Praying for Lilli

Please pray for this sweet, sweet baby. (her link is below under Lindsay's heart friends on the blog.....Lilliana)

Lilli, hang tough princess!!!!!!

We love you Annabelle!

The boys had a blast decorating your cupcakes sweet girl.........
And they enjoyed eating them too!
We sang to you twice so that both boys could blow out the candle.
They went a little crazy with the sprinkles and had so much fun! Of course I had to join in on the fun. I think you can guess which one I did for you..............
I had to snicker a little when your mommy said that she got a chocolate cupcake with strawberries because I had this little number in the works as she was telling me how good it was! Mine was good too!
i will try and upload video soon.
Happy Birthday angel baby!
Love,
The Dean's

Lately.......

Well, I never intend on the gap between posts to be three weeks, but that is what has been happening lately. We have been "good" busy and we are so grateful. We are finally recuperated from the holiday season and back to the grind it is! Lindsay has been doing fantastic! She is getting bigger by the day I think and eating just awesome! She will now eat a cracker! I know, it sounds like some very minor milestone, but to Lindsay, this is a HUGE accomplishment. Her favorite, Club crackers. Must be the buttery goodness! Like mother, like daughter. ;-) She also likes goldfish crackers and is crazy about the Gerber yogurt melts. She devours them!! We still give her formula every now and then but for the most part, she is eating similar to an 8 or 9 month old. So exciting! She is getting speedier by the minute when she is crawling and she is doing the same with walking along the couch. I see walking in the very near future! We need a little balance help, but soon I'm sure she will master that too! We go to clinic in AA on February 9th. Hopefully I can manage to get an appointment with the Pediatric Surgeon to get the g-tube removed! Meg said to go ahead and get that started because she is doing so fantastic. However, I need to prepare myself for them to say no too. I do know that she, at any time, can have a set back, but there are other methods to get her fluids if need be. We shall see.

She is also doing well with her eye patch. Because I see her everyday, I'm not sure how much progess she is making with the other eye working its way to being centered, but we will see what the opthamologist says in the next month or so.

Writing today is an emotional one. Annabelle is 2 years old today in heaven! I cannot even imagine the party Jesus has planned for her! We have been blessed beyond belief to have gone through this journey with the Butcher's and our hearts are with them today as they have to celebrate without her. I will post pictures later of how we celebrated Annabelle's birthday.

Things at home have been crazy. Travel season is here and I am finally able to get more things done here at home and can feel somewhat "normal" in the working world again. Even though office hours aren't there anymore, I always get a sense of satisfaction when I can still so what I have always loved to do. I have something else in the works too to "fill in the gap" that I will share at a later date. Just finding things that I think I might love as much as I love the travel business and it is exciting to be able to do these things and be at home with my baby girl! It is a process, but it is coming together slowly, but surely! I will share soon....I promise! Enjoy the photos of our winter at home and I will start disciplining myself into a regular updating routine!

Heart Blessings~

Suzie

Help for fundraising

It's that time again....
We've been given the opportunity to run the concession stand at the Pierce Auction on Feb. 27th from 8am - 5pm. We did this last year and it was worth the one day of work. We have workers in place but still need a few items so we're reaching out for your help.
If any of you have a contact that would be interested in donating any of the following items please respond to the blog or contact Linda at lindal.smith71@yahoo.com .

Items needed:

coffee, sugar, & creamer
100 hot dog buns
100 hamburg buns
large bottles of pop
chips
donuts (4 to 5 dozen)
30# ground beef
100 hot dogs
ketchup, mustard, onions, relish
plates
styrofoam cups
plastic cups

A lot of people help behind the scenes to pull this together and all of that is appreciated.
Thanks for ALL your help!

There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays......

Ready for photo overload????? Enjoy in sharing our events leading to Jesus' Birthday celebration and ringing in 2010. Let's hope that we are a little laid back this year for once!

Lindsay making sure that her brothers aren't trying to watch her video. I think she may be a little feisty in her young age?!

I just had to post these next three because they were just too cute not to. Lindsay found this storage container in the boys' room and what else would you want to do with....of course put it on your head! Cole wanted to be like daddy.........ha ha

Cruz was made to sit at the table until he ate all of his dinner. Apparently this is an alternative to getting what he wanted!

Ok you southerners.......this was our first snow. Whatcha think? ;-) burrrrr

Lindsay's first Christmas present was from a lovely family in Texas. Thank you Meeker family! She loves her new onesie! We are so lucky to have you love our daughter and family so much!

As you can see, Lindsay was not too thrilled with her first visit with Santa. This was by far the best photo I could get. She did calm down, but she was definitely done before she even got on his lap!

We also got a box full of gifts from the Butcher's. Brittney celebrated 1 year with her brand new heart in December and we couldn't be more thrilled for their family! Thank you Butcher's for your thoughtful gesture. The kids LOVE their presents and were so thrilled that someone sent them in the mail! ha ha

This was an extra special gift this year. Two of Lindsay's favorite nurses came to our house for a visit! Sarah and Megan love Lindsay as if she were their own and we couldn't be more blessed to have them in our lives and apart of our daughter's. Lindsay's eyes just lit up when she saw them walk into the house! I had tears in my eyes because I know that she will remember them always!

I think I should have this one framed for you Sarah! Lindsay loved playing dress up with Sarah's sun glasses.

And the gift opening begins...........

Christmas Eve is celebrated with my Dad's side of the family. Cole's big wish was for a telescope.........which of course he got!

Lindsay LOVED her new puppy and purse. I can TOTALLY see this being a real dog someday! ha ha Notice the crown on the purse. True Lindsay fashion!

And Cruz wanted a Leapster of his own.......which he got! Oh these kids are spoiled!

Christmas morning was just surreal. The thought of being home this year was just truly a miracle! Cole even said after we opened gifts........"Man am I glad we don't have to go to Ann Arbor this afternoon!" Must be he wasn't so happy about it last year.......who could blame him! We weren't either but we HAD to see the princess on Christmas and we were going even if we had to walk! Our sweet boys knew it, so they fought back the tears, piled in the van, and off we went. This year we could walk into her beautifully princessed room, scoop her out of her bed, and say Merry Christmas miracle girl. Blessed beyond belief!

Cruz got the gift he had been asking for the whole time..... a little green toy car. Thrilled to say the least! Santa is the best! ;-)

Cole........well, he wanted a snuggie. He is wearing it in the picture......and hasn't used it since! Yeah, great purchase Santa!

Then they opened this.....yes, folks, the Wii. A HUGE thank you to the Bird Family who graciously bought this for our boys and our family. The Poortenga Family was also a contributor to this years stress less Christmas. We are forever grateful for your generosity and willingness to help when you knew things were going to be tight. Our hearts are full!

What princess doesn't have a Tink? When we got her out of the box, she gave Tinkerbell a great big, sloppy kiss! ha ha So incredibly precious!

She loved her new ride on toy. She hasn't quite mastered how to go forward with it yet but does fabulous going backwards!

Who new such joy could come from $10 sleds? The boys each got one. Lindsay wasn't quite thrilled apparently!

The day after Christmas we got to celebrate my Grandma's 80th Birthday! We all gathered for a lovely dinner. It was so nice to be able to celebrate this milestone together!

Ringing in the New Year was very special and emotional for me. 2009 was a flippin' roller coaster! We are praying and hoping that 2010 will be as mild as possible and that we all stay on our steady stream of good health. All five of us were together when we welcomed 2010 and I couldn't be more grateful for that. My mom and Bill were gone to their friends house for the evening so instead of paying for a $200 hotel room for the night and driving on the road with all the crazies!, we had our special evening at their house, made a yummy dinner, watched a movie, and we all played in the hot tub. We all toasted (my yummy drink pictured) at mid-night (of course with me crying!) and then slept in New Year's day. Needless to say, it was fabulous!

For the sake of the worriers, yes, Lindsay can go in chlorine and yes, the hot tub was turned waaaaaay down! Frankly, it is the best thing for her g-tube! The kids had a blast! They slept well too. Is that the key? Do we need to get one?? ha ha

Since the new year arrived, Lindsay has been doing awesome. I think a switch was flipped or something because the girl is now eating more solid food and taking ALL of her meds by mouth! (not including the multi vitamin and the magnesium.....I sneak those into her bottle) Hopefully when we go for her clinic visit in February, we can talk about getting that g-tube out! WOOHOOO! Tomorrow I take her in to the local hospital to get a Holter monitor. This is to see if her new medication, Atenolol, is working to decrease her heart rate a little. This is only for 24 hours (nice!) and then we might have to adjust her med after U of M and Dr. Loker reads it. Praying the medicine is doing the trick!

I have allot of changes going on and allot of things being planned so keep watching for those things to be announced. We are excited to start "paying it forward" to families that have heart babies and to start planning things as a family such as vacations and family outings this summer. The first up is our highly anticipated and re-scheduled vacation to South Carolina! We are PLANNING on spring break for this and God, PLEASE let it happen! ha ha I can't wait to FINALLY meet Rebecca and Mandy and meet as many of their children as possible! It will be a fantastic trip and we cannot wait. The countdown has begun!

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for your support. We have been through the ringer and we are blessed to have all of you to get us through. Our wish for you is to have a happy and healthy 2010!!

Heart Blessings~

Suzie