Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Past Week in Pictures and Words

Our little princess is growing so fast! This past week has flown by - but not without us snapping a few (ok - a lot) pictures. I am a huge fan of bows - I try to put on in Elle's hair everyday. What I really love are bows that are bigger than her head that will only stay on her head with the help of a headband. Unfortunately, I think I might have scared Elle the first time I put a headband on her because now she screams as soon as she sees the headband. I was able to snap a few pictures before the screaming started of this new flower headband!

Elle was happier as I was taking off the headband

On June 26, 2009 - I had to take Elle to TCH to visit with Dr. Wesson's nurse, Kathy. I was afraid Elle's button had become infected (again) and I wanted Kathy to take a look at it. Thankfully, Kathy said Elle's tummy looked good - the redness was more attributed to a scar forming than it being infected so we were good to go.

Our little chunky monkey waiting to see nurse Kathy

Friday afternoon my mom and I went to a memorial service for a precious little angel. The first night I walked into the NICU to see Elle I saw a friend from high school. He and his wife were proud parents to precious twin boys born at 25 weeks. We ended up being in the same pod in the NICU so I would go and visit with the boys and they would come and visit with Elle. As Elle progressed and we were moved to the cardiac recovery floor on our way to going home, I would still run into the boys mom in the milk bank. I constantly read their blog to keep up with their progress. At one point, it looked like both boys were doing great and close to going home. Unfortunately, one of their dear little boys took a turn for the worse and on June 22, 2009 he left his earthly parents to be with his Heavenly father. The memorial service was truly a time to glorify his little life. It was definitely sad, but both the mom and dad are such strong Christians that you couldn't help but notice their peace and strength that could only come from their faith in the Lord. We left Elle with my dad and when we got home - we found both of them asleep. It seems that the only person Elle will do any form of tummy time with is my dad. It's whatever works!!

Saturday, June 27, 2009 - we headed over to Uncle Jake's house to celebrate his birthday. Elle has started to grab onto things now. It's funny to watch her little hands work and try to hold onto anything that is put in front of her. She was holding onto her pacifier and let it go on her face. I think we were all just in shock that she didn't instantly burst into tears. Of course, we all started laughing hysterically. I had to take pictures before taking it off of her. She was moving her head back and forth trying to get it to fall off - but no luck. I don't think she found it as amusing as we did!

Sunday, June 28, 2009 we introduced Elle to her first Baby Einstein video. One of my wonderful co-workers bought Elle this dvd. We weren't sure how she would react to it, but she loved !! Because her hearing isn't too great, we have noticed that she is super visual. She absorbs everything that is going on around her. When Lee put the dvd on, she sat there with eyes wide open just starring at it. We had to put it on repeat to keep her happy! It is so amazing to see her grown and learn and progress. Her little hands are constantly in her mouth - she was one very happy baby sucking on her hands and watching her video!

Monday, June 29, 2009 we went to see Elle's cardiologist. We got great news that her BT Shunt is still functioning exactly how it is supposed to and looks good. We just have to go back every month from now until surgery which will be sometime before flu season. Before we left for the cardiologist, we had Elle in her crib at my parent's. She was playing with some rings that we have strung across the crib and she started to bring the rings to her mouth! This was the first time she was grabbing things and holding them and aware of where she wanted them to go. During her echo, she was grabbing the tech's hands and trying to bring the wand and the tech's hands into her mouth! It was hilarious! The tech would put the wand on Elle's chest and it wasn't 2 seconds before Elle's little hands were wrapped around the wand. She ended up with the gel all over her little face because her hands were all over the place. Dr. W is very impressed with little Elle - we pray that the shunt will continue to do it's work and pump her little blood to all the places it needs to go!

This week we are getting ready for our first over night visitors since we have been home! Our friends, The Millers, are coming in from Mississippi on Friday to spend the weekend with us. We are so excited - and so is Elle! I can't wait for Friday!!!

3 comments:

Berna said...

That pictures with your dad is priceless. I'm so glad everything is progressing so well with Elle. Y'all are wonderful parents and she is so lucky to have you.

Unknown said...

Thanks for continuing to keep is posted. The picture with her pacifier on her face is too funny!! ;-)

Jennifer said...

The bow is bigger than her! So glad to hear she is doing well.