Cute pics and a Christmas wish

Elijah's new winter hat. Isn't it cute? Have I mentioned his desire to reach for EVERYTHING lately?



What a ham. You'd never guess that just minutes before this pic was taken, he was screaming his lungs out at the physical therapist's office, which also included back arching and giant tear drops. We had to leave after only 12 minutes into his visit.


Daddy's Gophers hat



Dan and I want to do something a little different for Christmas gifts this year. We're going to buy small gifts for our parents, and a small something for Elijah, but aside from that we'd like to take all the money we would have spent on gifts and donate it to an organization that is very important to us, The Children's Heart Foundation. We'd also like to ask that if you had planned on getting a gift for us (not that we we ever expect anything from anyone), that you hold off on getting us anything and/or make a donation to the CHF yourself. If there is ONE thing for us to be thankful for this Christmas it's medical knowledge/advancements, so we'd like to support the advancements that have helped and will continue to help our son and many other children.

"The goal of The Children's Heart Foundation is to bring health, hope and happiness to children impacted by congenital heart defects, the number one birth defect in the United States. We accomplish this goal by funding the most promising research to advance the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of congenital heart defects in children."

Some facts I grabbed off the CHF website:
This year almost 40,000 babies will be born with a congenital heart defect. 4,000 of them will not live to see their first birthday.
The cost for inpatient surgery to repair congenital heart defects exceeds $2.2 billion a year.
CHF has directed almost $2 million to 24 different congenital heart defect research projects.
CHF is the only organization strictly created to fund congenital heart defect research.

If you'd like to help out, click here. Thank you!!