Happy Valentine's Day! We've had a really fun day. Ryan got donuts for breakfast, a rare treat around here, and they were yummy. Clayton agreed. I think he ate at least two whole donuts by himself. Jennifer, my college roommate, and Terry, her husband, were able to come up and spend the afternoon with us. We had a really nice visit and were able to make it over to our new Freebirds in Norman to have some College Station style burritos, just like old times. Freebirds is officially Clayton's favorite restaurant, as it is decorated with Clayton's two great loves in life, guitars and motorcycles. Jennifer, I've missed you so much and am so glad we live so much closer to you now.
This evening we stayed home. I planned a later dinner for Ryan and myself when hopefully Clayton would be off playing in his room. No such luck. Both boys insisted on joining us at the dinner table, but it worked out just fine, and we had a good time all being together in the candle light with a nice meal before us.
After dinner both boys were in my lap, and we took a few shots that capture our Valentine's love for each other. I feel completely blessed to be Wife to Ryan and Mom to these sweet boys.
On a different note, Valentine's Day is officially Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Day. Just over 1 in 100 children are born with CHDs in this country. We are so grateful for the doctors that pioneer the amazing surgeries that keep Clayton and children like him living. If Ryan or I were born with HLHS we would not have lived, as these surgeries were only developed in the early 80's, and they were not very successful until the mid 90's. True HLHS, like our boys have had, was 100% fatal. We are even more grateful for all the children that have paved this road before us. Treatment for our kids improves everyday, and if parents didn't make the tough decision to put their kids through these cutting edge procedures, we would not have Clayton today. Tonight I remember Colin, Maddie, Ellie, Kayla, Davin, Ethan, Lauren, Abigail, Wylan, and many others whose names I can't recall. They were all deeply loved and are all greatly missed. I hope the lessons learned with these children will improve the treatment course for other children with CHDs. Hug your kiddos tonight.
I love the pics. You comments really struck me, as I am emotional from lack of sleep. I read the names at the end of your post and it really just hit me how far things have come. Colin will always be with me.
ReplyDeleteI love keeping up with you guys. Eli and Clayton look great and SOOOO sweet!