The Black Cloud.

From the day we found out about Evan's heart, we knew he would need three open-heart surgeries to live. With the first two surgeries 20 months behind us, we knew it was a matter of time before we started talking about Evan's final planned surgery, the Fontan. It's been looming over us like a black cloud. This black cloud has become more present in our life as Evan has become more active and his oxygen saturations have been slowly getting lower than they were right after his second surgery. He has been extremely winded after a few minutes of physical activity.

Yesterday, Evan had a regular cardiology appointment. He had his echo first, and sat pretty still for the duration of it, watching his favorite DVD, Mickey Mouse! Next came his weight check, blood pressure checks, oxygen saturation, and EKG. Everything looked great. His O2 was about 80-81 in the office.

We patiently waited a few minutes before the DR came in.. Just kidding. I chased Evan around the entire office while we waited, this kid does not sit still anymore and wants to get into everything he can find! Luckily we were the only ones waiting! His DR came in and we chatted about how Evan was doing, how big he is, etc.

Evan's heart function looks great. His tricuspid valve and new aortic valve are not leaking anymore and we will be stopping one of his medications. Yay! Then we started talking about Evan's O2 saturations and how winded he is.. And she dropped the F bomb.

Evan will be having his Fontan this spring.

I was in a little bit of shock! Yes, I knew it was coming, but at the earliest I was anticipating Evan's Fontan to be next spring, after he was 3. I trust our cardiologist 100% and agree with her judgement wholeheartedly. Best to get this last surgery out of the way while his heart is healthy than to wait until he deteriorates and needs it.

I've had 24 hours to process this news and I am still filled with anxiety. Yes, I knew this was coming, but it doesn't make it any easier. I'm worried about my boy. The very last thing I want is for him to be in pain, and not understand what is going on. Evan's communication skills are delayed; I worry he won't be able to communicate his needs or feelings.. I worry something will go wrong, worry that he will suffer complications post-op, worry that our last hugs and kisses before surgery will be our last forever.

I'm anxious to get our last surgery over with. But I want to remind you, Evan will never be "fixed". These three surgeries will never make his heart whole, he will always live with just half of a functioning heart.

Several friends have asked what they can do to help. Pray. Right now we are asking for prayers for our sweet boy, for wisdom to choose the right surgeon, wisdom to choose the right center, for strength for Scott & I, and understanding for Elli. She is so worried for her little brother.

We also ask that you join us in praying for our fellow heart families that will be in our same position in just a few months. Austin, Jasiu, Xavier, Bodie, Jake.. I adore their mommy's and they need the support too!

Right now Evan is scheduled for a heart cath procedure April 11th. His Fontan will be sometime in May.

We appreciate everyone's thoughts, prayers, and encouragement! We definitely could not have survived this journey this far without you all. <3

And in other news, Evan is completely in love with his gifts from Santa! He loves to play outside and is getting more and more brave on his little climbers. He is such a joy to watch, always smiling and laughing! Since he started walking, he was been quickly mastering his goals at physical therapy, I am one proud Mama!

Think About It.

Last month, my friend Amy shared this post on her blog. She was brave, and shared with the world how much Facebook, Blogger, Instagram, and just technology in general was taking over her life.

As I was reading this post, I kept thinking "Wow, that's nuts! She's late to get out of bed in the morning because she's checking Facebook on her iPhone?! Who does that?!" And then it hit me. I did that. Every single day. Talk about a reality check. 

I am an addict. I am addicted to anything and everything that an iPhone, or any smartphone for that matter, can do. I love Instagram. I love taking a billion pictures of my kids. I love texting. I love the music. I love the games. I love the apps. And, oh, do I love Facebook. 

I couldn't make it through a day without having to charge my phone mid-day. My husband, poor guy, would try to talk to me and was ignored because I was on my phone. I checked my FB while driving. I checked it at the grocery store. I was on FB while giving Evan a bath. I was on my phone while "playing" with my kids at the park. 

I was seriously sickened after becoming aware of how much I was on my iPhone. 

That's when I decided I needed to break this habit. I started searching for iPhone rehab centers - just kidding. Kind of. Unlike Amy, I was not able to exert enough self-control to limit my time on my iPhone. So, I sold it. And purchased a non-smart phone. 

Wait, what? 

Yes, that's right. Non-smart phones still exist! 

It's been almost a month now since I sold my iPhone on eBay. Honestly, I expected to have physical signs of withdrawal - the shakes, sweating, irritability. But I'm fine. Really! Sure, there are times where I miss my iPhone, like when I'm in another city and get super lost and can't whip out my GPS. Or when I'm in the store and want to compare products. Or when my mama group is posting last-minute meet ups and I am missing out. But it's ok. You know why?

Because my kids and my husband now come first. I am no longer the mommy pushing her child in the swing with one hand and checking her phone with the other. I am no longer telling my child to hold on a minute because I'm too busy with my phone to pay attention to her silly song and dance. My husband is no longer talking to a brick wall. I am no longer missing out on REAL LIFE. I'm free! 

Free, free at last, and it feels so good... 

Semi-Homemade Christmas

This year I have been having sew much fun (get it?) hand making gifts for the little ones for Christmas. Everything I have made so far has been relatively easy and the perfect project for a beginner seamstress, like myself! I will say though, I think I may be moving up to intermediate after all the sewing I've done this holiday season! 

While some of my projects must remain secret til after Christmas, I will share with you two DIY's I've made for my kids, cousins, and little friends. Feel free to comment if you have any questions, or to share with me your end product! 

Car Caddy 

These little things are going to be a huge hit with the boys in my family! They are inexpensive to make, I spent about $5 on each one. Your price will vary depending on the cost of your fabric. (Hello Hobby Lobby Coupons!) I'd say after the first one, and after the cutting (I cut all of mine out in the beginning) the rest took me about 30 minutes each to sew. 

I semi-followed the directions off of this website. I, personally, do not like the denim fabric used and did not like the closure, or the applique. Picky much? Yes, I know. 

Materials:

two pieces of duck cloth, or other heavyweight fabric, for the outside and car pockets (17" x 10" and 17" x 6")

one piece of coordinating fabric for the inside background (17" x 10")

one piece of iron-on medium weight interfacing (17" x 10")

black and yellow or white felt (black felt cut to 17 x 3 inches, yellow felt cut into five 1" x 1/4" pieces)

24" Coordinating ribbon 

Fabric Glue

sewing machine and supplies

1. Cut out all your fabric. If you are planning on making more than one, cut all of your fabric now to save time. 

2. Iron all of your pieces. I hate this. I hate ironing. But do it. You need to press out those fold lines. 

3. Iron on your interfacing to the back of your inside background piece of fabric. 

4. Take your 17"x6" piece of fabric, fold in half so it's 17"x3", and iron to press. 

5. Line up the raw edge of your car pocket piece and the bottom of your inside background. Pin on each side. Line up your road felt on top and pin on the sides. 

6. Sew along the outside of the road. 

7. Measure 3" from the left side of your pocket fabric, mark a line (with a disappearing ink marker or pencil specifically for sewing), then measure 2.75" and mark a line until you've made 5 marks total. Stitch vertical lines down at each mark, making sure to backstitch at the top and bottom of each pocket. 

8. Take your ribbon, fold in half, and pin on the right side, middle, of the car pockets. 

9. Lay your outside 17" x 10" piece on top of your inside piece, making sure the right sides are facing each other.

10. Sew around the entire thing using a 1/4" seam and making sure to leave a 3-4" gap to turn it inside out. Be careful not to stitch around the extra ribbon laying inside! You only want to sew one edge of it. 

11. Once turned right side out, you can either just stitch your opening closed or stitch it closed and continue to stitch around the entire thing. I did it both ways and do not have a preference for either way. 

12. Press entire thing, it will be wrinkled after turning. 

13. Glue your road dashes on your road using fabric glue. (If you'd prefer to take on the tedious task of stitching on the dashes, follow the directions on the website.) 

And that's it! My directions may seem long and tedious, but I wanted to clarify everything that I found confusing on the original site! As you can see, I made a few changes to make this project a little easier. Look at how adorable these are once the little cars are inside! Evan will be receiving one as a gift as well, I can't wait to throw this in my bag and pull it out when we are at a restaurant to keep him entertained!   

 

I'll post the second project later today! Xoxo

He's 2!

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, sweet Evan, happy birthday to you.. 

Two years old, can you believe it! My sweet, chunky, little baby is a baby no more. He's a boy. A rambunctious, silly, loving, destructive, playful big boy. And oh, do I love him! I so adore this little boy of mine <3 

I can't believe this is the same little boy. The scars that mark his body from 3 heart caths, 2 open heart surgeries, and 2 feeding tube surgeries have faded to memories. All that remains is Evan- happy, healthy, and a living miracle. Thank you, Jesus, for Your unconditional love. For surrounding my boy with Your healing hands every minute of every day. For giving him the strength to overcome every obstacle in his way. For blessing me with this amazing child. "Lord, Your faithfulness will never end! I will trust You, Lord, with all my heart, and I won't forget how good You are!"  

Happy Birthday, sweet Evan.

DIY Santa Mickey Mouse Ornaments

My family and I LOVE Disney World. We live just 40 minutes away from this magical land and since we have annual passes, we frequently visit the parks. A few months ago I was browsing through the Christmas store at Disney's Hollywood Studios and came across the cutest ornament! I flipped the price tag over and was not so surprised to see the inflated $16.95 staring back at me. Bummer. As I was giving it a second look, I thought to myself, I bet these would be fairly simple to make.. So, I put the idea in the back of my head and left. Fast forward to last week and I have finished my ornaments- and they look amazing! I've had so many friends ask for directions, which I will happily share. :)

DIY Santa Mickey Mouse Ornament

Santa Mickey Mouse Ornament from DisneyStore 

Supplies:
- Solid red large ornaments (I used a satin finish)
- Small styrofoam balls, 2 per ornament
- Black loose glitter
- Black acrylic paint
- Paint brush
- Gold fine point paint pen
- Tape
- Hot glue gun
- 2-3 cups
- Toothpicks

Let me start out by saying that this project can get messy. I recommend laying out newspaper or a towel on your work space.

First start out by making your ears. Insert a toothpick into one of the styrofoam balls and paint the entire thing w/ black paint. Immediately sprinkle glitter over the entire thing and set aside to dry. You can take it off the toothpick and let it dry or use a styrofoam block and stick it there to dry on the toothpick. Next take your tape and stencil out the "belt" around the ornament. I used typical scotch tape and it worked well. It's very hard to keep your lines straight and even, I used measuring tape to make sure my spacing was even on the first few and then eyeballed it for the rest. I left a gap on the front on each side intentionally; that's the way the real ones look like and it looks like belt loops. Paint your belt with black paint and immediately sprinkle glitter over it. Remove the tape and set it on top of a glass to prevent it from rolling around and smearing. You can either paint on your belt buckle now or wait until it dries. I did both ways and each worked fine. The paint pen works fantastic and is easy to use. If you'd like, you can write on the back with the gold pen; I added last names and the year to the back of mine. Once your ears have dried, remove the toothpicks and slice off a very thin sliver from the ear, about the size of a nickel. Add a small amount of hot glue to the shaved edge and attach to your ornament. Hold it for a few seconds so it doesn't slide! Repeat for the opposite side. Don't worry if you put the ears on lopsided- wait for the glue to dry and carefully but forcefully pull the ear off. The remaining glue on the ornament will peel off with some elbow grease, not that I know that from experience or anything.. ;)

And there you have it! I spent less than $20 on enough supplies to make 8 ornaments (Hobby Lobby had all christmas ornaments 50% off, plus I had a 40% coupon on a regularly priced item). My iPhone camera does not do these ornaments justice, they really look professional in person! I can't wait to get these on our tree!

2012-2013 1st Grade Homeschool Curriculum

Yes, that's right, I homeschool my kids. Why? Well, I'll save that for another post. ;)

After "unschooling" Elli for the second semester of Kindergarten last year, I was determined to choose the best curriculum for her learning style and personality  for the 2012-13 school year. I spent countless hours scouring the internet and homeschool forums for the perfect curriculum(s). I literally researched and read reviews for hundreds of different options; I had no idea there was THAT much homeschool stuff out there! After several weeks I narrowed down my choices and ordered all of our supplies.

Now that we are several weeks into our school year, I feel I am comfortable enough with our curriculums to share (and review) them for you. I am constantly asked what we are using and how I feel about our choices so here you go:

BIBLE- Positive Action Bible Curriculum- Enjoying God's Gifts
I think this Bible curriculum is designed for smaller classrooms vs homeschool but we are enjoying it just the same. The workbook pages are easy to complete and Elli loves learning how stories from the Bible relate to her every day life.

MATH- RightStart Math level B:
This math curriculum is so different from the way math is traditionally taught to kids in school. RS steers clear of counting and teaches kids to recognize quantities visually. There are TONS of games and hands on activities that come w/ the kit and the teacher manual/lesson plans are seriously fool proof. Elli loves using her abacus to solve problems and I can already tell a major improvement in her math skills. Elli's favorite thing about RS math is for sure the hands on lessons.

SPELLING- All About Spelling level 1:
Alright, this one is tricky. I am going to reserve my opinion on this one for the time being. This curriculum is more than just weekly spelling words and memorization. It teaches phonics as well, which is cool, but we aren't far enough into the curriculum to get to the actual spelling portion so, we will continue and see how it goes.

WRITING- Writing Grade 1, Kelley Wingate Publications:
I found this gem by complete coincidence this summer at a yardsale. A former teacher was selling all of her personal books and this was one I picked up for $0.50. It's seriously amazing. The worksheets are easy peasy and does a great job helping me teach Elli about grammar, punctuation, and is a good intro into writing full and complete sentences. It's an older book, and from what I can find online, only upgraded versions are available.

SCIENCE- R.E.A.L Science, Life, Level 1
I'm not gonna lie, I hate science. It's so not my forte and Elli loves anything and everything science. But this curriculum was written specifically for parents like me, and no joke, you cannot mess this one up! Our science projects are definitely the highlight of Elli's week. This week we studies plant and animal cells. Elli got to crack open and egg and check out all the parts of the cell, as well as use jello and grapes to recreate plant cholorplasts. Cool, right?!

HISTORY- Story of the World - Ancient Times
I am amazed at how much Elli is absorbing just by listening to the stories in the book. We are reading a chapter a week and she is using the vocabulary words on a daily basis. Today she told her Grandma D, who travels frequently, that she is a nomad. LOL The chapters are easy reads and the activity book references other books you can check out from the library to supplement and provides several different projects and worksheets you can pick and choose to do, depending on your child's age.

READING- Hooked on Phonics - 1st Grade
I love HOP. I just love it. When we first pulled Elli out of school, she was not reading at all. She had only learned sight words in school and was guessing every.single.word. I was really worried because she was having such a hard time. We introduced HOP last year and after lots of frustration, we backed off this summer and gave her the freedom to read at her leisure. We are two months into HOP this year and Elli has made tremendous improvement and is reading like a champ now!

Extras- We have several craft and activity books I have found here and there and we pull those out whenever Elli feels like being crafty. ;) We also started a book called Little Annie's Art Book of Etiquette and Good Manners. Anybody, homeschooled or not, with a little girl 4-7 year old NEEDS this book! It's bible based and references scripture on every page and covers everything from being a good friend to how to set the dinner table and how to behave at the dinner table when you are out at a restaurant. It's so neat!

Whew! So there you have it. Our curriculum choices for Elli's 1st grade year. I'm so, so happy with every choice we made this year and am overwhelmed by how well Elli is doing and how much she is learning so far. I can't wait to see how much she improves by the end of the year! :)

Elli & her BFF, Emily, working hard this week in our HS Classroom.

October Dress Project - 8 days down, 23 to go!

One week down already, can you believe it? I can't. Really. I'm shocked I haven't groaned once at the thought of wearing this pea green dress, over and over. 

Just kidding.

I really was doing well, until day 6. Day 6 was Saturday, which for me, meant an early and sweaty day at the football field cheering on my little cheerleader. All I wanted to do was pull on some shorts and my "Cheer Mom" shirt and relax! But noooo.. I had to wear this dress. Wah wah, I know, I signed up for this. 

The first 5 days, and day 7, however, went great! I loved all the outfits I put together and was pleased that I could throw it all together in a matter of minutes. I'm wearing jewelry that hasn't seen the light of day in well over 3 years!

I'm starting to worry though that I have run out of casual, weather appropriate ideas so soon. I mean, I really haven't, but all of the "no brainers" have already been used which means it is time to get creative.. This also means I will most likely be second guessing my outfits and feeling like I don't match most days. Yay. -_-

But I will persevere! Wait and see. I've got a feeling that by the last week of October I will be caring less and less about how dorky I look. 

My friend Christen and I have been keeping each other in check with our second "October Project". I am so loving my daily time w/ the big B and really should stop being surprised that the different chapters I read each day so relate to my life and situations I am dealing with. ;)

Did I already mention that my almost 7 year old decided to participate as well? She is way too cute. I'm really surprised at her creativity! She chose a light blue tank top dress and has been diligent and insistent about wearing it every day! Go Elli! 

OH, and another thing- having to take a picture of myself every day is getting OLD. Apparently my body only poses one way for pictures and I am for sure getting sick of seeing pictures of myself, as I'm sure most of my FB friends are, too. 

Ok, now for the outfits you have been so curious to see..

Day One - Dress w/ flower tank underneath & old Juicy Couture necklace

Day One - Elli and her super adorable self! 

Day 2- MOPS! Dress & light tan tank, $2 Old Navy Shawl from the thrift store, Juicy Couture jewelry (we all have a past, right?) and my favorite boots.

Day 3- Homeschool Day at the Aquarium! I wore Evan a majority of the time, BUT really I was wearing the dress, brown tank, crochet belt, indian looking flops I never wear, and Juicy jewelry.

Day Four- LOVED this look. Felt like a watermelon ;) Dress, salmon pink tank, black racerback tank, and Cookie Lee jewelry that is well over 3 years old! 

Day Five- Christen and I! Dress, brown ruffled tank, clearance belt, and random costume jewelry. Christen paired her dress with black tights and red jewelry, cute! 

Day Six- Take two. I was originally wearing a gray shirt, but my messy toddler spilled his lunch on it. Dress & black t-shirt for a super low key, casual day.

Day Seven- Date day w/ my super amazing husband. Dress & a white racerback work out shirt I got on clearance, brown belt, and brown ONeil flops that are falling apart :(

Day Eight- I spent the majority of my day in PJs. My littlest is sick and I only got dressed to go pick up something to make for dinner. Just wore my dress & a print tank top. 

I really wish our weather was more compatible with my wardrobe. It would be so much easier to layer my dress if it wasn't 90 degrees outside. Hopefully by the end of the month I can wear a cute sweater over top. ;)