Five Things Friday

1. Travis turned four months old on Tuesday! Whoohoo! The past couple months have really flown by. It is so much fun to watch him learn and grow everyday. Sometimes, he literally takes my breath away. I love that little guy!

2. We took him to his 4 month well baby check today. He weighed in at.......drum roll......11lbs 9oz. Yowza! This kid is getting big. So crazy that he has almost doubled his birth weight! The doctor said everything is looking good with him. He had his immunizations and has been a grumpy pants all night. Thankfully, he is finally sleeping! Here is a picture of him at the doctor's office....it's fuzzy because it was taken with a cell phone.

3. Roger found the cutest little onesie online the other day, bought it and had it shipped. We received it yesterday and I can not wait until he fits into it. The text reads "Chicks Dig Scars". Here is a picture of a t-shirt version of the onesie. Appropriate, right?

4. Travis is really becoming aware of his surroundings! He is now noticing our animals around the house. He'll watch Vinny's tail as it swings back and forth. He'll watch the cats walk on top of me on the couch. It's probably not long until he starts trying to grab them and eat their tails :)

5. On the last post we asked you "lurkers" to identify yourselves and post a comment to tell us who you are. THANK YOU to those of you that did that!! It is so fun to see who is actually reading this blog and it gives us more motivation to keep updating it! We also added a "feedjit" column to right side of the blog. It shows us where people visit our site from. Very interesting to see who is on here! We KNOW we have more visitors than the 9 that commented.....so.....the rest of you please take a minute to tell us who you are and where you found us! Thanks!

Tell Us Who You Are

Totally stole this from a blog I follow....such a great idea!

We have been blogging now since we found out about Travis' heart condition. We have "followers" of our blog that have registered and we appreciate them. But, I know there are a lot more people who read our blog. Delurk yourselves! For fun, leave a comment and let me know who you are and how you found our blog.

Snow Day!

Roger has a four day weekend this weekend so we have been taking full advantage of our family time together. Today's adventure was to find snow! We received a cool snow suit hand me down that is 0-3 month size so we figured we better get some use of it. I was convinced there would be snow in Julian since it has been raining so much here the past month or so. I was wrong :( The only snow left in Julian is dirty remnants of what used to be...sniff, sniff. So, we bypassed Julian altogether (it was CRAZY busy) and headed up the mountain to Mt Laguna. We found snow there, lots of it! Travis didn't really mind the snow... but he'd be happy looking at his hands all day....so I don't usually trust his entertainment judgement calls. Roger and I, however, had a lot of fun taking pictures of our little man in his snow suit. He is so photogenic! Turns out we were really ill-prepared for the snow (we wore tennis shoes and didn't even bring a sled) so we didn't hang out too long. On the way down the hill we decided to go visit auntie Tina and auntie Deb. Travis loves his aunties! It was a really fun day and the best part is...we still have two more days to the weekend! Hooray for four day weekends! Here are some pics of our little snow trip:

Seriously, I LOVE that face! I could nom on those cheeks all day!

A little unsure of the tree stump he was propped up on. Hard to move too much in a big 'ol snowsuit!

Daddy and his boy chilling in the snow. It wasn't very cold out (notice Roger's short sleeves). It was about 54 degrees and sunny.

Mommy and Mr. Man. He is so snuggly! I have so much fun with him!

He wasn't so sure he liked this cold wet stuff.

More Pictures of our snow day.

http://cid-d843a26bcc8dd2a4.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Travis%202132010?ct=photos&sa=439885295

Five Things Friday

1. Today, we visited beautiful Seaport Village in San Diego. we had a good time walking around and shopping. Travis just hung out the entire day checking things out. He is getting so big and alert. He hates being in his stroller for long periods of time but is just fine when he is being carried facing out so he can see everything. We also bought Travis his first little golf club made of wood. It has his name on it. Here's hoping he's a golf star ;)

2. We stopped for lunch at this grill on the water and while we were eating, an older gentleman walked by us and saw Travis sitting on my knee. Travis was just looking around hanging out, being super good. The man stopped and said sarcastically, "What a tough life you have little man". He was trying to be funny, but when he walked away Nicole and I had to laugh. He has NO IDEA what this precious baby has gone through. If he only knew...

3. Travis is sleeping a lot better during the day and sleeping for longer at night. He is also eating like a champ. He sometimes eats 88ml! I remember when we were excited he ate 5ml. He is also growing very quickly. He is weighing in at 11 lbs 2 oz (as of 2/13).

4. A co-worker/friend of mine at the high school had a baby last week. The baby went home and the next day he stopped breathing for a few seconds. They rushed him to the hospital and he has been there since last Saturday. Baby E has had some more episodes of apnea (not breathing while he sleeps) since he arrived at the hospital. He also having a problem with his heart. It is not a major issue that will require surgery, but should fix itself in its own in time. They are still running a ton of tests on Baby E to try and figure out exactly what the problem is. Please pray for Baby E and his family for a quick recovery. Being at the hospital with your baby is one of the hardest things ever. Pray they come home soon.

5. Travis is starting to talk alot more now. Of course when I tried to tape him talking he stopped. I got a second or two of it. It is really amazing to see how he is growing so fast.

Our First "Just for Fun" Trip to San Diego

Nicole and I had a few errands to run in downtown San Diego, so we decided that we would make a full day of it and visit Seaport Village. We had a lot of fun and did a little shopping. Travis was very alert the whole time, just checking things out. It is still scary to take him out places, but we are very cautious of the surroundings and stay away from large groups of people. It is hard to keep people away from Travis, because all we want to do is share him and his joy. We know that for his safety we cannot...so we keep him covered up in his stroller when in a high traffic area. Here are some pics of our day out:

Mommy and Travis at Seaport Village in San Diego

Daddy and Travis relaxing.

DiCarlo Family at Seaport Village

Family portrait by the sea.

Mommy and Travis playing in the tree.

Daddy and Travis spending some quality time while mommy tries on dresses for Jen's wedding.

Travis is definitely a tough guy.

More Pictures of Travis out and about.
http://cid-d843a26bcc8dd2a4.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Travis%202122010?ct=photos&sa=151627463

Ducks and Toys

Yesterday Travis and I had a nice day together. His pulse/ox machine was acting up so we had to take it over to Apria to get it repaired. During the drive I received a call from the San Diego Blood Bank saying that I was a potential match for a patient in need of bone marrow. This is the second time I've been called for bone marrow donation. The first time, the patient's condition worsened before I could get the marrow to her :( This time around, the guy was asking all sorts of medical questions and found out I had herrington rods in my back (from my two spinal fushions) and unfortunately, that ruled me out. Made me sad. What a gift it would be to help somebody out like that. Ever since my dad had a organ transplant I have been very pro-donation! If you haven't registered you can here... http://donatelife.com/

Anyway, after that Travis convinced me to take him to Target to "look around". I admit, I am an addict. I can not stop buying things for Travis! Yesterday, we ended up with two new toys, a football piggy bank, and some pajamas that say "Tough Guys Need Sleep Too". How appropriate, right? We had to have it! All the shopping wears Travis out....he quickly fell sound asleep in his stroller.

After Target, it was Travis' lunchtime so I took him over to the duck pond and found a nice bench to feed him on. After his lunch, Travis stared at the ducks and watched them swim back and forth. At one point I looked to my left and saw a menacing looking duck just inches from Travis' toe. He looked quiet hungry so we promptly relocated to a new bench. Travis and I had a long talk about how we were going to tell daddy that the Target purchases were necessities ;)

Travis is inching closer and closer to 11lbs. He tipped the scale at 10lbs 14.5oz the other day. He is so big that I had to finally pack away his newborn clothes. He is now wearing sizes 0-3. It kind of made me sad to pack away those tiny clothes! On the other hand, it is exciting to see him getting bigger and learning to do new things.

More Pictures of Travis

Travis loves to swim with mommy in bath tub.

Travis is part guido and is ready to visit the Jersey shore.

Travis is such a good little dude.

Travis' Guido Hair Style

Travis loves his mommy.

Travis was not so excited about getting his hair shampooed.

All clean and back to being happy baby.

Travis just staring into the camera and into our hearts.

Travis got another new toy to work on tummy time.

Travis actually enjoys tummy time now.

More pictures in the album below:

http://cid-d843a26bcc8dd2a4.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Travis%20282010?ct=photos&sa=530359231

New videos of Travis - 2/7/2010

Travis is just loving his baths with mommy.

Travis just loves to swim in the bath tub.

Catching up with some more photos...

Mr. Smiley
Oh Daddy.....You're funny.
Travis just hanging out.

This is how Travis rolls.

What's up dude?

Yum, Yum I like my fingers.

Fight the Power...

Little Rookie.

See plenty more of Travis Photos at our online album.

http://cid-d843a26bcc8dd2a4.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Travis%20February?ct=photos&sa=193818975

Foto Friday

Here are some pics from the past week or so....

Our little rookie! He can sit on this blanket all day and smile and kick. Such a happy baby!

What a cutie!

Travis has found his hands. He LOVES to eat them. He's going to choke

himself one of these days.

This is Travis' new toy. He can push himself up and down with his legs. Also,

when he kicks the pad it plays music and lights up.

Vinny loves to stay close by to his brother Travis. It's really cute. Travis and Vinny are going to

be best buddies when he gets a little older!

Had to post this picture. What a funny little face!

Five Things Friday

I've decided I love the idea of "Five Things Friday" stolen from a blog I follow. So, here goes.

1. Travis had his first professional photography shoot this week. He did so well. Here is one of the pictures!

2. Sadly, we have put our house on the market. We found out that Riverside County EMT will not cross county line to take a patient to Children's. Instead, they would take Travis to Rancho Springs which is ill-prepared to handle a cardiac case like Travis'. Therefore, we need to move over the border. It wouldn't hurt to get a lower mortgage also.

3. Next week is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness week. Join me in helping spread awareness for CHD. 1 in 100 babies is born with a CHD. Travis is one of them! Hug your kids a little tighter this week and pray for those who are fighting this battle.

4. Several weeks ago I decided to try to take a bath in the big tub with Travis. He was unsure at first...but, after he realized he was safe....he LOVED it! Last night we had a bath together and he was so funny. He kicks and kicks and flails his arms around. All along making noise that approximate a laugh, with a big grin on his face. I think he may be a swimmer!

5. We had a reality check last night in the form of a facebook post from one of the other families who were in the hospital at the same time as us. Their son, Riley, has HLHS also. He had his Norwood 1 month before Travis did. Riley has not been well enough to leave the hospital. The post said he actually coded three times last Thursday. Roger read this to me as Travis and I were in the bath. I looked at him gleefully enjoying his bath and I said a quick prayer right then that God would grant us MANY, MANY more baths and loving moments. It is easy to take Travis' health for granted. It is easy to forget everything we have been through. It's easy to look at his beautiful face a forget he has 1/2 a heart. It's easy to forget just what a blessing he is....what a gift God has given us. The facebook post was a reminder to us to not forget what a miracle Travis is and to continue to pray for all of our heart baby friends and families!!!!

Moving On

It is hard to find the time to update this blog lately as we seem to always have something urgent we need to handle. The week days fly by and the weekends seem way to short!

This past weekend was fun. My good friend Jen is getting married and has asked me to be a bridesmaid. I had the honor of going dress shopping with her! Fun! She will look amazing on her big day. While we were out I received a call from the vet (the dogs had been dropped off for a teeth cleaning). The vet wanted to discuss some issues with the dogs blood cultures. Both dogs had high levels of protein in there blood and Vinny had high calcium. She threw out the tumor word but mentioned that their levels were not TOO worrisome and may be cause by the ear meds we've been giving Zee (and Vinny licks it out of his ears). We are going to have them rechecked in a few weeks and I pray their levels look better. They BOTH can't have cancer, right? I'm sure it's something they got into and ate.

Sunday, we had to make a run to BabiesRUs this past weekend because our little man is growing out of his pj's. He has to have button up PJ's so the wire from his heart machine can come out the leg. We ended up getting him a bunch of PJs and a swim suit as his cardiologist gave him a green light for swimming (as soon as the weather warms up).

Yesterday was kind of a sad day for me...was the day I had originally planned to go back to work. It's just really crazy how so much has changed in such a short amount of time. It's days like that that make me feel overwhelmed at what has been dished out for us. I couldn't be happier to have Travis but there is always a piece of me that longs for more normalcy.

Travis is doing well! We took him to get professional photos done yesterday and he was such a trooper! The photographer got some really nice shots. Hopefully, we can post them soon! I have been doing far too much online shopping and we have a few new fun toys for him. A friend recommended the Kickin' Coaster and he LOVES it! It's a fun toy to build leg strength too. I'll post a picture.

Travis gets to spend some time with Nana this week. She is coming to watch him tonight while Roger and I got to our weekly home fellowship meeting. Then, Nana will visit again on Saturday night while Roger and I got to see Joel McHale (from The Soup) perform at Pechanga. Should be really fun!

Can't think of anything else to add......tata for now.