Intermountain Healing Hearts 5k

We went to the 5k to support our heart heroes and angels today.
Kollin and I are not runners, but my best friend Sara ran it to honor Tanner.
(She's in there somewhere)

She ended up coming in at 6th place overall I think.
Way to go my Sava!

My favorite people!

We also got some sliding time in.

Kollin went exploring with Tanner and found a firetruck! (go fig)

There was a picnic after the race with the heart families. It was so nice to see so many wonderful families that I have already met, and also met a few new ones.
It was also the first time the husbands and fathers came to an event (at least that we've been to), so they were all probably a little overwhelmed at all of the introducing that was going on!
I'm sad that I didn't think to snap any pictures during the picnic, but next time!
All of these mommies are starting to figure out that I'm a little trigger happy with the camera. I'm such a slacker.

15 Month Checkup

Tanner had his 15 month Dr. appointment today.

I've said it before, and I'll said it again.

I love his pediatrician!

Dr. Terashima is the one that caught his heart defect, and therefore, saved his life.

Dr. Terashima was very happy with what he was seeing with Tanner. He gave him some toys to play with to see what he would do. He said it was good that he is pointing to things, kept looking at him as if for approval, babbling, saying little words and very involved with people. He says lots of those are good indicators that Tanner is not autistic.

We talked about car seat laws, eating, doing away with bottles, the results from his sedated echo last month and a bunch of other things. I love how thorough he is!

As he was reading the notes from his echo he mentioned some things that Tanner's cardiologist never mentioned. That kind of disappointed me a little that she didn't say anything at the time, but I'm over it.

He said that it was mentioned in the notes that the echo showed that he is showing a sub-aortic ridge. The post that I wrote about his different defects explain the subvalvular stenosis (sub-aortic stenosis). Well, the ridge is kind of like that, but much much smaller. It is not blocking his valve and not even affecting the blood flow at all. Phew!

I had actually read recently that a sub-aortic stenosis can come back after it is repaired and could warrant more surgery. So this information kind of freaked me out.

Given that it is just a "ridge" and not a "stenosis" there is nothing to worry about right now. And if it was something to worry about our cardiologist would have still wanted to see Tanner every 4-6 months instead of only once a year now. So I am sure she is not worried about it at all and that may be why she didn't mention it. I still would have liked to know everything that is going on with my kid though...

He got his 15 month shots today too. He was not happy about that one bit. But he did well and stopped crying shortly after. What a trooper!

He says that Tanner is growing well and all of his measurements are staying consistent. He said he is actually a little chunkier than he is tall, so that means we're feeding him good! (which is one thing I have been worrying about)

I was really excited to see how much he weighed and how tall he was. He's still growing! Yay!

Weight: 20 lbs 4 oz

Height: 28 1/2 inches

Now We Match!

For a long time now we have been getting comments on how red Tanner's hair is.

We always end up explaining that Kollin has natural red highlights in his hair and Kollin's mom also has red hair. I have no idea if it comes from me since I'm adopted, but my mom also had red hair so I'm sure he got some of that while she was preparing him to come to us when they were both together in Heaven.

Kollin and I both had very blonde hair as little kids. Mine has stayed pretty blonde and Kollin's has gone darker.

I have been saying for a while that I wished I had Tanner's color of hair.

I have actually always wanted strawberry blonde hair for as long as I can remember. 

So we decided to do something about it today.

I was really nervous the entire time on how it would turn out since it was a home dye kit that we got for about $3.

It ended up taking three bottles to saturate my abundance of hair.

But it worked!

I LOVE it!

It is very subtle and didn't turn out orange like I was worried about.

I'm pretty excited that Tanner and I have even more in common now!

My Second Mommy's Day

I love this little goofball. I wouldn't be a mother yet without him!

 I love Kollin so much. I don't even know how to put it into words. Plus he's got good taste in flowers.



Today is International Bereaved Mother's Day

I cannot even begin to understand what you have gone through.

I was given a big dose of reality when I learned that my own son needed open heart surgery in order to live.

Ever since then my mind has been in a new place.

A place of compassion, tenderness and inspiration.

I was constantly told how strong I was while we were going through Tanner's journey.

But I have seen stronger.

I can honestly say that there is nothing comparable to the strength and grace of a mother who has lost a child.

I pray that you may feel love, comfort and your angel's arms wrapping around you like a warm blanket.

15 Months Old

15 months...

1 year and 3 months old.

What happened?

Next thing I know he'll be 15 years old.

Time is just rude.

He has been coming along so well.

He now has EIGHT teeth! Well... as far as I know. That kid does not like fingers in his mouth and will chomp down hard when you try to investigate. I actually just tried and found the beginning of a molar, so 9 teeth!

He babbles a lot right now. I will baby babble back and forth with him for 10 minutes at a time. I just wish I knew what he is saying. Or me for that matter!

Some of his favorite "words" right now are "da" (that could mean anything from Dad or that), "duh" (duck), "dah" (dog), "bah" (ball, bottle or anything that holds a liquid that he wants) and "ma" (well duh...). On occasions he will say "dog," "duck" and "ball" entirely.

He is getting to be quite the expert at walking. Sometimes he even tries to run. We still need to work on that. He's been getting some bumbs and bruises along the way.

He has been doing this for a while, but I don't think I've ever mentioned it... He loves to point at everything. He is constantly pointing where he wants to go... what he wants to see... when he sees Mommy or Daddy... anything.

Weight: 20 lbs 4 oz
Length: 28 1/2 inches

We love our little Tinman so much. We don't know what our lives would be like without him. We are so happy that he was able to come to be with us and that we were blessed that he was allowed to stay.

xoxo

our little munchkin

mommy and daddy