LCK Picnic

Before we got to Saturday, we had a doctor appt. this past Thursday with Dr. Bensky, Cole's cardiologist, but this time not for Cole. It was actually a precautionary echo for the new baby. Cole did go with us because he is buddies with Dr. Bensky and we thought it would be good for Cole to go in and see that every doctor appt. he was at wasn't always for him and him having to be checked out. The same woman did this echo that did all of Cole's before and after he was born and she was so happy to see Cole again.
Yen (sp?) kept saying how this baby couldn't be giving her better views of her heart. She said it was like the baby knew what she needed next. Very different than Cole. Cole didn't cooperate one time when he was in the womb for one Echo or ultrasound.
Dr. Besnky came in after the echo was done and looked over all the images. His words were "that is a beautiful heart and that is what we like to see." It was such a relief! Anyone who has been through any experience doesn't go in just assuming the next time everything will be ok, so it was nice to be able to finally stop holding our breath. Now we will just try to figure out where we are going to put our new little one in the house.!

Now back to the Levine's Cardiac Kids annual picnic on Saturday. It was a good time and we stayed for half of the picnic because Ava's friend Olivia was having her 3rd birthday party at the same time as the picnic and we didn't want to miss that either. We had beautiful weather and a hay ride and some free food. They were hoping the strawberries would be ready for picking when we were there, but it was a weekend too soon. The picnic took place on Hunter Farm in Weddington, NC. It was a little bit of a drive for us, but not too bad. They had horses, cows, baby cows, miniature ponies, and some ponds where we got to see a turtle as we drove by on the hay ride.
They had a group there doing a piece on each heart baby of before and after, so we each told who we were, how old our child was in the picture we brought and what surgery they had had, and how old they are now. While I helped Ava with her lunch Matt took Cole over to see Dr. Watts. He is the man who has been blessed with an amazing mind and hands to work miracles to give so many families like us the days we have had with our babies! We are so fortunate to have a pediatric heart surgeon like him! We thank God every night for him while we are rocking Cole to sleep and taking in his big blue eyes that are so wide and innocent and trusting of us, dimpled hands, his tubby blond head, his long eyelashes resting on his big chubby cheeks as he falls asleep, and the list goes on of all we get to be thankful for and how many days we have already been given with Cole........................and not just Cole. Because of Cole and what he brought with him, it has made us thankful for every day with every person we love!

Here is Cole and his surgeon. Dr. Bensky couldn't make it to the picnic...........there was a dance recital to attend to. We will know all too soon what that is like with Ava.