One Of My Favorites!

While in the hospital with her brother, Sabrina sang this song to him constantly.  It was the one thing that she could do that would soothe him without a doubt.  If everything else she tried didn't work, this was the last resort! And as a result, it became the first thing she tried when he got fussy!

Mindy Gledhill has such a beautiful voice and this song is so perfect when she sings "it's not about your scars, it's all about your heart."

I hope you enjoy it!!!  Here are the words so you can sing along!  :)

All About Your Heart

Mindy Gledhill, Kendra Lowe
© Blue Morph Music 2010 (BMI), Kendra Lowe (ASCAP)

I don’t mind your odd behavior
It’s the very thing I love
If you were an ice cream flavor
You would be my favorite one
My imagination sees you
Like a painting by Van Gogh
Starry nights and bright sunflowers
Follow you where you may go

Oh, I’ve loved you from the start
In every single way
And more each passing day
You are brighter than the stars
Believe me when I say
It’s not about your scars
It’s all about your heart

You’re a butterfly held captive
Small and safe in your cocoon
Go on you can take your time
Time is said to heal all wounds

Chorus
Like a lock without a key
Like a mystery without a clue
There is no me if I cannot have you
Chorus

Family Pictures!

We had so much fun having Samantha, Colt and sweet little grandbaby, Calvin home two weekends ago! We were so glad Sabrina made the trip as well!  We took a ton of pictures while they were here!

 Love this 5 generation pic with sweet little Grammy!

 

 Parents, Grandparents and Great Grandparents!

 

 Sam with her dad and his mother!

 

 Sam with her mother and her mother's father!

 

 Sam with her mother and her mother's mother!

 

Our whole family together!!  A lady from church offered to come over Sunday afternoon and take these pics for us and we will be forever grateful! We were not dressed up or matching so I made it black and white so it wouldn't look so 'busy'!

Making Progress!

Zach has made some good progress this week!  One of the biggest achievements for him has been learning to breath through his mouth!  I know, that sounds crazy but typically babies don't learn to do that until much later!  But because of his surgery to his lip, his nose area has been swollen shut and breathing through his mouth is the only way he can breath!  It has been very stressful to watch him...many times the first couple of days, I would have to pull down on his bottom lip to break the suction he would accidentally create with his lips!  A look of panic would cross his face and it was the most stressful thing ever!!!  The plastic surgeon had told us to use lots of Vaseline on his lips to keep them moving and keep them from sticking together.

But, we're happy to report that we no longer have to watch him like a hawk, he has mostly mastered it and is doing very well!

The weather cooled off a little this week and it's been so nice to wear long sleeves!!  I know, that sounds so weird but I get tired of wearing the same clothes, now I just doubled my wardrobe!!

Samantha and Colt came home for the weekend with sweet baby, Calvin and even Sabrina came home with them! Two weekends in a row seeing her!!

We took lots of pictures and I will post them next time!  Probably most of you have seen them on my Facebook page, but there will be a few of you that haven't seen them yet.  But for now, here's a cute pic of baby Zachary!!!

Whew!

Well, that was quite a week!!!  Tuesday morning when I got to the hospital, I could tell right away that Zach's level of care was not what it should have been.  Without going into all the details, I could see right away that I was going to need to let a few nurses know what I expected.  I was really disappointed after having such good care in the past.

I was more than a little stressed about leaving him there that night, but I said a prayer and then went out to the nurse's station and told them exactly what I expected that night!  Do not mess with this Mama! 

He looked much better this morning when I got there!  I was still a little crabby when they told me about a few things that happened in the night but I took a deep breath and tried to be polite.

We were able to go home this afternoon!  Zach is doing really well and is adjusting to all his changes!  I will post a couple of pics so you can see the progress he's making!  His lip/nose area is still very swollen and will be for awhile.  The area around his nostrils has started to bruise as well.

His G-tube is doing great and no problems with his ear tubes! 

 This was taken right after surgery!  He was pretty wiped out!!

 

This was taken today! You can see the two stitch lines and the bruising on his lip/nose.  His nose looks crooked but it's just because of the swelling!  That little bump that used to sit outside of his mouth is now tucked inside and attributes to some of the swelling.  Eventually, his lip will push it even further back and it will be out of the way!

What A Day!!!!

This will be just a quick update because I'm super tired. 

Zach did so well today!!  They were able to do all three surgeries without any issues!  They came to get me right after surgery and he was already wide awake!  It seems like when he had heart surgery, it took him forever to wake up!  Today his eyes were wide open and he was just looking around! 

I was so nervous taking him this morning.  He had to stop eating at midnight and I was just sure I was going to be holding a screaming baby for two hours while we waited for surgery.  He had missed 2 feedings by that time and I was more than a little worried that it would be very hard on him.

What I failed to have was faith.  So many people were praying for him (including me) that I should not have even worried one bit.  When we got to the hospital, I took him out of the car and from that point to when they took him from me 2 hours later, he never woke up!  He laid, cuddled in my arms, sleeping......like a baby! 

It hit me about an hour into our wait, that his Father in Heaven was watching over him.  That He didn't want Zach to be uncomfortable.  I honestly felt the presence of Angels all around us, as they comforted him.  Humbling to say the least.  Thank you for your prayers.  Thank you for your faith.

We're hoping for discharge tomorrow but it will depend entirely on how he does the next 12-18 hours.  He will have a long road of recovery with his lip.  I think it's probably the most painful at this point.  I will try to post pics tomorrow.  His 'new' top lip is pretty puffy and swollen but it's still amazing to see parts put together as they should be.  I'm so happy for him!!!  His life just changed drastically!  No more mittens on his hands, no more pesky feeding tube going down his throat and gagging him when it gets pulled out, time to start learning how to drink out of a bottle......yep, sounds pretty good to me!!!  :)

Just A Quick Note!

So we have been to all our appointments this week, including our pre-surgery testing, this morning and everything is a go for Monday morning!!!

We will arrive at the hospital at 5:45 that morning.  Start time is 7:30.  They will do his G-tube first (30 mins), then his tubes in his ears (15 mins) and then finish up with his lip repair (typically 3 hours but won't know for sure until they get started)!  All in all, it will be an exciting day for sure!!!  They don't anticipate any problems or challenges. 

I will be sure to post pics as soon as possible!!!  Have a great weekend!!!!

Good News! Good News!!!

We have such great news!!!  Surgery is scheduled for October 15th!!!  That's right, less than a week away!!!!  He will be getting tubes in his ears, his G-tube in his tummy and his cleft lip repaired (we're hoping they will be able to do it in a one stage repair but it may require a 2nd surgery.  We won't know until they get into the first surgery and see how pliable his tissues are in his lip area!)

He is up to 8lbs. 8 oz.!!!!  We're hoping to get him as close to 10 lbs. before surgery as we can.  That just seems to be the 'magic' weight that the doctors like for these little guys when they do surgery, so I think we'll be pretty close!

The past two weeks have been so hard as we try to keep his feeding tube in!  He has had to wear mittens on his hands since we brought him home to keep his little hands from pulling out his tube.  When we are changing clothes, bathing, etc., we have to keep his hands away from his face or else he will catch a finger by his nose and pull on the little bump that sits there!  His hands are so fast and he has caught it a couple of times already.  It hurts when he yanks on it and he always looks at us like, "Hey, what are you doing to me?  Why did you do that?" 

Several times when he's eating he will pull his tube out and his milk will end up soaking him and his bedding.  Usually that's in the middle of the night and I discover it at the next feeding.  Poor guy, he's probably wondering why his tummy is still hungry.  We will not miss having the feeding tube, that's for sure!!!  Lately it has become a daily routine of him pulling it out and me putting it back in....several times a day!!!  Soooo looking forward to his G-tube!

This past weekend, Sabrina came home for a quick visit and she brought our niece, Sierra with her!  It was so fun having them here for a few days!  Of course, Sabrina took care of all our animals (her cow was out of sorts and needed some doctoring), she loved on the puppies and went to the Feed Store and got us stocked back up on grain, etc., for the animals!  She took her cousin with her to the Feed Store and Sierra came home with a bunny for her birthday!   Haha, thank goodness Sabrina can't have pets at college!  :)

I will post a couple of pics from our weekend! 

 Had to post this!  A boy and his dog....it's a beautiful thing!!

 

 Sierra loving her new cousin!!!

 

She loves this boy so much!!!!  When we see her at Thanksgiving, she won't even recognize him!!!