All is well...actually GREAT!

Another very-belated update. If you happen to be reading this, I would give you a gold star if I saw you in person. I'm so not-good-about-blogging as of late. I am now looking at it as a great way to connect with the events of our lives when I scrapbook the kids' stuff (likely years from now...hopefully not as in 'when I'm in a nursing home' years from now, but at this rate, it'll be a while). So, this is essentially a scrapbook/journal of sorts. There. Got that clear. And your gold star for reading and sticking with us will be on its way! ;-)

Carson's cardiology update last week was outstanding. Have we mentioned the fact that we LOVE that Dr. Baker sees patients in Fargo? He was thrilled with how Carson's echo looked. He still has a leak in an aortic valve. Has since his last open heart surgery. The great news is the flow of the leak (which is measured very precisely) hasn't changed since February 2005 (last open heart surgery). Considering Carson has grown A LOT since then, well, this is great news. Carson's patch over the used-to-be-hole-in-his-heart looks perfect, so that was good news as well.

We talked about a camp in Minnesota for kids with cardiac issues and if Carson would be a candidate. We may look at that in the next few summers. Would certainly be great for Carson to see other kids with scars. Drawback (at least from our point of view) is no Mom or Dad for a week. YIKES! Can you say 'Control Freak'?!? Little scary to go there. We'll see.

Anyhoo...Carson's heart looked good as well as sounded good. What a report card! Since Carson isn't 'just' a cardiac kid, we decided that an annual check-up is a good idea just to stay connected. We also discussed transferring Grace's care to Dr. Baker, since the Fargo appointment option would be E-A-S-Y! Grace will see Dr. Baker sometime next year about this time. Ahhh...love it when medical stuff is simplified.

After a celebratory meal at Dairy Queen, it was back to school for Carson.

We welcomed the arrival of Nana and Papa Kitch on Thursday evening. The kids quickly indoctrinated them in to whatever game they (the kids) wanted to play. Nana and Papa were good students and would go along with whatever the kids wanted to play. Papa and Grace had many dances together, many games and designs of dominoes were built (especially with Carson), and Grace kept us all laughing with her 'Whoopsey Daisy' comments. On Saturday we (okay, Trav) hung Christmas lights, went to our church's soup and sandwich lunch and later enjoyed supper at our fav Chinese restaurant in town. We all went to church/Sunday School on Sunday and enjoyed and afternoon with Eve, daughter of our dear friends Danie and Jamie. The kids loved playing with Eve and Grace was quite the little helper. She would bring toys, a bottle, etc. wherever Eve was and was quite worried when she'd cry or spit up. Carson loved playing peek-a-boo with her. We were all pretty sad when Danie and Jamie decided to come and get her...we could have quite easily just kept her forever! :) We had a relaxing evening on Sunday with Nana and Papa before they trekked home on Monday.

Another aspect of excitement over the weekend was the arrival of the Sorenson Video Relay Phone with Sorenson Video Relay Service. To say this technology is amazing is an understatement. I have much to write and tell about it, along with Carson's first reactions, so I'll save that for another post.

'Til then!