Willow moves to 3 y/o room at church

They got to go to the treehouse play area!  She had such fun and went into the room with no tears.

Let's not forget the fun we had watching wheel of fortune for the first time.  Let's just say that when they got happy, she joined them!

Tea time with mommy and daddy...

Cake for no reason?  Sure!

We found clown fish at the pet store.  Willow saw a yellow one that looked kind of like the one on Nemo that says, "bubbles, bubbles, bubbles, bubbles!"  So she suddenly started saying it.  ;)

She wore herself out at the park one day...

Lastly, this week we had an eventful day. I put Willow down for nap and got in the shower.  When I came downstairs about 45 minutes later, there was a horrible burning smell in our house.  I tried for a while to figure out what it was, but I couldn't.  There was some haze in our kitchen, but I didn't know what it was from.  So, yes, our noble firefighters came to save the day and pull this out of our dishwasher.

Poor Willow went with the flow, but it was a rude awakening, because I woke her and we got out of the house into the hot sun!  Drama!

Almost 2 months post op & 3rd BIRTHDAY!

We've had a wonderful August so far!  

It started with a bang with Willow turning 3!!!  We may have celebrated like four times.  :) It was, after all, her golden birthday!

The night before her actual birthday, she decided to melt my heart with the sweetest hug and kept repeating, "Love you so much."  

One of her favorite places is the aquarium, so off we went!

Tons of new and exciting toys to explore!

Then my sister, Allison, married Ryan!  Willow was a flower girl, I was matron of honor, & Kyle was an usher at the Golliver wedding.  It was a wonderfully joyous celebration!  The next post I do will be dedicated to that special weekend. 

She can swim again!  Borrowing our neighbors' pool...

Today we had another check in with Willow's cardiologist at Children's.  She's doing great!  We had begun weaning her off of one of her two diuretics a week ago, but the doctor decided since her eyes got kind of puffy to keep her on the full dose for another month.  Her bloodwork looked great!  Now we don't go back for a month!!  The time in between appointments there keeps growing.  We are so grateful she's doing so well.  

We mentioned to him that Willow seems to have more energy than before surgery, and he said that sounded right!  If she had gotten the other repair, the Fontan, that would not be the case as she would've still had only one ventricle.  We get to watch our daughter feel better than she has ever felt in her life at 100% oxygen; what an honor and a joy to witness!  Thank God for miracles!

Good check up today

We got a full work up today and then met with Willow's cardiologist.  

He agreed they were being safe this past weekend when they admitted us.  He also liked and preferred that, as do we (even though it was hard).  It gave them a chance to give her some new meds while being monitored, which was helpful.  She certainly responded; last night she slept so well, and she hasn't been grunting/groaning at all!

Willow's heart function looks good!  It's still difficult and slow for her heart to heal, since it has literally been cut and reconstructed.  It just takes time.  The fluid still seems to be just her little body trying to heal.  There aren't any heart function concerns at this point, and there aren't concerns about infection or anything else.  Little Willow just needs a lot of diuretics to help her body catch up!  We are trying to get the right mix for her going.  They are also carefully watching her blood levels for any side effects of those meds.  We go back again next week!

So grateful to see our girl comfortable again during sleep.  What a full day again!  It always is at Children's, even on days we think are going to be short and sweet!  

Pray for us please as we try to balance working with doctor appointments.  I think we had prepared ourselves well for the difficulties during and immediately after surgery.  Being readmitted this past weekend was something we hadn't particularly prepared for (obviously), and the rest of our lives are not on pause anymore, if that makes sense.  We would appreciate prayers for all of us as we continue to have frequent full day appointments as Willow heals.  We are so proud of our girl.  Today she was much less scared at the hospital doing various tests.  You go, girl!

Home again!

Grateful to walk into our home together and breathe a collective sigh of relief!

Today Willow enjoyed the playroom at the hospital, a therapy dog, & a better nap this afternoon than her entire night of (no) sleep last night!

We will have tests done tomorrow and will see our cardiologist as was previously scheduled.  

We added two prescriptions to the mix as well!

Thank God for people in our lives who help us (or are willing to help us) at the drop of a hat.  

So glad her x-ray this morning already looked better!  This is a marathon, not a sprint.  

Praising God for all the little graces in life today!