Major prayers for Frankie please!

This was the last journal entry posted by my friend Fred about her little guy who was born with some major heart issues. Please pray extra hard for all of them....

Frankie is keeping the docs thinking extra hard around this place. He was re-intubated yesterday after the night he had on Thursday...the daytime proceeded with increasing troubles. He is now resting and looking a million times better.

Frankie's second heart surgery is scheduled for this Tuesday (day after labor day.) At this point it is clear Frankie did not have a virus but, his heart is just not functioning the way it should and that is affecting his overall health. We know they will be fixing his mitro valve leak - which seems to be getting worst on each echo they perform. It is still undecided if they will repair his valve with a stitch or completely replacing the heart valve. There is also the possibility that Frankie's pulmonary band will be removed and the VSD hole closed up. The pro of that would be to have both the valve and hole taken care of in one surgery. The con is his right side of the heart is helping out the left side thought the hole - closing it up will make the heart have to work in a new (harder) way for the first time just after open heart surgery. All of the docs that are considering their options (along with us - mom & dad) will be keeping Frankie's best intrest in mind; short term and long term. Decisions will be made based on what is in his best interest...and keep him alive. Some decisions can be made now and others will have to be placed in the hands of his surgeon, to be made upon actually going in and seeing how the heart is working first hand. Will and I have complete understanding and trust in Frankie's surgeon that he will do what is best for Frankie!!

This surgery is MUCH sooner than they wanted it to be. It was originally scheduled when Frankie was to be 1-2 years old. But, considering where he has been in the last two weeks it has become apparent they can't wait that long - or even another month for that matter. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers...

TIGF

Simple....today I'm thankful that both my grandparents are getting better. And thankful for all the prayers for them and Baby Frankie.

Still left....

I still have the scrub bucket and the dish soap if anyone is interested in my "Cleaning Green" leftovers. I bid on some baskets at the CornFest and have WAY TOO MANY supplies now, cuz I didn't think I'd get both baskets!

Also, for those you you thinking about using reuseable totes at the grocery store as a way to reduce waste, the State Fair is a GREAT place to pick up free bags. St. Thomas, Medica and UCare are just three of the places I know that are giving them away, most of them have specific times of day that they give them away and Medica's and St. Thomas are the biggest. You can also get one at the Eco Experience building, but you have to commit to using it before they give it to you...it's still free though. I have started bringing my own bags to the store on a pretty regular basis ( the trick is putting them in your car so you don't forget them every time!!!) so at least I feel like I'm doing something... I don't claim to be "bright green" but at least I can be a little light green, right?

Update on my grandma

The surgery is finished and they did find a cancerous tumor on her appendix. It was removed along with some other part of her colon as a precaution and the doctor seems to feel that is was contained to that area and she should be cancer-free at this point. He also said she did well forthe procedure and will be in recovery for a while and then back to a room for a few days maybe? I don't know how long she will need for recovery, but I'm sure she won't be in any rush to go home.

Also a quick update on baby Frankie. His procedure went pretty well yesterday, but they didn't find anything new that would help treat him. At this point he is improving with all the added assistance from machines and they think that maybe his body just needed some help fighting off an infection and now they are hoping to take him off the breathing machine soon and take him home again for a week or two before they will be doing his second surgery to finish repairing his heart. Yikes...it's a lot I know and Fred explains it much better, but I think a lot of you already get her caringbridge updates so this is for those of you who don't...he seems to be doing a little better is the part that's important!

Baby watch...Katie is due September 14th, but there's no way she's going that long! Watch here for updates and I am also responsible for updating her blog while she's in the hospital so watch The Bartsch Beat on my right column too!

More Soup Shots...hmmmm...shots!

DUCK SOUP in pictures

This weekend was the 26th annual Duck Soup Softball Fiasco. Here's some picture of the frivolity...our teams were both "Board Games" or really....any games...Let's see who can guess what Josh and I are from the team picture. If you need to see it larger click the photo to zoom in. Meg and Darin are also in the picture, Katie was the photographer since she was out on the Disabled List this year (AKA Pregnant). Not all of the pictures are of our team, but I wanted to highlight what goes on at this crazy event. If you want to read about the weird rules and stuff, there's a link on the right.

NOTE: Grrrrr. Having technical difficulties. I'll post more pictures later this week when it lets me load more...it's locked up for some reason.

ARGHHHH....Stress...

Ok, so many of you know how June was for our family...Josh's dad and my grandpa were in and out of the hospital and my girlfriend's baby boy is having heart surgery and complications related to his poor little broken heart and now I have more excitement to add to the fun. My grandma (not grandpa this time) was admitted yesterday with pain in her stomach. They originally said it might be appendix, but now they have decided it is an issue with her colon and requires surgery. That will take place tomorrow late morning sometime. So again, prayers for my grandma and while you're at it, Frankie is having a procedure done today that is kinda medium high risk so please for Baby Roth too! Yikes...and on top of all that, Katie is due to have her baby any minute;) At least that's some good news!!!!

TIGF

I'm excited that Duck Soup weekend is FINALLY here! This is my last year as the volunteer coordinator for the tournament so I'm going to enjoy it even more. For those of you not familiar with this event, it is a 2-day softball tourney that raises money for college scholarships and we also do a Toys for Tots drive. I am proud to be part of the board for this, but I'm burned out on the volunteer part of it. Oh, did I mention we also play in the tourney...in costume! Stay tuned for some great pictures after this weekend

Keep Frankie in Your Prayers

Baby Frankie was re-admitted to the U of M hospital today. He's not gaining enough weight and they are having trouble getting him to eat enough on his own, Please keep up the prayers!

Extra, Extra...

Ok, so now that I won both Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Product baskets, I have a lot of stuff that I already had, so here's the list if anyone wants any of these things let me know:

• 1 Libman scrub bucket
• Dish soap (I don't know the brand -it's downstairs-, but it's citrus scent, earth friendly stuff)
• 6 reuseable tote bags (not the best color, kinda rust color, but better than paper or plastic!)
• 1 dust pan and whisk broom
• 1 bottle of multi-purpose cleaner( I think the brand is Resolution?)
• 1 Scotch Brite scrubber sponge

I also have recipes for lots of other cleaners if anyone wants to start that:)

Cornfest 2008!

This weekend was our church festival and we did our part to support the cause:) Friday night Josh and I had a date at the Corn Fest Bingo Tent. We dropped Riley off at Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mark's and spent all of the quarters in our piggy bank and didn't win a thing! After church today we brought the kids to the festival and they played with Grandma Trish and Grandpa Tom at the Fish Pond and Dip the Duck. Fun stuff! This was Riley's and Zack's first experience with Face Painting and they both sat still for the whole thing! (Zack got a Dino-Door as he calls them, but I didn't get a pic.) We had bid on some baskets in the silent auction and decided to bike back up to church to see if we won...well, after our luck in the Bingo tent, I didn't think I was going to get both of the baskets so I hadn't thought about getting them home on the bikes...oops we won both of them! We had Riley in our bike carrier so we managed to stuff it all in and poor josh had to bike with a LOT of extra weight all the way home.

Just when I thought I was exhausted from all that biking, the neighbors invited us to play in their pool...It was Riley's first swimming pool experience and she had a great time. Unfortunately I don't have pics cuz I was in the pool and didn't want the camera to get wet, but we were there for an hour and by the end she was blowing bubbles in the water and even getting her whole face wet. She was even dumping buckets of water over own head in the bath tonight which she normally hates! She has really liked watching the Olympic swimming events...maybe we have a future Phelps, Torres or any number of the AWESOME American swimmers on our hands;) For now our little fish enjoyed her day at the Pond.

TIGF

After having lunch with one pregnant friend on Wednesday, and one with a 3 month old, and a little playdate with two more pregnant friends this morning...and of course my older sister who is expecting very soon, I am thankful that all of them have had healthy pregnancies and that moms are relatively comfortable at this point in their pregnancies. And as much as I complained about how hot it was when I was pregnant, I'm glad they have all had a mild summer to deal with thus far! (Although next week looks like it's gonna be warm!) Random thought of the day, but that's what I'm thankful for this week.

Wild Adventure to the Waterpark

Friday morning, Riley and I were invited to go to the waterpark in St. Louis Park with my friend "Shan" as Riley calls her, and the twin girls for whom she just started with as a nanny. The girls are just a little older than Riley and they had a great time splashing for the most part. It was a fun little park and FREE too, but the only drawback is that it's not real separated by ages and Riley got clobbered by an older kid running through some water cannons nearby. He kinda took her off her feet and she landed pretty hard, but she was ok after a few minutes and the kid felt really bad and apologized right away. Anyway...fun park for sure! And Thanks Shannon for inviting us!

NOTE: For those of you who know me pretty well...guess who else sticks her tongue out when she concentrates real hard;)

Random Other Pics from Hubert

Here's some other random shots that didn't really fit with the other groups. Riley's gotta wear shades...of course they aren't hers and she won't keep her own glasses on ever, but Zack and Adrienne's she will;) Riley hunting minnows with Grandpa, Riley and Daddy painting the dock (That's for you Dan, who doesn't get this concept! Consider it an exercise in imagination! In fact Zack and Riley were even "mixing colors" somehow!) And a shot of what happens when I wake up late and Riley is dressed all crazy when I get up!

Uncle Duck And Cooper

Uncle "Duck" and Cooper made a surprise visit while we were up at the lake. Cooper had to show off his dock diving tricks and Uncle Duck, as the kids call my Uncle Doug, was helpful in getting Zack to eat M&Ms...I mean watermelon;) riley just woke up from a nap, but she got real snuggly with the guy with the candy!

Green Sleep And More

Ok, so I don't normally read my Saturn newsletter...yes, Saturn sends a freakin' newsletter to it's customers...but this issue had some fun Eco-friendly facts as Saturn is making an attempt at being more Green. Here's a few things I thought I'd share. Some of it I knew about, but I don't think I've mentioned it here before.

• Bamboo Sheets are softer than cotton while being eco-conscious. Bamboo fabric feels silky, wicks moisture, and has natural anti-microbial properties (that's the part I like!) and comes from a rapidly renewable resource that doesn't require pesticides to grow. (Mom, they are on my Christmas list in case you need a head start along with bamboo towels! They sell them at Sears and Target I think.) www.treehugger.com

• The Totes company sells an eco-friendly umbrella made from mostly recycled material including recycled bottles, steel, and aluminum and uses bamboo for the handle and waxed hemp for the strap. www.totes-isotoner.com

Big bubbles!

Dad had the big bubbles in action this week. It was awesome to see them bounce off the water on the lake and a perfect day for it!!!

Random Fun at the Beach

The first few days were warm enough for the kids to play in the water. After that we spent a lot of time in sweatshirts if you can believe it, but they still had fun in the sand!

More Fishin Fun

Suppose you'd like to see what the "big kids" caught too? I caught a big bullhead, but I don't have that picture, it's on my dad's camera, plus, he's holding the fish in the picture because I don't like them...Josh and Darin caught some Northern...pretty good size...and they hired a guide for a day and caught some walleye and huge bass too...they didn't take my camera for this either, so the pics I have are from the dock or the canoe...hmmmm...I don't have good pics of Darin or Meg's big catches...boy, I guess my dad should have a blog cuz I think all the good fish pics are on his camera! Here's Josh's first Northern of the week anyway...and Dad's big catch;) It floated in from the lake...

TIGF

I wasn't sure what I was going to be writing about today...I had a few "runner-up" ideas, but then I heard some great news yesterday and I couldn't wait to finally mention some very good news! And since there hasn't been a lot of happy stuff on this blog for a while (with my grandpa being sick and Josh's dad's surgery and all that happened in July!) I'm excited.

Here's what I'm thankful for: Baby Frankie is home and recovering, which you already know if you read this blog but what you don't know is... the little girl I talked about a long time ago from our church, Abby, who was waiting for a new heart got it while we were on vacation! Not only that, but she is doing well and may be able to come home in a matter of a few weeks! Click on Abby's name above for a local news update about her condition. And if you want to follow her progress, click on Becky's Blog on the right side of my page and then click on Abby's page from Becky's blog...sorry, I'd link it myself, but I have to get ready for a day at the water park!

Zack's First Fish at Hubert

Some Fishin fun

Like I said, Riley didn't catch anything this week, but she had fun trying! They thought catching the bait was catching a fish:) They are pretty easy to please. I'm not posting any pictures of Zack catching fish cuz Katie will do that, I'm sure, but I am going to post a video of him catching his first fish up there this week. He's quite a little fisher dude already!