Venous Hum

That is what they said J has...a venous hum. The cardiologist said that he has "an innocent, completely normal, childhood heart murmur that goes away when he lies down." Hallelujah! We are very thankful to God that he got a clean bill of health from the doctor yesterday. She said the nurse practitioner and doctor who originally saw him were concerned (and rightly so) about the murmur's location. They were hearing the murmur high up in his chest and on the opposite side in which murmurs are normally heard which can be a bad sign. But the fact that he has no other symptoms, his EKG and tests were fine, and that it disappears when he lies down all cleared him.

So, in response to my friend Amber's question "What are you thankful for today?"

THAT is what I am thankful for today.

I am also thankful for:

*My husband being safe after this weeks tragedy

*Being inside during the stormy weather we are having

*Katy and Bear-unconditional love at its finest

*My camera...that captures moments I want to have forever:

Be My Valentine

Happy Valentines Day!





Here are some pics of the boys last year on Valentines...


What a difference a year makes. They were six months in the pictures above. I have gotten a lot of use out of those heart-shaped cookie cutters!

The boys and I went to the store yesterday with the purpose of getting them each a new truck for valentines day. There wasn't much to choose from but we managed to find two treasures. They LOVE their trucks. I was looking for some rough-can-take-a-true-beating kind of truck for their outdoor play.

J excited about his new truck!

Valentine construction/destruction trucks!

And just a few pictures from the week:
Having fun in the backyard

Trying to run from mommy

I am not supposed to eat the crayon?

Let the wind blow through your hair

Just r e l a x...and have a good weekend!

Grease

I think J may be channeling Danny from the movie Grease...at least in terms of his hair...

Please excuse me for STARING...

I can't help it. I stare at the boys all the time. I think they are catching on. The other day I was holding W in my lap. He had just woken up and I was looking (ok, staring) right at his profile. He opened his eyes really wide, and without turning his head, rolled his eyes away from me, than rolled his eyes all the way towards me as if he is saying "C'mon mom, WHAT are you looking at?" I busted up laughing and so did he. Just so darn cute.

Fun park trip this weekend:

W in a "bigger boy" swing




Higher higher!


And this morning...those curls were begging to have their picture taken...

W playing fetch with Katy...

Finally....PiCtUrEs!

I found an old cord that works with my new camera so I could finally upload our pictures...about time because I had 350-ish pictures to upload!

Here are a few from the month of January.

Happy New Year! (gotta love the boys' ski hats and sandals):

J saw Daddy leaning on the air mattress and decided to lounge with him:

The dogs doing some early morning squirrel hunting at our new place:

Our back yard and beautiful new view of the water:

Helping us unpack...

The boys' new room:

W sitting at his new little table (which is the same table my brother and I used when I was little - 30 some years ago):

J looking cool...

W performing the infamous family nose seal:

Sharing a "moment"...with an affectionate head butt...(please excuse J's very saggy diaper)

Heart

Last week I took the boys to the hospital for a quick visit with a nurse practioner so they could refill J's breathing treatment prescription at this hospital. Over three hours, an EKG, and a chest X-ray later, we were able to go home.

I was very scared when the nurse practioner listened to J breathe for a long time and then said "has anyone ever mentioned that he may have a heart murmur?" Now, I don't know anything about heart murmurs so of course this freaked me out. She got a doctor to listen as well and the doctor then said "she has really good ears, I would not have noticed the sound if I wasn't listening for it." So they told me not to worry, that he wasn't a critically ill child or anything, and that they would go "discuss things" and be right back.

They decided he needed blood pressure tests, a pulse oximeter test, an EKG, and a chest X-ray. AND they want him to see a CARDIOLOGIST in the next two months. To say the least, this visit turned out much different that originally planned. It is a blessing that they caught this now though and hopefully it is a innocent, functional, or normal murmur.

So that is all we know for now. They told me they would call if the doctor found anything urgent on the tests...they haven't called yet...so that is good news. Otherwise, we are awaiting a letter in the next several weeks on the referral to the cardiologist. I googled "heart murmurs" when I got home and read that

Most murmurs don't mean anything is wrong. But sometimes they are a sign of a problem with the heart. Even though most murmurs do not mean anything is wrong, sometimes a heart problem can cause a murmur. The heart may have a hole in it, a heart valve may leak, or a valve may not open all the way. If your doctor thinks your heart murmur could be due to a heart problem, you will need to see a pediatric cardiologist. This kind of doctor knows a lot about children's hearts.

OK, this worries me more. I hope she is sending us just becaus he is an expert and they can tell us for sure what is going on and not that she thinks he has a heart problem.

Please send prayers that the little guy is OK. I will post updates when we learn anything more.

Moving Days...

First of all, I drafted this post almost 2 weeks ago...then paused to locate my cord to upload my pictures and I still haven't found it. So I am posting this sans pictures but with videos.


It is so nice to have our bed back! We moved into our new place and it is very quaint. It is old and quirky and came free with a "pizza hut" chandelier in the dining room, vinyl shades that sometimes fall off the wall when we release them, and a fabulous one-car carport. How could we resist?! No, other than those aforementioned items, it is a cute house that is in pretty amazing shape for as old as it is. I like the layout and I really like the galley-style kitchen. This is our first open kitchen and I can see the bay from the window. We are really close to the bay so it will be fun in the summer to walk the boys down to the little beach so they can play in the sand.

There are squirrels everywhere so the dogs are happy. Katy and Bear have less room (Geoff may have to extend the fence), the boys have a bigger room, and we still have a guest room so we welcome all visitors =)

We did some painting before our shipment arrived and we are both getting better at it. Our friend Rob came over to help (we would have still been painting if it weren't for him--thank you thank you Rob!) and he gave us some tips. We painted the boys' room blue and the living room and breakfast room in brown shades. I really like the color we used in the breakfast area...I am working on convincing Geoff that we need to paint some more rooms in that color.

The boys are doing great. Still not saying many words but making lots of sounds. I have a couple of funny videos from December that I just posted.

Some crazy things our little guys are doing now:
Climbing...everything! The outside of their crib, chairs, into the tub, onto the bed...everywhere and up anything.

Kisses...not really kisses...if you ask them to give you a kiss, they will head-butt you or put their cheek in your way so you can kiss them.

Head-banging....literally-on the floor, on the walls, on the doors, on the coffee table, on anything when they get frustrated or mad. They will bang their heads, stop, and slowly peek to see if you are watching...then continue on...

Cleaning.....out their cribs of all blankets, socks, and stuffed animals. And they make sure they throw every toy in sight into their cribs before naptime (to delay the process). Geoff went to get them from their morning nap the other day and they were laughing hysterically and W had pulled his pajama top off and threw it across the room.

Bathtime....during our move I think the boys went four days without a bath. We found them both sitting (fully clothed) playing in the bathtub and Geoff said "I think they are trying to tell us something." They really like their baths now and can reach a lot more in this smaller tub than before. Well, W pulled the shower lever on himself and J the other day and scared the bejesus (is that spelled right?) out of them. J popped right out and lunged for Geoff to grab him. Then he calmed right down and started splashing again.