Valentine's Treats

One of the things I love most about holidays are all of the baked goods.  I read magazines, look at Pinterest and just get ideas from other people on things to make.  This year I made 3 things.  The kids helped with 2 of them and I did the 3rd one on my own. 

We made heart shaped red velvet crinkles to give out to Katie's classmates.  The kids had fun using the cookie cutters to make the heart shape.  And almost as much fun eating the scraps from cutting them into hearts. 

For Michael and Katie's teachers, I did white chocolate covered strawberries.  I put Valentine sprinkles on some of them but left a few plain.  I used Valentine cupcake wrappers to put the bigger strawberries in and small cupcake wrappers for the smaller ones.  I forgot to take a picture of the strawberries before I gave them to the teachers so this one will have to do. 

On Valentine's Day, we baked a heart shaped cake.  It was snickerdoodle with cinnamon buttercream icing.  It was the first time we ever had it and I must say it was as delicious as I hoped it would be.  I also did cupcakes with the leftover batter and the kids enjoyed those.  I love holiday treats!

 

Good news

Katie had her annual cardiology appointment today. An echocardiogram and exam were scheduled. When Katie didn't want to get weighed at the beginning of the appointment or let the nurse listen to her heart, I wondered how the rest would go.

The doctor came in to examine her and she let him listen to her heart and breathing. Then we headed into the echo room. I came prepared with Tootsie Roll pops and candy canes. I gave her a candy cane to start with, followed by the pop. Katie was very cooperative and laid pretty still on the table while the technician got the pictures and measurements that she needed.

After the echo, the doctor came back into the room to review it. Katie had an ASD, which had closed significantly between her 6 month and 1 year checkup. Today's echo showed that the hole was now completely closed! She does not have mitral valve prolapse at this time either and her aorta measured within the normal range for a child her age. What a relief it was to hear this news!

We will go back in a year for another follow-up and also visit Johns Hopkins this summer.

Great News!

Yesterday Katie had her follow-up cardiology appointment. When she was born, the doctor heard something in her heart. Katie had an echocardiogram done when she was only 1 day old. They found that she had two holes in her heart. At the time, we didn't yet have the results back for the genetic testing for Marfan syndrome (she did test positive for Marfan syndrome). The cardiologist scheduled a follow-up for 6 months.

At her 6 month checkup, one of the holes had closed up. The second hole, which was classified as an ASD, was a little larger than the cardiologist had hoped it would be. He told us that if the hole didn't close up or get smaller by the time Katie was 3 or 4, he would have to patch it. He wanted to follow up again in another 6 months, when Katie turned 1.

At her 1 year appointment, Katie had another echocardiogram. I was pretty nervous to see what the results would be. Well, it was great news. The ASD was 7mm at the 6 month checkup and it measured between 1 and 2 mm at the 1 year checkup. In fact, the cardiologist said that he wouldn't even classify it as an ASD anymore; it was now a PFO. Michael had a PFO but it closed by the time he was 3 years old. Katie will go back for a follow-up a year from now.

It's nice to get good news every once in a while, especially since we never know what to expect!