My Mom - Jackie Bauer

We prayed over my mom tonight, Brett and Kerrie, Jeremy and Suzie, Jody, Dad and I. We were In the ICU at Sacred Heart in Spokane, with leads, pumps, monitors attached to our dear Jacquelyn. She means the world to us and she’s laying there pretty uncomfortable as she’s been ordered to stay on her back. She’s blessed to be surrounded by us and we feel her peace. We chat for a while and end up praying for a while over her. It’s emotional but only in the remembrance of how much she has meant to us. I remember all of the ways I’ve failed her and the sorrow I’ve needlessly put her through as a rambunctious, out of control, unregenerate, pseudo-respectful, put together, responsible appearing young teen.

Eight years ago she fell while on a vacation with her Mom in Victoria BC. The doctors found that her heart had just stopped. She was given a pace-maker and then after a recall on the product was studied a little more and found to have really low heart function. This put her on a path to find more cardio help. We come to today (Wednesday almost Thursday) with Mom preparing for a Open Heart surgery where they will place a Left Ventricular Assist Device into her abdomen and connect it to her heart to send the blood in enough volume to strengthen all her organs. Soon enough, we pray, she’ll be moving on to the top of the heart transplant list and receive a donated heart. For now we are waiting on a risky surgery that will give her a consistent supply of blood and return much of her normal functioning. She’s been running on such a low supply and doing so much, She’ll feel like a super woman. Super Woman with a few batteries and a computer attached to a set of cables out her side, of course. So maybe more like the Bionic Woman.

Anytime someone feels the need to slice through your Mom’s sternum and open the pericardium to tinker with her ticker, you get a little queezy. At least I do and this is only the first time. The next one will be to put in a donated heart. But meeting the docs here at Sacred heart and her nurse, who has only one patient tonight, we are super confident that they have her absolute best care in mind. As I head to bed in a borrowed basement I am at peace. We’ll be up in a few hours to send mom off to surgery and are so thankful for your prayers and concern. Dad is overwhelmed by how much God’s People have blessed him and has learned so much about love and grace. Mom has sleeping pills. I don’t, but expect to sleep well enough. Good night.

Aaron for the Bauer Family.

Flashback: Maria cuteness, age 4

Okay, this is way too funny and cute, I just have to share!

I'm cleaning off my counter (hallelujah!) and really getting down into those folders that have things from years ago that you just don't know where to put... you know those things? This, however, is not the cute thing, nor even funny.

Anyway, I just found this scrap of paper on which I recorded a conversation between Maria and my cousin, Amy. This was Thanksgiving 2004, so Maria was just 4 years old and had moved in with us the previous August...

Amy: Can I give you a hug?
Maria: Yes.
Amy: You are so special, Maria.
Maria: Yes, I am very special, but I am not YOURS.
Amy: Oh, you're not? Oh, you belong to Heather and Aaron...
Maria: Yes I do. Put me down now please.

Aaron's Mom

As many (but not all!) of you are aware, Aaron's mom, Jackie, has had problems with her heart the last several years. She had a pacemaker placed a few years ago which has been a great help in keeping her heart beating (these are things we like). However, the strength of her heart has continued to deteriorate, and she is now at the point where she is needing a heart transplant (don't like this so much). The last couple months have been very difficult as her dad, Aaron’s grandpa, died last month (I have been bugging Aaron to write a post about his grandpa to share with you what an amazing man he was and the impact he had on Aaron’s life. Somehow, he hasn’t had the time to sit down and do that yet :-). Maybe someday still... )

In the midst of this, Aaron’s mom was meeting with the cardiologist and having continued tests of heart function. Soon after the memorial, she returned to their office to learn that she needed to get connected with the transplant program and go to Spokane for further testing and to officially begin the process. She also would need to have a pump implanted to keep her blood circulating while she waited for a transplant (her heart is pumping less than a quarter of the normal volume on its own).

Aaron’s parents headed over to Spokane last week to meet with the doctors there, and they promptly admitted his mom to the hospital. Things are moving along and she is scheduled for surgery tomorrow (Thursday) for placement of the LVAD ("left ventricular assist device"). She is being moved to the ICU today to get prepped for tomorrow’s surgery. Tomorrow morning, they will install the pump.

Aaron’s sister, Jody, has set up a Caring Bridge site for mom to keep people updated on what’s happening. You can visit the site here. I also added a button to our blog side bar that will take you to her site.

Aaron just left for Spokane about 5 minutes ago and will be there through the surgery tomorrow. As I hear from him, I will update our blog with any information.

While this is certainly an emotional, challenging, scary and "unknown" time, the family has been so encouraged by the love, encouragement, support and offers of help from friends and "friends-to-be." Aaron and his Dad will be staying tonight with some of those new friends that have offered their 2 bedroom basement apartment to a family they don't even know. Thank you!

We really appreciate your prayers and support- check back for more updates as I hear them from Aaron!

Happy Birthday, Kyler!

Today was Kyler's 9th Birthday! I can't believe he's halfway to being an "adult..." The time is flying by way too fast as my sweet little ones are growing up! We are so proud of the boy that Kyler is growing to be...


Kyler's "Happy Birthday" wake up... of course, he was so excited about the day that he had already gotten up and dressed and climbed back into bed to wait for his song!
After a yummy breakfast of eggs and sausage (Kyler's choice) and opening presents from the family, it's off to school. Alex finally got to go to school today- for his preschool orientation. He had a blast, and makes a very cute dressed up horse in his mother's humble opinion. :-)
Once home from school, everyone tried their best to wait patiently until party time. Kyler chose the menu of a burrito/soft taco bar. It was a gorgeous summer evening for a party and enjoying time with friends and family!

Here, our friend Karla meets our sweet little neighbor:

Kyler follows the instructions in his card to "Go Bananas!"Relaxing with family:

These boys are seriously into Star Wars stuff! They had a blast of an evening racing around the yard and house with their light sabers and masks, staging epic battles and solving the problem of evil in the universe....
Kyler made his own special recipe cookies for his birthday dessert. He created a recipe for double chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips and coconut this summer, and wanted to make them again for his birthday. They are some yummy cookies! Great job, Kyler!

9 years old! Happy Birthday to you!

First Day of School

Aren't these cute kids? :-)
Today was the first day of school, and they were all excited to get to their classes loaded down with new school supplies...
All 6 are at the same school this year- what a fun year! Everyone enjoyed their first day today, except for Alex, who is so bummed that he has to wait until Friday for his first day in class (preschool). It just doesn't seem like it will ever come when you're three years old!

Zing Zang Zoom!

We went to the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus on Saturday and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!! We had an absolutely wonderful time together and thoroughly enjoyed the laughter, fun, awe and magic of the show.
We came early for the pre-show where the kids had the chance to try on costumes and meet some of the performers:



Our Alex even got to meet "Zingmaster" Alex Ramon, who autographed our DVD for our Alex. (another note: Aaron and I had the amazing opportunity to go see a performance of Wicked last night at the Paramount (it was SOOOO wonderful!), and as we were leaving, we saw Alex Ramon there and had the chance to visit some more! How amazing is that?!?)
The ladies prepare to be shot out of the cannons- one of the kids favorite parts! It was pretty amazing to see for all of us! :-)

Maria has braces!

Maria got her braces this morning! She did great (of course!), and now has her new braces on. Way back when I had braces :-), one didn't get to choose the color of their bands- only gray for us, but Maria had a fun time choosing which colors she would wear this time around. In honor of school starting next week, she chose her school colors of yellow and blue, and then added pink for fun. :-) She has one colorful smile!