Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Team I Heart Evin

As mentioned in my last post, we had family come to Austin to stay with us the weekend of March 22nd to participate in a charity walk for Congenital Heart Defects.  We were excited to walk in honor of our little heart baby....

EVIN KATE ARMSTRONG!


We had team shirts made and Mitch's family, plus Mom and the Snowdens came to support the cause.  We definitely had the cutest little supporters and honoree there!





I'm sure the emotions running through Mitch and Kori were intense, as they had just celebrated Evin's first birthday a few days earlier, and the date of the walk was exactly a year since the day they found out about her heart defect.  The walk started at almost the exact time that Evin was being transported by ambulance to Cook Children's Hospital the year before.  Amazing!


The Snowden, Armstrong, and Coots Families HEART Evin!


Daddy and Lane


Mommy and Lane


Kathy's precious new puppy, Paisley came along and got lots of attention.  She is a dapple dachshund with a feisty personality!



My sweets


These two still look like they could be twins.  And they often act like it too!  Getting along one minute and arguing the next!


Pals



Getting some energy out before the walk started!



A family pic.  Ewwww of me, but cute of everyone else!


I was excited to design the shirt logo for our team.  Kori told me what she was wanting and they turned out really cute.  This was the back.


These two held hands for part of the walk and ran fast the rest.  Lane also found his way into Evin's stroller a couple of times.  Lazy boy!




Our brave girl!


After the walk, the kids ran and played, got balloon swords and animals, and had some snacks.  There may or may not have been a meltdown when Lane's sword popped on the way to the car.  :-/


Evin's full team of supporters!


A little dancing with Mitch!


Mommy's girl!


Cute cousins!


We went out to lunch after the walk at Mandola's.  Gotta love their gelato!
 


After lunch and naps, we took the kids to Austin Park and Pizza.  Kyle was a trooper and went while the UT basketball team was playing during March Madness.  He made multiple checks to his phone for scores and updates and rushed inside to catch a few parts of the game on the TV's, but was happy to ride rides and play games with the kids--even though the Longhorns ended up losing.

This picture cracks me up.  The ride operator kept telling the kids to scream when the ride came down and poor Kyle was sitting there amidst the craziness!  LOL!


Tiffany volunteered to ride the next ride when they wouldn't allow the little kids to ride alone.  Better her than me!  



Mason got a seat to himself!







After some rides, we hit up the mini golf course.  Mason was cracking me up with this stance before he would putt.  It did pay off on one hole, where he got a hole in one!  It also happened to be the hole that Kathy said she'd give him $5 if he made it.  Lucky boy!







Mason wasn't the only one who got a hole in one!  Marley killed it on hole #15!


This guy came close, but never made it in one shot.


We went inside for a few games after golf.


I went outside to wait, while Kyle took Lane to spend his tickets at the prize booth.  It was hilarious when they came outside and Lane had these:


And our thoughtful guy got some crazy teeth for Mason and Marley too!  So funny!


After all the fun we went out to eat at Lupe Tortilla.  It was a long wait, and slow service, but tasty as always.  By the time dinner was over we had some SLEEPY kids.  It was a long, busy, and fun day!  

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Evin's Heart Repair Surgery

Lane and I drove to Mansfield on Sunday, September 1, 2013 to be there for my niece, Evin's heart repair surgery which was scheduled for Tuesday the 3rd.  We were also able to celebrate Kori's birthday, which was September 5th.  Since she would be in the hospital with Evin on her actual birthday, we decided to celebrate early and all went out to dinner at Babe's.  Just thinking about Babe's makes my mouth water. It is one of my very favorite restaurants!  We were able to have a quick visit with Evin before her surgery and I took some cute pics of the two sweeties together!  










It was sad knowing that in just a couple days, this happy girl would be going in for her second open heart surgery.





Lane's turn for individual pics!






Kori and Mitch had family time with just Evin the day before her surgery.  I know it was pretty hard for them to comprehend taking her back to Cook Children's for an invasive surgery.  We all got up early on the 3rd and headed to sit with Kori and Mitch while Evin was having her procedures done.  We got to see the baby girl for a brief time before they wheeled her back to surgery.  It was pretty emotional!  After a long day of waiting, the surgery was over and was completely successful!  Evin's surgeon said it went very well and was smiling and positive.  We finally got to see her around 8pm that night.  She looked fantastic for what all she just been through.



Beautiful girl in the bow the nurses picked out for her.


We all knew Evin had a tough recovery ahead of her, but felt certain she would do great and would be ready to go home soon!  Lane and I had to leave to go back to Austin the next day, but I was able to swing by the hospital to see Evin again before we headed back.  She looked even better the next day!  
No breathing tube, just a little oxygen.  She was a bit swollen, and in some pain, but she was doing really well.  



 




I hated to leave her, but we had to get back to Austin for Lane's Meet the Teacher Night at his school that night.  He also started back to school the next day!  (Next blog post.)

As for Evin, she ended up taking the fast track to recovery.  She was moved out of the PICU quickly and into her own room, and only ended up having a 7 day stay at the hospital!  She is home now and doing wonderfully.  What a strong little girl!  She's my hero!  :-)