Runway for Smiles

Arianna was one of the models in the "Runway for Smiles" fashion show which proceeds went to furnishing a playroom at Diamond Children's Medical Center. (A room we later utilize ourselves)

Getting to the show..

Hair & Make-up time!

Arianna had to model two outfits

Hitting the runway!!!

I'm BAAACCKK!!!

I know, I know, I have been the WORST blogger this past year. I have been busier than ever with the kids, going back to school and Arianna has has a rough 6+months. But I have been feeling like I need to get back on here and reconnect with my blogging friends. I know once I got hooked on Facebook it seemed like it was easier and quicker to connect on there but I like how we can be much more personal on here. :) So..I promise over the next couple of days to sit down and start doing updates over the past few months. I have tons of pictures to posts and things to just get off my chest. Till next time...

Diamond Children's Medical Center Tent Event

Diamond Children's Medical Center held a tent event for the children. Mended Little Hearts of Tucson was given an invite so of course we took Arianna to have some fun!

The look on her face says it all...lol!

She loosened up once she made the tye-dye shirt
Played some games..

Rode a pony...

Even got her favorite Veggie Tales painted on her arm!

And what more would a 3-year old little girl want than to get her picture with Snow White!

This was MY personal favorite..

End result....AMAZING!!!

Of course after the festivities we ventured inside to check out the new lobby. Which is beautiful! I get so emotional when I'm there because I know it's only a matter of time before we are back here having her next heart surgery. I'm just so thankful that we will have Diamond Children's to utilize this time and a wonderful pediatric heart surgeon!

August Pics & Cardiology Update

I've been so bad about blogging and posting pictures.

Last month we took Arianna skating for the first time. She had a blast! It was alot of work for us but worth every minute of it.

Daddy & Devin

Arianna had her 6 month cardilogy update. She went home with a Holter monitor for 24 hours. We got the results back and everything was perfect! She had NO PVC's!!! Last year she had several so this was great news for us. :) We go back in February for her echo, which is the one I'm really nervous about. But for now, we will relax and enjoy every day!

Quick update

Devin is finally on the right medication. Thank you Prevacid!!! He is eating better and sleeping better at night. He does not have the 4 hours of screaming every night and actually smiles more! :)

Arianna is doing well. Started ballet again last week and counts down the days till she gets to go again. We are still waiting to get her speech therapy approved so no therapies going on at the moment which is kind of a nice break.

Just wanted to give a quick update!

DEAR REFLUX...YOU SUCK!!!

I know this blog has been about Arianna but it has truely become a place for me to come and put my thoughts down.

As you can tell from my title...we are dealing with reflux and IT SUCKS!!!

As I'm typing this Devin is SCREAMING his head off in the living room. Feeding has now become a challenge. He will start to eat and then he refluxes and arches his back, cries and then refuses to eat. Of course that just leaves him hungry so he is miserable.

On a positive note, we have started him on ranitidine (Zantac) for his reflux. We are giving it till Monday to see if it helps. If not then we will put him on Prilosec. I'm so relieved to finally be able to give him something.

I'm just completely overwhelmed with emotions when I can't calm my poor baby down and know he is in pain. I dealt with a little reflux (nasal regurgitation) with Arianna but it was nothing like this.

I did talk to the pediatrician today and the x-ray results were in and they said he has viral pneumonia. His peditrician doesn't believe that and says if it was the case he would be having fevers, which he is not. Which brings me to our lately diagnosis for Devin....Pectus Excavatum.

Pectus Excavatum is a depression or hollow caused when the sternum (breastbone) is abnormally pushed inward. The depression in the chest is due to abnormal growth of the cartilage that attaches the sternum to the ribs. This condition can give an inaccurate diagnosis of lung infections on x-ray....OR...he is possibly aspirating and we need to figure out which one it is.

We are going next Tuesday to see the pulmonologist. Nice thing is we already have wonderful doctors that have taken care of Arianna so we are going to see the same doctors for Devin. We are waiting for the hospital to call and schedule his upper GI test and appointment to see the GI doctor.

Well I have to get off now but I wanted to write a few things down while I had the chance. Thanks for checking on us.

Exhausted

So the past 2 nights I've let Devin sleep with us cause I'm breastfeeding and it seemed easier to just have him right there. I was also hoping it would mean I could sleep better. Well I was wrong! His breathing is so bad that I am pretty much up most the night trying to reposition him and get him comfortable. Then once I get his breathing sounding a little better his reflux starts acting up and that makes his breathing REALLY loud and he gets really cranky. I have to say this condition has to be one of the most scary things. They literally sound like they are gasping for air and his retractions can get REALLY bad sometimes. The mommy in me wants to start calling the doctors and pushing to get him in but then I'm scared that they will want to put him through all kinds of unneccesary tests.

Well Devin is crying...I'll update later