Fun, fantastic day!

Hello everyone,

Today we had a fantastic day up at Children's. First of all, Braden was Mr. Comedian in the waiting room using his grizzly bear voice to say/yell "mamamamamamamama." He is the little man of many faces & noises and quite the little character/entertainer. Once we got to see Dr. Cava, it was a pretty quick appointment. I wanted to say, "That's it? No poking, prodding, or anything else you need to look over?" He is very pleased with his growth, development, and heart function. Once we were done in the heart center, we were able to go visit some of our favorite nurses up on the 4th floor. The only bummer was that our "angel" doc, Dr. Ghanayem, was out of town. Bummer #2 was that we found out the Herma Heart Center Picnic, held every year at the Milwaukee Zoo, is the same day as our charity golf outing. We knew that there was a chance this could happen, but we were really hoping it would fall on a different day. We were really looking forward to going. Hopefully next year.....

What also made our day very special is that we were able to meet another "soon-to-be" heart family. I connected with the mom on my heart support group and we were able to meet her and her husband today at CHW. We know first hand how crucial it is to connect with other heart families....we hope to lend Maddison's mom and dad the same kind of support. With permission from her parents, we will keep you posted on the arrival of baby Maddison.

Although we had a lot of positive excitement today, there were definitely some funky flashbacks from our stays at CHW. I think the scent of the skywalk was really what hit me the most. It actually brought me back to the first day Rich wheeled me through there. We were on our way to see Braden in the NICU after they flew him from Lutheran General. The fear and anxiety was so vivid and real. It's amazing how much scent and memory go together all too well.

So far, being off for the summer has been great. It has allowed us to play all day and have so much fun with Braden. He's just cracking us up with all of his noises and funny faces. He plays so well on his own...making motor boat noises as he pretends to read books and talk to his toys. He's not saying "dadda", but we think Grandma Lois taught him how to say "grrrrrramma". We've also been trying some new foods.....pizza is his new favorite....yikes! We did ask his card if there are any food restrictions.....nope! I guess we'll keep trying new things :)

If you didn't catch the latest blog entry, be sure to check out the charity website....registration for the golf outing is all set to go! www.heartofgoldcharity.org/events

Thanks for checking in!

Love, Steph, Rich, and Braden

PS...the pics are of some recent outdoor outings and a classic moment of the "grandmarazzi & possy" hard at work!