Sawyer's Heart Follow-up

Doctor's note reads "Innocent Murmur, possible Venus Hum. No ASD. NO HEART DISEASE!"

Today is a wonderful day! Back in April, I blogged about Sawyer's heart condition ASD (you can read the blog HERE ), today we had his 9-month followup with Dr. Shapiro. After his Echo, EKG and exam they determined the hole in his heart has mended itself and there is no longer a hole! We couldn't be happier with these results. We find great relief knowing he won't need surgery or any other procedure!
During the exam he did detect a murmur, innocent in nature but would like to still follow up with us in about a year. He referred to it as a "venus hum" murmur that comes from the brain. I did a little research and it seems like nothing to be too concerned with. sometimes they can come and go throughout childhood.
Here are some informative articles:

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/070422/MediScene/ms907.html

http://www.childrensheartinstitute.org/educate/murmur/causes.htm

Thanks to family & friends for the prayers for our little guy, they worked wonders as usual.

I took some pictures of Sawyer at the doctor as he played with dad as he waited. He was such a good boy for all the tests!

Playing with all the cool toys as we wait

I've got this, my heart is a-ok!

Dad attack! 

Now I'm tired!

300th Blog Post!!!

June 16, 2010 was my first blog post (you can read it HERE) and I can't believe I've been doing this for 2 years and 5 months with 300 total posts.

We started this little gig to keep our friends and family updated and to feed my love of writing (I am a journalism major for those that don't know) and it has developed into a wonderful little venture of family, friendships, motherhood, home and travel. I am excited to see where it goes from here. Thanks to everyone that reads and comments. I love that I have readers who suggest subjects for me to blog about, it challenges me and keeps it interesting. Thank you!
I can't think of a better way to celebrate our 300th post than with some pictures of Sawyer. Here are his first official school pictures. He is so serious in them, they just make me giggle.

Kitchen Experiments: Whipped Pumpkin Dessert

Another "Momma Engel" recipe that I stole. This one is healthy & fast. We had our Thanksgiving Food Day at work today so I knew I wanted to bring this after trying it my parent's a few weeks ago.
I have never done Weight Watchers but for you WW people out there it is only 1 point for one cup. I added graham crackers to mine so I am sure the WW points don't count them, feel free to leave them out if you are following the points.

Whipped Pumpkin Dessert

INGREDIENTS
Pumpkin (1 can)
Fat Free Sugar Free Vanilla Instant Pudding (2 packages)
Skim Milk (1 cup)
Fat Free Cool Whip (1 container)
Graham Crackers
Cinnamon

STEPS

1. Mix together one can pumpkin, two packages fat free, sugar free instant vanilla pudding, one cup skim milk and one cup fat free cool whip. I used my Kitchen Aid and it was fast.
2. Mash up a sleeve of Graham crackers and cinnamon (as much as you like) and pour crumbs into bottom of an 8X8 dish.
3. Pour the pumpkin mixture over graham crackers
4. Cover with remaining Cool Whip and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Presidential Election 2012

Whether you are happy or sad about the results of yesterday's election, I think it is still worth blogging about because it is another part of our history. Last night, Barack Obama was selected as the 44th President of the United States with his second term. We started watching the results at my parents house and then after we tucked Sawyer in for the night, John and I stayed up and watched the final results come in. I have to say, elections can really bring out some people's worst! Facebook was crawling with negativity and hurtful statuses. I choose to keep my political views to myself and I wish some people would at least try to do the same. Especially if it is just down right ignorant and crude. I am happy the election is over so I don't have to read one more angry political statement (or for at least for 4 years).

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/06/14976592-victorious-obama-more-determined-in-face-of-challenges?lite

The cliche "I Voted" shot

Sawyer was busy playing on Daddy to watch

Biting Daddy's eye

Adventures in baby-food Making: Turnips, Egg Yolks, Mangoes, Lima Beans

Should last us a while!

We are now in the “what has Sawyer not tried” phase so we are having fun brainstorming fruits and veggies that aren’t so typical. My mom is great at this, she knows way more about foods than I do so I have leaned on her for help (love you mom!). Sunday we decided to have a food making party while the boys watched football. After two hours, we had made 97 oz. of baby food, a huge success! I have actually been thinking about offering my services to other moms who want home-made food but don’t have time or equipment. So if you need baby food, let’s talk.

So patient as we cooked! You can see the excitement in his eyes!

With out further delay, here is a heaping dose of baby food instructions? This is the longest list I’ve compiled thus far.

We made: Turnips, Peaches (frozen), egg yolks, bananas and lima beans (frozen).

Bananas & Peaches are super simple, you just throw them in a blender with a little water and they’re done. The other foods have more steps, so instructions are below.

A couple weekends back, we also made mangoes that were a little tricky to make so I included direction on them as well.