Birthday Pictures

After his first time down shaving cream mountain.

Dragon head - with the cool dragon blanket his Grandma Dawn brought him.

Decade twins - 2 & 12 years old this year.

Kiss from Aunt Becki

Monkey head (thanks Aunt Sue) with Aunt Molly.

Having fun swinging with Aunt Katie.

Action shot: the kids were trying to run up shaving cream mountain - this was my best wipe out picture. Joshie Boy almost made it. Maybe next year when he's 13.

Dizzy going down shaving cream mountain with Mommy

Andrew's birthday party was a success with about 40 cans of shaving cream in all - the kids had a blast & now our baby is 2! Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out & Andrew said THANKS for all the cool new toys & outfits! I have a TON more pictures since Steve bought me an awesome digital SLR camera with his Christmas bonus - awesome husband that he is! I literally have 1,000 pictures in my December 2009 folder ; ) I'm going to try to get through more of them & get the good ones out.

This is how a 2 year old sleeps

A couple days before his eye surgery.

His healing eyes. Last night.

Sleeping on the morning of his 2nd birthday.

Last year we were so excited we started taking pictures of Andrew before he even woke up. It's much the same this year : ) Looking forward to his party later. We've got 30+ cans of shaving cream & cupcakes; what more could we possibly need? We'll put up lots of pictures.

2 days to TWO!

Just wanted to quickly update that Andrew seems to be feeling more like himself again. Had a couple cranky episodes today, but for the most part back to playing & getting into whatever he can find (rearranged my shirt drawer for me : ) Looking forward to his birthday & shaving cream mountain!

The Eyes Open!

Andrew just started opening his eyes late this morning. He has been having bursts of energy with lots of playing & goofing off, but is still has cranky periods too. He does NOT like the eye drops & I think he's a bit nauseous, but all-in-all feeling much better than last night. Too soon to tell, but his eyes look good to Steve & me. Sorry the video isn't great quality, Dizzy's a bit sensitive to the light so for now it'll have to do.

Recovering at Home

Got home around 3pm & Andrew is just settling down. Thank goodness because he's one big baby these days, a lot for me to carry around for 3.5 hours, but poor little guy was very uncomfortable & upset about the surgery. He has anxiety (understandably) about going to the doctors office when nothing painful is involved, so this was hard on him. He's a tough little man though & we are looking forward to a better day tomorrow - hopefully he'll open his eyes then. REALLY praying his eyes will be perfect so he doesn't have to go through this again! Thank you all for your concern & prayers for our precious boy!

Homeward bound

Headed home with Andrew. Understandably fussy.

Eye Surgery Done

Opthamologist & anesthesiologist just came to let us know surgery is done & went well. We're just waiting to be able to go see him in recovery; probably about 30-60 minutes. He's going to have a couple days of sore eyes & a few weeks more of red eyes. We should know the results of the surgery around 6 weeks from now: time for the muscles to heal & the brain to decide how it's going to process the recalibration. Thanks for all the prayers! We'll update with more info later.

Update

Sorry, we got a few different 'social networking' things going.... Dizzy went back to surgery at about 10a.m. The Dr. said it will be an hour or hour and a half. we are just drinking our coffee, waiting. Bess went to visit one of her friends whose son is in the Unit that Dizzy grew up in..... so its up to me to make this post count.

That's all I got........... Will update when we here something- anything. Thank you for the prayers.

Surgery in the AM

Well, tomorrow is the big day for Andrew's eye surgery. He is scheduled for 9am, which is good since he has to go without food. The procedure takes about an hour. Andrew has always done well with anesthesia in the past, so we are hoping for more of the same. We will post updates as we go & really appreciate all the prayers.

This boy is seriously this sweet all the time. Well, except when he's throwing a temper tantrum. But that's not very frequent & really more pathetic than angry.

Here he's helping Daddy piece together the corner inlay desk he's working on for his music room. I can't wait for him to finish it, probably over Christmas break. It is so beautiful!

Daddy & Dizzy catching up after work.

My sweet boys!

LOL!

So, after the 3rd person this week told me we needed a blog update I figured I better get on it. Sorry, no new videos yet, but I will try to get one today & post it later. Andrew's health is still awesome, which we praise God for! He does have his eye surgery coming up next Friday, the 18th, so prayers are appreciated for that. It should be about an hour procedure & we should go home that day. Of course, cardiac anesthesiology will be there to take good care of him. He should have red eyes (understandably) for a couple weeks, but we're hoping he's back to himself rather quickly with the occasional Tylenol to help. So we went ahead with his birthday evites:

http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/ZZYMICOORDBHBMHBPXBF/andrewstwo

Hopefully this link will take you there in case I don't have your email to send it directly.

So much to be thankful for!

We visited the local fire station yesterday to meet them (like we were supposed to do as soon as we came home from the hospital - oops) & give them thank you cookies.

The tire on the fire truck was bigger than Dizzy is tall : )

Fire Fighter Josh

By the fire truck with Aunt Molly.

This is actually from a week or so ago... sorry so slack with the updates. Dizzy is a walking machine these days, still catches me off guard sometimes when he's coming to get me & he rounds the corner walking instead of crawling : )

Just a sample of how cute Steve & Andrew are playing together. They are so much alike!

Great Weekend

My baby.

Who, by the way, is walking all the way across the living room.

Wasn't able to get it on video though. I'll keep trying.

Biker Babe

Am I going to get away with this?
(He did try to ride down the road a little bit.
Which was funny but, of course, I had to set that limit for him)

My autumn flowers with genuine autumn leaves straight from the mountains of NC courtesy of my sweet grandmother, a.k.a. Mom Bartholomew. Thanks Mom!

Well, I talked to Isaiah on the phone a little bit today & after getting to know him a little I decided he would appreciate a more becoming picture on our blog. One that wasn't taken immediately after he was born. So I stole another one from Katie & Landon's blog. Some people have no sense of boundaries.

FYI: Katie & Landon put more pictures up on their blog

Isaiah

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Isaiah!

We love you SO much,

your Uncle Stevie, Aunt Betsy & cousin Andrew (a.k.a. Dizzy, the older half of Dizzy & Izzy: The Dynamic Duo. That is if your parents let us call you Izzy...)

Dizzy's message to his new baby cousin.

Andrew is hoping for a new cousin today

Birth mom scheduled to be induced this morning. We will pass on news when we hear. Hoping & praying Katie & Landon will have a new cousin, Isaiah, for Andrew!

HA! published a couple minutes too soon. Just got a text from Katie,
"Isaiah was born about 11:45am. We're on our way to meet him now. Woot woot."

Walk! (turn down the volume)

Not the greatest angel (excuse my butt), but Andrew is really hard to catch on camera. I finally was able to trick him. He started this week taking steps on his own. Very exciting

Also, FYI - I just got the preservative-free H1N1 vaccine. Found it at the OB. I'll let you know if I die : )

Fall Festival!

Grinnin' it up with Mommy's favorite RED bougainvillea.

Today we met Jessica & the girls at Rockledge Gardens for their fall festival. Not really much of a kid thing, but that works for us because that way Andrew is less likely to pick something up.

Andrew & Sierra cooling off in a fountain. It was pushing 90 degrees!

Enjoying a cool shady spot.

Andrew actually has fun going to places like this & just checking things out. Very nice for Mommy : )

In the butterfly garden with Savannah & Sierra.

On the hay ride, Sierra with the ever coveted lemonade.

Savannah

and a very happy Dizzy. He was cracking up. I guess a hay ride is a very funny thing to a little man : )

My Garden Bug

The ARES launch. Andrew doesn't like the texture of grass.

Taking steps in the grass - a big deal since he doesn't like to touch it.

Checking out the old plant we took out of the flower box.

Our first gardening project. Yesterday we went to Rockledge Gardens with Machie (a fun field trip) & picked out new plants for the little flower box that will eventually go under the window on the shed.

Digging!

Digging with his funny face.

Watering the new plants

Watering Dizzy. He actually was going without a diaper for the first time & didn't get his pants wet all morning - until Mommy sprayed him with the hose : )

Our flower box with new flowers. Dizzy is going to have to help Mommy take care of them.

Good times!

Pumpkins, etc.

Pumpkin Patch!

We took Dizzy last Sunday, but it was a little difficult to enjoy because it was 95 degrees.

Pumpkins, glorious pumpkins!

Bubble time USA with Aunt Sue & girls.

Andrew is a trip on his rocking horse - sits as far back as he can & either kicks his feet up to relax as in this pic or rocks as hard as he can. Mommy prefers if it's on the rug because I'm just sure one of these days he's going to fly right off the back. Such a boy these days.

Also, FYI Andrew's eye surgery is scheduled for December 18th. Same deal as when he was supposed to have it done in February. His eyes have been consistent since then, so the MD & we feel comfortable going ahead with it.

Heart Walk!

Honor Roll

Dizzy & Mommy with his sign

Andrew's sign
All the kids had one this year along with some adults.

Andrew walking...

...all over...

Congential Heart Disease & Stroke!

(He walked on acquired heart disease too)
He seriously walked about 3 steps & then was done;

the rest of us did 3 miles (& then a mile to & from parking : )

We made it!

With our friends Jennifer & Lucas

(another CHD survivor) who did not want to take a picture!

Happy to be home! It was a bit much for Andrew even this year, but we are so happy that he was able to go be a part of his group. I think the Precious Little Hearts team raised over $7,000. Mommy & Dizzy did $300, thanks guys!