Returning to Blog

It has been a very long time since I have written on my blog. I guess with all that is going on, what better time to start back up. In February we received the wonderful news that we are expecting our second child. After two miscarriages we were both very nervous about the pregnancy. We opted not to tell anyone until I entered the second trimester. Once we were to that point, we were beyond thrilled. Ultrasound confirmed a growing baby and a beating heart. My pregnancy has been very normal and easy, with the exception of extreme tiredness. At the beginning of June we went in for our first ultrasound hoping to hear nothing but good news and find out if we were having a girl or a boy. The ultrasound tech was unable to see our stubborn baby's little parts and said that there was a shadow over the heart and we would have to come back. The next week we went back in. We got the exciting news that we are having a girl! But still, not good heart pictures. We went back again two weeks later. The ultrasound tech thought that the heart looked good and that we were good to go. The next day my doctor called to let us know that he had looked over the pictures and he still didn't think it was the best picture possible of the heart. So he was referring us to a perionatologist (high risk doctor) in Denver. The next day we went to see her and our lives changed. She was able to get better ultrasound pictures, but those pictures came along with bad news. She wasn't entirely sure of the problem at hand so we walked away with the possibility of two different heart defects and a completed amniocentesis. We will get the results of the amniocentesis on Tuesday. On Friday we were referred to a Pediatric Cardiologist in Lone Tree. We went there and they did an eco-cardiogram ultrasound on Mia's heart. That doctor has confirmed that Mia has a serious congenital heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). Basically what this means is that the left side of her heart is extremely underdeveloped and will never develop. The only thing keeping her alive right now is the fact that my body is providing her with the oxygen and blood that she needs. In order to fix this problem, a surgeon will have to do three rounds of open heart surgery. One when she is less than a week old, one at 3-4 months of age and one at 3-4 years of age. The surgery would essentially create a bypass around the left side of her heart so that her right side will do all the work and she would live with a two chamber heart. We did find out that the chance of her also having Down Syndrome is extremely low with this condition, but we will know that for sure on Tuesday. We do know that I should be able to carry her full term and that I will have to deliver her in Denver. Art and I have a very difficult decision to make at this time, the hardest of our lives. Please keep our family in your prayers, we are in need of lots of support right now. You read about these things happening to people, but never think it will happen to you. Today we will be awaiting the test results of the amniocentesis. The results of that test will more than likely be the deciding factor in our decision of what to do. I have gone through one time in my life that has been as hard as this, but the difference is that then it all involved my well-being. This involves the well-being of our unborn child. They tell you that being a parent is hard work, well, I never imagined it would be this hard.

Big Girl

Our baby is getting so big! I love this picture so much. I've tried for about a month now to get a ponytail or pigtails in her hair and she just never sits still. Finally a dear friend of mine tried, just to see what Izzy would do. She sat perfectly still! So the next day I tried it myself and this was the result. An adorable little ponytail with bow. She even kept it in for about 3 hours. Once we got in the car to go somewhere and she had to lean on it, she pulled it out. I just can't get over that in four months, she will be two. It doesn't seem possible!

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

We took Izzy to see Santa yesterday. Overall she had a great time! There were milk and cookies, ornaments to make, and Mrs. Claus reading a story. But the minute we sat next to Santa, the tears and screaming started. Art and I went up to Santa with her to try and calm her a bit. I tried holding her, Art tried holding her, neither worked. It was pretty much instantaneous. She saw him in line talking to and holding other kids and seemed fine with it, but once it was her turn, it was an whole different story. It's funny too because as soon as we walked away, she was fine. She ate her cookie and made a tree ornament with daddy and you never would've guessed that a few minutes earlier she was terrified. There's always next year!

Chicago Trip

I've been so horrible about updating my blog lately. I just realized how old my last post was. Oh gosh, where to start. Izzy continues to grow like a weed. At her 18 month appointment she was still off the charts for her height (34 inches) and weighed 24 pounds 3 ounces. And boy, oh boy, she is talking up a storm. She's stringing 3-4 words together in little sentences. When we went to Illinois for my grandmother's 90th birthday, I swear, she learned at least 20 new words. She copies what we say all the time, so we have to really watch ourselves! Art and I are also doing very well. We're enjoying some much needed time off from our busy website. It's been a beautiful fall season this year, so we've been spending lots of time outside and with family. Here are some photos of our resent endeavors!

Izzy had a great time with Halloween this year. We went to numerous farms and pumpkin patches over the last few weeks. She had a blast at the party I helped coordinate for the MOMS Club that I'm involved with. She sure does love Elmo!

We had a ton of fun in Illinois visiting my family. A lot of them had never met Art or Izzy. At my grandma's party all of her 12 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren were present. It was quite the family reunion. It was great to see everyone.

We got to do a lot of fun things out there as well. One of Izzy's favorite things was the DuPage Children's Museum.

One of Art and I's favorite things was our visit to Navy Pier. We went on a boat tour through the city of Chicago. We left right as the sun was setting, so we got a gorgeous view of the city at night. We learned so many things about the architecture of the city. It was wonderful.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip out to Chicago and look forward to visiting again. It's so hard to believe that summer is over and fall is halfway through. The holidays are right around the corner too! I can't wait!

The "Zoo"

So it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Art took his new iPhone for a swim in the pool and that was our primary camera, so I had to break out the older one and get some pictures today when Izzy and I went with MOMS Club to the Swetsville Zoo. So when I first saw that a trip to the zoo was being planned, I was shocked that I didn't even know a zoo existed in Fort Collins. Then I thought that maybe it was more of a farm or petting zoo. I was very wrong. Here are some pictures so everyone can see what I mean!

This "zoo" was a zoo of scrap-metal statues that were all animals and dinosaurs. There were also a lot of creatures there of random sorts. Izzy had such a good time with her friends, so did I!

This was the best part there. It was a bunch of hanging metal pipes and the kids had a (very safe, haha) metal stick with a golf ball on the end to bang them with. Surprisingly, no one hit anyone else!

This dog looked just like the one from Toy Story. Izzy and her friend, Katrina, loved it. When you touched the head, it bounced up and down. We will definitely be going back again, especially since it's free! Alas, all good things must come to and end for the day!

Talk Talk Talk

Pool Party

For her birthday, Izzy got a little swimming pool from her grandparents. We haven't set it up at all yet, but when we found out it's supposed to be in the high 90's all this week, we thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try it out! She loved watching us blow everything up and fill it with water. Once it was ready, she pretty much just looked at it! She started to warm up to the idea after Art got in with her. She liked the slide when we were at the bottom to catch her before she went fully into the water. I think she'll have to get used to it, especially since the water is still quite a bit colder, but she had fun all the same!