Autumn and Daddy's Trip to Pilot Mt.

I took the day off to burn up some leave that I would otherwise lose at the end of the year. I've been longing to get outdoors more often like I used to before I had kids, so I decided to take Autumn to Pilot Mt. I also wanted to see how Autumn would do on the rocks since she loves to climb. She did alright; she was very cautious. We had a good time up there, eating our lunch and hiking around for a couple hours.

Santa Pictures

Today we went to the mall with my mother for her birthday. She use to love to take us to the stores to see Santa and I thought she would enjoy seeing Noah's first visit and Autumn's first real visit that she initiated. She was still a little unsure but when she saw Noah being a big boy she decided to give it a try.

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Noah's Baptism Completion

Noah's Baptism was completed yesterday. He was baptized in the hospital on the day he was born, which was the most spiritually enlightening event that’s ever occurred for me. They couldn’t re-baptize him yesterday, so they welcomed him into the church. It was a beautiful ceremony, a gorgeous day, and a blessing for us to be surrounded by our wonderful family and some of our best friends. The picture below is of my family along with Noah’s new Godfather Adam and his new Godmother Rebekah. For a glimpse of how it feels to become Noah’s Godmother, please read Rebakah’s blog, Beckaboo.

Noah At Nine Months

Noah turned nine months old yesterday. I'm sre that he knew I'd be taking pictures of him for that reason, so he pulled his feeding tube out to show the camera his whole face.

Zero Rejection!!!

Hello all I just thought that I would post a quick note letting you know that Noah had his 5th biopsy this past Monday and it came back with ZERO rejection. All his numbers look good and the only reason they increased one of his medications was because he is getting so big! Praise God! He also now receives 4 less syringes a day because he is out growing his reflux problem. He got his first tooth this past Saturday and he is trying so hard to say his first word. I wish it would be mama but he keeps saying da. Figures! Thanks for the prayers, Take care!

Yesterday's Trip to Duke for a Biopsy

Noah went back to Duke for a biopsy yesterday. That’s where they go into his heart through his neck to observe the heart and take a few tissue samples. They observe the heart to determine how well it’s functioning and the tissue samples are to test for rejection. The rejection results haven’t come back yet, but the cardiologist who performed the biopsy said that the heart function is looking good. He said that the muscle is still a little thick, but it sounded like Noah is growing into it. While Noah was in the cath lab, Maria and I ate some breakfast and prepared our letter of thanks to the donor family. We dropped the letter off to a lady on his transplant team and talked with her for a while. Then Maria and I went to recovery to hang out with Noah until they discharged him. Once we were free, we brought Noah up to the PICU to see some of his old nurses. We got a warm homecoming there – that’s our favorite part about going back to the hospital. Then we ate some lunch and headed back to pick up Autumn from our neighbors, for whom we are very thankful. We owe our neighbors some cookies or something for taking Autumn so early in the morning. When we finally got home, we all took a nap.

Great Grandma Visits and Noah Has a Tooth

Great Grandma Garcia visits with Noah

Mommy attempts to photograph the first tooth

We had to remove the feeding tube, so why not take a picture

Autumn with a few friends Trick or Treating around the neighborhood.

Kids Eating With Utensils