Cardiology Appointment

We finally had Evin's much anticipated cardiology appointment on July 15th.  She hadn't been to the cardiologist in 7 months.  7 MONTHS!  It seemed like an eternity since we had been there.  We had really gotten used to going monthly prior to her repair surgery.

Evin wore her gold sparkly heart shirt and looked so cute.  I would love to convince her to wear a heart shirt to all of her cardiology appointments in the future.  We will see how long that lasts!  My guess is it will last as long as she lets me dress her...

Weight:  19 lbs 

She evidently lost over half a pound between her doctor's visit last week and today.  The difference in their scales is crazy!

Height:  About 31 inches 

(not sure how accurate this is either)

O2 Sats:  ???

I didn't realize it until later, but they didn't measure her oxygen saturation, which is so strange since we were at the cardiologist.  They did get it at her sick visit at the doctor a couple of days prior and her sats were at 99%!

They did an EKG and not surprisingly, Evin wasn't a fan.  She freaked out as the stickers were being put on her chest and hated it even more when they were pulled off.  Poor baby!

We had been trying to prepare for Evin to have an echocardiogram.  We knew she would have one at this appointment and we knew it would be difficult to get her to hold still.  Basically, she needed to lay on a table and hold very still for 10-15 minutes so they could do a sonogram of her heart.  Can you imagine having a 15 month old hold still for 15 minutes when they are wide awake?  It's not the easiest thing to do!  We decided we would download some apps for her on my phone and iPad and let her play with those since she really never gets to play with our phones.  That, plus books, singing, paci, and toys kept her mostly occupied and we made it through the echo with only a few tears.

We went back to our room and waited for Dr. Hackman to review the echo before she came to talk to us.  Before she came in, the echo tech came back in and said that Dr. Hackman requested a few more pictures of specific areas of Evin's heart, so we needed to go back into the echo room.  My heart dropped for 2 reasons.  The first and biggest reason was that I feared something was wrong with her heart and Dr. Hackman needed better pictures.  The second reason was that we would have to pin her down to hold still again.

We made it through the second echo relatively unscathed, and then waited.

While we waited, Evin looked absolutely adorable in her Heart Heroes cape.

Watching some Mickey Mouse on the iPad. 

Our Heart Hero.

Dr. Hackman finally came in and said that her heart looks good.  She said it pretty much looks the same that it did 7 months ago.  

-Her right ventricle pressures are still a little high, at half systemic.  If they get up to 2/3 systemic we will need to do a cath to get a better look at everything.  Her pressures are "reasonable" where they are.

-Her pulmonary branch arteries do look like they have grown some.  We will continue to pray for these to grow even more, because as they grow, the pressures in her right ventricle will go down.  She repeated again that we are "still in a wait and see" as far as a cath goes.

-Evin is cleared for all regular activities (swim lessons, Little Gym, etc.) at this point.  Dr. Hackman said if Evin was in high school right now and her heart looked like it does, she would be cleared to play sports.  She did say that her exercise tolerance might not be so good when she gets closer to a valve replacement, whenever that may be.  She will probably tire our much quicker than other kids will.  We were originally told it would be 10-15 years, but after her surgery we were told 15-20 years.  I have also heard of instances where valve replacements were necessary much earlier in the type of repair that she had.  It all really just depends on the child and how they grow and their heart grows.  We are optimistic and know that her valve replacement will come at the best possible time for Evin.

-I asked about Evin's lips turning purple when she is cold and she said it is pretty normal.  She said there is no reason that they would get blue from a heart standpoint.

Overall, we were pleased with the report.  Of course, we wish some of her arteries had grown more than they had, but at least we did not receive bad news.  No news is good news and we are thankful!  Evin doesn't have to go back for 9 months.  It is reassuring that she can go that long before her next appointment, but I know it will be a long 9 months waiting!

After we left the doctor we took our brave girl to the toy store to pick out a new toy.  This was her top pick.

And she had to settle for a shape sorter/stacking cups instead.  Sorry, sister, no pony for you!

We headed to lunch at Evin's favorite, Chick-fil-a, and she chowed down on nuggets, fruit, and a little ice cream for a treat. 

I love this comparison of Evin at the cardiologist in July 2013 vs. July 2014.  She has grown SO much and we really couldn't be more proud of our heart warrior.  I am constantly in awe of how brave and strong she is.  It is hard to believe all she has been through in her short 15 months.  Keep on showing the world how brave you are, Evin Kate!

Week in Photos- 1 year 16 weeks

{July 9th-15th}

Silly faces!

She still really uses her arms to help balance when she walks and that usually means her left arm is up in the air. :)

Kyla and I took the kids to Cotton Patch for lunch.  Lane escaped the booth and went to play with Evin.  I told them both to look and smile and this is what I got.  Lane said he was "helping her look at the camera"- haha!

Water table fun!

She tried her very hardest to catch that stream of water.

Summer = lots of popsicles!  I found some tiny popsicles that are the perfect size for Evin.

{Bad knee placement in the below photo-haha!}

Daddy had a little too much fun playing with the water hose.  Evin looks like a wet rat!

A little morning giraffe ride

Although she looks naked, she was wearing a diaper!

Ryan, Mason and Mason's uncle, Jason, and his little girl, Kambry, came in town to go to a Ranger game.  They stayed with my mom, so Lane had a play mate for a couple of days!  They made the rounds in the police car and Evin got to join in.  Lane's concentration while shooting a "bad guy" cracks me up!

Evin's turn to be on the lookout for bad guys.

Look at this pose.  Looks like a school picture!

(minus the swimsuit and the drool- ha!)

 

We went out to eat and did some shopping and Evin thought this statue was so funny.

 

Leading Daddy all over the store.

Our library has a new children's librarian and they are now doing baby story time once a week.  I wish I would have realized this earlier in the summer, or we would have been going!  She went for the first time this week.  First, she loved checking out the toys.

She was a little skeptical and got clingy when everyone started singing songs together or clapping loudly, but overall she did OK.  Her favorite part was looking at the books in the middle of the circle before story time actually started.  She loves books!

After story time, we packed up and headed to San Angelo to visit the Snowdens and see Paw.  While waiting for our table at Henry's, the kiddos patiently colored pictures.

On the way to San Angelo, Evin slept quite a bit and just seemed a little lethargic.  I stopped to change her diaper and noticed she felt hot.  She was running a low temp, but was still acting mostly ok.  The next morning, she was worse and had been pulling at her ear, so of course, I feared she had an ear infection.  I took her to a walk-in clinic in San Angelo (because it was Saturday- why is she always sick on the weekends?!).  Still looking cute, even though she felt yucky.

Let me tell you, it was NOT a fun doctor's visit.  She wasn't feeling well, we were in a new place, and she hadn't ever seen any of the nurses/doctors before.  She typically isn't a fan of the doctor, but this time, she really lost it.  She screamed and sobbed and just clung to me.  It broke my heart!  The doctor pretty much said it sounded like she has allergies that turned into an upper respiratory infection.  She said she couldn't tell if she had an ear infection or not (strange, I know) but she sent us to Walgreens with a prescription.  She said she wasn't contagious, so we could just go on about our business and the meds should kick in soon.

Love this sweet, bald baby!

Paw came to San Angelo for the day and we were happy to see him!  Well, I was happy to see him.  Evin has always been ok with Paw, but today she just wasn't feeling it (probably because she didn't feel well).  I wanted to get her picture with Paw, but she cried anytime I tried to set her in his lap.  I eventually just sat on the couch and sat her next to me, near Paw.  She sat there for a minute, looked right at him and crawled over me to sit on the other side.  Then she peeked around me to give him a look!  Silly girl!

Love these matching cousins!

This series of pictures cracks me up.  Evin was all about patting Ellis on the head, and giving her hugs and kisses.

Evin hadn't been eating or drinking much since she didn't feel well.  I was starting to get worried because she hadn't had a wet diaper in quite a while, so we had a popsicle for a snack.  It got some fluids in her and did the trick!

I love when she stands on her tippy toes.

Littlest E loves to dish out grins!  She is one happy girl.

The next morning Evin woke up and you could tell she felt AWFUL.  She was running a high fever, which I thought was strange since she had taken a couple of doses of her meds by this point.  More on that later...

My road trip buddy, on the way home.  We stopped at Sonic for lunch and a break.  I hadn't ever traveled with both dogs, and Evin by myself.  Trying to eat lunch, feed Evin lunch and keep the dogs out of our food was quite the ordeal!

Lookin' cute in her jellyfish tank!

Later this day Evin woke up from her nap with a faint rash on her neck & belly.  I called the doc and left a message for the nurse.  She called back and said she was very confident that Evin had Roseola.  It is common in babies from 6 months-2 years and they have fever for 3 days followed by a rash that lasts about 2 days.  It IS contagious before they have the rash, so we hoped that since Ellis and the other kids in San Angelo were not in that age range, that they wouldn't get it.  Luckily, they didn't!

Playing ball in Target.  I can't take them anywhere!

Evin had a cardiology appointment this week, so naturally, she wore a heart shirt. :)

I'll do a separate post on this later.

 

We had to say "see ya later" to the Coots family (minus Kyle because he was already gone) as they headed to Chicago.  Kyle started his Executive MBA program in June, and Kyla & the kids stayed with my mom while he got settled in and got started on classes.  We had such a fun month with them!

Kyla had been packing for 2 days and will kill me for posting these no-makeup shots, but I love them!

We took them to the airport and had some tearful goodbyes, but it is a little easier knowing that Kyla has several trips home already planned.  I see lots of picture texts and facetiming in our future!

Lake Vacation

On July 5th we packed our SUV to the brim and headed out to meet Mitch's parents at The Villages Resort at Lake Palestine.  They had rented out a unit for a week, and graciously invited us to join in on the fun.  We couldn't leave until Mitch got off work that day, so we arrived late that night.  We pretty much unpacked, tried to calm Evin down (since she was wired from the excitement of arriving!), and went to bed.

The next morning we got up and Evin had fun exploring the patio...

...and then we headed to the Caldwell Zoo.

E with her GiGi & PawPaw

Mama, Evin, Dada

We arrived mid-morning and the zoo wasn't too busy.  It is a smaller zoo, which was perfect for Evin!  The last time we went to a zoo was on her 1st birthday and she liked it, but she understood a little bit more this time than last.

She loved pointing at everything.

I took this picture for Lane, since he loves Bevo.

This face was over 2 huge, gorgeous white tigers.  It was hard to get a good picture of them because of the glass in front of them.  Evin was in awe!

Mitch decided that we shouldn't get Evin out of her stroller to see the animals because we would never be able to get her back in.  This was his solution so Evin could see everything.  It cracked me up because I am sure people thought they were about to throw her stroller over the rail.

Peek-a-boo.

My favorite! 

Evin loved them, too.

I really wanted her picture in front of the giraffes, so I convinced Mitch that we had to set her free of the stroller. :)

Grabbing a little snack...the grass is always greener on the other side, right? ;)

Happy day!

Y'all.  Look at how sassy she looks here.

She climbed alllllll the way to the top.

We grabbed lunch at Fuzzy's Tacos (yum!) before heading back to the resort.  Evin went down for a nap and I retreated to the patio where I enjoyed my sweet tea and reading on my Nook.  So relaxing!

After naptime, we threw on our suits and headed out for some fun.

"Point me to the pool!"

So glamorous.

Evin had a ball wandering around the pool and going under the "waterfall" with her daddy.

Mitch forgot to take his white t-shirt off. ;)

Mitch's brother, Alex, and his wife, Elizabeth, arrived later that night and we were excited to see them!

The next morning we got up and headed to the indoor waterpark that was on the resort. Evin's allergies had flared up, so she wasn't feeling so hot the moment this picture was taken.

She did perk up when she saw the fun she was about to have!

My handsome hubby, wearing that white t-shirt again! ;)

The waterpark required ALL babies under a certain age to wear a life jacket, even in the splash pad area.  Evin wasn't really a fan, but we didn't want to be rule breakers!

Aunt E & Little E!

Where's Evin?

There she is!

After the waterpark we headed back for lunch and for Evin to nap.  While she slept under the supervision of GiGi & PawPaw, we snuck away for some time at the pool!

That evening, Evin & GiGi stayed behind to hang out in our room, and the rest of us when on a boat tour of the lake.

The youngest Armstrong couple.

The Armstrong fellas

It is a very pretty lake!

Gorgeous sky

We got to watch the sun set before we headed back to the resort.  So, so pretty!

The next morning we got up and headed to the dock to do a little fishing.

I think everyone ended up catching one, but the fish got full and decided they would hang out instead of bite. 

So, we packed it up and headed back!

Uncle Alex's birthday was coming up, and Evin couldn't wait to hand deliver his card and present. 

We had to head home later that afternoon because Mitch was scheduled to work the next day.  Even though we were only able to stay a couple of days, we packed lots of fun into those days.  Thanks to GiGi & PawPaw for having us come along!