A Long Overdue Update

It's been a month since I've posted any sort of real update...the problem is there just isn't enough hours in the day. Everything from before still needs to get done, plus I lose 3-4 hours between driving and Elly's visits, and another 3 or so hours is lost each day to pumping. By the end of the day I'm just exhausted, it's funny I thought I was tired before!

So here's the scoop...Elly is officially 2 months now. She hit 3 lbs on Christmas Eve and is 3 lbs 6 oz to date! It's amazing to see really! A 2 pound gain over 2 months on a regular person is not noticeable, but on such a small one it is so noticeable! She has been moved to a simple nasal canelia (spelling?) for her breathing. This has made holding her so much easier and nicer. It also means she doesn't have to wear all the head gear and has been able to wear some cute hats that were given to her. She has currently had her O's in the 20's between 21 & 25 depending on the day. This is GREAT progress, because it has been as high as 100 in the past! Also the normal air that we breathe is at 20, so she is really not getting too much assistance. She has had some more alert times lately, and we've been able to get a good look at her eyes. They are a beautiful deep blue. I still haven't been able to capture a great picture of them though because she opens them wide when it is dim, but then the pictures don't come out well because of lighting. If we turn on the lights for better pictures she squints up, and usually closes her eyes. We have been able to help give her a bath, which was fun. They filled her "tub" (those hospital basins they give you to throw up in) with warm water and a few drops of soap and used one of the oxygen tubes to make it bubble up, it was like a baby spa. I swear she was grinning in there with that ahhh look on her face. On the 23rd Santa visited the NICU which was fun. On Christmas we took her picture in her stocking, yes she fit with plenty of room to spare. Also on Christmas she got her first hold from someone other than me or Dave, they let my Mom hold her. Mom says that was the best Christmas gift. And that in a nutshell is the Elly news.

The other 3 have been keeping me busy, especially with the winter break and Jimmy being home from school. We've done projects, and played games, and kept up with things around the house. We have really wanted to do some play dates with friends, but Timmy has a cold and so we are steering clear of others for the time being. Due to the cold he has also been extra clingy which has made regular tasks difficult and drawn out. I think the best project so far has been the re purposing of their Halloween pumpkin patch pumpkins. They had been playing with them out front and stacked the up and called it frosty...so we made their imagination reality by painting and accessorizing the pumpkins...all from things we had around the house...

Mom, Dad, Laura, and Doug came here for Christmas and we really enjoyed their visit! The kids got their traditional Christmas Eve gift of new PJ's to wear...The "BIG" present this year was sea world passes for everyone. It made shopping real easy on us! We gave it to them early since Dave had the 2 days before Christmas off. They were definitely surprised! My favorite part is that it's a gift they can use year round without adding extra "stuff" around the house. We went for a few hours on the 23rd, and 24th. We saw the Christmas shows, and rode a few rides. Timmy loved the log ride and would of loved to do that all day. My fave was Christmas on Sesame street show. It took me back, I love Sesame street! And the costumes were soo good! I really just wanted to run up and hug cookie monster! I'm such a kid!

Before Mom and Dad left we went downtown one evening for dinner at one of Dad's fave spots, Schilo's Deli. It was yummy, and lots of fun! The kids loved the homemade root beer!

Over all we have had a busy, but good month. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and wish you all a Happy New Year!

Elf Kids

Just a quick photo of my kids turned Elf thanks to Jill and some photo software. Check out those ears!!! Gave us all a laugh! Updates and pictures of Elly coming soon...just too tired tonight!

Addy at 5

Update

I can't believe so much time has gone by, Elly was one month on Friday! It seems the month went by fast, although the days seemed very long. Elly is doing well, she is currently up to 1lb 15oz, and is off the ventilator. The best part of her being off the ventilator is that she can make noise now. With the tubes how they have been, her vocal chords have been "temporarily paralyzed" but now that the tube is gone...we can hear her. She isn't loud yet, but even the little squeeks are nice. Oh and she has the cutest little sneeze ever! It makes me laugh. We have been able to start holding her, which has been nice. Although holding her, isn't what I tradtionally think of as holding a baby. You get positioned in a chair, then a RN and a RT work together to get her on your chest, then they tape all her tubes and wires in place, then they wrap you and her in a warm blanket, then you hold very still for the next 1-3 hours. The length of the hold depends on how she is adjusting to the change. She is so small it's hard to see her on you, so they give you a hand held mirror to use to see her. I got this video while she was awake during a hands on time. I love looking in her little eyes, although she is asleep most of the time, so I don't get to do it very often. The kids love this video because at the end she does a spastic strech, and they think she is waving to them. They are so excited to meet her. Today while we were decortating the Christmas tree, they were concerned she wouldn't have a tree. So we pulled out a little tree and they decorated it for her, it is now on the counter by her bedside. It will be nice when they finally get to meet her, only approximately 10 more weeks to go...it seems so LONG!

Elly's Eyes

When Elly was born her eyes were still fused, which the doctors said was normal. So over the past 3 weeks, we've been asking the nurses everyday if they had opened yet. Most responses have been a no, there have been 2 maybes, but nothing definite. We have been there when she is awake, and she moves around and makes facial expressions, but still no eyes open. Well today when I went to see her (Thanks Jerusha & Patrick for keeping the other 2) her nurse rushed up to me and said they were open! Of course the time I was there today was sleep time, so I still haven't seen them, but I will soon! In the meantime I've got this picture, thanks to an awesome nurse! She snapped it on her phone this morning while Elly was awake so she could show us.

New Elly Pictures

Last night Dave & I were able to go visit Elly together (Thanks Emily & Sam!!!) and it was really nice. We hadn't been in there together in about a week. While we were there her RT (respiratory therapist) for the night asked if we had done the wedding ring pictures yet. We hadn't even thought of it, so she got us set up. Here is the result. Pretty cool idea I think. I never thought of my fingers as being BIG but seeing my girl wear my ring as a loose bracelet puts a whole new perspective on things. Crazy stuff!!!

Birthdays...

Last week we celebrated lots of Birthdays. We had a small family thing on Sunday the 1st celebrating Papa Jim's, Aunt Laura, Mine, and Addy's birthday. Lots of family fun! Nana & Papa got Addy a Cinderella cake and Dad made a Chocolate Sheet cake for the rest of us. It was all yummy, and we had cake all week long.

Thursday the 5th was my actual birthday, and Dave came home and surprised me with Roses, and a chocolate cake. YUMMY! Then some friends came over to babysit so we could go see Elly together. It was really great because we got to be there during her hands on time, and got some great pictures.

Saturday the 7th we celebrated Addy's birthday. The one thing she had been asking for all year had been a friend party with "LOTS of girls and a Pinata". So last minute thrown together we made it happen. Thanks to all our friends who helped out, and who came. We appreciate you all!

Song

This is my new favorite song, of course it makes me cry every time I hear it...but I love it! Thanks for finding it Mom & Dad! Click the link below and choose song 15, Elliana's Song.
http://www.rhapsody.com/watermark/tracks.html

Oh and blogger never let me video go through, maybe it was too long...but anyone on facebook can view it there on my profile.

Elliana Faith

Introducing:
Elliana "Elly" Faith
Born October 27, 2009
(Due February 6, 2010)
1 pound 6 ounces

12 & 3/4 inches

3:07 pm

Our very little girl came as a quite a surprise Tuesday afternoon as I was just going in for a rountine OB check up. Her heart rate was low, and so I was sent to labor & delivery. At the time I thought it was just for monitoring and not concerned. But within a few minutes I was being prepped for an emergency c-section. Her heart rate was having severe drops, and I was told whatever was going on inside, was not good, and that she stood a better chance on the outside. Once in the OR they got to her, and we found out what was causing her distress. She had the cord wrapped around her neck 4 times tightlty. We were told that if she hadn't been taken then, that she probably wouldn't have made it much longer with the cord how it was. So we consider it a miracle, and blessing in disguise that all events lined up as they did. Of course like any pregnancy we wish she could have made it full and to term to grow and develop, but are just grateful at this point that she is here and recieving the best care possible. She is what the doctors refer to as a micro-premie. Things are positive at this point and she is doing very well. We have heard many success stories of babies that have been born at this stage and are very comforted by this. The doctors have warned us there will be good days and bad days, but so far we have had more good than bad. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all our family and friends. We are so thankful that we have been able to have family members come and be with the other kids at the house and keep things as normal as possible for them. We are truly blessed to have each of you in our lives. We have felt the love, support, and prayers for our family over the past 6 days. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.




Here's one more picture to show perspective...that is Dave's Aggie ring on her arm.


I've been trying to put a video clip, but I'm having blogger issues. Will try again tomorrow.

Again...

It seems these blog posts are falling on my priority list, because now almost 3 weeks have gone by...I guess it's mostly me, when I get a free 5 minutes these days I'm quick to hit the bed or couch instead of hopping on the computer to update things. This preggo thing is wearing me out, and I'm only past 25 weeks...so much more to go! Oh well, it will be worth it! So enough about me, here's what we've been up to...

First off, we have been having some really nice weather. Of course, it has been unpredictable and will go from nice have your windows open to hurry shut everything and the AC is crankin all within 24 hours. But hey that's Texas for you. We have taken advantage of the cool days, and spent a lot more time in our back yard. The kids have probably played on the swingset and tramp more these past 3 weeks than all summer combined! One day they decided to have jumping contest and see who could jump the most, and Jimmy even "kept score" Sorry this picture is blurry but is says James 230, Addy 475, and Timmy 83. Jimmy went first and thought he had it in the bag, so when he started to feel a bit worn stopped. He was definately shocked when Addy not only beat him but doubled him! She was determined that day! Timmy of course just wanted to be like them and joined in.

Once again we've been busy with soccer, practice every Thursday and games every other Saturday. We had games on the 10th, and again today on the 24th. Today was really nice weather and we enjoyed being out there. I haven't downloaded today's pictures yet, but here are a few from the 10th of my little soccer stars...
Here's Timmy (on the right) jumping up in the air, he was so excited he kicked the game ball, you can see it right behind the other kid.
Here's Addy chasing after the game ball...

Here's Jimmy running with the game ball...
Jimmy is doing really well in school, he's actually just been recommended for the GT program. I didn't even know they had it so young. Anyways, he's supposed to be tested next month to see if he'll go into the program. He is doing really well, and has been happy to report every Friday that he got a 100 on his spelling test. Jimmy (& Dave) have still been going strong with the community cub scout troop, with a meeting/activity once a week. They also spent most of Saturday the 17th in front of Sam's selling popcorn (the boy scout fundraiser). They seem to really be enjoying themselves and making new friends.

Addy has still been doing preschool lessons and enjoying them. She starts her drama class this coming Friday, so we will see what she thinks of that. She has also been very interested in wanting to learn how to play "Mary had a little lamb" on the piano. So we've set things up with a friend to try out piano lessons starting this coming week too! She of course is thrilled! She has also been into "trying" to read and spell. Her favorite show right now is word world and she loves to sound words out "bit by bit" just like the song on word world. This week she found these goofy fake nails in the Halloween box and wanted to give them a try...they didn't even last 5 minutes. But hey she had fun!

Timmy has been a busy body! He went to his first friend birthday party and thought that was FUN! He got pirate stuff and played pirate all weekend with all of us. He made Dave wear the hat cause it was a bit big for him... he also carried around his pirate box of treasure all weekend.
He has also been interested in using the potty here lately, as you can see he's sporting underwear in the one picture. That has been an adventure, but he's getting better each day. It's a lot of energy on my part, but I keep reminding myself once he's done we'll save on pull-ups!

As with the other 2 kids he gave up naps in the early 2's but every once in awhile when he has a busy day I'll find him crashed like this, and I take a moment to enjoy the calm.

Since the last post I've taken Timmy & Addy to 3 very FUN playgroups.

The first was a visit to a local firestation to meet the firemen and check out the trucks. They really enjoyed this one! I think the best part was getting to hear a call come in and seeing the firemen load up and drive away on the truck with lights and siren going. Timmy was being shy and wouldn't get in the group picture. But apparently he was listening to what the firemen said. Since then any time we have heard or seen a fire truck he gets all excited and in his choppy 2 year old speech says, "fireman help people! keep them safe! no get hurt!" It's pretty cute, if I do say so.Following the fire station we went to a friends house nearby to make fire hats.

The next week was a Halloween party at a park with trick or treating, story time, craft, and face painting! They both loved this! Addy couldn't make up her mind on what she wanted to be...it started as a simple ballerina, then it was a fairy ballerina, then it was a fairy ballerina princess, then she said a fairy ballerina princess cat... at that I had to draw the line no cat. So here she is as a fairy ballerina princess... Timmy didn't really seem to care what he was, and since we have a ton of dress up clothes there were options. We went with pirate since it was a hot day.
he had a hat, but didn't really keep it on...They both really got a kick out of the face painting. Addy got a fairy face, and Timmy got a spider on his hand. He became rather attached to it too. When he took a bath later that day he cried for half an hour that his spider was gone. I guess he thought it was gonna stick around. I tried explaining the whole soap and water thing but it wasn't calming him down any.

This week's playgroup actually got cancelled but I took them anyways. It was a story time at a local pumpkin patch. They had lots of fun, there was singing, and a story, and tons of pumpkins! They definately weren't camera shy this day! I think they touched or sat on every pumpkin there, and all along the way said cheese, take our picture!

And that has been the last 3 weeks in a nut shell!