Sunday, October 3, 2010

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: August

Phew, August was a super crazy month!

We kicked it off with lots of fun celebrating Eleanor's 2nd birthday. It was so fun to see her really enjoy everything about birthdays. We went out to lunch that day and got ice cream cones, then had Doug's parents over in the evening for dinner, cupcakes and gifts.


A few days later, we went to spend the weekend with my family where we celebrated her birthday again with them, as well as my nephew's birthday. We went to a great new water park near them and had a fun time together.





We had several weeks of mad-rush-before-school-starts activities. Our bathroom reno was in full force, so we had workmen at the house most days. My mom came out for a week while I caught up on appointments for myself.

Right before school started, we took Sean to see the pediatric cardiologist for a check up on his heart defect. It was a mostly good news appointment. While we didn't hear what we hoped for (that his heart is completely healed), we did hear that there has been a little improvement. He has an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) that used to have an Atrial Septal Aneurysm on it. That's right, I said used to have... it's GONE! So yay for that news! The ASD has not changed in size or in how it is affecting his heart performance. We don't have to bring him in for another heart check up for FIVE years! Woot!

What makes this all especially good news is that it combined with the fact that this time Sean was very very very unhappy to go through the testing. I had to hold him down to get the leads attached to him and the only way we could get him to lay still for the echocardiogram was to have him lay on top on me, while I held him and comforted him. I don't know why he was so against it this time, he was always compliant in the past. I seriously hope he outgrows it before the next check up because by age 11 he will be way too strong for me to hold. He put up such a fight getting the leads on that I didn't have the heart to fight him to get them off right away. He kept the "buttons" on until the next day when Doug and I held him down long enough to rub off the adhesive with some baby oil before giving him a bath. Poor little man!

There wasn't a whole lot of time left to enjoy lazy days at home. The boys had to make the most of their time together, with each other and with their little sister.



Before we knew it, it was time for the first day of school. Oh my goodness, my throat was tight watching my two boys walk into school that day! I want to pull them close and stop time, yet at the same instant wanted to applaud them as they bravely walked in with their heads held high. All my worries about Sean eased when the principal greeted him at the school door with, "Hi there! How are you today?" and my Seanie replied, "Happy!"



It doesn't get better than that.

2 comments:

rebecca said...

Those backpacks look so HUGE compared to your boys.

SunflowerStories said...

Ha ha! I know! They are just regular sized backpacks, too. I don't like the little backpacks because the folders get all bent up in them.