Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 - Elle and I spent all day long with doctors. Elle had her follow-up appointment with her opthamologist at 9:30 yesterday morning. We were leaving Texas Children's at 12:45pm - only to drive directly to an appointment with her pediatrician. The opthamology appointment went well. Dr. Steinkuller (isn't that the coolest name?) said we don't have to see him until she is a year old (whoo hooo!). The coloboma (hole) is still in her retina but it still isn't affecting her vision. She wasn't too fond of Dr. Steinkuller or the medical student he had with him. I don't blame her - they were having to hold her eye lid open and look at her eyes - poor baby. Despite the screams during the exam, she was a perfect angel for the rest of the day. I think our pediatrician really loves Elle. When she walked into the room and went to go and exam Elle, she had to put her hand up so she wasn't looking at our sweet princess because she said "Oh Miss Elle, you are just too charming! I can't look at you and do my job!" Elle was talking and laughing at her doctor - I was laughing, the nurse was laughing and our poor pediatrician was trying to listen to Elle's heart beat and couldn't hear it because Elle was talking so much! We walked out of that appointment with a prescription for amoxicillin. We need to clear Elle's runny nose and cough up as soon as possible! Needless to say, after a full day of doctor visits, Elle was out like a light by 7:00pm.

Today the weather here in Houston was horrible. I was packing up Elle to walk out the door so I could go and get a few quality hours in at work when the sky opened up. It was thundering so loud our house was shaking. Due to my last experience in trying to load Elle up in the rain, I unpacked all the bags and set my lap top up so I could work from here instead. While the weather outside was dreary, our house was filled with this little ray of sunshine!

She has officially found her feet, although they have yet to make it to her mouth. For the past few weeks she has been eyeing them and briefly grabbing them - but today she was grabbing them and holding on tight. It was funny to watch her rock from side to side holding her little feet! After a massive display of Elle's projectile techniques, it was outfit change time - which meant more pictures!

Tomorrow we have physical therapy. I am anxious for this appointment each week because I feel it is one of the most important things to get the ball rolling on before surgery. Each day that passes means we are one day closer to surgery. We are 11 days from being admitted and 12 days from surgery. I am in prayer for a majority of every day - asking God to watch over our little baby and protect her before, during and after surgery.

This was all you could see of Elle this evening while she played on her mat. Her little feet were up in the air and so were her little arms trying to grab onto the rings!