Friday, January 01, 2010

Catching up - random stuff

Tonight Jeff and I took Ryan out for 'the last supper'--a tender good-bye kind of thing. It was supposed to be a nice, quiet dinner at a nearby steak place. You know...special...lots of ambiance...a memory-making event.

They seated us in the last table by the kitchen and the bar. It was loud, and the idea of a nice, quiet dinner would have been ruined, so we requested a different table.

After 20 minutes of waiting, our names were called.

Imagine my surprise when they led us to a table directly on the other side of the kitchen--in the back corner by the kitchen door--arguably the loudest spot in the restaurant. Hello? All evening we were treated to the sounds of the cooks, waiters, and busboys yelling, singing and generally being incredibly loud. I was quite annoyed at first and then it got to be hysterically funny. Jeff remarked that they almost seemed to be purposely loud as they filed back and forth past our table all night. argh.

Yes, Ryan really WAS this thrilled about having his photo taken.

**************************************

Monday, we took SaraGrace and Kate for some additional testing at the cardiac clinic. Kate's test results were fine but there was a surprise with SaraGrace's. The doctor had ordered a lung scan for her 'just to be safe,' and the results showed a problem.

A normal functioning set of lungs has 45% blood flow on the left and 55% on the right. SaraGrace has 19% on the left and 81% on the right. Obviously the 19% is not good, but the 81% is not good either because the increased blood flow can cause permanent injury to the lung. He is scheduling her for a heart catheterization in January. He said he would not know for sure what to do until he gets in there, but anticipates doing a balloon procedure to open up the artery in her left lung. If all goes well, she will only require an overnight stay.

I know it sounds weird, but most of we Mom's of heart babies dread heart cath's more than open heart surgery. There are so many things that can go wrong in a heart cath. Hopefully, she will be fine, though.

I am SO thankful that her current cardiologist is so thorough and caught this before it caused any damage to SaraGrace's heart!

Both girls had to have blood draws which produced blood-curdling screams from both of them. Sheesh....it got to be ridiculous since it was all BEFORE anyone even came near them with a needle. Despite their lack of bravery, we still treated them to Starbucks hot chocolate afterwards. So smart of Starbucks to be located right outside the Children's hospital.



Comparing their haul of princess stickers for being 'so brave.'

*************************************
And last, but not least, a few photos from the Christmas Eve service, where I got some seriously grainy photos due to trying to sneak some pics without flash. A big ol' blinding flash would have kind of ruined the worship and holiness of the moment for those around me.

It was a candlelight service and they passed out real candles to the adults and battery operated, votive sized ones to the kids.

Zoey was engrossed in her flickering candle.



SaraGrace loves any type of dramatic moment and thoroughly enjoyed singing about Jesus, candles, etc.



The service came to an end and we all blew out our candles.

Jake found a new use for his.