Tanners Annual Cardiology Apointment

Today we had Tanner's annual cardiology appointment. It is so nice to only have to do this once a year. But it also gives you way too much time to build up anxiety in your head for what they may or may not find.

On the way to clinic. The anxiety has kicked into full gear now.

We got to clinic about 45 minutes before his scheduled appointment and it worked out wonderfully! They were able to get us back to do his x-ray right away, and didn't have to wait at all to go back for his EKG.

See the sternal wires holding his sternum together? Cool hu?

He did so well and cooperated much better than I thought he would! I had packed my purse with movies, suckers and a blanket that he could snuggle to try to bribe him to hold still during the tests.

Waiting to start the tests.

We did not need any of them! We only gave him a sucker before the nurse even started putting the stickers on him to try to distract him from taking them off. But I don't think he even put it in his mouth until everything was said and done.

Goof ball.

It's octopus time!

Peeling off the stickers like a pro.

The only little issue we had was with the blood pressure tests. Those are always the worst part and he has always hated them! The sucker wasn't working, but the awesome nurse had bubbles. That did the trick and we were able to get it done. He absolutely refused to put the pulse ox meter on his finger though. When Dr. Minich came in, she said he didn't even need it. So it was ok that we didn't get test done.

Bubbles!

When she first came in the room she mentioned how active he was and I was wondering how she would know that? Then later on she mentioned the bruises on his shins and it clicked. She said his legs look like any other kid his age, which is great!

She said she was happy with how he is sounding and looking. She did not have anything specific to say about him which I guess no news is good news.

I had some questions for her about some research I've been doing and other stories I've been hearing about his sub-aortic stenosis and she helped answer them and ease my curiosity and mind. At first she seemed a little mad that I was getting answers about things from our heart group and not her, but I explained that I understand that no 2 stories are the same even with the same defect. 

If there was anything that I was really worried about I would have called her and gotten the answer directly from her. But since I wasn't losing sleep I was just fine with waiting for his annual appointment to ask my questions. I just feel that I don't want to bother her unless it is something that I feel she would really need to be bothered with. Like any new symptoms or a worry in my mind that just won't go away. She seemed happy with my thought process for that.

All in all, everything was fantastic. While I was asking my questions I asked if she had any kind of statistic or percentage on where she thinks Tanner's heart journey will go. She said that any need for further surgeries or procedures is a very low, but not zero.Of course I could let that mull around in my brain and get me worked into a ball of stress. But I'm hoping that I won't let that happen.

After the appointment we went to Target to let him pick a prize for being so good at his appointment. I think this will be a good tradition to have so these appointments will hopefully not be so scary.

Of course. His favorite guy ever!

I think Buzz will be a new favorite for a while.

We are happy and excited with where we are. We are taking things a day at a time and enjoying every bit of it! I wouldn't have ever asked to join this Heart World, but now that I am a part of it I wouldn't ever take it back.

It was a perfect rainy day to wear these.

Easter 2013

We had a pretty low key Easter. Kollin and I figured that we weren't going to do anything this year since Tanner still isn't quite aware of what's going on.

We relaxed at home and then went to Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Tanner loved hunting for the eggs and putting them in his basket. Makes me wish we did something at home. Oh well.

It took him a minute to pick up on the idea

He got the hold of it though!

He had so much fun and was quite proud of his basket.

Posing with his haul.

We had fun going through his eggs to find scriptures, money and candy.

After dinner we took it easy and visited. Aunt Chicken (Kiersten) and Uncle Andrew came with the Moses puppy and the boys just loved playing fetch with him.

Aaaaannnnnd the video won't load. So you won't be able to see Tanner throwing the ball to Moses and screeching when he runs after it. Sorry!

It was a great day to spend with family.

Tanner watching "Rise of the Guardians" on Uncle Scott's phone with cousins Ben and Cole.

St. Patrick's Day and a Baby Blessing

Last Sunday was St. Patrick's Day. We were all planning what green to wear when we remembered that it was Clark and Megan's new baby's blessing! So the day before we went out to the mall and picked up ties for Kollin and Tanner that had green in them.

We were pretty worried how Tanner would handle sitting through Sacrament meeting since we had never taken him to church before. I was hoping he'd do well since it was pretty much a practice run for when we start to go back to church someday.

I am happy and proud to say that he surprised us! There were some little outbursts, like when he would practically yell "uh-oh" if he dropped something. But there were not meltdowns or anything. It was such a relief.

After the blessing we went to Megan's parents' house for lunch. Grandpa had brought Grandma of the Great as well as he walker.

Tanner loved to push the walker around and thought it was pretty cool to use it as a seat.

Doing laps around the dining room table after he was done eating.

At least it was a good picture of Kollin and me.

Caught him with his eyes open!

Beautiful baby Isabel Alice. She has got the most scrumptious cheeks!

It was very nice to be able to see family and friends and get to visit. I think Tanner's favorite part of the entire thing was the train track table they had downstairs for their grandkids. 

They also had an old Super Nintendo down there. Some of the kids were playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I realized it was the same game my siblings and I used to play when we were younger!

Later on when we were getting ready to leave, Kollin went down to get Tanner and saw the game. I don't remember exactly what happened, but he ended up playing the game with Tanner. Tanner of course got bored with it and took off. Clark came down to check on Andrew and he started to play as well! They were probably playing it for another hour or so. Both Megan and I thought it was just too funny since neither of them ever play video games!

At least it gave me time to steal the baby and snuggle her for a while since most of the other guests had gone that were taken turns holding her.

P.S. I didn't think to take any pictures while we were there, so all the credit goes to Grandpa Cannon and Annie (Megan's sister) for taking all of the pictures but the first one.

Digging for Gold

This was just too funny and gross to not document.

A few nights ago I noticed that Tanner sounded like he had a stuffy nose after he went to bed. I went to wipe his nose, but it was dry. (clue #1)

Later that night he woke up crying from a night terror or something. I went to tuck him back in and he had soaked through his diaper. As I was changing his sheets I saw blood. After checking him out, he had a bloody nose. (clue #2)

As I was changing his diaper and pj's he sneezed. 3 little balls of snotty paper came flying out! (clue #3)

I thought I could see more up his nose, so I went to get a flashlight and tweezers since it didn't look too far up. Right when I got back he sniffed, and whatever I saw was gone.

At this point he was only breathing through his mouth. I put my hand over his mouth to see if he was able to breath through his nose, or if he would wiggle away from my hand to be able to breath through his mouth. He just sat there and breathed through his nose, but when I moved my hand he went back to his mouth. So at least I knew he could do it.

For the next few days he constantly had his finger up his left nostril as if he was digging for gold. I would keep checking his nose every now and then to see if I could see anything, but still nothing. (clue #4)

This morning he woke up with a very green snotty nose. But just in the left nostril. (clue #5)

We had a follow up appointment with our pediatrician for an ear infection he had. While we were there, I decided to bring up the paper in the nose issue. Dr. Terashima agreed with me that there could very well be more up there.

So we decided to papoose him so he would hold still to see what we could find.

He was not happy with this.

After looking around in his nose Dr. Terashima couldn't see anything but more green mucus. He did say it went up very high, and it was too sticky and slimy to be able to tweeze out. He said he was concerned and really thought there was something there, so his nurse made an appointment with an ENT later on.

I was very happy we were able to get an appointment at the Riverton Primary Children's.

Tanner and I got to the ENT and he took a look with a really bright light and a magnifier. He had these really long skinny tweezers, and this long skinny tube that he used for suction. He suctioned the snot out of his nose and then he saw it.

At first he just pulled out a tiny little piece and I thought that was it. Then he suctioned some more and then pulled out his monster.

buried treasure!

It is definitely a piece of wadded up paper from a book or something! I couldn't believe something that big was in Tanner's nose! 

Of course Tanner was kicking and screaming, but I would be too if someone was digging that far up my nose. But as soon as the Dr. was done, he was happy again. I bet it felt like a relief to have that out of his nose!

I hope that he learned his lesson, because that was not fun to watch and I'm sure even less fun to experience.

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!