10 Pounds 11 Ounces

Ella is now 10 pounds 11 ounces and growing by leaps and bounds every day. As the pictures show she is quite a personality now (of course, we always knew that even at one pound in an incubator) and keeps us on our toes. She can roll over now but is not quite sitting up by herself ....almost. She wants to stand up all the time and is very strong, which surprises everyone because of her size. Our big girl will actually turn 1 year old in September which seems unreal to us and our time in the NICU seems so long ago.

Everyday when I hold Ella in my arms I thank God for the miracle He gave us.

Big Girl

Our big girl is now 9 pounds 12 ounces (we go back for a check-up next week and hopefully she will be 10 pounds) and ready to get into everything. Her favorite thing now is grabbing glasses, pulling hair, and checking out jewelry. We went to visit her cousins in Oklahoma and they enjoyed entertaining her and taught her to grab Ben's glasses.

On Sunday, I sang a solo at our church and they showed pictures of Ella in the background. I don't think there were any dry eyes in the house especially after Aaron walked her onto the stage at the end of the song. Our miracle girl is a testimony to the power of prayer.

Success

Ella's surgery went off without a hitch! Praise the Lord! The anesthesialogist was amazed that she didn't have any major problems, in fact he asked me a number of times if she had any heart conditions or such. Our little miracle tends to scare new doctors because of her size and things she has gone through, but she always surprises them.

They did find a piece of the broviac IV still in her chest and it was surrounded by "goo" (I'm quoting the surgeon) which meant it was working on another infection. Once again, she surprised them with the fact that she had no fever or other symptoms of infection - She is a MIRACLE!! She is once again thriving at home and if I could figure out how to get her to take a nap in her bed during the day, life would be perfect. Thank you for all the prayers and kind words.

More pictures to come.

8 Pounds 12 ounces

Our Ella is now 8 pounds 12 ounces and continuing to thrive at home. We went to visit San Antonio 2 weeks ago, because Ella had a sore on her broviac site that needed to be lanced and the surgeon thought that there might be a cuff left and this is causing the infection and sores. We go back to see the surgeon this week and they will do surgery to see if something is still there.

Our girl is a wonder and is always laughing and looking at the world. Everyone is surprised at how aware she is since she is sooo small. She loves standing up and has started reaching for things - sunglasses beware : )

Pray for her surgery.

7 Pounds 12 ounces

Our big girl is now 7 pounds 12 ounces...Aaron lost the bet, : ) he was hoping for 10 pounds (we are close!). Ella has a lot of personality now and every day we see more smiles and hear her stories...she loves to talk, but if you know me then you understand the apple didn't fall far from the tree...hahaha. The pics are just an example of her personality...first piano lesson with gram, and falling asleep with her penquin under her arm.

We are looking forward to taking her out into the world and meeting all the people who have held her up in prayer the past 7 months. September 17th (Ella's birthday) seems so long ago, when you look at how far she has come in that time.

Our prayers and thoughts go out to the Capers family who lost their dear mom & wife, Gayla. She was a follower of our blog and left many uplifting, encouraging words during our time at the NICU. She was an amazing woman who will be missed. Love to all the family from Ella, Christy, and Aaron

Happy Easter

Here are some pics of our big girl on her first Easter. She is very aware of things around her now and loves to look at her toys. She didn't get to go to church on Easter, because she is still living in a bubble, but Mom and Dad watched the service via computer.

We go see one of her doctors this week so I should have an updated weight (we're placing bets on what it might be). Overall, she is doing great...eating well and growing like a weed...: ) in fact, she has graduated from preemie clothes into newborn and won't stay there long...yipee!!

Reading

Aaron has started reading to Ella and she loves it, but at this point it's all about the tone of voice and not the content, as you can see from the engineering magazine. (we're starting her early...hehehe)

Everything is great, our big girl is growing (don't have an updated weight because we haven't seen the doc since the last time - which is a good thing) and showing off her personality. Our goal for the last two weeks is to get her to take naps in her bed instead of someone's arms because unfortunately, the NICU creates some bad habits. When it got to the point in the hospital where we could hold her whenever we wanted we just held her all the time and now we are retraining. I am not complaining because she is healthy and home, so all the other stuff is just that stuff and will be taken care of in time.

Our time in the NICU is starting to become a memory instead of thoughts fresh in my mind and I have to make an effort to remember all the things that happen while we were there. I admit that I didn't think this day would come when the NICU days would fade.

Ella seems to be adjusting well to being at home, but I am looking forward to taking her out and about. We are still keeping her housebound just to be on the safe side because of flu and RSV season. Once school is over and it is warmer outside we plan on carting her around and showing her the world, but until then she is still our little girl in a house bubble. : )