Big Bang

Well, Jim and I have become interested in acquiring some hand guns and have help from Bob and from John and Des in making our decisions. Dave has also given us some good advise. When we were out snowshoeing over Christmas I became a little concerned about becoming cougar food, so we talked all the way home and decided to make some purchases. We went to the shooting range by ourselves, with John and Des, and went over to talk to Bob. Jim tried out several caliburs and decided on a Glock .40 and I went with a Glock 9mm. Then at the gun show this past Saturday, we got another one--a .22 semi automatic pistol. We bought a gun safe and took the class for a concealed permit, so we are feeling better about being out in the wild on our 4-wheelers or snowshoeing in case we meet some kind of problem. It has been interesting, to say the least. I've learned a lot about guns and ammo and still have a lot to learn. Bob reloads his own shells and is going to teach us how to do it. He has all the fancy equipment.

We hope you are all doing well. Don't forget to add your posts here once in awhile. We can be more personal here than on Facebook, although I have to say that I do enjoy Facebook!

An update, finally...

Well, Happy Holidays (now that they're over) to everyone! It sounds like everyone had a great Christmas, as did we. We went to Mark's brother's house for Christmas Eve, exchanged funny gifts, played Rockband, etc. Gavin let us sleep in this year. In fact, I woke up before he did, and that's saying something!
I cooked tamales this year, and we're still eating them. I'll also be cooking my famous "Hoppin' John" good luck New Year's dish today. I wish we lived closer to everyone because we could really use some help eating all of this food!
Have a great New Year's Day (and Hogmanay's), and I'll try to get better about posting...
Love you all!
Cindy

Another Hill boy's Update

We had Aaron's echo done earlier this month. The good news was that his murmur was totally innocent. Which was what we totally expected. However, we did find something. We found out that he has a right coronary artery (RCA) anomaly. His RCA branches out on the left side of his heart (by the left coronary artery) instead of the right side normally. The problem with this is that as it comes across the heart to the right side it goes in between the pulmonary artery (PA) and his aorta. What this causes is when he exerts himself with running and sports his RCA gets kinked by the PA and aorta with the increased heart rate causing lack of blood flow to the right side of his heart. Basically like little heart attacks. The cardiologist reassured us that this really isn't a huge problem until he active in competitive sports in high school. So, we are getting yearly echoes until then and when he's old enough we'll do a treadmill test to actually see how much damage happens on the right side of his heart with exertion. And when the time comes to fix it, it will be open heart surgery. Time will tell. The good thing about time is that by then I can only imagine the medical advances and maybe it'll be a simple procedure and not open heart surgery. Here's a picture of the heart so you can see what it should look like and imagine how Aaron's is.


Now for the best news yet. Wyatt had his hearing tested a week after Aaron's echo and his hearing is fine. Completely normal for a 2 year old. We already knew this because of the advances in his speech since his surgery but it was still awesome to get it in writing from the professionals!!

The next hurdle is Wyatt's appointment on Tuesday with the hematologist. I'll let everyone know how it goes. We have had a really busy and exhausting year but, it still was a good one. I can't believe that it's almost over. I hope next year will be just as good as this one if not better! I will post about Christmas in a few days. I don't have the pictures uploaded yet. Soon though, really soon!

Happy New Year!!

It Is the Season of Hope!

I keep hoping this blog will catch on, but the last post 11 days ago was mine. I know things are happening in your lives....please tell us about them.

Jim and I are finishing up the semester and plan to leave for Bryce Canyon for 3 days on Sunday after church. We are taking our snowshoes in hopes we can use them there. David reported that Bryce had a record-breaking -11 earlier this week, so we might just be sitting by the fire for e days. We are staying at the famous Ruby's Inn--great winter rates and a special deal of 3 nights for the price of 2. We are looking forward to a little break. Then we will return on Wednesday to get ready for Christmas. All the local family will be coming over for dinner--we are really looking forward to that.

Tis the Season

This is such a busy time of year for Jim and me. The end of semester is always a killer and we are right in the middle of final projects, grading, and preparing final exams. We will both finish teaching for this semester by Thursday of this week, then comes finals week, and then a 2 week break for me and a 3 week break for Jim. We are really looking forward to some time off.

Our Thanksgiving trip to Coral Pink Sand Dunes was utterly delightful and we hated to see our trailering season come to an end. Jim and our home teacher winterized the trailer yesterday and put the winter cover on it, so it is in mothballs until the weather warms up again. We can't wait to get on those 4-wheelers again. We have so much fun. We are thinking we might just take my truck on a Christmas trip for 4-5 days to Canyonlands, Capital Reef, and maybe the Grand Staircase and Escalante. We haven't decided for sure yet.

We are delighted with Scott and Caroline's announcement of a baby on the way. I have ordered a redheaded girl, but it really won't matter!!! That will make 10 grandchildren. How blessed I am!

And then there were three...

So, I guess the biggest news that I just need to get out of the way is that there will be a new addition to the family sometime around August 1st. We are very excited as a family, although the timing is a little off, we are excited none the less. The kids are very excited and Maddie and Scotty are all placing bets on the sex of the child. I am also a little sad since my father will not know this baby, he passed right around the time the baby will be due. Hopefully, he is the one sending me this little person to love.

This killer semester is coming to a close and I for one am glad glad!! three weeks left and on to the last semester. I can not even express how excited I am over blog to graduate finally.:0)

We had a great Thanksgiving, the week before Pam, Jim, Dave, Dez and John. Then on Thanksgiving with my family. It was a lot of fun, especially since my sister is such a huge Giants fan and of coarse we are Bronco fans. The rivalry was on and my sister was crushed!

Well, that is all I have for news right now. Next adventure soon to come..Christmas is right around the corner.

Hill boys update

A lot has been going on here that I really haven't been talking about... mainly because I haven't had much time. I have interesting updates on both boys. Let's start with the oldest.

Aaron. Many of you know how "spirited" Aaron has always been since birth and all my work with this issue. I was pretty much at my wits' end when the whole iron deficiency came up. That was fabulous for a while. Then his iron levels became normal and he was back to his usual self. I ended up switching pediatricians back in February. Within two visits she looked at me and asked, "So, what were Dr. Pattiillo's plans with all this energy?" I said we talked about going to child psychology to get tested for ADHD but that went out the window after the iron thing came up. She looked at me again and smiled and said, "yeah, it's time. Let's get it done." We took him and the tests were in September sometime. (our insurance works really slow) The results appointment was the Monday after Wyatt's surgery. What I thought was going to happen was the doc coming right out and saying, "Yup, ADHD alright and here's what ya need." I was wrong. When he said Aaron is dealing with child anxiety everything finally clicked. I really didn't know that children can suffer from anxiety, but I can look back at all the symptoms he was and is having and they just scream anxiety. He also said that anxiety and ADHD can go hand in hand sometimes. He doesn't want to label him ADHD until we get the anxiety under control. Now we are going to a Child Behavior Health Specialist weekly to help him understand his anxiety and how to work through it. You would not believe how many doctors and people have said to me now, "It's so good you stuck to your guns knowing that he had a problem and didn't give up. Now he can learn to deal with it before he starts school." I completely agree.

Also, Aaron has a heart murmur that was heard for the first time when he was 1 or 2 years old. Murmurs are fairly common in kids, but since it's a grade 2 (out of 5) the doc wants to just make sure everything is okay. Aaron has an appointment with cardiology to have an echo done. That happens in the first week of December.

Now, onto Wyatt. So, the iron saga continues. Anytime we try to wean Wyatt off the iron his levels just plummit. Kids usually respond with 3 months of iron treatment and then they can just take a multivitamin with iron and move on. Not so much with Wyatt. He has been battling this since birth. Now it is time to go to Hematology. Hematology deals with blood dycrasias. On December 29th we get to travel to Spokane to meet with the Hematologist to find out why he is iron anemic.

And last, (finally, right?) Wyatt has an appointment to get his hearing checked in the beginning of December. I know Wyatt can hear. He is saying or trying to say new words everyday. It's just another thing we have to rule out. December is going to be a very busy month for us, but I will let everyone know as we find things out.

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are!!