HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, MATTHEW ISAIAH!!

Hello everyone!!



We hope everyone is doing WONDERFUL!! As for us, well, just wanted to share with everyone that MATTHEW ISAIAH, our little miracle, TURNS 4 TODAY!!!! What a BLESSING!! We are so THANKFUL TO GOD for the miracle that HE gave us in our Matthew…



Now, I know that most of you remember the story of WHY we call Matthew our Miracle…if not, well, I will give you the ABBREVIATED version of his wonderful miracle of a story….(those that would like the FULL story, please visit our BLOG and I will have it posted there!!) Matthew was born FULL TERM via scheduled C-section on May 21st, 2004, 8:54am….we had a WONDERFUL pg and enjoyed EVERY minute of it! It was such a JOY to share it with our little boy Alex who loved his baby brother! So, he was born and he was crying BUT unfortunately, he did not “pink” up…he was blue and they knew something was wrong…he was transferred to another hospital after finding out that he had TOTAL ANOMOLOUS PULMONARY VENEOUS RETURN (TAPVR)..he had his first open heart surgery at 8 hours old….he was placed on ECMO (heart/lung bypass machine) because he couldn’t be on his own….he was taken off at 5 days old and we were told he would not survive the day…he was blue again….but because of GOD and TONS of PRAYERS for this little boy, he SURVIVED where NO DOCTOR thought he would and we were given a 1 in 10 chance that he WOULD live thru that day…he went on to have a g-tube placement at 2months old and another open heart surgery at 2.5 months old before he was able to come home at 98 days old…..the wonderful thing about this is since then, he has done well…he does have many issues and obstacles that he must over come. He takes over 10 medications on a daily basis, he has chronic lung disease that causes him to be junky many a time, he still is a 100% g-tube fed BUT he has gotten better at eating (thank you GOD), he is learning to walk and talk…he is our little fighter and our little MIRACLE guy!!! If you ever meet Matthew, you will come away feeling like you met someone special….he is always happy, laughing and trying to get your attention…he loves the GIRLS and loves to flirt with them and impress them….if you are someone new, he will show off for you and try to get you to smile (with that FAMOUS LIP!!)….



This year has brought many wonderful changes with Matthew….a year ago, he had some MAJOR complications on his 3rd birthday…he ended up BACK in surgery for his tonsils due to excess bleeding from his surgery…but what happened after that is what caused all the DRAMA…he went into MOBITZ 2 COMPLETE HEART BLOCK 5 hours after his trip back in the OR and had to be rushed to another hospital for immediate pacemaker implant….well, as we know with our little guy, he has other plans and thru GOD AND PRAYERS AGAIN, his heart rate corrected itself and he did NOT need to have a pacemaker implanted!!! And the doctor did not know what to make of it! And thru this year, Matthew has also had many issues with his seizures…this year, he had an increased number of seizures where he was having them one a day…he even had another HELICOPTER RIDE in October from Fredicksburg back to san Antonio due to an HOUR LONG SEIZURE!! We have added new drugs, taken drugs away and increased his seizure meds to try to get the seizures to stabilized…..THANK YOU GOD, we added and taken away and right now, he is doing GOOD… I think because of him doing so well, he has progressed more in his development!! He has also started EATING more since baby brother started to eat baby food….he did not want to be LEFT OUT of that area!! And don’t think you will feed him; he is so independent that he wants to do it ALL BY HIMSELF!!! He is a BIG BOY and he can do it! He tries so hard to self feed…we are so proud of him! He has also started to do more in the GROSS MOTOR area….he now can pull up on stuff and he is starting to CRUISE around the furniture! He is also getting to where he needs to be really quickly and also he is ALL OVER the house now, not just in his area…he is exploring his home by crawling all over!! I love it!! The other day, he made it into the kitchen and was playing with the pots and pans…his speech has also been coming out..He tries so hard to talk and I can’t WAIT for him to be able to tell me in words what he needs or wants me to do! he is just AMAZING to me!



So, FOUR YEARS OLD, THANK YOU GOD!! Amazing…INCREDIBLE…thankful! When our son was born, I had NO IDEA what would happen in our lives and what a BLESSING was delivered to us and given in our care. He is PRECIOUS beyond words to us and he is just such a PURE LIGHT in our lives….James told me just yesterday that when he hears Matthew talking to him on the phone, he just MELTS and he gets so teary eyed about it….that is what Matthew does to us…he has a smile that will just MELT your heart, he has these HUGE BEAUTIFUL EYES that say so much to us…..they are the WINDOW to the WORLD because there is just so much in there…I can sit and stare at them and just think and wonder….Matthew has been thru so much and thru it all, is just a happy little boy. He has been thru more thing in his four years that most of us have gone thru in all of our lives!! He is a TRUE MIRACLE…we are so blessed to have him in our life!



So, THANK YOU ALL for all those prayers and thoughts thru out the year for him. We feel so blessed to have ALL of ya’ll out there for Matthew….FOUR YEARS OLD…I can’t get over that fact that my little miracle of a baby is now FOUR YEARS OLD….I can think back to when he was born and being told that the cardiologist didn’t think he would make the transfer across town because he was that bad…and when they took him off of ECMO to “die a natural death” he did NOT die….every day is so VIVID in my thoughts…I will NEVER forget ever second of his life…I can’t wait to continue to ADD thoughts and events to it!! I look FOREWARD to it!!



So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MATTHEW ISAIAH!! Thru GOD, You are our INSPIRATION and our STRENGTH….GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS!!



THANKS for wanting to share in his life!! i will NEVER forget all those that supported us throughout those first days when things were so grim and so final...you will ALWAYS be in our hearts for that...and all those that have been there thru out his life, doctors, nurses, therapist, friends, family and people all over the world, many we have never met, THANK YOU ALL for being part of Matthew's life!!!



I made a montage for his FOURTH birthday…it does start off like the original one but it is updated (thre is music too!)! I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to leave a comment:

CLICK HERE FOR MATTHEWS MONTAGE



I hope to have news soon on JAMES coming home....GOD WILLING it will be SOON!!



don't forget to check out our BLOG for updated PICTURES of the boys!!! and there is also a LETTER from james as he was leaving CB, and just to find out when james gets HOME!! :)



take care everyone and GOD BLESS....



love,

James, Maria, Alex, & Joshua