4 Month Check Up

Isabella turned four months on August 23. I have been doing her monthly pictures with the stickers since one month, but since we were still in the hospital I was not able to do that last month. The thought crossed my mind before we left for her surgery on August 2nd that I should bring the four month sticker just in case. I told myself there was no way we will be down there 20 days! Little did I know... :) Here is the picture of her on her 4 month birthday in the hospital - don't judge... I did the best I could! ;)

She is asleep in the picture...She started sleeping with her eyes open in the hospital -  the nurses told me a lot of babies do this! She is not doing it anymore now that we are home. Wonder if it had to do with the medications?

She finally had her four month well visit yesterday and she looks great! She gained 1lb in 15 days!!! She is now 12lbs 2oz and 231/2 inches which is 25% for both on the typical growth chart! I am so happy that she is growing so well. I also stopped adding extra calories to her formula! I think this is a good sign that she is gaining weight without the extra calories.. it means her heart is not working as hard and burning as many calories as it was before surgery. She had to get two shots yesterday and cried for about 5 seconds. I think it hurt me more than it hurt her! The Dr. was very pleased with Isabella's progress and we do not have to go back until her 6 month check up. It is so nice to have a break from all of these Dr. appointments!

After her check up we rushed to the therapy clinic for Isabella's OT session. She did really well considering she just had shots and we woke her up from a nap in the car seat. I was so happy to be back at the clinic! I know sometimes I wish the therapists would come to the house so I wouldn't have to be up there all the time, but I did miss it. I love seeing all of the kids, meeting other parents, and chatting with the therapists. I also love watching Isabella grow and learn new things! We were there so much before her surgery I guess it just feels like we are finally getting back into our normal routine - and therapy was part of our normal routine before surgery.

I hope everyone is having a good week! Tomorrow is Friday - Woohoo! 

Saturday

I have a list of things I could be doing right now, but I would rather sit on the couch, watch junk TV, and post some new pictures on my blog. Both kiddos are sleeping, James it catching up on homework and now would be a perfect time to start the five loads of laundry that have been sorted on our bathroom floor for three days, or write the ten thank you cards I have been meaning to get to for weeks, or clean out the diaper bag that has become a mobile junk drawer. Yes, I could very well get up and be productive, but I can't seem to peel myself away from the Beverly Hills Nannies Reunion. Tonight I will procrastinate. Tomorrow I will regret. Now, how did I find myself here on the couch? Let's go back to this morning when my busy day started with a 6:30am bottle call from a certain little person who happens to sleep late every day we have to be somewhere but chooses Saturday to wake up early - that's how it goes right? After I fed Isabella I went for a quick run. It was actually COLD outside this morning. I loved it! We had two birthday parties to go to today, so after another bottle call it was time to get everyone ready to go! The first birthday party was for Max at Boingo Bounce. Xander was SO excited. He was running around the house all morning yelling, "YAY, I GO TO BOINGY BOUNCE!!!"

Happy Birthday Max! 

I love cupcake pictures! 

After a short nap playtime in the crib, we were off to the next party. This party was for Lilly and Reid at Farmland Adventures. We had so much fun! 

I love my two boys!

Perfect Fall Picture :)

This is her  signature "bottle call" - she starts trying to eat her lips! So funny. She was so good today! 

Pig Races

This is as good as its going to get! 

We didn't get any pictures of the birthday kids... it was just so spread out that we hardly got to see them at all. Unfortunately we had to make an early exit because sister had a major diaper blowout, and me being the awesome Mom I am did not have any extra clothes and only 3 wipes!!! What a mess. 

We had a fun busy day and I am so thankful for all of our sweet friends! After we got home, had dinner, washed up, and put the kids to bed I was done. Once I started the nanny show I was really done. Oh well, that stuff will get done... eventually. I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I am looking forward to going to church tomorrow. I have not been since we were on quarantine before Isabella's surgery!! Happy Saturday!!

Isabella Update!

We have FINALLY settled back in and we are getting back into our normal routine. Isabella is sleeping through the night again (10pm-7am). After a lot of trial and error she is now taking all of her bottles without throwing up! We stopped the methadone about 5 days ago, but she started showing signs of withdrawal and we had to start it back up again for a couple of days, yesterday was the last day. It takes 1-2 days to get completely out of her system, so we will see how she is tomorrow! in my last post I mentioned that Isabella would be going to the eye doctor to check out the shaking of her eyeballs. The doctor confirmed the nystagmus, diagnosed her with strabismus, and discovered a coloboma in her right optic nerve. Her left eye is perfect, so we will be working with her right eye. We still aren't sure how all of this will effect her vision but at least we now know what we are working with. The nystagmus has already improved significantly since I first noticed it. The only thing we can do for now is to patch her left to try and strengthen the right eye. She only has to wear a patch 2 hours a day and it does not seem to bother her. The strabismus (eye turning in) can be fixed if necessary, and there is nothing we can do for the coloboma. All of this news was kind of difficult to hear because I feel like she has gone through enough already and I do not want to have anything else for her to worry about. I am trusting in the Lord and praying for healing so that she will not need surgery in her right eye.

Now, on to some GOOD NEWS! Isabella had her check up with the Cardiologist today and everything looks GREAT! He was very pleased with everything he saw and he cut her medications down from 11 to 6!! We will go back in three months for another check up and an echo. I am PRAISING GOD because this is wonderful news. She can now go out in "public" - Walmart here we come! HA ;) She can now do tummy time so we can really start working with her to build her strength back up. The Dr. told me that any time a child goes through heart surgery it sets them back 6weeks-2months developmentally. I can already see that Isabella has lost a great deal of muscle tone and she is going to have to work so hard to build it back up. Last night she rolled over in her crib and the Angel Care monitor went off (which means there was no movement detected for 15 seconds) so I ran upstairs and her face was smushed in mattress and she was sleeping hard. I rolled her back over and she was fine, but it is so scary because she did not have the strength to clear her airway. Starting next week we will have 2 hours of PT, 2 hours of OT, and 1 hour of speech. I would not be surprised if the PT requested another session because of how much work we have to do. We shall see!

Going in for my first Heart Check up! 

Sleeping during her EKG :) So Sweet! 

I am so thankful that our baby girl is doing so well! Thank you for continuing to check up on her and for praying! I know God hears our prayers - he healed our sweet girl!