WISH NIGHT 2014

Wish Night is one of our favorite activities of the year.  Last year was our first time to participate...and the kids asked all the time when it was time for Wish Night again.  They loved it that much!!

Wish Night starts in April with practices every single weekend to learn the routines.  We have amazing choreographers in Jen and Kim.  Our organizers, Shelly and Gay, are outstanding.  

Sorry - the order is kinda crazy and it is not cooperating with me trying to change the order.

Maggie, Grace, and our new heart friend, Arianna

There was a new emcee this year....Cynthia Izaguirre.  She is a local newscaster in the Dallas area.  She asked to meet some of the kids a couple of weeks before Wish Night so she could hear a little about them and get to know their stories.  She was as nice as I thought she would be.  

Izzy and some of the Wish Kids

Bennett and Grace love to take their picture on the MAW sign

Grace and Cynthia

Almost all of the participants with our choreographers, Jen and Kim

Grace was thrilled to walk into the hotel and see this huge banner hanging from the top of the atrium

B's bracelet for the silent auction

G's bracelet for the silent auction

All of the kids designed a domino for a domino set.  This was the box they put them in.  SO cool!!

Grace's silent auction cookie jar

Bennett's cookie jar

Grace's slideshow picture in the ballroom

They look adorable all dressed up!!

Ready for the night to get started

Grace got asked to present an award

One of my favorite parts of Wish Night is when they open the huge ballroom doors.  All of the Wish kids line up and greet the patrons with high fives and hand shakes.  

This kid cracks me up!

Waiting to greet people

Maggie LOVED giving high fives to everyone.  She cried when it was time to go back to our room.

She tried to high five everyone who walked in.

Grace getting in on the action

Arianna and Grace - Grace LOVED her and followed her around everywhere.

I have known Jen for a long time...so awesome that she teaches Grace!!

They had a singer come sing "I Believe I Can Fly" as the opening number.  All of the kids stood on the stage and sang with him.  It was so cool!!  Then, it was time for the meal.  Once the meal was over, it was time for Grace to present her award.

After Grace presented her award, she had a quick change to get ready for her performances.  They divide the kids up by ages, so the kids were in different dances.

Bennett and Cadyn.  His mom is one of the organizers of the event.  They loved playing together.

Grace's star jewelry holder

Bennett's awesome decorated wine bottle!

Cadyn, Grace, and Bennett

Cadyn and Maggie

More pics of Grace.  She thought it was soooo cool.

New heart friends!

This is how much money they raised on the Fund-a-Wish part of the auction.  This was solely donations to fund wishes.  Amazing!!!

Pics with Cynthia after their part was over.  This picture made it on our local news!!

Lauren is one of our favorite Wish people.  Mary Kathleen was the person who did all of the leg work for our  trip.

After the dinner portion is over, they move everyone out into the atrium to spend money on the auction items.  They have a band and Bennett and Grace were ready to tear up the dance floor!!

Bennett and Gay, one of our organizers

This is why we love MAW people....Lauren danced with Grace all night!!

And when Grace got tired....she just sat down with her.

The lead singer of the band kept motioning to Grace to come up on the stage and dance with her.  I had to bribe Grace to finally get up there...and then I couldn't get her to come down!!!

My kiddos LOVE Lauren!!

Bennett's bracelet in the auction

After rehearsal earlier in the day

Family pic!

We love Make-a-Wish and Wish Night!!  The kids are already asking about next year!!

MAY CARDIOLOGY APPOINTMENT

We went to see our cardiologist again this morning to discuss what we are going to do about that pesky fenestration.  Grace did so much better today with her anxiety about doctors.  While she was still silly, she did calm down and talk to Dr. Laird.  I was really proud of her.

When we arrived, she weighed 37 pounds!!  WOW!!  (She was fully clothed but I will still take it!)  She has also sprouted up to 44 inches.  Thank goodness it is summer!  Shorts and skirts are so much easier to fit around that skinny waist.  Her blood pressure looked good and her oxygen levels were 80.

Our echocardiogram went really well.  Grace watched Frozen.  She brought her doll, Lulu, to our appointment with us.  Lulu also had a great ECHO.  

Dr. Laird drew us a picture of how her heart is looking now.  She still has the trivial leakage in the mitral valve but it is absolutely nothing to be concerned about.  The heart muscle looks "good and strong."  So, what do we do about that fenestration??  (This is a hole that was placed intentionally after her last surgery.  In theory, it should have closed on it's own.)  If we close it, her oxygen levels will go up, her endurance should increase, and she should be less tired overall.  My worry has always been the damage that could be caused to other organs in her body from the lack of oxygenated blood.  Craig and I had already discussed how we felt we should proceed.  Ultimately, while we hate to put her through another procedure, we feel this is the best for Grace at this time.  She is starting to become frustrated with Bennett when he is irritated that she needs to take a rest.  She still sleeps to and from school almost every single day.  It is our hope that this will help her feel better.  

This can be done via a heart catheter...however, Dr. Laird doesn't perform these type of caths.  So, now we wait to hear back from the doctor who does.  We should have a plan by the end of the week.  

So, what will they do?  The doctor will go in through the groin and balloon the hole.  They will wait 15-20 minutes and check her oxygen levels, veinous pressures, and something else that neither one of us can remember. :)  If all is well, they will close it permanently and we will be good to go.  If her heart doesn't handle it well, then they "bail out" and we wait for her to keep growing and then try again in 1-2 years.

Lulu's heart sounded "exactly like Grace's" so she received a good check up, too.  Grace was thrilled that Dr. Laird agreed to listen to Lulu's heart.  

Gracie is pretty anxious about this procedure.  She cheered when we told her (before we talked to the doctor) that things might have changed and we might not do a cath.  However, there has been talk of her BFF coming to visit her in the hospital and she is really looking forward to that happening. 

If you are the praying type, we would certainly welcome prayers of peace for Grace.

MAY 2014

Our month of May in a nutshell.....

I love getting pics of my kiddos from their teachers!!

My kids have awesome teachers!!  These pictures from Field Day at the kids schools.  Makes me so happy that they have teachers who share pics throughout the day!!

Craig snapped this picture of Maggie while they were shopping.  She cracks me up!!!

Amazing Little Hearts treated our nurses to a Chick-Fil-A dinner for Nurses Day.  Card courtesy of Bennett and Grace.

Maggie made this for me at school.  So cute!!

Crazy hair day at school....she loved it!!

They obviously had a hard month......

Maggie RARELY gets alone time with both Mommy and Daddy.  The big kids got invited to a sleepover so Maggie got a date with both parents.  She loved it!

Bennett's soccer team played in the KSA Commissioners Cup for the 3rd year in a row.  This year, they had the teams come onto the field FIFA style.  The Keller Jets were the champions for the 3rd year in a row!!

Proud of his medal

They always get a celebratory root beer!!

And this girl got a celebratory cookie!

Bennett got to teach class at school.  He was so excited about it!  

Another month that flew by!!!