2012 Goals

2012 is fast approaching. I have never been one for resolutions but thought I would try making some goals for the year.



1) Lose weight. Always trying to do but really going to try and get motivated.



2) Sell our house.



3) Buy a new house



4) Learn how to knit once and for all



5) Try to make 1 new recipe a week



6) Make a difference at work, aka, earn my keep



7) Read the Bible beginning to end in 1 year



8) Reduce our debt by 50%



9) Volunteer Monthly at Children's by donations, time, and any other ways I can help



10) Get my CHL (Concealed handgun license)



11) Get my SPHR (HR test)



12) Start my dissertation



13) Make this the year Caydence really starts to read and write well





So that's it. What are your goals for the year?

BLACK FRIDAY

Sleep is for when you die! I love Black Friday and every year I learn something new. Here’s what I learned this year:

1)             Old people can’t drive. Still. That’s a fact not a just a statement. I counted no less than 15 old people driving 20 in a 50 mile an hour lane. Move it people. We got stuff to buy!

2)           The recession is still going strong and anyone who tries to argue that point with me did not see the football field size line at both Target and Toys r us. No exaggeration, there were at least about 1,000 people in line when I got to both stores.

3)            Some stores were not prepared for the above. Targets lines were wrapped all around the store, and one line to check out became entangled with one line for the electronics line, causing people to be in the wrong line, causing frustration.

4)           If a store opened at midnight, and you showed up at say 1:30, the crap was gone. Not kidding. I showed up at 12:45 to Target, they opened at midnight, and I got the last of several items.

5)           Organization is key. I had an excel spreadsheet with columns sorted by time/store/item and finally price. Again, if you want the item you need to get in and get out with it quick because the good stuff will sell out. This is not the time to just walk the isles looking for stuff.

6)            Some people are smarter than others on Black Friday. Note: the people that were selling coffee and donuts to the people in line at Target and Toys r us. Very smart!

7)           For the most part, Black Friday shoppers are very nice. We are all just trying to get the deals and get home. I couldn’t find an item and a dude that had found one for his wife snagged me one.

8)           Nobody cares about Home Depot on black Friday, except me. They opened at 5. I showed up at 530 and there were 15 cars in the parking lot, 14 of which were workers.

9)           Black Friday is more fun when your husband goes with you. Although mine didn’t technically go with me, he worked it and told me where the bad lines were. Score!

10)    People will bring their 4 week old baby (also not an exaggeration) out in the 45 degree weather for a good deal. No judgment. It’s not my kid, who by the way was sleeping at the grandparents house. She will cut me with no sleep but more power to you if you want to shop at midnight for hours with your kid. It made standing in line more fun for me to play with a baby.

11)        Black Friday deals are worth it. In looking at most of my receipts I saved as much as I spent. For example, we needed a new crockpot. Random but we did. I got a very nice one. Originally 40 bucks. On sale for 20 bucks with a 10 rebate form. $40 crockpot for $10 bucks. Yes please. This is just one example. 90% of what I bought was for Caydence.

And now, Santa needs to go wrap up the treasures. Happy Black Friday everyone!

Santa through the ages

2011 Santa picture is in but 1^st a look at the past.

Here is 2008 santa

Here is 2009 santa

Here is 2010 santa

and finally, 2011 Santa

Halloween part 4 of 4

Rather than go door to door we like to go to our church’s Fall Festival. Those of you that know our church, shout out to Prestonwood, know this isn’t 20 pumpkins and a photo op. This is a huge to do and is so much fun.

This year daddy had to work so me, mimi, and the kid headed to the Fall Festival.

And drumroll……

Caydence went as a cheerleader.

halloween part 3 of 4

Ofcourse no Halloween would be complete without a fierce Halloween costume. Here’s our precious costumes of past:

2008- ladybug

2009- Mrs. Pattycake

2010- Dr. Caydence Barrett

2011-?????

Off to the Halloween store we went.

Now when I asked Caydence I got 2 response- Rapunzel and a bumble bee. Interesting enough, she ended up being neither of those costumers. Here are some pics of the ones we tried.

Halloween- part 2 of 4

If you have known me longer than 5 minutes, you probably know I would rather stick my head in a book than be anywhere else. And I am trying to get my kid to be the same way. So far so good. She loves books.

With that, we usually go to several story times during the week. Our favorite being the Saturday morning storytime at Barnes and Noble.

We have missed the past few weeks but decided to pop in this past Saturday. Apparently I missed the “dress up for Halloween” memo. Oops.

Thankfully, the lady at Barnes and Noble had mercy on me, and her and the kiddos dressed Caydence up as a mummy, and then they all went trick or treating around the store.

Attached are pics. Good times!

Halloween- Part 1

I have never been much for Halloween. All of the costumes at the store make you look like a hooker, it seems way too commercialized, and really what does this holiday even mean?

But the kiddos like it so now that I am a parent I have a responsibility to suck it up for a day and let Caydence have fun.

No Halloween would be complete without a trip to the Pumpkin patch. Below are pictures. I am experimenting with picture uploading websites, hence the multiple posts for Halloween until I figure out which one I like. More pictures to follow tomorrow.

Like me?

Everyone always tells me Caydence looks like Joe. It’s true, and that’s ok cause he’s handsome! But it got me thinking about ways Caydence is like both of us. Here is what I got.

Ways Caydence is like Joe

·                  She likes to be outside, especially playgrounds. The Swing is her favorite.

·                  Stubborn. Very stubborn. (you might say I am stubborn. No, I am argumentative, and if you would like to discuss the differences I will argue them with you….at a later time).

·                  Bread eater- bagels, waffles, dough, you name it.

·                  Loves the old cartoons like Pink Panther and Loony Tunes

·                  Loves playing video games with her daddy, specifically the ones where they shoot things. Ahem. Not moms favorite.

·                  Thin. 10% of her weight class.

·                  Cool scar, just like her dad.

·                  Had had multiple blood transfusions, also like her dad.

Ways Caydence is like me

·                  Loves to read

·                  Likes to play school (I am still “playing” school)

·                  Likes to sing even if she doesn’t know the words. She will make them up, which I do as well.

·                  Falls asleep in the car….often.

·                  Loves sitcoms like Good Luck Charlie.

·                  Has started putting everything in her mouth (Some of us may remember me and the paintball story)

·                  Likes to twirl her hair, sometimes to the point of getting her finger stuck.

·                  Very empathetic towards children crying. I am not a fan of the “cry it out method”. I see a baby crying I want to pick it up not let it cry for 45 minutes. That’s just me. Caydence is the same way.

Ways she is like both of us

·                  Loves to swim

·                  Likes to make a mess and not clean it up (getting slightly better about this. Her not her parents).

·                  Doesn’t like to share. I blame this on her being an only child. We are working on it. Not sure what Joe and my excuse is.

·                  Republican (we can just tell).

·                  Loves Jesus.

Ways she is like neither of us

·                  Slow hair growth. I know what you’re going to say- look at Joe. Joe had hair until he was about 17. Lots of it. Caydence’s grows very slow. It seems to be picking up speed now…finally.

·                  Likes to cook. Not sure where she got that from. Neither Joe nor I like to cook.

·                  But doesn’t like to eat. Not sure where she gets that from either. Joe and I love to eat.

·                  Smart beyond belief. I think Joe and I are of course smart, but Caydence amazes me. She can knock out a puzzle fast. Can write her letters. Her memory is impeccable. She speaks well for her age, as I am told by people we meet. She has a great imagination. She is light years ahead of where I was at her age.

And because no post could be complete without a picture, here is my sweet baby on the swings.

Bad Blogger

When I was pregnant with Caydence I would blog every week to the week. It was therapeutic for me, especially after learning about her heart.

I haven’t been the best about blogging after Caydence was born, which was about 3.5 years ago. I have a long list of reasons why, but rather than list excuses I am going to try and rectify that.

So, here we go.

Caydence has been teaching me how to cook. It’s a skill I never learned. She loves cooking and is very patient in teaching me.

These first two pictures are her making a cake.

Followed be her making a peanut butter sandwich. Can’t believe she is old enough to make that on her own.

This last picture is what I attempted to make for Joe’s birthday. Kinda hard to make whoopee cookies without the whoopee cookie pan. I thought I could improvise and save money so I used cupcake muffin tins. Instead of whoopee cookies I made cupcakes. Oh well, they were still good.

 I have become addicted to pinterest, which has tons of recipes. We are going to get ahead and start on some Thanksgiving recipes soon so I can do them a few times to get them right (Caydence's suggestion).

Gone Hollywood

Ok, well not exactly, but we have all been super excited here about Caydence's tv debut.

I think the day of surgery I was in kinda of a state of shock. I mean, my 3 year old kid was about to go in and have her 3rd and hopefully last open heart surgery. EVERY, and I do mean every emotion was pouring through us. Would she make it? Would it work? How long would she recover? We were excited, nervous, anxious, and ......

So in watching the video's of her surgery, it seems like I have my emotions in check, when in reality I am a mess. The video/camera's concept was weird. I woke up at 4 the day of surgery to get ready. They came at 6. Surgery started shortly after 8.  They were in and out the entire day. Joe had to work the night before so he got to the hospital at 7. Craziness.

And....after we got home, Children's sent me the pictures, which were hard to look at but not blood and guts. Then in this week's episode, I see the actual surgery. Heart open. Blood flowing to the bypass machine. Caydence being worked on. Reality. I mean, what did I expect? This was about her surgeon...it was just hard to watch.

Anywho, I wanted to consolidate all the links on one site for everyone.

Here's part 1 of Caydence's story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4A4FO0DlHw&sns=fb


and part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4A4FO0DlHw&list=FL3P5eClaasjTO17pQFCbSIQ&index=1


and meet Caydence- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH2gbxBq-2g&feature=relmfu

and the local paper article- http://www.lewisvilleleader.com/articles/2011/08/15/lewisville_leader/news/9810.txt#share


They shot some video of us leaving the hospital, and I didn't see that in this week's episode, so I imagine that will in a  further episode.

Latest checkup

Caydence stopped all diuretics last week so we had to go in today for xrays to make sure the fluid was gone.

And it was.

Which means we don't have to go back to Children's for 6 months for her annual checkup.

Woooo hoooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a picture of our princess.

progressing

We went today for more xrays to make sure the fluid is staying gone, and it is!!!

So we were able to reduce her Lasix to once a day.

Then we are going to stop it all together on July 6th.

We go for xrays again on July 13th. If all looks good we will be off Lasix for good AND we won't have to go back until January! Woooohooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 weeks post surgery

Well, it's been a while since I have updated the blog, and that's a good thing. That means things have gotten boring.

We went last Wednesday for another followup and SURPRISE all the fluid was GONE! Woo hooo!!!! So we were able to take 1 of the medicines off and now we are on a very low dose of another. This means Caydence is going potty less in the middle of the night and we are all sleeping more.

We did blood work and that all came out well too. Potassium is good. Kidneys are good.

We even got cleared to swim which we took full advantage of the next day at grandma's house!

So, where do we go from here.

This Wednesday we have to do another xray to make sure the fluid stays gone. If so, we will decrease more meds.

Then we will go back in 3 weeks for xray/labs and if everything looks good we will take her off all her diuretics.

Good stuff!!!!

Friday update

We went and had labs and xrays today. Everything is looking better everytime we go. Xray is getting clearer.

So, we are still on the diuretics, but we are on half of what we used to be on.

And we can take baths and swim again. Wooo hooo!

Also, we don't have to go back until Wednesday. Woo hoo!

That's about it for now. Hope u all have a good weekend.

Tuesday update

Xray was about the same so we are going to redo it tomorrow and hope it looks better. Then we are going to take Thursday off and Friday run labs and xrays again. She is peeing like a champ so in theory they xray should start to get better. The pills are working much better than the liquid. Hallelujah!!!

We had meals start on Saturday and we are so very thankful for them (Thank u Jen for organizing. U are the best). Joe is working nights this week so it is just me and Caydence, and well, she ain't down with me leaving to go cook.

Everyday gets slightly easier on her. I see her move more, eat more. It's still just 12 days past surgery so I am trying to keep that in mind, and forget about my messy house, and just love on my girl.

post op check up

Well, we made it home. Barely. She does have some fluid on her lungs....probably because I can't seem to get my kid to take her diuretics. Why not you ask? She's 3 for Pete's sake. She clenches her mouth and spits it out.

So, we are going to try a different approach. For some reason I seem to have better luck with pills so we converted her diuretics from liquids to pills.

I tried it tonight. I got one in her no problem. The 2nd one I put on ice cream and I think she tasted it. She took a sip of water and I am not sure if she spit some of the pill out or some of the ice cream. In any event it went 150% better than previously. No crying. No screaming. No frustration....and Caydence did good too. Hopefully we will see some good results.

So, we go back tomorrow and redo the labs and Xray. Please pray it looks better. They will only let us do outpatient for so long before they admit her and shove iv's up her arm.

At home

We are so happy to be home. We got home yesterday about 3pm. It was just me and Caydence last night (daddy had to work) but we survived! Here are some pictures that the PR people took.