I found my vocal cords Mommy

Just yesterday, on her 3 month monthiversary, Elizabeth discovered her vocal cords. Now, she was already cooing and crying and all that. But yesterday, she discovered she has range. And it has an upper register, lemme tell ya.

Silly Faces

Sleepy Time

Back at it

Alright. Paper's done, exam's done, class is done. It's time to get back to pictures!

Life as of late

Tis crunch time in the Hutchison household. Been working on my paper for a week straight practically. Have my final on Wednesday. Hence not much on the bloggin' front. But we've got some pictures to post come the end of the week.

But I am glad the NFL regular season is here.

Nuk, nuk, nuk

We converted to Nuk today. Per my sister-in-law's advice, and through the persistence of my beautiful wife, we've switched Lizzie to the NUK to hopefully reduce her chances of needing braces.

Two photos to make you all witness to the switch and yet another reason to post pictures. :-)

Lounging

Doc Appointment in Review

First off, the vitals: 22.5 inches long. 10 lbs 2 oz. She's growing, that's for sure! Her oxygen level was at 96. Can't get much better. The cardiologist was pleased with how Elizabeth looks and that she's eating and growing so well. Very pleased all around.

The echocardiogram, however, could have gone better. Wasn't terrible, but could have gone better. When Elizabeth was originally discharged from the hospital, she had "mild" stenosis in or around her pulmonary artery. As of yesterday, that stenosis is now "moderate."

Obviously it is of some concern that the "blockage" has increased. However, evidenced by the fact that our next echocardiogram and cardiologist appointment is not until October 4, they're not freaking out. Here's the options on how this will play out:

1. If the echocardiogram on the 4th shows the stenosis to have decreased, all is well and they will continue to monitor it.
2. If on the 4th the stenosis has remained the same, all is well for the time being and they will continue to monitor it. The cardiologist said that Elizabeth may just have moderate stenosis for the rest of her life and that's all there is to it. Obviously the stenosis is not affecting Elizabeth's ability to get and process oxygen (evidenced by the 96 oxygen level).
3. If on the 4th the stenosis has increased even more, Elizabeth will then be scheduled for a cardiac catheter a few weeks later. They will go in like they did before to a) find exactly where the stenosis is and b) to do the "balloon-ing" procedure that will make for more room in her artery. They know that the stenosis is either in her pulmonary artery or in one of the arteries that branch off of the pulmonary artery; they just don't yet know the exact location. (Check out this diagram to get a feel for what I'm talking about)

So, that's where we're at. Goes without saying that Steph and I are a smidge bummed about the whole thing (admittedly, we both went in with really high expectations). But I keep falling back on the fact that as of yet, nothing is wrong per se. The cardiologist has simply taken notice of what could be a possible problem. Nothing is nailed down yet. Just a matter of pressing on and waiting.

Please do pray though that the stenosis goes away.

Talk, talk, talk

Here's the audio I had talked about. (You can ignore the silly daddy trying to coax his daughter into making more sounds...)

Elizabeth talking it up

Dear Diary

Amidst Steph's scrapbooking craze this afternoon, she found her old diaries. She has shown them to me before and let me cruise them. But somehow I missed this gem which she found today (and yes, she is letting me post this):

3/22/93 [11 years old]
Dear Diary,
My brother and sister just lost a tooth. I have 6 Cabbage Patches now. I don't like boys at all (yuk)! I don't understand them. I love my family. Even though we have a dog, I would like a small house dog of my own. I would like one for my birthday. I would like a small dog like a chihuahua. I love animals. I am getting to like reading a lot better. When I grow up I want to buy 5 acres of land out in the country. I want to have 4 cows, 10 horses, 12 chickens, 3 dogs, 1 cat, 20 kids, a husband and a goat. We would make everything, even the house, and we would home school the children.
Sincerely,
Stephanie

Glad to see I made it above the goat.

And 19 more babies? Uh, no.