Hawaii

We have some wonderful news! We have not shared this with too many people, yet we've known for some time now.

Jadyn has been selected and is receiving a WISH from a wonderful foundation called Make a Wish. I'm sure most of you have heard of this foundation and connect it to terminally ill children. I want to calm your thoughts, and tell you Jadyn is not terminal. This foundation grants wishes to children who have a life threatening illness as well. Children, like Jadyn, who's heart if left un-repaired would have been fatal.

Our daughter fought a very tough battle living with a un-repaired heart for 2 years in a poor orphanage. And getting handed over to funny talking white people she is being told are her 'Mommy & Daddy'. Just two short weeks after coming home from China, Jadyn had her first open heart surgery. Her oxygen levels so low, she had doctors and nurses coming into her hospital room; to meet the little girl who lived with these levels that would have killed most.

goofy girl!

Just look at her now. We are so proud of this little girl and so excited for her to experience this gift. Jadyn's wish has been granted for her and her family to travel to the beautiful island of Maui, Hawaii for a week of fun, sun, and sand!
We are so excited to witness our daughter seeing an ocean for the first time, swimming in a pool, and playing in the sand.

Jadyn has never been able to enjoy a summer. She was not allowed to play outside in China as the Nannies worried about her heart. We arrived home from China on August 14 2009, and she was in and out of doctor appointments and the hospital the for rest of the summer. Needless to say that her summer fun was cut very short. Jadyn will celebrate her first 4th of July in Hawaii. We leave on Saturday, July 3rd.


I'm hoping Jadyn will enjoy learning these moves!

A week after we get home, Jadyn will have her final heart surgery.

Construction Zone

UPDATE:

It's done, I hope you like it!

My Blog is getting a little professional face life.

So if things look a little weird the next few days thats why!

Bare feet & Sunshine!

I have been looking forward to these warm weekend days for a long time!

Jadyn's first time playing in a sprinkler!

she ran from it at first

then decided it wasn't so bad

until....

her shirt got wet!

I told her it's fine, do it again. Jeron will even help you out

I think she'll get use to these warm days pretty fast

This is fun to drink from too

Yes, she is swinging from the garage door frame!

and she loves it!!

What a great way to tone your arms


because she would like us to push her for hours!!

Silly Girl

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Chef Jadyn

I asked Jadyn if she wanted to help me make a cake. Crazy question, of course she did!
She wasn't sure I said cake when I got the carrots out of the fridge.

enjoying eating one!

She wanted to know if it was Mommy's birthday cake. I said yes, we are making Mommy a cake.
"We will say it was your idea and that you made it for Mommy, OK?"

OK, Mom!


Oh this smells so good




It's done!


and boy is it good!


Thank you Brandy for the recipe!

Surgery Date

I had good intentions of coming home this morning after running some errands and deep clean our house.

Then, I got a phone call from the cardiologists office. She informed me that Jadyn was officially in the schedule book. Now, my mind is a mess. The thought of this next surgery stresses me out.

She is terrified of doctors and I can't promise her this wont hurt, like I have her check-up appointments.

She is scheduled for Wednesday July 14, 2010 for a heart cath. this is a relatively fast procedure, but she does have to be sedated. More than likely she will be dis-charged the same day.

We will then return 2 days later, on Friday July 16, 2010 at 6 am for her heart surgery. That is only 9 weeks away! They will be doing a procedure called the Fontan. This procedure re-routes the inferior vena cava to the pulmonary artery.

For those of you that are new to our blog or don't remember her condition. Jadyn was born with transposition of the great arteries, meanings, just as it says, her main 2 arteries are backwards.

She also has a VSD which stands for Ventricular Septa defect. This is a hole in the heart, Jadyn's VSD is very large, too large to close and expect her heart to function properly. This is the reason that she is having this 2 stage surgery.

If it were just the TGA, the Doctors could have reversed that. I should say, if she were born in the USA, they could have done the reversal surgery. They don't perform reversal surgeries in China.

The fact that Jadyn has a VSD is a huge blessing, she would have died soon after birth had she not had that defect. This hole allowed her blue and red blood to mix and be oxygenated.

This surgery will complete the repair that her heart needs for her to live a healthy, happy life.

To give you an idea of how low her oxygen level was, when we came home from China we took her to the pediatric cardiologist who reviewed her referral file for us. (we just love him, he has been awesome to Jadyn and our family) Her oxygen saturation levels were in the low to mid 70's. Even dipping to the 60's when she would cry. Yours and mine are in the high 90's. After her Glenn surgery her levels were in the mid to high 80's, where they are today. After her Fontan surgery, she will be in the mid to high 90's.
She gets out of breath pretty fast when she runs or jumps, this will improve greatly and so will the blue-ish lips.

So even though I am very stressed for her, she will feel like a "normal" child once this is over. She will be able to run and play like every other 3 year old.

Here is a picture of the 2 stage surgery, Jadyn had the Glenn done on September 3, 2009


Ames and I have learned more about the human heart this last year than we thought possible. I remember after Jadyn's first surgery, Ames asked the surgeon a question and his first response was " wow, you have done your homework". I have to agree, we have.

9 months ago today.....

Jadyn became our daughter. Where has the time gone? It feels like she has been with us forever. But when I think back, I cant believe it's already been 9 months since we were in China.

She was so much like a baby when we got her. Now she is a big girl, who insists on her toe's being polished, wearing flip-flops and telling her brothers what is right and wrong.
She is sure that she is the boss!

Jadyn is a lover of Elmo, yogurt, green salad, and her baby dolls. She adores her siblings and everyone in her extended family. She also loves to play outside.

Her dis-likes are few, but the top of the list would be Doctors and fruit.


Mommy was pulling weeds and Jadyn was pulling flowers!


These pictures are from early last week, our weather
has been awful, so we haven't had much time for outside fun.


a couple pictures from today


her idea of a pose!