Updates and Halloween

We visited Children's Mercy Hospital on Monday and after a few tests we have been told that Ashlyn has an "innocent murmur". The doctor said it's so mild they wouldn't even track it. She doesn't have any restrictions or worries. She said it should not cause her any problems and it's possible she may even outgrow it. So THAT was terrific news!!!

Now on to the fun stuff....

We (my mom, Ashlyn and myself) visited a huge pumpkin patch on Saturday. We wandered around searching for 2 perfect pumpkins for carving. Ashlyn was more intrigued by the gourds with the weird bumpy things all over them. For $5.00 for 10 of them, I was okay with this as well, although I don't know what you do with 10 of them. She picked out 4 or 5. Then she picked out 2 small pumpkins for decorations and the search was back on for the perfect carving pumpkins.

We finally found the perfect pair and made our way back to pay for them when Ashlyn spotted a small hay bale tunnel she could crawl through. She started in but it was pretty dark in there and it was so short that there was no way I could walk through there without crawling on my hands and knees. I didn't really have the right clothes on for that little adventure. We paid for our pumpkins and headed back to the car when she gave the tunnel a 2nd thought. As we walked by another little boy walked by with his family and Ashlyn invited him to crawl through the tunnel with her. I should have taken a picture because he didn't hesitate and off they went. I could hear giggling in the tunnel but couldn't see a thing. Finally she popped out the other side and decided to go through the tunnel about 15 more times, even without the involvement of the little boy. She just needed some one to help her get brave. That's MY job! :)

So here are the pictures of our Jack-O-Lanterns. We had so much fun. She's such an awesome girl. How did I ever get so lucky???

HAVE HAPPY AND SAFE HALLOWEEN!!!

3 Year Check Up - A little scary

Ashlyn is small for her age, I've always known that. It's in her blood. But when the nurse handed me a piece of paper with her assessment I was still kind of shocked. She is only in the 9th percentile for her height and 13th for her weight. Yep, she's going to be a petite girl. We don't have many petite people in my family. Actually, I'm the shortest in a long line of tall people. This includes grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins and I am bar far the shortest and I'm 5'8.

Her appointment went well until I advised the Nurse Practioner (who we opted to see instead of a doctor to shorten our wait time) that the doctor we saw last week, due to an illness, had mentioned a heart murmur yet again. I've had other nurses and doctors mention this, but only when she was sick, not during any well visits and I just wanted it checked out while she was well to make sure there was nothing there again.

Unfortunately, she advised us that there IS a heart murmur and referred us to Children's Mercy. She stated that it is very faint and isn't an emergency by any means, but better safe than sorry. Now I know that many people have had these all of their lives. I know some children outgrow them as they get older. I know that I shouldn't be worried, but if you knew the kind of luck my family has then you'd know I will always worry. She is scheduled for an ECHO in mid-October. I'm working on getting a new appointment though as it was scheduled at the wrong facility at the wrong time. *sigh*

I won't jump to the worst case scenario here, but still, I'm her mom. I worry. Forever. So keep us in your thoughts while we wait and hopefully all will be fine in the next month or so. Thanks!!