on the move

Not happy about walking!

HOME SOON!

a text from Mommy:
OMG! she'll probably come home 2morrow!! on some oxygen, but she'll come hm! She's mad @ me though :( she wont look @ me!

Day 1 winding down & doing Good!

This is Auntie Betsy posting for Ana! Angelina is a trooper! Although she was very restless during the day and a bit loopy she looked amazing!

She did well with her nurse so that was comforting. By tonight she is off all drips, drinking apple juice and watching Baby Signing Time!

Tomorrow is a big day for Angelina, Ana and the Nurses will be working with her to get her to walk! Please send your well wishes and prayers to them for strength and good health!

We love you Angelina!

Looking beautiful!

Auntie Sasa here. Baby girl is looking pretty fabulous. She is pink and her insision is very clean. I will try to post photos as soon as I can get to a computer. She has awoken and asks for Mama. I hope to get a minute to see her and take some camera phone pictures. Thank you for all of your prayers! X0X0, Auntie Sasa.

Doing Well

She's been off the bypass machine. Doing well, finishing up. Hoping to see her soon!

Surgery Started

Ok surgery started about 10 min ago. They took her back pretty fast after we got here.I was not ready for them to take her! :( She was nice and tipsy though so she went pretty willingly. Thank goodness for versed! Please keep those prayers coming!

Surgery Tomorrow

Hi Everyone, Auntie Sasa here. I am filling in as blog poster because the Adame's are internet deficient due to the move.

Angelina has been doing great, attempting to walk more and more. Lil Alex and Marcelina are getting used to the new house and enjoying their giant play room. Amidst all this change is surgery day. Angelina's surgery at . So please send all of your good thoughts and prayers out during this time. I will try to keep you posted from the hospital.
--S

Craziness

Still haven't found my camera! :( Not good especially since the pics I hadn't downloaded were suppose to go on Christmas cards!!! I suppose I will find it soon since we are in the middle of moving. Yes I said moving! Crazy yes I know. We had a good opportunity come up and we are going to be renting a house from a family friend of Alex's back from his junior high days. We rent a townhome in a really nice area right now, but with nice comes a high price. The house is much bigger, going from 1600 sq. ft to 2300 sq. feet and saving.....$800 a month!!!! And its in a very nice area. Its close to where we live now, so we are just going back and forth moving stuff. We just decided to move on Sunday, because they wanted to rent the house right away. We are having to break the lease here, we are hoping they will be lenient with us! It's amazing how things work, Alex happened to meet up with this friend from way back when at a job fair.

My hope is that we can be out of here by Sunday. Of course Alex worked this week, so its mostly been my sis Jessi and I going back and forth. Luckily Marcelina & Alex are visiting with their Nana & Grampi and playing in the snow. Meanwhile Angelina 's been following me back and forth and going to appointments in between.

So I'm sorry there was no cards, but I truly wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

All I've got is a few phone camera pics:

My little elf distracted with TV for just a few minutes! Yes thats a matress behind her- told you we were moving!

Enjoying some of Mommy's birthday chocolate.

Happy Holidays!

Thanks for the support!

First I wanted to say thank you for all the support that our family has gotten from our families and friends at home, from the wonderful nurses and friends I work with, and from our blogging families. One way or another you have provided us (mainly me) with hope, support, love and encouragement. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Seems like we've had lots going on lately. We had our annual trip to Big Bear last week, which was really nice. Of course the snow didn't really start until the Saturday right before we came back home, but the kids still had a great time. I have pictures that I'll post as soon as I find my camera! I love this trip because its the one time a year my family (parents & siblings) and Alex's parents and sister all get together and hang out for almost a week. Its beautiful and peaceful (well if you listen beyond the kids!) Last year we didn't go because we were still anxious about doing trips like that with Angelina. Alex and I worried about going this year because of our financial situation, but at the same time, wanted to give kids good quality family time before the chaos of Angelina's surgery starts. I'm glad we went.

Alex has still been looking for work, its been a tough quest. It has been alleviated at least temporarily as his old job has called saying they needed some help. Its temporary, not sure for how long, but its better than nothing. Having been unemployed for 2 months was tough, we were cutting it close before that, and this really put us behind. I will barely be going today to try to get some small gifts for the kids. Hopefully it won't be totally insane!

I was getting worried about being able to take time off from work for Angelina's surgery. I applied for a leave of absence and I just about flipped out when it was denied. Well it turns out that I don't qualify because I haven't been back to work for a year yet. After talking to Human Resources they informed me I might have one more option. I can apply for State FMLA and at least this way my benefits would be protected. Well thats definitely a good thing since I can obviously not do without health insurance! So as I was worried about what I was going to do for income, my unit at work took us under their wing. These caring Labor and Delivery nurses that I work with have started donating their paid time off to me. Wow, ladies you can't believe how grateful I am to you. There is this heaviness that keeps building up in my own heart with worries. Thank you for alleviating a part of that. Seriously, thank you sooooo much for helping not fall apart.

Ok so you may be wondering, HOW IS ANGELINA DOING? She's good! Spunky as ever. Making more and more attempts to walk. Attempting to talk more and more- although we can't always understand her. We are seeing a new Speech Therapist, who just seems wonderful. When I had to take inventory of words she knows, I was surprised that she says 8 words and signs about 30 different words! She has been free of colds up until now. I'm a bit worried because Alex & Marcelina started with the sniffles and a cough 2 days ago! We will do our best to keep her healthy.

Thanks for checking on us!

Three more weeks!

It is exactly 3 weeks until Angelina's Fontan surgery. Yes my anxiety is slowly starting to creep up. Thoughts like what will she think, what will she feel when she first wakes up from surgery? Betrayal? Obviously pain, but will she look at me and wonder why I let this happen? Will that pain show straight through her eyes? How will she do? I can't even picture her intubated at this point. She's my happy little girl, who loves to get all riled up and crazy. Will she look at me like I'm crazy when we first try to get her to walk post operatively? How I wish I could take all this burden and pain upon myself.

I do try to think positive, I don't think about it going wrong. I just worry about how tough it will be on her. She's so unsuspecting. She's busy trying to walk to me whenever she can. She's chunked up, weighing 22 whole pounds and measuring 30 inches! She's eating well, but just to make sure she has enough reserve for her surgery, we started giving her GT boluses at night per her GI doc.

She's trying to talk more. She actually tries to say Marcelina! And of course she's doing good with her signing.

We went to the Craniofacial clinic yesterday. I always find those appointments to be a bit...annoying? I like the staff, I know they mean well and are only trying to help. But I leave feeling like, why did I just come pay $20 so you can tell me she's delayed? Honestly, pay me $20 and I can tell you she is behind....but she has also come a long way. She's smart and happy, loving and playful. They do acknowledge she's making progress. Yet part of me finds it pointless to sit there and wait 2 hours to be seen and then have her evaluated once she's tired & fussy. I wish there was a different way of doing these evaluations.

Here she is cracking up while her brother tries to keep her entertained at the doctors office

Silly brother with Angelina's pants on his head pretending to be a puppy for Angelina.

Thanks for checking in on us. Have a Happy Tuesday!