London

I've been thinking about updating for awhile, but knowing it would be a bit of a lengthy post, I wanted to find time to sit down and write.  First things first, we had an amazing time in London!  We had basically a 10 day vacation visiting Oliver's brother in London and in Wales for his wedding.  The girls were good on the flight over and we had Oliver's parents to help us on the flight. When we arrived in London we went into the city and they spent the week in Bath.  We did lots of sighseeing in London and the girls enjoyed being strolled around the city and shown the sights.  It was on the cold side, but not very rainy, so we managed.  We had a great apartment that we rented, which was in a good location and had 2 bedrooms, and a kitchen.  The wedding was beautiful and it was an all around great trip.  It was nice to be able to enjoy a real family vacation.

Germ season is clearly upon us as both of my girls have had stomach bugs in the past 2 months, but luckily Oliver and I have escaped it.  Sofia's was particularly persistent over 14 hrs. and involved a trip to the ER as she wasn't keeping anything down .  The next day she bounced right back and was fine.  She is doing well heart-wise.  She has done well since her heart cath and is doing well on coumadin.  We have now gotten her at a good dosage and we were able to get a home testing device and monitor her levels at home.  She now only has to be tested once per month at home, so the frequent trips to the lab are going to come to an end, which is nice.  She had a cardiology check up this week and Dr. Edwards said how good she looks, which is what we like to hear.  Her echo was good and it was uneventful, which is great. 

She is being followed by a gastroenterologist ever since it was discovered she had gallstones back in June.  One of the reasons we took her to the ER when she had the stomach bug was to rule out that her gallstones weren't what was causing her to be sick.  And over the past few months, when her liver is palpated, it seemed to be larger than normal, but her blood work had been normal.  She then had one result that showed a slightly elevated AST and ALT.  The gastroenterologist recommended that we recheck, do an ultrasound and then meet again in January.  Thankfully, her bloodwork and ultrasound were both normal in October and November, so I'm hoping for a good appointment in January with her.  I'm hoping her liver had just taken its time to recovery from her heart surgery in May and that these issues are behind us at this point.  I also know that Fontan patients can develop liver problems due to their elevated venous pressues, so I would expect she is always monitored for these issues.  I also hope that they know more about these problems and have a course of treatment by the time Sofia reaches an age where this could be a real problem for her and patients with similar anatomy.

There is big cause for celebration tomorrow because it is Sofia's 4th birthday!  I truly cannot believe she is going to be 4.  When she was born I couldn't imagine what things were going to be like when Sofia was a toddler and preschooler and into the future, and I am so very proud of this sweet, beautiful girl.  I can't wait to see her excitment on her big day and celebrate Christmas with her, Oliver, and Adelaide this year. 

Adelaide celebrated her 2nd birthday in London.  She is becoming such a big girl and has a vocabulary to rival her sister's at that age.  She is sweet and sassy and still a mommy's girl.  She loves her big sister and it can be very cute to watch them together.

I am so thankful to have these beautiful girls and my heart just breaks for the parents who had their children taken from them this week in Connecticut.  I just cannot imagine life without my girls, and I pray for these families because their lives will never be the same.  So, so sad.

The four of us at Thomas and Selena's wedding

                                                           Adelaide on her 2nd birthday