Ok here is August at a glance. We started the month by going Hiking with my 
brother, Nathen in Flagstaff. We hiked to the saddle of Mt. Humphreys. It was BEAUTIFUL!! Wyatt and I went and we took little Wyatt with us. Nathen's wife Terra watched the girls. Nathen brought his son Ethen who is the same age as little Wyatt. It was a challenging hike for all of us but the 5 year olds did an outstanding job. The elevation at the saddle is about 12,000 feet. Wyatt even watched an airplane fly by BELOW us. It was an amazing day!!!Next up for events was little Wyatt's heart check up. (I will try to keep this simple, I hope) Let me start by giving a very simplified version of how the heart works. The two bottom chambers of the heart are called the right and left ventricle. De-oxygenated blood goes from the right ventricle through the pulmonary artery to the lungs to be oxygenated then back through the pulmonary veins to
the left ventricle and then out to the body through the aorta. Wyatt was born with a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and had open heart surgery at 4 months to correct it. There are 4 parts to this defect, first being a VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect) or a hole in the Septum (the wall between the two lower chambers of the heart) which was patched during surgery. The next part of the defect is an Overriding Aorta, meaning the aorta lies directly over the VSD, instead of over the left ventricle. This means the aorta received blood from the right ventricle (de-oxygenated) which decreased the amount of oxygen in the blood going to the body. (For those of you who were around him, that is why he would turn gray or blue sometimes) That was also corrected in the surgery. The third part is Pulmonary Stenosis which means his pulmonary artery (which takes blood to the lungs to be oxygenated) was pretty narrow (they widened it during surgery) and he does not have much of a pulmonary valve. The Pulmonary valve is like a three pronged one way door that allows blood to flow forwards into the Pulmonary artery and not backwards into the right ventricle. His valve has only two prongs and there is some leakage back into the ventricle. Over time this added work load can lead to the fourth part of the defect, Ventricular Hypertorphy or the muscle in the right ventricle to get bigger because the heart has to work harder to get the blood though the valve to the lungs. The severity of his defect does not affect him as far as physical ability but it does make the right ventricle work harder. After our last appointment in January, the Dr. was concerned because the measurement from the right side of his heart was a bit larger (a symptom indicating a new valve will needed) so he asked us to come back in 6 months. We came back and there was no change. Based on their measurements this time they attributed the increase from January to an over all growth spurt. He is doing really well and the Dr. is pleased with his result. We go back again in 6 months and if it's the same story we will go back to yearly appointments instead of twice a year. There is a substantial chance he will need an artificial valve at some future date but since everyone is different they have no idea when that might be. Obviously the longer he can wait the better. For example if they have to put a new valve in when he is young they will have to put another one in when he gets bigger because his heart will grow. You get the idea, the longer they can wait the better. Now that I have given you a brief heart anatomy class, the bottom line is he is doing great, we go back to see the Dr. again next January.
Next major step this month was Wyatt started school!!
He is so excited and loves his teacher, Mrs. Larson.
His sisters miss him but love waiting with him to catch
the bus in the morning. It is fun to see him grow and
learn. It is kind of hard because I have been in charge of everything he does for the last 5 years and now I have
turned him over to someone else and he is so little but
he is loving it. I enjoy hearing about his day and
everything he is doing and learning. Yeah school!
After much begging her dad Abbie finally got a bike. She is thrilled beyond belief. She has been begging for the last month, saying things like, "look, dad, I can ride Wyatt's bike, I am big enough for a bike, can I get a bike now? Lets get in the car and go get one..." Her dad found one he liked in Tucson and her Grandma and Grandpa Ramsay brought it to her. 
We had a good visit with them and even took the girls fishing with Grandpa. They had fun playing at the lake and Abbie even found several dead crayfish to play with. For being a girly girl she sure has a tob boy side!
