I can't help myself, just a few more pics

Birthday week...the beginning

Check out my new car! Thanks Ayi!
Olivia and Taylor

Introducing the Train Cake!!!
Check out Trey in the background cheesing it!
Princess Olivia
Precious Matthew

We had Taylor's birthday party with family today. It was a joint party with his cousin Olivia who just turned 7 today. Taylor's birthday is actually on Wednesday we will have a couple more celebrations before the week is out. Today we had pizza, water guns, water balloons, a slip and slide, and a pinata!! It was a lot of fun! I have very great memories of homemade cakes for my birthday as I was growing up. Not necessarily from scratch, but made with a Mother's love. I can remember a cake in the shape of a rabbit, since my birthday was always close to Easter, and it was decorated with jelly beans. So I had always kind of daydreamed of making my kids birthday cakes. Now I have to say I have never decorated a cake, don't have the correct tools, and am alot of times lacking in creativity. Never the less I researched cakes on the internet and decided I would make a train cake. I had so much fun and I think it turned out really well. Taylor really liked it and was excited about the 'choo choo tires' and .....and eating them.

We are excited to announce there is another new baby in the family. Our great nephew was born on Saturday and his name is Matthew. Check him out, he is adorable.

Eating like a true southerner.

James' dad always has such a great garden and we get lots of good veggies this time a year but I don't think I have ever appreciated it so much as I have this year. We have been feasting on fresh corn on the cob, tomatoes, baby red potatoes, green tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. The first night we had corn on the cob (a couple of weeks ago) Taylor looked like he recognized it and wanted it but once he got it he just kind of gnawed on it and really didn't get much corn off of it. Since then we have had corn on the cob several times and he has always wanted it. Tonight however he ate his whole cob of corn. You should have heard him biting into it. Also you'll notice beside his plate a piece of fried green tomato which he ate several of and in the red bowl...yes that is grits, a true southern food. I still can't get over it but he doesn't like mashed potatoes, which is a household favorite and we've gotten him to taste it several times, but he definitely doesn't like them.

The other picture you'll notice Taylor is in a onesie, and he looks just adorable. At his age and weight it is hard to find onesies but after surgery we needed them because he is a picker. He will scratch and pick at any kind of scab or bite he can find on his body so it was a must that he couldn't get to his surgery 'boo boo'. I just think he is adorable in the onesies, I will miss them when he outgrows them.

Feeding the ducks

We decided to go to a state park that is close to where we live this morning. Taylor had the pleasure of having his cousin Trey go with him. We fed the ducks, and played in a creek. Taylor is not allowed to get wet and oh how he would've loved to jump in the creek. We'll have to go back soon. Then we had a picnic lunch and the boys compared muscles. It was a great morning retreat and we were back home by noon for a good nap!! We are also excited to announce a new niece. James' little sister Susan had her 3rd daughter last night. She was one week over due and 8lb 10oz. She is Emma Riley and she is beautiful just like her two big sisters.

Do I look sick to you???

We have to just keep reminding ourselves so we can keep reminding Taylor that he only had heart surgery 11 days ago!!

The star patient...

Our precious boy laying in his hospital bed
A nice lady brought this horse....I mean dog, to
visit the kids and we were making a run for
the room to avoid the slobber showers he was
giving.

At home recovering...really likes his wagon bed.

I would say that 'star patient' describes Taylor. He has just amazed his mommy and daddy after this surgery. I think we expected him to look a little frail and maybe lose a little weight and be slow for more than a couple of days. I would say that Saturday or Sunday which was 5 and 6 days post-op he was very close to normal. Mon and Tues he is almost completely normal. We just have to remind ourselves that our child just had heart surgery 9 days ago and we still have to be careful to keep him healthy. His dermabond(they used a glue type stuff instead of stitches) is starting to flake away and this morning I got a little glimpse under it and he has healed so well. It's going to be a tiny thin scar. He is still taking lasix, although I wish we could go ahead and wean that before our next appt on Aug 6th. It tastes really bad so Taylor just cries when he sees it coming.



Well, we broke down and got a computer. We are price shoppers and so we have been watching and saving and we found a "deal" this week. We got a emachine package and I think for us it is probably more than we need and hopefully will be a good computer.


Taylor is now loving Pirates, because he got to see the first Pirate movie on t.v. and loved it and now he asks for Pirate (pie-whut). He of course still loves cars and now motorcycles...we wonder if he dreams about cars in his sleep. He loves swinging the bat and hitting balls, although that is one of the things he is restricted from doing for a few more weeks. He is constantly telling you "I want ____", or "I don't want ____", or momma see (with a "th" sound). Oh yeah he also has a thing for trains. Boys!!

We're Home

Yesterday (Thursday) we had just went down to the playroom to let Taylor get out of his room and James come down to the playroom and says Taylor we gotta go back to your room, their discharging us! We were so surprised. We hadn't seen the doctor that day, Taylor hadn't pooped since we had been there, and he had thrown up that day. All of that sounds bad, but other than that he had been a star patient and so they let us come home. So once we got home and Taylor had food he was used to, he ate like a pig, pooped on the potty, played a little and then went to sleep and slept for 10 hours. It is true, there is no place like home and maybe the best medicine was to be at home. James and I both slept like logs!! It was wonderful.

So now might be the harder part. We are supposed to watch his play to make sure he doesn't hurt himself for about 3 weeks!! Everyday that will get harder and harder as he will feel better and better. We had to hide all tricycles, riding toys, his punching bag, etc. He is also not supposed to swing the bat, which he loves to pretend things are bats and hit balls with it.

Taylor is doing so good! It's amazing how tough kids are. If you didn't know what he had been through, you would be surprised. Because when you look at him and see him smiling and walking around you wouldn't know he had just been through heart surgery 5 days ago.

Thanks for all the prayers!! Our prayers, once again, have definately been answered.

The surgery went well yesterday and quicker than expected. They finished around 11 or 11:30 and we were able to see Taylor at 12:30pm. He has been such a trooper, he is definitely tougher than his mommy would be!!! He had to stay last night in the PICU but they do expect for him to be in a regular room sometime today. Since surgery they have been able to take him off the ventilator, take out his art-line, take out the catheter, and they are now trying to control his pain with just Tylenol. It's amazing! They did have to give him a diuretic during the night because he wasn't having any urine output. The med worked great though and hopefully his kidneys will decide to kick in and work on their on. He hasn't had anything to drink or eat yet, but I am sure he will start asking soon. Things are going smoother, so far, than we expected. Thanks for all your prayers!!

Jennifer, James and Taylor

Night before surgery...

We came on up to Nashville today to stay with my dad. So it's me, James, and Taylor and also my sister and her two kids then, in addition, my two brothers are home for the summer from college and so we are having a big slumber party!! Tonight we got to go visit my dad's church and my brother Neill was the guest preacher. He has one more year in college and Patrick is in his second year. I have to say I was a very proud big sister tonight.

We have to be at the hospital at 5:30am, they will take him back about 7am and start about 8am and should be finished at about 12 or 1pm. He will stay in the PICU one night and then hopefully to a regular room on Tuesday. Please continue all the prayers!! It is a blessing to be surrounded by our family tonight. We do have our cell phones with us and they are allowed in the hospital, so feel free to call us during this week, I will also try to update the blog on Monday afternoon or night.

Counting down....

Well it's been a few weeks since I posted. James and I had our 14th Anniversary in mid June and we actually snuck away for one night. It was the first time we left our little guy and it was tough, but we really needed it and we really had fun. I'm not even sure Taylor missed us, he had too much fun with Ayi. Oh and BTW we had a great, great meal!! We went to Shogun, which we've eaten at before (we love, love Japanese food not just love but love, love if you know what I mean), but we've never had their sushi, and it was some of the best sushi we've ever had. I just crave sushi and miss having a sushi restaurant that's close!!

Our computer has crashed and burned!!!! We are shopping for another one, but with heart surgery right around the corner, the timing is really bad!!

So, yes things are starting to get more stressful the closer we get to surgery!! One week from today. You can't help but think about it a little too much. But, at some point you just really have to put your trust in God and just turn everything over to Him and that's what I am doing. I have to!! I have been sooooo worried about getting bumped from the day we are scheduled to another day or week. It happens, when emergencies arise or if your child is sick, etc, ... it happens. So we are determined to do the best we can and keep Taylor healthy. So he's not going to daycare for about 2 weeks prior to surgery. No church the Sunday before. Trying to stay close to home. You get the picture. So much for all our efforts, this past weekend on Saturday we decided to go out to eat and then come back home. So James takes Taylor outside after we eat while I pay for the ticket and they wait on me. So we get in the car and have been in the car about 2 minutes and I turn around to see Taylor with red welps (sp?) all over him. I am thinking he has hives so we drive immediately to a Wal-mart for benadryl and I run in and James stays in the car with him. So while I am in Wal-mart James sees that there are mosquitos in the car (they must've followed us in from the restaurant), so he kills two and a third flies out. So by the next day we can tell they are indeed bites and Taylor happens to be extremely sensitive or allergic to them, so he has 15-20 huge bites that on Sunday are all swollen, with fever in them and are just pitiful. So during the night on Sunday he scratches them all and now today they all have scabs on the. So I carry him to the doctor this morning just begging for anything to make them heal by Friday, which is when our preop appt is, because if they saw him today I know they wouldn't let us go through with surgery as scheduled. They would want them to be healed. So we started a steriod and a antibiotic and are now praying that Taylor's bug bites are healed by Friday!! My biggest issue with being bumped is I already have vacation time in and someone to work it and I don't have alot of extra time to use later if we need to move the surgery. But it will work out, I know it will!!