heart

i'm happy to say, the boys are all almost completely well. that was a rough week or so, but hopefully soon we'll be over it all. thankfully, caleb was able to go to his annual cardiology appointment after having to reschedule because he was so sick. he goes every year for an echocardiagram and follow up appointment with his riley cardiologist due to two holes in his heart known as a VSD and ASD (ventricular septal defect & atrial septal defect). these are very benign as they are tiny, but still warrant a peek at every year. dr. johnson was surprised that the vsd had not closed yet. the asd (or pfo) was still present and probably will be for his life, but causes no problems. he was born with these and since he's been asymptomatic, he will never have to have surgery or any restrictions. well, i guess one restriction is that he would not be able to scuba dive due to the intense pressure, but if he chooses to someday, he could have extensive testing done to allow him to do it. i was so very proud of him during his appointment. it's not a small task for a 3 year old energetic boy to lay completely still while they perform a VERY lengthy echo on his heart. he was entertained by diego cartoons and impressed the tech so much that she nearly gave him every toy she had after it was over. she had fallen in love with him the minute she saw him walking into the clinic. he's such a charmer with his innocent big brown eyes. he was holding his kitty tight and talking my ear off as we registered. she specifically told the secretary to give caleb to her to do. caleb is quite the talker, but of course became mute when he met her. by the end of the echo though he was talking her ear off. i tell him all of the time that he makes my heart smile because he truly does in so many ways. he's just so happy-go-lucky, carefree, and silly. you just want to squeeze him all the time. he'll say things like, "eli, you're my best buddy", or "mom, i love you bae-bae (baby)". he's simply precious and i hope he never loses his energetic, loving spirit. i love that little boy so much and although his talking is sometimes exhausting, i can't imagine how boring my life would be without it! (the picture of him here is at home after his appointment showing off 3 of the 20 stickers he got that day)