To clarify....

Since several of you have asked questions, I thought I would expand a little bit on what I wrote about Brandon. Right now he's at around 22 lbs., the problem with that is that's what he's been at since basically right after he turned one. The third surgery is suppose to be done when he's around 30-35lbs., because that's when your heart is 3/4 the size of an adult, and so they can make the corrections in his heart for growing. The doctors want to do the surgery between 2-2 1/2, because of course, it's better for Brandon if it's sooner rather than later. He gained progressively after his second surgery, but around the time he turned one it slowed, and seems to have completely stopped at this point. So, that's a little more specific on why he needs to keep gaining, and when the third surgery is suppose to be done. Thanks for your prayers.

Brandon update

(Please excuse the paci : )


I thought I would update y'all on Brandon, for those of you who might be interested and pray from him. He's been doing great physically, especially since getting the tubes put in his ears the beginning of June. Since then, he's not had any ear infections, which is a huge blessing, as he was having them at least once a month up until then. We only have to go in to see his cardiologist once every three months right now, and that's nice too, since we were going once a month. He has had echo's and ekg's done when we go, and so far those have all looked good. One of his "issues" right now that we are praying about is his need to gain weight, I know, some of us probably wish we had that problem :) He has stalled with that, and hasn't gained any weight in about four months, or at least any worth speaking of. He can't have his third surgery until he gets to a certain weight, and with him not gaining that's stalling his surgery, and of course we and the doctors don't want him to be much older than 2 1/2 when he has it. This is a problem that most children with heart problems have, even though they may be great eaters, their heart works harder than the rest of us , and they burn it off. Of course in Brandon's case having only half of a working heart makes it all the more challenging for him. So, it would be a blessing if those of you that feel impressed would pray that he would be able to start gaining weight again. We go to see his cardiologist the end of September, and it would be so great if he's gained something by then. Thanks for praying, and for "listening"!

Trying to get a picture of the three children without us in it to hold one or two is always interesting, as you can see! Brandon was trying to run out of every picture! But here's an attempt at it of our precious kiddos. Hannah-Lynn looks a little concerned in the pictures about her three year old brother holding her, and Mom not nearby to make sure she's ok : ) She does manage very well with having two older brothers, and so far I've seen that she's pretty tough and hardly ever cries when she gets knocked or bumped by one of them.

Playtime.

Our little princess enjoying playing under her gym.

Approaching storm...

I saw this storm approaching just now, and I had to run out and get the picture, because it just looks so cool with the sun out, yet the dark storm coming. Life can be that way, sometimes we see the storms approaching in our lives, and sometimes they are upon us so quick we didn't even notice they were on their way. I'm glad God is the one who says "peace be still" to any storms that may come and go in our lives.

5 months old

We call her our "pumpkin''. It's hard to believe she turned 5 months old today. My camera is back from business now, so I will be back to posting again now! Here's just a few shots of her I took before we left for church tonight.

Life at present...

Sorry there are no pictures in this update, because the camera is away on business! This past weekend Patrick was gone from Thursday morning to Monday morning. That was the first time for him to be gone since we had Hannah-Lynn, so I got to see what it's like to handle three kiddos all day, all by myself!! Actually, though, Frances came over every evening and spent the night, which made for some fun sister time, and of course the boys and Hannah-Lynn enjoyed having their aunt around. She was also a great help with giving the kids bath, and putting them to bed. We were very happy to go pickup Patrick on Monday morning when he flew back in from South Dakota. Brandon had been walking around the house all weekend saying "Da Da Da Da", so he was so happy to see him, and Adrian was saying over and over all throughout the day that he "missed his Daddy SO bad!" Of course I missed him terribly, and I realize when he's gone how much more he means to me. They say separation makes the hard grow fonder, but I tell Patrick that I don't need the separation to find that out :) I was literally counting the hours until he came back!
Hannah-Lynn had her four month checkup yesterday, a little late though, and she is doing very well and growing too fast. I feel like she has grown up way too quick, but I know part of the reason it seems that way is because Brandon was so little for so long that I forgot how fast they do change. She weighs 17 lbs, and she's 26 in. long now.
The camera will not be back until the beginning of next week, so until then there will be no more pictures.
Later :)