Looking back over 2014

2014 has been a good year on the whole for Jessica.  We had one hospital admission, which was her planned admission for her cardiac catheter.  The results indicated that the pressures in her lung arteries are not too high although the arteries themselves are quite small and the team felt that they needed time to grow before her next surgery is planned.  At present, we anticipate that this surgery may take place towards the end of 2015 but it will depend on how Jessica is coping with her current circulation and the plan is to have another cardiac catheter investigation before planning this surgery.  Jessica has her next check-up at the end of January.  Her check-ups this year have generally been encouraging – her cardiac condition is currently stable and her community nurse checks have shown that her sats have generally stayed in the low 80s and that Jessica is gaining weight well.  We have a lot to be thankful for this year – she has done so very well and we pray that she will continue to do well through 2015 too.

We have had a lovely year as a family – enjoying our firstholiday abroad and lots of days out over the summer.  It has been wonderful to watch the sibling bond grow and develop between Jessica and Sophie – naturally, there are moments when there is conflict but on the whole they are adorable together and it is lovely to see how Jessica reaches for her sister’s hand to try and lead her places now that Sophie is able to walk alongside her and how loving they often are together.  We feel very blessed with our two beautiful daughters.

We were very proud of Jessica being so good about hanging her dummies on the tree for the baby reindeer to take away when our Christmas tree went up.  Whilst it did take a long time for her to settle down to sleep that first night, she didn’t cry for them and she has coped very well without them since (and was very happy with the little present the baby reindeer left behind as a thank you!)

Jessica and Mummy had fun on Christmas Eve making a gingerbread house and baking biscuits for Father Christmas as well as going outside to see his sleigh fly overhead.  Michael’s article reflecting on being a heart dad was featured in the winter issue of Heartline magazine which arrived in the post on Christmas Eve.

  

We enjoyed spending Christmas at home this year with Grandma and Grandad over to share the day with us.  The girls loved opening all their presents and have been having a lot of fun playing with their new toys.  We spent a couple of days after Christmas with Louise’s family and Jessica and Sophie had a lovely time seeing Nanny and their aunties, uncles and cousins from that side of the family.

We enjoyed ‘going on a bear hunt’ today to look for the Paddington bear sculptures that have been placed around London.  We had originally intended to try and look for them all but hadn’t managed to get into London to see them and as today was the last day, we decided that we should at least find some.  We managed to find 13 in total and Jessica loved seeing all the bears and having her photo taken with them.

The beginning of next month will see Jessica starting preschool – a big milestone and hopefully one that she will cope well with.  Our little girl is growing up so fast! 

Thank you as always to all our lovely friends, family and everyone else who has supported us on our journey as a heart family.  Wishing you all peace and blessings for 2015.