Evie's Blog

Mandy wrote a sweet post about our visit with them. Here is a link to their blog:

Seventh Smith Blog

Special Friend

We spent today with our special friends: Evie and her family.

Evie has Transposition of the Great Arteries, just like Graysen. Evie and Graysen were next to each other in the PCICU during their first surgeries and next door to each other in "Step Down." Evie will always hold a special place in our hearts and we consider her Graysen's heart sister. It was a joy to watch them play and enjoy life together.

Evie's parents, Mandy and Chad, live on a lake and we had a blast enjoying a beautiful summer day at the lake with Evie and her four brothers and sisters. Here are a few pictures from our day:

Evie

Britain and a frog.
Izzy, Graysen, Caleb, and Evie
We tried to get a picture with all seven kids. Neither Graysen or Evie were cooperative for this picture. So, here are the other five: Izzy, Caleb, Tristan, Abi, and Britain.

Summer Break

Wednesday was Caleb's last day of school and the boys and I are officially on Summer Break! We are looking forward to a relaxing and fun summer full of playdates, trips, and our favorite summer activities. So far, the boys have collected bugs with Daddy, enjoyed a water playdate with Emily, and spent an evening with Grammy and Grandpa.

3K Completion Gift

Yesterday Lee came home to Caleb and me shopping for play kitchens on the internet. (As a result of a Toy's R Us circular that came in the mail.) We looked at him with our best sappy eyes, reminded him that there were fresh baked cookies in the kitchen, and asked if we could buy a kitchen.

Lee said that we can't teach our kids that they can buy something just because they are excited about it. So, I was able to come up with the justification that it was an "End of 3K" present. Lee agreed that school is important and said that would be a good reason to buy it. (If you ask Caleb why he got the kitchen he will say, "Because I was nice at school.")

I went to Toy's R Us and picked out the kitchen with a grill so that it would be more "manly" for our boys. (Toy's R Us definitely know what it is doing with marketing.) I love watching our little boys pretend cook, grill, and run a restaurant. Thank you Daddy!

Graysen's Heart

I did not intend for a week to pass by without blogging, but I have not been feeling very well. I am pretty sick and Lee took Caleb to school today to help me.

Graysen had a cardiologist appointment last week. He is doing well and is stable. He has been "cleared" for another five months and is an active little boy.

His right pulmonary pressure is 50 and his left is 40. The cardiologist says that this difference is not good long term and that he will need a heart cath to open up flow to the right pulmonary artery. There is scar tissue at the entrance of both pulmonary arteries which needs to be angioplastied. He also said that the pressure in the right ventricle is higher than desired, but he couldn't get a good measurement. However, he said that he is not ready to order the cath yet since Graysen is active. He will re-evaluate in October.

In summary, Graysen is doing great and I am looking forward to a relaxing summer with no "interventions."

Yard Progress

I have really enjoyed working in our yard this past month. I haven't been blogging much because I have spent every free moment working outside. I plan to take a break over the weekend and relax a little.

I finally finished landscaping the front of our house. It looks a lot better than before and I love looking at flowers every day.

Everything that I planted in the front bed will bloom in the summer.

Mailbox Flower Bed

I then moved on to building a raised garden. I bought the kit at Costco and put it together myself. It came in many, many pieces and I do not intend to build anything again in the near future.

Caleb is my gardening buddy. He helped me build it and had a blast picking out plants to grow. I bought every type of vegetable, herb, and fruit that I could find.

Here is Caleb working on seedlings for the garden.

Gray Playing in the Rain After a Storm