Gracie

Little Gracie Gledhill has had a really rough couple of days. Her family found out she needed a heart transplant and after only 3 days on the list (which is amazing) she got a heart. We were so excited for her and had high hopes that the transplant would go well and Gracie would get to experience life as a healthy little 1 year old. Unfortunately, something went wrong (they think they got a bad donor heart) and sweet Gracie is in as much trouble now as she has ever been. If you want to know all the details of the story go to their blog. They tell it much better than I am able too. Please pray for her and her family during this time, that they will be able to feel the love our Heavenly Father has for them and for sweet Gracie, and that they will be comforted and be able to make the best decisions possible for their daughter.



Sunny made this picture for Gracie today. She was working on something and I didn't know what it was until she asked how to spell Gracie. It is a picture of Gracie with a healthy heart in the middle. She said she thinks it will make Gracie feel better. If only it were that easy :(.

We have been very careful about what we tell our kids about Gracie, but we are always very honest with them. They both love her so much, especially Jackson. Last night he heard Ryan and I talking and then came around the corner. This is how the conversation went:

Jax: Do they know what is wrong with Gracie's new heart?
me: Not yet.
Jax: Do doctors work at night?
me: Yes.
Jax: Good, so they should probably know by morning what the problem is and then they can fix it.
me: I hope so.

Then he paused for a minute and said this:

Jax: I hope the problem with her new heart is the same problem my heart has (TGA).
Me: Why?
Jax: Because then they will be able to fix it easily and Gracie will be all better.


It was so sweet, and such a sincere thought from a 5 year old. Jax is a problem solver, and this is just one of the ideas he has had for Gracie. I always tell him, "That's a good idea, maybe it will work". I just really pray that something will work for her. She and her family have been though so much. Gracie seems to always choose the hard road. We are hoping a happy ending is right around the corner. Please pray that it will be!

Lila Loves ...

A big pink heart on her bum
!

Smiling at her big sis

Eggs Rolls!

I've been neglecting blogging all of Lila's milestones. I know it's not that exciting to anyone else, but our blog is our family scrapbook (and sadly the only baby book Liley has) so I must do it. I'm going to blame my laziness on my old stand by- morning sickness. Aren't you getting sick of hearing that? Thankfully I think I'm starting to come out of it (at 15 weeks). Anyway here are some more of things Lila loves...

WALKING
Which she has been doing since last month, about a week after she turned 10 months. Can you believe I didn't blog about that!?!? If you haven't seen her walk yet it's b/c she gets shy in front of other people and will start crawling again. At home she is a walking machine.

Making Us Name Everything
She points and says "Huh?" , and then we have to name the item. Repeat this process about 250 times a day. Cute but so annoying. Her favorites are her body parts. She has eyes, nose, mouth, belly, and knee down pat.

Eating
Although you'd never know it by looking at her, this girl can pack away some food. She polished off that entire egg roll in about 3 minutes. Literally, ever bite.

Sippy Cups
No more bottles here. Yea for our big girl!

Her brother and sister
They are constant favorites, but she is able to interact more and more. One of her favorite games is chasing Sunny around the house. She gets going so fast that she belly flops and has to start all over again.

Talking
I worked so hard with her on sign language and she used it for about a month before she decided talking was easier. When I feed her I try to make her do the sign for more (which was her best sign) and she won't she'll just laugh and say "More!" I'm going to keep pushing the signing though b/c I think it is cool for her to be able to sign and talk.

That's all I can think of for now. I can't believe that in less than a month my sweet little girl will be a year old already. Time flies!

Sunny Has A Crush

Only it's not on Squire, it's on his Nintendo DS!

I teach piano to Squire (who is 7) and his big sister. They are such great kids and we look forward to having them over each week. I was teaching Kira and I turned around and saw Sunny all cuddled up to Squire, watching him play. You know he hated it, but he is so kind and he let her sit like that for the whole time he played. He really is a great kid.

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week

CHD Awareness Week!

Feb. 7-Feb. 14 is Congenital Heart Defect awareness week. Before Jackson was born I had no idea about heart defects, and even if I would have known anything about them, I would never have thought it would happen to my child. It can, and it did! Now almost 6 years later we are so grateful for how well Jax is doing, but there are many other babies that we know who still need your prayers.

Did you know???

** CHD's are the number one birth defect and the number one cause of infant death related to defects-- 1 in 100 babies born will have a CHD

** 1 in 10 of those babies will have a fatal defect

**In the U.S., nearly twice as many children die due to CHDs than that of all forms of childhood cancers combined. Yet there is 5 times more research for pediatric cancer than for CHDs

**Causes for CHDs are still being studied. While there is no known definitive cause, it is said that both genetics and environmental factors can play a role.

**About 40,000 units of blood are used every day yet only about 5% of the adults, the only ones who are eligible to donate blood, do so. Someone needs blood every three seconds in the United States; that someone is often one of our heart children.

**Only about 30% of the children who need a heart transplant receive one in time.

What can you do??

RAISE AWARENESS -- DONATE BLOOD -- REGISTER TO BECOME AN ORGAN DONOR!

I also wanted to mention that baby Gracie is in need of prayers again. She was supposed to have the 2nd of her 3 surgeries today, but her family found out that her heart is not healthy enough to have the surgery. They are now looking to a heart transplant to save her life. Gracie has a special place in our hearts (especially Jackson's) b/c she was born just 6 days after our Lila. It is so hard for us to see her struggle and we wish so much that she can get a new heart and get to experience life as a healthy little girl.

p.s. I took the top part of this about CHD's off another heart baby's blog. She wrote it well, and I am too sick to write my own stuff today. So thanks and I hope you don't mind me spreading the word!

Hair Cut

I've been thinking about cutting Sunny's hair for a little bit now. Ever since I've been pregnant, her hair has been a knotted mess and pulled into a messy pony tail. I just don't have the energy to fix it. It was getting super long, and was beautiful, but only if I took care of it. The reason I hesitated to cut it was because of the trauma I obviously still feel over the time she cut her hair. That was 16 months ago, and I have been drilling into her head since then that we are going to grow her hair to her butt.

But, it was getting so long and difficult that I started to think about cutting it. The only problem was that she was having none of it. I bribed her with everything I could think of and nothing worked. She was not cutting her hair. Then our little neighbor across the street cut hers, and Sunny thought it was adorable (and it is), so I used that to try and persuade her. It was still not quite enough. Then I hit the jackpot. A tea set! Yes, a tea set. She used to have one that Mok gave her, but a lot of the pieces are lost now (that's what happens when you have tea parties outside and in the bath tub) and she wanted a new one. As soon as I suggested it she said "Okay, lets do it!" So we did. She loves it. It also helps that I told her that hair keeps growing over and over and so it could get long again if she wanted it too.

Draper Temple

The kids and I went with Mom and Dad, and Josh and Jess to visit the Draper Temple. We had a really good time, and the kids loved it. They enjoyed following along with the little guide book and figuring out what we had seen and where we were going next. Ryan had to work, so he missed our little adventure, but he was able to meet us afterwards for some Applebee's!

Subliminal Message?

This morning Jax decided to make me a card. In kindergarten they are practicing writing stories with correct spacing and punctuation. If there is a word they cannot spell they just write the first (and sometimes last) sound. So, this letter reads:

"I love you mom and you are my b (best) f (friend)."

Are you seeing what I'm seeing? I haven't laughed this hard in a while!