Memorial

These are some beautiful pictures taken at Eli's memorial service. Our good friend Daniel took these for us. Aren't they beautiful....
lots of love,
Beth

Eli our sweet boy

Our boy Eli

Hey everyone,
Just a short post - Eli is not doing so well tonight. The docs keep adding machines to keep Eli alive. And meds as well for different reasons. So Dr. B will look at Eli tomorrow and see if there is anything else "medically" that can be done to help our little guy out. We know that not many of his major organs are working properly and the meds and machines are taking their toll on his little body. His poor little heart that was repaired twice now is on a pacemaker.

We need prayer tonight and tomorrow as we say goodbye to our little sweetheart. Eli is such a blessing and we've been so fortunate to have him with us for this time.
Thanks for all the support and prayers.
Lots of love to all,
Beth

Eli Harris Robinson

Hello to all,

Our son has arrived!!! Eli was born on August 5th and entered the world with much prayer and celebration. We knew there was a problem with his little heart but on all accounts the delivery went very smoothly. Eli was taken away by the NICU team of ladies about 10 minutes after birth. We were able to hold him for a couple of minutes before he had to get over to the Children's hospital.

Todd was following right behind and said Eli was hurried over very quickly. Eli had to have a procedure right away where the docs had to make a larger hole in the septum? Man Todd and I are getting a crash course in heart anatomy and all other major organ info. I'm a little overwhelmed and am going to be doing a lot of research in the next couple of weeks to prepare myself for Eli's treatment at home etc.

Anyway, I'm not going to get into all the nitty gritty details but we're on a rollercoaster right now. Eli is recovering from his first major heart surgery as we speak and is getting stable. He had a rough time yesterday and his "levels" were getting low. Things are looking better today and we keep getting good updates. Keep us and him in your prayers please.

We are so grateful to everyone who has helped us so far. We have had an amazing number of people come to visit the hospital, bring us food, give us money, gifts (refrigerator, gift cards, etc.) clean our house, mow our yard, watch the kiddos, and just pray and love us. We feel the arms of the Lord hugging us from all our loved ones. The nurses and docs at Vandy have been amazing and sooo comforting. The bedside manner with everyone so far has been just wonderful!!! We feel very blessed....I'll keep updating as I can.

Lots of love,
Beth

New Cousin

Hey everyone,
I have a new cousin named Ella who just arrived last week back east. This is my cousin Chris and his wife Martina's first baby. Also my aunt Bert's first grandbaby!!! How exciting!!! We're so happy for them.....

And another update on Eli - we're giving birth on Tuesday the 4th. So two days away we'll be at the hospital and I'll be posting as soon as we know what's going on with little Eli's heart.

Lots of love and please pray!
Beth

Eli's due date

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to update on Eli. We got a delivery date of August 4th at Vandy. I was sooo excited to finally have a date so I can get stuff ready around here. I'm nesting and purging our garage. Our church is having a huge garage sale to support some missions groups and I'll be donating a bunch of my "junk". I love garage sales so I'm not even going to go. I know I'll come home with more than I'm getting rid of. Dangerous! Todd and I would like some pathways in the garage not more stuff.

Anywho, please pray for us and little Eli....
lots of love,
Beth

Emma Grace Youngs has arrived!!!

Hey everyone,

We have a new niece named Emma Grace born today at Summit Hospital!!! Lisa aka momma had a c-section around 9:30 and out popped a sweet 8.13 pound pink baby girl. We were in the waiting room for about 3 hours or so with the kiddos and Nana. Ryan and I went into check on the status of the little one and Jeff aka dad was filming Emma getting her self weighed etc. He mouthed through the window that it was a girl!!!!

We're so excited for our new family addition. Hopefully we'll get to hold her either tonight or by tomorrow morning. I had to leave and get my kids home for lunch and Todd had to get back to work. What a blessing from the Lord!

Lots of love and I'll post picts soon,
Beth

Picts of the kiddos

Hey everyone,

My sister has a new roommate named Laura who is an INCREDIBLE photographer! She took some wonderful pictures of the kids this week while I went to have an ultrasound. I'll include a link to the photo album of the kids and then I'll add her blog info so all of you can contact her to do your photos. She does incredible photos of weddings, kids, musicians, still life's, you name it. Just moved to Nashville from Chicago and is making a splash in town.
Thanks for looking,
Beth
http://dartphotographie.smugmug.com/ (just click on Max, Zoe and Tia and you can look through all the photos)

Muddy day

Hey everyone,

This is a picture of Max and Zoe playing in the rain and mud. Looks like fun huh? They had so much fun and it lasted about 1 hour or so. It was worth all the laundry and baths following. I know my parent's let us play in the rain and mud and I loved it! So we're passing that fun on to our kids....
have a fun one,
Beth

The 3 year old feeding the 1 year old

These are great pictures of Max feeding Tia. I just love how cute and happy they both look. Now the reality of these pictures is that the feeding lasted about 1 minute for the milk and food. Max lost interest really fast but I was faster and got a couple of cool shots.
lots of love,
Beth

Eli update #4

Hey everyone,

Here is an awesome update that my husband Todd put together explaining everything from last Wednesday.


We both left there feeling encouraged by the news and with the relief that we at least finally know what is going on. Here's the skinny.

Eli has Hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This condition starts as Critical Aortic Stenosis and turns into the former.

This means that his left ventricle is small and not functioning well. There is some flow and the aorta is small, but not extremely small (a good thing).

When Eli is born he wil be stabilized immediately and then will have his first surgery within 10 days of birth. The number of days will be determined by the severety of the condition when he is born. A secondary option if the situation is too complicated would be heart transplant.

The first surgery is called the Norwood Procedure. In this procedure a shunt (B.T. Shunt) is inserted to create a new pathway to bypass the left side of the heart. Afterwards, his recovery in the hospital will be one month mimum. This surgery has an 85% survival to operation rate. There is a 5-10% mortality rate between this first surgery and the second one.

The second surgery is called a Bi-directional Glenn. This is where the shunt is removed. It will occur at about 3 months of age. This surgery has a 95% survival rate and the recovery hospitalization is about 2 weeks. The mortality rate afterwards is less than 5%. After this surgery Eli will have quarterly visits to his cardiologist there at Vandy.

The third procedure will not happen until he is 2 or 3 years old. I'm sorry I don't know what this entails.

Overall we are encouraged and hopeful. It's such a relief to know there is a plan in place and that this will all happen in such a quality hospital. We felt well taken care of.

Also, Vandy Children's Hospital is awesome! It's super kid-friendly with the decorations and even includes a play area for the siblings of patients!

We go back again in three weeks to have a tour of the facility. Also Dr. Parra will monitor the progress of Eli's Mitral valve and Atrial septum. Lastly we will get to meet with the surgeon who will be performing the surgeries.

We know this whole process will be long and exhausting. We know that Eli's survial is not guaranteed. However we also know we serve an AWESOME God who loves us and will never leave us. He has also promised to never give us something we cannot handle.

Please pray for Eli. Jesus is the Great (pediatric cardiology) Physician and can heal his heart completely in the blink of an eye. ;)

Also please pray for Beth, the kids, myself and the rest of our family as we endure this ordeal. I can tell you I am strengthened at times when I know I should be in dispair. This tells me that God is present and is in many ways already answering our prayers and the prayers of many friends and family.

I look forward to sending out additional information as we learn more. I'll keep everyone posted as best I can but don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions.

Below is a link to Vandy Children's hospital and specifically, Dr. Parra. He will most likely be Eli's cardiologist for years to come. If you can, check out the rest of the site. Vandy Children's Hospital is a cool place!

http://www.vanderbiltchildrens.com/interior.php?mid=43§ion=43&did=3150&mode=search&ln=parra&fn=david&spec=&cnty=&orgid=&show=&ftype=ft

God bless,

Todd Robinson
615-397-3288
toddbdub@yahoo.com

Eli update #3

Hey all,

Well we are officially in the Vanderbilt system and set up with our new OB practice. Todd and I went today and I had my 5th ultrasound and my first OB consult appointment.

The ultrasound was pretty routine and nothing has changed much with his heart "anomaly". That's what the midwife/nurse has called Eli's heart problem. No specific medical term just yet but we'll be seeing another specialist this week to talk about what kind of surgery can be done. I can't even remember the name for kind of specialist we're going to be seeing but it starts with a P.

Todd and I were very pleased with all the nurses and feel very hopeful. The midwife explained more to us about the delivery and what could happen. It looks like once Eli is born there will be several docs in the delivery room and that's when the real detailed assessments can be made on how to fix his heart.

We are going to be getting ultrasounds every two weeks for now to watch his growth and monitor that. I guess with babies with heart conditions there is sometimes problems with development. BUT Eli looks, according the the ultrasound tech, to be completely normal weight and everything else for his age. So praise the Lord for that!

Also we were able to get some 3D picts of Eli that are just soooo sweet. I'll try to scan them in and post soon.

So thanks to all for the continued prayer and support! We need it and Eli needs it...
lots of love,
Beth

Tia and the kids with Poppy

Hey everyone,

Here are some new picts of the kiddos. Tia and her daily routine of pulling as many books off the book shelf as she can reach. And that's just one book shelf. The other smaller book shelf is by the front door and she empties that every night and blocks the door. BUT she is learning - I tell myself - yah how to make a mess.

And the other pict is Max and Zoe with their Poppy. Poppy was here for about a week and hung out with the kids on several days. Zoe and Max love touching the IPhone!

Thanks for looking....
Beth

Eli update

Hey everyone,

Just a quick update on Eli. I have an appointment at Vandy on June 1st to meet with a new OB. We'll be delivering at Vandy because Eli is a "high risk pregnancy."
I'm about 26 weeks and Eli is moving like crazy.
We're just praying for peace and a healed baby!
God bless,
lots of love,
Beth and family

Kwerner Design Challenge #50

Hello all,

This is my most recent card challenge. Here are the supplies: Whisper white, riding hood red, barley banana, tempting turquoise, and chocolate chip SU cs. STAMPS: Big Flowers SU, used my SU dots impressions folder on the Big Shot, So saffron SU ribbon, white gel pen, and corner rounder.

I love this card and the best thing is it only took me like 10 min to make. I had been thinking about the color combo for a couple of days and then it all came together.

Hope you all like it!
Thanks for looking,
Beth

Eli Harris Robinson's heart update

Hey everyone,



Here is the update on little Eli Robinson 25 weeks old now and weighing in at 1 lb 6oz.



Here are the highlights


He is still at risk due to a growth they found inside the left side of his heart.
This growth seems to be hindering the function of a valve (mitrol?) which is causing the left ventricle to not function.
The left ventricle is not working at all.
No infection so I will not need to go on meds.
We will deliver at Vanderbilt and have a new OB and some different cardiologists on hand when Eli is born to assess the situation.
Eli will most likely need surgery when he is born but we still need to get some info from another specialist.

Todd and I are hopeful and are very glad to have a cause for the left ventricle not working and Lord willing a solution. This is going to be a complicated pregnancy and we'll be going to lots of appointments.

So thanks to all of you guys for the prayers and thoughts we need them!!!

We'll keep ya posted on all the happenings.

lots of love,
Beth and Todd

Bloomin' pink

Hello,

This card was made last week one night after the kiddos went to bed. I love this SU set Bloomin' Beautiful. I used my Big Shot, my own buttons, SU pink taffeta ribbon, SU pink pirouette cs, SU baja breeze, black Stazon, water color pencils, and then I blended with my blender pens. Love those things!

Thanks for looking!
Beth

Flower Vintage

Hey everyone,

Here is a card I made on Tuesday night while the kids and Todd watched the Biggest Loser. I have this old book that I love to rip pages out of and stamp on. The stamps are from Technique Tuesday and ink is SU black. Paper is SU's black, close to cocoa and buttons are from my stash. Ribbon is SU gingham and I think that covers it.
Hope you like it!
Beth

Making sculptures

We had a fun day on Monday when we finally took out the modeling clay I'd gotten a couple of weeks ago for the kids. Zoe and Max have been asking every day almost when can do the clay. I finally broke down and let them make their sculptures and just put it down as art for the day.

Zoe made a giraffe and Max made a tiger-crab. They both worked very hard and now they can't wait to paint their dried creations. A 4 day wait to paint is like torture to little ones especially for Max. Max has been asking several times a day when his clay tiger-crab will be dry to paint. I finally had to mark the day on the calendar when we could do it. He still doesn't really get it but now Zoe does and she can explain it to him.

lots of love,
Beth

Tia's 1st Birthday!!!

Hey everyone,

Here are two picts of Tia from Easter weekend. Tia's birthday is actually the 14th but it was only two days away from Easter we decided to celebrate on that Sunday with the family.

My mother made almost the entire delicious meal. We had spaghetti and homemade meatballs, sausage, garlic bread, salad, peach cobbler with ice cream, and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. Then my father got Tia and the kids some cupcakes in place of the traditional birthday cake. Tia destroyed and then slowly ate her chocolate cupcake with pink frosting. So cute!!!

Tia is so funny when we take out the camera to take her picture these days. She gets this huge grin and scrunches up her eyes and nose. See the pict below.

Anywho, we had a very nice day and great company and great food!

Kwerner Design Challenge #49

Hello,

Here is my quick and simple card for today's challenge. The pict is fuzzy and I'm getting frustrated with my camera. My husband says it's user error because he never has fuzzy pictures. Well I will have to work on that.

Anywho, I used pacific point, kiwi kiss, rose red, white, and black. The stamp is an old favorite from Stampin Up called stipple butterfly. We'll call it a retro card - haha....enjoy!

Beth

New challenge

Hey,

Here is a card from another craft blogger where the challenge was the layout not colors. I had a really hard time with this one. But I love the combo of pacific point and wild wasabi.
I embossed the cute little posies (forgot the name of the SU set) with white craft ink and iridescent ice embossing powder. Used pacific point paper and ribbon along with my new Big Shot to emboss the pacific point strip of paper. Love that machine.
Hope you all like it!
Beth

Kwerner Design Challenge #48

Hey,

This color combo was just so nice and easy. Really doesn't every color look good with brown. The colors I used are chocolate chip, baja breeze, whisper white, and kiwi kiss. I got the card shape directly from splitcoast stampers. Beate does some great tutorials and this card was called the criss cross card. Something new to try.

I also love the trifold card. I made the cutest card that was going to be Tia's birth announcements using the trifold shape. But I never got around to making the announcements and never sent anything out. Poor Tia, no birth announcements. We did send out a nice Christmas picture and letter I think? with all the kids picts.

Anywho, hope you like it! Enjoy,
Beth

Tia's first art project

Hey,

These picts were taken last week when I was trying to keep Tia occupied while I did something in the kitchen. Tia is a very fast crawler and as soon as I open the fridge or dishwasher she is right there pushing her way in. And she is persistant let me tell ya.

But anyway she did her first art work with crayons while we cheered. Very sweet! Her first art work. I'm sooo proud.

lots of love,
Beth

Kwerner Design Challenge #47

Hey all,

I'm so glad I didn't miss the deadline for this challenge. I didn't get it done until last night and saw that it was closed this morning. BUT not to worry it's open again so I can add my card. I LOVE the color combo on this challenge and had a blast using my new Big Shot!!! My hubby got me a little present (Big Shot starter kit) just because he said he likes to see me happy. Sooooo sweet!!! He got almost all his shirts ironed for that gift and didn't have to make his own dinner.

So here are my supplies: CS Tangerine tango, so saffron, whisper white, and my personal favorite chocolate chip. INK tangerine tango, chocolate chip. ETC. so saffron ribbon, fire rhinestone brad, and my new Big Shot!!! yippeeeeeee.

Thanks for looking!
lots of love,
Beth

Kwerner Design Challenge #46

Hello to all,
This is number 3 for me in the Kwerner design challenge. I really don't like the card I made but I still love the color combo. I didn't have enough time without kids to make something nice - in my opinion. ANywho, I'll blame it on the kids...hahaha.
ANyhwho, the colors are basic black, pretty in pink, bashful blue, and riding hood red. I'm out of time we've got to eat dinner together tonight!!
Lots of love,
BEth

Kwerner Design Challenge

Hey,
This is my second card for the Kwerner design challenge. The colors required were Basic Gray, Whisper White, and Black.

So the supplies I used: Basic Gray and Whisper White textured cs, black cs. Ink: basic gray, black and whisper white craft ink. Stamps: Friends 24-7, Season of Friendship, Always. Extras: hodgepodge hardware, basic gray taffeta.

Hope you all like it!
Beth

New pictures

These great pictures were taken by our neighbor Jason today. The kids were playing outside with his kids Ara and Jonah while Todd and I sort of cleaned the garage. We do work in spurts when the kiddos are around. Tia did great in the exersaucer and that made it easier to work. We love it when the kids are entertained....
till next post

Ryan's Birthday party / spelling bee

Hey,
We had the best time at our nephew Ryan's bday party last night. Here are some picts from the night. Ryan had us all organized into two spelling bees. One for the kiddos, excluding Tia, of course and one for the adults. We, the adults, kept getting in trouble for laughing too much. I got a headache from laughing too hard. Jeff won the spelling bee and got teased quite a bit by the "cool" matching brother and sister. We had cake, pizza, ice cream, (not in that order) and stayed way too late. Enjoy the pictures.....

First Design Challenge

Hey everyone,
This is a card I made last week for a online Design Challenge. This is my first so the picture is a little blurry and I'm going to be working on that. I find it so hard to take good pictures of my cards and jewelry. But it's just something I need to learn....take care.
Beth

New photos, finally!

Hello to all, I'm finally getting some new photos up of the kiddos. We've all been really sick and it's giving me time to do the things I don't usually spend the time on. Like blogging for instance. Although I do need to do more of this when time allows. Tia is asleep for her morning nap and the other two are watching "Dragon Tales." Love Npt!
Tia is now 10 1/2 months, Zoe is 5, and Max is 3. We're having another little blessing in August around the 11th. I'm about 17 weeks along and we'll be finding out whether it's a boy or girl by the end of this month. Lord willing....you never know with those ultrasounds....
So enjoy the picts....