My new Hair : )

Crawling : )

I know it has been a LONG time since I have updated, so here is a video of Aili crawling. I think she has been secretly crawling behind our backs, but I finally got to see her do some good crawling on August 27, 2009. Here is a video of it.... (I will update more later!)

RIP Dear Geordyn

As some of you know there was a little boy that was born about 2 weeks after Aili. He also had hypoplastic left hear syndrome. I had once asked for prayers for him & his family. His family also lives on Fort Lewis & the kids had their surgeries at Seattle Childrens, because of that I got to meet them and get to know them. Sadly Geordyn lost his fight and passed away on July 17, 2009. I am once again asking for prayers for his family & friends.

Here is a memorial website for Geordyn. http://www.geordyn-mercado.virtual-memorials.com This way you can look at him, see his family, read about them, & maybe leave them a message.

Thank you!

A quote

This is a quote I found on a friend's blog. I just had to put it on here, so I could remember it for later. It is so true. So far I have done pretty good with keeping up with every little thing, but it is much more difficult to catch and remember every little moment when you have more than one....

"The first child got me shiny new, like a new pair of shoes, but he got blisters, too," writes columnist Anna Quindlen. "The second child got me worn, yes, but comfortable."


More to come later.

Home Again!

We are home again! We got home on Monday night. So Aili was only in the hospital for 6 days!! WOW! She is such a strong girl! She is doing great and healing well. She is pretty much back to her normal self, she rolls sometimes, hangs out & plays. She has been pretty darn cranky lately. We're not sure if she is in pain or what. I don't think she is in pain, because the hospital gave her pain meds on Sunday night and hadn't needed to since. I have given her tylenol a few times, to see if that helps. Well we are super bust as usual! I will post some pictures soon when I have a free minute!

Nothing too interesting...

to report. Aili is still doing great. There weren't really any changes from yesterday to today. She was less swollen today and less cranky because of it. It takes the body a few days to a week to adjust to how the heart is now. Because of that usually the upper half of the body swells, which can causes headaches. So she is doing good and is much happier. The occupational therapist (OT) came in today to see how Aili is feeding. She is doing great with that; suck, swallow, breathe : ). She wasn't as vigorous as usual, but that is to be expected after surgery. So the OT is going to come by tomorrow and feed with her again to see how she is doing.

Clay had to go down to Fort Lewis today to do some paper work, so the kids and I hung out at the hospital all day. Tealia & Jim (Andy's Dad) came by and visited with us, which was nice. Otherwise we just kind of hung out, played outside, did school work, etc.

Here is a picture of Aili from today...

Out of the CICU : )

Aili was moved out of the CICU and onto the regular floor. We now reside in room 4004 on G4 (or for all you people who have no clue what I'm talking about, that's Giraffe 4. 4th floor Giraffe elevator.) I like how our hospital is set up. I really think all hospital's should be like a children's hospital is. They are so colorful and inviting, unlike the normal bland and boring hospitals. Ours has different sections to help everyone find their way around, the Whale section, Train section & Giraffe section. There may be more, but those are the ones I know of. There are wonderful pictures, murals and animal statues throughout, which are bound to brighten any ones day! I will have to post some pictures of it. Anyways, moving on. So Aili's chest tubes were taken out and she was moved to the regular floor. She is doing great and just hanging out. Resting so she can recover. Even at 6 months old she knows what she wants and what she doesn't want. Right away our nurse in the CICU, Zane, said she didn't like the breathing tube and NG tube. We knew she wouldn't because she hated the NG tube before. I think that is why she did so well when they pulled it so soon after surgery. She didn't want it & knew she didn't need it. Now she is working on getting the cannula our of her nose too. Every time she can she tries to pull it out. I wrote on our dry erase board some tips for the nurses so they would know what Aili likes & what she is used to. Like how she likes there to be noise, she is much too used to the TV & Taryn playing in the background for it to be quiet. So for the most part she is just relaxing up there : ). She does still have the cannula for some extra oxygen, but I think that is all she has.

Here are some pictures of hearts (just drawings)...

What a regular heart looks like...

One version of an HLHS heart looks like...

Aili's heart after the first surgery, the Norwood...

Aili's heart now after the Glenn...

Aili was a little more swollen today though. She still looked really good.

Aili's new room...

A room with a view...

I still need to get pictures of the T-shirts we made. My favorite has to be Aili's. It is nice and simple, but looks so nice. Hopefully she doesn't get sick of my new love of things with hearts though : )

There is a wonderful girl everyone should know about. Her name is Jamie. She is the kids "Aunt", in other words my Mom's boyfriends daughter. Anyways, she really loves the kids. She has done so much for Aili & Taryn and for anyone affected with heart disease. She has been raising money for a charity in Aili's honor & it is great!

Today she left a message that we found when we arrived at the hospital...

Amazing
Intelligent
Loveable
Imaginable
Super

Hero
Energetic
Amazing
Rugrat
Tough

It was really nice to get : ).

All these things that people do for us are so great. We really appreciate it. But I think it will be even cooler for Aili when she gets older. She will be able to look back at the pictures, read this blog, & hear from stories from us, about all of the wonderful things people have done and all of the amazing things she has fought through to get where she is going.

So thank you all again, not just from us, but from Aili too!

I also would like to ask for some extra prayers for a friend of ours. I won't go into details or give any names for privacy purposes though. It would be nice if everyone could pray for a little boy that has the same thing as Aili. He is just about the same age as her & also lives on Fort Lewis.