Time for School to Start

Gilly and I are getting geared up for Rylynn's next big adventure. On August 9th Ry will begin day school here in Lampasas. A local church has begun a new program in a great new facility and Ry will be one of their students. This was a terribly hard decision to make, but Gilly and I feel that it was ultimately the right decision. I have been lucky enough that over the past 15 months Rylynn has been able to stay in our home with the help of sitters and family. But she has become such an active little girl that I can not devote the time she needs each day while I work as well. I want to make sure that she is stimulated, challenged and learns to interact with others.
I know that along with lots of little ones comes lots of little germs and I pray that her heart and body can be strong against the winter-time yuckies. It will be great for her to build up her immunities, but we will have to be careful that she can handle it. Luckily, there will be only four little ones in her class... Yay!
It's so difficult for a woman to try to be the best mom, the best spouse and the best employee. I think ultimately this change will improve me in all three ways even though it's hard to think that having someone else nurture Rylynn all day will somehow actually make me a better mom, but I know she will get what she needs from the ladies there. Then at the end of the day, when I bring her home, she and I can spend our quality time playing with Daddy!! I sure will miss her though. (And probably worry about her as well) :(
Keep us in your thoughts and stay posted for a report on how the first week goes.
With love. . .

Catching Up

We have been very busy the last couple of weeks. Rylynn has been able to spend lots of quality time with her cousins. Last weekend we had a "girls" trip to College Station. On Saturday night Aunt Rebecca had all her nieces (and sisters) over to play. We spent Saturday night playing Wii, Twister, and baking cookies. Sunday morning it was total chaos getting all four ladies ready for church plus the four munchkins. We topped it off with lunch at Chicken Oil Co. and then headed home. The two little ones slept nearly the whole way home, they were worn out! We had a great time and can't wait to go back and see Aunt Beba.
When Rylynn and I got home on Sunday I began unpacking and repacking! Monday morning at 6am I loaded her in the car and the two of us headed to Corpus Christi. Gilly's Mom, Nana, Aunt Roxann and Sisters were spending a few days in Port Aransas with the kids and Rylynn was going to get to spend time with them while I worked out of our Corpus office for a couple of days. I was so bummed that I did not get to spend any time playing with her on the beach, but I know she had a great time. Little Miss Independent loved the fact that she could be turned loose to crawl and splash in the waves without anyone holding her or helping her. She was a maniac! Gilly and I are just dying to take her back one day soon! And I know Rylynn will enjoy going each year with the girls and cousins.
On Saturday, Rylynn and I went to our community pool and were pleasantly surprised. They have a great zero edge area where once again she could play and splash all by herself. She loved watching the other kids too! I wish I had known that the pool was so great earlier in the summer, I think we would have been there all the time. But we still have a few weeks left and we plan to visit often!
The big news on the home front is that Rylynn is taking lots of steps!! Yay... finally! I don't think we can call it walking because she'll only travel in short distances, but it won't be long before she's running around the house. She gets a kick out of herself and is really proud of her accomplishment. I can't wait to post video of her toddling around.
She's continuing to learn new words everyday. She really likes the word "baby" and says it very clearly. She also can "moo", "nay", and "baa" appropriately when asked about each of the animals. but my favorite, favorite new word is "animals"! That's a three syllable word!! She says it so cute too!
Anyways, I think I've got you all caught up on our busy last few weeks. I'm still without a camera and feel lost without it, but I promise next time I'll get some new pics up.
With love . . .

Prayer Request for a Heart Buddy

Please lift Baby Luke Sexton and his family in prayer. Luke is 8 days old and was born with HLHS. He is having a real hard time right now and his family is praying for the healing of their little boy. You can check out their family blog http://lukesexton.blogspot.com/
With love . . .

14 Months!

This Fourth of July has been spent very differently from last years and we are thankful for that! Last year at this time, we were just beginning to have to administer oxygen to Rylynn at night. That was no fun!
This year we have spent the weekend with family and friends and are thankful for the rain that we received this past week. What a great holiday!
Here's a little update on our crazy little girl. She is very close to walking and has begun a quick step or two, but it's not official just yet. What she has lacked in mobility, she has made up for vocally!! She is such a talker!! The little video below was taken a couple of weeks ago, but you can see what I mean. I apoligize because it's rather long and I don't have the energy to edit it down.

Here are some of the real words she's saying:
Momee
DaDa
Pup Pup
More
PooPek (Czech for belly button) :)
Ish (Fish)
"Ttt" for Tobi the cat
"this" and "that" and says "I want this" alot!

And lots of "b" words, each we can tell apart
Bye-Bye
Ball
Bug
Bird
Bow

And of course she calls the horses and cows with her clicking sound, says ahhhh after each and every drink (and makes sure you do the same), and likes to say ohh! She still dances like crazy and likes to fake cough and laugh. She is a non-stop one man show and we just can't get enough.
I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth!

With love. . .

Watch ABC tonight

ABC has a new Thursday night spot, “Boston Med,” a television documentary series with “cutting edge medical cases encountered in America’s top hospitals.” It is an eight-part series, which premiered last week, and is on at 9 PM CST. Tonight’s documentary features a family that gives birth to a HLHS baby! It may be interesting to see how our experiences compare.
Hope you all are doing well and I promise to update again soon! We've had a great summer so far!

With love . . .

Good report!

Last week Rylynn had a check up with the cardiologist. Her last thorough check with Dr. Rowe had been in January, so Gilly and I were really nervous and anxious to see how her heart was doing. Once again Rylynn amazed us with an excellent check-up. Her heart function was great, her Oxygen saturation level was at 87 and everything seems right on course. We did tweek one of her meds slightly, but Gilly and I could not have been more relieved with the good report.
Dr. Rowe was so happy with the appointment that we do not have to go back for another 6 months. This news is just great.
Please keep us in your prayers, they have not gone unnoticed by Him.

With love. . .

Ry "hearts" NY

A few weeks back Rylynn had a big experience! Gilly, Rylynn and I went to the big apple with Gilly's family. Caitlin (one of his sisters) graduated with her Master's from Columbia. (Congratulations Caity, we are so proud of you.)

Rylynn was excellent on the trip, and I was looking forward to posting so many pictures and stories when we returned, but it seems that I lost my camera somewhere between Baltimore and Lampasas. Luckily, my mother-in-law had a few good ones that I'm able to share with ya'll. Rylynn slept on both legs of our flight up there. . . thank goodness. The flying was my real concern, but she did excellent. After settling in on the first day, we took a trip to BK to see Caity's apartment and some of Brooklyn. We sat on her stoop, went to a park nearby and ate some great burgers. I was thrilled to be able to meet up with my old friend, Tara who I had met in Corpus when we both lived there. It was so nice to see her and meet Chad, they live just a couple stops away from Caity and Tyler!

Monday we went on a big adventure to The Bronx Zoo. It was great. The weather was perfect and Rylynn actually seem to enjoy some of the animals. I think her favorite was the brown bear because he was taking a swim and splashing about. Tuesday we ventured out into the rain to attend Caity's graduation. I just wish the weather had been nicer so that we could have walked around the Columbia campus a little.

Hanging out in Brooklyn!

Snoozing as we get to the zoo

Snacktime at the zoo

Happy Graduation!

We packed up and headed back on Wednesday. As I said, Rylynn was great traveling and I couldn't have been prouder of her. Once back in Texas it took a little time to get back on our nap schedule and eating routine. But we're already looking forward to another big trip soon!

With love. . .