Elyse's 3rd Christmas!

We can't believe it was Elyse's 3rd Christmas this year. Time has flown by and it just gets more fun each year! We began a new tradition this year in an effort to really teach Elyse about the true meaning of Christmas. We began the morning with a birthday party for Jesus! It was complete with plates, balloons, candles, singing Happy Birthday, etc. She was so interested in the nativity set up in our living room this season and I think that really helped in her understanding of Jesus' birth. I am excited to continue this tradition for years to come!

And of course, there were the presents! She loved her 4-in-1 nursery for her babies, her McDonalds drive-thru, disney play figures, ...! And the new Disney monorail at Pops and Nana's house was a big hit with she and Blake. What she didn't like were clothes! She would throw them behind her, digging deeper into the box to find something more, then move on quickly when she realized it was only clothes. This attitude drove me crazy but my family kept reassuring me this was natural for a 2 year old. I can only pray that we will raise her to be grateful for everything she receives. She may get spoiled but I refuse to let her get rotten! :-)

Christmas cookie making!!

First things first, Elyse checked out perfectly at the surgeon on Monday. They did an EKG, x-rays, checked her incision, and all was great! The pacemaker technician came and checked hers and it's working great too. Our surgeon Dr. Kozick (who we think is fabulous) said they won't see her again until it is time for battery replacement surgery. She said, "She'll almost be a teenager by then!" These words brought tears to my eyes. I can't believe this is all over and behind us and that everything went so beautifully. We feel so incredibly blessed and thankful for all of the prayer for Elyse during this time. Elyse is recovering so nicely. She really does seem back to her normal self, besides the occasional "I'm hurting Mommy. I need tylenol." :-) She was telling her cousin Blake about the surgery a few nights ago and said, "They put a pacemaker in my tummy and it makes me feel better and tylenol." :-)
Blake, who cried for Lysee when Amanda told him she had surgery just kept reassuring himself, "Lysee's ok now. Her tummy doesn't hurt anymore." Oh.... the words of two year olds are SO cute!

We did our annual cookie decorating at nana and pops' house on Tuesday. Elyse and Blake were much more into it this year and Alex even got to sit on his bumbo and watch all the action. It was a lot of fun!

To God be the Glory, great things He has done!

I can't believe I am just now posting about surgery. :( I didn't take a computer to the hospital so all I had was Ryan's iphone and it drives me crazy to type a lot on there. But I'm HOME now so I can type. :-)

Elyse's surgery went beautifully on Tuesday morning. The plan was to cut her breastbone in half and put the pacemaker in the upper abdomen and put the leads (wires) up to the heart. When they got in there, they saw that the heart was in a "perfect place" and they didn't even have to cut the breastbone. They simply had to separate the bottom part to put the leads on the heart. This was wonderful news to us because this cut her recovery time from 6-8 weeks to 2-3 weeks. After surgery, Elyse went to ICU and we got to go be with her. She was in a lot of pain for the first 24 hours after surgery. She had a tube draining excess blood out of her abdomen, had oxygen hooked up to her and IV's for her meds. She was a pitiful sight BUT... after 24 hours, she had all of that taken out and she was a brand new person... kinda literally! Her heart rate went from 50 (before surgery) to around 110, now. An average heart rate for a normal 2 year old is 90-130 so you can imagine how amazed we are to see this heart rate for our girl. Her pacemaker was checked by technicians and it is working perfectly. (That is one amazing piece of technology!)
We moved out of ICU to the floor Wednesday afternoon and at that time, she was wanting Daddy to "go for a little walk" with her around the hospital and she was eating food eating normal food! And Wednesday night, she was sitting up in bed for two hours in the middle of the night wanting to play with mommy. Fun! ;)
To say the least, her recovery has been just miraculous. We were discharged this morning and can't believe that we are home two days after the surgery. If all of this isn't an answer to prayer, I'm not sure what is. :-) God is so amazing and the strength He gives our little girl is absolutely amazing too!

Check out the changes in these pictures below...

Quick Disney Trip

We took a weekend trip to Disney World and had a ball! Mom and dad had this trip planned and Amanda and I decided to take Elyse and Blake down to join them for a few days. We had so much fun. I grew up thinking Disney was a magical place and now, after seeing my two year old experience it, I know I still believe that! Elyse loved Dumbo, The country bear jamboree, It's a small world,... but not Peter Pan. She said "Peter Pan is too scary." They also enjoyed a day at Animal Kingdom, where we had breakfast with the characters!

It was a perfect way to spend time before surgery, ... which is the day after tomorrow! I will post updates on here in the days after surgery. Please keep praying for our sweet girl and her doctors!

Decorating for Christmas

We have had SO much fun decorating for Christmas. Elyse turns on the Christmas tree every morning when she gets up and loves to walk around it and look at all of the ornaments. She started out calling them "instruments" but finally caught on when she heard us call them ornaments. Her favorite thing though about decorating for Christmas is the nativity, or as she calls it, her "new dollhouse." She loves playing with the people and talking about baby Jesus. It is the most precious thing ever! These Christmas decorations may have to stay up for a while. :-)

As for surgery, the day is quickly approaching! We feel so peaceful and "ready" to do this so we are really praying that Elyse stays well so she can have this. She is on an antibiotic for strep right now so as awful as that is, we are hoping it will protect her from catching anything else in the next couple of weeks. Please keep praying for our girl.