Tyson Hugh Hooper

Tyson Hugh Hooper
Our son, Tyson Hugh Hooper, was born with coarctation of the aorta, hypoplastic arch, and a transitional avsd. His first open heart surgery reconstructed his aorta and was on day 9 of life. His second open heart repair was not anticipated to be needed until two or three years of age. Ty had other plans. We spent the vast majority of his first 3 months of life at Vanderbilt as he went into heart failure and was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. As a result, the medical team concluded that he needed the repair much sooner than usually recommended, and at just shy of 3 months old Ty underwent his second life saving open heart surgery. God has already worked so many miracles in Ty's life and the life of our family and we know he is using our story. Because of this, we are grateful for Ty's special heart and feel beyond blessed that God chose us to travel this road. We ask for prayers as Ty continues to heal. We are praying for a full recovery and life without restrictions for Ty. We are praying for God to use our family and Ty for His glory.

Thank you to each and every person who supports us through prayer, giving, or just by loving on our family! We are humbled and blessed by all of the ways the Lord is providing for us and know that he is using Ty and his story to do great things!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

6 Months Old

Ava Grace turned 6 months old this week! 

WOW!

How has time gone by so quickly?  She is growing like crazy and changing every single day, seemingly by the hour!

Sweet girl, you are our pride and joy!  You now sit up unassisted for extended periods of time.  You have excellent posture too!  You like to reach for everything around you - we really have to watch, especially at the table!  You can even lose your balance and catch yourself before you fall and push back up to sitting.  You haven't figured out yet how to go from laying down to sitting, but I know it won't be long!

 You love water!  You love bath time and don't want to get out of the tub.  Now that you can sit up, splashing is even  more fun!  We can't bathe you in the Kitchen anymore because you splash too much and every time we gave you a bath everything was wet - us, the floor, the counter... everything!  You also experienced the swimming pool this month!  Oh my goodness!  You absolutely LOVED it!  You are going to be a little water bug just like Mommy and big sister!

You are so close to crawling!  You completely skipped over army crawling and scootching and went straight for the real deal!  You are up on all fours and rocking back and fourth.  You even dig your toes in and lift your whole body off the floor with nothing touching but your tippy toes and hands - what muscles you have!!  You can go backwards super fast, but you can't figure out how to go forward yet!  Daddy says he bet's you are crawling by the end of next week... we'll see!

You are the happiest baby!  Everyone that meets you comments on how happy you are all of the time.  The only time you fuss is when you are hungry or tired... and sometimes when loud noises/crowds scare you.  You don't take great naps, you prefer short naps throughout the day to one or two long naps.  We'll work on that now that you are a little older.  Dr. Johnson said we should be glad you are a good night sleeper and not worry about naps so much - he says you'll get the sleep you need!  You are very good at playing by yourself.  You'll do anything for 20-30 minutes on your own... this includes playing in your bouncy, sitting/playing in your feeding seat while we eat dinner, playing on your blanket int he living room, etc.  You also get very excited when we break out a new toy - it's so cute to watch you get excited and anticipate!

You are a great eater!  You have tried applesauce, pears, bananas, green beans, peas, squash, and sweet potatoes!!  The only thing you aren't wild about is bananas.  You'll eat some, but I think the thicker texture throws you for a loop.  You didn't like rice cereal at first (same texture issue I think), but now you are warming up to it.  You hardly spill any food and open very wide for each bite... the only mess you make is because you think it's funny to blow raspberries while you eat.  It's hard not to laugh because it is pretty funny, but we are trying to discourage you from doing that when we eat because it goes everywhere! lol.  When we go out to eat you sit in your high chair now.  We are so proud because we don't have to get you out or hold you - you are very good about staying in your seat while others are eating!

You are just precious!  We think you might be a little pistol when you get a little older.  You seem to have a very bold personality!  You have so many fun expressions and a sense of curiosity that is so fun to watch.  You aren't very patient when you decide you want something and you have a determination that is impressive for your age!  You are making consonant sounds - so far you have made the sounds for B, W, and M.  You are starting to try to copy us and it's so cute!  Me and Daddy battle for "Ma-Ma-Ma-Ma" and "Da-Da-Da-Da," but right now "Ba-ba-ba-ba" is your favorite sound and we think that means your first word will probably be bye-bye, or ball, bite, or bottle... we'll find out soon enough I guess.

We sure are proud of you little girl!  And we love you so much!


(p.s. Looking at these pictures it appears that our baby spends an unusual amount of time in just her diaper.  I assure you we do put clothes (super cute ones, I might add) on her every day, but she drools so much in the evening we take them off and let her run around half naked, lol.  We think teeth are on their way!!)

1 comments:

Sarah said...

so cute! And I dont mind the diaper pictures. Would still like to see her in the outfit I sent thogh before she outgrows it! (hint hint) She is a different child from teh one I last saw when I was there. I won't even know her next time I get to visit!