Bowling

So we went bowling last night with some friends. It was really fun. Caden did pretty good. He liked to sit down and push the ball. He kept screaming "ball, ball, ball" and he didn't understand why he could only do it twice in a row. He looked so confused when someone else's turn would come. :) He's so funny. Paul was helping him, and it was really cute. :) I didn't bowl, partly because I really suck at it, but mostly because my center of gravity is already off balance, I don't need to be throwing a 10 pound ball around. :)

Birthday Fun!!!

Caden had a great day! We made the rounds all day long. He got a kitchen, a working candy bear claw thingy, a bulldozer, an ATM, a Mega Bloks wagon, Mega Bloks blocks and clothes, and a Mega Bloks train... and some food to go with the kitchen. He also got a toy car set that came with a toy drill and screwdriver set. The cars come apart into big pieces, and he knows exactly how to take them apart too! I think I covered most of it. He loves to clean and cook. He has his own cleaning set, so now he has his own cooking set too!

Paul was making breakfast yesterday, and got out the eggs. He started cracking them and put them into the skillet. You know how to cook eggs, I won't go into it so deeply. :) Caden ran over to his kitchen, and grabbed his whole eggs. He showed them off, I guess to let us know that he knew what they were. Then, he found the little plastic fried egg and put it in his skillet. His little burner makes a sizzling noise when you put the skillet on it. :) He got out his spatula and was cooking his own breakfast. It was the cutest thing!

We have pictures scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. We are doing a family Christmas pic, and then Caden's 2 year pics. I'm excited to get that done! He hasn't gotten his pictures taken in a while. The ones on my desk at work are so outdated. Not for long though. :)

Thank you to everyone for all of his gifts. Please, if you are going to do something for him for Christmas, consider putting money into his savings account instead of gifts. He really doesn't need any more toys. He would probably beg to differ, but he'll thank us in the long run!

Birthday and Potty

Caden's birthday is on Saturday. He will be the big 2!!! We're not having a big party or anything, but we are getting together with family memebers for lunch and dinner. Then we're going bowling on Sunday. I think he'll have fun. He's got enough presents coming, that's for sure! :)



This is the picture we sent in for his birthday announcement on the morning news. How sweet! Friday morning around 6:45 on KSN channel 3, for those of you in the viewing area. :)

I just thought this one was really cute. He was actually trying to see the TV behind me. I was playing The Wiggles for him. He's a freak about the Wiggles. 5 times a day... WOW.

He's been doing pretty good on the potty. Kind of tapered off a bit now, but he gets excited if you ask him to go. He was so excited when he went potty. His chair makes music when he tinkles. :)


This was less than 5 minutes later, when we made him go to bed. He was screaming "potty!" over and over again. Awww... he's a devoted potty goer. LOL

Cardiology Report

Sorry I forgot to update about the cardiologist appointment the other day. No news is good news, right? Yeah!



This is what she said:



No ASD anymore (YAY)



Minimal (if any) VSD leakage (YAY)



All chambers are enlarged, but they always have been



Every valve leaks, Tricuspid and Trucal valves are mild-moderate. Mitral valve is mild.



The highest pressures she was able to read this time were what was in the "normal" range last time-maybe indicates that things are even better than last time???



He actually did really well throughout most of it. He watched the Wiggles and was doing hand signs through it. Kinda funny, I'd never seen him do that. Towards the end, when they look at the top of the heart, he started crying. He doesn't like it when they do that part. She has to push the wand down and it pushes into his chin/jaw. He hates that part. He was such a good boy though, for the EEG and everything! I was very impressed! I realy didn't have to go, but I worked through lunch to kind of make up for the time off.



She left his meds the same, going to let him kind of grow out of his dose, and hopefully one day we'll be able to stop giving him meds all together! I was hoping she'd go down, but that may have been a little too much to ask. We have to go back in 6 months. I was hoping for 9 or 12, but then again, maybe too much to ask for.

Overall, he looks just the same as last time, if not a little bit better. :) I'm so proud of little man. Not that he could help it, but still. Good genes, I guess. :)

Cardiologist

Caden goes today to the cardiologist. Since I have to miss half a day of work tomorrow, Paul is trying to convince me that he can do it by himself. Well, I believe that both of them will survive, but if any of you have ever been through an ECHO with a near 2 year old, it's not fun! I'm hoping that this time, he handles it better than the last few times. He just hates that goop all over him, and she has to push that wand thing into that dip his collar bone, pointing down, to see the top of his heart. That's usually the last thing they do, but let me tell you, it's the grand finale.

The appointment starts at 3:30, but first they have to weigh him, and she comes in to ask a bunch of questions... ie: "does he pass out, does he sweat a lot, does he seem to be sleeping more than usual..." Yada yada yada. I know that some parents may not pay too close attention to that stuff, but you bet your butt if he started showing signs of heart failure, I'd be in there before his normal appointment was scheduled!!!

Anyway, then she has to listen to him, feel for his liver, push on his chest a bit (not hard), blah blah blah. Then we go to a different room, where they pull out the ancient TV and VCR. The nurse gives him an EKG, the doctor comes in a few minutes later, looks at it, then turns off the lights to do the actual ECHO. Well, Caden might not take it so bad if he didn't have to watch the same Barney video over and over again. But, last time we remembered his blankie, and he did better having that to rub on his face. He just hates to lay there so still for that long. Usually by the time they're done with the EKG and the ECHO, it's been about an hour or so of him laying there. That's not easy for any of us, especially Caden!

I haven't decided if I'm going to leave a little bit early today or not. Maybe if I take a really short lunch, then it'll make up for it. The ECHO won't start till 4:00-ish, so if I leave at 4, then I'll only miss one hour today. Then I'll miss three hours tomorrow. Maybe nothing else will come up the rest of this week. Cross your fingers for us!!!