The Wild Wild Wests

Austin says good bye to school for Summer Lake house 2009 where there was very little sleep and lots of toes in the sand! Austin pondering the moon at the lake Our first family Disney cruise Fourth Of July~ Boys were in awe of the fireworks Annual Family Beach Week 2009. The boys absolutely loved spending their days in the sand and surf  Summer proves to be lots of fun as we explore museums with "Morgans" To my husbands chagrin we trade our navigator in for a Mommy mini Austin goes back to school after a Summer off and Mama is nervous how this will play out ! Mason starts school with his big brother Austin  Austin turns 3 and Mason turns 2! Where did the time go... Ready to pop and meet our little fighter! Ma Ma turns 30 just days before giving birth! Fundraiser thrown for our family to help with medical costs once Paxton was diagnosed with HLHS Paxton David West enters the world with half a heart weighing 7 lbs 14 ounces Precious, precious baby boy endures and survives open ...

As it turns out, Paxton is ready to begin doing regular baby things.  Like focusing on play and interaction with others (not that we don't do that already, but maybe others besides Mama).  Like working on getting him on a ahem...schedule.  We need to work on developing his head control and strengthening his neck muscles.  All of these things, I am ready to do. I am tired of focusing on the meds and the monitors, not that we won't still have to focus on those, but we can add some fun things in there too. Let's work on busting out the play mats and the bumbo chair from baby cribs It's funny how you forget to do all of the typical baby things when you have a special needs child.  We have been so focused on right side line feeding, watching the clock until his next med dose, his saturations, his color etc. etc. etc.  Today after our visit to St. Pete I realized he really is doing awesome. I have yet to see so much enthusiasm from his cardiologists (one of which literally hu...

To say the least I am a bit creeped out right now. I just went in, as I do every night numerous times, to check on my boys and see that they are snug as bugs in bed and yes... to see that they are breathing. I thought this habit would cease once they are older, but alas, it has not.  So, I went in for one last check before heading to bed (and to write this) and Austin opens his eyes from a dead sleep and tells me, "I want hammer." He says this numerous times so I proceed to cover him with the blanket and tell him to go back to sleep.  I will not lie, I had a moment there where I was waiting for him to turn all scary movie on me, so I scooted outta there and prayed he was just dreaming about the latest episode of Bob The Builder instead of the strange Chucky thoughts that fleeted through my mind there for a second.  **************************** So it turns out that life with a heart baby is like having a regular baby only insanely heightened.  As I mentioned above I continua...

We had a wonderful Christmas.  From packing up in the mini to go see all of the twinkling lights. To opening presents Christmas morning and spending time with friends and family. The boys were enamoured with it all.  The parties, the presents, the company! The only dilemma was explaining to the boys that every day is not Christmas. They woke up this morning primed and ready for the next party. Clearly Mason likes presents! Actually neither could contain themselves at the mere sight of shiny wrapping paper. It was really quite priceless to hear the screeches!  I had to post this picture of Austin showing off his new "kicks" because the child has a passion for shoes like nobody I have ever known.  Why, I've no idea, but they appear to be some sort of comfort object to him...what do you think? Every single night, he asks for his kicks before going to bed!  As I have mentioned before, I choose to pick my battles in life and if he finds his kicks comforting then kicks he can h...

And To All A Good Night...

So I mentioned that Austin didn't do so well at his Christmas play last week.  It was the first time he has ever been on stage. Upon entering the Sanctuary at his school where the play was being held, he was smiling from ear to ear for surely he thought he was headed to a party!  Austin loves parties and seeing all the people got him all excited.  That is until he saw me. "MOMMY" he screeched as he attempted to climb over a pew full of people.  From there, it was all downhill... Here he is. Happy as a clam.  And here he is after spotting me: (Priceless) After an attempt at escaping yet again, he was in the teachers lap for the duration of the program where he stood staring at me without uttering a single lyric to the songs.  Leave it to Austin and his BFF Jackson to require restraint from the teacher during the entire show.   Now we've really done it! Somehow I just don't think things will change any next year either! Never put this boy in front of his Mama and t...

As you can see, I have been on hiatus for awhile. Life is different now.  For one, I am the Mommy of a newborn and am up every three hours come rain or shine. While he would probably sleep a little longer, I have to wake him because it's imperative that he gain weight and since his heart beats at 140 beats per minute non stop, he must keep his caloric intake up. Which in turn, means there is very little shut eye for Mommy. I am exhausted, I won't lie.  My mind is in constant motion of what to do next, where to be next, who to care for next.  Some days I feel a little overwhelmed. Some days it's hard to fit it all in.  I wish I had a little more time with my older two boys. They miss me and I miss them.  I am going to try each week to have one on one time with each of them.  I hate that they are in school full time. I want them home with me, but it's just to much with Paxton and all of his needs right now.  It's a constant shuffle back and forth from one doctor to th...

Sooo, this weekend was my first Saturday alone with all three boys. We started out just fine, so good in fact, that I was prancing around thinking to myself " I got this..."  It just so happened that Paxton was sleeping and we were able to do crafts. That was until Paxton woke up starving and needed my attention.  The boys decided they too were hungry and had to have a snack.  I was so distracted with getting the baby situated that I failed to realize that I left the jar of goldfish on the table and we wound up with this: Hundreds of goldfish strewn about the table and floor!  Thank goodness for golden retrievers that never cease to be the hairy, slobbery version of my dyson.  From there it was all down hill. The kids turned this house upside down. Which in turn made me glad that I did not in fact get to the mounds of laundry we manage to accumulate, because they would have just pulled every last item out of the baskets.  Yes, it would all still be in baskets because pretty m...

Look! Look!  Look!  My friend Jennisa over at Once Upon A Blog gave ours a holiday facelift for me. I gave her free reign (yep, she's that good) because I have no brain power or time to help her design it, but wanted to spice things up for the holidays and it's just perfect. Thank you Jennisa. As always, I love it!!! I am pretty sure I have mentioned a million times over how happy I am to be home, but this takes the cake. My boys belly laughing at me like I am the funniest woman in the world.  The sillier I act, the more they love it. It's loud, fun, happy and full of love! The video was only after we had a dinner of McDonald's.  Daddy got them "specials" which is what they call things they aren't allowed to have often, i.e. McDonalds.  They had a chicken nuggets, some fries and apple dippers. Only they decided that the caramel sauce that comes with the apple dippers is suitable to dip everything in. Yes, cause why wouldn't caramel fries be yummy.. .  ...