"Where's Noelle?"

Here is Noelle's newest trick. It's so cute and she is so happy when she does it and we have fun with it too!

Just not herself

Since Noelle's surgery last Monday I have come to feel how truly exhausting being a mom sometimes is. I'm not complaining I'm just stating how I feel. Noelle's surgery went well and the day following was pretty good also. But since then here are the things that have happened that have truly worn me out emotionally and physically (if they have worn me out I can't imagine how Noelle feels):

~Noelle has been very fussy and ornery
~she had a fever that's been off and on
~she threw up everything after giving her a very necessary dose of Motrin
~Her cough and runny nose have continued
~the worst case of diaper rash-i cried as i was changing her diaper a few times
~sleeping schedule has been thrown off
~her eating schedule is totally off
~She just hasn't been her normal, happy, active self.
~She went to see a plastic surgeon about her head and we found out that she would need a helmet.
~We went and saw the orthotic doctor (helmet guy) and he scanned her head for the helmet. You know your child doesn't like to be messed with when it takes you, the doctor and the nurse just to get her to hold still through a 2 second head scan.
~Went and saw a pediatrician who stuffed instruments in her ears and throat to see what was wrong, just to get told that most of her symptoms are probably because she is teething. Dang teething.

I feel so sad at how I imagine Noelle is feeling. She can't tell me anything, all she can do is cry and I'm sure it's frustrating to her when she's trying to say "my bottom hurts" but I'm attempting to give her a bottle. She is doing better today and smiling more and this just makes my heart jump for joy. I'm so glad that I've been able to be with her to take care of her. I'm always worried about her but I guess that's normal. I've been told that the worrying never ends. I love being a mom and wouldn't trade it for anything even the exhausting, hard things. So all I can say is bring on the worrying!

Post-Surgery Update

So Monday was the big surgery day. Noelle was not able to eat anything after midnight except water, apple juice, or pedialyte. And then after 5 am she couldn't have anything. Thank goodness she slept all the way to the hospital. My mom came with me because Michael had to work, which I was so grateful for. We had to check in at 6:45am and surgery was at around 8:15am. Towards the end of the wait she was getting a little fussy, a hungry fussy. Then we had to walk her back to the doors and the anesthesiologist took her away quickly, which I was grateful for. The surgery was really fast and when it was all over I got to go see her. She was totally out of it. She had an iv in her foot. We went into another room that looked like the NICU, this brought back a lot of mixed feelings for me. There we just waited until we could take her home. They gave me a bottle of sugar water to start her on. When she woke up she was totally happy like nothing had ever happened. I was really grateful for this. We went home and since then she has felt really good. Of course I have had medicine on hand. Her stitches will dissolve soon and then she will just have a small scar. I'm actually really grateful for this experience. This little girl has made me feel things that I never knew I could.

This is Noelle is her little scrubs. They were so cute on her and I wish we could have taken them home with us.

They had to put her little hospital band around her foot.

I just had to take a picture of the open back scrubs, like a hospital gown. So funny.

Noelle and Grandma Fullmer :)
Noelle and Mom.

Open House

Today we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It was rainy and a little cold. An hour or so before we got there a storm had rolled through and apparently lightning struck Angel Moroni. Sure enough when we looked his arm and trumpet had been blackened. I've never seen that before. We went inside the temple and it was beautiful. Noelle even behaved well the whole time. She not only was good but was very happy and I could tell she could feel the spirit too. It was so nice to walk through it and just be reminded of how special and sacred the temple is. I'm so grateful for temple ordinances and that families can be together forever.

Pre-Surgery info

(Because I know all of you care so much about this :) ) So this coming Monday Noelle has to have surgery to get this angioma removed from her back. What I understand an angioma to be is a benign tumor that is made up of small blood vessels. Not a huge thing to worry about medically but it's about the size of a marble and just seems to keep growing. It doesn't seem to bug her too much yet unless we accidentally move it somehow. I'm glad that it hasn't bugged her a whole lot but I know that when she gets a little older it will. I will spare all of you the pictures because it's really kinda gross. I'm just looking forward to it not being there anymore. Although I'm not really looking forward to taking care of the stitches and how she will react to that. Did I mention she has to fast before as well. Oh I hope the surgery is early in the morning for everyone's sake. Okay so it's not major surgery but Noelle has to go on the operating table to get it taken off and I can't be with her. It's more of a big deal to me than her. My sister-in-law Nina told me that you can hold her to a certain point, walk her to the doors with the doctors, and then they take her away. I'm glad she told me this so I can try and prepare, but I think I'm going to cry. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Sleeping and Mama's Girl

I think Noelle is officially sleeping through the night. She has been sleeping 8-10 hours straight for almost 2 weeks now. Her naps are super short but if that's what we have to deal with to get a good nights sleep then we'll take it. One step at a time. She loves sleeping on her tummy. She almost automatically rolls over when we lay her down. The good nights sleep has really paid off in mine and her mood.

On another note, Noelle is so dang cute! Her smiles and giggles make my whole day. When she laughs, I laugh, and then she laughs more. I think she is a mama's girl. When Michael comes home from work Noelle seems to want to go straight to him. But just a few minutes later she finds me and just stares at me until I acknowledge her. When I do, she just gives the biggest smile ever. I have to say that it makes me feel so good. I just can't get enough of her. I love her so much and I am so grateful to be her mother.

6 mm

We went to the physical therapist today and Noelle's head had improved so much. When we went in two weeks ago they measured her head and between the two sides there was a difference of 15 millimeters. The normal is 3 or 4 millimeters. So this was a lot. The worst the therapist had seen was 17 millimeters. Well last week it only went down to 14 millimeters. And this week after all of the exercises and trying to get her to lay on her left side she went down to 9 millimeters. So in total she has gone down 6 millimeters! She said it's the most she has seen anyone improve in one week. We're so happy about this because if she keeps improving like this she won't need a helmet. I went in to the therapist today prepared to hear that she would need a helmet. I almost cried I was so happy. We had been praying so hard. Just wanted to share. Very good day. This was Noelle a few days after she came home from the hospital. A little over 5 weeks old and around 4lbs.

This is Noelle at 7 months and probably around 17lbs or more. Look at how much she has grown!

Look at the difference. Tiny little hands.
I'm not trying to brag, I'm just proud of how far she has come. She has just been through a lot and I'm grateful for the little things that have lead to this point.

We all had a long day today and at around 9:30 I found these two like this. So sweet.

Noelle giggling. Sorry it's dark.

Breakthrough

I just have to share with everyone, that Noelle has slept 8 + hours straight for three nights in a row. I've seriously been praying for this because we have had a hard few days with Noelle sleeping and being kind of ornery. Sometime during the night she turns to sleep on her stomach. I try to turn her back over when I catch it but I can't all of the time. Is it okay that she is sleeping on her stomach at this age? Anyway, I am so glad and actually feel rested for the first time in a very long time. Let's hope that it lasts a little longer than these three days.