15 Months!

My goodness!  Where has time gone?  Today Lily is 15 months so I thought I would share some of the things she has accomplished recently!

 Lily decided to serve herself.  This is what ended up on her tray, the rest of the bag ended up on the floor!

*  Lily started walking shortly after her first birthday, however, running seems to be her new method of transportation.
*  She has mastered the stairs, finally going down backwards!
*  Lily can sign "all done,"  "more" and we have been working on "thank you!"
*  Lily can say mommy, daddy, ball, kitty, milk and barks like a dog.
*  Lily is a champion eater, rarely leaving anything on her plate.
*  Lily has figured out how to push "Play" on the DVD player (from her sister I suppose)
*  Lily can pick up her toys.
*  Lily is really starting to enjoy the pool and wants to walk in the deeper water by her sissy.
*  Lily can use a fork and a spoon but I would not recommend being within 6 feet of her when she is
*  Lily is starting to pick up books on her own and look at them rather than try to tear the pages.
*  Lily's LOVES to throw her diapers away on her own.

Playing in the giant water table at the Mississippi River Museum

We have been so blessed to have been given Lily.  She has taught us more in her 15 months than many people learn in a lifetime.  Her stubborness, persistence and determination are what have gotten her where she is today.  Somedays it is so easy to forget that she has any medical conditions at all!  Lily, you truly are a gift from God.

Mommy and her little miracle!

On another note, funding for a Dubuque chapter of Heart Friends has been approved for one year!!  Also, this Saturday night at Cascade High School the Dubuque Bruisers, a semi-pro football team, will play to help raise awareness Congenital Heart Defects.  We will be there to share Lily's story so please join us!

Summer Fun

This summer is just flying by.  It seems like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to my class of 8th graders on the last day of school, and now here we are, mid-July!

Ellie has been enjoying the outdoors a couple days a week at Tot Lot.  At Tot Lot she gets to play with other preschoolers, do arts and crafts, sing songs, play games and play on the playground.  I love it because it gives me a chance to run errands around town with just one child in tow, and it totally wipes her out.  She is more than ready for a nap when she comes home.  Ellie loves it because she gets to carry a bookbag and take a water bottle.  She NEVER lets me forget these two things in the morning.  I still can't believe how big she is getting and how independent she has become.  She has a new bedtime routine that started about a two weeks ago.  We've always tried to read to Ellie before she goes to bed but lately she has wanted to continue reading after we have read to her so we decided to get a timer and put it on her lamp.  It gives her about 30 minutes to read as much as she wants and then when the light goes off she knows that it is time to go to sleep.  This way we don't have to be the bad parents that come in and turn her light off and tell her it is time to go to bed:)

Ellie started swim lessons this week.  The first day was a little rough...she thought she was there to play so she kept wandering away from her teacher, but since she has gotten the hang of it and is having a great time.  She is such a fish she would stay in the pool all day if you let her, but she sinks like a rock just like her dad so we thought swim lessons might be in order.  Ellie is also officially signed up for preschool this fall.  She is so excited to go and I am so excited for her as well.  Ellie has been in a wonderful in-home daycare since she was 6 weeks old so this is going to be a big change for her.  I know she is going to love it though!

A few funny moments from Ellie:

*  She had a meltdown the other morning when the sippy cup I gave her DID NOT match her pajamas!
*  While with her cousin Kalyn the other day she saw a dead fly on the window sill and told Kalyn it ran out of batteries!


Lily is enjoying summer vacation with mom at home.  We get to spend a lot of time together since Ellie goes to Tot Lot twice a week and I cherish every minute of it.  I find it hard to believe how far she has come in the past year.  Lily and I are in a play group that formed out of one of my Baby Signs classes.  We spend one night a month with these kiddos and their parents.  Next Wednesday we are going to Storybook Hill Zoo which is a petting zoo in Dubuque.  It also has a little train that is pulled around by a riding mower.  I'm thinking she is going to like that, not so sure about the animals.  She has inherited her sister's fear and her mother's dislike of dogs!

As far as Lily's health goes, she really is doing great.  We had a few times I questioned her sweating so much but Dr assured us that she is fine and is not in heart failure.  We have been in again recently for an ear infection.  I am pretty sure this is about #9 since September.  I really thought once cold season ended the ear infections would end too, but I guess not!

Though our summer has been busy we were able to sneak away for a mini-vacation to Winona, Minnesota.  Our family has been going to Winona since both my brother and I were little so it is really nice that we are able to take the girls up as well.  We went up over the 4th of July weekend and got a chance to get out on the Mississippi River.  Ellie and my brother's daughter rode up with my parents early Friday morning so they got a chance to play at the river's edge and at the neighbor's waterslide.  On Saturday we all went out to a beach for some swimming and playing in the sand and we all came home on Sunday.  Although we had fun spending time with family and just getting away, it was definitly time to come home.  The girls needed to get back to their own beds and get back into their routine!

               Lily on the way up to Winona, MN.  She couldn't keep her hands out of the food basket!

                                                Ellie going down the slide at the beach!

                                                  Lily all ready for a ride in the golf cart.

This past weekend we had a chance to go to the National Mississippi River Museum here in Dubuque.   We have been here several other times, but recently they opened another section and it was wonderful.  There is an interactive kids area where the kids can play in water, put in dams, float boats, turn a water wheel, etc.  Both Ellie and Lily had a great time playing in the water.  They also have a 3D or 4D theater (not sure which?) that shows movies about water related things.  I think the current one is about sharks.  While sitting in the theater you chair can shake, water can spray on you, etc.  We didn't get to go into the theater but plan on making a trip there very soon.

 Before I end this I want to ask all of you to pray for community of Bellevue, just south of Dubuque.  At their 4th of July parade some horses pulling a carriage got spooked and took off down the street and through the crowds injuring many and killing one. The last of the injured have recently been released from the hospital in Iowa City.  I have several relatives, friends and co-workers that live in Bellevue and thankfully none of them were injured but the incident has affected the entire community.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and staying cool on these hot and humid days!

With Love,
The Duves

Why I Teach

I often wonder what I would be doing if I didn't become a teacher.  I can never come up with a good answer...nursing I suppose, although the thought of needles just gives me the chills so I don't think I would be all that great.  So why did I go into teaching?  Well, having summers off and a Christmas break is a definite plus!  I also enjoy working with kids and trying to make a difference in their lives.  But some years you wonder if you ever really reach any of your students?  Sure, I may have taught them about the atrocities of the Holocaust during our Anne Frank/Night study, or they may have learned how to solve equations in Algebra, but teaching goes so much deeper than that.  Its about teaching life lessons as well.  This year at school has been one filled with quite a bit of tragedy.  Just about a year ago we lost a 6th grade student in a car accident while he was traveling with his boy scout troop.  In the fall, one of our students lost his mother unexpectedly to an anyerisum, another student lost his mother to infection and another student lost his brother to a lengthy illness.  What I have really tried to teach my students is to appreciate life, do the things and say the things that you would if you knew it were going to be the last time you were going to see someone.  We never know when life is going to throw us one of those curveballs.  I'm not sure if I ever got through to them or not with this message, but with her permission, I wanted to share a letter sent to me by one of my students.  This is the reason I teach...


Dear Mrs. Duve,

    I am so grateful for everything you have done for me over the past year! I know that you were my Math teacher, and the best one I ever had, but you taught me so much more than that! You taught me to accept everyone, even those who do not learn as quickly or the same way as I do! You also taught me something no one else could have ever taught me. You taught me that there are kids out there who need my help, who are fighting everyday and not enough people realize that! You are the best math teacher ever, but you teach so much more!
    I do not learn math fast and I do not understand things very well, but you never got frustrated or gave up on me! During my year with you, I began to understand. I may not be the fastest person to solve the problem, but I know how to do it and when I take my time to solve it, I can get the right answer. I have never had a Math teacher who took the time, even before school, to try to make me understand the math. When you did that it made me feel like you really cared if I succeeded! You took the time and because of that I now understand and have more confidence in myself!
    Along with Math, you taught me that everyone is different! Everyone has things going on in their personal lives, but somehow you carry on anyway! When I did the Heart Walk, it made me feel like I was helping people who were going threw a difficult time in their lives! It amazes me that you can be a great Math teacher and great mom to Ellie and Lily! Your girls should be very proud of their mom and who she is to her students! I learned a life lesson I wouldn’t give up for the world when I found out about Lily. Lily is truly an inspiration for me, and I thought you should know that! Lily never stops fighting, but neither do you! I hope that someday I will be able to appreciate life and good health half as much as your family does! Ellie is also an inspiration for me, because she goes along with it. She continues to allow Lily to have attention and she never complained during the Heart Walk! What this means to me is that you are a strong enough person to be a great mom to the two most deserving little girls and be the most inspiring and best Math teacher ever!
    You have taught me so much more than I ever thought you would! All kids out there deserve to know you and see how great you are! You should know that you gave me confidence and the willingness to achieve in math which I never thought was possible! Please continue to carry on, both in teaching and being a great mom! I don’t even know the rest of your family that well and I can tell that you are an amazing relative to your family. If everyone could have you as a teacher, we would have a smarter population in both math and life! Please say Hello to Ellie and Lily for me and know that I think they are two of the cutest kids I have ever seen! I will continue to pray for your family, look at you carepages site, and check-in on your blog! Know that your family is in my family prayers even long after I am gone!

                        Thank You So Much for Everything,
                                Kayla Schueller


This letter reaffirms to me that this is where God has chosen me to be...in the classroom.  This is my calling!  The letter to brought me to tears and made my day.  This school year could not have ended on a better note!  Happy Summer!!!

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken for the 1st time since Lily was born.  I picked out a few of our favorites to share...Enjoy!

Schools (almost) Out For Summer!

What a busy time of year.  The school year is just about over.  Today would have been our last day of school but due to snow days the kids have to go until June 9th and us teachers have to go until June 10th.  There is so much to do to wind up the end of the school year...grading papers and tests, report cards, cleaning the classroom, and for me moving classrooms.  You would think I would be getting used to it, this is the 6th year in a row I have moved rooms.  I am almost a pro at it!

We have some exciting things planned for this summer.  Every Tuesday and Thursday from 9-12 Ellie is going to attend Tot Lot.  This will give me time to take a Stroller Strides class with Lily.  For those of you who don't know what Stroller Strides is, it is an exercise class that involves you, your baby and your stroller.  I can't wait!  We have a few "mini" vacations planned for the summer as well.  Over the 4th of July weekend we will be heading up to Winona, Minnesota.  This has been a tradition for a couple years now.  Last year we didn't make it since Lily was so little, but this year I have no doubt she will love running around the campground, getting rides on the golf cart and spending time with her sister and cousin Emmy!  In late July we are having a Hartmann Family Reunion at Spook Cave Campground near McGregor, IA.  We were supposed to do this family reunion last year, but the family decided to postpone it since we knew it would fall near Lily's Glenn surgery.  This should be a great time!  There are so many great-grandkids that are all within a year of each other that there should be no shortage of fun and adventure!  I am teaching a few classes this summer through the YMCA.  These classes are all geared towards infants/toddlers/preschoolers and I can't wait to get started.  It will be quite a switch going from teaching 8th graders to teaching preschoolers.

This past weekend we were able to get out on the river for the 1st time!  Ellie loves riding in the boat and playing in the river.  She is definitly a little fish!  I think her favorite part was hanging on to her floaty and having the waves push her to shore.  Lily wasn't too sure about the boat ride at first or the river.  She was pretty indifferent about the whole experience.  Her favorite part was the snacks!

We had our family pictures taken just about 3 weeks ago and we got the proofs back this week.  The pics were Ah-Mazing!  Thanks to Amy and Kari from Life Photography for offering to take our family photos at no cost!  I will post some of the pics as soon as we get the copyright release.  I can't wait to show them off.

I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather.  We can't wait to get summer started and enjoy the nice weather out on the beaches of the Mississippi!  Take care!

The Duves

One Year Ago!

One year ago yesterda Lily was released from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics following her birth and two open heart surgeries

                                                          Getting ready to go home!                                                             

                                                            And here I am today!!

I wish that I could share with you Lily's newest adventure but I just can't seem to get the video to upload so if anyone has any suggestions please share.  Keystone AEA came last Monday to see how Lily has been progressing.  We are glad to report that she is right on track in every way.  Last night she showed us just how determined of a little girl she is...she wants to walk!  She would get up on her feet, take a step and fall and get right back up, take a few steps, fall and repeat this over and over until she had made her way over to me!  All of this I got on video.  It is just amazing to see how far she has come in one short year!  We are so blessed that Lily has been as healthy as she has been.  She is one amazing little girl!

We had our family pictures taken on Saturday so as soon as we get them back I will share!  I can't wait to see them.  We had pictures taken back when Ellie was a baby and they turned out awful so these will officially be our first family photos since Lily was born.  Thanks to Amy and Kari from Life Photography.  They were absolutely wonderful with the girls!

A Beautiful Day for a Walk!

Today was the 2010 Heart Walk and we could not have asked for a more beautiful day!  We are so thankful for everyone who joined us today to walk, anyone who purchased a t-shirt and all who donated to Team Lily!

         Team Lily raised $1,425.00!!!

I continue to be amazed at the support that we have received from our family, friends and co-workers!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

                                           Our attempt at a family photo!

                                           Half of Team Lily

                                           And the other half!

                         CHD survivors-all born in 2009 and looking fantastic!
                         Matthew (2010 Featured Survivor), Lily and Kennedy

                                    Lily and Great Grandma Hartmann

Thank you to the following people for their support of Team Lily at the 2010 Heart Walk:  Becky Hauder, Jolene Hedley, Jean Sawvel, Sandi and Sam Hough, Kalyn and Leah Decker,
Grandma and Grandpa Mihalakis, Jed and Becky Hurst, Kelly and Sarah McDermott, Sharon Loeffelholz, Trish Taylor, Kayla Crane, Mary and Natalie Fury, Jake and Katie Mihalakis, Shirley Koppes, Dawn Ellis, Jenny Stork, Tony Konrardy, Kristen Hurley, Vicki Huff, Jane Northrup, Kate Dean, Rachael Goedert, Becky Zurcher, Deb Finn, Cindy Hedrick, Linda Crawford, Kim Muntz, Michelle and Luke Hartmann, Courtney Smith, Tyler Wernimont, Great Grandma Hartmann, Lynne Millman, Catherine Kremer, Jon and Nikki Decker, Carla and Kayla Schueller, Emily Moes, Sarah Ochs, Lindsey Chapman, Brightin Kisting, Ron, Laurie, Austin, Alex and Kayla Helbing, Randy Swenson, Tony Burgmeier, Joanne Kintzle, Cheryl Runde, Karen, Russ and Sarah Duve, Katie Ford, Elizabeth and Caroline Ott, Jessica Ward, Valerie Stecher, Jill and Kayla Hohmann, Susan Meier, Deb McGinnis, Elizabeth Burgmeier, Erin Collins, Brittany Tashner, Kim, Holly, Emmy and Jack Kunkel, Tina Weber, Chris, Pauline, Aaron, Amber, Bridget and Elizabeth Duve, Kelly and Bree Garmen, Buelah and Gabrielle Lape, Ana Schmitt, Tracy Bechen, Jamie Pluemer and Mary Geisler, Jake Hammerand, Cyndy Billmeyer and Sharon Hefel.

Thank you to the following businesses and groups for their support of Team Lily:  Rich and Junnies Coin, Thermo-Fisher Scientific and Ladies Clutch

We are forever grateful for all you have done for us!

Love,  Jesi, Russ, Ellie and Lily Duve