Fall Fun

Ok, so it was more like summer weather today but it was beautiful and we had a great time at Eckerts! We headed out to the pumpkin patch where the kids (& grandparents) found the perfect pumpkins. We ate a great meal to celebrate Jennifers birthday(a few days early), drank apple cider, shopped in the wonderful store and just had a fun day. The kids loved getting to choose their own pumpkins right out of the patch.

Update on Madelyn

Back in August we visited Children's for Madelyn's semi-annual cardiologist appointment and testing. They had indicated they wanted her to begin blood pressure medication. Matt and I were skeptical so we asked for another opinion. They agreed to take Madelyn's case to the next Pediatric Cardiology Meeting held at Children's in September. The called us last Thursday to let us know they reviewed Maddies case at one of their meetings and all Doctors present agreed that due to her condition, they felt the medication was needed and that surgery was not. The Doctor explained that they felt Madelyn would still need surgery later on in her teenage years but were confident her heart is strong and should be able to hold off until then. So, this week she began taking Lisinopril. This medication will help control the blood to oxygen flow in her arteries, especially as her heart grows as she gets older. The crappy thing is that it is indefinite....she will be on it forever. They also informed me that Madelyn can no longer take over the counter cold or allergy medicines. If she gets a cold she has to tough it out or if its bad enough we can bring her up there. She is also going to be prone to dehydration.......once they told me this I began asking more questions about her always being thirsty and the Dr told me this was a very common condition with heart disease..?? WHO KNEW. With all this said, we have some minor obstacles to face, mostly remembering her medication each night and what she can and cannot take over the counter, but nothing we can't handle! Considering all she has been through already in her short 4 years of life, this is nothing!

Just wanted to give you all an update. Otherwise she is doing fine and doesn't complain at all about taking the medicine, its a liquid and she likes it!

Joshua is doing fine too, so far he has been healthy this school year, yay!

School Pictures

Joshua and Madelyn's school pictures for this year. Aren't they fantastic??!! Joshua is about to loose another tooth, right in the front and Maddie's lip looks better each day! We are so blessed by these two wonderful children. We are all looking forward to the Fall weather, the leaves changing and both kids are ready for Trick or Treating!! We enjoy tailgating at the Panther football games...well the kids like to eat then play on the playground with friends, not sure they know that there is actually a game going on. Hope to have some pictures soon from that in our Panther attire!

Matt and Jennifer are both doing well too!

New hair-do's

Joshua got a buzz and Maddie got her hair trimmed. Sarah the gal that does our hair likes to fix Maddies different each time. Today she gave her rolls with lots of silver glitter. She looked like a little princess!

We're still here!

Ok, Mysty, I know two pictures is not alot but I cannot get them to download without locking up my computer!!! :( Something is wrong just have to find the time to figure out what it is!

Ok, so things have been a little busy around our house. Remember how I said Matt's shop has been busy..?? Well, they have been putting in 10-12 hour days and I have been out there after work doing paperwork so its been hard to find the time to post lately.

We did go camping this weekend and had to come home early today as "Ike" decided to throw some major wind and rain our way. Lots of trees down, power outages and wind damage around, we decided the camper was not the best place to be :)

Kids are good, Joshua is still adjusting to second grade. Its been a rough 4 weeks, he just could not seem to get in the swing of things but its better now. Maddie is loving pre-school and wishes she could go every day!

Let's see what else? Matt is good, just very tired from working so much but we are certainly blessed and thankful for the work. I am having all four of my wisdom teeth cut out on November 6th....yes I am sooo excited...NOT! I'm actually very nervous since my brother did this earlier this year and faced months of problems and tells me the pain was horrible........but it has to be done and I have waited too long already.

Our family is great! My mom is doing her clinicals at a hospital and finishing up her Transcription schooling. My pregnant sister in law is doing good, considering she is REALLY really tired and hungry all the time! I keep telling her to enjoy this part :) My brother has been blessed with an awesome job building a nearby power plant that will bring hundreds of jobs to our area.

And I have to add that this is my absolute favorite time of the year, FALL! Its supposed to be in the 60-70's tomorrow and I am looking very forward to that! I am ready to get the pumpkins and scarecrows out!

I'll try to get some more pictures posted soon!