Jake the Smurf :)

This time next week our family will be putting the final things into our suitcases for our trip to Toronto.  We'll be moving our sweet beautiful girl over to her Nanna and Poppa's house for the forseeable future.  I haven't been able to bring myself to tell Georgia about our leaving yet.  Our last trip feels like it was only yesterday, and I know how hard that was for Georgia.  Georgia and Jake seem to have formed a deep attachment with each other.  Jake smiles the brightest for Georgia, and she loves it when he smiles for her.  Each sound or gesture Jake makes brings Georgia such delight - it's beautiful to watch! And despite all of the extra time that is needed for Jake's care and doctor's appointments, Georgia has not shown any sign of jealousy.  She is one amazing little girl, and I will be missing her like crazy when we leave.

On the brighter side, this trip should not be nearly as long as the first.  Georgia will start preschool, ballet and singing company while we are away, so her life will be full of fun and activity.  And my parent's lives will be extremely full of busyness, chaos and sweetness as Georgia fills up their house with pink dresses, loud squeals and her enormous heart.  I have very real hope that Jacob will come throught this surgery with flying colours, and there will be no additional intervention needed for his pulmonary artery.  We could be home 3 weeks from his surgery if all goes well.  One big difference this time is that Jacob will have his chest closed before he comes out of the operating room. The last surgery his chest was open for 7 days before the real healing could begin.  Jacob is doing well overall.  His oxygen stats are lowering slowly, they seem to be mostly low 70s, occasionally 60s for now, and considering that 100 is the normal oxygen level this is more proof that he needs his bidirectional glenn surgery soon.  My baby boy has blue lips most of the time, and when he is upset he goes from pale to purple in no time at all.  He's my little smurf :)   I weighed him on our home scale today, and he weighed in at 14 lbs 6 oz!!!  My goal all along has been to get him to 15 lbs by the time of his surgery - and I think we might make it.  Go Jakey go - you are an incredible heart warrior and I love you more than life itself.

On Friday afternoon after a long day of appointments for both Jake and myself, I had finally changed into my comfort clothes and started to tackle the untidyness of our house when my doorbell rang.  I opened the door in my pj's with unwashed hair to find someone that we barely know who wanted to wish us well on our upcoming trip, and to give a donation to help cover our costs.  The kindness that surrounds our family is unbelievable.  Thank you.  You know who you are :) It is so needed, and so appreciated.

I realized that I hadn't mentioned Jake's feeding for a couple of posts, and this is because there really is nothing to report.  He's still not bottle feeding or nursing, all feeds are 100% through his feeding tube.  We discovered while Jake was in the bathtub one night, that he likes the "taste" of water.  So, we are now cup feeding Jake water 3-4 times a day so that he doesn't forget how to swallow.  Most of the time he has no problem with it, which gives me some hope for when we introduce solids after this surgery.  My poor boy is also teething...He is normally so happy but now he will have crying spells where he cannot rub his gums enough or get a teether into his mouth fast enough.  Oddly, his favourite thing to chew on seems to be blankets :)

In my life, coffee has become a very dear friend.  Tea has taken the back burner for now, or is my substitute when there is no almond milk around for my coffee.  I was very surprised that Starbucks doesn't carry almond or rice milk, but they told me that if I bring in my own almond  milk they can make any drink with it.  Now I normally have a juice box of almond milk in my diaper bag or purse :) Ah, the life of a diary free Mom.

Heading out to church with my family this morning.  This will likely be my last chance for at  least a month so I plan to enjoy it.  It's a Cast Your Burdens on Jesus kind of day in my world.

1 Peter 5:7

New Living Translation (NLT)

7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.