a level 2 ultra sound at the hospital where we will deliver.  Every test has come back clear and it looks like Abigail will be a healthy little girl with a healthy heart. 

We are so grateful that this pregnancy has gone well so far and that our baby is healthy.  But I fully believe of both my children that God's hand formed them. As Psalm 139:13-16 says "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them."  Even though we had no idea Caleb would be born with a congenital heart defect God was not caught off gaurd.  Even though we were shocked by this pregnancy, God had Abby's day's planned before any of them would come to be.  I thank God that my children's lives are in his hands and pray he gives me the wisdom to parent both of them in a way that would honor him.