Candy Hearts & Baby Hearts

These Heart Suckers are popping up all over Blogland.

I first saw them last year on The Idea Room. 

The one item on my Day After Christmas Shopping List that was a must was baby candy canes!

You only need a few things to make them and they were a big hit with the 5 and under crowd.

Arrange your candy canes in a heart shape.  Make sure you leave room for the stick.

We found fruit flavored candy canes.

Josie enjoyed them.

Then you stick them in the oven (at 225 degrees) for about 5-10 minutes.

Watch them close.

You want them just when they start melting.

Then squish the candy around the stick.

You can leave them like this, but it's just not Valentines to me without some chocolate.

We filled ours with melted White Chocolate and then decorated them.

Wanna guess who was in charge of sprinkles?!?!

Then listen to, "Are they ready to eat yet?" a billion times while the chocolate hardens.

A few pointers:
-  Watch your oven.  Our first batch totally melted when I attempted to change a diaper while they baked.
-  Work fast when you first take them out.  They harden really fast so you have to get that stick on quick.

And if those hearts aren't sweet enough for you, here's an update on this Big Ole Sweetie's Heart.

Gabe had a Cardiologist appointment yesterday morning.

Yet another super fun appointment spent with his Birth Mom.  The office was running way behind so what should have been a one hour awkward appointment turned into a three hour ordeal.

Gabe was tired and hungry and scared to death of the doctor.  He must have been having flashbacks to the five shots he got last week.

He SCREAMED and did that pitiful cry where they can't catch their breath the entire visit.

I was mad at the little bugger (not really) in the waiting room when he didn't cry when Baby Mama held him.  But he made up for it by jumping out of her arms towards me when he was really upset.

He knows who his Real Mama is.
Of course, all this is my own personal flesh I'm dealing with. 

His actual appointment went OK.

For those of you who are new around here, Gabe was born with Hyperplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

Basically, he was born with 3 heart chambers instead of 4.

There is no permanent fix other then total transplant, but there is a series of 3 surgeries that reroute the blood so a person can live with the defect.

Gabe has already had the first two open heart surgeries and they are watching for when to do the third.

The Doctors are concerned that his heart still isn't functioning very well.  It's pumping, but the chambers aren't totally in sync. 

He also has a bit of back flow from one chamber that makes the Doctor feel like the third surgery may not work very well.

For now, we are continuing his heart meds and watching for signs of distress like blue lips, trouble breathing, low appetite, or excessive sweating.

They were very encouraged that he has NONE of these symptoms at all.  That's more important then what the ECHO shows.

It's hard for me to listen to them talk about transplants and surgeries and know they are talking about my baby.  He's just so healthy looking.

So we both had a rough day. 

He's sleeping soundly and I'm destressing with a Venti Mocha with WHOLE MILK AND LOTS OF WHIP!

Tomorrow is a new day.