happy birthday Aiden!

Aiden turned 9 years old on the thirteenth.  We took him out to eat for his birthday dinner.  Aiden got to pick the restaurant, and he decided on an all you can eat buffet.  He then proceeded to eat nothing but desserts.  Since it was his birthday we couldn't fuss at him too much. All of the presents he requested were $100 - $200 Lego sets, luckily he was just as happy with the football his dad picked out for him.  We love this silly little guy and all the smiles he puts on our faces.

aiden's baptism

This past Saturday Aiden was baptized.  He was so excited to finally have his special day and get baptized.  All day long he was trying so hard to be on his best behavior.  Afterwards we had a big dinner at Brian's parents house.  We are so proud of Aiden and the decision he made to follow Jesus.

last day of school

Another school year has flown by!  It's hard to believe that Ava is now done with Kindergarten.  Her school had a real nice graduation ceremony for kindergarten.  Ava was so excited for it and she got to pick out a new dress to wear on her special day.  The boys did really well in school this year.  They both got all A's for both semesters.  Aiden got perfect attendance.  Dario got advanced scores on all sections of the STAAR test, and he was one of only three students in fourth grade to receive an advanced score on the writing section of the STAAR test.  This school year wasn't as crazy as last year, but I was still in the hospital a lot with Dahlia, or busy with her care; all of the boy's accomplishments were done mostly on their own.  I'm so proud of them!

playing outside with Aiden

19 months old

Dahlia is now 19 months old.  She was recently in the hospital for almost two weeks, to figure out what in the world was causing her chronic diarrhea, vomiting and weight loss.  After a ton of tests, her doctors finally found a really complicated answer, and the root of the problem seems to be that her immunoglobulin was extremely low.  Dahlia had to have several IVIG infusions.  Hopefully now she will be able to gain some weight.  When she was admitted to the hospital she only weighted 14 pounds.

The kids had track and field day this past Friday.  Ava was so excited and did really well.  It was actually cold that morning and all of the kids where bundled up in the jackets, which I think was a first here in Texas!

roses

Happy Easter!

18 months old

Dahlia turned 18 months old on the 22nd.  She has started moving a lot more, and is really close to crawling.  One day when she was scooting around she almost scooted herself all the way under the couch.  Dahlia has started babbling a lot more also.  By far her favorite word to say is daddy!  She saw her daddy's car pulling into the driveway one day after work and got so excited and let out a big, "daddy!"

Hodges Gardens State Park



 The kids were off of school for spring break this past week.  The first part of the week we took the kids on a "camping" trip to Hodges Gardens State Park in Louisiana.  We stayed in cabins along with my sister Lauren and her family. This park was so beautiful!  Spring was the perfect time of year to visit.  The weather was cool and everything was blooming.  The cabin was right on the lake and each morning there were geese that would walk around the cabin.  The kids loved chasing after them.  Even though we were in cabins we still had a campfire and roasted marshmallows.  It rained some while we there so we didn't get to explore the whole park, but hopefully we'll be back!

17 months old

Dahlia is now 17 months old! She had a check up with her transplant team last week and has finally starting to gain some of the weight back that she lost.  I packed a bag though, just in case Dahlia hadn't gained any weight and her doctor wanted to admit her.  Luckily that wasn't the case!  At 17 months she has now started to shake her head no to everything.  She can't say no yet, but she is sure making up for it!  Dahlia has also started to point at things.  The other day she saw my reflection in the mirror and pointed and smiled at me.  I love watching her learn new things.  With my other babies it was special, but with Dahlia it is a little bit more magical because of everything she has been through.

two front teeth

Ava lost her two front teeth on the same day!

keep the beat 5k walk

We recently participated in a 5k walk to raise awareness and support for those affected by congenital heart defects. We were so happy that some of our family was able to join us also.  Unfortunately the little lady we were all walking for was stuck in the hospital AGAIN along with her daddy. Dahlia did not tolerate her formula and she lost even more weight.  She was in the hospital for about a week and placed on a new hypoallergenic formula for kids with allergies and GI problems. Once she proved to the doctors that she was tolerating the new formula, was gaining weight and did not need a feeding tube shoved down her throat, she was finally able to leave.  So frustrating!  

All of the kids were able to finish the walk, with only little whining, mainly by Laila

when she tripped and fell in the mud.

The event was held in down town Houston.

Everyone at the finish line. We got a late start, stopped to take pictures,

and had lots of kids with us, so we were one of the last groups to finish.

The kids with their medals

After the walk there were lots of activities for the kids to do.  They loved this rock climbing wall. Aiden eventually made it to the top, even though he was a little scared.  This was such a neat event, it was awesome to be surrounded by so many people all supporting the same cause.

biopsy and a hospital stay

Dahlia had her annual heart biopsy this past Tuesday.  The good news was that her heart is functioning great and she has 0 rejection! The bad news was the blood work that was done showed her sodium level was so low that she was at risk of having seizures, she was anemic with extremely low hemoglobin levels, and her electrolytes were all out to balance, and she weighted less than she did 6 months ago.  Based on that, her Doctor decided to admit her immediately.  We finally got home on Friday.  Poor Dahlia was not at all happy to be there.  She is terrified of all the doctors and nurses because she thinks they are going to stick her with a needle.  Every time she would fall asleep she would get woken up by someone wanting to draw blood or take her vital signs.  The four days we were there completely wore me out.  Looking back I really don't know how we ever survived the six months Dahlia was in the hospital!  Dahlia needs to take in a lot more calories and be on an iron supplement, then her blood work should be back to normal.  Her doctor prescribed a super high calorie drink, which Dahlia seems to like.  When daddy came to pick us up on Friday, Dahlia was so excited she started shaking!  Then when we got home, she started smiling and looking around everywhere, like she was so glad to be home.  She also had a huge smile for her brothers and sisters and started babbling to them, telling them all about her traumatic ordeal!

happy one year heart anniversary!

On this date one year ago, Dahlia received her life saving heart transplant.  We are so grateful for the past year we have been given with this sweet little girl, every day we fall more and more in love with her.  We are also grateful that it has been a relatively smooth year without any major complications, and no rejection!  For us today is a very joyful day, almost like a second birthday.  However, we are very aware that while we are celebrating today, somewhere out there is a family who is grieving the loss of their baby today.  We hope that they are able to feel some sort of peace and know that they are very loved.  We are thankful for everyone who supported us and helped us this past year, it means a lot that we are not walking what can sometimes be a very overwhelming, scary road alone.