Happy Thanksgiving!!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving.... I did not get a chance to come on and add a post, so... wishing you all a belated Happy Thanksgiving!!
We celebrated with all our family this year--we had 3 different Thanksgiving dinners!! I'm all turkeyed out...lol
So thankful that God continues to provide for us during this difficult time. Michael still has not been able to find a job, but somehow we are just making it by every day. We at least have food to eat and are still managing to pay our necessities- house and utilities! We have also been blessed to find so many things we've been able to take the kids to for FREE since Michael is a disabled veteran. A few weeks ago we were able to go the the World of Coca-Cola for FREE for Veterans appreciation week.


We also went this week to Callaway Gardens (which we get into FREE with veteran ID) and enjoyed some time meeting our friends that live in Columbus there. The girls LOVED the butterfly house...

Seeing all the different butterflies in the butterfly house was so neat... they are each unique and beautiful in their own way... just as God created us!

I am thankful to be able to spend time as a family a little more since Michael isn't working, but I am praying he finds a job very soon as his unemployment runs out next month!! I trust that God will continue to provide, though!

Our water pipe busted again yesterday in a different place than before... all the piping is bad and needs replaced, but we just keep patching the holes (which is a lot of work) because we do not have the funds to fix it completely at this time! Praying that once we get this fixed, nothing else breaks for a while! We just fixed a hole in the line in August(after being without water for a week). I am so proud of my husband this time...he did not wait to start digging down to fix it...he dug a 3 ft hole last night in the dark and will be going to get the piece to fix it this morning, so hopefully we will have water again by tonight!!

Christmas Cards 2010

Merry And Glee Christmas 5x7 folded card

Shop Shutterfly for elegant custom Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Holidays on a budget...

As many of you know, this year my husband is unemployed and we are not going to have much money to spend on Christmas gifts, decorations, or Christmas cards. I recently found a post about shutterfly giving away free Christmas cards to bloggers. So, as a way to try to save my family some money, as well as be able to send out some really cute Christmas cards to my family and friends, I am blogging about Shutterfly.com, a site that allows you to upload photos and share them with all your friends and family in all kinds of ways. I know it is silly, but I am hoping that it actually works and that I will be able to send out some really cute holiday cards this year!! Last year I ordered cards from Wal-Mart, but Shutterfly's are so much better made and they have a lot more to choose from.
I also really LOVE the calenders that they offer on their site as well. I had one a couple years ago... I had it hanging up in my hospital room when I was pregnant with Auriana and it was great to be able to look up and see my family pictures on the calender as I kept track of how long I had been there and when Auriana was due.
Also, I ordered Michael's Father's Day present from Shutterfly.com this year... a photo book... which the girls LOVE looking at all the pictures of themselves and remembering all the fun they had at the beach this past April. So anyway... go check out all the cool things that Shutterfly.com has to offer!!

October flew by!

We had a great Halloween!! We took the kids to Boo at the Zoo, sponsored by CHOA and Kids at Heart.... Trick-or-treating through the zoo was a lot of fun! We went to the Halloween parade in Atlanta, and went Trick-or treating twice!! I'd say we got good use out of the Halloween costumes this year! Kylee was Dorothy and Auriana was Raggedy Ann... SO CUTE!







Auriana really took off with walking with her walker in October too... which is awesome!! Here she is walking with her walker in her Raggedy Ann costume...




We also celebrated Kylee's 5th birthday!!! She's such a big girl!! Happy birthday Princess!

Buddy Walk 2010

We had a great time at Buddy Walk in Atlanta this past Sunday!! It was wonderful to be able to spend time with our friends and family for such an amazing event. Wasn't too thrilled about the location this year... a little small for the amount of people there... but still had a lot of fun!! It was pretty neat that the local Air Force Base was also having a air show that day and we got to see several flyovers by the Blue Angels as well!! Thanks to everyone who supported our family for the Buddy Walk!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Auriana!!

So hard to believe it's been 2 years since my precious little miracle baby was born!

Happy Birthday Pretty girl! You are perfect!

July, I am ready for you to leave...

I am so ready for the month of July to be over! It has been in the high 90's and feeling like 110 degrees almost this whole month. On top of that, Michael has not been able to find a job and we are running out of money fast.

July has brought us nothing but trouble (with a few blessings attached).... our water main burst in our front yard and homeowners insurance wanted a $500 deductible to even send a plummer out. Since we didn't have $500, we went searching for neighbors that knew how to help, as gallon after gallon of water went pouring out in our front yard. We found a neighbor that helped us dig a whole and told us how to fix the pipe (blessing). We were able to fix the pipe and save about $450 dollars. Then, the storms a few days ago knocked down 2 trees in our yard. One tree took out our fence, and another fell right on my car! The car is going to be covered by insurance, thankfully. It will be a $100 deductible and they cover a rental car 80%, so we will have to pay about $10 a day for a rental car (the carseats don't fit in Michael's car). So... I am sick of heat and things breaking... Augist, please be a better month!

Summer 2010!!

Well, there sure has been a lot happen this summer!

We have gone to the zoo...

We have gone to the Aquarium...

We have gone to the beach (Treasure Island, FL.)...

Auriana is able to stand pretty well now if holding onto something...

And... she can eat some and likes to eat sometimes!!! (still working on it and still working really hard on getting her to drink!)

The girls have danced and played at local parks and had lots of fun...

Auriana has new hearing aids and is LOVING being able to hear!!

We've had LOTS of fun this summer!!! I am so glad that Auriana is sooooo much healthier than last year! Last year at this time we were helping her recover from open heart surgery, still dealing with tube feedings every 3 hours all day and all night, trying to figure out her hearing issues, trying to get her ankle braces, getting her started in her therapies, etc.... This year we were able to relax a little more about all her appointments, since we are to a point where everything is not "life or death"! Praise God for that!!

But, then on the other hand, this summer has been more difficult since my husband lost his job due to job cuts last month. School is coming up quick for Kylee. She will be going to a new school this year and I'm afraid we won't be able to afford to allow her to do a lot of things and she will feel left out because she won't be getting new school clothes, won't be getting a new backpack and lunch box, won't have cool things to take in to school. I am hoping she's still young enough that it won't be that big of a deal, but I am probably wrong for hoping. Kylee is very smart and notices things that are different. The hardest thing for her is going to be not being able to go to dance class this year since we don't have those extra funds.

I am thankful though, that for now we are still doing ok with our basic needs for our family and have not had to ask for a whole lot of help in that area... and that for now we are all "healthy" (minus all our disabilities. Hubs back, and Auriana's poor feeding, hearing defects, and other things that are not changing for a while.)

Anyway... thanks for reading! I can't believe that Auriana will be turning 2 years old in September!! I remember when we didn't know if she'd be alive for 2 days, 2 months... and now it's been almost 2 years!! And Kylee will be a big 5 year old in October! My babies are growing so fast!

Hearing aides, snow in GA...

Hi,sorry I don't update on here very often. It is hard with having the little ones to care for, and I have not been in the best of health myself lately.

Anyway... Auriana got loner hearing aides a few weeks ago, through GA PINES! As soon as we put them on her it was very evident that she is hearing new sounds!! I was playing with her and she clapped her hands, then she tilted her head a second, thought about it, and clapped her hands again... then looked at her hands and did it again, as she just smiled and was so excited that she could hear herself clap! Later, I blew her a kiss and she looked at me strangely for a second then she made a "kiss" sound and her face just lit up!! Apparently she could not hear these things, that we take for granted, before the hearing aids. I think she is going to be saying new words before we know it. I was reading her little book to her earlier and I signed "book" and said "book", just as I always do... she looked up at me and signed "book" and repeated "boo"...I said "yes book!"... she wants so badly to speak and I just know this is going to help!

Also, we got about 4-5 inches of SNOW!!!!! Kylee loved playing in it!! Auriana was a little unsure at first, but warmed up to it the second day we took her in it and had a little fun tasting it and touching it!! It is not often that we get snow around here, so this was a lot of fun!!

Here are a couple of videos of the girls in the snow!!

February is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Month!!!

This video was created by a fellow "heart mom" and contains pictures of several of the "heart" kiddos that we have met through our journey with Auriana's congenital heart defects.

Please watch this video and help us spread awareness!!

Facts about CHD - It's My Heart

• Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 birth defect. Source: March of Dimes
• Congenital Heart Defects are the #1 cause of birth defect related deaths. Source: March of Dimes
• About 1 out of every 100 babies are born each year with some type of Congenital Heart Defect. (approx. 40,000/year) Source: Children’s Heart Foundation
• Nearly twice as many children die from Congenital Heart Defects in the United States each year as from all forms of childhood cancers combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD. Source: Children’s Heart Foundation
• The American Heart Association directs only $0.30 of every dollar donated toward research. The remainder goes toward administration, education and fundraising efforts. Of the $0.30 that goes toward research only $0.01 goes toward pediatric cardiology for CHD. Source: Children’s Heart Foundation
• This year approximately 4,000 babies will not live to see their first birthday because of Congenital Heart Defects. Source: Children’s Heart Foundation
• The cost for inpatient surgery to repair Congenital Heart Defects exceeds $2.2 billion a year. Source: Children’s Heart Foundation
• Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding only a fraction of a penny is directed toward Congenital Heart Defect research. Source: Children’s Heart Foundation
• Though research is ongoing, at least 35 defects have now been identified.
• 4-8% born with CHD have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
• 4-10% born with CHD have Atrioventricular Septal Defects
• 8-11% born with CHD have Coarctation of the Aorta
• 9-14% born with CHD have Tetralogy of Fallot
• 10-11% born with CHD have Transposition of the Great Arteries
• 14-16% born with CHD have Ventricular Septal Defects
• Although some babies will be diagnosed during gestation or at birth, sometimes the diagnosis is not made until days, weeks, months, or even years after. In some cases, CHD is not detected until adolescence or adulthood. Source: March of Dimes
• It is a proven fact that the earlier CHD is detected and treated, it is more likely the affected child will survive and have less long term health complications. Source: March of Dimes