4 months

Our little boy turned 4 months Monday. What a blessing he has been. We started him on cereal at 3 1/2 months and he has had bananas also. He LOVES to eat! At his appointment he was almost 16 pounds and 26 inches. He is laughing, cooing, holding up his head like a little turtle, scooting around and practically sitting up! Dr. Krishnan was shocked at how strong he is.
He is quite a mommy's boy. Not a real big fan of other people caring for him, especially in the evening! He had his first night in his crib Sunday and had the longest period of sleep in a bit. 4 hours! Yeah he is an eater. We are attending Mrs. LouAnn's music class and he loves it. The whole day after class he coos and sings. Much to my dismay he likes to watch cartoons with his sister. But it does buy mommy a few minutes to get things done.

Ashlynn is more amazing then ever. She is such a learner. Our little scientist. Her favorite show at the moment is Sid the Scientist. She loves to explore, to learn, to create, to sing, to dance, to talk, to listen, ....the list goes on and on. There is not much she doesn't like to do. We have been doing a lot of "Montessori" type activities and I am always amazed by her ability to focus and pay attention to a project. She has been practicing her letters and is pretty good at writing her name and wrote love on a picture she drew of her family today! She spends a good amount of time on the computer and today when I walked into the room she was typing her name. Crazy! I am excited for her to go to school but I know I will miss her terribly. She is so ready for it though.

I have spent a lot of time lately by myself at nights, with Steve's new job, and what I have realized is that we are so blessed. Our children are such incredible gifts from God and I am certain that all the trials and tribulations have guided Steve and I to a life full of love and endless possibilities. Motherhood is by far the best job in the world!

Memories

Steve and I just read through Ashlynn's first year blog. What a great way to preserve memories. Our computer crashed shortly after Ashlynn was born so we don't have any pics or videos from younger than 6 months except those that are on FB or our blog. So I am determined to blog more.

Elijah is almost 3 months old. He is a very active boy. He has been to the beach, hunted for Easter eggs, had a blast at his sister's pirate party, been dunked in the pool, and tagged along on many exciting adventures with his big sister.

At 2 months he weighed in at 12.9 lbs and 24 1/2 inches. He loves to eat, drool, sit up in his bumbo, put toys in his mouth, and yes he even likes tummy time. I am excited to start feeding him cereal because I still feel like he eats ALL the time. He smiles and talks a LOT! However, he is a mommy's boy. He is not a big fan of men but loves his daddy!! Ashlynn is a fantastic big sister. She loves to give him hugs and kisses, lay on the floor and play with him, and talk to him.

Having 2 kiddos is definately different but I am truely enjoying it. Sometimes dinner or naptime can be hairy but since Elijah will eat anytime he is presented with milk I just nurse while reading books, eating dinner, and patting bottoms.

Ashlynn will start a 2 day prek program in September. Although I am so sad, I know that it will be fantastic for her. She is sooooo smart. She is writing, recognizing and telling the sounds of most the letters in the alphabet. She has a wild imagination and loves to tell stories, play with her doll house and zoobles, go for adventures and recently she is addicted to Starfall and her IxL gaming system.
She is still a pretty good sleeper. Takes an hour to 2 hour nap everyday, goes to bed like a champ but has recently been coming in our bed in the middle of the night.
She is an incredible eater as far as variety. She loves peppers, cucumbers, carrots, all fruit, pasta, and such. She is not a huge fan of meat but does eat it. She is currently growing a vegtable garden and loves watering the plants and watching the changes.
It has been over 3 months since her surgery so at this point we are assuming that she is "cured", which is the most amazing event in our lives. When we talk about those early days, it almost seems surreal. I wouldn't change a day of it however. It made Steve and I, our family and closest friends so strong and perhaps our hearts are bigger because of her.

Big things are yet to come and I will try to keep this log of memories more up to date.

So much has happened! So blessed!

I sit here in my quiet house, 2 little angels sleeping soundly. I am excited to actually have a moment to sit down and write about the adventures and excitement that has filled our lives the past several months. I notice that my last blog entry was from July. Wow how time flies.

In that time, Ashlynn has grown from a baby girl to a little girl. We know that one day soon she will be grabbing her lunchbox and heading off to school. Last year, Ashlynn had a series of very scary events in relation to her WPW. The first was by far the most frightening event since she was a newborn.

In late November, Ashlynn caught a pretty nasty cold. She had a raspy cough and her cousin Lily had been diagnosed with croup, so we took Ashlynn to the dr. She gave her an inhaler to help clear up her wheezing. She received 2 doses and that morning around 5:30 she meandered into our room. Freezing cold and covered in sweat. She went back to sleep and when the alarm went off she was unresponsive. We tried diligently to wake her but after 5 minutes and a trip to the shower, we called 911. She was in diabetic shock and her blood sugar was 18. My world and heart shattered as I watched them attempt to revive her in the back of the ambulance. Her arms convulsing as if she was having seizures. That day they flew her to St Joe. Dr. McCormick was shocked by the event. He said that maybe once a year do they see this happen. We made a plan and headed home. He directed us to take her to the hospital the next time she was in SVT so that it was documented and then we would do the ablation. A month went by and the night before Christmas Eve she went into SVT. Reluctantly we took her to the hospital. Unfortunately, they could not break her SVT and after several frustrating attempts the put our angel in an ambulance and headed to St Joe. Once there, she broke out of the SVT. Thankfully Dr. McCormick got us home for Christmas and we scheduled Ashlynn's ablation. On February 25th, 2011 Ashlynn was admitted to St. Joe and they began mapping her heart. Less than 4 hours later, Dr. McCormick strutted into the waiting room and gave us the best news ever. "Surgery was a success. She was doing great. Treat her as if she never had an SVT." Thrilled and shocked we waited to see our brave princess.
It has been over a month and Ashlynn is SVT free, medicine free and can eat chocolate now too!
She will be 3 years old in less than a month and every day she amazes me. She will start school in August and she is very excited!

Ashlynn had another GREAT change in her life this year!!!! She is a big sister. Elijah James Richardson was born on March 25th, 2011 at 8:00pm. Our big boy was 10 lbs 2 oz and 21 1/2 inches long. He is absolutely incredible and Ashlynn is a fantastic big sister. She loves to help burp Elijah, get mommy diapers and sing to him when he is upset.

Elijah is a blessing and we are so in love with him. He is so strong and loves to eat. I can not wait to spend time with my 2 angels.

Time Flies

I wish I had the dedication to write every day, every week or even every month in Ashlynn's blog so that I can document all the fantastic events in her day to day life. In the past 4 months, Ashlynn has had a penguin blast with family and friends, visited the Magic Kingdom for the first time, worked hard on peeing like a big girl, moved into a new house, watched dolphins at the Motte Aquarium, and so much more.
She amazes us everyday with her intelligence, curiosity and love of reading. Recently Ashlynn must have a book in bed with her for nap and bedtime. Then when she wakes up she lays there and reads out-loud. I need to set up a video camera one of these days.
Dr. McCormack took Ashlynn off of her flecinede at the end of June. It had been 6 months since her last SVT. We were excited but extremely nervous. Unfortunately our fears where confirmed when she woke up very upset from nap this weekend. She worked hard to get herself out of SVT but ultimately I had to vagel her with a bag of green beans. McCormack put her back on flecinide and we go back on June 28th. He plans to discuss surgery in 1 year (not waiting till 5).
Everyday is an adventure with Ashlynn. I am loving my summer break with her but dreading the return to school.
Here are some pictures of the past celebrations.

Ashlynn's World Keeps Getting Better

Reminded today how truly blessed we are. A trip up to St. Pete is a great way to remember that life could be much worse. And yet you look at other children and their families and you see the strength in their eyes. Ashlynn had a 6 month appointment with Dr. McCormick. We have been discussing how they would put stickers on her to listen to her heart and we tried very hard to prepare her for the appointment....but it didn't work. She cried so hard but she did stay put on my lap which was a new behavior. She placed the EKG stickers on Curious George, mommy, daddy and our nurse. So all in all we were very proud of her. Dr. said that her EKG looked good. He was concerned that she had actually lost a little over a pound in the last 6 months. We called Dr. Krishnan her ped. and she was not concerned so that was a relief. She grew from 73 cm to 88 cm. She is just stretching. :) McCormick did want to do a 24 hour halter monitor, so that has been a bit uncomfortable but all in all it doesn't even bother her.


I can't believe that our little girl is almost 2. She has become quite the little character. She is talking up a storm. Some new words that are hilarious include..cool, nice, poop, Amen, airplane, and pretty much anything she wants to say. She still signs a little but all in all she is a talker.

We have been working a little on potty training and she has been doing good. But we are not pushing it. She poops every once in a while and pees at least once a day. She helps get dressed, feeds the cats and dog, puts her clothes in the hamper, brushes her hair and teeth, cleans up her toys, wants to use big girl forks and cups, is counting almost to 10 and singing ABCs. I am amazed with her every day and thankful for this time.

She loves her friends even though she doesn't see them much. She talks about them all the time. We ask her at the end of the day what "fills her bucket" or what her favorite part of the day was and her answers amaze me. Kisses, hugs, Emma, JJ, momma, love, Amen.


We are traveling to KC on Friday and hope that it goes great.


Can't wait for her birthday. Be on the look out for penguins in Florida!!!

Yipee for 4 day weeks.

4 day weeks are not so bad. Yesterday our Habitat for Humanity day got canceled so we had a whole day with nothing to do....Well of course there was plenty to do, but none of it was scheduled.

WPW update: After blood tests, Dr. McCormick up'd Ashlynn's flecainide and propranolol dosages. The tests actually indicated that she was not at a theraputic level, so he was comfortable increasing without a visit. We go back in March. We are all very thankful that a change in medicine was not necessary.

Potty update: Ashlynn "was" successfully using the potty daily until I decided to put up a sticker chart for her. I used a large blue laminated calendar. Last Wednesday she put her 1st sticker on it...and...then did not use the potty again until yesterday (when I took the chart down). She is so interesting. However, after she got her stickers yesterday she wanted to put them on the wall where the calendar was. She found the calendar in my room and put the sticker on it. She cracks me up.
My goal is to not stress about the potty situation. But geez sometimes that is easier said than done.

Weather update: It is sooooo nice to be able to play outside again. I know those of you up North will be mad about my following statement but....2 weeks of cold is ENOUGH!!! :) Ashlynn is enjoying her swing set, soccer balls, Luke and of course BUBBLES outside everyday!

And last but certainly not least the....

Holiday update: I just realized I have not posted anything about Christmas! Probably because I know that I could write for hours about what an incredible Christmas we had. Ashlynn of course made out like a bandit. So many wonderful toys, adorable clothes and precious books.

Her favorites include her sock monkey (she sleeps with it nightly), art table, mega blocks, Noah's Ark book, and Little People animals (to name a few :)).

Christmas Eve we went to Grandma Toni and Grandpa Mark's house (where Mark was the big hit)! It was super special this year because all of our family (that lives in Florida :( ) where there. Grandma and Grandpa had wonderful food, kick butt bbq and we all had a great time.






3:00 am Ashlynn woke up very upset. She never wakes up crying in the middle of the night so we got worried and went to listen to her. We brought her into our room after a few attempts of getting her back to sleep. She pretended to lay down and close her eyes. 30 seconds letter she lifted her head, looked at us, and said "Ho, Ho, Ho". Hysterical!!!

Needless to say Ashlynn slept in till after 9. We finally woke her up (crazy I know). She came out to her big wheel Tinker Bell bike and art table assembled under the tree. There was no need for any other gifts :) Christmas day was relaxing. We saw the whole family and even some of the clan from North Port. The Lee boys went wild for their new Rock Band game and Ashlynn received her penguin game and the famous sock monkey.







We are so blessed.

Wanted to share our amazing holiday photos.
Photographers: Allison and Jay McCarraher
Location: Lakes Park







Think that is everything.

Minus the stressful things like medical bills and Chase Home Modification Program. :)

We live a blessed life and I am thankful for everyone and everything in it.

Wow time flies

So I have decided that attempting to blog daily is not feasible. So my new goal...weekly.

In the past week....., well...., a whole lot of hearts were broken. Families went through tragedies that I can not even fathom. I held my family a little tighter, prayed a lot harder, and took those extra moments to appreciate life. In the mist of all this sadness I saw people rise to greatness. The human spirit is incredible especially when called to action.

I pray that those affected by the tragedy in Haiti will find peace and support.

On a more bright note, in a workshop today I learned to be a "bucket filler". And I have been thinking about it a lot. Check it out www.bucketfillers101.com What can I do everyday to fill the buckets of my students, family, friends, collegues, or people who simply need their buckets filled.

We are so thankful for everything we have and feel blessed to be surrounding with amazing people.
Love,
The Richardsons