It's what we do...

We have been putting off building a playhouse for a while now. 

But with recent events putting things into perspective,

I say Carpe Diem!

We scavenged a whole bunch of used lumber and deck boards

for the kids playhouse and started in.

 We made sure Evie was "in charge"

and not lifting anything:)

 It was a team effort.

The kiddos helped mix the concrete that got poured down by the posts.

We needed to get a couple boards at the lumber yard,

but car rides seem to help Evie 'rest' so that was just fine with me.

Zach built while I hauled the lumber.

Remind me again why we live on the hill?!?

Zach got the decking screwed down on Saturday.

On Sunday morning after mass, we picked up donuts

and had a picnic on the deck.

The kiddos loved it!

 While I cleaned house on Sunday,

Zach went to work building the walls.

When he finished a side,

I would help him haul place it on the platform.

All four sides are up and

there's even a little ramp to walk up. 

Next step it to get the roof on and shingled.

I've already decided this will be my sewing room

when the kids move out of the house:)

 



The Appointment....

went well.

I think I had unrealistic expectations a little too early...

she did only have her surgery two weeks ago.

The blood pressure is better than it was when we left the hospital(147/60),

but it still isn't where it should be yet(127/54). 

We have a home blood pressure monitor that is seeming to work really well.

After talking to the cardiologist,

I'm hoping I can just take her blood pressure daily and then call in the numbers.

If this doesn't work,

then we will be going into the clinic weekly for bp checks.

We are doing really well.

I'm just trying to stay on top of all of the new things on my daily check list.

It's a lot to take in and

it's all becoming so real now. 

Two weeks ago was a whirlwind...

I don't think I really had time to think about it because of everything on my list of

prepping, packing, arranging, and scheduling.

Now it's all starting to sink in a bit more and I'm trying not to get overwhelmed.

Thanks to God, friends, and family,

it has been a lot easier.

It can still be a little overwhelming at times.

Evie is doing great

and we are blessed to have her as healthy as she is!



A quick morning trip...

to the apple orchard

for a couple of bags of honeycrisp apples.

Evie is doing really well. 

We are anxious to hear from our cardiologist on Thursday

and are hoping that the meds will get adjusted a bit.

This is going to be a process,

but we are so thankful to be where we are.

God is good!

Make it a great day.



Having a really good day...

We got a package from Aunt Mae Mae and Uncle Brian today.

She was pretty excited to try on some new shades and a bathrobe!

We have been taking it easy.

Reading books with Nana and snuggling

has been favorite past times this last week. 

We are going to be sad to see Nana go tomorrow.

Thumbs up!

She is doing really well.

We had the doctor's appointment today and

her blood pressures were really good...

lower than we had the day we left the hospital.

 Although there was some anxiety going to the doctor,

once she realized she wasn't going to have to stay or get poked...

she was happy.

 When the kiddos got home from school and did their homework,

the girls played a low key game.

Here's my mom who has been a live saver this week.

I'm so happy to have her here!



Lining our rooms...

Evie has gotten so many get well cards that we started

lining the archway at our house.

The one side is filled so we are starting on the second arch.

 

The kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade classes from St. Pat's

all made Evie cards.  She loves every single one of them.

Every time she gets a card in the mail she says, "I'm rich!"

The cards have been mostly filled with prayers and well wishes.

Yes indeed, we are rich with friends and family!

Thank you for being a part of our lives!

Just a note: Last post I mentioned us just having to go into Sparta for our

check ups, but apparently I misunderstood the cardiologist last Tuesday...

(my mind was on overdrive) 

We will have our appointments in Lacrosse to meet with her,

but that appointment isn't until next Thursday so I'll keep you posted.

 



She slept great last night...

We are getting settled in.  My mom has been such a great help.   Evie slept really good last night.  I'm still adjusting to not waking up every hour.  When you look at her, you wouldn't believe she just had heart surgery.  She is getting her energy back...which will be probably the hardest thing to combat.  Keeping a four year old calm is going to be the biggest obstacle in the next couple of weeks. 
Evie has an appointment tomorrow with the family doctor. We will be able to see where her blood pressure is at and how all the incisions are healing.  She will be meeting next week with the ped cardiologist, which will be right in Sparta.  All of her follow ups will in Sparta, unless something is wrong, then we would go back to Rochester. 
Thanks everyone for all the prayers...it's unbelievable to hear how many of you are praying for our little Evie.  We are so blessed and humbled to have you all in our lives. 

Please note:  We have been having phone troubles yesterday and after going to Walmart, buying new phones and having the phone company come out and fix the line.  We got it working.  In the switch, we missed some calls and messages so apologies if I missed any of you yesterday.     

We're Home...

Here are a couple of photos of her starting to feel better once she got to squirt the doctors and nurses with the syringe of ice cold water:)

We got in last night after a long day of waiting results and medications.  She got the green light to come home yesterday afternoon.  Evie is coming home on four different medications, not including her pain relief.  She is doing really good though and happy to sleep in her bed without any cords attached to her.  Evie has high blood pressure and there is a good probability that she will be on medication for this for the rest of her life, hopefully just in smaller doses. 
Thank you all for the prayers.  Everyone has been so wonderful and supportive!  We know a lot of people have been asking to possibly bring meals or come and visit.  I do have my mom in town through this week to help out.  So anyone wanting to come and visit, it would be wonderful if you could wait until next week just so we can get acclimated to what will be our 'new normal'. 

*Please use your best judgment if planning on coming over...we need to keep Evie as healthy as possible so if you have colds/flu or have been exposed the them recently, please postpone your visit until you feel better.  Thanks so much!
 

Fingers Crossed...

We might be coming home tomorrow.  She is still in the ICU and will remain there tonight as well.  We have some tests to do tomorrow morning, which if everything goes well, will be the final ones at Mayo.  She got the two iv's out of each hand today and got off the iv med we were waiting on.  Evie still has the triple iv in her neck a couple other cords, but they have reduced by half!  She is doing super. Evie is really looking and starting to act like my Evie today...she at almost all her breakfast this morning.

She went on a walk, three times around the nurses station...which is more than double yesterday. On her next walk today, she is bringing a syringe of water (the nurses idea) and is going to try and spray the doctors:)  The ICU nurses and doctors are unbelievable here. 

Evie had a good night.  Zach and I did shifts last night.  I 'sleep' with her in bed last night. It looks like she will be going home on three blood pressure meds at the minimum depending on her tomorrow blood results.  We will keep you posted.

She wants out...

Evie is doing well. She woke up from a nap today saying, "Mom, get me outta here."  Of course after my heart was done breaking, I told her as soon as I could, we could go home. 
She has progressed today.  She took a walk down the hallway, which was kind of a challenge.  They took out the chest tube, which should take away most of her pain.  She is down on some of her iv meds and has increased on the oral meds.  Evie will have her cath. out in a few hours.  She has reduced the amount of tubes by three already today.  Hopefully, it keeps up at this pace.  There is a good chance she will come home on three blood pressure meds, but they are hoping on keeping it to two.   She hasn't really wanted to do too much.  When she took her walk, we walked to a treasure chest and she picked out some cards, but we haven't played them yet. She has been eating a bit at every meal, which is helping the oral meds.   Keep the prayers coming. 

She had a late night party...

inlcuding ice cream and crackers.  Evie is doing well.  I did run over to the hotel to get some sleep last night and when I got back they had put her back on one of the IV medications.  I was a little concerned, but they assured me that it was only because she was up and moving around more that her blood pressure had gone up.  Today they will be focusing on getting the chest tube out and the cath. out and going to more oral medications.  Since she ate a little bit so she that will help her keep the meds down a bit more.  They are thinking she might be in the ICU for tonight as well, but that doesn't mean that she will stay any longer at the hospital.  The nurse said sometimes they release patients from the ICU to go home so everything is ok. 

I know many of wanted to come and visit her here, but there are no visitors allowed in the ICU so I will let everyone know when we get home.  She will probably be more comfortable having people visit at home and will be feeling more like herself by then.  She is still on pain medication so she isn't quite herself.  But my little comedian is still making us all: doctors, nurses, techs, and mom/dad laugh just by the faces and comments.  I can't even begin to thank everyone who has been supporting us(Megan and Brian-you two are unbelievable)!  We love you all!  Keep up the prayers and I will keep everyone posted.      

Our little girl is getting adjusted...

Evie is doing better today, but got a little sick do to the oral medication she has been taking.  She hasn't eaten yet, which is probably causing her upset stomach.  We should be able to take out the chest tube tomorrow along with the catheter.  She is draining a bit so they decided to leave it in overnight.  She should be able to go potty tomorrow. Although feeling a little nauseous, she is looking like she wants to be a bit more active and move around. She won't be released to the recovery room until tomorrow afternoon at the latest.  Keep praying!

Doing really well today

Here is a picture of our brave girl.

She had a really good night and

we are focusing on getting her blood pressure stable.

Our awesome ICU nurses warned us about her possibly being

'mad' at us today, which by way, this look on her face is the worst we have gotten so far. 

It's that look of determination that is going to make the difference in her recovery!

She has been eating Popsicles and drinking lots more today.

The ICU nurses are thinking she will be in a recovery room by tomorrow afternoon(Saturday).

Right now the big obstacle is getting her blood pressure to

a steady normal rate with medication. 

She is in the best care possible, which makes things so much easier for Zach and I.

And the best part of my day,

was being able to hold my little one! 

She did really well and we were able to snuggle for about 20 minutes

before she started getting uncomfortable.

I feeling so blessed today,

for the doctor, nurses, family, and friends

who have supported us through this crazy journey.

I have to especially thank my wonderful husband,

who has been my rock...Happy Anniversary Zachary!

Here's a before shot of our little super star!

This picture was taken before the happy medicine this morning.

She was giving me the "come on, mom" look:)

Updates....

Evie is doing really well.  She has her breathing tube out now and is only awake briefly.  She is still on pretty heavy meds for pain and they are trying to keep her blood pressure under control.  One of the nurses said she may be able to go to recovery room either late tomorrow night or Saturday, but probably Saturday.  They are just really watching her blood pressure right now and once they get it stabilized to the point of being able to give her the oral meds instead of intravenous then they can move her to a recovery room. The nurses reassured me that it doesn't mean she isn't doing well and that if she stays longer in the icu, that doesn't mean she won't leave around the same time.  We might have less recovery room days in the hospital.  Either Zach and/or I are always with her, while we take turns showering and eating.  She did wake up and while it was just me and looks like she is in a lot of pain.  It was beyond heart breaking.  If ever there was something that could have me switch places, I would do it in a heart beat.  Zach and are holding up as best we can.  Today, has been the roughest so far.  We will keep you posted, but please keep praying. 

Keep the prayers coming...

The prayers are working.  We just found out that the operation is complete.  The blockage was worse than they ornigainlly thought, but that actually helped because then they did not need to bipass and use the heart and lung machine, which would have meant a blood transfusion.  This is the best possible senario in our minds.  She will be moved to the ICU in the next 30 minutes and will be another 30 minutes until we will be able to see her.  We are trying to prepare ourselves seeing her with the breathing tubes and all the other machines, but we know she is in the best care possible.  They sounded possitive to have the breathing tube out tonight, which is great.  Keep the prayers coming and thanks again friends and family for everything.  The out pouring of love has made this so much easier to cope with.  

Keep praying...

We dropped off Evie in the operating room at 7:30 this morning.  She was giggling because of some medication they gave her to relax...Zach and I were wishing we had some too!  We had her anointed by a priest that- thanks Grandma Brown for calling. After he did it, she shouted 'yeah'!  It made everyone laugh and helped us get through getting her into the operating room.  We just heard they made the first incision at 9:12 and will be updated as it progresses.  Please keep sending those prayers!

Praying...

please keep the prayers coming!
The surgery will be starting for Evie at 7:30 (Thursday)tomorrow morning.  We had a wonderful meeting today with the team that will be 'fixing' Evie.  She has what is called Coarctation of the Aorta.  Basically put, she has a blocked aorta that should be about 1.5cm and is only 2mm.  They are going to be doing surgery to fix that problem.  Because of this condition she has high blood pressure about 170/90 when her normal pressure should be 90/50.  Tomorrow will start at 6am check-in and the surgery will start at 7:30.  They estimate it to take 2-3 hours depending various factors.  She will be in the ICU for at least 24 hours after.
I will try to post something as soon as we hear. Thanks for praying and all the support!

Our Life these days...

has been a little crazy with school starting

and the garden winding down.

 I had to take a picture of a perfect dinner in my opinion...

-fresh sliced tomatoes

-hummus made from my canned garbanzo beans

-celery stalks

-carrots from our garden

-homemade ranch dip

This meal is what I dream in the Fall, Winter, and Spring!

 Here are my little ones(not so little anymore)

ready for the first day of school.

They are enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls

made by Grandma...thank you Grandma!

You know the meal is a hit when the kids ask me to

get the recipe:)

 My tomatoes are still going strong.

I think this was the last big pick,

but I'm putting these up as I type this.

 Here is My Big Girl and I picking tomatoes and having fun.

 What I've been doing all day so far:)

I started with grape jelly and am on to tomatoes.

 I just had to take a picture of my newest splurge...

the Ball, collection elite, half pint jars.

They make me smile every time I look at them. 

They only negative is they come in packs of four!

I would by them by the case:)

My Big Girl took this picture today. 

She is getting to be such a big helper,

while I was busy canning she occupied herself by painting and coloring.

As you can see I picked up pears and am planning

on canning as soon they are ripe.

I will probably do that tomorrow before they get

eaten all up:)