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!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Nashville Zoo

Last Saturday, after Lily's softball practice we grabbed a quick lunch on-the-go and headed off to the Nashville Zoo to meet some friends!
Several of Lily's friends from her girl scout troop met at the zoo earlier that day and we met up with them as soon as we were able!  We started our visit by meeting a few animals up close and personal... like this skunk!
Thankfully this skunk has been de-"stunked" (as Lily used to call them).!
We also made sock caterpillars!  Then we loaded up and headed off to explore the parts of the zoo that her friends and their mom's hadn't already explored!
Ava Grace was along for the ride and, as always, was just happy to be in close proximity to Lily and to be outside!
We found some water wildlife - fish and lots of really big turtles!

It was the perfect day for the zoo!  There was a nice breeze and the temperature was mild, but the sun shone the whole day, so it was very comfortable!
There were several animals that Ava Grace just couldn't spot from her vantage point.  I mean, how do you explain to a 15 month old to look for a panda bear way up in a tree somewhere in a huge enclosure???  BUT, there were a few animals that were up close and personal and she L-O-V-E-D those!  The best example was probably these flamingos!  They were making all kinds of noises and moving around near the barriers and she thought they were fascinating!
I didn't know how she would react, but I took her in the petting area.  Really, I just wanted to take advantage of the chance to let her get out of the stroller and run around!  And she did run... right for the animals!  She loved petting the goats.... and playing the mulch too!
At the end of our zoo adventure, and just before the zoo closed, we took the girls to the huge playground for one last hoo-rah and then over to the carousel to cool off. 
We didn't get to see everything because Lily's friends had already done a few things before we got there.  That's good, though, because Chris wants to go with us next time to see it all!  In fact, we had so much fun that it really got me thinking of doing the membership.  It's $100 for the year (which basically, if you got twice a year, you have already covered the price of your membership).  It is certainly something to think about.  Have any of you ever had a zoo membership?  Did you think it was worth the money?

Posted by Meagan at 5:58 PM  

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