Two Years Ago

Two years ago today. 
It was the hardest and most terrifying day of my life. 
As well as the happiest. 
I don't believe I have ever felt so much fear and relief all at the same time, let alone on the same day. 
A miracle happened, and I am thankful every single day for that miracle and the talented hands of my hero Dr. Starnes for performing that miracle to be able to keep my Tanner. ♥

Today, it is as if all of this never happened.
Tanner is a normal, happy and healthy little boy.

The only reminders we have are the memories and his faint scars.
These reminders I will always treasure.

Painting.... again.

Kollin have been working on painting the house we are going to be moving in to.

There have been some changes since my last post about where we will be living. Kollin's mom has decided that she wanted the basement and that we could have the main floor! I was happy with either part of the house since the entire thing is being fixed up so well. But I have been so excited to be able to have the main floor since it is a little more spaced out and bigger.

We have been going through the process of doing a short sale on our house and there is currently a cash offer on the table. So once that is approved by the bank we will be moving pretty quickly. It's still going to be a while, but at least the ball is finally rolling!

So today we started painting our new part of the house. We are going with a completely new (well sorta) color scheme. I had the idea to do very light colors so our dark furniture would kind of pop out more.

In the kitchen we are doing a very light green, living room a very light tan and Tanner's room a very light purple. That purple we put in his room in the basement was just way too bright and we were not getting used to it. There really isn't any use in posting pictures of the colors since any pictures that I've taken you can't even tell. It all just looks white.

We got samples of a couple different shades for each room to test out yesterday. As we were painting them on different parts of the walls to see how they would look in different lighting they all looked so white! It was a little worrisome at first, but knew that once the entire wall was that color we would be able to see the color in them much better instead of a patch on a dark wall.

We got 1 coat done in the kitchen and in Tanner's room and they both look amazing. I am getting even more excited! We'll be going back tomorrow for the second coats and to paint the living room.

Here are some pictures we took during the day that I just had to post:

Tanner was getting pretty crabby and we decided to try to put him down for a nap. He hadn't napped in the last few days so there was not any guarantee that it was going to work. I held him to my chest, sat on Kathy's bed downstairs and rocked him back and forth while singing "Baby's Boat a Silver Moon."

For the first time since he was teeny tiny he actually fell asleep in my arms! It was the sweetest thing, I didn't want to put him down! I set him down in the middle of Kathy's bed and snapped this sweet picture. He is growing up so fast, but moments like this remind me that he is still my baby.

I wanted to get his hand prints on the wall in his room before it was completely painted. We had some fun!

Most of the day I was downstairs with Tanner to keep him away from the paint. So Kollin pretty much painted the entire house by himself. Isn't he amazing?

As Tanner was toddling around he discovered the cookie sheet slot in the kitchen. So he decided to climb into it! That thing is only about 9 inches across.

Hopefully we'll be able to finish everything up tomorrow!

Two Years Old

2.

You.

Right up there.

You are my sunshine.

I can't believe a have a two year old! 

I really wish you would just show me where your pause button is.

I'm sure there are so many things going on in your little head right now. I love to watch your brain working and figuring things out.

You are so smart.

When I ask you to go get something from another room, or put something away, you do it! The first time you went and got your socks from your bedroom I was so impressed that you are starting to understand what we are saying. You really like to help me put away groceries and load the dishwasher. I'm hoping that will last, but I doubt it.

You have always been a daredevil. Lately you have been trying to go down the stairs facing forward. I have taught you since you were crawling to turn around and go down backwards. So now when you try to go down forward (sorry, but you're not that good yet), I ask you to turn around. And you do!

Here is a list of all of your words (at least all that I can think of). I have been keeping this list for a long time so some may be repeated from previous posts:

wassat = what's that

ball

dog

ma

mama

da

dada

grandma

bah = bottle

ya

no

don = down

woah

more

done

door

oreo

milk

there it is

gan = again

ka-ka = yucky

please

there he is

ehmo = elmo

donah = donald

tato = potato

bubbles

uh-oh

choo choo

oodee = woody

buh = buzz

I don't know

duck

vroom vroom

tah = thomas

bath

Funny thing about these words of yours. Lately you have been calling ME da. I keep reminding you that I'm not Da, I'm Ma. You still go back and forth a lot with what you refer to me as. But Daddy is always Da! What's up with that?

You favorite movies right now are Cars (1 and 2), Toy Story (1,2 and 3) and Shrek (only the first one).

Your favorite foods are peanut butter and jelly sammiches, applesauce, ravioli, life cereal, spaghetti o's, as well as anything chocolate and suckers.

You love balls, cars and especially trains. We try to make a new train track every day.

You also like to stack blocks, throw balls down the stairs and make someone go get them and push as many of your toys as you can behind the TV. I have to end up getting some salad tongs, squeezing behind the TV and reaching down and picking up the toys one by one.

You are not too big of a fan of naps anymore. For a long time you will actually sleep during nap time for a couple days, and then the next couple days you will be playing in your room for the entire time of your nap. Lately, however, you have not slept during your nap time for up to 5 days in a row. I am not ready for you to not nap yet! At least right now you are still usually content to just play in your room and have quiet time.

You give hugs and kisses when we ask you for them, which is the sweetest thing!

 You are still wearing size 5 shoes, 12 month shirts (they're almost too small) and 9-12 month pants.

Dr. Terashima thinks you are doing great with your speech, understanding and development. That is always good to hear! You have some fluid behind your ears and he thinks it is the ending of a possible ear infection, but wants to check again in a few weeks just to make sure. That was his only worry! Everything else going on in your little body is great!

Weight: 22 lbs
Height: 32 inches

I can't really think of anything else at the moment. I am sure I will add to this as things come to mind.

We love you so much you booger face!

 xoxo Ma and Da.

Tanner's 2nd Birfday Party!

Today we celebrated Tanner's 2nd birthday!

We had a little party with our friends and family. It was so much fun!

Singing Happy Birthday and getting ready to blow out his candles.

Getting the party started!

Playing with balloons with Grandpa Cannon.

The kid loves balloons!

Ripping Ryan's cake apart.

He got lots and lots of cars!

His cute cake!

CHD Awareness Month~Heart on the Hill

Tanner and I kicked off CHD Awareness Month by wearing RED!

Some of my beautiful Heart Moms and I went to the State Capitol today in support of a house bill that if passed, it will be mandatory to perform a pulse-ox test on every new born within the first 24 to 48 hours of life in the state of Utah to help catch Critical Congenital Heart Defects.

All of us made flyers about our Heart Babies and why we support this bill.

This bill has already been passed in some states and it would be amazing when it passes here!

Pulse-ox testing is regular practice at only 10% of hospitals in Utah. That means 1,000's of babies are not having this done and may be going home with life-threatening conditions.

Rep. Paul Ray is who is backing this bill. He is a wonderful man and is also a CHD survivor! He was born with Aortic Stenosis.

We went to committee with Rep. Paul Ray and the bill passed... unanimously! Afterwards, Rep. Ray said that a big part of it passing was that there were all of us Heart Moms and kids sitting right on the front row.

It was a great day!