Sunday, January 22, 2012

Doughnuts with Dad

Doughnuts with Dad at school was a special treat for the boys. They were so excited to have Jason at home when they woke up. They were even more excited when they realized he was going to school with them to eat doughnuts!


Monday, January 16, 2012

4th Annual Blood Drive Coming Soon!!

BLOOD DRIVE

We are ready to schedule appointments for our 4th Annual Blood Drive in honor of Colby. The drive will be on Saturday, February 11 from 9-2 at Hendersonville Church of Christ (same place as the previous years). Time slots are again open in 15 minute intervals.

If you would like to sign up to donate, please send me an email to jbbhitchcock@gmail.com, and I will take care of everything. In your email, please include your name, contact number or email address, and a time range that will work for you. I will enter it into the Red Cross schedule and then send you a confirmation email with your appointment time. Please just let me know by email or in the comment section if you have any questions. Jason and I have set a goal of 75 donors, so please spread the word and help us fill up these time slots!!

One change this year is that the Red Cross has set aside time slots specifically for automated red cell collection (2RBC). Read below for a description from the Red Cross of this process...

Unlike a traditional whole blood donation, Automated Red Cell Collection (2RBC) allows the donor to give two units of red blood cells, instead of just one. The process separates your blood into its components while it is being drawn. Because only red blood cells are being collected, there will enough for two red cell transfusions. The remaining components are returned to the donor. The procedure takes just 20 minutes longer than a whole blood donation. 2RBCs can only be donated every four months. 2RBC donors must be certain height and weight requirements, as well as other donor criteria:
Males: Must weigh at least 130 lbs. and be 5'1" or taller . Females: Must weigh at least 150 lbs. and be 5'5" or taller.


Jason did the 2RBC donation last year and had no problems. Please just remember that it will take a little longer than the traditional whole blood donation. We would love to schedule as many of these as possible, considering they are able to get two units of red blood cells instead of one from each donor.





BAKE SALE



We will be doing a bake sale again this year and donating all proceeds to the CHD Research efforts at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in honor of Colby. If you are interested in providing baked goods for the sale, please send me an email to jbbhitchcock@gmail.com. Just let me know what you would like to make (or purchase from a store) for the sale...cookies, brownies, muffins, candies, breads, cakes, cupcakes, trail mixes, etc.




If you would like to make a direct donation to the CHD Research efforts at Vanderbilt in honor of Colby, we would greatly appreciate it!! Checks should be made out to "Monroe Carrell Jr Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt." On the memo line, please write "CHD Research." You can mail those to me at home or bring them by the church on February 11th.





VOLUNTEERS



Volunteers are needed and greatly appreciated!!!!! If you would like to help, please send me an email to jbbhitchcock@gmail.com with the times you are available. Thank you all so much!!

Happy Birthday Shug!

Granny Shug's birthday is coming up this Friday, and a few of us were able to get together on Monday to celebrate at Olive Garden. As always, the food was delicious, and we all had a good time visiting. When the server brought out Shug's birthday cake, the candles read "48." Sounds about right to me! Happy Birthday Shug!! We love you!!!













Thursday, January 12, 2012

A "minor" surgery...and hopefully his last!

Because of Colby's special heart, he was unable to be circumcised at birth like "heart healthy" kids. The cardiologist felt his heart would not be strong enough to go through this stressful procedure until after having the 3 heart repairs. So, once he was cleared at his 6 month post Fontan appointment, we scheduled the consult with the Urologist and got the ball rolling on what we hope will be his last surgery.

Colby was amazing through the whole day of surgery! We woke him up very early to get to the hospital by 6:30, and as always, he immediately started talking and smiling. He asked several questions about the surgery, and for some reason the only part that stuck in his mind was that he would be getting stitches. He asked every person that he came into contact with that morning, "You give me stitches?" He was determined to find out who exactly would be doing the stitches.







Colby drove himself back to the Operating Room in this little car a little before 9, and the surgery was over by 9:30. Dr. Thomas came out and talked to us when it was over and said everything went well. He went on and on about how well Colby did. Apparently, Colby just sat on the operating table with his little legs crossed and waited patiently for them to get started. He wasn't scared at all! Dr. Thomas said something that Jason and I have often thought ourselves..."there is just something special about this kid."





By the time Jason and I were called back to Recovery, Colby was already sitting up eating a popsicle. I was amazed and thankful for this!! In the past, he has been a little slow to come out of anesthesia. He ate most of the popsicle and then asked for a slushy. That is when the nurse said we were free to go...only 10 minutes after getting back in to recovery with him!! Jason and I are definitely not used to a surgery where you are only at the hospital for a total of 4 hours!! Before leaving the hospital, Colby made it clear that he wanted to go eat Subway, because he was "hunggy." So, we treated him to Subway for lunch before picking up Brody at school.



Happy Birthday Emilee!

Emilee turned 8 on January 7! I cannot believe that she is already 8 years old!! We celebrated together with lunch at her house, and as always, we had a great time!











Happy Birthday Emilee!!!!!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Happy Birthday Poogie!

We celebrated my mom's birthday with dinner at our house. I was so happy that this worked out, because it was last minute planning on my part. I love when all of us can get together!!!

Happy Birthday Poogie!!!!!







New Years Day at Mimi's

Our annual meal on New Years Day continued this year with lunch at Mimi's Cafe! It is so much fun when this whole group of friends can get together. It doesn't happen often enough. Unfortunately, the Benzs were unable to make it this year. We really missed you guys!!!






Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Adventure Science Center

Jason and I "won" tickets to the Adventure Science Center at a Ronald McDonald House Silent Auction a couple of months ago. We decided to go while Jason was off work and the boys were out of school. This was the first time either of them had been, and they loved it! There is so much to see and do! I am so thankful that we have such a great Science Center in our area! I look forward to taking the boys again!




Blast off...



The boys' favorite room (and mine too) was the room that was all about the human body and how it works. Seeing how the body moves on a bicycle...



This was about the digestive system and how "poop" moves through the body. When you get off the slide, the floor makes a whoopee cushion sound. They thought that was hilarious!





Practicing brushing teeth...



This was a booth that simulated a tornado with winds up to 85 mph. Fun inside for them and fun outside for us watching their reactions!







Dreamworks Experience at Opryland Hotel

Colby's big gift from Santa this Christmas was an overnight stay at Opryland Hotel for the Dreamworks Experience. He was so excited to go meet Shrek, Po, and the Madagascar Friends!! We checked in on December 26th at 2:30 and did not stop moving until 9:00 that night when we finally got to our room. It was a busy but fun time!!

Our fun started with a Holiday Shrektacular show. The boys loved seeing all of their favorite characters dance and sing! Their faces during the show were priceless!!
































After the show, we headed for Po's house to kick off our Meet and Greets. These were great! The boys got to meet, hug, and take pictures with 7 different characters! The characters also stamped a Character Passport for the boys to keep. This will be a great way to remember the experience!




Po from Kung Fu Panda...









Alex from Madagascar...









Shrek!...










Gingy from Shrek...










Puss in Boots...













King Julian from Madagascar...






After the Meet and Greets and a quick dinner, we walked over to the Merry Madagascar Ice Exhibit. The boys loved this!! I'm not sure they got the fact that every single thing in there was ice, but they really enjoyed looking at it all. Their favorite part was of course the ice slides!!!






The Penguins...






Finally, we made it to our room and got into our pajamas!! The boys were SO excited to be sleeping in a hotel. This is something they have been asking to do for a long time! Unfortunately, not much sleep was had! Colby could not settle down and go to sleep! He was asking me questions until 3:30 in the morning. I must have dozed off at that point. When I woke up around 4, I found him laying sideways in the bed with his head on Jason's back. Hilarious! I thought we would then get a few hours of sleep, but Brody woke up at 5:30 and was ready for everyone else to wake up too. It was definitely a memorable experience!















Breakfast with Shrek, Fiona, and Puss in Boots!!!...




















After Colby's wild night of not sleeping, he was exhausted! The poor guy felt terrible and slept through the breakfast with Shrek. I hate he missed it, because he LOVES Shrek and Fiona and would have loved all of the Shrek themed food, especially the Shrek shaped waffles. They were delicious!




Brody loved the Swamp Juice...






Our boys are not car sleepers, but apparently they were both totally exhausted!!! Both of them were asleep only 10 minutes after leaving the Hotel. This was an awesome family get away that none of us will soon forget!