Heart mama love, jumping from buildings and tummy troubles

The past few days have been intense! I flew to Vegas to meet up with a handful of heart mamas. We all have TWO things in common...we all love Kathy (Isaac's mama) and we all have heart kiddos of our own. It was absolutely incredible. I am still processing it all and parts of it I'm not sure I'll ever be able to explain in words. Being in the presence of these humbled, kind, caring, beautiful women was an incredible thing. We shed tears, laughed A LOT and made some pretty awesome memories. I LOVE these ladies!

Memories include: a trip to urgent care, time spent in the rental house (it was beautiful!), checking out the Bellagio fountains and my favorite hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant, getting...uh, ROUGH yet enjoyable...massages, having a feast at the house with ALL the heart mamas (some live in Vegas and were not able to join us for the entire weekend) and...one of the most memorable moments from the entire trip was JUMPING OFF THE TOP OF THE STRATOSPHERE! We had been watching people do this on Friday and the skydiver-adrenaline-junkie in me really yearned to do it. That night I dreamed about it and woke up certain that I wanted to give it a try. I talked ONE other heart mom into doing it with me. We were both scared. Really really scared. But the second I left that platform that was 855 feet in the air, I LOVED IT. It was just like skydiving. It was peaceful and enjoyable.

Andrea and me before I walked out onto the platform. Yikes!

I was SHAKING!

Looking out over the Strip, ready to plunge!

Weeee!

Looking up at the Stratosphere from the ground. The blue dot at the top is where we jumped from!

I arrived back home on Sunday and could immediately see that Elijah wasn't feeling well in the car. Dan had been telling me that his tummy was upset for most of the weekend, but it seemed like the second I got into the car things escalated. He vomited A LOT on the drive home and started complaining of a bad tummy ache. I dropped Sammy and Dan off and drove straight to urgent care. The doctor there thought stomach flu was the culprit, but she was concerned about Elijah's neck hurting whenever he vomited. I asked why and she sheepishly said, "Well...that could be meningitis." She went to get discharge papers and a wheelchair (he was hardly able to walk at this point) when he vomited again. And again, his neck started hurting. When I told her this, she said, "Go straight to Children's."

My brain was swimming. I was exhausted and wanted to be home with my boys. A nurse and I loaded Elijah into my car and I headed to Children's, crying. Three minutes into the drive, Elijah perked up. Like, he was completely back to normal. No more hurting tummy or neck or anything. I was so conflicted, especially having just spent time with a friend who lost her son because doctors had ignored important symptoms. Yet I did not want him to have to endure hours of poking and torture for no reason, either. I called a good friend of ours who is an ER doctor. I ran everything by her and she kindly implied that heading back home would be a safe thing to do. She strongly felt that Elijah had a nasty case of the stomach flu and that meningitis was VERY unlikely, given he had no fever and no other symptoms aside from neck pain (which can also occur with the flu).

I felt a ton better after talking to her and headed back home. E stayed home from school today. He didn't throw up all day, and was able to keep food and water down. I limited his eating and it drove him crazy! He was soooo hungry and kept sneaking into the fridge to steal handfuls of sliced turkey. After dinner he complained of a tummy ache again and then had an accident and went to bed feeling crummy. He still didn't vomit, so I'm hoping tomorrow will be the turnaround day. I'm thinking he will be staying home from school tomorrow, too. Poor guy. I hate that he isn't feeling well, but I am SO THANKFUL that meningitis is not a likely outcome. I had about an hour of total panic yesterday after the doctor uttered that word.

I hope you all had a nice weekend! My head is spinning a bit after so much excitement. I want to see my heart moms again...I miss them. At the same time, I'm so happy to be home. I love my boys!

Thanks for checking in!

A great loss.

I have been crying for most of the day because I cannot wrap my head around the fact that our sweet little heart friend Isaac has suddenly entered Heaven's gates. I met Isaac's mom Kathy way back when I first started this blog. We made an immediate connection and have even traveled across the country a handful of times to see each other. Isaac was born just a month after Elijah and had the same heart defect Elijah has. The last time we saw Isaac was in July 2013 when we went on our whirlwind road trip. We spent four cherished days with the Rollers in Dallas at another wonderful heart family's home. I will cherish those memories forever. None of us had any idea that it would be the last time we would see our snuggly, sweet little Isaac. He was such a lovable boy. I have been in disbelief all day. I can't believe he is gone.

He had a high fever over the weekend, so his parents brought him to the hospital. An infection had gone into his heart. :( They put him on a ventilator and told his family that he wouldn't make it through the night. He passed away a few hours later.

Isaac is the snuggly cutie on the right..

Please pray with us for peace and healing for Isaac's family. They are the absolute sweetest, kindest people on the planet and I want to completely cover them in prayer. I have also set up a campaign for them so they will not have to worry about money during this difficult time. If it is on your heart, please visit the following link and consider making a donation.

https://mymfunding.com/campaign/TheRollerFamily

Life is so fragile and precious. Make the most of every single day. You just never know..

Blue skies

It's Sunday night! These summer weeks keep flying right on by. The little boys and I arrived home from the dropzone a few hours ago. We spent the weekend there, waiting on clouds to clear from the humid sky. My heart mama friend Amber (her house was one of the ones the boys and I stayed at on our big road trip last summer) and her oldest son Caleb drove all the way from Indiana to go skydiving with my awesome and super-cute hubby, Dan!

Saturday was frustrating. Low, solid clouds hung around all day long. Then at the verrrry end of the day the clouds parted above us. But the pilot had left! This morning we saw much of the same. Low clouds loomed overhead until 1:00 when they parted and Amber and Caleb were able to go skydiving! Yayyy! Afterward they sped off toward home with adrenaline running through their veins. 

It felt so good to spend time with this awesome friend. She is an incredible woman, mother and friend. We have traveled such similar paths in so many ways, so there is that bond that cannot be explained. Just like skydiving.

We have one week left of summer, so we plan to make the most of it! State Fair and time with my little boys lie ahead. I hope you all had a great weekend! Enjoy these last HOT bits of summer!