Erin's New Surgery Date

Well, we finally have a new date...Sept. 19th at 7:30 am. Our first choice surgeon, Dr Tweddell, will be her surgeon. Erin's pre-op will be the day before, on the 18th. We were told that, while possible to get bumped again, it would be very unlikely. (Erin's also still first in line as a back-up for the 5th. In the unlikely event that another surgery spot opens up, in the next couple days, we'll be packing our bags at the last minute).

On Wednesday Erin had her final cardiology appointment. She has gained nicely and may make it to 12 pounds by the surgery date. She is slowly creeping into further heart failure, including some pulmonary hypertension now, but will be fine until the 19th. Our biggest prayer now is that she stay healthy and avoid any sickness from now till surgery date. Our poor kids' hands will be all dried-out from all the hand washing that we'll demand of them. But of course it's all worth it for little Erin.

Thanks once again for all the prayers!

Another update on Erin's surgery date...

Well, it seems we are still not settled on a date for surgery. After many phone calls today, we currently do not have a surgery date. If we go with Tweddell, the top surgeon, we will be bumped back to Sept. 19. With that comes the possibility of getting bumped again, as long as Erin's heart is stable. When a baby is born with a more serious heart condition, he or she is often brought to surgery right away, and usually with Tweddell. That's the price you pay for going with the best surgeon. Otherwise, if we choose to go with one of the other two surgeons, we could go with other dates, the earliest being the 10th. We're going to give this some thought and prayer and make our decision tomorrow after Erin's cardiologist appointment. More later....

Change in Erin's surgery date

We received a call this morning from Children's hospital asking to move Erin's surgery date from Sept. 4th to the 5th. As they explained, there is a baby to be born on the 3rd who has a much more serious heart condition than Erin.  Dr. Tweddell will now be doing this baby's surgery on the the 4th, and Erin's was moved to the 5th. That means her pre-op will be moved to the 4th. This plan actually works out better than the old plan because now we do not need to drive to Milwaukee twice (the old pre-op date was the 31st). That's it for now. Thank you for the prayers!

Summer Family Memories

With the busyness of Erin's doctor appointments, we did not manage to leave Wisconsin this summer. But we did have visitors! Tim, Suzy, Aileen and Joe made their annual trip in July. We packed in a lot of fun. All of the royalty members in this household, along with princess Margaret, were waiting anxiously for princess Aileen to show up. Of course they did more than have tea parties and ballroom dances. For example they watched Pinkie Pie and the Ladybug Jamboree a couple dozen times. They painted fingernails and put on dancing performances for all to see. Aileen even demonstrated some of her dramatic dance moves from her recent ballet class. Oh, there were times when these little princesses needed a little coaching in etiquette, but overall, it was a week fit for a queen.




While the princesses kept us entertained, and the younger boys, Conal, Aidan and Joe played, the older crowd went to a Brewer game, which would not be complete without the "Vinnie" jersey!



Then the guys, including cousin Jim, went on a little fishing trip (to say the least!). We ladies expected them to come home with a few fish for dinner. Dinner passed. Hours later, we finally heard from them. (No, they were not hangin' on to a buoy in Lake Michigan, tee hee, Suzy). Rather, they were harvesting, hauling in, and cleaning 38 large salmon and trout. Now that's a fishing trip! (you may need to click the picture to see a close-up).

Our Sweet Erin

Erin has more nicknames than I can remember...."Happy", "Chunky-Monkey", "Chunk", "Peeks", "Sweet Pea", "Punky", "Lucky Seven". While we love her name, somehow a simple "Erin" just doesn't paint the whole picture. She's a magnet for lovable nicknames. In these past five and a half months, she has brought an amazing amount of love into our family. She's my little designer baby; designed by God, with a little extra chromosome. Never could we have predicted how much Erin could teach us. Never could we have imagined how much this little one could bless our family. I'm sure she'll have many, many more surprises for us as she grows up. People often comment to me that she is so fortunate to have been born into our family....that we are the perfect family for her. I'd like to say thank-you for that comment. But more accurately, I'd like to clarify that it's WE who are fortunate. She is the perfect daughter and sister for our family. And she brings out the best in each one of us. Thank you, Lord, for sending us this amazing gift......Erin.

Baird Zoo

Each July our family looks forward to Baird Zoo, a company sponsored event at the Milwaukee Zoo. This year, Mike took the kids by himself because Erin and I were in the hospital. Erin developed a high fever with a UTI the Wednesday before. With her heart condition, it was necessary to have her monitored in the hospital (this was our second hospital stay in two weeks). By Friday, Erin, who was hooked up to monitors and couldn't go more than 5 feet from her crib, was getting bored. Mike and the kids stopped in to see us on the way to Milwaukee. Erin lit up when she saw the kids surrounding her crib. I'm not sure what the kids enjoyed more, the zoo, or the hospital visit.












Erin was so happy to see her siblings.

The Magical Tea Party

Last school year, two high school girls in our homeschool group met with a younger group of girls to practice drama. Bridget and Teresa participated in The Magical Tea Party. Bridget was Mary Poppins and Teresa was Thumbelina. Here they are taking their final bow.

Irish Dance

The first weekend of June was a big weekend for Irish dancing. First, all of the girls participated in a Feis (Irish dance competition) on Saturday. It was Teresa's first feis. Eileen wore her school costume for the first time. Most girls wear wigs for a feis, but since we only own three wigs, guess who had to have her hair curled? Yup, Teresa. Since all the other girls have had to experience the hour-long, hair curling experience, it was only fair that Teresa got to experience that too. She slept on curlers and in the morning we took them out...about 10 min. before her first performance (or at least I think they all made it out of her hair, there may have been a few left in). This whole hair curling experience is the equivalent of at least a few days in purgatory, I think. Next year we will be purchasing another wig. We will finally be all done with hair-curling experiences...that is until Molly Grace turns five.










Then on Sunday, the girls had their annual recital. Since it was just the next day, Teresa did not have to go thru the curling torture again; she just slept with a hair net. This performance was really fun. One of the highlights was Moira's Cotton-Eye Joe hardshoe dance. She had worked for months with the other girls from her dance class on this number. Another highlight was uncle Pat cheering "Peeeeeeeanuuuut" to Teresa from the audience. Here are some photos of the girls, with their grandmothers, and with cousin, Colleen.

Happy Birthday Aidan

Today is Aidan's sixth birthday. He's a pretty easy going guy. When his sister asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said, "Anything for a boy." Simple request for a little guy surrounded by six sisters!

I think he was happy!

Happy Birthday, Aidan!!!  We love you!

There Once Was a Girl...

There once was a girl,

      Who had a little curl,

              Right in the middle of her head.

      When she was good,

                She was very good indeed,

                                                 But when she was bad she was....um, we have no idea!