First Annual Heart Birthday

Wednesday marked a year since Zane's heart surgery. That day in particular to me mark the point in time where I started to go back up hill on the road of life. In my mind it is a bit of a roller coaster, with ups and downs, the highest up of course being Zane's birth, then there was quite a bit of sharp down hill roads, ending with surgery day when I began my slow, but steady climb out of the deep valley and up to the top of the hill. That is one of the reasons why I really wanted to celebrate the anniversary of his surgery. I also wanted to consciously take a day to fully embrace how truly blessed we are to have a healthy, happy boy.

Let's start with a little compare and contrasting of the two years. Here is Zane last year, immediately post op. Not the greatest picture of him ever taken, but it needed to be documented.

And here he is just one short year later.

 The new trick he learned on his heart birthday, how to climb onto the coffee table. They told me he would be crazy after surgery, boy where they right. 

In reality the day was like any other of my days off, with many errands to run, naps to be taken, laundry to be done, a cake to cook, and cuddles to get in with my baby boy. However, the memories of where we were and what we were doing a year ago were never far from my mind. I sat down around 9am to cuddle Zane before his first nap and burst into tears, as I was singing to him, when I realized that at that point last year his heart wasn't even beating. That is such a strange feeling, and though I knew all along that they would be able to restart his heart, it's just a difficult concept to wrap your mind around. The fact that his heart didn't beat for about five hours, yet by some miracle he is perfectly healthy today. I composed my self and took that opportunity to say a little prayer of gratitude for the miracles that have been worked in our life this past year.

His second nap time fell right around the time we were finally able to see him in the CICU last year. The moment where Zach and I held hands and walked into the ICU room to see our baby for the first time after surgery, was one of the most difficult in our marriage, but one of the most rewarding as well. Zane looked puffy and still intubated from the OR, but he was finally healed and a great weight was lifted from our shoulders in that moment. A year later at that time I was wrestling a crazy one year old, trying to convince him  he was literally to tired to stand up and needed to nap. He of course wasn't buying it, but I won in the end and he took a long peaceful nap. No tubes, drains, or monitors this year praise God.

While Zane slept I put the final touches on his happy heart birthday cake. Most of you know that my signature dish is a heart shaped bunt cake, which of course I had to make for this occasion. When we registered for the heart shaped bunt pan, as a joke, and later found it hysterical that someone actually bought it for us, who would have guessed that one day I would be making a heart shaped cake to celebrate a year of my son having a functioning heart. I laughed when I thought about what my twenty three year old self would have said if someone had told me that would be what I used the cake pan for, you just never know where your life road will take you. Here is the cake, I put all the happy sprinkles I could find on it, then made a little sign for the occasion.

Zane met Zach at the door with a big smile, a hug, and a kiss. He was wearing his "I'm the birthday boy" shirt, which admittedly was a little snug, but we got one last wearing out of it. We had a lovely family dinner, where Zane mainly focused on eating his cake. He ate it out of bowl and with a fork, a stark contrast to his actual birthday cake only four months ago. He even figured out he could hold the bowl up on his chest, minimizing the distance between the bowl and his mouth, for quicker bite taking. He ate almost his whole piece and we might have paid the price for that come night time.

After dinner it was present time. I got him the book "No Hitting" mainly as a joke, not thinking he would enjoy it that much, but turns out it was a big hit. We had to read it at least four times before he would even think about opening his other gift, Potsy the cook and play pot. Potsy was also a huge success. Zane actually plays with it as it is intended most of the time. He takes the food in and out of the pot, stirs it, puts the lid on and off, and this morning when he opened the lid and found a little toy octopus in the pot he promptly threw that out, because obviously it didn't belong in his pan. I personally like potsy because the voice on it sounds like a Will Ferrell sketch from SNL. He sings songs like " I like it mean, like it green, I'm a broccoli machine" or "Vitamin A it's a game that we play, vitamin A eat tomatoes everyday." That is just pure entertainment for everyone involved.

Here is Zane tickling the people in the No Hitting book.

Hooray for heart birthdays!

The day was full of joy and laughter, with our thoughts only briefly going back to the stress and sadness of last year. It felt great to reflect on all that we have been through so that we might never forget how blessed and how strong all of us really are. I know Zane will most likely laugh when we tell him about his heart's birthday some day, to which I will say 'you wouldn't even be here to laugh if your heart didn't have a birthday so of course we celebrated it'! Here is one of the highlights of the day, a big kiss from my little man after he got his presents! So adorable.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Zane and I made it back from our whirl wind weekend trip to Oklahoma. It felt like we barely got there and then we were headed back to the airport. The travel was more stressful this time, probably because I had to switch planes on the way down, which meant two flights, with Zane wide awake for the second one. This was a first, since usually he sleeps the whole time. I was completely exhausted by the time we got there at 1pm. It was like wrangling a monkey for two hours.

2. Our return flight airport experience was a complete disaster. In the first hour I learned our flight was going to be an hour late, I lost my watch, found my watch, Zane threw up all over himself/his stroller while I was talking to airport police about said watch (don't feel bad for him, he gagged himself ), cleaned Zane and the stroller up only to realize I had used up all but about three diaper wipes, bought a completely unnecessary $15 shirt that didn't even fit, found a shirt that did fit in my mess of a diaper bag, bought a hoody for myself to cover up the vomit spots on my shirt, and needless to say almost cried. In good news Zane slept the whole flight.

3. We had a great time in Oklahoma celebrating my Grandpa Dotter's 86th birthday. There were lost of family in town for the event, so it was a full house with beautiful weather outside. There were tons of fun farm activities going on with the kiddos which is always entertaining and makes for a good time. Zane loves being able to run free with so many fun things to explore. I wish we could live in the country, I miss it horribly. I promise there will pictures of our fun soon, just haven't uploaded any yet.

4. My favorite quote of the weekend came from Brendan when Able asked him what the oil well (a.k.a the machine) did and he responded, "It makes money." That is classic, my dad would have loved it. Maggie is still a little scared of the big oil well that is literally in my mom's back yard, but we took a few trips out to look at it and I think she might be warming up to it. Of course Zane was totally fine running out to look at it, without fear.

5. For all the craziness that went with the flights and airport situation, I have to say that there really is no better feeling than holding your baby boy while he sleeps on your chest, for an hour, when you literally have nothing else that you need to be doing. I know that this phase won't last much longer and I am glad I was able to relax and enjoy our cuddle. Zane had lots of kisses on his sweet blond head by the end of the flight.

6. Tomorrow is one year since Zane's surgery. It does not seem like it has been a year and I get a little sick to my stomach when I think back to that day, a year ago. I am trying to stay positive and look at it all as a celebration, but I can't help but remember how stressful of a time it was. Tomorrow is my only day off this week so we have a lot to jam into one day. Hopefully we can find time to count our blessings and celebrate our little man's health.

7. Zach had a wonderful time at the World Series last Thursday with his BFF Adam. Sadly the Cardinals ended up losing that game, but he said it was a once in a life time experience non the less. He got to sit in the seats down by the field where you get free drinks and food, he got to see the Clydesdales go around the field, which only happens about three times a year, and he got all sorts of World Series stuff. I am super jealous. Now the Cardinals just need to pull their act together and win the next two games at home so we can attend all the World Series celebrations. How can a team score 15 runs one night and zero the next, mind boggling. Thanks again to Allie who not only baby sat him until I got home, but stuck around for awhile so I could shower and eat. What a great friend!

8. My new running shoes are working out nicely. I ran once with them on the treadmill downstairs prior to going home and my feet didn't hurt terribly when I was done. I even had a nice run with my siblings while I was home. I love running in the country, when I lived at home I use to run all the time because it is beautiful, with nice flat roads to run on. There is also the added bonus of no traffic which helps as well.

9. A quick health update for the week. Zane's bee sting on his ear is much better. It was a little oozy for a day or so and require Benadryl cream but healed nicely. His ears in general seem to be bothering him less, but he does seem to be teething more. We just can't win around here. He did get a rather large "scratch" (that is a bit of an understatement) at daycare Thursday while fighting over a calculator. I haven't seen the other guy, but Zane doesn't look so hot. The "scratch" is healing nicely with tons of neosporin.

10. In other health news Friday morning we were woken up by a call from my in laws saying my youngest nephew had fallen off the trampoline and down the steps, resulting in a skull fracture, something I deal with all the time at my job. They do have a net it just wasn't zipped so when little man leaned back he fell out. I'm happy to report that after a trip to Children's to be checked out by a neurosurgeon he doing well. Initially the doctors thought he had a small bleed, but once the pediatric neurosurgeons looked at it he was cleared to go home, no bleed. HOORAY! Sadly skull fractures take almost six months to heal so he will be taking it as easy as any two year old can for a while. No golf carts, no go carts, no driving tractors for him for a while. That is going to be easier said than done. Love you Levi, feel better.

Heart Birthday Donations

As we prepare to celebrate a year since Zane's life saving surgery, I have been thinking a lot about what my crazy man would be like if he lived some where that he couldn't have gotten his condition fixed. I know that children all over the world are born with the same condition Zane had and are never diagnosed, let alone able to have it repaired. I keep this thought close to mind while I'm chasing after my fearless boy. It is a blessing I will never take for granted. I have been trying to find something we can do each year to celebrate this blessing and do something to help other families less fortunate than ours.

There are tons of different organization that help fund or actually perform life saving pediatric cardiac surgery around the world. I am sure that all the organizations work miracles, but after researching the numerous different options I have decided to support/donate to Children's Lifeline International. I chose this organization for a couple reasons. The first one being they do a lot of work with Nicaraguan children. Nicaragua has a special place in my heart. I spent twelve days on a medical mission tripthere in college witnessing first hand the poverty and desperate need for medical care. The faces of those children and families, walking for miles and standing in line for hours to receive medical care, will be forever burned into my memory. Secondly, this organization takes mission trips to fifty five different countries, where they not only perform surgeries but also train local surgeons on how to perform the surgeries in the future. The organization also donates much needed supplies/equipment to hospitals in these countries. When the doctors can't perform the needed surgeries in the local hospitals this organization pays for the children and their families to be brought to numerous different facilities in the United States to have life saving surgeries performed here. Lastly, the organization not only performs heart surgeries but they also perform neurosurgery and get children rehab after these surgeries, which is what I do for living, so that is an added bonus.

Donating to Children's Lifeline International is quick, easy, and done through Paypal so it completely secure to do online. Here is a link to the donation page on their website. Any donation would help give the huge blessing of a healthy child to families around the world. I plan on donating every year on Zane's heart's birthday, October 26th, in an effort to give other children their own heart birthdays! There is no greater gift to give. Thanks in advance for being so generous and helping us celebrate Zane's heart birthday this week by helping other!

Ten on Tuesday

1. I guess I will start with the weekly Korenak medical update. Yesterday afternoon the ear that Zane has been pulling on for a week and a half started to swell up, get red, and hot. At first I thought it was just red from him rubbing it, but we ended the evening with it being extremely swollen and with plans for Zach to take Zane back to the doctor in the morning. The doctor said it is a bite, which I find highly strange, since I am pretty sure Zane would melt down if he got bitten by a bee, but what do we know. Obviously not much because our kid's ears are fine, yet we keep taking him to the pediatrician. Maybe because he keeps pulling on them, is beyond crabby, and now his ear is huge to boot.


2. Yesterday I finally went to Fleet Feet to have the professionals tell me what shoes I need for running. It was an intense process, which included me jogging down the side walk of a shopping center. They really didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, but they did tell me what shoes would work for my wide feet with high arches (which have dropped due to my terrible shoes). They also told me that I needed to have my running shoes be about a half a size larger than my regular shoes so my toes don't get scrunched up, so now I think my feet look huge! I'm glad I have them, now I just have to find time to run.

3. In case you are living under a rock and haven't heard the big news, THE CARDINALS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES, HOORAY!!! The Cards won the world series the first year we were married so it is taking me back just a bit. The city is buzzing with excitement and my husband has been given a free ticket to the game on Thursday. Of course I have to work, so after much begging and pleading I think I have finally found someone to watch Zane. I sure wish we had family that lived close by, and I am sure the girls at work wish that as well. Thanks Allie you are a life saver!

4. Friday Zane and I are jumping on the big bird to head back to Oklahoma for a weekend visit. I originally was going home to try to go to an OU football game. However, since that plan was made the weekend has turned into a big birthday celebration for my Grandpa and now I will have a baseball game to watch as well. Plan B sounds just as fun. I can't wait! Hope Zane gets himself under control/feels better soon!

5. Yesterday I made this recipe for a lady I work with whose son had major surgery yesterday. I didn't eat any of it, but it sure looked like it would be tasty and fun. It was great to be able to repay the favors of all the people who brought us food when Zane was in the hospital and I found a new fun recipe in the process. In great news her son is doing well and is out of the ICU. As a side note I love www.familyfun.com, tons of cool craft ideas, recipes, and kid activities.

6. I want to wish a very happy birthday to my dear friend Jeff. I hope you had a wonderful day. I had all intentions of calling you, however I didn't even leave work until 8 p.m. So by the time I got my son under control it was too late to call. I know you live in Dallas, but you better be rooting for the Cardinals my friend. Happy bday buddy!

7. I am suppose to be going to the zoo tomorrow with Michelle. We have been trying to go to the zoo together since about August, but haven't managed to make it yet. Tomorrow the high is going to be 52 degrees so not looking so great for tomorrow either. I have only been three times this year which means my membership hasn't paid for itself yet. Hope this isn't really winter starting, maybe we can get a few more days of fall so we can get to the zoo a few more times.

8. Zane's new best friend is Dale, the clydesdale. He gives him "drinks" from his sippy cup, lets him "eat" from his snack cup, strokes his mane, gives him all kinds of hugs/kisses, and makes him run all over this house. It is just about the cutest thing ever. I haven't gotten a picture of the two best friend yet because I have always been a vital part of the activities, but hope to get one soon. I think it helps that Dale can actually stand up, not just lay around like most stuffed animals. I love watching him play pretend with things, so much fun!

9. Is it bad that I dread the holiday season coming up. It is unbelievably stressful to me because I always have to work holidays or the weekend after a holiday. Also our families will never live in the same place so someone is always disappointed that that can't be with their family, or our families are disappointed they can't see us. I am sure I will have to work Christmas or Christmas Eve and I work the weekend after Thanksgiving so it will be difficult to get back to Oklahoma. It just always makes me stressed and depressed, which I hate.

10. I wish we could have fires in our fire place again. I am pretty sure we won't be able to do that again for a good long while. Zane would try to climb in it. He has opened the stove (WHEN IT WAS OFF) and tried to climb in it, twice, so I am sure he would love an active fire. Also, the bricks in front of the fire place are currently being used to house all three of Zane's pillow pets. I would hate for any of the pets to catch on fire!

Happy Fall Tuesday everyone!

Zane, it's only been two days

I worked this weekend so my time with Zane was limited to our hour or so each evening. When I get home I am always greeted by a little boy running to me saying hi repeatedly. Then Zane will sit with me while I eat dinner, taking a few bites here and there, babbling about his day. Then there is snuggle time on the couch, lately this has involved watching the Cardinals play. Throw a few rounds of ring around the rosie in here and there and then it is time for night night cuddles/singing in his room, before he gets into bed to "go to sleep." Sometimes that last part takes awhile, but such is life.

This evening followed this pattern to a T, with some added basement fun. However, this during our evening routine I realized that over the past two days, of me being gone and Zane being home with Zane, he has learned so many new things. He is continually learning things, but they become much more apparent when he is learning those things while I am away.

Over the past few days here are the new things that Zane has learned. He has learned how to turn on and off light switches and wants to do this ALL THE TIME! He will come up to us, while we are sitting on the couch, and start pulling on our hand. We stand up thinking we are going to be led off to some activity. Then he begs to be picked up. Once he is up he points at the first light switch in sight and proceeds to turn it on and off repeatedly, complete with numerous ooos and aaahhhs along the way. This new development has added a new step to our bed time routine which is walking threw the house turning off the lights. I had flash backs to dad walking through the house turning off all the lights, muttering about saving money on the electric bill, when I was growing up. He would be so proud of my little energy afficient boy.

Zane has also learned how to say football, randomly. This actually started last weekend during the OU vs. Texas game when he was playing with his new little stuffed football, which we got for the occasion. He not only can say football he recognizes numerous different forms of footballs, his little stuffed one, his mizzou football, and his outside football. Who knew we had three footballs, that could be over kill. He also says it in a very low, tough guy voice, like we did during the game last weekend, everytime he sees one. Cue my dad not being so excited about this development (dad was not a fan of football). Here is Zane with his little football last weekend.

Another fun thing he has learned to do, and now does often, is how to tickle. We have been tickling him forever, but over the past two days he has caught on how to do it back to us. He will run up to us, while we are sitting on the floor, and start "tickling" complete with the tickle, tickle, tickle, voice, laughing, and trying to tickle our necks ( his most ticklish area). He does it completely out of no where and it is the cutest thing ever.

Finally, Mom get ready for this adorable development, he has started to recognize people in pictures. It started with him recognizing Zach in our big wedding picture in the hall way. He couldn't recognize me, which I am not sure if that is because he just says da da da more, or if it is because I look so much different (i.e. fatter) than we I got married. We always look at the pictures on the fridge and go over who everyone is and today Zach told me that Zane pointed at my mom and said Gaaa, Gaaa, which basically means Grandma, right? He has been pointing at a picture of Brendan and I and saying Ba ba ba, for a few days now, but I don't know if that is real or not. He did also point at himself in a picture and say dog, so this might be a development in progress.

I can't wait to see what new adorable tricks tomorrow brings and I am so happy I will get to be part of the learning process.

p.s. GO CARDS

Pumpkin time

On Thursday, while Zane napped, I set up an arts and crafts table outside in hopes of making a craft for mom's birthday. I bought new markers, paints, and stamps for this event. I got out our little picnic table out, tapped paper on it, and set up a lovely arts and crafts table. I don't know what I was thinking, because of course the moment you plan something like this your child will want nothing to do with it. That was the case with Zane. I could barely get him to hold a marker, let alone draw on the paper that completely covered the top of the table.

So I gave up, took the art supplies inside, and let Zane do whatever he wanted in the lovely weather. He found his little pumpkin and proceeded to have a blast with it. I gave him the black marker and he "decorated" his pumpkin. I tried to draw a face on it, but he tried to rub it off and wouldn't let me hold it still long enough to make it look good, but it works. He walked all over the yard with his little pumpkin, took it on and off the table, and of course tried to throw it a few times as well. He tried to climb on top of the table with the pumpkin and we managed to avoid any bad falls, but it ended up being a lot of fun, resulting in super cute pictures!

Grant's farm fun

I have been trying to use my Grant's Farm Groupon for a while now, but never could find a weekend that was free or a Friday when someone could go with me. Today we finally ventured out to Grant's Farm, with my friend Alli, for a day of fun. I am actually glad it took us this long to go because today was the most beautiful fall day, perfect for taking in the sights at Grant's farm.

I should probably start this blog by saying the morning at the Korenak household was a hot mess. Zane is teething so hasn't been sleeping well and has been all around crabby. Lots of hitting and fit throwing which is my least favorite one year old activity. He woke up this morning at five and did not want to go back to bed. So Zane and I started our day early, which meant that instead of taking a nap at 9:30 and waking up right before our Grant's Farm trip. He took his first nap at 7:30 and was really probably ready to go back to sleep when we left, but we powered through and he was a good sport. We really needed to get out of the house because Zane and I were driving each other crazy in the house this morning. That's the back story, here is the fun part of the day.

Usually the tram ride through the animal part of the farm is kind of uneventful. The other two times I have been the announcer was an old guy, mumbling, and you couldn't really understand what he is saying. But today there was a very excited old lady doing the announcing and we saw tons of animals. She would get super excited every time she spotted a new animal, especially when she spotted the new zebra, which had been hand raised in captivity and is a new arrival at the farm. I think I have finally seen all the animals and today we saw a couple different animals very close up. The buffalo and the donkey's were being very friendly. Here are Zane and I on the tram.

My Groupon was for free parking, two fun passes, which included four bottles of milk to feed the goats, two carousel rides, and two free kid meal lunches! As usual Zane loved petting, feeding, and chasing the goats. The goats there are a bit aggressive. At one point I thought they might trample Zane trying to get to the bottles of milk. Zane went from goat to goat saying 'hi' and patting them all on the head. He did finally get to feed a, much calmer, goat a bottle. After a lot of time running with the goats, we headed to the carousel.

Here are Zane and I getting trampled by the miniature goats.

 Allie feeding the goats.

 Zane feeding his new friend. 

 Zane saying hi to this little guy.

Zane seemed to enjoy his carousel rides today more than his first ride at the zoo. I think he would really have had a blast if he wasn't so tired.

Not unlike our day at the Zoo, once again Zane thoroughly enjoyed the pretzel cheese and made quite a mess during lunch time.

 Here is my sleepy blue eyed boy!

Zane also got to feed a llama, which he really enjoyed. I found the llama licking my hand kind of nasty, but he liked it. Here is Allie, Zane, and the well fed llama. 

Before we got back on the tram Zane had tons of fun in the carriage room. He ran around, playing with the chains that keep people from getting on the wagons. He also really enjoyed the polka music that plays in the court yard, there was lots of dancing and jumping, too cute.

After we got back to the car we had to go see the Clydesdale's before we headed home. There were lots of horses there, including Jerry, an old horse who stares blankly ahead as tons of people look at him and take pictures with him. He kind of looked depressed, but he didn't seem to mind all the people talking to him.
Here we are with Jerry!

 I got Zane a little stuffed Clydesdale, made by the same company who made Mooly, so he came with a name, Dale. Get it, Dale the Clydesdale, very original. Allie and Dale kept Zane awake on the five minute drive home, much easier said than done. So that was worth the ten dollars right there, since Zane is still sleeping peacefully as I write this. It was a beautiful day to see the animals. Thanks Allie for coming with us and helping me man handle my wild man. We can't wait to go back!