Summer days drifting away...

Summer days sure are drifting away. I can't believe summer is pretty much over. Where did it go? I go back to work in a few short days, and Lucy will start preschool very soon. 

This summer has been full of lots of adventures. We traveled to Athens a few times, went to the zoo, painted, played in sandboxes, played outside in the sunshine lots, visited with friends, went to several parks, had picnic's, etc. It's been so much fun! Here are some pictures from our adventures. 

Lucy's first Reds game. They won :)

Attempting to make Sophia's Magical Amulet Popsicles (Thanks Disney Jr.)

Happy Birthday Daddy! 

Picnic fun :)

Jackson loved playing on the tractor. Future farmer maybe....

Basketball was a little big for him. He had fun playing with it though. 

Fun at the zoo.

Trip home from the zoo. I think this was while we were still in the parking lot. 

He LOVED corn on the cob!

4th of July neighborhood parade. 

Playing in our little pool. 

All boy, covered in dirt and mud. 

Art time. 

Fun with our neighbor, Will. Jackson loves Will! 

First taste of Buskin cookies. They are in love! 

Today was Jackson's big cardiology appointment. He had a echo, an ekg, and saw Dr. Hirsch, his cardiologist. He was scheduled for sedation with this appointment. They didn't think he'd hold still long enough for an echo. They were right. The last time he was sedated was using oral drops. The recovery time for that was very long. It took 24 hours for that sedation to be completely out of his system. We were prepared for a very long day at the Schwieterman house. Fortunately for us, they had a different method in mind. He was given the mist. The benefit to this is its recovery time is 2 hours!! That would mean a pleasant day. Yes please! However, he ended up requiring 2 doses of this medication. He would not fall asleep with just 1 dose. So 2 it was. It was a ROUGH time trying to get him to fall asleep. By rough, I mean awful, terrible, horrible. Once he finally fell asleep, the echo went great and looked great. Same with the ekg. All is well with his heart. He still has leaky valves. Again, they've assured us that this is to be expected and MAY require intervention in decadeS! We were given explicit instructions to NOT focus on that because that is so many years away. Who knows things they'll come up with by then. We are to focus on how great he's doing now! Done. The difficult part is convincing Ted of that. He's very nervous for the future. I'll work on that. We'll repeat this process in 6 more months. 

He weighed in at a whopping 28 pounds 14 ounces and was about 33 inches long. Growing like a weed! Dr. Hirsch asked if Jackson was eating well. I laughed and asked him what he thought :) 

Jackson's speech has taken off. He is saying more words every single day. It amazes me the words he picks up. I guess I had forgotten that with Lucy. I regret not writing every single thing down with her. One would think I'd be writing everything with Jackson down too, but I'm not. His baby book is so far behind! One of my summer plans that I didn't get done, along with countless others. 

He did battle an ear infection this summer. Who gets an ear infection over the summer? Jackson does! I guess tubes are back on the table now :( 

The Congenital Heart Walk is coming up October 11. It is a cause that is very important to us. If you'd like to contribute to Jack's Pack, check out the link. If you'd like to join us for the walk, please do so! You'll even get an awesome Jack's Pack shirt. The walk takes place at Eden Park on Saturday, October 11. Please consider joining us. It's a great day for a great cause. 

Happy (almost) end of summer. Anxiously awaiting my favorite time of year, fall. 

Love, 
Ted, Amanda, Lucy, & Jackson