Happy Thanksgiving!

I am certainly glad that Monday and Tuesday of last week was pretty low key because after that it was crazy!  Wednesday was an awesome family fun day!  Coop had a cardiology appointment in KC and both of the kids were out of school so we decided since we would be there most of the day we would just make the day out of it.  We headed to KC first thing Wednesday morning and spent the morning at the mall.  Traditionally I take the kids to Build-a-Bear a day or two before school starts but this year I was unable to do that and Raelynn has not forgotten.  Therefore, our first stop was Build-a-Bear.  Raelynn chose a pink bear with snowflakes and named her Flakelynn.  Flakelynn joins Heartlynn, a purple bear with hearts all over her and Peacelynn, a white bear with peace signs all over.  Do you see a pattern here :)  Cooper chose a monkey and named him Banany.  I loved Coop's choice because we are always teasing him that he has monkey ears!

Raelynn and Flakelynn

Coop and Banany

 From there we visited the Hallmark Store and picked out our ornaments.  Raelynn's was a beautiful crystal like ornament and Coop's, for the third year in a row was a HD Motorcycle.  When then ventured to the American Girl Doll Store which I knew would be trouble.  Our visit lead Coop and Raelynn to jointly ask Santa for the Bitty Twins.  The girl would be a light skinned girl with blond hair and the boy is to be a light skinned boy with brown hair.  They both fell in love with them.  We'll see how Santa does on that request. From the mall we headed to Children's Mercy for Coop's appointment.  The kids did great as it is a very long appointment.  Coop weighed in at 33lbs which is pretty much how much he has weighed over the entire year.  He is getting tall though coming in at 3'4" They ran the normal tests and Coop was awesome as usual.  We have been noticing a few things here and there such as a slight decrease in stamina and exhaustion at night but we did not expect what came next.  Coop's cardiologist said that there was increased blockage in the valve they constructed in his heart and the pressure on the right side of his heart was up.  Therefore, they were scheduling him for a cardiac catheter on December 18th where they will do angioplasty on the valve and possibly his two stints.  They also will do a little exploratory on the top portion of the heart but we are not sure what they are looking for there.  I think Terry and I both were a little surprised and therefore we had very few questions.  We offered Coop the opportunity to ask questions as well but he had none either.  At the time, I am not sure any of us knew what to think.  After the appointment we took the kids ice skating for their last surprise of the day.  We had a great time there and the day in all was fantastic!

On the way home from our fun day, Coop became very whiny and by the time we got home and I was putting him in the bath he was beyond whiny and almost crying which is completely out of character.  I was at a loss to why he was being so cranky and I said to him, "Cooper, are you really that tired?"  He responded in a small whiny voice, "Yes, I'm tired.....are they going to cut my chest open again?"  It was like hitting a brick wall.  Our little laid back boy was whining because he was scared about what he had heard at the doctor's office but didn't know how to tell us that.  With tears in my eyes, I smiled at him, hugged him and said, "No Buddy, not this time.  Are you scared?"  He said he was so we sat there and talked about the surgery and what they were going to do and what would happen afterwards.  He asked me if he would die this time and I answered as honest as I could, "I don't know Cooper, only God knows when you will die, but I hope he chooses to keep you here with us for a long time."  He smiled and said, without whining, "Me too!".  I finished putting him in the bath and walked out of the bathroom realizing that once again this would be a new experience as Coop now is older and that brings a whole new understanding, more fears and more emotions.  Since then I have notified all those involved in Coop's care what was going on and what we needed to watch for both physically and emotionally.  I didn't stop there though, I also contacted those who care for Raelynn and made them aware of the situation as well as we cannot forget how much she loves her little brother and how scared she is as well.  I am so thankful for the wonderful caregivers and teachers in my children's lives as they were all wonderful about helping us make sure that we do all we can to keep Coop well and both kids emotionally in check.

After a day like that we had much to be thankful for on Thursday.  We spent the day with the Keefer's and it was wonderful.  The kids played and played and we ate and ate :)

Skyler, Jaxon and Cooper

Thursday night I headed out for Black Friday shopping and that was pretty fun and I picked up a few good buys but I was exhausted.  Friday we spent decorating the house and then headed out for Santa's arrival on Friday night.  It was again a great night together.

My family came into town on Friday night late to surprise Coop for his birthday party day on Saturday.  He was surprised and ecstatic.  Saturday we surprised Coop with a birthday party with all his friends.  It was a huge success and he loved it!

Coop's scariest gift!

After all that fun, Monday rolled around way too soon!  But back to the same 'ole thing and happy to be doing it!