eight year anniversary

Today marks the eighth anniversary of Dahlia's heart transplant. It's crazy to think that she was only four months old at the time.  She was one tough little baby. Dahlia was blessed with another wonderful, healthy year. She is loving first grade and making good progress.  Since Dahlia's heart transplant, life has been wonderfully normal; no long hospital stays, no rejection of her donated heart, no horrible illnesses because of a lowered immune system.  All of these things are very real possibilities for someone with an organ transplant, we are so grateful Dahlia hasn't had to face this.  Because of Dahlia's donor, she was given a second chance at life and gets to experience it as a happy, healthy child.

Little love

 

Merry Christmas!

13!

Ava is now a teenager! Luckily, she still let me take her birthday pictures. Dario and Aiden give me a really hard time if I try to take their birthday pictures, lol!  For Ava's birthday we took her out to dinner at the Salt Grass Steak House to celebrate, you only turn 13 once!  Ava is such a sweet, helpful girl, and is growing up way too fast!

happy halloween!

Evelyn as Belle

Dahlia as Jasmine

Laila as Hermione

Ava as Wednesday Adams

11 years old!

 

baptism day

On October 19, Dahlia and her cousin Lorelei were both baptized. It was such a special day! These two have had a special friendship since they were both babies, so it was only fitting to have a double baptism. They even wore matching dresses! After the baptism, we had a big party, with all the family and lots of food.  It's such a blessing, to have a cousin who is your same age and best friend!

pumpkin patch!

We finally have fall weather here in Texas! Up until now it has been so hot and humid that it really didn't feel like it is already October. It is a bit of a bummer seeing people, in other parts of the country, on Instagram, out picking apples and visiting pumpkin patches. So as soon as it got cooler over the weekend, we headed out to the pumpkin patch to celebrate.  We also went to "Oktoberfest" in Beaumont, I was hopeful there was going to be some German food, but unfortunately there was nothing. I should have none better, this part of Texas is very close to Louisiana and has a big Cajun population. There was Cajun food, but no German, haha!

Fall Days

eight years old

Dahlia is now a big eight year old! Where has the time gone.  Sometimes it can be easy to begin to think that she is like an other eight year old, because she is doing so well health wise. Looking at her one would never know that she has a heart transplant.  Her doctor said that if she gains 5 more pounds she can finally get her g-tube taken out! I can hardly wait for the day.  It has been so long since she has any long hospital stays or major medical issues; we really have been lucky.  Hopefully it stays that way for a long time!