Happy Holidays Heart Family

Happy holidays everyone! I know it's a bit early but in an effort to stay ahead of the game with Christmas I fell behind! Crazy right?! I wanted to send out holiday cards early this year and lost track of time. I even bought the girls dresses super early in the season! It's crazy how the holidays sneak up on us all. So here is a virtual Christmas card! Check out how sweet the girls look... Even through the super sweet pose, Sydnie's ornery grin shows!!! Cutie Pa-tootie!
The girls are really excited about Christmas. When asked what she wants for Christmas, Sydnie says Zhu-Zhus, toys, and presents! She's totally brainwashed by her sister Charlie... Zhu-Zhus... They're so hard to find! Luckily, I think Santa has nailed down one for each girl!

Things have been going well here. Both girls have stayed healthy, thank you God, with only a few runny noses here and there. Although Sydnie's runny noses usually turns into croup... so we keep prednisolone on hand just in case. So far, so good! Sydnie has been doing a great job going on the potty so she'll be starting gymnastics in January... I can't lie, I'm a bit nervous! It's not like she'll be vaulting her little body off the un-even bars or anything... I'm just nervous! Sydnie already thinks she can do flips, cartwheels, back hand springs... I'm afraid she'll try all of these wonderful things she thinks she can do! I guess she'll never learn unless we let her try, right??? Yikes!!!!! Charlie plans on taking a break from gymnastics and would like to try ice skating. I think she'll like it... however, I do for see a problem with her trying to skate while wrapped in pillows and packing tape. I'm such a paranoid mama!!! She'll be fine!!! A few boo-boos here and there!!!

I hope all is going well with everyone!

Wishing you all a wonderful, safe, and HAPPY Holidays!

Hugs,
The Sydnie Team

Sweet Hailey

Please say many prayers for Hailey and her family!!! I'm so sad to say she earned her angel wings way to early in life!!!!!!

I hate CHD's! I'm so thankful for Sydnie and even more thankful that she's here with us.... I'm so upset for all the families that lost their sweet babies to chds... Angry, sad, TERRIFIED...

Hailey's mom posted an article from the aha... very interesting and promising! Check it out! It really creates HOPE for those pregnant with a HLHS baby... or any chd baby for that matter!!!! Science is great!

I'll post soon about Sydnie very soon!

Sorry it's so short...

Hugs always,
The Sydnie Team

The most amazing people...

Hi there heart family! So many times in life we are lead to the MOST AMAZING PEOPLE! Some are young and some are old... and many are in between. Each one you meet brings so many blessings! I'm so THANKFUL for the "most amazing people" in my life! I wish there was a way to thank each and every one of you out there... because you all are "My Most Amazing People". Each day you bring words of happiness, hope, friendship, encouragement... not just for me... but for soooo many! That's what makes you all so amazing!!! The messages, extended arms for hugs, and meaningful words... all done for so many who need it makes you so wonderful...and I'm so thankful for you all! Together as one, we make a very special HEART family and you mean so much to us all! So THANK YOU, each and everyone of you!!!!!




Family & friends are so special to us! A good friend of my family, Suzanne raised over $500 for the Children's Heart Foundation in honor of Sydnie. The school she works at participated in Casual for a Cause. Each staff member paid $20 to wear jeans through out the school year. Thanks Suzanne! It sure is going to a great cause.

Recently I received the Heartfelt Blogger Award from Jessica Twigg. I'm so honored to receive this! Jessica is an amazing person who shares her journey with us showing her strength and faith. She has been through so much with her Angel Ethin! She is a wonderful mother, person, friend and I've learned so much from her. Her blog is Ethins Heart Still Beats. Check it out! Thanks Jess.

Here are the Rules for this award:

1) Display the award logo

2) Nominate up to 9 blogs that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside

3) Link to your nominees and leave a comment on their blog telling them about the award

4) Link to the person whom you received the award

The following are blogs that I follow and certainly are HeartFelt! Each one shares strength and hope... and lots of laughter!

Gracie's Adventure - Gracie has Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome (HRHS), Pulmonary Atresia with IVS, and Coronary Sinusoids. Her mom Jen has a great way of sharing her Adventures and always has amazing pictures!

Hailey's Journey - Hailey is having her Glenn today and her Tricuspid Valve replaced with a mechanical valve! They are very scared today and could use some encouraging words. Pray for Hailey!

Heroic Chronicles of a Micro Preemie - Hunter was born at 24 weeks gestation at 1 pound and 12 ounces and was only 12 inches long. Renee, Hunter's mom, does a great job of spreading the awareness about Micro Preemies! In her posts she shows so much strength and hope! Not to mention I've been friends with her since she was 4 and I was 5.

Life with Sam - I've followed Sam's stories from the time he was snug and comfy in his mommy's tummy. Kathy, Sam's mom, does a great job of sharing Sam's journey. Her post's are insightful and very fun to read.

There are many more... but too little time! I'll have to add more soon in the future!

Life in "Sydnie" land is going well! Sydnie and her sister are a blast to have around! So many times through out the day I wish I was not the only one here with the girls... I wish someone else was here with me so that I wasn't the only one hearing the funny things my girls say!!! I spend so much of my day laughing because of the silly things my girls say! Today after Sydnie woke from her nap she stood at her gate singing her version of "Happy Birthday" while holding an anatomically correct plastic cow, with udders and all! When she finished singing she blew on the cows belly.. so I asked her why did that and she said, "to bwoo out the candews momma"!!! Confused, I asked her to show me the candles and she pointed to the cows boobies, it's udder!!! So funny! I love it!

We're still working on going to the potty! Syd is a Champ at going #1 but we struggle with making it to the potty for #2! We'll get there!

Charlie is done with school until Dec.1st. She's so excited. She told me that she so happy because she can watch Tom and Jerry with out having to stop and go to school! She loves tv. That scares me... I don't want her to watch too much! She loves any type of story... book or tv. I'm hoping once she learns to read she'll pick up a book more often than the remote! I hope!!!

We're all looking forward to ThanksGiving! We would like to wish you all a safe an Happy ThanksGiving!!!

Hugs,

The Sydnie Team

On the Move....

Hey there Heart Family! Everyone has been doing fairly well around here! Sydnie is officially potty trained! She has been so stubborn about giving up her diapers! She was showing all of the signs of being ready and finally gave in. She has been accident free for three days! Way to go Sydnie! Sydnie has been practicing her future career:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I know this might be singing overload... but take a look at Sydnie's face while the girls sing! There's nothing quite like a big sister, so special in a little sister's eyes... even if she's shoving you back to steal the show!!!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The girls have been truly enjoying the "warm" fall weather!

We were able to merge our leaves with our neighbors and have a great afternoon full of "cannon balls" and running jumps!!! They all had so much fun!

This past weekend Charlie had the flu! She caught it even though she had the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine!!!! Poor baby... I made her endure two shots to protect her from the nasty flu and she still caught it!!!! It was pretty nasty, but she was a great "sick" kid! No issues from her at all! Way to go Charlie!

Bob was a great help! We worked hard to keep the girls separated... which included separate bath times! I was in charge of Charlie and Bob took care of Sydnie's baths.

Sydnie has on Bob's socks!!! :) too cute!

Sydnie loves anything she can go fast on... She loves to be "On the Move"!!! I'm worried about what kind of things she'll like in her future.... but, am also relieved in knowing that her very special single ventricle heart will not slow her down! Go baby go!!!!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I would like to say a huge Thank You to Stefenie Jacks for helping out with my Blog. She sure knows how to work the Blog Magic!!! Thanks Stef!
I also would like to ask for many prayers for the Lebert family. Their precious sweet fighter earned her angel wings yesterday unexpectedly. They have a care page cp: alebert. I'm sure they'd love to hear from you all.

Thanks everyone and have a happy and safe ThanksGiving!!!

Under Construction

Please excuse the dust as I try to redesign Syd's blog! :)

Barn Party, Field Trip, Vaccinations... Oh my!!!

Hi there heart family! Our Halloween celebrations have begun a little early! We were lucky enough to go to a Barn Party our friends put on each year. Normally in the past we said no to this invitation because we were always anticipating a surgery... but now we can! For a while that is, LOCKDOWN is quickly approaching! The girls had a blast! Charlie decided to be Dorthy this year and Sydnie decided to be the "Courageous Lion"! So cute! The girls were able to trick or treat and play with some ghosts and goblins!



Daddy and his girls!




Doesn't Charlie look like "Laura" from Little House on the Prairie?! To funny!

Charlie had her first field trip as a Kindergartner! We went to Spicers Orchard! So much fun! She had a blast, even though it was freezing!!!
We had a hay ride, picked apples and a pumpkin, had cider and doughnuts, and played like crazy!!! She had a blast!

Farmer Charlie!

Sydnie and one of her dreaded vaccinations! I have totally been a slacker when it has come to Sydnie's vaccinations. On one side I choose to delay her vaccs. because of all that she's been through and most of the time they didn't align nicely with her surgery dates... and on the other side I simply didn't want her to go through any more pain... shots, reactions, ouchies!!! Regardless, she has to have them. So now we are on a make up schedule! Today she received her MMR... yuck! I cringe to think of the chemicals that now in her poor little body! Better than the alternative right?! She seems to be doing ok! She took the shot like a Champ and as a reward we went to go visit some animals! She had so much fun! Now... we are waiting the H1N1 vacc. If available, I'm going to have the girls vaccinated in 3 weeks! Still a little scared... but I feel a little better knowing it's made like the normal flu vacc. the only difference is the strain used, H1N1! Scary!

Sydnie decided to serenade the horses with her rendition of "Old MacDonald" So cute!

Sydnie was declared the Grand Champion Farm Princess! jk

Here's a Sydnie and Charlie funny! They clearly get their dynamite dance moves from their father's side!!! Ha, Ha, Ha!!! ...and no Napoleon Dynamite is not their father! :)

Sydnie's version:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Charlie's version:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So cute! Hope you all have a great week!

Hugs and Happiness,

The Sydnie Team

CHD Awareness Balloon Launch

Hi there heart family! Our balloon launch was a success... and a great deal of FUN! With the help of our family, we were able to assemble and launch 30 red awareness balloons and one bundle of 8 "paci-fairy" balloons! It was great fun!

Charlie holding onto the awareness balloons! She was a great helper along with our entire family! Sydnie was eager to launch her balloon!

Before we could actually launch the balloons we had to deal with a tangled mess the wind caused. We finally took all the balloons to the garage and untangled them. Then we launched them individually. Next time I think we'll do this a little differently!

Daddy working feverishly trying to untangle a bundle of balloons!

Kim and Camryn trying to figure out how to get rid of this mess!

Once all was untangled, we made it outside to launch!

Sydnie's Balloon! Go sweet baby!

Charlie's balloon!

Along with our CHD awareness balloons, we launched a "paci-fairy" bundle of balloons! Sydnie was ready to let go of her paci's and open to the paci fairy giving them to all of the new itty-bitty babies. We attached them all to a bundle of balloons and launched away!

....And away they go! One of our last physical reminders of Sydnie as a baby! She's such a big girl now!!!



Unfortunately the balloons didn't make it very far... the wind carried the balloons and her paci's into a tree :( All is ok! While everyone was asleep and the world was dark, the paci fairy was able to swoop out of the sky and rescue the paci's and take them to the new babies! pheewwww!

Sydnie was a little sad to see her paci's go!!! After a few airplane rides and some love from daddy, she was ok!

Charlie and Sydnie enjoying the family time!

So much FUN... so much AWARENESS! We can't wait until we can do it again!


Some Sydnie funnies!
So this morning I decided to take advantage of only having Sydnie and myself in the house and clean our down stairs. No biggie right? I was able to do some laundry, straighten the play room, clean the kitchen... When Sydnie asked to paint with water colors... "Sure" I said, "not a problem"! So I got out her Dora water color kit and thought to myself, "ooohhhh, now I can vacuum and she'll be sooooo busy! ....there's no way she'll be able to get into any trouble!" Silly me.... I think she was thinking, "mommy will let me water color and will think I'm busy... I'll take this opportunity to teach her a lesson... silly mommy (evil laugh)!" So this is what happened!

Yup, you're seeing correctly... She's painting her nails with water color... and my white chair cushion!

Such delicate work.... She painted her finger and toe nails!


Silly baby! ... or silly mommy, right?!

Here she is in action:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Love you all,

The Sydnie Team

Say what you need to say.....

So much can be said with a balloon.... You can share happiness, a birthday wish, a cheerful and encouraging word... and AWARENESS!


For us, as sydnie went through her third surgery... a time all too familiar... scared, hopeful, terrified, faithful...


... a balloon brought us relief, a sign of Sydnie recovering well, hope, faith... and for Sydnie it brought a friend, entertainment, a source of distraction during scary, ouchy times.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We shared many happy moments with balloons... Leaving the hospital!



Balloons say so much without saying anything at all... and this weekend we ask you to join us in launching CHD awareness balloons. This is an opportunity, a moment to "say what you need to say". A moment to spread AWARENESS. This Saturday, Oct. 3rd, buy as many balloons as you'd like from a local dollar store (or where ever is the cheapest). Print off CHD awareness cards and attach them to your balloons. Once your ready, launch away! Hopefully we can create awareness that will spread to many.

Below is a copy of our CHD awareness card. Feel free to copy and paste, make changes, do what ever you need. Thanks for being a part of our awareness!

Hugs & Happiness,

The Sydnie Team