She is 6 months old!

Well, Meladee is six months old and just keeps me going everyday.  She is trying to sit up on her own and wants to stand all the time and thinks it is funny.  She is rolling over when she wants to mainly to get something she wants or if she is in the bathtub.  And she jabbers all the time and starting to laugh but she smiles all the time and this little girl knows she is cute.

She is also starting to notice who is a stranger or who hasn't been around for a while and she will just look at them and stare for a long time before she will say anything to them, it is funny.

She is a little over two weeks from her Open Heart Surgery.  Her pre-op appointment has been changed to the 7th of March, she that will give her four days to recover from that very long day.  She is one tough little girl.

Meladee has also started her Early Headstart program and her teacher is great with her and she loves Ana and plays with her.  It will be fun to see what she will pick up from this.  But what is nice, as long as she stays with this program until she is 3 or 4 she will get into the headstart program without having to be put on a waitlist.  I love it.

Meladee's day at the zoo

Yesterday Meladee got to go to the zoo with grammy, papa, momma and Jake and she had a blast.  She really took note of the animals that where moving and really like the Sea lions that would swim directly at her and then at the last second they would turn.  Then there was a Walrus that kissed her through the glass and she laughed at it.  She had a good day but was a very tired girl in the end.

Echo and MRI

Today  Meladee had her sedated Echo and MRI, she did really well and came out of it great.  We came home two hours before they figured we would.  The doctor may call me in the next few days to let me know what the plan is for surgery now.  The pictures are of her in her hospital gown, and her just after she work up and her pretty on her hand from where her IV was.

Surgery for Meladee

So today I got a call from Children's Hospital Cardiology and it was the surgery scheduler.  We have scheduled Meladee's surgery for March 12th.  Pre-Op will be done on March 9th. 

Many people still have questions about her heart condtion and what it is and what they are going to do.  Basically this surgery is a repair surgery.  They are going to patch two holes in her heart and open up a narrow artery and trim her heart muscle because it is a little bigger than it should be.

What she has is a Complete AV Canal Defect and Tetralogy of the Fallot.  Here is descriptions of both"

Complete AV Canal defect (CAVC)

What is it?
A large hole in center of the heart affecting all four chambers where they would normally be divided. When a heart is properly divided, the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs does not mix with the oxygen-poor blood from the body. A CAVC allows blood to mix and the chambers and valves to not properly route the blood to each station of circulation.

Tetralogy of Fallot

What is it?

A heart defect that features four problems.
They are: 

• a hole between the lower chambers of the heart
• an obstruction from the heart to the lungs
• The aorta (blood vessel) lies over over the hole in the lower chambers
• The muscle surrounding the lower right chamber becomes overly thickened 

If you would like to read more about both of these, more information is avaible at www.heart.org, is the American Heart Assocation website.

We love you all and thank you all for all the support we have gotten.  I will keep you updated as time goes on.

Snow

So we got home Monday just before that snow storm came in, so the next few days we were stuck at home.  My mom and I decide to take Meladee out in the snow to see what she thought.  She wasn't to sure about it because it was different for her.  But from the pictures you can tell that she liked it.

Meladee's First Trip on a Plane to Montana

Meladee and I went to Montana to see her Auntie Deb, and cousins Grace, Ashley and Thomas.  She feel in love in with Thomas and thought he was great and would follow him around any time she saw him.  She also meet Aaron and Lil who is Deb's dad and step-mom and also met Carolyn who is her Uncle Scott's mom.

We also went to Missoula to meet my mom's friend Diane from grade school and Meladee really liked her as well.  She smiled and laughed and talked to Diane.

As for the trip on the plane she slept on both flights both ways and no one knew she was there.  She did really well even with the delay in leaving Seattle and the very short layover on Salt Lake City on the way to Montana and when we came home she played on the floor in Salt Lake City until we got back on the plane on the way home.

                                                     Thomas and Meladee

                                                    Lil and Meladee

                                                    Aaron and Meladee

                                                    Meladee and Auntie Deb

Meladee and Carolyn

Why I did this.

I decided to start this blog for Meladee so that it would be easier to keep everyone updated on what is going on with her and what has happened before I started this blog.  Also, when she has surgery I can write about what is going on and how she is doing.  I can also post special pictures of her and just jot down what she did one day or just something out of the blue that she did as well.  I hope everyone enjoys this.