American Heart Association Start! Heart Walk

Thursday, September 16 was the State workers heart walk. Andrea, the MLH coordinator, and I went down to the state capital building and set up a booth for Mended Little Hearts. We shared pictures and stories of the children in our group and how incredible they are. We met people who had children with congenital heart defects, or knew someone who did, and were able to do some networking. It was a good day and I am glad we were there. These first 4 pictures are from the state workers walk.






On Saturday, September 18, was the main heart walk for everyone. I've been planning on doing this walk for the last year but only started fundraising for it about 2-3 months ago. Mended Little Hearts had a large group of people walking. And, within MLH, we had several team captains with our own teams. For example, our team had 17 people walking that day. My team has raised over $1500 and there are still donations coming in. If you would like to donate, you can still do so! Just contact me and I can let you know how. As a whole, MLH raised over $9000 which is so awesome! Every dollar raised by any of the teams under Mended Little Hearts goes directly to pediatric CHD research. Research like this will help children like Kyler & Caden.

We were joined by some awesome friends and family for the walk. We were planning on having Kyler and Caden both there with us for the walk but unfortunately Caden got really sick that week prior to the walk. He was having fevers as high as 104.6! Greg's mom drove down from Oregon and was planning to do the walk with us. However, since Caden was sick, she graciously offered to stay at home with him so Greg & I could still take Kyler and walk with the rest of our team.

Thank you to the following people who joined me, Greg & Kyler: Natalie, Gail, Heather, Collie, Dick, Joan, JB, Sharon, Lexy, Vanessa, Will, Shirley, Malia, Dimple.

We plan on making this an annual event for our family so if you missed it this year and would like to join us next year, please let me know and I will keep you posted when the time gets closer. :) The walk takes place in William Land Park in Sacramento; a gorgeous place for a 5k walk!


The location for the heart walk

L-R: Malia, Sharon, Lexy, Vanessa, Shirley


I love their tattoos!

Wonderful surgeon, Dr. Teimour Nasirov with me, Greg & Kyler

Pretty much everyone in red in this picture is on our team. Teimour was walking with us for awhile also. :)

Greg & Kyler walking

Our incredible team, we are so thankful to all of you for joining us!
Clockwise starting in back row: Will, Shirley, Heather, Gail, Sharon, Lexy, Kyler, Greg, Carey, Natalie, Dimple, Vanessa, JB, Collie, Malia (Missing: Dick & Joan)

At the finish line!

Shirley, Will & Malia - thanks for joining us!

Sharon, JB, Vanessa & Lexy - you are awesome!

Lexy sporting her new MLH tattoo on her cheek :)

Kyler loving the strawberries offered at one of the booths after the walk

Vanessa & Malia relaxing after the walk

Greg's sister Natalie drove over from Walnut Creek to walk with us

Greg, me and Will all enjoying our mint chocolate chip ice cream cones :0

At home after the walk, we had to have a family photo in our MLH t-shirts since Caden couldn't be at the walk with us

Fundraising

On Monday, September 13, our heart support group, Mended Little Hearts of Sacramento, held a fundraiser at Chevy's on the River in Sacramento. It was a fun thing to do in place of our regular monthly meeting. Our family went and some good friends of ours joined us for dinner. Overall,there was a good turnout of people supporting MLH. I haven't heard the final result in the amount of money raised. But it's a start. We are trying to build up some reserves so we can purchase supplies for care packages for families with children in the hospital, etc. If you would like to make a donation or find out how you can help, please send an email to: SacramentoCA@mendedlittlehearts.org.

Caden having a good time with our good friend Shirley!

Kyler with Shirley & Will's daughter Malia

1st Day of Preschool

Today was Kyler's 1st day of preschool or pre-K, however you want to call it. It has been a LOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG summer and I was literally counting down the hours until school started this morning!

I prepped Kyler the day/night before about what would be happening. We laid his clothes out and got ready to go. I copied another friend's idea and got a little mini chalk board for Kyler to hold, showing the event and the date. (Thanks Jen!)

Greg and I took pictures with him and then after he finished breakfast, we were off to school. I told Kyler he would see many of the same friends from last year and there would also be some new ones. There is one new teacher this year that he didn't have last year so I told him her name. Being in the 4's class is going to be different than the 3's so I wanted him to realize that before he got there.

He was excited to be there and back in the familiar classroom. I stayed for a few minutes as he got settled in but he certainly wasn't sad to see me leave. He's very independent! When I arrived to pick him up, he came without a fight but told me he really didn't want to leave. I am so happy he is able to be there at this great school. What a blessing! I am looking forward to this school year. I know he will do well and thrive there.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday he's there from 9-Noon. The great thing about that for him is that he doesn't have to come to some of Caden's therapy appointments anymore as I have a couple of them scheduled while Kyler is in school. That will be nice for him. All in all, I am really excited about this school year!

Bike Ride

On Sunday, we took Kyler to the park so Greg could start teaching him how to ride a bike with two wheels. We have not done any training wheels with him because we want him to learn his balance. Up until this point, he has just ridden his “Big Wheels” which has three wheels. So this was a big change for him. He was a little nervous about it but he did great!

I am so proud of the way he kept getting back on his bike whenever he fell, and he fell a lot. All we ask is for him to try his best and he did. He worked so hard and had such a great attitude about it. He needs to continue building his confidence because he thinks he's going to fall, so he just stops peddling and then he loses his balance and falls. But when he keeps peddling, he does a great job. I think it's a matter of time before he really gets the hang of it. I'm really proud of him for doing this well so soon.

Little Man Haircut

I know I recently posted about Caden's 1st haircut and posted some pictures. However, I finally took the plunge and allowed Greg to give Caden a real haircut with the clippers and cut off all his long hair. I was really nervous about it because I didn't know how he would respond to the sound of the buzzing clippers. But he did really well. I did have to help hold his head still a few times, but overall, he did awesome!

What do you think of his new look? I think he looks all grown up and is quite the little man now. My baby is gone. :( Bittersweet moment.