The New Walker

A big thank you to Papa and Nana Young for blessing Lizzie (and us too really) with a walker/jumper for Christmas. Lizzie greatly enjoys playing in it and we enjoy the hands free time it allows us while she has a way to play safely on her own. These two pictures are from Christmas morning.










And we are also thankful for it as it allows for really cute pictures like this one. (She was happily playing and then, all of a sudden, got very quiet. After a little bit of quiet, I turned and saw this. I had to take a picture.)

Our Christmas Snow Angel

Here is our 6 month old Lizzie girl sporting the adorable "travel bag" that her Uncle Bubba and Aunt Karen bought for her for Christmas. Isn't it just too cute! Thanks guys!!!

In other news:
We had her 6 month check-up today.
She is 14 lbs. 15 oz. and 24 3/4 inches, which is great...although a bit short for her age, but since I am 5'2" we are not too worried! (:-)

Lizzie's first email

Just got an email from Steph. Here's a quote:

lizzie says:

uhjg fg tfc
55555555555555nmjjtf vvjutfszfcd0ka00
s-o0
=0c 8kre rgt 4tvh 4c
oicitttttttttttttttttttttttttt]][yyj9i9789wxdedilfddff0o
(she is helping me to type :-))

This kid is high-tech.

Tradition!

You are about to read first hand of a tradition that has been going on in our family for years and years. A certain someone in my family takes great joy in the giving of gifts to young children. But not just any gifts. Gifts that make sounds. Lots of sound. The following letter was received today in a rather large package.

December 8, 2005

Dear Elizabeth,

Welcome to the world and to the family. By now you know it is a beautiful world and a beautiful family and you have been blessed to be a part of both.

As one of your relatives who has loved you from the day you were born, I wanted to be the one to give you a special gift; a silent drum. No kidding, you can bang on it as much as you want and no one else will be able to hear it but you. Your parents will probably say it is noisy but they are just pretending they can hear it. Enjoy your drum, and please reread this letter again when you are ten. It will have an all new meaning then.

Love Always your great Uncle Jesse

What was inside the rather large package? Silent drum, my eye.

Here's a couple of pictures of Elizabeth (and Mommy!) enjoying her new Uncle-Jesse-approved toy.

The most adorable hat ever! (Thanks Mel!)

Our good friend Melissa just started her own business of homemade hats and scarves that she sells at Bazaars as well as to friends, family and basically anyone else interested. Here is Lizzie sporting her new hat!

1st Tree Decorating

Christmas E-Card

New Phase

Elizabeth has entered a shy phase. The folks she is shy around? Men without beards. No joke.

She's fine with me, Jed Brewster, Damian Clarke (all beards). No prob. But Grandpa Young, Nick Young, Greg Brock (no beards): she freaks out, starts crying and doesn't really want anything to do with them. Women, just fine.

She's Growing Up Before Our Eyes

Can you believe that just a few short months ago our little girl was even more little! Look how much she has grown and changed already!!!!!

Rollover Follow Up

Just wanted everybody to know that our little Elizabeth finally rolled over from back to front this evening. Reaching for some of her favorite Linkadoos rings, she finally ended the teetering back and forth on her side by throwing her shoulder over and landing on her tummy. I think she was most entertained by the jubilant reaction she got from Mommy and Daddy.

Our life with teething

Those crazy folks at Disney

What will they think of next?

The week of Halloween my family (mom & dad, sister and her girls, and my brother's wife) went to Disneyland for a week. Originally, Steph, Elizabeth and myself planned on joining them, but when Munchkin was born with the heart troubles, we backed out. But the trip was still on. They went, had a great time, fun times for all.

Well, my mother and sister, being the women that they are, love to shop for Lizzie. Especially in Disneyland. What better place to go shopping for a little newborn?

Well, fast forward to last week. My mom is shipping up some random things to us and includes the gifts for Lizzie that Mom and Sis purchased in the Happiest Place on Earth. Amongst the other clothes and stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear was this:

Cute for a little girl's outfit, right? Right. But it gets better. Way better. Check out the back.

You may now proceed to pick yourself up off the floor and continue your internet surfing.

Day at the Zoo

Today we went with another family to the Oregon Zoo. It was wonderful. Elizabeth got to see her daddy's favoritest animal in all the world. It was their nap time.

Rollover Video

As I promised earlier, I was able get some video of Elizabeth trying to rollover and then finally doing it!

Munchkin rolling over

(this may take a while to load if you're on dial-up... it's a long one)

The Call

Last night at around 6 p.m. we received a phone call from Dr. Liu with the results of Lizzie's most recent ultrasound of her kidneys. Now first off, this is not a normal thing for us to get called by the doctor this late on a Friday night, so already we are surprised. Then, she proceeds to tell me (Steph) that although the results of the test show that the swelling in her left kidney has not gotten worse, it unexpectedly has not gotten better either. Puzzled by these results Dr. Liu sought the wisdom of a different urologist than the previous time (for the first ultrasound a couple of months ago). This urologist (whose name escapes me) specializes in pediatric urology.

He said that to be sure of what is going on we need to have a test performed on Lizzie using a cathetor. He informed Dr. Liu that it could be that Lizzie's body is doing something, that although not normal, is still fairly common, called reflux. Generally fluid travels from the kidneys, down into the bladder and out the body. It is possible that what is occuring in Lizzie is that the fluid is going from the kidneys, down into the bladder, and back up for round two, and eventually out. The problem this presents is possible infection if not treated with antibiotics.

(Aside: from what we have read online on infant reflux, it is a problem of a valve not working properly, that in time could correct itself, or worse case...surgery can be done to fix the valve...sound familiar?).

Anyhow, the cathetor test needs to be done within the next 6-8 months. Dr. Liu being the great pediatrician she is knew that Lizzie will need to go in for a cathetor procedure soon for her heart (we had informed her of that at the previous appointment), so she called up Dr. Shaughnessy to see when we had the procedure scheduled. However, as we posted earlier this month, we haven't had to schedule one yet since Lizzie is doing so well.

Between the two of them they decided that in January when we see Dr. Shaugnessy next we will schedule the cathetor procedure with the cathetor test scheduled directly before it so as to limit the times that Lizzie will be put under, and given antiobotics for heart (since everytime she has a procedure or surgery done she has to have medicine to prevent any infection from moving into her heart, it is standard for all heart patients).

All that to say yet another test on the way, and confirmation that the cathetor procedure is fast approaching. We will let you know more as it comes.

(Also, sorry this is so long winded. Now you know why Allen usually is the one to post on these things.)

The Sub-Sub Club

November appt update

11/3/05 - 24.75 inches long, 12lbs 11 oz.

Elizabeth had another echocardiogram today. She made them earn their money. Even with a little sedative in her, she still squirmed just about the whole time. That's an hour and a half ladies and gents. We have one strong girl.

As for the results of the echocardiogram, things have leveled off since last time. If anything, her velocity levels in her arteries have lessened a bit, but that is probably because they were able to get more accurate readings since she was a little calmer today than last time (what's that tell you about last time?).

(Sidebar: her blood velocity in meters per second measures the amount of blockage, higher the velocity, the more blockage. Imagine your arteries are like PVC pipe. If you put putty around the inside of the tube, there is less space in the pipe itself, so liquid goes thru it faster.)

So, the implications of the results: we wait.

Seriously, that's it. Last time the cardiologist said that if the blockage continued increasing like it was, then Elizabeth would need to have another catheter procedure done before the end of the year. Since our next echocardiogram appointment isn't until early January, me thinks a before-the-end-of-the-year procedure isn't going to happen. :-). Doc still thinks that a catheter procedure will need to be done (no time frame given). With another catheter procedure comes the chance that a small leak discovered in the tricuspid valve could be made a little bigger. That chance and the state of the pulmonary artery blockage equates to a "good possibility" that she will need to have another surgery prior to age 5.

But for now, Elizabeth is stable, growing well and teething. So for now and for her first Christmas, she is a normal baby. Praise be to God for He has given us a good gift in Elizabeth.

Halloween continues

Happy Halloween

We've got rollover

And I'm not talking about cell phones or your 401k.

Yesterday, about 5pm, our little Elizabeth got all growed up and rolled over! She almost did it going from her back to her front, but a silly elbow kept getting in the way. Steph picked her up and put Lizzie on her tummy. With a quick flick of her stomach muscles and there you have it, Lizzie's first roll over. Steph and I shouted, hooted and hollered in excitement, proceeding to scare the living daylights out of our daughter. Munchkin quickly recovered however and simply looked at us with a face that said "What? What's the big deal? You people are weird."

We'll try to capture it on some digital film next time... :-)

Catching everybody up

Alrighty, didn't win the Cutest Baby Contest. Whatta ya gonna do? I guess the winner was cute. :-)

The "winner"

Moving on, Elizabeth had her four month check up today with her regular pediatrician, Dr. Liu. Munchkin is in the 25th percentile on her weight and height, which is fantastic. Dr Liu is very pleased. And apparently Elizabeth has a small head and that's all there is to it. Elizabeth's noggin is in the 5th percentile.

For those keeping score:

10/24/05 - 12 lbs. 9 oz. 23.75 inches long.

Oh! And perhaps the biggest news of this post, Elizabeth is teething! Yes, you read right folks. Our cute little four month old is working on her first official tooth. Down on the bottom gum, smack dab in the middle, there is a tiny pink outline of a tooth wanting to push thru. Right now it's at the point where the pressure it is putting on the gum makes the top of her gum turn the slightest bit white. I would post a picture of it, but you try getting a four month old who is drooling-like-a-fountain, finger-grabbing, and sucking-and-chewing-on-anything-you-put-remotely-close-to-her-face, to keep her mouth open, with tongue in mouth, long enough to snap a picture.

Back to our regularly scheduled program

We Need Your Vote!

We are going to submit a picture of Elizabeth for a local radio station's "Cutest Baby Contest," but we can't come to an agreement on which to submit! We won't say who likes which one, but it's down to these two pictures, each of us having our own preference. Let us know in the comments which one you would send in. We need your vote by tomorrow (Friday, 10/21) by 5:00pm. The contest deadline is 7:00pm, but we want to have a little time to submit it.

So which is it, left or right?

Sweet, sweet slumber

So, we got On Becoming Babywise from the library this week. A gal from church highly recommended it. After one full day of it, we're fans too. Why?

Elizabeth got 8 hours of sleep last night. That's right folks, 8 hours. From 9:30pm to 5:30 am. That is a thing of beauty right there.

She's mobile... sorta

Got this email from Steph ten minutes ago:

"She started off on the diaper ready to be changed!"

The PANDA Team

Great article in the Oregonian today about the team that transported Elizabeth from Southwest to Doernbecher and then a week later transported her from the NICU to the operating room. And yes, we still have the Panda bear.

Thank you Rick, former Honululu fire-fighter, now member of the PANDA Team, for taking such good care of us. We will never forget you nor what you have done for our family.

Forgot to mention

Yesterday at the cardiologist's, Elizabeth weighed 11 pounds 14 ounces. And she is nearly 22 and a half inches long!

Back from the Cardiologist

Well... you want the good news or the bad news first?

We just got back from Elizabeth's echocardiogram. And the results are in. Although the blockage hasn't gotten any worse, it hasn't gotten better either. And, according to the cardiologist, the likelihood of it getting better is slim. So, for now, we'll have a follow up appointment in the beginning of December on November 3 (Dr. Shaughnessy left a message today 10/5 saying that she wanted to move up the follow up. Nothing to worry about, just wants to keep a closer eye on Elizabeth. We sure don't mind). More than likely, Elizabeth will need to have the catheter procedure done in a few months. The good news about that is it won't be for a little bit yet, so that she has time to grow (which makes her arteries bigger which makes it easier for the specialist to navigate thru her body).

We found out that the catheter procedure won't be quite as intense as we originally thought. When/if it does happen, Elizabeth will go in the morning and have it done. If it doesn't work, she can go home after a few hours, with a surgery to then be scheduled for a later date. If the catheter procedure does what it's supposed to, then she'll stay overnight at the hospital (in the normal ward, not the intensive care unit) and probably be able to go home the next day. So, that's a relief. Bummer that it's even on the radar, but, it is what it is.

We also got the clear from our cardiologist about the possibility of moving to MA next summer. If the move does take place, our cardiologist will give us some contacts out there. And apparently Boston's Children Hospital is primo stuff and has on staff one of the most world-renowned cardiologists (I think we got the guy's name right). So that's nice to know.

Thanks to all who prayed.

Grace and peace,
Allen

Prayer Open House

For those that are local to us, Monday night we'll be having a prayer open house here at the homestead. Tuesday afternoon Elizabeth goes in for her follow-up echocardiogram to determine if the blockage in or around her pulmonary artery has increased. If it has increased, the docs will have to schedule her for another catheter procedure, probably within the month.

So, Monday night from 7-9 pm we'll be having lots of folks come over to hang out and pray for Elizabeth, specifically that the blockage would be gone come Tuesday. We'll be praying for other things too, as folks request. If you're within reasonable driving distance, come on by!

Lounging Under the Skylight

A New Outfit

Our Daughter the Pyro

Looks like a normal picture of Elizabeth staring intently at something off to the left.

Until you turn the flash off. See that orange glow? Yeah, that would be the fire in our fireplace.

One Strong Neck

Elizabeth hasn't figured out how to rollover yet, but is definitely making progress.

The two most beautiful women