A portrait of my child, once a week, every week in 2013

We have been spending every second we are all together soaking up the fall. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year, I wish it lasted a bit longer. On weekend evenings we have been picking a different park and going to play on the swings and walk. She’s starting to understand how all of the different playground equipment works and its adorable to see.

She had her heart check up this week, and things went well. It was beyond exhausting and stressful but all came out well. Most days we forget there is anything different about this child, but walking through those doors it smacks you in the face. About 15 minutes after arriving she was ready for a nap, so sitting still for the echo didn’t go so well. She sat still watching an Elmo video for about 15 minutes, although I think it was more like 5 and just felt like 15. Then I heard a small whimper. She was sitting in my lap, and my husband said her lip had started quivering a few minutes before. Then the full on tears started, and despite efforts on everyone’s part, she broke down the second they tried to touch her with the wand again. The pictures of her heart were few and blurry. Her cardiologist assured us he’s not concerned about her. There was a lot more to the visit, talking about the very real possibility of SVT in her future, but that she will be able to tolerate it, that she is kind of a mystery as her tricuspid valve doesn’t really leak(due to its level of displacement it leaking would be expected), and that although her saturations remain low, that its ok. She’s ahead in growth, and developing perfectly. We came home finally after almost 4 hours(which if you have a 1 year old you know is a loooong time to go without a nap, or nursing in the morning). My husband and I were both completely drained by the experience. Luckily our little babe was quickly rejuvenated by a long nap.

Last week I quite liked these images.