Grace and the Dentist

Wow, how do I start. Well last August, being very pregnant, I took Grace to a pediatric dentist. To make a long story short... They ruined the whole dentist experience for her and we will never go back there. If you live locally I will tell you do NOT go there. So today, we braved a new dentist office. She is so scarred that after an hour, we came home without getting our teeth cleaned. This pediatric dentist was much calmer with her today but she still freaked out. It seems that she is scared of the rotating brush they use to polish your teeth. Grace who held a caterpillar yesterday, jumps in the pool and swims halfway across it, who is my diva on stage is scared of the dentist. So it seems that we will continue to have appointments with the dentist until she can get used to the idea of someone going in her mouth. Tom has an appointment in about a week and I am going to send her to see the dentist clean Daddy's teeth. She seems to have a lot of the same anxieties that he does - dentists, weather, germs. I will see if I can get an appointment too. Until May 22 - the next time she goes to the dentist, she has to work on not sucking her thumb(again - thank you heart surgery) and getting used to mommy using the rotating toothbrush.... If y'all have any hints PLEASE let me know.

Lily at 7 months

Here are her stats to go along with her pictures below. She is weighing in last week at 16 pounds 11 ounces - probably closer to 17 pounds now. She eats very heartily, we can't seem to keep that belly full. She is sleeping much better at night, now that I don't have to wake her for her meds. She usually falls asleep around 10 and sleeps until almost 8. When we went to the Cardiologist on the 15th he thought that I was crazy for being so regimented on the medicine... Um hello the hospital told us every 8 hours as the doctor there prescribed. He said to relax, that it was possible that she didn't even need it anymore. Good thing since I forgot to give her a dose yesterday afternoon. She should be completely off of it by July. As for the Prevacid... I don't know, we still have good low spit days and some vomit days - the last was when we introduced peaches. She only has two more first foods to try - carrots and prunes (yuck to both). We are hoping to move to the less expensive powder formula... we'll see how that goes. She loves, loves, loves her exersaucer and bouncing herself on your legs. We are looking for a johnny jump up this weekend. She still loves her sister best of all. The first picture from yesterday is the only one she is truly smiling and that is at Grace. We are still working on the nap thing .... maybe we will get a routine one day. She is definitely a social butterfly and has enjoyed her many outings in the last month. We are looking forward to the beach this summer, Grandma Terry's house this summer and Disney for her birthday in September. Her heart stats were all so good including the holter monitor she wore a month ago that she doesn't have to go back to the cardiologist until AUGUST! For those of you who know stats - heart rate averages 130 beats a minute, oxygen level 100%, BP 92 and she is steadily growing they didn't even do a echo. I still have to count heart rate, but I feel better knowing that when she was wearing the monitor the highest reading was 151 beats a minute and I know she was screaming at that point. So all is good here - back to eating and growing with some sleeping interspersed in there.

7 months

Just a few quick pics. I will update with info when I have two hands.

Happy Easter

A few pics from our egg hunt with Taylor. More to come, when Aunt Anna forwards some.

Spring Break

This is what happens to a five year old who is stuck at home without any friends to play with, she goes crazy.

6 months old

Sorry this post is a little late. We have been busy - 6 month checkup with shots(fun), trying to eat off the spoon with success, nap with some kind of schedule (which we are already off of), sign up for swim team for Grace, easter egg stuff, work stuff, leaving wallets in inappropriate places(mom's car) and general running around. I have also planned a trip to my happy place, Disney World! So anyway here are some pictures of the big 6 month old and some of Grace in our month since being home from surgery. Lily is doing great working on getting back on track with sitting up, tummy time and building up those chest muscles again. Mommy is working on the schedule thing, with meds, sleep and eating thrown in it gets a little complicated from time to time - I wasn't so stringent with Grace, but Lily seems to really thrive on a strict schedule. Grace is being a great big sister and getting ready for Kindergarten - registration comes up this week. She is so ready, I am working getting myself ready for the big girl to head off to school.

One Month

It has been one month since we sat at Egleston for 7 hours on our Pre-op visit. Thinking back to how scared we were, it is amazing to think it has been that long. Where did all that time go? I am going to have to print out all the blogs, and e-mails so that I can account for the time that we were in the hospital. I found myself actually longing for the sleep rooms at the hospital the other night when Lily woke me up at 4 am. See there I didn't have to get up for a crying baby. The wonderful nurses took care of Lily 24 hours a day and Grace was being watched(spoiled) by her Grandma Terry. It is amazing how far we have come. Lily gets 6 medicines a day not including Tylenol or mylecon. I am supposed to listen to her heartbeat and count for a minute at least 4 times a day. Not to mention we still have acid reflux, she vomited yesterday, and I have started back to work. Lily's scars are healing, most of the scabs are gone and the bruises are turning yellow. She wore a holter monitor for 24 hours this week to record her heart rhythm. As for "normal" baby things -

she likes to plaly with her tongue - either holding it in her fingers or raspberrying with spit up in her mouth (gross),

we still have to cradle hold her and scoop to pick her up to avoid chest pain,

she wants to see everything that is going on - especially what Grace is up to,

she likes to watch everyone eat - real food here we come!

she "talks" - which if you call us on the phone consists of grunting, growling and making as much noise as possible no cute little coos or gurgles.

Soon we will hit that 6 month mark. Hopefully she will make it into the crib to sleep, eat baby food, get all her immunizations, be Christened, have formal pictures taken, not cry for Grandma Suzanne the babysitter, and Grow, grow, grow. She is so happy and fantastically healthy and LOVES her big sister. Not sure how long the loving big sister will put up with her adoring little sister but for now they are great together. Lily usually gets the giggles while watching her sister be a goofball. And as soon as Grace is in bed Lily falls asleep. Mommy and daddy are boring.So while we wait for things to return to "normal" we will hangin there with my new BFF Prozac!