Happy New Year

I can't believe it's almost 2014! Last year at this time we were still adjusting to being home and not in the hospital... This year we are so blessed to have been basically hospital free except for a week or two here and there...can't complain about that!! Mr. Brody is doing well. We just had a follow up echo done, 90 minute echos and an 18 month old  really go to well together.. But with that said I think we did it... It was not pleasant for any who were involved, it took about  3 hours to get all the pictures that were needed but we did it, Brody did it!!!! I'm waiting on a call from His cardiologist here in Phoenix to say all is okay or we need more pics. Hopefully it's the 1st one, if he needs more images we will have to have Brody sedated, but that's small potatoes. We are still planning to go back to Philidelphia late spring/early summer for Brody's 3rd open heart surgery called the Fontan. During this time they will finish the reconstruction of his blood flow to heart and lungs and also address his leaky tricuspid valve. Either a prosthetic valve or tightening of the leaflets is the plan. This month a golf tournament benefit was held for Brody by my close friends Ramona Celis, Stephanie Celis and Corrie Weeks, all the proceeds will go to help our travels and medical expenses in Philadelphia. I personally have thanked these girls but I just wanted to say again thank you from the bottom of our hearts! The time and effort put forth was not an easy task and I just wanted to say thank you again and thank you to all who came out, donated, and showed support for Brody! Brody has a natural love for golf, he is the only kid I know who will sit and watch golf on tv.... For hours!! So Santa brought him his very own putter to get started:) next year hopefully he will be golfing with all the players at the next tournament. This year has been a wonderfully hectic year, they say it takes a village to raise a child.... I don't have a village but my mother Diana and my soon to be mother in Law Cheryl have made a huge commitment to us... To Brody.. And have traveled to us every week... Sometimes twice a week to watch Brody and to keep Charli on track with school and dance! Our kids are blessed to have such  a wonderful Grandma Di and Nana Cheryl to keep them out of day care!!! Charli is 6 years old... She acts like she's 16 but she is only 6!!! I keep her busy with dance.. She takes ballet, tap, and acro gymnastics, 5 hours a week. She's dedicated, does well in school and has a heart of gold! I don't know how I was so lucky to have two amazing kids! Being a mom is by far the best thing in my life! I love watching them grow and learn! No one ever told me how amazing it is to see your children grow... I just love them to the moon and back! Seth and I are constantly smiling at each other over something that Brody is doing or something Charli says... Kids say the darnedest things... REALLY!! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!! Keep praying for our Boy... They are working!! God is good...love to all!!! Hug the ones you love!!

Philadelphia!!!

Wow! What a busy two days! Not including the trip to get here:) Brody had a slew of tests on Monday... Echos, EKG, X-rays, blood tests... All to get ready for today! We arrived at CHOP at 5am... Brody of course was all smiles and Getting lots of attention from everyone! A little happy medicine and he was all smiles... We layed him down and his nurse put him to sleep with a gas mask, kissed him goodbye and he was off to MRI then to the cath lab. We received hourly updates and at 12 they called us back to speak with the Cath and Anthesologist, they walked into the room, got a page then left..... A nurse came back and said they had to transfer our Baby to ICU....Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! So for the next hour we were in stitches to say the least... They had extubated him ( pulled breathing tube out) and basically he didn't do well... He was still heavily sedated so he wasn't breathing on His own, so he had to be reintubated ( another breathing tube put down his throat to help him breath) This earned an admittance to ICU. We finally were allowed to see him and he just started crying when he saw us:( They finally got him breathing on his own and tube was taken out. Coming off anesthesia is not fun so he received some meds to help relax him. They let him drink some water, which he literally grabbed out of my hand and chugged the whole thing, then had a Popsicle and passed out on dad. So as of now we are resting in ICU with a very sleep baby! In the Cath lab they ballooned his left pulmonary artery (artery they goes directly from his heart to his lung. His right pulmonary artery was fine but the left was narrowed so a ballon is inserted and blown up, this tears the scar tissue open and allows the artery to expand, thus bringing up is oxygen saturations. He also had a few collateral which are tiny blood vessels that form when there is pressure where there is not suppose to be, coming off the pulmonary artery. Dr. Glatz his Cath Dr coiled them, inserted tiny coils to block the blood flow and redirect it back to where it is suppose to be. The plan so far is to stay in ICU plan for discharge within a few days. We have to stay until they clear Brody for air travel and as of now we will just wait and see what happens! Our boy is amazing and so tough!!! Power of prayer is working!!! Love to all❤❤❤❤💙💙💙💙💙

It's been so long!!

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post!!! Time flies:) Where should I begin? Life for a moment seemed normal... We have been on vacations to San Diego and the white mountains. Brody enjoyed his first lake trip, along with many other firsts since my last post! Life has been good! Brody has been good!! Besides the fact he's fiesty as EVER, he is somewhat of a handful:) He did go thru a biting, hitting, pinching, temper tantrum phase but he is somewhat comming out of it. I have had countless people tell me it's because he's a boy, but I don't think I agree completely with that! I think it's because his name is Brody Burk... AKA Bad behavior.... According to family he is just like dad! Dad of course says he is just like mom! I think he's a little of both that's why he's so AWESOME!! On the flip side of that... He is such a lover... He's learned and perfected the open mouth kiss... The hug with the pat... At night he wants dad... He loves when Seth rocks him to sleep! This gives me a chance to tuck in our 1st grader!! 1st grade is alot of work... For Seth and I! Charli has an hour if homework every day along with gymnastics and dance four days a week. Charli is a busy girl and and is such a sweet girl;) ( most of the time). Brody's heart has done well this past year and we couldn't be happier! A few of his favorite things are his sister... His 3rd word was sister:) First word was ball. He would sleep talk about balls... He loves balls! Needless to say we have an endless number in our house! He loves to be out and about... Super friendly, he tells every single person he see's HI... And Bye.... A quick undercover run to the grocery store is not possible with him:) this little guy has an infectious personality that doesn't go missed! He draws unbelievable attention wherever we are!! He is a ham I have to say... And a super cute one I might add!! The big news for Brody is that we will now be going to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for all if his heart care! CHOP is rated #1 in cardiac care and after long hours of research and research and research it only made sense to get our Brody the best Care! We head to PA in a few weeks to have an MRI and Possible angioplasty done. Brody's pulmonary arteries ( the arteries that go from his heart to his lungs are possibly narrowing, so angioplasty is where they go in and basically balloon them. He had this done after the second surgery, not a huge surprise but not something were looking forward to:( his last Echo here in Phoenix had some questionable issues, so a trip to Philadelphia is what he earned! Results from MRI will tell us exactly what we want to know, or what we don't want to know!? Either way it's a must and We are excited that he's going to CHOP!! I will keep up on my posts, We have lots of family and friends and keeping everyone updated is a task... This way is much easier! Kiss the ones you love!!! Love to all❤

Happy 6 month Birthday!!

Happy happy 6 month birthday to the bravest little boy we know! Brody has shown us how amazing and strong he is!! We couldn't ask for a funner happier baby boy:) Despite all he has been through all we see are smiles! ( most of the time) Brody's sweet little ticker is doing amazing right now! He doesn't even see our wonderful cardiologist until January! When Dr. Lindblade said no need to see him for a few months, I panicked!! One day at a time, and every day we are so blessed to have this amazing little man in our lives! We wake up and are so happy that he was given to us! He has quite the personality at just 6 months! He is fiesty fun and full of life! He has decided that he is NOT having the ng on his face. Now that he is older he is more aware of the stickers on his face. After his face had a terrible rash from the ng stickers he was bound and determined to not have anything on his face! He pulled his tube out 5x in one day!! I guess he was telling us get this off my face, so we took it out and now he is taking the bottle... Kind of... We have a fast flow nipple on his bottle so he kind of guzzles.. But it works!! We are feeding him around the clock baby food and formula! Calories are very important to B so we are constantly feeding him! We weigh him daily and so far so good!!! Hopefully he will just keep improving and we can avoid a G tube surgery altogether!! We are still having to do the lovenox shots twice a day to help dissolve the clot in his leg.. But other than that nothing new to report! Our first Team Brody heart walk was a success!! A big thank you to all our friends and family for the generous donations and for comming out and walking with us! I think it's wonderful we can all get together, life is busy and hectic but comming together for Brody meant the world to us!!! Hoping to do it again next year:) Big sister Charli is turning out to be quite the tomboy! Broken arm on the trampoline required surgery to put pins in, we just had the pins removed and were on the final stretch of the new blur cast! If we're not in the hospital with Brody were in there with Charli and if I'm
Not in the hospital with either of our two babies I'm at the hospital because I'm back to work! Life is good!!!! Love to all and happy 1/2 birthday to our amazing little guy!!!