athlete in training

 

Earlier in the week, some girls from our church were running in a track meet, so I took the kids to watch the fun. Man how it brought back memories of the glory days! It was pretty wild going to the meet because as soon as I walked into the stadium I heard the voice of my old coach, yelling to an athlete to get to their event asap! It sent a shiver down my spine, as if I were about to miss my event. It brought me right back to my teen years in a split second! 
I was really excited to watch the girls from church compete, but I was also excited to show my kids the sport that was my entire existence for several years.  It was so fun watching my kids cheer people on & get into the spirit of track.  Joshua was really funny cheering on one of the girls running the 2 mile...  every time she'd pass he'd yell something like "Let's go Shana, you're a good girl!" or "You should do it Shana!"
The kids wanted to know all about the hurdles, the jumping events & especially the pole vault (one of my favorite events in high school & college). They were fascinated by it, the way I was when I was a kid. I remember watching the pole vaulters at my older brother & sister's track meets as a girl & deciding I'd be a pole vaulter some day.
Joshua came to the same conclusion. He said to me he wants to do "the stick on the trampoline"  - that's 2 year old talk for pole vaulting.  I have no doubt that if he wants to be a pole vaulter, then he'll find a way to be a pole vaulter. He's just that kind of person.  I just hope he doesn't take an interest in some thing like boxing, cause that's not happening!

(The photos are obviously unrelated...just cute that he made his own tee ball set up)

playing hard

It's fun to watch Joshua grow into his role as "big brother"...a role that he loves! Lately he and Sam play together really well. Sam is very mobile & follows Joshua around all day...it's funny to watch Sam studying to be like Josh.

After a long day of playing, Joshua often doesn't even make it to bed before falling asleep.

 

And you know yu're tired when you can sleep in this position:

 

6 month - all clear

 

Our little guy was due for his 6 month cardiology appointment today and it went extremely well!  Josh is approaching his 3rd surgery (the Fontan) which will improve the oxygen levels in his blood, improving his overall health. Typically, a child with Joshua's heart will experience a slow drop in their oxygen levels (their sats), and their heart struggles more as the Fontan approaches. 

So that's where Johsua's at - awaiting the Fontan. Only for some reason Joshua's oxygen levels are higher than I've ever seen them before, his heart function is great, his blood pressure is normal, his previously leaky & repaired tricuspid valve isn't leaking at all, and he isn't even using his pacemaker! Our constant prayers are being answered.   

We feel incredibly blessed to have gotten such a good report today.  I assumed we'd be looking at a calendar deciding when we would head to UCSF for surgery.  At the very least I figured he was due for a heart cath. We got the "All clear, see ya in 6 months ... NO RESTRICTIONS!"

Dr. Rivera always checks to make sure I'm not restricting Joshua in any way. If you know me, you know I let him run wild, so I always laugh when Dr. Rivera gets to that part of the visit.

Also noteworthy, Joshua behaved amazingly well during the appointment. Not a tear shed, and he didn't want to leave!  Josh really loves Dr. Rivera & that sure helps!  I remember when he was younger it was so hard taking him to these appointments because he feared the doctor's office so much.  I am happy to report that he's out grown his fear & though his next surgery will probably have him fearful once again, it is certainly nice that he's at an age where he can be reasoned with.

I've decided I'm gonna stop with my "typical HLHS" thinking from now on, because Joshua has proven to me that I should dream bigger than "typical"!

chatter

 

We just got back from our spring break vacation & had an awesome time!  Josh made us laugh quite a bit on this trip with his antics. He's recently started referring to people (and things alike) as his "best friend." Some of his "best friends" on our trip included, a Toys-R-Us ad, a bottle of ranch dressing, a shovel, his little "bruder" Sam, and me & Jon too.  I used to feel special when he'd call me his best friend, until he started using the term so loosely...oh well.

He sure knows how to make us laugh! Like this morning when Callie took his toy, he gabbed my cell phone & this is the conversation he had with the "police"...

"Hi police. You can come take Callie to jail, cause she stole my toy. Danks police, bye!"

Good thing I haven't taught him to dial 911 yet.