The Nut House

The Nut House Has New Home

2010-06-14T14:06:00.003-04:00

I have been moving for the past few week, my blog that is. I finally broke down and got my new URL. My brain has been deeply entrenched in code and I am not really sure how much more I can take. My brain feels a little bit mushy after all of this.

So that is why this blog has been a bit neglected the past few weeks (or more.) But I think I finally worked out all the bugs and get everything working *mostly* the way that I would like. It really looks pretty much the same, with a few new features and changes.

So now that I got that done and over with, I can actually start posting more regularly again, lol.

I bet you want to know where my new blog is don't you? Well here it is ---> The Nut House.

The only thing now is that I lost all of my followers, so while you are there visiting, don't forget to join The Nut House again as a follower ;)

The Day I Walked Through Walls

2010-06-09T17:35:00.002-04:00

Well, kinda sorta. We tore down the wall to the back of the house last week and every day we are getting close and closer to moving in. Wall Nut's friend Mr. Shiny came over and helped us out...Thanks Mr. Shiny, You Rock! This post is really about the pictures, so I will get right to it! And sorry, apparently my camera lens was filthy and I didn't notice it. Oops.

The beginning of the end.
Sorta.

Mr. Shiny and the Saws All
Vs.
The Wall

That hole used to be a window.

Way back when.

This is where the stairs used to end.

The wall is coming down!

The wall has left the building.

Almost...

The first part of the wall is gone!

Another view.

This used to be the door to our back yard!

They are standing on what used to be our back

patio, before the excavator dug it up.

Nothing but support posts left from the framing

of the old part of the house.

The guys built temporary support posts to hold up the house

while the new header gets put in place. And then took

down the posts from the original house.

The new header is in place and all posts are gone!

Just another view of the awesome new header.

Wide open spaces.

And again from the other side. The bottom of

the stairs doesn't run into the wall any more!!

So there is the project for the week! And of course it is still a work in progress. Hopefully the tarps will come down soon so I can get my living room back.

I can't even get in there to take more pictures at the moment.

Our bedroom is over there somewhere too.

Terrible Two's Tuesday

2010-06-08T19:26:00.001-04:00

*Warning, this video contains obnoxious two year old tantrums.

And so the Meltdown Hour begins...

Five Question Friday

2010-06-04T13:14:00.001-04:00

Five Question Friday is hosted my MamaM over at My Little Life, head on over to her blog to see how others are responding to her 5QF.

1. If you could go back to college would you change your major? Or, if you were to go to college right now...what major would you choose?

If I was given the chance to go back to college I would finish up my one last year, not even a full year, something like 6 classes. I would stick with my Graphic Design courses, but I would retake the web design classes and few digital photography classes. That way I would be justified in getting a Mac and a new DSLR digital camera because I have to, and not just because I think they would be fun to play with in my spare time.

2. What do you love most about your home?

Right now the thing I love the most about my home is that there is a gaping whole in the back of it. Wall Nut and his friend Shiny just tore down the wall from the original house to the addition. My home is a complete disaster right now and I love it! (and I have tons of pictures!)

3. What types of books do you like to read (if you like to read at all)?

I love to read magical Arthurian tales, and anything medieval with knights, big stone castles and strong willed royal women who run the show from behind the scenes, and of course the brave knight who rescues the princess is a pretty good storyline too.

I also love to read technical medical books that describe the anatomy of the Heart! I read about all the different Heart Defects and study the illustrations and all the different surgeries or cath procedures that are used to "repair" the Heart. Medical books and field guides that are used to help diagnose Heart Defects can hold my attention for hours if I sit for long enough. These are the types of books that I could stay up all night long reading and never get tired.

4. What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten?

Snails. I am sorry I ever tried them and hope that someday I can forget the feeling and the taste. In fact, I just threw up a little in my mouth just thinking about it.

5. If you HAD to be a character on a TV show, whom would you be?

Um...Wonder Woman! Tall and sexy, flying around in her invisible jet, and she comes from a tribe of Amazon women. Really, I can't think of another TV character I would want to be...Except for maybe Bones, if I could handle looking at all the gross rotting bodies to get to the bones to solve the crime. Wait, maybe Ghost Whispering Melinda, so that I could really see who is making all that noise when the kids insist it is not them! And Melinda runs around a small town in those really fun clothes and can run fast in high heels.

So there are my Five Answers, if you want to join in, just head on over to MamaM's blog and join the fun.

Thankful Thursday

2010-06-03T10:38:00.001-04:00

Happy Thursday Y'all!!

You know those moments when you realize that your life is whirling by you at break-neck speed? And every time you turn around another week has passed...or another month has passed and you feel like it is all one big blur?

I am in the middle of one of those moments. I feel like some one turned up the speed of life when I wasn't looking and now I can't find the dial to turn it back down. I am having a great time. A GREAT time!! I spend a wonderful weekend with Mended Little Hearts, followed by a fabulous couple of days relaxing and celebrating my 5th wedding anniversary...and I wish I could go back to both moments and get an extension.

I love my life. I love love love it!! And I am so very Thankful that my life is mine to love!

Last weekend, after our relaxing get away (that I have yet to share here) we spent 2 days finishing up a major backyard clean up. We started Mother's Day weekend, my annual gift is garden and yard clean up...and finished it up Memorial Day weekend. After 2 years of storing building supplies and equipment, ignoring the overgrown parts of the yard along with random piles of rocks and dirt. And wow, did we have a lot of dirt, with very little grass. Playing outside with the kids was a filthy, head to toe, covered in Southern Red Clay mess. The kind of red clay that destroys clothing, shoes and leaves a trail of red clay dust all through the house. The kind that stains the bathtub and is still left on the kids after an hour of soaking and scrubbing.

All that mess is a thing of the past though! We finished cleaning up that mess, graded the back yard and spread down 2 bags of grass seed...just to start out with. I think we are going to need more though. Although that really doesn't matter...for the first time in 2 years we are going to have grass in our back yard!! We are going to be able to play outside in the back yard with out saying "Hey, stay away from there, there could be Black Widows in that mess" and "Watch out for that bee's nest in the ground over there" and "Yes, I know the backyard is all dirt, but that doesn't mean you have to roll in it!" or "That is a pile of building supplies, not a play ground and I am in no mood to take you to the emergency room, so get away!"

In 6-21 days, from this past Monday, we will have baby grass, and shortly after that we will be able to enjoy our back yard!! I am so full of Thankfulness over that, I am not sure what to do with myself!

As always, I am Thankful for my happy, healthy, wild little beasties that run around my house all day long driving me crazy, I am Thankful that my husband has a job, we have a roof over our heads and for our wonderfully supportive group of friends and family and all the ways they help us.

So what are you Thankful for today? It is so easy to join in and tell everyone.

Here is how Thankful Thursdays works:

1. Post your Thankful Thoughts on your blog. Somewhere in your post please mention Welcome to the Nut House and/or http://ourhappynuthouse.blogspot.com/ so that your friends, family and visitors know where to find other Thankful Thoughts. You can also grab my Thankful Thursdays banner and link to that. Once you have done that you can come back here and add your post to MckLinky.

Not every one has a blog, so:

2. If you don't have a blog, you can leave a Thankful Thoughts comment in the comment section.

3. You can show your Thankful Thoughts any way you like, as a list, as a story, as one word, one sentence or just a picture.

Have fun!

Today is our 5th Anniversary!

2010-05-28T12:28:00.001-04:00

I have a perfectly delightful secret that I have been keeping from my husband!! I have been teasing him about our anniversary for weeks. We are going somewhere, in that direction, we will be there for the length of time it take to be there and we will be home when we are done. We are wearing the clothes that we need to be there, and changing when we need to be somewhere else.

All of this is ending up to be waaay to much fun. I love surprises and the anticipation is all part of the surprise! So we are off for the....amount of time that we will be gone...to go do what we are doing when we get there ;)

See you...when we get back.

5 years ago I convinced my husband to have a Fairy themed wedding. It was tons of fun!! My husband may divorce me after I show you this picture, but he did it for me and shaved his head shortly after our wedding.

Thankful Thursday

2010-05-27T10:50:00.001-04:00

I am here, really. I have not gotten lost in the land of many children and I did find my way back from the Mended Little Hearts Convention in Minnesota with very little trouble. I only managed to miss one flight out of four, and that is not too bad for me!

I had a fabulous time at the Mended Little Hearts convention!! There were so many awesome CHD advocates there, just as excited as I was to absorb every little bit of juicy knowledge they had to offer us. I finally got to meet many of my online friends In Real Life, and it was amazing. This group of people has so much energy and compassion, I am honored to be part of such a fabulous group. I am so Thankful for Mended Little Hearts and the opportunity to go meet up with everyone and take all of the workshops, listen to passionate speakers and be once again reminded that I will never be alone, that no matter what happens, there will always be someone who understands exactly how I am feeling.

There was so much that I got to learn about, I don't even know where to begin, even after being home for 4 days! I have been pouring over my course outline and notes trying to organized all of my thoughts. And still, there is so much to process and I trying to let it all soak in.

We are already planning a family vacation for next year's MLH Conference, it was just that much fun...and educational. Education is always better when it is fun!

So that is it for this week. I had a great time, but I am Thankful to be back home with my family.

As always, I am Thankful for my happy, healthy, wild little beasties that run around my house all day long driving me crazy, I am Thankful that my husband has a job, we have a roof over our heads and for our wonderfully supportive group of friends and family and all the ways they help us.

So what are you Thankful for today? It is so easy to join in and tell everyone.

Here is how Thankful Thursdays works:

Not every one has a blog, so:

2. If you don't have a blog, you can leave a Thankful Thoughts comment in the comment section.

3. You can show your Thankful Thoughts any way you like, as a list, as a story, as one word, one sentence or just a picture.

Have fun!

Thankful Thursday

2010-05-20T18:31:00.000-04:00

Whoa! Today totally got away from me!! I completely forgot it was Thursday.

I am very Thankful for two major things today.

I took E Nut to the Dr with a red and puffy swollen eye that I thought was pink-eye. Turns out he just has wicked bad allergies. We walked out with some samples of allergy medicine and he was able to go to school.

The stomach virus that mostly likely was the rotavirus is finally gone and today is the first day in 12 days that our house is not rotten with things so gross I have no words to explain. I am so Thankful that is Over!

Today has been a crazy whirlwind of chaos and that is about all I can think of at the moment to be Thankful for. I don't even have time to set up MckLinky, so just leave a comment and share your Thankful Thoughts.

I Spy with my Wee Little Eye

2010-05-18T17:39:00.000-04:00

Wing Nut - "I spy with my wee little eye, something skin colored."
Little Nut Nut - "Me, me, I am skin colored!"

Little Nut Nut - "I spy with my wee little eye, something mommy colored!"
Wing Nut - "Mama!!"

E Nut - "I spy with my wee little eye, something with little tootsies"
Me - "Wee Nut!!"

Yay! This post has been brought to you by totally random nonsense.

Having Some Ducks Over for Lunch

2010-05-17T14:36:00.000-04:00

It has been raining for days. DAYS! We had HVAC over today to finish up the heating/cooling in the addition and clean out the vent system in our old ductwork. We have lived in our house for almost 7 years, and have not ever had the ducts cleaned. And by the condition of the house when we bought it, I would guess that none of the owners in the past couple of decades did either. We had some heavy rain last night, and it has been raining all day. The are also calling for flash flood warnings until later tonight.

So it is too muddy for HVAC to come into our backyard with the heavy truck to clean out the system, and the hoses that they would run through the house would get muddy and drag said mud all over my house. So they will be coming back out to finish that some other time.

All the rain brought some visitors, though and they decided it would be nice to stay for lunch. Good thing they like crackers, we have lots of those around here these days!

The Impossible Update

2010-05-14T17:24:00.000-04:00

I try to keep things light around here, but I did warn a few weeks ago that you might just come across some whining and complaining this month. I am full of whine this week, unfortunately it is not nearly as fun as being full of wine.

This week has been an emotionally and physically draining week. And I feel like whining.

I have sat down every day since Saturday to try to write a post, but all I am left with is 6 started posts that I never finished.

Saturday was the beginning of the evil and vicious stomach virus at our house. I hate the stomach virus. A lot. It has invaded my home and taken away all of my energy. And I haven't even gotten it. Yet. I know I will though. The anticipation is maddening. So far all 5 of my children have had it. We have had several combinations of diarrhea, vomiting and moderate to high fevers. My children are germ infested, cranky, smelly, gross little beasties. It is all driving me crazy. Only 1 of my little Nuts have recovered, and so far the minimum for this bug is 3 days. THREE DAYS. For a miserable little stomach bug. How can something so small cause so much trouble. One little Nut has had it for 5 days, another for 4. I am not sure how much more of this I can take.

Aside from the stomach flu, the biggest thing for me this week, that really emotionally drained me is that Owee's 2 year sugeriversary of his first Open Heart Surgery was on Wednesday, May 12th. Last year I feel apart after his first birthday and was caught completely off guard by the rush of emotions flooding me as I remembered his time in the hospital after he was born. I explained it last year in this post. I thought this year was going to be different, I thought I was prepared. I wasn't though, I was a bit of a mess. Nothing like last year, but still, I kept finding myself going back and forth between crying as I remembered how I felt just before his surgery and crying as I remembered how I felt after the surgery was over and he was alive.

I have had the stomach bug to distract me from being too emotional, but at the same time, I think the stress of the flu may have made me more emotional. I had special things planned this week to honor and celebrate Wee Nut, but none of it got done. I have spend weeks organizing my entire house to get ready to move the kids into the addition in the next couple of weeks, but everything is falling apart. I don't have a minute to myself without some child doing something gross and stinky. My hands are dry, cracked and bleeding from all of the washing and sanitizing. I have washed a months worth of laundry in the past 6 days and I have no intention of putting any of it away anytime soon. I am tired and cranky and ready for this bug to leave our house.

So there it is, a big, fat, annoying, whiny post. It was either that or nothing, and I have done nothing for far too long.

Thankful Thursday, Owain's 2nd Birthday Edition (part 4)

2010-05-06T16:10:00.001-04:00

So what are you Thankful for today? It is so easy to join in and tell everyone.

Here is how Thankful Thursdays works:

1. Post your Thankful Thoughts on your blog. Somewhere in your post please mention Welcome to the Nut House and http://ourhappynuthouse.blogspot.com/ so that your friends, family and visitors know where to find other Thankful Thoughts. You can also grab my Thankful Thursdays banner and link to that. Once you have done that you can come back here and add your post to MckLinky.

Not every one has a blog, so:

2. If you don't have a blog, you can leave a Thankful Thoughts comment in the comment section.

3. You can show your Thankful Thoughts any way you like, as a list, as a story, as one word, one sentence or just a picture.

Have fun!

Happy 2nd Birthday Owain!! (part 3)

2010-05-05T17:46:00.005-04:00

This slideshow is where the music on my blog is coming from, you can pause the music if you don't want to hear it. I had never heard this song before today, I just typed in Hero in the search box and this is what came up. I thought it was perfect.

Happy 2nd Birthday Owain!! (part 2) The Day I Became a Heart Mom

2010-05-04T16:34:00.005-04:00

At 6:30am, 2 years ago today, I put my 13 hour old baby down to sleep. I had been up with him off and on all night long, trying to nurse him and hanging out with him. We were in a quiet little room. I was enjoying my first night with my Little Owee and I knew I only had one more night alone with him before heading home to the rest of the family. We were having our special bonding time and I was basking his newborn cuteness.

He didn't nurse well, which was frustrating. He kept acting like he wanted to nurse, but then after a minute, he would fall asleep. I poked at him, nudged him, gave his little toes gentle pinches, pinched his nose, rubbed his head, rubbed cheeks, picked him up, undressed him, switched sides, played with him, changed his diaper, called his name, everything I could think of to keep him awake for long enough to nurse. He didn't want to eat, he just kept falling asleep as soon as he started nursing. As long as I was poking at him, fussing with him and playing with him he was awake. We hung out, staring at each other many times that night. I would look down at him and he would smile at me, stick his tongue out at me and wrap his little hand around my finger. As long as I was looking at him and playing with him, he was smiling and playing.

I was amazed at how he smiled and played. He was overdue, I would say 2 weeks, my midwife would say about 1. I have never understood why there are some who say that newborns don't smile. I have 5 kids who have all smiled at me before we ever left the hospital. But my Wee Nut was amazing, he had the biggest smile, over and over, and he kept sticking his tongue out at me. And as long as I was smiling at him, he was smiling at me, and if I stuck my tongue out at him, he stuck it back out at me. I was in awe. He was so perfect and sweet. As long as we played he was awake, the moment I tried to nurse him, he fell asleep. I have since learned that this was a sign of things to come.

My husband's great grandfather was Italian. His great grandfathers entire family was from Italy. After that there is no Italian, and I am fairly certain that there is no Italian in my family. When Owee was born, he seemed darker to me than my other children. He also had a full head of dark hair and dark brown eyes. All of my other three children before him, and his baby sister after him all had fair complexion and bald little heads. I remember asking anyone who was close to me, "Doesn't he seem dark to you?" The nurses kept telling me that he was fine. They would turn the lights on him to prove it. They told me he was OK enough times for me to start thinking that he was going to have a recessed Italian gene, one that was going to give him the dark hair, beautiful eyes and a darker complexion like his father. But I still felt like something was not quite right. I still felt like something was wrong.

At 6:30am, 2 years ago today, I put my 13 hour old baby down to sleep. I had been up with him off and on all night long, trying to nurse him and hanging out with him. I was tired and decided it would be best for both of us to just give up and try to get some sleep. I changed him and leaned over to his crib beside my bed, laid him down, gave him a quick kiss with a smile and a nuzzle. Then I rolled over myself and fell fast asleep. I woke up an hour later when a pediatrician who was filling in for our regular pediatrician was standing by Owain's crib. We had a few quick words and while he started his morning exam, I laid in bed trying to wake up.

I saw the look on his face change as he unwrapped my little boy. As he unwrapped him, I saw his little blue hand fall out of the blanket. It was so dark. Suddenly I was wide awake and the pediatrician was asking me how long Owain had been blue. "I don't know. He wasn't like that when I put him down. I put him down an hour ago and he was fine." I was then told the reason for his blueness could be 1 of 2 things. The first could be that there was something going on with his lungs, like if there was fluid in his lungs and that they could suction it out. The second was if there was something wrong with his Heart. The pediatrician then asked if he could take Owain down to the nursery to find out what was going on. I said Of course, I will get dressed and be down to the nursery in a minute.

If it was my first baby, I probably would have run down to the nursery with them. I would have stood watching, in my pj's, morning breath, doing the pee-pee dance. But I had already experienced similar situations with my 3 older children. All three of them had been rushed down to the nursery for trouble breathing. They all had some suctioning done and been given some oxygen and they had been fine. They all spent a few minutes in the nursery for observation and returned to my room with me. One of my children had so much junk in his lungs that the nurse scooped him up and ran down the hallway with him, I couldn't even keep up with her. But in the end, he was fine. They were always fine. Always.

Why should I think that this time was going to be any different.

I started getting dressed, spend a few quick minutes in the bathroom, brushed my teeth, had a quick snack. While doing all of this I called my my husband to let him know there was something going on, Owain was blue, there was something going on, but I wasn't really sure what it was. I was starting to get really worried, but I didn't want to worry my husband too much, I didn't want him freaking out and driving to the hospital frantically. But I wanted him with me NOW. My parents were at my house with my husband and the other kids and he was able to come right over to the hospital. It only took me a few minutes to get ready, as I was finishing up, the pediatrician came back into the room and gave me the news that changed our lives.

This sweet man who I had never met before, who was just filling in for our regular pediatrician came into our room and told me that it was not Owain's lungs, that it was definitely his Heart. His oxygen levels were down to 40 percent when they took him to the nursery and got down to 38 percent before they got him stablized. The University of Virgina's Children's Hospital had already been notified and the NETS* van was already on its way. My little Owee was going to need Heart Surgery.

*Neonatal Emergency Transport Service

My husband still wasn't there, I don't think he had even left the house yet. I had only gotten off the phone with him a few minutes before that. I called him back and told him to get to the hospital NOW. I don't remember if I was able to tell him what was going on over the phone, I think I cried. I was so confused. The whole floor was running around. Nurses were in and out of my room. One of my midwives was there, my door was opening and closing, nurses in the hallway, everyone was talking. There was so much going on. I went down to see him. They wouldn't let me in the nursery. I had to look at him through the window, through all of the nurses. The NETS team was there, they made the half hour drive in a matter of minutes. My husband was finally there. There was so much information. Suddenly they were rushing to discharge me. We started calling family, trying to figure out what to do next.

The NETS team told us that after he was ready for transport, that we would have 10-15 minutes with him before they took him to UVa Children's Hospital. While I was talking to the woman and signing papers, they got another call for another Heart baby down in Richmond. We got to see Owain for just a few minutes and then they took him away.

It was close to 12 hours later before I was able to see my Little Owee again.

After a whirlwind discharge, we stopped by the house. My parents were getting the kids ready, we all packed up for the day and headed to UVa. My husband was in the truck with my father, I was in the van behind him with my mother and the 3 older kids. I remember looking down at the speedometer and we were racing towards Charlottesville at close to 90 miles per hour. It took me only a second to realize that if we got pulled over, we would not only get delayed, but we would probably both get tickets. Thank goodness for cell phones! I really wanted to get to the hospital, but I didn't want to add getting pulled over and tickets into the mix.

By the time we got to UVa, my mother in-law was already there. And there all were, sitting around in the NICU waiting room, with very little idea of what was going on and no idea when we were going to be able to see our newborn again. The day was a blur, doctors were in and out to the NICU waiting room, telling us about Owain Heart, how it was supposed to be, what it actually looked like, what they were doing to keep him alive, what needed to be done in the next couple of days.

By the time we got to see Owain again, it was late. We had already eaten 2 meals in the cafeteria, but aside from that, I really don't remember much else. He looked terrible, he wasn't blue any more, but he was covered from head to toe in tubes, monitors, IV's, he was on a respirator, and way too many meds. We couldn't even hold him, he was too agitated, in too much pain. I felt so helpless. There was nothing we could do. All I kept thinking was how bad I wanted to be back in our room at the other hospital, I wanted everything to be normal. But this was the first day of our New Normal, and it ended very different than it started.

We were now parents of a Heart Baby. We were now parents of a baby with the most common birth defect. Congenital Heart Defects affect 1 in 100 babies born. Of that 1 percent, the defect that Owain has is complex and rare, affecting about 3 percent of all babies with a CHD. Owain's CHD is Double Inlet Single Ventricle, with Pulmonary Atresia and Malpositioned Arteries.

Here is an image of a normal Heart. I found the image Here. The blue blood is used blood coming from the body, the oxygen has been used and it goes into the Heart's right chambers and out to the lungs to get oxygen. Then from the lungs, the blood goes into the left chambers and out to the body.

This is the close image I have been able to find of a Single Ventricle Heart. With his Pulmonary Atresia and Malposed Arteries, the rest of his heart looks much different from this image. I got it from This Website Here. When Owain was born, his blue blood went into his one ventricle, and right back out to the body without ever going to his lungs.

Happy 2nd Birthday Owain!! (part 1)

2010-05-03T13:54:00.000-04:00

Today is a very exciting day at The Nut House! My Little Owee, My Wee Nut, My Hero, Owain is 2 years old today! Today is a good day. Today is a Great Day! We are having a great time, and getting very little done. We are doing a good job of finishing up his birthday cake from yesterday and playing with all of his new toys though, and watching his new videos. Who needs to wash dishes when there is so much birthday fun to be had! Owain is doing a great job at figuring out that his birthday is all about him. He is getting just about anything he wants, and we may be creating a monster. Oh, what a cute monster he is though!

A cake with candles is so exciting!

Happy 2nd Birthday Owain!

Kicking back in his new Toy Story 3 chair.

Owee got letters for his birthday.

We are feeding his alphabet obsession ;)

A is for Awesome!

Working on becoming a professional present unwrapper.

Numbers are the newest obsession.

Duplo number blocks are perfect for that!

Baby girl is joining in on the fun.

Sporting his new Froggie Boots, and back to the alphabet.

Too Much Fun at The Nut House on a Friday Night

2010-04-30T19:47:00.001-04:00

Anyone wanna guess what I am doing here? And no, I don't have a prize, this is just for fun ;)

I am Spoiled by Homemade Granola

2010-04-30T10:26:00.001-04:00

This is so good it could put Granola companies out of business! Instead of starting my own Granola business and making a fortune overnight, I am sharing it with you so that you too can have the best Granola recipe Evah!! Cuz I'm nice like that ;)

So what are you waiting for, head on over to From My Kitchen to Yours and start making some Homemade Granola. You won't regret it!

Thankful Thursday

2010-04-29T13:31:00.000-04:00

I feel like this week is flying by, but I am so ready for the weekend! I have spent a lot of time doing some major spring cleaning and organizing and it feels really good. Sometimes I feel like I am avoiding thinking about Owee's birthday next week, I keep forgetting it is coming up, I don't have anything planned and I only have one small gift for him. I am trying to be excited about it, but my mind keeps wandering back to his time in the NICU and PICU, especially after his hospital stay last week. That brought back some difficult feelings and has caused me a bit of anxiety, so here I am cleaning and organizing. In the end, it is a good thing, I am clearing and opening up space, which I am so Thankful for!

I am Thankful that Wee Nut his home and doing much better, he is still having difficulty breathing, but we have Xoponex for he breathing treatments. It is a longer lasting medicine than albuteral and doesnt' get the heart rate up so high.

I am Thankful that our tax return got deposited last week and we can get to work on our addition again. The HVAC guys will be out here in about a month to finish up the heating and cooling and then we can knock down the wall from the back of the house to open up into the addition. After over 2 years, we will finally be able to use at least some of our addition. I am so Thankful and excited for that!

I had She Nut to the Dr first thing this morning, she ended up with the same runny nose, junkie cough, fever (but much lower) and ear infection that Owee had. The difference with her is that she is on antibiotics and at home. So simple. I am Thankful that she is not too sick.

I am Thankful that Wing Nut has finally figured out large number subtraction! It was starting to get painful, but now everything has clicked.

On to the little stuff, I am Thankful for late night baby cuddles, BBQ chicken, allergy medicine, my DVR, and my new laptop computer.

So what are you Thankful for today? It is so easy to join in and tell everyone.

Here is how Thankful Thursdays works:

1. Post your Thankful Thoughts on your blog. Somewhere in your post please mention Welcome to the Nut House and/or http://ourhappynuthouse.blogspot.com/ so that your friends, family and visitors know where to find other Thankful Thoughts. You can also grab my Thankful Thursdays banner and link to that. Once you have done that you can come back here and add your post to MckLinky.

Not every one has a blog, so:

2. If you don't have a blog, you can leave a Thankful Thoughts comment in the comment section.

3. You can show your Thankful Thoughts any way you like, as a list, as a story, as one word, one sentence or just a picture.

Have fun!

Mixing up Something in The Kitchen

2010-04-28T22:14:00.001-04:00

I have not been very good about getting photos for my recipe site lately. If you are good at imagining how good things taste, just by looking at the recipe, I bet you would love to check out my latest post over at From My Kitchen to Yours, it's More Than Just Fruit with Yogurt. It is To Die For, and is one of my favorite breakfast dishes.

My First Vlog, Owain is Home from the Hospital

2010-04-26T16:18:00.001-04:00

How Owee is Doing, Update From The Hospital

2010-04-22T00:35:00.000-04:00

Really, I am too tired to actually post anything, but respiratory will be here soon for his breathing treatments and I know that there is no chance of Owain or I sleeping through that. I am just aimlessly wandering around the internet waiting for them to come and can't really find anything to hold my attention. So I will give a quick update of simple basics of what is going on.

First, his fever broke late last night, and has not returned, yay!

After getting x-rays yesterday, we have the proof that he has asthma, which is something I talked a bit about with his doctor and was going to talk more about that with her today. We were supposed to have She Nut's 9 month check up today, but we are here instead. So his trouble breathing was pretty much because of asthma. His asthma could have been triggered by pollen, or the fact that he has both a viral and bacterial infection.

His c reactive protein level was up to 8, which means there is inflammation. Honestly, I don't know where for sure, but I think it is in his lungs.

We know he had a really bad ear infection yesterday in one ear, and now has one in the other ear. This is probably one of the reasons that his white blood cells are up to 1700. His bands white blood cells were up to 20%. I guess the bands while blood cells are the ones who work really hard when there is a big infection to fight. While they are very likely high due to the ears being infected, it could be something else. I don't know much about white blood cell levels, but after talking to the nurses today, I do know that his numbers are high enough to be concerned.

He has both a viral and bacterial infection, aside from the ear infections, we don't know where else the infection is, maybe early pneumonia, but we really don't know.

For now, we need to keep him here at least 48 hours from the time they did a blood draw, which was yesterday around 5pm.

His O2 sats are in the low 80's with room air while awake, and 77-79 on room air while asleep. So he sleeps with the cannula and is on oxygen.

He is doing much better today, just well enough to let me know how miserable he is. I am really digging my new laptop and how wonderful it is for him to be able to watch Nick Jr shows in his bed when there is nothing but junk on TV. He is sick of this place and keeps telling the nurses bye-bye. He is ready for home and misses his brothers and baby sister, he keeps calling for them to come hang out with him.

There may be more that I am forgetting, but respiratory just left and I am unplugging for the night.

Wordless Wednesday, Owee in Hospital Playroom

2010-04-21T15:00:00.000-04:00

Back in the Hospital with Owain

2010-04-20T18:44:00.000-04:00

Owee is back in the hospital. It doesn't look as bad as last month when we were here. After running off to the doctor when he woke up from a nap with a 104.7 fever, he was having a really hard time breathing so we admitted him. One thing we know for sure is that he has asthma, which was most likely triggered by a viral infection. He has a really bad ear infection as well, it looks like it ruptured, which makes me feel really bad since I didn't catch it before it got bad. He didn't even act like anything was wrong with his ear, I think it came on suddenly.

So we are here for the night and as long as he has a fever.

Tucked in for the night. I hope he sleeps well and gets better quickly!

Great News from Peds Cardiology! Owee is a Lucky Boy and Mama Just Might Loose it

2010-04-19T14:30:00.001-04:00

Owain is a Great Look'n Kid!

Most importantly, his Heart is looking Great!

Owain had a peds cardiology appointment a few weeks ago. Do you remember last month when I finally posted an update about is December appointment? Here it is in this post. It took me a while to post and update because I didn't like what I was hearing, so I figured I would just ignore the whole thing.

I am happy to say that this month's appointment was great news! Just as I mentioned in the other post, which was also an update from his latest hospital stay, his O2 sats are up. And it looks like they are staying up in the 80's which is just where we want them to be. While we were waiting for his cardiologist, he was getting bored, so we walked the hallways in clinic. When his cardiologist saw him walking up and down the halls, she said that is one of the best ways to tell how great he is going. I was very active and only just a little blue. He had no intention of stopping any time soon and would have been happy to continue to walk that call for much longer.

He had a full work up, with an echo, ekg and of course the pulse ox. Everything looked great! When we had our check up in December, we were at the point were we were scheduled for cardiology check-ups every 3-4 months, now we are every 6 months and it looks like surgery will not be until next year! Mostly likely it will be around the time he turns 3, so late next spring. We thought that his next surgery was going to be before the end of this year and now it is over a year a way. I know that things can change, and often do for Heart babies, and that anything could happen and his surgery may be pushed up again. For now we are so excited to be able to put it off for another year.

Yes, I know, he really shouldn't be standing on the table like that!

And so does he, but...

I had to grab the camera to catch that look of joy :)

His birthday is coming up in a few weeks, he is going to be 2 years old! It makes me so happy to see him grow when I think of how critical he was when he was transported to UVa Children's Hospital. I am getting excited, I am so proud of him, he is so brave and such a fighter. I am also finding myself getting lost in those thoughts again, remembering his first month of life. I am more weepy, sensitive, and find myself getting irritated by the little things. Last year the same thing happened, but it was much worse, it caught me off guard. I was expecting to want to celebrate his life, but what I really wanted to do was be alone with him. His first birthday was very different than my first baby's first birthday. I still don't know exactly what we are going to do for his birthday, there are lots of things up in the air right now that we are trying to schedule. But I think this year is going to be more fun, more of a celebration of his life.

I am finding myself to be a bit more down, and that has a tendency to transfer to my writing, but it is also the way I cope, deal, vent, and let things go. Random things set me off and I have been known to get a bit snarky. So if you run across something here that sounds whiny, obnoxious, weird, rude or like I am complaining about nothing, your first reaction is probably going to be right, but please don't hold it against me ;) We all fall apart sometimes, but at least this year it won't catch me off guard. I got my Zoloft, plenty of bite sized pieces of chocolate, a jar of Nutella and a Wii Fit that I can use to find my way though the rough time.

Mended Little Hearts National Organization Needs Your Votes!

2010-04-17T14:41:00.002-04:00

Mended Little Heart National Organization is in the running to receive a $50,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project.

It is very easy to vote, all you have to do is visit the Pepsi Refresh Project webpage for Mended Little Hearst every day and vote. It is even easier if you have a facebook account, you can just log on through that. It takes about 30 seconds and it would be amazing if MLH national org could get this money to pass out to all of the local groups in need of funding.

Here is the link for the Mended Little Hearts voting page on the Pepsi Refresh Project.

Voting ends April 30th, so head on over there, cast your vote and then click on the share button for both twitter and facebook and encourage every one you know to vote too. See, I told you it was easy! Now go vote ;)