Heart Surgery

Well on Friday Angela went to see her cardiologist and found out that her AICD (pacemaker) had a nearly dead battery and was likely to stop functioning in the next couple of weeks. Although her doctor did give us an option to wait on replacement he did say that it would not be feasible to do so until approx. 6months postpartum; which is a great deal of time to have Angela at risk for sudden cardiac arrest as had happened initially to have the device placed. Though both of us are skeptical of Angela's initial diagnosis and not too concerned that an episode would occur after speaking with the O.B. we decided the risk to the baby and the pregnancy was much more minimal than the risk and consequences should Angela have any heart complications in the next 9months. We called the cardiologist back on Friday afternoon and said we would go forward with the surgery and when was he thinking he would fit us in so we could make arrangements? Minutes later we got a call back and were told to be at the hospital at 10am Monday morning for surgery.

It was a very scary situation this time around as well as bit awkward for Angela as the surgery had to be done where she works and she has never really talked about having the device in the first place at work; but that is life and we both new we would get through it! The surgery itself took just about an hour and we were able to leave the hospital by 4:30pm, a long day but much preferred to having to stay overnight. Her surgeon informed us both that her previous surgeon had implanted her device VERY deep under the muscle and due to the size change between her original surgery and her 2nd one the device had actually slid down quite significantly. This caused a great deal of trouble in getting the old device out. As her surgeon put it--- "It was EXTREMELY deep and I had to dig around in there A TON. Please know that you are going to be EXTRAORDINARILY sore for about 7-10 days and I have talked to your OB about what stronger pain meds you can take though I know you will be stubborn and just do Tylenol you might want to reconsider."

Well, Angela's new device is in- he had to make yet another incision so she now has 3 scars across her chest which is a bit of a bummer but doesn't look like this one will show too badly. The baby pulled through the surgery just fine. They sent up a nurse from O.B. to check fetal heart tones both before and immediately following the surgery and her O.B. was on direct call to be there for any issues. It turned out the nurse they sent up was actually Angela's clinical instructor from when she took O.B. and the nurse who, well, basically delivered Maezyn for us so that was comforting to Angela to have a familiar and comforting face there for her!

Well, Nana got on a flight first thing Saturday morning and so she has been here taking care of the boys preventing Angela from doing any lifting at all as we all know she would force herself to do without Nana here preventing her. Nana has been preparing meals, taking care of the boys, and helping the house stay together as much as is possible with two toddlers. She will be here until Saturday but we think she probably already getting worn down with the energy level of our guys-- Thank goodness for good Nana's!!!!

As for the pain and recovery, Angela has been being pretty strong but smart about it too. She know that next week she is essentially cold turkey back on her own with the boys so she is actually trying to get her rest while she can and truly give herself recovery time. She has been alternating every 6hrs between Tylenol and just 1 tablet of her stronger prescribed pain med. She tries to take the prescription at 10pm for the night and then 10am for the day! She has done that since 4pm on Monday and then today (Wed) she has switched over to taking the tylenol every 8 hours and plans to just take the prescription at bedtime ONLY. She has been a trooper but is very concerned with too much meds and the baby so is trying to be reasonable about what she takes. She hopes to be off the meds completely by Friday with the rare tylenol for any breakthrough pain!

Thank you for all of you who had us in your thoughts as we got through this challenging time we are very thankful that everything went smoothly and we are able to move on without having the lingering "what if" concerns following us. Angela's cardiologist here is also working very hard to get insurance approval to have genetic testing done so we can get to the bottom of what her heart condition is and make sure that all 3 of our boys are safe as well!

Minorty Wins....

Apparently three is a charm and we are not destined for diversity in this household! No worrying about clothes or room situations here!!!

Gender Vote

Hey everyone...
We find out in 3wks the gender of the baby- hard to believe Angela will already be 1/2 way done, knowing the way her pregnancies go probably even more than 1/2 way there!!! Anyway, make sure you take a minute to vote on our gender poll on off to the right-- Interesting to see what everyone thinks we will be having this time around! We will be sure to post pictures after the ultrasound! Love you all!!!

1yr/2yr photo shoot

Baby Update

Yesterday we had a first ultrasound and the baby measured out at 10wks setting the due date for January 26th. Hopefully in just a few more weeks Angela can surpass the morning (which has been in the wee hours of the morning, 1am-4am) sickness and move safely into the second trimester. We see the doctor again in 4wks and will be sure to keep everyone posted!

AGAIN?????

Yes, that is correct we are having another baby!!! We just found out on Sunday that we are expecting another little one! It is still VERY early on so right now we are just keeping our fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and the little munchkin is healthy. Yes, this is a bit of surprise, but no it is not a bad one as we are only about 4-6months ahead of what we had planned-- so that isn't too bad!!!! We will update everyone when we know more. Much Love!

Tree Painting

(FYI- this one is 4'x5')

Here is Angela's second painting. This one is for our wide open vaulted living room. We will put up a picture once it is hanging on the green wall but the edges of the canvas still have to be finished first. This one is an original piece Angela designed from a combination of few different tree paintings. There is an area between the tree and the roots where the canvas fabric itself is damaged causing an interesting glare for certain angles so we are still deciding how we might solve this problem. Once thought we have is painting a nice "family tree" quote in that space or maybe a tire swing or something if we can figure a way to "tie" it to the unique branches!!!!

Anyway, for now we are leaving it be before deciding but we already know Angela will lose sleep over it so feel free to give any suggestions or opinions!!!

Angela's First Painting!!!

(FYI- 4ft wide x 3ft tall!!!!)

We repainted our kitchen and decided to decorate it in a bistro/chef style theme throughout! With one huge wall in the eat-in area we thought it would be cool to put up a bistro logo to tie the rooms together. The outcome- this painting done by Angela--- if you can't see the detail, it is "Michaelangela's Irish Twins Bistro Est. 2010" with the quote: Where we cook with wine- Sometimes we even put it in the food!

We just hope it looks good up on the wall

It is actually still drying in this picture- so once dry up it will go with all fingers crossed!!!!!

Kentucky Derby Mini-Marathon (1/2 Marathon)

WOW....We did it, we have officially completed our first ever 1/2 marathon- 13.1 miles WITHOUT walking!!!! Let me tell you, our bodies hate us for it too; but at least we accomplished our goal!

Below are our times, but first let us share Mike's quote in response to our times: "We are like geniuses without textbooks in the world of distance running". In other words, we need some more training in the future if we plan to complete this distance again!!!

Yes, it did rain for just over the first 1/2 of the race but the temperature couldn't have been better!


Mike- 1:55.12 (8:47 min/mile pace)
Gender Place- 1260/4627 (27%)
Division Place- 183/631 (29%)
Overall Place- 1675/10705 (16%)

Angela- 2:06.38 (9:38 min/mile pace)
Gender Place- 1111/6078 (18%)
Division Place- 276/1180 (23%)
Overall Place- 3286/10705 (31%)

Brotherly Love!

Mahkii has always enjoyed waiting by the front door for Mike to come home from work and now Maezyn has joined in on the fun and gets just as excited as Mahkii for daddy to get home!!!

Swinging Fun!!!

Both boys practically passed out in the baby swings at the end of our park trip!


Mahkii's first time on the "big boy" swing & he was thrilled!



Maezyn's first time swinging- He loved it!!!

Springtime Colors

Here are a few snaps from the beautiful colors in our backyard this spring!!! We will have to post some more pictures from our front yard as well where we have some purples, reds and whites! Despite miserable allergies springtime is just amazingly colorful and gorgeous here in Kentucky!

Easter Bunny's Visit

The Easter bunny visited yesterday morning and brought the kids buckets, yes buckets full of stuff. Of course it was full of "essentials"- diapers, food, bowls, shampoo, wash and such but hey the Easter bunny is practical in this household!!! There was of course toys too- balls, cars, coloring books, crayons, bath toys and such...The Easter bunny does know how to have fun!!!

The large stuffed bunny was a gift to Angela from Mike their first Easter in Kentucky and we have decided that we would continue to bring it out for one day a year to deliver Easter baskets!




Mahkii's first mission- tackle the bunny and kiss it!!!!


Maezyn chowing down on his new teething biscuits!!!


All smiles as always!


Mahkii sporting his new shades!!

Indianapolis SURPRISE!!!!

So Saturday night Mike and Angela were able to leave the kiddos with Granda and Grandmac and head of to Indianapolis for a date night. Angela had found out that a childhood friend (the daughter of her mom's best friend from childhood), Sierra Sumpf was going to be performing at a coffee shop there so we made the drive up to Indi to surprise her. Sierra is from Boston and currently traveling with a friend across the East coast, Mid-west and South playing their music! It was a wonderful surprise for Sierra who took a while to recognize Angela and put it all together but was thrilled once she figured it out!!! After the show we were able to venture out for dinner and spend some time catching up- considering it had been 8 years since they had last seen each other there was lots to talk about. We all shared tons of laughs and it was like best buddies that had never missed a day apart just hanging-out! It is so nice that despite distance and time apart that two people can reconnect so quickly and just instantly be comfortable- that is a special type of friendship that you don't come across that easily. Well, unfortunately we took no pictures but Sierra did so hopefully we can get a hold of them to put up sometime!

By the way, you have to check out Sierra's website to hear her music (sierrarocks.com), she plays a very refreshing folk-like style of acoustic guitar with a peaceful and soulful voice that comes from the heart! You can buy a CD from her website as well, she is certainly impressive especially when you realize that she is entirely self-taught...talk about talent!!!!

TRIPLE CROWN

Mike and Angela officially completed the Louisville Triple Crown of Running by finishing 3 races; a 5k, 10k, and 10-mile!!! Mike's dad, uncle and cousin also joined in on the festivities of the 10-mile with everyone finishing under 2hrs!!! Yes, you heard correctly we ran a 10 mile race!!! Oh, and it started raining part way through about mile 9 for Mike and mile 7.5 for Angela, a nice early cool down perhaps!!! Next up is the 1/2 marathon on April 24th!

RESULTS:

Mike 1:18.29 (7:50min/mile pace)
Overall Place- 547/6925
Gender Place- 467/3212
Division Place- 76/407

Angela 1:31.12 (9:05min/mile pace)

Overall Place-	1892 / 6925
Gender Place-	503 / 3713
Division Place-	131 / 655

Running Season Continues

(Mahkii insisted in being in the picture- planning for his future post-race shots!!!)


Rodes City 10K completed today!!!! This was a first ever distance for both Mike and Angela and we didn't do to bad either!!!

Mike- 46:02 (7:20 minute/mile pace)
489/7300 overall
424/3248 males
67/381 males 25-29

Angela- 53:11 (8:28 minute/mile pace)
1672/7300 overall
402/4052 females
115/646 females 25-29

We are both thrilled by the results and hope to continue running/training the way we have been so that we can keep improving on these "starting-point" times!!!

The weather was also a bit nicer this time around and we only had to run in long sleeves and tights plus gloves for some of the race. Thankfully we got to leave our hats and jackets in the car!

Now we must kick training into even higher or should we say "longer" gear as we prep for our 10-mile on April 3rd!!!!

More Park Pics

A Nice Day= 1st Park Trip!!!

Finally the sun came out and we had temps in the high 50's so off to the playground we went!

5K----Start of Race Season!!!

RACE RESULTS:
Mike- 22:08 (7:05 minute/mile pace)
474th/8520 total
412th/3612 males
76th/431 males age 25-29 (FYI- the hardest age group!)

Angela- 26:28 (8:25 minute/mile pace)
1816th/8520 total
432nd/4908 females
110th/735 females age 25-29 (FYI- the hardest age group!)

Overall we were both satisfied with our times/results although we are certainly looking at this as merely a starting point to improve upon. It certainly was a new experience for the both of us racing in 25 degree weather wearing pants, jackets, gloves and hats while racing not just warming up!!! This was Mike's first 5k since 2006 when he ran the Carlsbad 5K and had a time of 22:48, and this was Angela's first 5k since 1998 (sophomore in H.S.) when her times were usually around the 22 minute mark +/- some! We are both proud of ourselves for getting out there and doing it though, after 2 kids and several year "off" from running this was a huge accomplishment for the both of us!!!!

Next, we look forward to our first ever (for both of us) 10k on March 20th!!! Wish us luck, we will need it to finish this one, oh and cross your fingers it will be warmer than 30 degrees at least this time!!!

Swim Class

The boys are both taking swim classes now at a really cool indoors kids activity center near our home. The place offers swim class, gymnastics, karate, and dance. For now we have just introduced the kids to swim class and occasionally we take them to open gym to play around! At the beginning of January Mahkii started is second 10-week session of swim and is a 12-24month Guppie! Maezyn started his very first swim class at the beginning of January (a month early for his age) and he is a 6-12month Mini-Guppie! Angela does the classes with Maezyn while Mike takes Mahkii in the pool so we have no pictures of Maezyn swimming yet. So far Maezyn is quite comfortable with the water and does great floating on his back and having water pulled over his head. He also sits on the edge of the pool and mommy pulls him into the water just barely taking him under and he doesn't mind at all. We are working on trying to get him to kick is legs some as well as hold onto the pool wall. Mahkii now goes down the slide, goes under water GREAT, blows bubbles, pulls himself out of the pool, jumps in, kicks like crazy, splashes like a mad man, and even climbs up and stands to balance on the floating mats in the water!!! At our last swim class the instructor was able to completely let go of Mahkii while doing passes between instructor and parent (normally they just hand them off but she actually pushed him forward under water and let him go!).

We will be sure to add more pics as we take them and keep you all updated on how they are progressing with their swimming skills- I don't think it will be too much loner before Mahkii is taking over!

side by side age comparison

A little something for fun!