Happy Birthday Drew!

Today is Drew's 7th birthday.

Seven seems so old. He is really growing up right before our eyes.

The awesome privilege and responsiblity of raising this child has been something I've been thinking about lately. I am shaping a person. He is watching me, listening to the words I say, seeing how I interact with people. My every action is a lesson to him in how to behave, how to love. That is a huge responsibility. I thank God that he has equipped me to be a mother to Drew. That He chose me for Drew and Drew for me. That He has gifted me this miracle child who makes me want to be a better person, who has taught me more than I could ever hope to teach him.

Happy Birthday my sweet boy. I am so very proud of you. I know God has great plans for your life.

The words of this song from Sidewalk Prophets remind me of you:
Be strong in the Lord and,
Never give up hope,
You're going to do great things,
I already know,
God's got His hand on you so,
Don't live life in fear,
Forgive and forget,
But don't forget why you're here,
Take your time and pray,
These are the words I would say.

Glasses

Last week Drew came home with a note from school. They had done vision tests and they said his vision was 20/100 in both eyes! I found that hard to believe, but it spurred me to take both kids to have their vision tested. At Ava’s 4-year check up they said she should have her eyes checked too, but I never did it, mostly because I didn’t know where to take her. So I made appointments for them at Costco and took them in. To my complete surprise, it turns out that Drew needs glasses. He is far-sighted. I feel so bad that I had no idea! The doctor said that if we don’t get him glasses, he’ll start having headaches—something he has been complaining about lately. It should help him with his schoolwork as well. He often has trouble getting started on his work—maybe it’s because it’s hard for him to see! Ava’s vision is not great either, but she is near-sighted. Just another example of how my children are total opposites! She doesn’t need glasses yet, but we will have her checked again next year. I think Drew looks pretty handsome in his new glasses…

Basketball

Basketball season is upon us again! Drew is playing Upwards Basketball again this year and really enjoying it! We’ve had a few games so far and our team is doing great, learning how to play the game and having fun! Go Cheetahs!


The pre-game faceoff



Drew takes the ball down the court

A fast break!

Cheetahs ready to high-five the other team

A couple of my attempts at a basketball portrait

Chaos Team Party

After the game of mud ball, we headed over to Round Table for our team pizza party. The boys had a great time playing video games and eating pizza. They were all so excited to get their trophies! Our coaches, Wes and Eric presented each boy with their trophy, a medal and an award. This year Drew got the Gobstopper award because he did such a great job playing defense. He really improved his game this year and it was so fun to watch him play. He was way more aggressive this season and took his job of defending the goal very seriously. There was hardly a ball that got by him.  It was very special for me to watch him play. I love watching him run and truly recognize the blessing that it is. No one watching him play would ever guess that he is a heart patient who's undergone 3 open-heart surgeries. Anyway, it was a very fun season playing with lots of our friends from last year and our same coaches. Great season Chaos!

Coach Wes and Eric giving Drew his trophy

 

Drew with his trophy

 

Jacob and Drew--best buds and team mates

Caity, Keilani and Ava-They all played on the Fruit Loops together and their big brothers played together on Chaose. Coach gave them the 3 Musketeers award for always cheering on their brothers

 

The soccer cupcakes I made for the party

The team video that Coach Wes made for us

Mud Ball!

Drew's soccer team, Chaos, had their last game of the season on Saturday, November 20th. It had been raining for days before and was freezing cold! But the boys didn't seem to mind at all. They had a great time playing soccer on the saturated field, and didn't even mind running through the giant puddle right in the middle of the field. My cousin, Adam, came to the game and got some great pictures of Drew playing soccer. Chaos ended up winning the game and ended the season with a record of 7-3, first in their division!

Drew is ready

 

Almost scoring a goal

 

Mud Ball!

 

Right through the puddle!

 

Running at full speed

 

Tunnel!

 

My muddy boy

Drew's Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Today I got to go on a field trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm with Drew's first grade class. We had a lot of fun! I was a volunteer driver, so I drove Drew, Abigail and Kathleen. I had never met these friends of his, so it was fun to have them in the car and listen to them talk on the 45 minute drive to the farm. It was freezing in the morning! I had on a fleece and a jacket and gloves and was still cold! The kids got to go on a hayride, a train ride, see pig races (kind of), visit a petting zoo, play on coyote mountain, and of course pick their pumpkins right out of the patch! We also packed a picnic lunch and I snuck over to the bakery to buy pumpkin-apple muffins (delicious!) and a carmel apple to bring home. We had so much fun and I was exhausted when we got back! I even took a little nap. I'm so glad that I'm able to stay at home with my kids so that I can take advantage of these opportunities. They are growing up so fast and I just want to spend as much time with them as I can.

 Abigail, Kathleen and Drew

 Drew and best buddy Alex

 Drew's giant pumpkin!

 The kids with their pumpkins

 Drew petting a baby goat

Me and my boy on the hay ride

After we got back from Drew's field trip, I had to take Ava to get her pumpkin since we had used hers to make pumpkin pies. I took her back to the Pumpkin Farm (it's close to our house) and let her pick out her pumpkin for carving. It was bigger than her! We are all ready to carve our pumpkins on Friday!

First Grade!

I can not believe I am the mother of a first grader!

My little boy is getting so big! Here he is on his first day of first grade:

Drew was so excited to start school again and see his friends. He was really looking forward to staying all day (kindergarten is a half day) and eating lunch in the cafeteria. I wasn't as worried about him starting first grade as I was with kidnergarten, but there was a little anxiety. It's hard to leave your child in the care of other people, especially if you haven't even met them yet! So I met with the principal before school started and gave him a letter about Drew and his medical history. It made me feel better. :) And he was very understanding and even forwarded the letter to Drew's teacher and PE teacher.

So this morning, as I was walking Drew to his classroom I got to meet his teacher. I introduced myself as Drew's mom and she told me that she got my letter and that her older sister has congenital heart defects and has had heart surgeries, so she's familiar with CHDs. We didn't have much time to talk since school was starting, but I felt such a relief! When am I going to learn to let go and trust God? Once again He provided the perfect teacher for Drew--probably the only one who has experience with children having heart surgery. Thank you God for always putting the right people in our lives and for gently reminding me who is in control.

Drew in his new classroom

After school I picked Drew up and took him and Ava out for ice cream--our first and last day of school tradition. He told me he had a good day, he liked his teacher, he liked his friends and that his favorite part of the day was recess. And that is about all I could get out of him! I pray that this is a great year for him, that he learns a lot, makes new friends, and continues to be a kind and compassionate friend.

After school-he made a hat!

Enjoying ice cream after school

Camp Taylor Family Camp

The kids of Camp Taylor

We just got back from our first visit to Camp Taylor Family Camp. What an amazing experience! This camp is for heart kids and their families. They also hold a youth camp and a teen camp for older kids. We have been wanting to attend camp for years and it never worked out. One year was too close to surgery, another year we registered, but Drew got sick and some years the dates just didn't work for us. So we were very excited to be able to make it this year and we attended the camp held in Santa Clara. It was more of a family retreat than a camp since we got to stay in a hotel, enjoy catered meals and all the amenities. We also got to spend a day at Great America with other heart families. The camp pairs each family with a mentor, a teen or young adult survivor of CHD. Our mentor was 18-year-old Ryan and he was awesome!

I remember hearing Ryan's story at a fundraiser we attended in February. Ryan had a heart attack on the basketball court when he was 13. He was dead for four minutes before paramedics arrived and were able to get his heartbeat going again. (A brief aside~this illustrates the need for EVERY school to have an AED on campus, but sadly, most don't.) Ryan's defect was undiagnosed until his heart attack and the damage that it caused meant that he had to give up sports, and he is a sports fanatic. But, he is such an amazing kid that he doesn't have a bad attitude about that at all. Instead he spends his summers volunteering at all three camps for Camp Taylor and he is great with the kids! Our kids loved him and wanted to say hi to him, hug him, sit on his lap, or play with him every time they saw him. He sat with us at meal times and helped watch and entertain the kids while the adults got to play bunco one night (Dan and I were the big winners!).

Drew and his mentor, Ryan

We also got to meet another family that doesn't live too far from us. They have a 15-year-old and their two younger kids are the same age and gender as ours. Their six-year-old son is also their heart child so our boys and our girls enjoyed hanging out every chance they got. We stayed with them during our visit to Great America. Drew and Cole enjoyed going on the rides together and Andee and Ava loved the waterpark.

I always get teary at things like this and this weekend was no exception. The first night we went around the room and introduced ourselves and our families. And while I know the room was filled with some of the strongest and bravest parents and kids there are, I couldn't help but be heartbroken at all that these kids have been through. I heard multiple stories just in that one room of kids who had been through three open heart surgeries, only to have their hearts fail and be transplanted. Which is a miracle in and of itself, but that is a lot of heartache for a family to go through. The last day we had a question and answer session with Dr. Desai, an amazing and generous cardiologist at LPCH. He mentioned that many of the medications that our kids are on have not been tested in children. They have done studies on adults and they are safe for adults and are most likely safe for kids, but it is not known for sure. And that just made me sad again. I gave my newborn baby some of those medications and didn't even ask if studies had been done. I guess I probably would have done it anyway, what choice do we really have? The same goes for the information on heart kids and ADHD. They think it is linked to time spent on bypass and time spent in the NICU, during the critical period of time when their little brains are developing. But when they need the heart surgery to live, it doesn't really matter if that treatment may increase their chances of developing ADHD.

I don't want to end on a sad note, the talk with Dr. Desai was very informative and interesting. And he even gave everyone a personalized diagram of their child's heart, that's something we didn't have yet! After that discussion we ended the weekend together with everyone sharing what Camp Taylor meant to them. For us it was a lot of fun making great memories, meeting other families and celebrating our heart hero!

Some of the mentors

Drew and Daddy playing a game

Our family at dinner the first night

The kids doing some crafts

Himmelbergers ready for a fun day at Great America

Mom and Ava driving the car

Drew and Cole riding the roller coaster together

Ava wanted to ride all by herself!

Ava wasn't tall enough for a lot of rides, but she liked the carousel

Drew and Cole

Heart buddies

Cole shared his CT towel with Drew

Meeting up with Ryan at lunch

Posing with Snoopy (Ava said no thank you)

The kids enjoying the wave pool with Daddy

Last ride of the day

Drew and Nick, our friend from Hearts of Hope

I love this picture!

Exhausted after a long day of fun!

Drew and his shadow buddy-all the heart kids got one and the buddy has a scar on his chest too