Just a taste of the drama going on in our household…

I’m in the kitchen loading the dishwasher with the Wizards of Waverly Place theme song stuck in my head (for some reason), feathers stuck to my shirt and glitter under my nails from the Fancy Nancy Party I took the girls to this morning….)

McCanless comes running in with black booty shorts, blue glitter chucks and her Justice glitter pink hoodie on….(also with left over mascara under her eyes and glitter and face paint all from the Fancy Nancy Party)

McCanless:  MOM, we have a major problem.  It’s devastating!  (I swear, I’m not exaggerating.)

Me:  And what is the problem, McCanless?

McCanless:  Hannah Montana’s new movie will be on the Disney channel on March 9!

Me: And that is devastating?

McCanless:  MOM, WE LEAVE FOR LIZ’S WEDDING ON MARCH 9!  UGGGGGGH!  (Big dramatic gestures going on here…)

Me:  Sweetheart, our plane doesn’t fly out until March 10.

McCanless:  (Screams so loud it wakes up MC in my bedroom)  OH, what a relief, Mom.  I was really worried there for a minute.  Whew!  (Big deep breaths.)

I’m not kidding.

MUSC Cardiology Apt..

Yesterday was a simply stunning day in Charleston!  It was sunny and 65 degrees.  Just beautiful.   Mel and I took off with both girls pretty early for a long day at our favorite hospital.  I wanted to have Mary Clare checked by her cardiologist, Dr. Forbus, before we flew to St. John in a couple of weeks;  just as I did last year before we flew to Mexico and the previous year before we flew to Chicago…She is becoming quite the world traveler, my Mary Clare.

As we walked through the halls of MUSC, McCanless stopped me and asked me to pull her loose tooth.  (It has been hanging by a thread for days now.  I knew she would end up swallowing it as she has done twice before.)  I kneeled down and popped it right out!  More memories at MUSC!

It was time for blood work and that certainly wasn’t fun for Miss Mary Clare (or Mommy, who had to hold her down), but she proved to be a big girl and only cried for a moment.  The dozen or so “DU-DU Dora” stickers that Ms. Francis gave her helped tremendously, however!  Her oxygen saturation levels were in the low 90′s, which is an all time high for her!  (Her norm is usually mid 80′s.)  Her blood pressure was great, her heart size was great and overall health was great!  She is still hovering around 26-27 pounds, so her heart catheterization was scheduled for June, in hopes that she’ll chunk up at least a bit by then.  Her cardiologist just said she is just a petite and short little girl, and will probably always be so.  So, they decided to proceed.

Once Mary Clare has her heart catheteriztion in June, we’ll know exact levels and pressures in her heart.  If everything looks okay, we can schedule her surgery within the next 6 months.  (Unless levels/pressures dictate a sooner surgery date.)  The catheterization will only be an overnight stay but Dr. Forbus told us to expect a 6 week stay for the Fontan, her third staged surgery.  We have so much to consider and so much to prepare for when that time comes.  It’s ironic, though, after waiting over three years, we are finally at the end of this stage of our journey.  I found out about Mary Clare’s fragile heart in February of 2007.  We knew it was a three-staged surgery procedure, and the Fontan seemed so far away.  Here we are in February of 2010 and we are preparing for her third and final surgery.

Others who have asked get a glazed look on their faces or hold their breaths when we talk about her surgery, but we have already accepted her path and are ready for it.  It is a necessity, yet a miracle that we are so fortunate enough to be able to witness.

As the sun set over the harbor, we headed to my favorite spot, Fleet Landing, for an early dinner and then to Market street for everyone’s favorite, River Street Sweets, for pralines and rock candy!

2010 THA Valentine’s Dance

THA held another school-wide Valentine’s Dance on Thursday, Feb 11 during school.  It is such a neat event and I love seeing all ages dancing together!  3K-8th graders and faculty all gather in the gym and dance and have the best time!

My big six-year-old!

A little bit softer now…

Put your hands up…

Daddy stopped by for a father/daughter dance with McCanless.

The girls in 5K thought they would teach Ms. Susie a few moves!

Not Funny…

Daddy!  Especially since we both know that we purchased a LiveStrong treadmill just last weekend to get rid of those extra LB’s.  (Further proof that we are not planning on another addition-baby or room, for that matter.)   My mother, who is as easy to belive something like this story as she is to play a joke on, still thinks that I’m pregnant, I’m certain.  (This is no joke, mom.)  Furthermore, it doesn’t help that I asked her to pick-up McCanless from school today because I have an appointment with my doctor.  My OB/GYN, nonetheless.  So again, I’ll state:  I’m NOT pregnant or forsee us having another baby EVER.

I wish I could somehow block Mel from posting on MY blog or altering/adding to my entries.  (Remember?  You have your own, sweetie.)  However, he is the creator, designer, technical HTML writer person and he is the father of my TWO precious girls, and does take part in their lives, so I guess I’m outnumbered on this one.  So thanks for your two cents, Mel.

Now, moving right along…

For the record… Updated by Daddy.

**This version has been updated by daddy.  It is possible that mommy won’t read this for a few more hours so enjoy.

I know my sweet McCanless has a vivid imagination, not solely noticed by her mother, either.  It was no surprise to me that her teacher noted her love of storytelling, and creative and mature writing ability on her report card for first semester.  I have also discovered along the way she has a knack for embellishing the truth, so to speak.  “She gets this honestly” –Daddy

Her first “horrid” blue frog in school (and only I may add) was due to a little white lie to her teacher.  It was full of details and “embellishments” which only dug her hole deeper and deeper and turned her little white lie into a big old fat lie, to which Mel later replied, “what kid doesn’t lie to their teacher?”  GASP!  Needless to say, I handled the life lesson and character education with this one!  A lesson only learned by experience, though.  Lesson learned.  Or so I thought.

Today, I received a few emails and one phone call wishing me congratulations and for the record…

I am not pregnant.

“Not yet.” –Daddy

I am not planning, thinking about, contemplating, dreaming about or hope to be pregnant or become pregnant in the near or distant future.

“Daddy just has to produce another bedroom and bathroom according to mommy to qualify for having another baby.  1 baby = $50,000 addition? ” –Daddy

Apparently, McCanless’ hope for a new baby sister has extended far beyond our household.  For a while now, she has been begging me to have her a baby sister and I thought that is where it ended.  Today, however, I discovered that she has told each of her teachers at school that I am expecting.  Her classroom teacher, Ms. Susie, heard all of the details of our plans for adding Marcy, her baby sister, to our family, right down to where little Marcy will sleep.

“Daddy had nothing to do with this.  Honestly.” –Daddy

Ms. Crouch, the librarian even sent me an email to congratulate me on our great news.  I have since received a phone call and two emails from other parents in our school about our newest addition.  I figure, McCanless has about 25 friends in both 5K classes, so that means It will only take about 2 hours for word to spread around town to Mel.  I thought I’d tackle it here first and wait for Mel to approach me about it later.

“I’m clueless, trust me.” –Daddy

We’ll see how he handles her little white lie this time.

“White lie? Possibly… A little coaching from daddy? Most definitely.  I’ll keep you updated on our progress.  Until then I’m taking donations for that addition.” –Daddy

The Blizzard of 2010

Friday around lunch time, I had the car all packed and ready to hit the road to the beach for a weekend out of town. The girls were bundled up and we were on our way…then a Southern blizzard hit Hartsville.   With such “severe” conditions, we decided to stay home and enjoy the snow here, at home!

…and we are so glad we did!

Mary Clare, however, is like her mother and was not a huge fan of the snow.

Daddy just couldn’t help himself…He loves throwing snowballs!

We don’t really have proper snow gear, but it was fun to see our family of winter boots drying out by the fire at the end of the night.

…and what a view we had the next morning!!

Emmie loved running in the snow, and even fell into the lake!

Daddy was at it again!

After Daddy knocked her down a few dozen times, she was ready to go back inside!

So we made snow cream!!  Yum!

Not bad for a weekend stuck at home, huh?

Although the snow was beautiful and temporary we are ready for flip flops and swim suits.  (Good thing our trip to St. John is less than a month away!)

Happy Congenital Heart Defects Awareness Day 2010

I didn’t post picutres of my sweet Mary Clare in the hospital after her first open heart surgery.  I was just too afraid to share that with the world on her blog. I barely took any photos, for that matter.  I didn’t even post.  Mel wrote all of the updates at MUSC for a while.  I was focusing only on her and I really couldn’t tell you why I didn’t want to post or take photos.  It was hard enough to remember to breathe.

I did post one sweet photo of her on the day before her surgery so that many of our friends and family could see her for the first time.  I didn’t realize at the time that it would be the only photo of her precious body without the battle scars of multiple open heart surgeries.  A few months later when I printed all of her MUSC photos and I was putting together a book/journal of her heart journey, I sat on the floor in front of my album, holding her and that one photo of her without her scar.  Only one single photo shows her perfect and precious body.  I cried and cried, knowing that she was marked forever.  A scarlet letter adorning her chest.   A constant reminder of her broken heart and this very difficult journey of life for her.

Then, I didn’t realize how much that one little scar would change all of us.  It certainly is a constant reminder of many things.  Now, however, I choose to see the beauty in that scar, for without it, I wouldn’t have my sweet, sweet miracle.  It reminds me of all that is precious in our lives.  It reminds me to thank God for every moment.

July 1, 2007

Mary Clare without her precious scar.

CHD Awareness Week 2010

I always try to get a cute shot of my blueberry for her annual CHD Awareness Day Photo proudly displaying her battle scars.

Sounds easy, and it would be if

my little blueberry would only pause

even for  a moment.

But then again,

this only reminds me of how blessed we are

to have such a spunky fighter.

Oh, how we adore that spirit and that scar!

Preaching to the choir

Church is always a joyous event for us.  An Episcopal service with weekly communion can get pretty long for children, but I really don’t worry about the girls.  Our church family knows my girls and Mel, for that matter, and understands us.  (Or so I hope.)  Sometimes, we get the giggles, usually, because of Mary Clare.  Today, however, McCanless and I didn’t have Mary Clare to blame.  It was early in the service and she was still in the nursery.  McCanless decided to stay with me instead of going to children’s chapel; so it was just the two of us there in our usual pew, right in front, right under Father Michael.  We were reading the program and I was having her follow along with the words as I pointed to each one.  We sang, “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might…”  McCanless began to belt out giggles.  Loud, contagious giggles. She couldn’t help herself.  It truly was one of those non-stop, involuntary laughs.  As I whispered and questioned her, she said, “I know it isn’t right, but we just said that Jesus has holes.”

I just couldn’t help myself as I, too, began to laugh and I just so happened to notice a few choir members laughing along with us.