My Son's Broken Heart Breaks Mine!

This weekend Brad and I went to the National Congenital Heart Defect Conference in Houston. My parents watched all three of the boys. This was their first time to watch the kids overnight. They had a great time. My dad let David shoot my old bow and arrow. For those of you that may not know, I used to be the best gal archer in the state! I pulled out my old bow and we had fun shooting. My dad pulled out some old trophies and while we were gone they had competitions. David "won" a huge trophy and even Christopher won a trophy for shooting. Jacob shot too (with my Dad's help) but he wasn't too interested in a trophy like David and Christopher. The kids loved the trophies and my dad was happy to get them out of his house!

My brother had just returned from a deployment in Korea so he was at my parents with his children too. The boys love to play with Jack and Cammie, they are a few years older so the feeling may not be mutual...but at least they helped my parents by keeping my kiddos entertained! :) My mom said the kids were well behaved and didn't have any problems sleeping...well except Christopher waking up one night! I'm hoping that since my children were so well behaved (that was my mother's description of their behavior!) that they will be able to stay there again soon! My parents never left us when we were young and since she still works it is hard to convince her that she should spend her weekend with my three wild children to create chaos instead of having a quiet and relaxing weekend with just my daddy! :)

So while my kids were having a blast at their Grandparents Brad and I spent the weekend in Houston. Our main reason for going was to attend the National Congenital Heart Defect/Disease Conference. It was very informative (is that even a word??). I learned a lot about the genetics and chromosome disorders that usually go along with CHDs. It was very interesting and I think we'll probably have some more extensive tests run on Christopher. He has had some chromosone test run, but not the full screening (it is about $350,000 and insurance won't cover it!). Obviously we won't have that done, but we were advised of some specific disorders that he shows some symptoms and we'll have those checked. They are not anything serious, in fact the worst symptom of them is the heart defects, it is mainly just something good to know as some may affect his growth and will "run" in the family.

He is now three and a half years old now and I felt like I was finally comfortable with his disease. Sure it is on my mind daily, but I am finally at peace with it...or so I thought! This conference was such an eye opener for me. The Pediatric CardioThoratic Surgeon began the conference with a picture of him and his father fly fishing. You were probably thinking the same thing I was...how does this pertain to CHDs? His comment was that his personal goal when performing surgery on our children is to be able to give our children the chance to be 85 years old and healthy enough to go fly fishing with their children...unfortunately the reality of it is it will probably not happen in their lifetime. I guess I thought it was going to be more encouraging but it seemed to be much more of a reminder that my child is sick with a fatal disease with the reality of meeting other mothers that have had children die from heart diseases. Probably not the perfect timing since just last week Christopher's teacher pointed out that he seems to be tiring out faster than the other children and seems to be a little less active than he has been. I had been noticing the same thing and remembered how his pediatric cardiologist warned us that this would be the age that we should keep a closer eye on symptoms of heart failure. He has stenosis in his pulmonary artery and a leaky valve, it is causing his right ventricle to pump too hard and wears him out easily. I'd like to think it is just because it has been so darn hot...but it is hot for the other kids too! This probably sounds horrible, but for the past couple of weeks I have been secretly hoping that he is getting sick with a cold or virus or something, unfortunately he hasn't had a runny nose, coughing or any other symptoms... so I'm afraid it may be his heart. We'll head back to the pediatric cardiologist this week! For those of you thinking "Oh my gosh, why didn't you send him to the dr already?!?" We have already discussed this with our doctor and nothing will be done until he goes into heart failure. By the way, heart failure just means that his heart is changing and damaged more than it was at the previous visit. If it is the case, they'll wait until it gets to be at an unsafe level and then we'll head to Children's Hospital in Boston.

I hate to end this post on a sad note, but as I was reminded this weekend it is our life now. I try not to have too many pitty parties but I am not going to lie I HATE the fear I live with each day, the sleepless nights, wondering if the reason my child is crying is just a typical fussy fit that all kids perform or is he in pain, I hate keeping my fear of outliving my child quiet for fear of making others uncomfortable and them treating Christopher differently, I hate faking a smile and pretending that everything is OK...it is NOT.

This disease not only affects Christopher it affects our entire family! His brothers are shuffled around to doctor appointments and David knows he can't push his brother on his chest (not that he should anyway!).

It affects our marriage, we handle stress differently I know that Brad is having the same fears, especially after this weekend. We talked about Christopher's surgeons comments the morning of his open heart surgery. Dr Mayer said he was not necessarily going to be able to increase the quantity of Christopher's life, just the quality. It brought tears to our eyes. We never talk about Christopher's health problems or death. Brad is my best friend and we tell each other everything...except how we're scared! When it comes to stress we handle it differently....I need to be hugged and told everything is going to be OK - Brad wants to be left alone and not talk about it, so we don't.

It affects finances...duh!! crazy health insurance premiums and deductables; not to mention copays, medicines and the fear of what will happen after we reach his maximum insurance payout!

I hate that my son was born with heart defects and want to know WHY? Did I do something during my pregnancy to cause this? Will Christopher blame me? Siblings, marriages, finances and my poor little Christopher...something has to be done to cure him and unlike what the freakin' pediatric cardiothoratic surgeon at the conference said, it HAS to be done SOON! This is MY child dammit!

Father's Day

Our Kid Friends Came Over to Play and Make Father's Day Crafts
Our playgroup met here last week and made koozies for Father's Day. Brad was not really surprised since that is what we've done the past few years. David attached a pencil to his and got really creative about other gifts he wanted to give Brad. He went to the closet where we keep the gift bags and then traveled around the house stuffing it. So for Father's Day, Brad got his t-ball coaching t-shirt, a baseball hat that he's been having and a pocket knife from many years ago. It was really cute watching David "shop" through the house for things that Brad likes.

David's Week at C3 Camp

David with his Golden Arrow Award

Last week David attended C3 Camp. It is a camp that Chick-fil-A coordinates and sponsors at churches throughout the country. Chick-fil-A has set up a Winshape Foundation that offers residential Biblical based camps for children, marriage enrichment programs and foster homes in Georgia. C3 Day Camp is a break-off of their residential camp so they can minister to children around the country through local churches.

Pop, Jacob, Brad and David at C3 Camp

Last week, a church in Lafayette hosted the camp and David attended and then slept over with Brad's parents at night. On Monday, David called us and told us all about it. He was very excited and especially enjoyed the archery! On Wednesday, Brad's mother e-mailed us some pictures of how he dressed for Wacky Wednesday. She helped him dress up like a rock star!

David the Rock Star

On Thursday, they had a decorate your car competition. They were suppose to decorate the car to reflect their group name. David was in the Ocean group. Pop and G'ami live in the neighborhood next to the church, so they decorated their golf cart and ended up winning the competition for his group! As you can tell, they spent a lot of time and effort decorating it! David was in the blue group, so he ended up dressing in all blue and they even spray painted his hair blue! He LOVED it!!

Pop and the Ocean golf cart!

Friday was Chick-fil-A Family Day so Brad and I and the little boys met them at camp. Christopher saw the big inflatable cow in front of the church and was scared that the other cows would be there. He was so scared and wanted to be held constantly so Annette ended up bringing him back to her house. We were able to follow David around to his group break-outs. They offered a choice of many different activities like archery, soccer, dance, cheer leading, wiffle ball, wacky science, basketball....

David with his egg drop contraption.

We went to the wacky science group with David and they were having an egg drop competition. They were given four straws and a roll of tape. His group had to use those supplies to keep the egg intact from the drop. They kept it from breaking during the drop on the grass, but when they moved to the concrete it broke! After that we watched him play wiffle ball and then archery. He really enjoyed the archery and ended up winning the golden arrow award on Friday!

Jacob eating Chick-fil-A on Family Friday at C3 Camp

After the activities the minister of the church preached for a little bit and then the church band played their camp songs while the kids sang and danced. After that it was Chick-fil-A lunch time! David had so much fun, I am planning on enrolling him for a session they are having in Lake Charles later this summer. If you'd like more info on the camp or the Winshape Foundation, check out their website http://www.winshape.org/. They are also looking for churches that want to host the camp. Click on the camp link!

David dancing for Jesus

Christopher's First T-Ball Game!

Yesterday Christopher asked me at least a hundred times if it was time for T-ball. He was so excited to be big enough to play t-ball. I am one of the coaches so we went to pick up the uniforms to bring to the other players. As soon as we got the box of uniforms he wanted to put his on. Jacob was upset that he didn't have a uniform, he is not old enough to play this year. It broke my heart to see Jacob so sad, so I went and got David's uniform shirt from last year and he ended up wearing David's. When it was finally time to go to his first game, they both fell asleep in the truck! I woke Christopher when we arrived at the field...not really a good idea. He was sooooo grauchy and did not want to participate in the game. He stood out in the field but refused to put his glove on. When it was his turn to bat, he didn't want to do that either. He just sat on the side the entire game! He did not participate in the game until it was snack time...then he was a real team player!

David is playing t-ball again this year too but he is missing his first two games. This week he is staying at Pop and G'amis for church camp. Chick-fil-A cooridinates and sponsors a bible day camp. The closest one to us is in Lafayette this week. Yesterday he called and told us all about it. He is shooting "real" bow and arrows, doing Science experiments and playing wiffle ball. Yesterday after camp, G'ami was bringing him swimming. I miss him when he is gone, but he really enjoys staying at their house. Last time we went to visit them, David asked if Brad and I were staying. When we told him yes, he was disappointed. He likes it when we don't go because G'ami and Pop bring him to do fun things.

Want me to make a red beaux beaux so you can have a band-aid?

So a few months ago, the kids were going through boxes (yes, plural!) of band-aids in just a few days. Instead of wasting band-aids, I bought a bunch of stickers for the kids to put all over themselves and made a rule about band-aids. You must have a red beaux beaux for a band-aid.
Today Christopher had a red one and needed a band-aid. I gave it to him and Jacob threw a fit because he could not have a band-aid too. Christopher felt bad for him and got down in his face, put his hand on Jacob's and with such a sweet voice said, "Do you want me to make you a red beaux beaux right here? Then you can get a band-aid!". It was the sweetest and funniest thing. He wanted to make Jacob happy by getting him a band-aid and knew just how to do it....by making a bloody sore for him!

By the way, Jacob said yes!


P.S. What is the non-cajun spelling for beaux beaux? :)

May Update...

Ok, so now the May update...

David graduated Kindergarden - wow what an accomplishment! :) He had a little ceremony on his last day of school, he was chosen to be a reader. He has come such a long way since the beginning of the school year. I didn't realize how much farther behind The Dunham School was academically until he started kindergarden. David was behind in reading and math. He was able to catch up and on his final report card he had all AP (above averages the best you can get!). The first part of the year his teacher told me he would rather hang out with the girls. This was a new school to David and most of the boys (and other students) already knew each other from being in Pre-K together. By the end of the year his teacher said he was best buds with the boys. On the last day of school I had planned a fun day to bring David to Chuck E. Cheese. He enjoys going there but we don't go anymore because Christopher is terrified of Chuck. The little boys were still in Mom's Day Out and I was looking forward to spending the day with David alone...until I got dumped! One of the boys in his class invited him to go swimming after the program. I have to admit, I was kind of sad that he would rather hang out with them instead of going to Chuck E. Cheese with me. I allowed him to go and offered to bring him over to the boys house but he would rather ride with his friend!! Since I was dumped and already had child care lined up for the little ones, I had a little pitty party for myself and then ended going to hang out at work.

David reading during his graduation program

David and Julie after his graduation.

David excited to go to his friends house after the graduation program.


After David was finished with school we decided to take a vacation before it got too hot and all of the other kids around the country were out of school. We packed up the truck and luggage carrier and headed to the Smoky Mountains. The kids and I made a list of things we wanted to do and things we wanted to see. The only thing I really wanted was to see a bear. We stayed there for about four or five days hiking in the national park and doing all of the touristy things. We went to Ober Mountain. It is a ski resort in the winter and in the summer it has tobogganing, water slides, ice skating and other amusement park type rides. All of us rode up the ski lift to the top of the mountain to toboggan down. When we reached the top Brad and I just looked at each other like duhhhh...what did we just do!!?!? We realized we have THREE kids and only TWO adults. Every child must go down with an adult. Something we should have thought about before reaching the top of the mountain. Even if Brad went down with one of them, he would have to leave a child at the bottom to come back up and go down with another one...then this really nice stranger offered to go down with David. Brad and Jacob went down first so they'd be down there to meet David and then Christopher and I went after to make sure she brought David. The lady was super nice! After that, I stayed at the bottom on the playground and Brad would bring them one at a time! :) As we were leaving Ober Mountain we saw a bear in the parking lot!! That really made my trip...I was ready to head home after that, but we didn't! :) After spending some time in the Gatlinburg area we headed over to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina for a few days. We went to the Biltmore (really cool!) and on our last day we drove over to bring the boys to Tweetsie Railroad, a neat amusement park that is railroad themed. They have a real steam engine train that goes around the area. In the beginning they had a cowboy on our car. During the train ride some indians came on horseback and tried to climb on board and steal some of our loot. Christopher and Jacob weren't too crazy about it, but the rest of us really enjoyed the train ride and being able to participate in the cowboy and indian show. They have all kinds of cowboy and indian stuff. The little boys enjoyed the rides.

Brad, David and Jacob going up the mountain to toboggan down...Julie and Christopher tobogganing down.

Tonya Harding just walked by :) Jacob (not happy), David and Christopher going to attempt ice skating

I had enough... :)

David and Jacob did too!!

Disclaimer: we were never in any danger...the land was flat on the other side of the fence even though it may not appear that way!

Hear no evil, see no evil. Christopher and Jacob did not enjoy the train ride too much! :)

Easter Update...a little late

Well it seems as though I am a couple of months behind. I'll start back with Easter.

Christopher had an Easter program at his little Mom's Day Out. He did GREAT. I was worried that he was going to have stage fright, but he didn't. He was up on stage "hamming it up". He is the one wearing the khaki pants and white shirt with the tie. He did get a little distracted by the stage props and tried to pick some flowers. After his program I brought him a special treat...a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (his favorite!!).

Christopher is on the top row in the middle (white shirt with tie).

This year for Easter, we went and spent the night with Brad's parents. His brother and his family stayed the night too. It was fun having five boys under the age of six! Needless to say it was very loud and entertaining too. On Easter, we went to celebrate the safe return of cuz Jacques from serving our country in Iraq at Brad's grandmother's house. They boiled crawfish and had an Easter egg hunt for all of the grandkids.
Andrew, Bailey, Christopher, Jacob & David (the Arton grandchildren...notice ONLY boys!!)


bedtime (minus David)

I guess I should mention what happened to David. As you tell by the Easter pictures he got a little roughed up. It seems as though he has more confidence than skills in some areas...biking and skateboarding are two of them! He just took the training wheels off of his bike and was ready to do some cool bike tricks. Unfortunately, he flipped over the handlebars on landed on his face. Our neighbor is a doctor and looked at him, he thought he probably broke his nose and as you can tell by the picture, he lost a another tooth! He was pretty banged up for a while, but thankfully everything healed perfectly and we don't have any permanent reminder of the evening David flew over the handlebars (other than this picture!).


Here is a picture of the boys decorating Easter eggs at our house.

I just convinced a 3 year old that a McD's hamburger is really a PB&J sandwich with a cookie in it!

We have been having a hard time with Christopher eating lately. The only thing he wants to eat is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. His pediatrician had told me that I should not make special accommodations for him - even if he does not eat anything for dinner. I have been trying to get him to at least try other items (he won't). Today, I was running through the McD's drive thru and Christopher didn't want any of their items. He threw a fit for a PB&J sandwich so I kinda fibbed and told him that the hamburger was PB&J and the patty in the middle was a cookie. It worked!! He is really hard core about this peanut butter and jelly kick! A few days ago after dinner, I asked the boys what they wanted for dessert. Instead of ice cream, cookies or strawberry shortcake...Christopher wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!


Earlier this week David found the kites that the Easter Bunny was planning to leave behind...Does this remind you of the Christmas post when he found Christopher's bike!?! Since he found them, we decided to bring them down to the neighborhood park. The park is located on an underground pipeline so it is a wide open field with plenty of room to attempt to fly a kite. As we were about to leave the driveway, Jacob yells WAAAAIIIITT...





he wanted to bring the weed eater to the park with us! :) This is his favorite toy. He'll play outside for hours just dragging it around humming pretending he is doing the lawn.

Last weekend was the LPCF Tennis Tournament and Gala fundraiser. We ended up making over $120,000! That will be able to help out a lot of families. We appreciate everyone's prayers, contributions and support!

This past weekend was the American Heart Association's Heart Walk.

After the Heart Walk, we brought the boys to the Air Show at Keesler Air Force Base on Saturday. They had a bunch of airplanes that we could walk through and activities for the kids. The Air Base would not allow people to park on property so we had to park about a mile away and ride a military shuttle bus onto the base. That was Christopher's favorite part of the day. The Thunderbirds performed and were extremely loud. Christopher was so scared he wouldn't even open his eyes!

Jacob checking the plane for stability. It is strong enough for him to hang on!

After the Air Show we headed over to play in the sand for a little while at the beach.

Jacob asking, "Mom, Can I eat this?"


The boys running after the birds!

David and Christopher pretending to be birds.

Yesterday we had Easter Egg Hunt practice. David and Christopher have parties at school this week with egg hunts. Christopher's was today. It is amazing to see the difference between the boys. David is always aggressive, fast and competitive. He goes all out for the egg hunts...and always has. Today, Christopher just sat back and watched his class go out and get the eggs and candy. I walked over to an egg and tried to get him to pick it up, he didn't want to! I ended up putting one in his basket for him...and that is the only one he ended up with! On the way home Jacob wanted one of the candies that were inside the egg. Christopher gave him one and then saved the other one for his "bruder" (David). He has such a care free and laid back attitude, but he cares so much for his "bruders".

Master Egg Hunter Sir David with his apprentice Christopher.

Jacob found something more fun to do in the middle of the egg hunt...fill the basket with rocks!



Christopher and Jacob on one of their Egg Hunt drills.

LPCF Tennis Tournament and Gala THIS weekend!

We have been extremely busy these past few weeks, I guess that could be the reason I haven't had any recent posts. The LPCF Tennis Tournament Fundraiser is this weekend. We had so many participants we had to move into three venues. All of the events/festivities will continue to be at the Country Club of LA, but in addition to using all of their courts we have had to reserve more courts at Bocage and the Manship YMCA. It is amazing to see how much this Foundation and fundraiser have grown in just three short years. Last year we had the most profitable fundraiser in Baton Rouge - even more than the Cancer Society!! (and they are really good fundraisers!) I am super proud that it is all moms and dads of heart patients that are doing everything. We don't have a paid marketing/publicity person or any fancy office - it just parents coordinating everything! We are thankful to have such talented families that work well together and are able to accomplish this sucessful event! I am even more proud to live in a community that really helps each other out -our sponsor are wonderful! ...and yes, it IS Christopher that Supriya Jindal is holding on the commercials. We used the same commercial as last year and just changed the dates! But it is him!! If you would be interested in joining us at the LPCF Gala, we would LOVE it and so will you! The tickets are $50 each. It will be a fun night with good food, drinks and a fun band. The silent auction items this year are great, as usual. Brad is eyeing quite a few of them - mostly the signed sports memorabilia! :) The Jindals have donated dinner for two at the Governor's mansion to be auctioned off. For the ladies, there are quite a few spa treatments and gift certificates. I'll update after this weekend and let you know if we were the high bidder on anything. Christopher had his first dental visit. He was pretty excited about it too! He went with David last month to observe and see exactly what happens when you go to the dentist. We pumped him up and told him how he was such a big boy, this is what the big kids do....We arrive at the Pediatric Dentist's Office completed all of the forms, then head back to the "special chair". The cleaning lady (my mind just went blank for her actual job title) noticed his "cool watch" aka medical bracelet and asked about his medical history. Dr. Brumund (his pediatric cardiologist) had warned me that some dental visits would require antibiotics prior to the procedure because Christopher has a VERY high risk of getting endocartitis (an infection of the heart valves). Well, his dentist is so cautious, he wouldn't even let her clean his teeth without him being on the antibiotics! :) He'll have to get a note from the cardiologist before his next visit (in six months) clearing him for dental care. I know that Christopher will probably have limitations in his life because of his little heart...but dental care. I never really thought they would deny cleaning his teeth! I guess in some way I am glad he is being cautious... A few nights ago I was heading to bed and peeked in on the little ones. I don't usually do that, but noticed that Jacob was not in his bed. I panicked...until I looked over and he was in Christopher's with him (on top of the covers!). Jacob has been sleeping in Christopher's bed ever since.

Last weekend we planted a garden. I'm not sure how successful it will end up, but we had a good time planting it. We planted some strawberries and tomatoes!

David had his last Basketball game for this season. He played very well and was a great team player. It was amazing to see how much he really matured just over the past year! Christopher started tennis this week! He is the one in the red shirt standing while everyone else is bending down. David has lessons at the same time on another court, so since we are already there - I signed Christopher up too. I thought he would be too young, but he really did well. In the beginning he was always one step behind (as in the photo!) but he warmed up. When it was his water break he ran over to me (I had the water) and said, "Well, how am I doing?". That is what David says every time he takes a waterbreak. Christopher is trying to be just like him. It is so cute.

"Here dey IS!"

Jacob's Second Birthday!

Jacob fishing on his 2nd birthday


Jacob chasing the ducks

On my last post we were trying to decide what Jacob would want to do for his second birthday. He wanted to go fishing! So last Thursday, we packed up the spider man poles and headed to the LSU lakes. Jacob loves to "fish". He has a different technique than most and as of today, it has never been sucessful. He likes to just use the pole to hit the water and make it splash. He did a great job of scaring away any potential fish. We also brought some bread out to feed the ducks and he did a great job of scaring them away too! After fishing, feeding the ducks and playing in the sand on the LSU "beach" we headed to Cheeburger Cheeburger for dinner and then over to the pet shop. It was a fun evening. Arton Celebration season has officially ended until a brief August birthday celebration for Brad and then back in full swing in for birthdays, anniversary, Christmas and Valentines from December - February!

Jacob's special fishing "technique".


In the past few weeks, Jacob and Christopher have totally changed their little personalities. They are maturing and have learned to work together as a good team. We (well I) still have not totally potty trained Christopher. One day, he was wearing underwear and I reminded him to go and potty. He came back wanting to wear a pull up. I reminded him again that he is not wearing pull ups and that he needed to go back and get underwear. He told me he didn't have anymore. Christopher's underwear is one thing that is overstocked and under used! I keep them in the drawer in the bathroom for him so I went to show him that he has plenty. When I opened the drawer, it was empty. My heart sank...my immediate thought was that he put them down the toilet! Thankfully, Jacob pulled the shower curtain back and said "Here dey is!" Christopher just wanted to wear a pull up!

"Here dey is!!"

Christopher's 3rd Birthday Party

Jacob's 2nd Birthday PartyLast weekend we celebrated Christopher and Jacob's birthdays together. We ended up doing it at the same place jumping place that David had his. It is just so much easier to let them take care of everything and not have to stress about cleaning up the house before, organizing games and stuff and then having to clean up again after the party. The kids had a good time (well I think they did...at least mine did!) and it was fun to jump and slide too!

Note to self: NO MORE party horns!!!!