Oh baby...

Happy birthday Hendrix Reed Bush! We are so happy to have you!

three years...

it is hard to believe that i have been able to wake up to this little face for the last three years....

if someone would have told me what my life would be like today, i would have never believed it.  if someone had told me that i would be the mother of this little stud...

i wouldn't have believed it.

if someone would have told me that not only would i be a mother, but i would be the mother of a beautiful little soul, who would need a little bit of extra, i would have told them i couldn't do it.  because i never thought that i could.

but if camden was given to me for a reason...that reason was to show me that i could.  to show me the person i could potentially become, to show me that there is more to life than what people see with their eyes, to show me that there is more to living than i ever knew possible, to show me the depths of love that few are so lucky to discover.

this journey, is just that, it is a journey.  it isn't a way of life per say, although it alters your way of life...instead i would say that each and every day is a step along a path of not only discovery of another human being, but that of yourself.  and isn't that what life should be?

it is difficult to express the way that i feel about my son...raising children has its highs and its lows, but it is true that the level of fulfillment is unmatched. this year my son has taught me to trust;  to trust him, to trust myself, to trust my husband, to trust God.  thank you camden, for everything you are, for the effect that you have had on your father and myself, for the love that you so freely give and for holding on those first few weeks, for believing in me, when i didn't believe in myself.

happy birthday to my tiny three year old...to the year of three!

today we said goodbye to our cardiologist...

when Camden was a newborn we were told by the nicu cardiology team to expect that he would need open heart surgery and ongoing oxygen before age six months.  it was a scary time for a new mom and dad who were dealing with a multitude of issues with their newborn and it all just seemed to be one more thing on the ever growing pile of things to deal with.  Camden was born with three holes in his heart: an asd (atrial septal defect), a pda (patent ductus arteriosus) and a vsd (ventricular septal defect)...acronyms flew around us like someone was reciting the alphabet, but nothing really ever seemed to make sense.  we were told that the pda could close on its own but that the vsd would require open heart surgery to fix and that the asd might require surgery as well.  we had no idea what to expect...we spent the next six months visiting with his pediatrician and cardiologist fairly regularly, he was on oxygen at home for two months...and then we found out, to everyone's surprise, both the pda and the vsd had closed on their own.  we knew how much of a miracle this was and we were so grateful.  the closure of the vsd however created some blood pressure issues in Camden's lungs called pulmonary hypertension...the doctor hoped that it his lungs were just stabilizing from the closure and that it would clear up on its own...and it did.  our cardiology appointments backed off from weekly, to monthly, to bi yearly and then to yearly...today we got the news that Camden's asd has shrunk down to the point that surgery will not be necessary to close it and he is still showing no signs of his pulmonary hypertension...which means that today we said goodbye to dr. minich at primary children's hospital (unless something comes up of concern later on).  that is one less doctor on our list...and I am so overwhelmed and thankful. I wish I would have been able to tell myself in those first few months that my little man would go from this....

 

 

to this...