Cardiology Visit

We took Ellie into Cardiology on Tuesday. She is looking good from a heart standpoint. The cardiologist took her off 1 medication, so now we're down to only 3. Yay! We're still working on gaining a little more weight and eating orally, but our little one is doing very well overall. With all the flu stuff going around, the cardiologist said to keep Ellie away from crowds. We'll be sticking close to home until Spring. I guess I'll spend my winter noticing everything in my home that needs cleaning and then ignoring the task list to go play with the baby! We'd love healthy visitors though!

She's Mobile!!!

Ellie started crawling this week. At first, she'd tire after going about 2 feet or so. She'd lay her head down to regroup for a minute and then keep at it. I could keep up with that. Today, she is all over the place. It looks like it's back to regularly mopping the kitchen floor for me. Sigh.... The good news is that she is only on her feeding pump for 50 minutes at a time (with just over 2 hours off) so I don't have to move her pump around all day as she reaches the end of her leash. Yay!

This dog is the reason our little one is all over. If you look closely in the picture, Rosie is jumping to get away from the latest Ellie attack. Ellie laughs and then follows the dog some more. Then, the process begins again. Rosie gets exercise (or maybe some type of baby-induced psychosis), and Ellie is amused for a long time.

Hear, Hear?

Ok, so I am waaaay behind in this blogging thing. We found out a couple of weeks ago that Ellie can't hear in her right ear. She doesn't have an ear infection or fluid in her ear, so we're not sure what's going on. We'll follow up in a month or so and see what happens. I get frustrated sometimes with all the things that seem to go wrong for her. Heart babies should not have all these little extra things to deal with! Then, I'm reminded of how many "big things" have gone right for her. She's happy and, most importantly, alive!

On a different note, we thought we needed a break so we packed up the kiddos and headed for Moab this past weekend. I had never been to Arches or Goblin Valley. The scenery was breathtaking! But, when you need a break, it's not a good idea to take the things you needed a break from with you (and to sleep in the same room with them)! We had fun anyway! I really do have great kiddos.

My husband paused to think about what he wanted for dinner (fast food again?). Our oldest called this rock formation at Goblin Valley "The Hamburger."
In almost every picture, our son was at least 5 feet off the ground--often more.

Someone had enough of hiking.

Goblin Valley was like something out of a science fiction movie. Way cool! My husband informed me that part of Galaxy Quest was filmed here.

Our family at Delicate Arch. Was it worth the 3 miles of whining? Yes!!!

End of Summer

We went camping in a nearby canyon the weekend before school started to end the summer off right. Ellie loved being outside! I took her to my mom's at night because the higher altitude was hard on her little heart and she needed a break. The day this photo was taken, I had taken her to a new GI doctor. Someone upstairs was mindful of us because her appointment scheduled for over 2 months out got rescheduled for the Friday we were camping. We couldn't believe that she could get in so soon! It turns out that the doctor's son was also born with a heart defect so she knows what works for these little ones. She put Ellie on a new medication and switched her to a normal formula (she had been getting a pre-digested, hypoallergenic formula). The retching has almost disappeared and Ellie is happier than ever! We're moving forward finally!!!

Getting ready for bed!

It got really cold at night.

Some of our gang trying to stay still long enough to get a picture.

First day of Middle School--yikes!!!

What is it with 5th grade boys and their faces?

My second grader. Our school had to add portables to accomodate the switch to a traditional school year (yay!!!). She is sooo excited to be in one of the portables.

Whoopsie!

I gave Ellie a bath yesterday and then laid her in her crib while I grabbed something really quick. When I walked back in to her room, she seemed very pleased with herself. It took me a minute to register that she was happily waving her g-tube in her hand! Yep, she had pulled it out of her stomach! After I regrouped from my little panic attack, I put in a new "button." It turns out the old one had a leak in the balloon that keeps it in place in her stomach. I'm hoping Ellie finds better toys to play with in the future.

First Teeth!

Our other kids didn't get teeth until 9+ months. This girl is already trying to out do her siblings.

Catch Up!

So... surprise, surprise! Our little one can sit by herself! We tried sitting her up one night to see what would happen and she just stayed upright! She didn't last very long, but she can do it! We've been so used to her being weak that it didn't occur to us to try sooner. Ellie also started rolling over this past week. She likes to roll across the room, but she reaches a certain point and her feeding tube gets pulled tight and she has to stop. Who knew that the pump would also double as a leash! We have to get her off this pump soon because it is getting in her way. It still will be some time though. She continues to retch a few times a day and the surgery has loosened enough that she can now throw up. We're not making any progress with feeding, but this girl is sure getting stronger!

Everyone loves little sister!

Our family on the Conference Center roof. There is actually a meadow on top of the building. Cool!

Out and about with friends from Oregon. We loved having them with us for a week!

We toured Temple Square, took 10 kids out to eat, went to the Oquirrh Mountain LDS temple open house (the cookies afterwards were great!), hiked, and just enjoyed our time together.

Our good friends from Chicago also came for a night.

My baby is old enough to leave me for 4 days to go to Girl's Camp! She had a blast!