CHD Awareness Week

Do you know a kiddo with a heart condition?

Well yes, you do.

My kid.

Caydence was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which basically means the left side of her heart didn't fully develop and wasn't functional. After 3 successful surgeries, Caydence lives off just the right side of her heart.

Can you believe that's even possible? Most people who have never met Caydence can't even tell she is a heart kiddo. She is so full of energy!

Before she was born I had never been to Children's Medical Center.

I didn't know anyone whose kid had a heart condition.

But here we are. February 7-14 is Congenital heart defect awareness week. A time to bring awareness to the fact that there are quite a bit of kiddos with heart defects. As the years go by, I hope awareness will bring funding to continue research and cures for future heart babies to come.

God bless our heart babies and their families.

God bless the doctors that help our babies live longer lives by performing surgeries.

God bless the nurses who take care of our babies and help us learn how to take care of them.

1st blog of the year and it seems so funny to me that it's about food. Specifically pasta.....we'll specifically baked ziti.

I can eat the fire out of some pasta. There is a joke that Olive Garden isn't really Italian food but it's my favorite place to eat. Is there anything better than a big bowl of noodles?

Anywho, I am trying to be better at this whole domestic thing. 

With that....cooking. I hate cooking. You have to buy the ingredients and then make everything, which makes a mess. Then the dishes. Blah....too much work! But I'm trying to do 1 new recipe a week so I went in search of a good ziti recipe.

Which always leads me to Pinterest. How are they even selling real cookbooks anymore? Beats me. All the good stuff is on Pinterest.

The link below is the one I went with. It was AMAZING! The only thing I added was a bunch of garlic powder cause my man loves him some garlic! Enjoy.


http://www.thecountrycook.net/2011/12/baked-ziti.html

A new post?

Say what!

To say I have neglected the blog would be a huge understatement. My last post was in March....March 2012.

I think the main reason I haven't blogged has been due to lack of material. I used to blog because I had a kid with heart surgeries and a husband with kidney cancer and people wanted to know how they were doing....and it was therapeutic for me.

I am happy to say there is nothing to report (please oh please I hope I didn't just jinx myself).

Caydence is happy and healthy. Beyond brilliant for her age and a true miracle. She lights up every room and gets more beautiful every day.

Joe is also doing well. Still cancer free. Still loving his job. Still has an amazing wife.

And about that wife...I am great. Work is good. I get to travel and I work with the coolest people, which is what you want if you are away from your favorite people for 8-10 hours a day.

So up next:

Caydence starts kindergarten this fall
Stephanie does a better job of updating the blog
Joe and Stephanie celebrate their 10 year wedding anniversary
Stephanie gets back to her dissertation writing
The Barrett's list and hopefully sell their house soon
Joe continues to rock at everything

Our Make a Wish is.....

So, as many of you know Joe and I had gone back and forth about what to do with Make a Wish.



The question was: Will Caydence remember this trip? Should we wait until she is older?



First we were going to wait.

And then I got to thinking…



This is our life. Right now. Today. Tomorrow is never promised. Not for healthy kids, and especially not for kids with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.



Sure, if you look at Caydence, and you didn’t know us, you would probably see a perfectly “normal/healthy” 4 year old.



But the fact remains that even though she is doing VERY well, that can all change. Instantly.



I don’t want any regrets. I don’t want to wait for a trip, and maybe Caydence will be sicker when she gets older. Who knows? I don’t.

As her birthday approached I began to think about how last year she was in the hospital and had her ulcer. Even though it wasn’t my fault, I felt I owed her a big birthday party this year since she didn’t get one last year.



So, why not take a trip.

Why not live our lives now.

Why not make memories and make my kiddo happy now.

Because today, at this moment, she is healthy and is able to go to on a trip.



So, we have chosen Disney, and I predict it will be a GREAT time. We don’t have a date yet, but we will keep you posted.

Dear Caydence

Dear Caydence,

I never ever ever wanted to be a stay at home mom. In fact I drove your father to countless interviews with daycares and had even picked one.

Then you came out with a heart defect. The doctors suggested against daycare. I still fought staying at home. I went back after 3 months and worked while aunt and mimi watched you.

And then you had your 2^nd surgery at 5 months old and I finally relented, but I was very unsure.

See your momma is a type A busybody who doesn’t like to stop for 1 minute. How on earth was I going to be a stay at home mom?

I know….stay busy. The 1^st year I stayed home with you our calendar was like this:

Monday- shopping day/errands.Tuesday- play dates. Wednesday- church. Thursday- Kindermusik. Friday- swim lessons

We were always somewhere and that made me feel less like a stay at home and more still like a busybody. It made the transition less traumatic for me.

As the years went by I started loving staying at home with you. I saw everything. 1^st steps. 1^st words. 1^st foods. We took fun trips to the Aquarium, Arboretum, Dallas Art Museum, and everything in between. You were my little buddy. People would marvel at how good you could speak at 2 years old and I thought well yah, I talk to her all day long. She’s my buddy.

And now, tomorrow, I start a new adventure. Going back to work. My heart hurts some thinking of not being with you everyday. I know this will be good for both of us but I will miss you more than you can imagine. I am so very glad I stayed at home with you. It was never in my play but it was better than anything I had planned. Those 3.5 years went by so fast and I feel so blessed to have been able to capture every moments with you.

I love you my pretty princess.

Momma.

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!