How Could I Forget...

I almost forgot to post this in all my excitement about Elle's hearing aids. On Tuesday afternoon, after Elle had her hearing aids in we went over to my parent's house to take care of their fish and all that good stuff (they were on vacay this past week). Of course, like any good grandparents - they have ice cream in their freezer. Lee and I both immediately dove into the Jamoca Almond Fudge. Elle was sitting on the couch and Lee was with her and out of the corner of my eye I saw him give her ice cream! I almost had a fit! I believe my statement was, "Did you just give her ice cream? She's gonna get a sugar high!" Lee just laughed and informed me that Elle had a big day and needed a little sweet treat! She loved the 3 tiny bites she got!

Church to Hearing Aids and Everything in between

Sunday, August 9, 2009 - I woke up at 5:30am intent on not falling back asleep so I would be up and ready for all of us to go to church together. We don't leave for church until 10:15am so I had a few hours to kill! Needless to say I was able to get a few loads of laundry done and actually feel productive before we left for church. I even steamed Elle's outfit so it would be perfect for our major outing! Elle had been fussy all morning so Lee and I were both anxious to see how she would do at church. Sure enough, we got to church and it wasn't three minutes before she started getting fussy. Lee's mom took her out of the sanctuary and walked in the halls with her. Lee's aunt Debbie took the second shift so Vickie could come back in and listen to the sermon. She had the magic touch and Elle fell asleep in her arms. Thank goodness for Vickie and Debbie! Thank goodness that we go to church with a lot of family members! I walked out about halfway through the sermon to see how she was doing and Vickie and Debbie had it under control so I was able to sit and listen to Lance's sermon. Lee and I snuck out of church before it was dismissed so we could grab Elle and leave before everyone else left. Before leaving, we had to take some pictures to commemorate this momentous day! Of course, Elle woke up on the car ride home and was a perfect angel!

Monday, August 10, 2009 - Elle had an evaluation for physical therapy. It went really well and I am praying they call us to set up a weekly scheduled time. Basically, the therapist played with Elle for an hour - the whole time she was making notes about Elle's posturing, her strengths and her weaknesses. At the end, she told me that Elle does have weak neck muscles/arm muscles that she would like to continue to work on. She gave me a sheet of exercises to do with Elle - most of them make her scream because they revolve around her being on her tummy. We just keep chugging away working on our little lady's neck control! After therapy, Elle got to go to work with me! I can honestly say that by the time Lee came to pick her up from the office so I could actually get some work done - I was exhausted! But..she did good at the office with me. It helps that all my co workers just wanted to love on her all day so they kept her occupied!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - Hearing Aid Day! Lee went into work early but then came back home so we could all go downtown to the med center to TCH for Elle's hearing aid fitting. I strategically planned Elle's outfit for the day. She needed to be wearing something that accentuated her hearing aids! After getting our little princess dressed for the day and the car loaded with all of Elle's accessories - the three of us headed downtown to meet with our wonderful audiologist. I just love our audiologist. I love her so much I may try to hook her up with my brother in law! She had all Elle's goods ready to go when we got there. I must say that when she pulled out the hearing aids I squealed in delight because they are so cute! Our audiologist was so excited that I ordered pink hearing aids and sparkle ear molds - I think she was just as excited as I was! By the time the hearing aids were ready to be put into Elle's ears - she had fallen asleep. She slept through Dr. E putting them in and us talking. It was a definite lack luster response. Lee and I both were expecting eyes wide open kind of reaction. Well - that reaction came later. She eventually woke up and started experiencing the world for the first time. Her reaction to the waiting room was classic. We walked out into the crowded waiting room - people talking - the tv going - and Elle just didn't know what was going on. Her eyes got huge! I was so excited for our little princess. I had to give Dr. E a hug before we left - it means the world to me that she was as excited as we were for our little princess. After getting the new aids, we headed up to see our precious nephew, Witt. It will be a super exciting day when Elle and Witt can play together and it won't be in a hospital room!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - We had an appointment with a gastro doctor. After discussing all of Elle's feeding issues with the doctor - she made a few changes to Elle's medicine (what it is being compounded with) and she made the exciting announcement that she thinks Elle is ok to start supplementing her feeds with rice cereal! Over the course of the next week or so we will also be changing her feeds from 4 ounces every 3 hours 7x a day to 6 ounces every 4 hours 5x a day. Hopefully, this new feeding schedule will help our little lady put a few extra pounds on her and help her grow some more before surgery. Lee picked up some cereal on his way home this evening and this evening, we fed Elle rice cereal for the first time! At first she hated every minute of it. After a few minutes she realized that she was eating something different and absolutely loved it!

I really need to be more careful when I am taking videos because they don't rotate! Oh well - she is still super cute even if she is side ways!

Three Minutes

I have 3 minutes to write this post until the microwave goes off telling me it's back to sterilizing bottles! Elle's had a momentous few days and I will definitely sit down later today and write all about them. Just to give a little teaser

Sunday, August 9, 2009 - we went to church together for the first time as a family!

Monday, August 10, 2009 - Elle was evaluated for physical therapy and she went to work with me

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - Elle got her hearing aids!

If you look closely - you can see her tiny hearing aids!

Week in Review

I took a blog-cation this past week. I didn't intend for that to happen but it just worked out that way. I started a new work schedule on Monday so it took me the full week to get accustomed to the new schedule. Even though I am home more with this new work schedule - I still couldn't find the time to sit down at the computer! This past week reminded me a lot of our first few weeks home with Elle while I was still on maternity leave. It just seemed that the day flew by and before I knew it, Lee was walking through the door after a long day at work...and my day had revolved around 3 hour increments for her feedings! Saturday, August 1, 2009 - We took Elle swimming at my parent's pool. It was Lee's first time in the water with our sweet baby. They were so precious in the water together! Elle was sporting a new bathing suit that one of my best friends sent her. I absolutely love her SeaFolly suit! It covers up her belly and all her scars! Aunt Nicole has the best taste and even though she is thousands of miles away - our princess loves her (and so do we)!!

Sunday, August 2, 2009 - We had made plans to go to church for the first time as a family. We had asked the cardiologist on Friday at our appointment if it was ok to take her to church and he said yes as long as we held her and didn't take her to the nursery. I was so excited about our first time out together as a family. Unfortunately, our plans we changed because I overslept! Lee had to go to church by himself because I just didn't have enough time to get her ready and myself ready. Maybe this week I will get everything together so we can all go together!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009 - I snapped some cute pictures of our little Elle Belle. She is starting to hold her arms out. I think it is so cute. She has started to grab onto our lips when we are talking to her. She can't hear the sound too well but I absolutely know she has figured out that is where the faint sound is coming from! She is also blowing spit bubbles now. At first I don't think she realized she was doing it - but now she is consciously blowing them. Absolutely the cutest thing!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009 - Elle received a visit from one of my wonderful college friends (who happens to live here in Houston)! Stephanie is a NICU nurse and was my go to person while we were in the hospital. Every time the doctors would tell me something that I didn't understand - I would go to Steph so she could explain everything to me. It was (and still is) so comforting to have that one person in the medical field that I know will explain things to me in a manner I can understand....plus she is filled with helpful information (like how to work on neck muscles)! Elle slept through most of our visit, but she finally woke up as Stephanie was getting ready to leave. Elle was mesmerized by Stephanie! Maybe it's because Steph is a beauty and Elle loves to have visitors - especially ones that wear jewelry that catches Elle's attention! I have a great video of Steph and Elle but for some reason it isn't uploading! I will keep trying to get it posted!

Thursday, August 6, 2009 - we received a phone call from our cardiologist. We have a meeting set up for August 25 for all of Elle's pre-op testing. She will have to have a sedated MRI and Echo. It will be at this time that we meet with her surgeon to schedule her major heart surgery. It was a tough phone call to take when Lee called me and told me about the appointment. For so long it has been "when she is older or in the next few months" and now the time for her surgery is actually just weeks away. We will know more after our meeting with the surgeon on August 25. I would be lying if I said that I'm not already nervous about our meeting. I know she is in the best hands (both physically and spiritually) but I still can't help but to get anxious about the thought of her having open heart surgery. I just have to keep praying for peace and strength - for Elle's benefit and for my own sanity! Thursday evening, I spent a few hours with my wonderful neighbors. It was so refreshing to have a few cocktails and a girls night - especially after just hearing news that surgery is literally around the corner. Plus they gave me the great news that the children's boutique that is here in Cypress is having a huge sale!!

Friday, August 7, 2009 - ANIMAL PRINT FRIDAY!! After occupational therapy, Elle and I headed back home for her noon feeding. Once Elle was finished eating, I loaded her up and we met my mom at Freckles - the children's boutique by our house for a quick shopping trip. I LOVE a great sale and they were absolutely having the best sale EVER! When we walked in, the owner was there unpacking the new fall clothes. She saw Elle and immediately started to oh and ah over her. I had to laugh when she asked if Elle was 6 weeks old. The look on her face was priceless when I told her she is 4 months old. Elle is just a tiny little girl ! A tiny little girl that now has a few great new pieces of clothes for when she turns 12 months!!

Saturday, August 8, 2009 - Lee and I rigged up the ultimate play place. We are working with Elle on strengthening her neck. Everyday she gets better with her head control. It is so much fun to watch her progress and grow!

In other news - I opted to not wear the boot to heal my fractured foot. It would just be too difficult to care of an infant and try to maneuver with that huge thing on! So - for the past week I have been dealing with the pain. I told Lee that I'm not going to take the anti inflammatory any more. I hate that I am having to pump and dump - so - as of today - I am going to stop with the meds and just let my foot heal itself. The pain has greatly diminished so we will just have to wait and see how much longer until I can really do everything at 100% again!

I Really Really Love My...

SASSY BEES!

Elle received these bees that hang from her carrier as a gift while I was pregnant. I don't remember who gave them to her - but little would they know that she is OBSESSED with these little animals. There are three of them and I am constantly having to wash them because they are always in her mouth! I might be making a trip up to Babies R Us to find some extra sets for around the house!! The funniest part about these bees is that when they fall beside her in her carrier and she can't reach them - she gets extremely frustrated. I think my arms have lengthened at least 3 inches since she came home because at every stop light I am having to reach back to her and find her bee. When she can't grab onto them and put them in her mouth - and they just sit there and taunt her - she gets so frustrated. This also mostly happens while I am driving. I just turn down the music and listen to her voice her concerns.

The videos were taken with my phone so the resolution isn't the best - but you can definitely hear her complaining about not being able to hold onto her bees so she can eat them!

A Year Ago Today

Exactly one year ago Lee and I found out I was pregnant. It was a Friday evening and we had gone out to eat with Lee's parents at our old standby - El Vaquero. I ordered shrimp quesadillas. They tasted horrible to me so I ended up taking all the shrimp off and just eating the plain cheese quesadillas. Lee tasted them and said they tasted fine. That should have been my first clue. On our way home from dinner, we stopped at CVS so Lee could pick up a few things and on a whim, I decided to pick up a pregnancy test. We got home and out of curiosity, I decided to take the test. Almost instantly 2 little pink lines showed up on the test and I immediately started shaking. I had no idea how to react. Lee was in the bathroom getting ready for bed - I rushed out and said, "babe - there's two lines on here." His reaction (typical guy) - "what does 2 lines mean?" In a very excited and emotional voice I proudly announced, "WE"RE PREGNANT." I think his reaction was somewhere between shock and disbelief. We hadn't been trying for very long (less than a month) so the fact that we were actually going to be having a baby was mind boggling. Since both of us were in shock, I took another test the next morning and the same 2 lines showed back up. The next Wednesday, I decided to take one more test but this time I bought a digital kind that actually says "pregnant" or "not pregnant." When "pregnant" showed up on the stick - it was a very different experience. Seeing the words instead of 2 little lines cemented the fact that we were indeed going to be the proud parents of a little one. The next 30 weeks were nothing short of amazing. We had our ups and downs and I have my fair share of pregnancy stories but the miracle baby we ended up with is our own little piece of heaven! As my belly grew (and our list of concerns grew longer) Lee and I underwent a spiritual transformation. I've written it before, but it is one thing to call yourself a Christian - it is another thing to truly give yourself over to the Lord. When we were given the news that Elle has Congenital Heart Disease, we gave our lives over to the Lord. It is an amazing experience to walk in your faith and to have such a peace about everything that was happening and going to happen. Many people have had pity on us for what we have been through and asked if my pregnancy was horrible. No - it wasn't. I had the most joyous and fun filled pregnancy. I absolutely loved every kick, every pound gained, every embarrassing yet funny pregnancy moment. I even loved the getting sick everyday for 30 weeks part because someone told me it meant Elle would have a lot of hair (old wife's tale - but I think it's true). The blessing we have (who is taking her first scheduled nap right now as I write this) has been a life changing little baby. Not just for us, but for our friends and family as well. She has brought some people closer to God, she has made others realize just how lucky and blessed they are and she has permanently changed the life of every person she has come in contact with. No matter what the past holds or what the future may hold, I take so much solace in knowing just how incredibly blessed we are to have her in our lives. I don't think that a year ago today I would have even begin to fathom just how much love one person can have for their child. 37 weeks of pregnancy gave us a miracle baby (a miracle baby who doesn't like to nap)!

Pictures from 12, 18, 24, 30 and 36 weeks!

Animal Print Friday

What do you do when the weather is dreary?

Wear animal prints of course!

I love playing dress up with Elle. This was actually her second outfit of the day because outfit number 1 was the victim of a major blow out. She has a few animal print outfits so I save those for Fridays! Every Friday Elle gets to spend a very exhausting hour with her occupational therapist, Mrs. Yvonne. She is slowly but surely improving with the bottle. We have exercises that we do with her on a daily basis to help build up her mouth muscles. The goal is to strengthen her mouth muscles so she can hold the pucker position longer and not tire out so quickly. Right now she is still maxing out at about 20 cc with the bottle (she gets 120 cc with every feeding) but she isn't working so hard for those 20 cc. We've also noticed that even though we have increased her feeding amount, she is still getting hungry between feeds. She will take a bottle between feeds better than she will when it is actually time for the feeding. Hey - it's whatever works!! After seeing Mrs. Yvonne - we have a one tired little girl on our hands! She only got to nap for a little bit before it was time to see Dr. W, her cardiologist. Thankfully, Mrs. Yvonne and Dr. W are in the same location so I didn't have to drive downtown to the med center in the horrible rain. After a chest x-ray and taking all her vitals, Dr. W came in and said that it was time to start talking to the surgeons. He is going to be taking our case to the surgeons next week to discuss possible times for surgery. Since she isn't extremely critical yet, I asked if we could hold off until she gets bigger. He told me that holding off is getting close to a very fine line. We don't want her oxygen saturation levels (amount of oxygen in her blood) to get so low that it is an emergency to get her to the operating room but we do want her to be as big as possible. He will be calling up next week to tell us what the surgeons say - his feeling is that surgery will be September or October. Let's pray for God's perfect timing and that whatever the surgeons decide will be best for Elle. Yesterday was also a big day because we found out that Elle's hearing aids are in! The countdown is on for August 11 when we will take her for her fitting. I am so excited to see her reaction to being able to hear what is going on around her! In other news...I may or may not be adding something to my already extensive wardrobe. I found out on Thursday that I fractured my right foot (doing what - I have no idea). I've been in pain for about 2 weeks and Wednesday night was the breaking point. I was about 2 seconds away from going to the emergency room - so I broke down and made an appointment to see my doctor. She sent me for an x-ray and 30 minutes later I was looking at my x-ray with the tech pointing out the fracture. So...depending on how this weekend goes and how much pain I am in come Monday - I might be wearing a walking boot. The fracture isn't in a place where a cast is an option - so the boot is the only way to go. It is super painful but my doctor gave me some really strong anti inflammatory drugs (which also means pumping and dumping for the next 5 days...what a waste). The meds seem to be helping (even though the side effects are pretty gnarly) and if I'm not in too much pain on Monday - we will just let my foot heal on its own. Having a fractured foot definitely makes caring for an infant a little more difficult. Yesterday loading her and all her stuff into the car in the middle of a horrible rain storm was a wee bit interesting. By the time I was finished, I was soaked - but she (and all her goods) were relatively dry. Oh the life of a new mom - no two days are the same and you learn something new everyday ( like maybe it's time to clean out the garage and start parking in there)!!!