Liftoff.

An open letter to those sitting within ear shot of seats 43B and 43C:


We're sorry. We know we could have just driven somewhere. We know you paid good money for your seats. We know you deserve a vacation just as much as we do. And we know you like it quiet. Real quiet. We've worked really hard all week attempting to adjust Eva's schedule. Hopefully she'll just smile and bat her eyes at you, making you feel bad for judging such young parents. In the likelihood that she does blowup in an act of infant terrorism, please forgive us. She's not dangerous, just loud. We'll be there soon enough ... and the drinks are on me.


Sincerely,
The couple sitting in 43B and 43C

Corrie, Eva and I are taking our first family vacation tomorrow! We're headed to Kauai, Hawaii and couldn't be more excited. We'll be spending the week with Corrie's immediate family in a (hopefully) great little beach house. Corrie has not only been working hard at Wirtz Hellenkamp, LLP ... writing some incredible and exhaustive motions ... while being an amazing mother to Eva, wife to myself and friend to all. I've enjoyed all the end of year festivities that come with being a College Pastor and making arrangements for a return to Malawi in August. Eva's heart has been stable since our last hospital stay. She is growing into a strong willed and curious little adventurer. She crawls all around the house and is obsessed with anything that has a cord. Her latest trick is pulling herself up, which she does often with a huge smile on her face.

Though we're not going to get to sleep in too much on this vacation, hopefully we'll get to unwind on the beach and enjoy some amazing hikes, conversations and meals together as a family.

Here goes nothing ...

Mother's Day

All Corrie wanted for Mother's Day was to sleep in.

It is now 9am.

Corrie has been asleep for nearly 10 hours.

Dad wins!

We have been on the go the past few weeks. From surprise hospital stays, to a weekend trip to Newport Beach with friends, to huge motions due at Corrie's work, to interviewing 13 potential interns, to midnight showings of Iron Man 2, and to living with out deodorant for a week because it has taken us that long to unpack our suitcases from last weekend ... life has been full. Last night we were able to put our lives back in order. By order I mean that we put our suitcases away, folded laundry, officially baby proofed the house, properly deoderized and caught up on TV shows (I know we're pathetic ... but we now can talk with our friends about the latest Office episode!).

As I celebrate Mother's Day, I celebrate an amazing wife and mother who does it all. Even though she may forget her deodorant, she never forgets to be an amazing mom to Eva and (at times) myself :)

Here are some pictures from Eva's first time at the pool.

I'm home.

Hey dudes,

Well, my luxury vacation is over. Mommy and Daddy have ruined my fun and made me leave the hospital. I had lots and lots of fun with my nurses and doctors. I was living the good life... getting waited on hand and foot... being the center of attention... making smiles for all the hospital folks. But, now I am back home. Mommy says she is glad my vacation is over, but I was just settling in and getting comfy. Oh well. Back to normal.

Eva

The latest

Adam spoke with Eva's doctor. We have been cleared to be discharged, which means we should be out of the hospital hopefully sometime this early afternoon.

They are going to be putting Eva back on propranolol, in addition to the flecainide. The two drugs work well together and should hopefully help keep her heart rate normal. There are no anticipated new side effects from being on both drugs... it shouldn't make her dopey or sleepy ... or Bashful or Sneezy or Grumpy or Doc.

The prognosis is still otherwise the same. The doctor is hopeful she will grow out of this. As long as she does not continue to have episodes, we will not plan on increasing her dosage and will eventually ween her off the medications all together. For now though the doctor said continue on normally. There are no restrictions on what she can eat or what she can do.

Thanks for the love... for us and for our daughter. We feel tired, but at peace. He's got the whole world in His hands.

Quick Update... more to come

We made it through the night. Eva got maybe 4 hours of sleep...2 here, 2 there. But her heart has remained stable and she looked happy this morning... tired but happy.

We haven't seen her doctor yet this morning, so we don't have details, but will post them as soon as we do. Just wanted to let you know that everyone is doing okay.

We're back.....

We are back in the hospital with Eva. She had another SVT episode and Adam and I couldn't break her out of it. We spoke with the cardiologist on call over the phone and he told us to bring her to the emergency room.

In the ER they admitted her right away, started an IV, and administered the drug that broke the episode. The good part about having a heart problem is that they skip right pass all the kids with broken arms and barking cough and rush you into the back like a VIP. (Seriously the girl in line in front of us had barking cough. Adam thought there was a dog in the waiting room.)

Anyhow, we were just admitted from ER into the critical care unit where they will watch her overnight. Same nurse we have had before, same wing, but a new room. Thank the Lord, we have a single this time.

I am tired of this, but still am in decent spirits. An ER nurse told Adam and I that we were the calmest parents she's seen in an emergency. We are getting good with emergency. We are seasoned professionals at this. We can now pack calmly for a hospital stay in about 10 minutes... compared with that first stay when Adam came running in the door and bashed his knee and I was running around the house like a crazy lady throwing everything I own (my sewing kit included...just in case) into a suitcase.

We will see her specialist tomorrow and should work out a plan with him for her treatment. Maybe she will be on two meds instead of the one.

I am planning on going into work tomorrow and adam and our nanny katie will watch her from here like "normal."

Now it is almost midnight and my daughter who has three different strong meds in

her is still awake. She also just peed all over my shirt. Awesome.

Adjustments

Life is full of adjustments.

It's now been a week and a half since our last hospital stay and life is (somewhat) back to normal. Eva sleeps (sometimes), eats (all the time) and moves (whenever she gets the chance). About this moving business ... we used to be able to lie her on the ground with a toy and she was content. We could get some work done or watch a show, and she got some serious play done. All were happy. Yesterday we put her down by the TV and she rolled and scooted all the way to our living room. She rolled down the step separating the two rooms, under the dining table, around the chairs and found herself contently next to the windows looking out over the canyon pondering the beautiful view. She's a very pensive baby. Eva also had her 6 month checkup last week and she's growing and developing right on schedule. We're thankful that her heart condition hasn't interfered with her growth.

Corrie and I are working and friending and cooking and cleaning ... all the usual stuff. She has a few big summary judgments due at work over the next couple weeks, so I'm getting ready for some crazy weeks ahead. I'm going to be doing interviews for our next lucky batch of college interns and preparing for a trip back to Malawi in August. We're also looking forward to a mini vacation this weekend with some friends in Newport Beach.

Life is full. And we are adjusting well.

Ps.  Eva's cousins sent Eva a "really cool" Batman towel. For some reason the super powers haven't kicked in yet.