Wednesday August 10, 2011 -- 6 years post-surgery
Sam is finishing up his last few weeks of summer before going off to first grade. I see I never got around to posting a picture this last March. Here's a picture of Sam in July with a cicada.
Not much to report. At cardiologist appointment in May, we learned that apparently the ASD is still present, but not an issue.

Wednesday March 30, 2011
Sam is 6 years old today.
Stay tuned for an updated picture.

First day of kindergarten -- Sam waves goodbye

Tuesday August 10, 2010 -- 5 years post-surgery
Sam is going to kindergarten in a few weeks. First picture is from mid-June. Second picture is from camping trip in July.

March 30, 2010. Sam turns 5 !

Janna (age 8) provides big sister-type help posing for this picture a few days before Sam's 5th birthday.

Saturday October 17, 2009
Walk to Defeat ALS today in Baltimore. It was a cold (45 F) rainy day, but Sam didn't mind. He had fun doing all the things a 4-year-old boy should do on a rainy day.

Monday August 10, 2009 -- 4 years post-surgery
This year was a blur as the 4th anniversary passed us by. Nothing new to report about Sam. He is getting ready to go into his final year of pre-school before hitting the big Kindergarten milestone.

June 2009 - Germany.
It looks like we forgot to post an updated picture for Sam's 4th birthday back in March. Here he is on the cog train ascending the Zugspitse in Germany last month.

The next picture is the playground area at the farm where we stayed near Stuttgart.

Christmas 2008:
Sam was proud of the tattoo on his arm and was trying to show it to the camera.

Sunday August 10, 2008 -- 3 years post-surgery
It has been three years now since Sam's heart surgery. It is mostly a distant memory these days except for the annual cardiology appointment and a few faint incision scars. We remind ourselves as the anniversary approaches of the blessing of Sam, the great people at Johns Hopkins and the wonder of open heart surgery. We've been watching the ABC special series called "Hopkins." One of Sam's surgeons was hilighted in episode 7 in the series. (Luca Vricella, MD.) Dr. Vricella assisted Dr. Cameron during the surgery. I just reread the August 2005 blog entries. It is truly amazing how far we've come in three years.

Sam is 3 years old now!

Sam had another routine cardiologist appointment a few weeks ago. All is well. Here's a picture from the day before his 3rd birthday.

Two years later:
It was two years ago today that Sam had his open heart surgery to repair his VSD. Sam is doing great as usual. He's talking alot now. We're waiting to hear what he's been thinking about these past two years since his heart surgery. :-)
We rented the movie "Something the Lord Made" again and were reminded of the great fortune we have in being the beneficiaries of ground-breaking cardiac surgery in the last 50 years. This is a picture of Sam last night. He is 2 years 4 months old now. (click picture to enlarge)

Sam is 2 years old now!
Sam celebrated his 2nd birthday at Rocky Acres B&B in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. He had a great time on the farm and on our day trips out to Amish area and a ride on the Strasburg Railroad.

getting back to normal:
Sam is getting back to normal. He hasn't vomited probably since Wednesday. Looks like the ileus is passing as expected.