The Heart Walk

The Heart Walk was today.  I wasn’t sure how the weather was going to hold up for us, but it ended up being a beautiful day and lots of fun with our family and friends.  I was proud that we made it there before the 9am start time especially since the kids normally sleep until 8am.  We woke them early, fed them, dressed them and loaded up.  We chose to do the 5K instead of the half one which may have been just a tad bit long for them, but they really did great considering.  We only had one meltdown, which was nothing a little juice and snack couldn’t fix  

The kids with their friends and cousins

Aunt Donna, Cash and Jana came out to show their support!

Madden, our hero

He is doing wonderful, by the way.  If you didn’t know he just had surgery, you would NEVER know!  We went for our one week checkup and the doctors said he looks great.  He is playful.  Active.  Happy.  We are SO thankful! 

Rocco, one cool dude

Little Miss

Jagger

Team Madden –  at the start line, but you would never know that by looking at Sloan!!! LOL!


Great turnout for the AHA!

Mike the Tiger was even at the start line!  The kids weren’t thrilled!!

Such a pretty walk on the LSU campus

Come on team…almost there!

We did it!  And with ONLY a 1 hour and 19 minute finish time – HA!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone that came out or donated to support the American Heart Association.  We believe in their cause!  SPECIAL thanks to Team Madden – Big Pop, G.G., Grandmama, Aunt KeKe, Aunt Sissy, Uncle Travis, Aunt Donna, Jana, Nanny, Meredith, Tiffany, Karoline, Emma, Mary Grace, Jude, Griffin, Rylee, Nate, Cash, and Gavin, for walking with us!  Also want to thank Tim for designing our cool ‘Walking for Madden’ buttons and Dirk for making them for us!  You guys ROCK!

Love,
Kami

Walking for Madden

This Saturday…we are!  The American Heart Association is hosting a Heart Walk in Baton Rouge and with Madden’s diagnosis of complete heart block this last year we wanted to help support and raise awareness for this wonderful organization.  

Please feel free to join us in our walk or donate to a great cause.   Our team name is Team Madden.  We would love to see LOTS of friendly faces on Saturday!

Let’s walk!

Kami

one life saved, one life lost

So first I’ll start with our very praiseworthy news…Madden’s surgery was a success and we are at home tonight!  His heart will always beat at least 80 beats per minute.  Oh how I love that news!  Madden was a trooper.   Despite my attempt to keep him sleeping Friday morning, Madden was Chatty Kathy the whole way to New Orleans!  I think he enjoyed the one on one attention from momma and daddy.  Not to mention when Grandmama, Grandaddy, G.G. and Big Pop got there….he was in heaven!

All smiles!

Before they took him back to the operating room, they gave him a sedative so the separation wouldn’t be so hard for him.  Yeah…I don’t think it was hard at ALL (for him!)  That little dude was so loopy and giddy, I think he would have even let Santa Claus himself take him back.  This made it SO much easier on us.  Still one of the hardest things though.

His surgery lasted about 1 1/2 hours and we got to see him about 30 minutes later.  He was still heavily sedated because they wanted him to lay still and flat for at least 6 hours.  So it wasn’t until the afternoon until we got to see those pretty blue eyes of his.  He was pretty groggy and uncomfortable the rest of that day and night.  I did get to spend the night with him in the PICU so that was another blessing.  We had a better day and night Saturday and this morning his drain was pulled and we were discharged!  I want to say a huge THANKS to Dr. Setty, and all the nurses and staff at Oschner Medical Center that took such special care of our little man!  Sincerest thanks!

Soon after surgery, heavily sedated

One of the few smiles we captured after surgery

Madden is still really sore and weak from his surgery.  So please continue to pray for his recovery and that his incision and abdomen stay protected these next few weeks. 

Now to get to the blog post title.  Friday morning, Madden’s heart was “fixed.” Around the same time Friday morning,  our dog, Lucy was run over by a car and killed.  Ugh.  Not my sweet Lucy.  Nick and I got Lucy a couple years after we got married.  She was the dog I always wanted! A total lap dog.  The kids loved her too.  Ugh.  I got the call late Friday evening.  I wanted to breakdown.  I did a little.  But then I looked over at my sweet little man and I saw his new and improved heart beating in his chest.  Thank you Lord. 

I loved you, Lucy.  I will miss you, Lucy.  I will miss your spastic greetings at the door.  I will miss watching TV with you curled in my lap after the kids have gone to bed.  I will miss your barks letting me know of visitors (except if the kids were napping).  I will miss you “cleaning” up under the table for me after the kids eat a meal.  I will miss carrying you up the wood stairs because for whatever reason, you were too scared to go up by yourself.  I will miss seeing the kids play with you. I will miss walks with you and the kids even if you did get tangled around mailboxes and trees.  I will miss you being snug as a bug by my side at night.  You were a good dog.

R.I.P. Lucy Lambe

Tonight I’m thankful to kiss my four beautiful children goodnight.

Love,
Kami

It’s Carnival Time….

And EVERYBODY’S having fun!  We took the kids to their first Mardi Gras parade on Sunday in Thibodaux, LA.  Such a great time! And I also learned that this was Nick’s first Mardi Gras parade too!  Tell me how it is you get to be 37 years old and have lived in Louisiana for 25+ years and never have been to a parade?!Hmmph.  You think you know someone It made me super excited to experience this with all five of them.

The first timers – before the parade started, eating lunch

How do you like that contraption?!? G.G.’s brilliant design.  And it was very safe, I promise, the ladders were staked down.  I must say it made the parades much more enjoyable for us…to have the kids confined!  They didn’t seem to mind ONE bit.  It makes me giggle to think of what was going through the minds during the parades.  I mean really…who are these people, on big moving things, that are throwing me fun stuff?  There’s music.  Everyone’s smiling.  Everyone’s got their hands in the air.  This is really fun, but weird.  Haha! Can you imagine?

“Throw us something mister!”

I took LOTS of pictures so I put this video together.  It also has pictures of the kids playing with ALL (and boy did they get some stuff!) their Mardi Gras treasures yesterday. 

 

This is how you know a good time was had by ALL…

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!  Hope everyone had a fun and safe one!

Love,
Kami

P.S.  Madden’s surgery is scheduled for this Friday (3/11) at 7am.  Please keep him, the surgical team, and us in your prayers.  I will try to post an update over the weekend. 

A Matter of the Heart

Today, I got to spend the day with just two of the handsome men in my life…Madden and his daddy.  It was nice.  Unfortunately, we weren’t doing anything fun like going to the zoo or out for ice cream.  It was a doctor visit.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an update on Madden and his condition of complete heart block.  Truth is there hasn’t been a whole lot to report until recently.  Since diagnosis in May 2010, he has been monitored for 24 hours via holter monitor every 6-8 weeks with an occasional echo to make sure the structure of his heart hasn’t changed.  Madden has remained asymptomatic – praise the Lord!  But with every checkup, Madden’s resting heart rate has continued to decrease slightly (at diagnosis it was in the 70’s and now it’s in the 40’s) and these latest test results showed that his heart rate dropped to an all time minimum of 37…pretty scary for our very active 2 year old. 

Our cardiologist here in Baton Rouge and another pediatric cardiologist in New Orleans consulted with one another and decided that with his decreasing heart rate, it was time for Madden’s heart to be paced.  So Madden is  having a pacemaker implanted next Friday.  Today was our initial meeting with the doctors in New Orleans that will be performing the surgery.  Of course, we were shaken by the news of his need for a pacemaker so soon.  However, after having our question and answer session with the doctor today, both Nick and I feel very positive and hopeful about going forward with the surgery.  To hear the doctor talk, Madden will live a pretty normal life with  a pacemaker.  There is a short list of things that he won’t be able to do….tackle football, competitive wrestling, use a jack hammer or arc welder…not so bad, right?  Other than those and possibly a few other things, he can do anything his little heart desires.  Rough-housing with his brothers?  Totally fine – believe me I asked!   The most comforting thing that the doctor said to us today was that “Madden’s life will not be dependent upon this pacemaker. Something happens to it and his heart will still be beating.”  Just slower I guess.  Then you just have a matter of let’s call the doc and get an appointment to have the pacemaker fixed/replaced.  So Why, then, are we doing this?, you may ask.  Even though, his life is not dependent on the pacemaker, there is the risk that he may become symptomatic – with one of the symptoms being the heart stops beating.  The doctor assured us that this was a very VERY low risk, but a risk nonetheless.  So we (and the doctors) want to take every precaution that this won’t happen.  We love our little guy WAY too much!

Every night we pray for God to “heal Madden’s heart.”  Although a pacemaker is not what I had in mind when making that request, I believe that it is our answer now.  His heart will work perfectly again.  And I am excited about that!  We humbly request your prayers for Madden and his upcoming surgery and recovery. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts! 

"He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me..." Psalm 23:3-4

Love,
Kami

The Hoe Down Throw Down

I love birthday parties.  I guess it’s because my mom always had cool ones for me and I want to carry on the tradition.  Give me a theme and I’ll run with it!  I don’t know what made me decide the western theme for their second birthday…maybe it was just a good gender neutral theme or perhaps I just love cowboy boots and country music I think the party turned out really cute, but most importantly I think everyone had a good time including the birthday boys and girl.

The invitation…

Nanny Alicia’s dad has a chuck wagon that he was kind enough to let us use for our pictures.  It was cold and the kids weren’t thrilled about their picture being taken…I guess they were playing the part of the “outlaws!” 

The getup…

Boots for my buckaroos

Howdy Cowboy Roc!

Even Big Pop played the part

Although I didn’t get any pictures of the grub table, we served BBQ pulled pork sandwiches with potato salad and baked beans on tin plates.  The waterin’ hole was stocked with root beer and Ma’s Sweet Tea, of course.  

Another awesome cake by G.G.

Jude helped serve the ice cream

cupcakes and Happy Trails mix too!

We sang Happy Birthday four times for four special 2 year olds!

Digging in!

It is always a gamble to plan an outside party in February, but we could not have asked for better weather!  It was a BEAUTIFUL day…sunny skies  and 65 degrees. 

The kids had a blast on the WILD WEST PLAYGROUND

The hitchin’ post photo opp

I think we had about 24 kids at the party.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of every kid on the saddle, but the ones I did were really cute!

A hayride was our cheap entertainment…

Madden, Daddy & Jagger

Nanny, Rocco, Jana & Cowboy Cash

 
Sloan with her BFF Karoline!

The presents…they really got into these this year!

The party favors…

Each cowboy and cowgirl got a personalized hobo bag with some goodies.  We had a cowboy name for everyone like Ringo Rogers, Kid Kiger, Calamity Kaitlyn, etc.  Very fun and the kids loved it!

And the award for the farthest traveled to attend the birthday party…

TTHANKS Uncle Bill and Aunt Pat for coming all the way from Nashville.  We had such a good time with y’all!

Thanks to ALL who came and celebrated another year with us!  We LOVE you all.  And HUGE THANKS to G.G. for helping with the party!  YOU ARE THE BEST!

Love,
Kami