Guess Who's 2!!

Our little Madi girl turned 2 on October 29th. I can't believe it has been 2 years since she came into our lives. She is turning into such a big girl and brings so much joy to our lives. I truly can't imagine life without her. We celebrated her birthday at the Tacoma Children's Museum surrounded with friends and family. Madi decided that she would fill the role as a 2 year old and was a little grumpy at the beginning of her party but cheered up as the celebrating went on. I think she was enjoying all the attention I was able to give her since there were plenty of arms to hold Ella!

We are truly enjoying this stage of Madi's life. 2 definitely has it's challenges...Madi has perfected throwing tantrums when she wants something and has definitely learned how to test the waters when we tell her no. She is sweet and sassy...all rolled up into an edible little girl. She makes us laugh constantly and loves to be the center of attention. She loves music and whenever she hears it will break into some sort of jig...and I must admit, the girl has rhythm! She loves to read books, throw balls, stack blocks, play with her baby dolls, talk on the phone, Skype with Nonna and Papa, push her wagon around, pet (sometimes hit) our dog Oliver, play outside, cruise the furniture, climb our fireplace, empty all the baby wipes out of the container, imitate us and give her sister kisses! She is so much fun and it is so amazing to watch her learn new things each day. She has accomplished so much in her short 2 years of life and is such a blessing to us all. We love you Madi and I am so proud to be your Mama!!

Here are a few pics from her party:

Catching Up With Some Photos

We had a fun Halloween with our monkey and banana! We took the girls up to Proctor where all the shops and restaurants hand out candy.

We also went to the pumpkin patch a few days earlier. Madi had fun playing in the patch and Ella slept through the whole thing!

She's Here!

Our family of three is now a family of four and we are loving every minute of it! Ella Lynn was born on September 17th and weighed in at 8lbs1oz and 20.5 inches long. She is absolutely perfect! She is a mellow baby who really only cries when she is ready to eat. Ella is a nursing champ and is quite the little piglet! She is now eating every 2 to sometimes 3.5 hours so Mama is able to get a little more sleep at night.

Madi is adjusting to this big change pretty well. She gets very upset when Ella cries and ends up having a small tantrum herself. She has always been very sensitive to other kids crying so this was to be expected. She is slowly getting better with it but we still have a ways to go. It will be nice when one baby crying doesn't turn into two babies crying! Other than that Madi loves to hold, kiss and hug Ella. She tries to be as gentle as she can but we still have to watch her every move. A nice touch quickly turns into an eye poke around here! Madi does get a little jealous when I am nursing Ella and my lap isn't all hers anymore but she is already adjusting to that as well. My parents are staying with us for 3 weeks and have been a huge help! Madi is getting very spoiled with all the attention and is having a great time with Nonna and Papa.

Here are a few pictures from the past week.

Ella meets Mila (my best friend's daughter born on 9/23...Ella is on the right)

Loves giving her sister kisses

Catching Up

I am way behind on blogging these days. I often have things that I want to write about but by the end of the day (when I actually get time to sit in front of the computer) I am way too tired to blog. Life is great here in the Kang house. We are enjoying summer and all that it entails...walks, playing outside, swimming, bbq's, picnics, the farmers market, and spending time with neighbors and friends! We are definitely busy but I wouldn't have it any other way. We have added water therapy to Madi's list of appointments and she absolutely loves it. She is definitely our little fish!

I am now a full time stay at home mom. After Madi was born I went back to work (pharmaceutical sales) part-time. It was a good balance for me and I didn't mind working 2.5 days per week. Ever since Madi's heart surgery she has struggled with separation anxiety. She is so social as long as mom or dad are in sight. So I knew it was good for Madi to get used to being away from mom a little bit. We have an awesome nanny that came to our house on the days that I went to work and Madi LOVES her...it only took a month or so of crying to get there! In the beginning on June, the pharmaceutical company I was working for had their first lay-off (something that is super common in the industry). They laid off over 30% of the company and I was one of those to go. They actually laid off 70% of my district here in Seattle...it was crazy. As weird as this may sound...I wasn't too bummed to be let go. It was perfect timing for me as we are getting ready to add another little one to our family next month. So, I am home and loving all the extra time I get to spend with Madi before her sister arrives. It is also allowing me to add more therapy and playgroups into our already busy schedule.

We spent the last week of June on a cruise to Alaska. We went with my parents, brother and his family, my uncle and aunt, and some close family friends. We had a great time together and the cruise was absolutely beautiful. We went to Glacier Bay, Sitka, Juneau, Ketchikan and Victoria B.C. Madi did really well on the ship. She is a very busy girl so it was a little tough as there wasn't a lot of space for her to freely crawl around. We enjoyed all of the port towns we stopped in and spent most of the time walking around and enjoying the scenery. Glacier Bay was amazing. The water was so clear and the glaciers were enormous. We saw tons of whales, seals, sea otters, bald eagles, and dolphins. It was definitely a relaxing trip...something that was much needed.

Madi and I also made a quick trip down to Sacramento to visit my family. We had a great time as usual and Madi enjoyed spending time with her Nonna and Papa. By the end of the week she was waking up every morning asking for her Papa...my dad loved it!! We also were able to meet up with local DS group of babies and moms (The Sisterhood) that we always see when we are in town. We even got to meet Sofia! For those of you that remember, Sofia was an orphan with Down Syndrome living in Ukraine. She is now home with her awesome family...and she is sweet as can be! I absolutely love getting together with this group of moms and genetically enhanced kids. I know we will stay close with them through the years and watch our kids grow together! I just wish we lived closer to them so we could see them all more than a few times per year.

I am now in my 33rd week of pregnancy and still feeling good. I am definitely tired at the end of the day and the baby seems to enjoy squirming around once Madi is in bed and no longer climbing up my belly. She literally tries to climb my baby bump when I am holding her...she thinks it is the perfect step for her to get a little higher in the air. It is definitely getting a little harder to carry Madi and chase her all over the house. The is keeping me busy!!!

Here are a few photos from our cruise to Alaska

Celebrating my brother's birthday at a bar in Sitka

A shot of one of the glaciers

Relaxing on the deck

Orthotics

Here are Madi's Jump Start orthotics and shoes that her PT recommended she wear while working on standing. I am not the best at using these but we do try to put her in them each day for a bit while she is standing. The shoes are pretty heavy and solid so she has a hard time pulling to stand in these. She does have quite a bit of pronation in her feet when she is standing so the orthotics help to properly stabilize her ankles. When she is barefoot, she is now pulling to stand on EVERYTHING and (dare I say it) starting the beginning stages of cruising while holding on to the furniture. This is a big step for her as until recently, it seemes that Madi thought her feet were cinder blocks that were not to be moved. So, we finally have some progress. I was originally hoping that Madi would be walking when the baby is born (in September) but given how BUSY this girl is that may not be such a good thing! :) It's all on her time and I am totally fine with that! Until then, we will keep working on getting stronger and enjoying every minute of this sweet girl!

Showing me how big she is

Baby Signing Times

Baby Signing Times has a new fan. We are working on teaching her that she doesn't need to sit so close to the TV to learn all of the signs.

No matter how far away she starts out, she always ends up right there...silly Madi! She is not much of a tv watcher in general but she absolutely loves Baby Signing Times. I love watching her sign with the video. She (and I) have actually learned quite a bit from these videos. Madi is now consistently signing at least 25 different signs. Her signing has taken off over the past few months and she seems to be learning a few new signs a week. Signing has definitely been giving her a way to tell me when she wants something and has cut down on the frustration on both our parts. She is using more and more signs without me prompting her. She gets so proud of herself when she randomly signs drink and, voila...mom presents her with a straw cup full of water. Way to go Madi...keep up the good work but try not to strain your neck so much!

Madi's Heart Day

May 21st was Madi's Heart Day...1 whole year post surgery!! The morning was actually a little emoitonal for me as I spent some time reading old blog posts and looking at pictures from our hospital stay. I am still amazed at how incredibly well she has done this past year especially given the complications that arose.

I remember waking Madi up very early that morning for our 5am check in time. We loaded her in the car and she of course was all smiles the whole way there. My stomach was in complete knots but I was trying to stay as calm and relaxed as possible. We waited in pre-op for a while and met a ton of people from the surgical team...anesthesiologists, ICU personnel, the team of surgical nurses, etc. Finally it was time for the dreaded moment. We left the ICU room and headed down the long hallway to the surgical area. We hit the double doors where we had to say our goodbyes. I tried so hard not to cry in hopes that I wouldn't worry my happy girl. We handed her to one of the nurses and watched as they walked back to the OR. They had to turn a corner before they were out of sight...I will never forget what happened next. As they turned the corner, Madi popped her head up over the nurses shoulder for one last glimpse of her teary eyed parents and just like that they were gone. My heart literally fell into my stomach and I lost all composure. We made our way down to the waiting room and there we sat for hours...literally 6 hours! The surgery was supposed to take 2 hours but ended up taking 6. A nurse called my cellphone every hour with an update...all she would say is he is still working and she is doing fine. That was the longest 6 hours of my life! We read magazines, played cards and games, told stories, looked outside...anything to keep our mind off of what was going on. Finally it was over and we met with the surgeon to explain how everything went. He said that it took a lot longer because of some unknown complications. It was the most difficult AV Canal he had ever seen. She was doing well and it appeared that the surgery was a success. He said there was a chance that she may need another surgery in the next few days...only time would tell and the first 48 hours were the most critical. We had to wait for a bit while they got her situated and stable in the ICU before we could see her. I remember walking into her ICU room...it was so overwhelming. It was like something out of a movie. There were at least 10 people in there, machines everywhere, alarms sounding, orders being called out, IV's being hooked and un-hooked, and a sweet little girl laying peacefully in the middle of so much comotion. It was very hard to see her intubated and totally sedated. The days that followed absolutely blew my mind. Each day tubes and wires were being removed and she became more and more alert. She showed us what an amazing fighter she is.

We spent a total of 10 days in the hospital. Her lungs had a hard time coming around and her valves were still leaking a bit. After being home for 4 days were back in the hospital with a staph infection in the incision site. The surgeon had to reopen the top of her scar (all the way down to her sternum) and let it heal from the inside out. She was placed on IV antibiotics for a few days and once her white bllod count returned to normal we were released to go home. Dave and I had to pack the wound with gauze and change it twice a day until it healed ( a few weeks). It was awful! I literally didn't lok at it for a week until I finally got the courage. The truth is, Dave wasn't home one night and the dressing needed to be changed so mom had to toughen up.

It was quite the journey for us and we are so grateful for such an amazing outcome. We had a few setbacks along the way but 1 year later our girl is THRIVING!! Prayers were answered and a family grew stronger! We don't know what the future holds for Madi in terms of more surgeries. There is still is a chance that she will need another repair down the road but for now, everything looks great. We are holding on to that and just enjoying every day with our Miracle Madi!

Happy Heart Day Madi! Of course we had to celebrate with a Heart Party this year. It looked like Cupid made an appearance at our house. I didn't get many pictures of the evening but we had heart decorations, a heart cake, and some close friends to help us celebrate Madi's big day. Here are a few pics from last year and this year. WOW...what a difference a year makes!