A 5 year old and a thriving wonderful 3 1/2 year old, what a wonderful life!!!

I'm sorry it has been over a month since I've updated the blog. I made the careless mistake of storing way way way way way too many photos on my laptop, and yes I do know to put them on an external hard drive and yes Ted... Kim.... I know the lecture was loud and clear this summer and yet still, I was mindless and careless and lackadaisical about it and yes, I ended up with a huge computer mess. I couldn't even open my computer to fix the problem, it was so full that it didn't even have the space to open. Anyway, enough said about that, I've learned my lesson and I'm back up and running!
And talk about running... life is just moving along way too fast. There is so much going on I can barely catch my breath. I'm ready for Christmas but I am not ready for it to be over. I want to enjoy the season for at least another month :) I love everything about December!! 
So the two most important things about this post....
Today our baby, our oldest little, turned 5!
It was a perfect day and tonight when I tucked her in to bed she said that it was her wish to have a really long Birthday and she got her wish. So cute to see her perspective. We opened presents first thing this morning and then headed to school. She had dance this evening and tomorrow morning is her recital so she was high as a kite with excitement and anticipation for that! Then her big sis and brother in law came over and we had cake and used her new pottery wheel that her grandma got her. By the time she went to bed (later than her normal bed time) she felt like she had been celebrating for days! I think the sweetest part of the day was this morning when we gave her her gifts. She had 3 wrapped presents and a few unwrapped surprises in her room to be found after school. Ivy saw the wrapped gifts and immediately ran for them. She went to grab one and Lexi said, "I'm sarwy sweetie, but its my birthday today, these gifts are for me." (yes, she really said sweetie). Ivy made a very sad face and said, but where's my pwesents? Lexi then took one of the three gifts and said, here you go, I only need two, you can have this one. It was precious. And it ended up being the Anna doll from the movie Frozen, the little sister princess. The other boxes were the castle and the Elsa doll. I'm not going to leave out that had the gift Ivy opened been the Elsa doll, I'm certain Lexi would have been asking for it back (She adores princess Elsa the big sister princess), but it was perfect the way it transpired and the day continued in that same perfect way. Two little girls playing together all day long!
The next super important thing is our Ivy update. I know some of you have been worried about the lack of posts. So now that I have my computer back, here is an update on our little Gem.
Back in August Ivy's heart failure number had dropped to an unbelievable only God could do this, all doctors had their jaws on the floor, TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY! Now I know that number doesn't mean much to most, but trust me, it is crazy low for our girl! By October things were looking so good that they decided to wean her off of her digoxin and she did well with that. In late October we dropped her down to just one dose of lasix a day and she did well with that as well. 3 less syringes of meds made mom and Ivy very excited! Then in November Ivy got a cold and the cold became a terrible cough, breathing difficulties and a very puffy girl. We put her back on the lasix and she had breathing treatments and Prednisone for a week and finally after 2.5 weeks she was well again. We managed by the grace of God to keep her out of the germ infested hospital and she was back to school in time for her Thanksgiving feast! At the very start of this cold, before it had escalated to even a fraction of where it would get at its worse, we had our regular labs done to check for all the normal things they keep a close eye on. They also checked her heart failure number. Well her heart failure number had jumped up to 1950! Her cardiologist (who by the way is the most incredible, humble, caring man) said that he would expect it to go up while her body is battling illness. Going up to almost 2000 is quite a curious jump and we need to watch her closely. An echo revealed all the same things that one would expect from a heart like hers while sick, so the plan was to do another set of lab work in mid December and another Echo after the new year. We did the labs yesterday, I'm still waiting to hear the results. I'm keeping my chin up and my hopes high. She is doing amazing, looks amazing, acts amazing, growing, getting so strong, happy and delightful. We let her try everything, experience everything, savor everything because that's the way we should all live. If they tell me she is having problems again, I will be shocked based on the fact that she acts and looks so good. But I did not go in to this blind or even vision impaired so I'm also well prepared for any tune ups we may need to have along the road. If you could see her, her joy, her ambition, her determination, her spirit, you would agree that this baby girl has got to be just fine! I will keep you posted on the numbers we get as soon as I hear back from her cardiologist. We'd love to see them back down in the hundreds. 
I leave you with a few photos and a huge thanks for your continued love for our family!

Ivy's first Pre-School Christmas Program

And below, Lexi's Pre-School Christmas program

 Lexi's big night, so fun that they each got their own night to shine on the stage.

                               Lexi's class

                               Lexi and Cassidy after the show

 Ivy could not wait to get on that stage. After watching her sister up there the night before, she was ready for her turn! She was waving to everyone from the stage. Hi mommy, its me, Ivy... Hi Daddy, It's me... Ivy!! Just in case we didn't recognize her star like appearance while on the stage haha :) She is a hoot!

Ivy sitting with her class. I know, she looks like someones baby sister got in the picture :) But we think she's just perfect.