AHA Heart Walk 2012

This year's American Heart Association Heart Walk was very successful!!  There were over 13,000 people that came out and walked, and more than 1.7 million dollars was raised to fight cardiovascular disease, stroke, and congenital heart defects.  I think that this is the biggest Heart Walk Nashville yet!

Our team, Little Heart Heroes, which is made up of the Clinkscales (Cain), the Dabits (Nadia), and us, also had our biggest year yet!  Our team had around 60 people walking and $6, 935 in donations!!!    $3,510 of that total was donated in honor of our little Colby!!  We cannot thank all of you enough for the tremendous support that you continue to show Colby and our family!!  God has blessed us with some amazing friends and family, and I am extremely thankful for all of you!

Nadia is in the hospital waiting on her new heart, but the heart walk would not have been complete without her sweet smile.  So, Catherine and I had a picture of her printed to make a sign, and Colby was so excited to hold it up and show her off.   We love you Nadia!!!

Thank you to our friends and family that came and walked in support of Colby!  It was a little chilly at first, but it warmed up quickly and turned out to be a beautiful day!!

I was so happy that Nadia's family came out and walked.  Suha's sisters from Germany were even able to be there!  We love the Dabits and honestly feel like they are a part of our family.  Please continue to keep Nadia in your prayers as she awaits the greatest gift of all, and keep her family in your prayers.  I know this extended time in the hospital is very tough on all of them, especially her awesome big brother Justin!

They boys are always excited to see Champ and give him a big hug!  Seeing Shrek at the Heart Walk was an added bonus!!

Colby wore  his survivor red hat with pride and loved posing in the Survivor Picture before the walk started.  He also loved the stage...he went right up and started talking to John Dwyer of News Channel 2, who was emceeing the event.  I'm pretty sure he would have gone right up on stage if he had the chance.  He is definitely not a shy guy!!

The boys loved signing the Memorial Wall!

The walk finally begins, and Colby led us out with our team sign.  When he wasn't walking, he was on either Coach Will's shoulders or Mr. David's shoulders having a great time!  Thanks to Will and David for being such great sports!!  They also had to carry Brody some, who weighs twice what Colby weighs!!

When the finish line was in sight, Colby decided to run.  He said he wanted to finish his "race" fast!  I actually had to jog just to keep up with him!  We are so thankful that he is healthy and able to run, which we know would not be possible without God, his doctors and surgeons, and the incredible research that has been done and continues to be done on CHDs.   Jason and I try to never take for granted the little things that we were once told Colby might not be able to do.  Like our shirts say, "Half the Heart, Twice the Fight!"

Colby and Brody had a great time with the life size poster cut outs of Colby!!  I love that the AHA made these of many of the survivors.  They looked so good and are a great tribute to all of these heroes!

Thank you again to everyone who supported Colby in this year's Heart Walk!  We also want to thank our great friends,  Ryan and Shelly Calonge of Richards and Southern for making our shirts this year!  We love the shirts and greatly appreciate the Calonges!!!!

We are already looking forward to next year's Heart Walk!!

Happy Birthday Pa!

On Sunday, September 23, we had lunch at Nenny and Pa's house to celebrate Pa's birthday.  He turned 85 on September 24!!  Happy Birthday Pa!!  We love you very much, and we can't wait to celebrate at least 20 more birthdays with you!!

PBR 2012

On Saturday, September 8, we went to our first Professional Bull Riding event with the Walker Family.  The boys had a great time watching the bulls, singing the songs that they played, laughing at the rodeo clown, and of course, eating cotton candy.  I'm sure this is an event that they will be asking to go to again!  Thanks Randy, Myra, and Cole for a fun night!!!

AHA Survivor Soiree and Heart Walk Kick Off

On Tuesday, August 28, the American Heart Association hosted their first ever Survivor Soiree at the Nashville Zoo.  This was also an event to kick off the 2012 Heart Walk.  There was a photographer there taking pictures of the survivors and their families, face painters, and great food.  We really enjoyed visiting with survivors of all ages!  Catherine Clinkscales (Cain's Mom) and I were asked to tell our boys' heart stories during the event.  I am not a great public speaker, but hopefully I was able to give a good summary of Colby's past 4 years. I also hope that we were able to encourage some other survivors to get involved in this year's Heart Walk.  Heart Survivors depend on research funded by the AHA, so our goal is to get as many people involved as possible!!

The boys loved the face painters!!!

Our team, Little Heart Heroes, will be participating again in this year's walk on October 6 at Vanderbilt Campus.  If you would like to make a donation to the AHA in honor of Colby, please visit his personal page. http://nashvilleheartwalk.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1011336&lis=1&kntae1011336=EACB72E7164542EB9D45E60163612A83&supId=302956283

We would also love to have as many friends and family members as possible to come out and walk with us on October 6.  Please post a comment, send me an email to jbbhitchcock@gmail.com, or call me if you would like to walk with us in support of Colby.  Jason and I are having "Little Heart Heroes" shirts made for everyone, and we want to be sure we have enough made.  We really hope to see you all there!!

Brody's first full day of Kindergarten

With Brody's birthday being so late in August, we did make the decision to have him repeat Kindergarten in our zoned public school this year.  Brody is actually very excited about this, because he is looking forward to being one of the oldest kids in his class instead of the very youngest.

Sumner County had a delay in the school year starting due to some budget problems, but the county finally started on August 16, which meant Brody got to go for his Kindergarten Phase in Day on Monday, August 20.  He had a really fun day meeting all of the Kindergarten teachers and learning all about the school.

On Wednesday the 22nd, Mrs. Cook called to tell us that she would be Brody's Kindergarten teacher this year.  We are so excited for Brody to be in Mrs. Cook's class!!  I think he is going to have a great year with her!

Brody's first full day of school was on Thursday, August 23.  I walked him over to school and got to stay in his classroom for a few minutes before saying goodbye.  As I walked out of that school, I completely fell apart!  I knew he was excited and would be well taken care of, but it just hit me that he is in big school now!  Last year's Kindergarten was only 8:30-12:45, but this year, he will go from 8:45-3:45!!!  He is officially a big kid, and I am going to miss him like crazy!!

Brody turns 6!

Brody turned 6 on August 22!  Since Kindergarten has a phase in week, he was out of school for his big day and so was his best buddy, Greyson.  After we dropped Colby off at school, we picked up Greyson and headed for the Family Fun Center.  These boys had so much fun!!!  They did the huge trampoline bungee jump, bumper cars, laser tag, and played lots of games!  We finished up the afternoon with lunch from McDonalds.  Brody had a great 6th birthday, and I am so happy that I was able to spend it with him!

Happy Birthday Brody!  You are an amazing little man, and I feel so blessed to have you as my son!

Colby's 4 year Well Visit

Colby's 4 year check up went really well!!  It is always a blessing to hear that he is healthy, growing, and right on track developmentally!!  He weighed in at 28 lbs, which finally placed him back on the growth chart!!  It is only 1%, but hey, he's on it!  This is a 5 lb gain over the last year, which is huge!  He also had a big growth in height over the last year...3 inches!!  He is now almost 3 ft tall at 35 1/2 inches!  

Another Triathlon!!

I think Brody is hooked on triathlons!!  As soon as the first one was over, he asked to do another!  Fortunately, Team Magic and BEAT (Brentwood Endurance Athletic Team) hosted a Kids Triathlon at the Maryland Farms YMCA on Saturday, August 18.  This triathlon consisted of a 50 m swim, 2k bike, and a 1k run.  Brody did awesome!!  He finished in 19:34, placing him 5th out of 15 other 6 year olds!  We are all very proud of his top 5 finish!  

Colby got so excited when he saw Champ there cheering on all the kids!  Champ is the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital mascot.  I think it is awesome that after all Colby has been through at the Hospital, he still loves everything about it!