Before the Morning

Thank you to Lindsey for sending us this link, definitely gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes! This video is an amazing testimony of what God is doing through these children. This family's story is the story we have been living the past 3 1/2 years. We totally believe that God healed our son and He is using ...Gavin as a testament of his love, grace, healing & mercy. Looking back, I am so thankful for the circumstances in our life, I wouldn't change a thing. We are so proud of our son and the many lives that he has touched through his journey with HLHS. You might want to grab a tissue before you watch!

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3 Months!

Once again, I am a slacker when it comes to this blog! It's hard to keep up!!

Brody @ 3 months:

*You love to coo and laugh out loud, you are a noisy lil' boy and we love it!

*You love your brother, you are constantly following him with your eyes, smiling and laughing at him.

*You love to be in the standing position most of the time.

*You are sleeping through the night for the most part, occasionally you will wake up once

*You LOVE to eat

*You like to push yourself up and try to scoot around on the floor, I am afraid we will have a crawler before we know it

*You are very strong!!

*You love lights, music and lots of noise, if there isn't something going on then you are crying!

*Overall you are a very happy baby!

Brody, we love having you in our family and couldn't imagine life with out you!

Comparison

Gavin @ 2 months

Brody @ 2 months

I am thinking the boys look nothing alike! Gavin had lots of dark hair, Brody has minimal red/blond hair. Gavin was a skinny baby, always in the negative percentile for his weight. Brody is a chubby baby, in the 93rd percentile for his weight. Gavin wore preemie clothes at this age, Brody is wearing 6 months clothing. Gavin loved to be in his bed and didn't like to be held much, Brody hates his bed and wants to be held and cuddled all the time! Gavin wasn't much of a cooer/talker/smiler (he is definitely making up for that now and we love it!), Brody cooes, smiles and laughs out loud. Gavin was/is a daddy's boy, and as of now Brody is definitely a mama's boy! Gavin loved his pacifier, Brody hates the pacifier! I know they say "don't compare your kids" but I just wanted to show how different they are... we are so blessed to have two wonderfully different and unique little boys!

Gavin's First Day of School

Gavin's first day was a success! He had a great time and didn't shed a tear or care to say good-bye to us when we left his room. The day started off at 6 am with Gavin running into our room asking if it was time for school yet. He preceded to walk around the house all morning with his back pack on. I could only take it off of him to put on his clothes! Aunt Kiki spent the night (her last night before heading back to college) so she could help me with the boys. Daddy got Gavin some donuts before heading out of town for work. He was sad he was going to miss taking Gavin to his first day of school! But no worries, Nana, Grandpa and Great-Granny decided to meet us at school to send Gavin off. It was ridiculous, people were looking at us in the parking lot as we all kissed Gavin and took lots of pictures. Those people didn't understand how special Gavin is and how excited we were that the day had finally come! There was a time that I never thought I'd see this day and we give God all the praise that it happened. I picked Gavin up from school, so excited to hear what he had to say about his first day. Well, he decided that he didn't need to tell me because it was a secret. Later he informed me that he made two friends Jacob and Kennedy. He said, "Mom, Kennedy didn't kiss me". I asked him if he tried to kiss her. He replied, "Yes!" Oh my word! It's already started!!! All in all it was a great day and he can't wait to get back to school!

A belated Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!

Obviously, I am way behind on updating this blog! There is just not enough time in the day and by the time night hits, I am exhausted! Here is a montage of the month of December, we were very busy this Christmas season. Stay tuned for a new post, Gavin starts PRE-SCHOOL on Wednesday!!!

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Happy to be home!!

We are home and feeling good... wanted to share the x-ray that Dr. O gave us at discharge. He wanted us to see how "lit up" Gavin's chest is...We are so proud of our son and how brave he has been the last 3 years...pretty amazing!

Update #4

The cardiologist came in and said his echo cardiogram looked good. Still waiting on the results from the chest x-ray. Hopefully we will be discharged this afternoon! Gavin got up this morning and "shaved" his face. Thanks Aunt Patti for the shaving kit!!

Update #3

Sleeping away after cath

Brother came to visit, Gavin was not feeling well at this point, very nauseated

(hence the pale skin & lips)

Feeling MUCH better!

Chocolate Ice Cream Mustache!!!

Gavin is doing great tonight, only threw up once right after procedure which is HUGE for him!! He is looking very PINK and we couldn't be more excited!

Update #2

Doctor just came in, Gavin did great! Dr. S put in the device and Gavin's stats shot up to 99!!! Gavin will stay over night to run antibiotics and he will have chest x-ray in the morning to make sure the device stayed in place. Will go back to recovery in 30 minutes to see him!

Heart Cath (Update 1)

Gavin went back at 7:50am. Should take 2 hours, if they have to put the device in Gavin will definitely spend the night. He was so brave, he requested for "bubble gum" flavor for his gas mask. He was out in minutes. The medical staff got Gavin back so fast that I didn't have time to take a picture of him. So here is a picture of baby brother (and Zee) showing his support for Gavin by sleeping too:

One Month, 5th Anniversary & Heart Cath...

Brody turned one month on 11/22! (Above are the only pictures I got of Brody on his one month birthday... both of my boys fell asleep on the floor after church, the last picture is Aunt Kiki & Bubba). Brody is getting to be such a BIG boy! At his one month check-up he weighed 11lbs 5oz. He is already wearing size 1-2 diapers and in 0-3 month clothes. Gavin weighed 5lbs 5 oz at one month. We are really counting our blessings and coming to a major realization how un-healthy Gavin was at this age. We definitely try to not compare them, however Gavin was our first child and we didn't know what normal was, God definitely knew what he was doing when he gave Gavin to us first. I think I would have been more scared if I had a healthy child first. It sounds weird but looking back, I wasn't that scared of Gavin and honestly didn't know any different. Seeing how a healthy child acts, really scares me now to think back to Gavin's situation. Thanks be to God for the strength he gave me! And thank you God for how far Gavin has come and for his weight gain! On black Friday Adam and I celebrated our 5th anniversary with some shopping & a movie! We had a great time and I can't believe we have been married for 5 years! I had a DVD made for Adam as a surprise, now that he has watched it I will share it with you! (Beware it's 20 minutes long)...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

PLEASE keep Gavin in your prayers tomorrow, we head to the city for his heart cath to close the fenestration hole they put in during his last surgery. He is a little worried about it and has asked me if they are going to "cut his tummy and look at his heart again". But he was quickly excited again when I told him he gets to pick his flavor to go to sleep. He said he is picking "bubble gum". I thought these surgeries would get easier with time, to me it's worse. He's older and he understands more, asks more questions and uses words to express his emotions. I will keep the blog updated as the day progresses! Thanks for the prayers!

Photo Shoot, Brody @ 3 & 4 weeks, Aunt Kiki's birthday, Hook Em' Horns

The week before Brody was born we did a photo shoot with Sara McDaniel (from MO, friend of a friend that came to do pictures). I thought I would share a few, because Gavin is just so beautiful in all of them!!! Thanks Sara for doing such a great job, we need you to come back and take Brody's picture!!!

Gavin doing "GO POKES!"

Last Thursday was the third week of Brody's life. He marked the occasion with his first "real" bubble bath. He loves baths and falls asleep every time...

It's the getting out part that he HATES!

All better now!

Last night we celebrated my beautiful sisters 21st birthday!! Aww, she is getting so old!

Look how chunky Brody is getting, he is quite the eater!!

I noticed that somebody commented back when Brody was born about Gavin signing "I love you" through the nursery window to his brother, he was actually signing "HOOK EM' HORNS"! We have never lived in Texas, nor rooted for Texas, so you ask where he got this from?!? His Grandpa Joe, who is an OU alum. Gavin is really into learning all about football, the mascots, team names, team chants, team everything! His favorite seems to be the Texas Longhorns. Funny story: the day Brody was born Gavin walked into the hospital and saw a man with an OU sweatshirt on, he walked right up to him and put the "Hook Em'" sign right in his face. I don't think the man liked that one bit! Yesterday we were in the car and he saw an OU bumper sticker and again put his hand up against the window and yelled "HOOK EM' HORNS!!" I guess we have a future UT student in the works!

Brody turns 4 weeks tomorrow, so I thought I'd post a picture of my precious boys from today.

TWO WEEKS...

Brody is two weeks old today! I can't believe it! I had my post-op appointment today and got a picture of Dr. N and Nurse F for Brody's baby book. Dr. N is a wonderful doctor and he was the first person to find Gavin's condition and sent us to the cardiologist that found Brody's VSD's.

Brody at 2 weeks:

*You love to be on your tummy.

*You love to keep mommy and daddy up all night.

*You love to grunt, cry and make any noise possible.

*You love to be held. (I think we have spoiled you in that area, especially since we didn't get to hold your big brother at all when he was your age, we are taking full advantage)

*You love to be swaddled, but you do not want your hands held down, you will do anything to get them out of the blanket and up against your face.

*You are a "tootin' machine" as big brother says!

*You are very strong, even the nurse in the hospital would tell us how much you liked to raise your head and look around. You have tried to roll over too!

*You are a big boy that loves to eat. You currently weigh 8lbs 15ounces.

Brody we are so blessed to have you in our family. We love you!

"I love to yawn!"

Our favorite nurse.. Nurse F and Brody

Dr. N and Brody