Floor-top? & 365: Week One

Yea...I dropped my laptop on the kitchen floor. :( Mr. Mac is on his way to the repair shop at some point this week...I am going to attempt to do my 365 post from my phone so here goes nothing...

UPDATE : The post from my phone did not go well. I'm now fixing that (1.24.12)

1.1.12-Our newest kitty, Buzz, hanging out in Mike's new wok. Tsk tsk Buzz.

1.2.12-Weston got to put on the Christmas star this year and also take to take it off when we put away all the decorations on this day.

1.3.12-I hold a small group for moms on Tuesdays. I had admire these beauty's from afar on this night. We are doing the Daniel Fast until January 21st.

1.4.12- While Grayson sleeps through the night 99% of the time, he still weasels his way into our beds some nights.

1.5.12-You can check out my previous post about Weston's visit to the Cardiologist on this day.

1.6.12- I got the privilege of keeping my beautiful niece for a few hours on this night. She was a big hit!

1.7.12- The boys, at church, rocking their new DC shoes and shirts that Aunt Fawne got them for Christmas.

Super Why! at the Cardiologist

Hi friends!!!

About 3 weeks ago, I happened to notice that Weston's heartbeat was a little odd. It seemed as though he was having extra beats. Instead of the usual "thump-thump", his heart song was "thump...thump, thump". This was something new that I had never noticed (Yes, it's weird but I've made a passive habit of feeling his heart beat on occasion. It's something I've done since he was born. Weird? Maybe...but it did come in handy or else I would have never noticed the irregularity)

Of course I was worried but I thought maybe it was my imagination. After a few days, I had Mike and then a friend, feel his heart as well, and it was confirmed-something was definitely off. I made an appointment that day and we went in to see our favorite nurse, Pat. At the doctor's, they did an EKG (which Pat promised wouldn't hurt, and then accidentally clamped his nipple...OUCH! She's still our favorite though!) Look how brave my little man is...

(BTW...it was Hanukah day at Weston's preschool...hence the blue and yellow attire)

The EKG confirmed that something was definitely going on. Dr. Uggowitzer explained that it looked as though Weston's heart was throwing extra beats often, and this was known as "PAC" or Premature Atrial Contractions. Because there were no other symptoms (i.e. fainting, shortness of breath, wheezing), our doctor said there wasn't really anything they could do at the time, and that we should come back in March for a follow up to see if there was any change.

After some thought, I decided I didn't want to wait. Maybe I'm crazy but it is my three year old we're talking about and I didn't want to take any chances. So I called our doctor back and asked for a referral anyway, and then made an appointment with University of Maryland Pediatric Cardiologists.

Today was Weston's appointment. I wanted him to feel comfortable so I let him take a toy with him to the doctor's. He chose Super Why! (of course).

I know I should have been panicked and worried and out of my mind, but truth is I was at peace. I knew that whatever was to happen was under God's control and we would be able to handle it.

The nurse came in and took Weston's blood pressure:


The we got another EKG (no nipple clamping this time!)

The nurse even let him take off his own "stickers":

Then Dr. Baker-Smith came in:


We sat and talked to her about the results and she basically said the same thing that our PCP said, except that she was kind of concerned because of his age and the frequency of the extra beats. She had us wait to get an echocardiogram of his heart to make sure that there was no enlargement of the atrium or anything. Weston had a lot of fun waiting...

During the echo, the Tech asked Weston what he preferred to be called, (meaning either "Wes" or "Weston"), and he replied with "Super Why" so she called him Super Why the entire time. I don't think that she realized how much she made Weston's day. He talked up a storm during the entire process and was so patient. He thought the "goop" and the wand were pretty cool.

Praise God! The echo was fine! Everything measured normal-so no problem there. After those tests, the doctor came back in and said that, as of now, we shouldn't worry. She explained that this could be something that just goes away over time, and that we will keep an eye on it. She wanted to monitor the frequency of the extra beats so she sent Weston home with a 24 hour monitor on. The one we got sent home with stopped working so I had to take it off of him early. We are awaiting another one in the mail and once he has it on for a full 24 hours, we will send it back for the results. Once I hear something, I will update you all!

I feel better about the whole situation but I hate that I don't have a reason for the irregularity. I'm trusting God to know that this will work itself out. We go back to the cardiologist in 6 months and so I will definitely blog about our appointment once it happens, and any appointments/developments that may follow. In the meantime, please just keep this situation in your prayers! I know God has amazing plans for Weston and this is not something that is going to hinder that! :)

As for now, Weston's busy kicking butt at Super Why's ABC Game!

Daniel Fast

Hi Friends,

Today started the first day of our church wide Daniel Fast. It's a 21 day fast that Mike and I have committed to drinking only water and eating only fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts. I will blog here and there about the journey since it's the first time I've fasted in years, and I've never done one for this long.

Honestly, today, it hasn't been awful but I am definitely missing my coffee and am dealing with a headache because of it. I'm looking forward to what God has in store for me and my family during this time. Mike and I are also doing a bible study together, and plan on picking different ones throughout the year. Right now we are doing Love and Respect, but we have others on our Wish List. One that I'm really looking forward to doing is Songs in the Key of Solomon which looks very promising. I'll let you know, as we do them, which were helpful and which we could have passed on. :)

That's it for the day. Not much to blog about but still wanted to do so. I'll be back later this week with my 365 post. :)

<3 Miranda

2012 Blogggggggg

Hi All (all 2 of you who might read this that is):

I am thinking of making a few resolutions this year:

1) Stick to reading the One Year Devotional (made it to June last year). :)

2) Exercise 4-5 times a week (Cliche? Yes. But I've already been doing this for about 5 months now so I think I'm good.)

3) Run a 5K (or 3 5K's)

4) Blog at least weekly (I'm thinking Project 365: 2012 style)

5) Work on my other writing project more (it's a secret for now)

6) Potty train Grayson and take his pacifier away (thinking about this now since he just woke up from his nap and is extremely grumpy)

7) Be more effective with how I spend my time

That's it for now. Stay tuned.

Happy New Year

<3 Miranda

Check out this awesome give-away!!! :) Love this stuff

http://www.thevintagepearl.com/blog/2011/10/golden-love-new-giving-one-away/

2011 Project 365: Week 17 & 18

So here's what I've got for Weeks 17 and 18! :)


April 23, 2011: Weston insisted on wearing this Maryland jersey to bed. I love to see my babies sleep.

April 24, 2011: Happy Easter! Easter was a busy day to say the least. However, we were able to squeeze in an Easter egg hunt with our neighbors.

April 25, 2011: Mike was off on this day so we went to Annapolis and saw the boats, ate at Buddy's, shopped on Main Street, and went to Annapolis Mall. At the mall Grayson built his very own Build-A-Bear, and the boys got to ride on a train around the mall. So much fun!

April 26, 2011: We've been slowly acquiring all the Steam Team from Thomas the Tank Engine. The boys got the last few for Easter. Weston's favorite is Emily.

April 27, 2011: When we were in Annapolis we bought the boys NAVY tees. Don't they look thrilled to be wearing them.. :/

April 28, 2011: Do you know what this is? This is a lonely TOM...apparently one of Grayson's TOM's fell off at Walmart the day before and I didn't realize it until this day. I'm pretty sad about this. :(

April 29, 2011: ?

April 30, 2011: Picture to come. The boys spent the night at Chuck E Cheese for their cousin's birthday. Their Aunt Dena took pictures but I haven't gotten them from her yet. As soon as I get a hold of them, I'll add a picture here.

May 1, 2011: ?

May 2, 2011: I bought Toy Story Bubbles for the boys. They were quite the hit, as you can see.

May 3, 2011: Can you find the two little boys hiding in this picture? Haha. They boys were being silly while at the OASIS dinner at church. It kept them occupied for a while until the pipe and drape fell over (not hurting anyone luckily).

May 4, 2011: More Toy Story...it's quite the craze in our house these days. On another note, the only reason Weston has this shirt is because I'm finally running out of my hand me downs. I'm blessed to be able to say that I haven't really HAD to buy anything for Weston for the first 3 years of his life because of the generous giving of others and an awesome mother in law! I'm going to enjoy buying clothes for my little man though!

May 5, 2011: I've seriously considered getting Weston an iPod touch for his birthday. It's not happening; however, he LOVES playing Angry Birds and has now learned to play Fruit Ninja. It's great for keeping him occupied when I need him to lay low for a short amount of time.
May 6, 2011: I received an unedited version of this picture (gross...I know) while I was at work on this day. Weston went #2 on the potty! He's gone a couple time this week and I really hope that means we are on the fast track to being diaper-free!

2011 Project 365: Week 16

Before I start, I have to apologize for this years 365. I haven't been the greatest with taking pictures every day and have missed a couple. Not sure what my deal is this year, but I haven't been very committed for some reason. I think it has to do with the fact that I am in desperate need of a new camera. Mine has had 4 1/2 great years but it's wearing through batteries like crazy. Even the brand new ones I bought die quickly which I find frustrating because I don't always remember to keep one charged. That being said, I am going to make an effort to do the best I can and take pictures as often as possible. Sorry for the slacking! So here we go!!!


Week 16!!!

April 16, 2011: I've finally decided to sell our single stroller. Anyone interested? :)

April 17, 2011: Family outing to Famous Dave's. The boys love the food there! This was our second time in a week.

April 18, 2011: Weston has gotten pretty good with making his own train tracks. I realized the other day that the boys haven't touched any of the other toys in our living room in over a month because all they play with is the trains and the train table. This means the other toys are getting moved upstairs!!!

April 19, 2011: For some reason the boys think it's a lot of fun to just run around in circles for an endless amount of time. Here they are running around the glider. I like the running cause it gets them nice and tired for nap time!

April 20, 2011: The bottom part of this picture are wood panels that have been power washed while the top part are panels needing to be power washed! I could NOT believe the difference a good power washing did to our deck! It looks so nice now!!

April 21, 2011: Arggg!!! Pirate Weston being silly as always.

April 22, 2011: This was one of the days I forgot to take a picture but I am going to throw this one in here instead. This was the full moon from the 17th. I tried really hard to get a good picture and this was the best I came up with. I couldn't believe how beautiful the moon made the sky light up behind the clouds. Just one more reason why I love living in Carroll County!