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.

My New Project

Since Noelle has been in the NICU she has favored sleeping and turning on her right side more than her left. This has caused a flat spot on her right side. We've tried and tried turning her head for her but it always ended up on the right side. For months of going to the doctor, he, along with a lot of others, kept saying that it would even out and not to really worry about it. Most babies heads go flat but even out with time. Well a little over a month ago her doctor saw her and everything was fine except that he saw her head and told us that she needed physical therapy. I didn't really know what this meant except that if her head got much worse and we didn't do something about it she would need a helmet to re-shape it. So last week we went in to see a physical therapist. It's a good thing we did too. If we had just gotten her a helmet her head shape would have been fixed but none of the underlying problems that caused it to be that way would be fixed. So we found out that she has what is called Torticollis and Plagiocephaly. If you don't know what those mean (as I didn't) here ya go - Torticollis, in short, means a tilting of the head to one side. Plagiocephaly is a flattening of the back of the head, in Noelle's case the right side. So the physical therapist did a lot of different tests to see what else was going on. Her vision is good and her body shape is good and even on both sides. What she did notice, which led to the diagnosis of torticollis, was that her right neck muscles are really tight and it makes it very uncomfortable to turn her head to the left side. Lots of other things were said and we learned so much. So the physical therapist gave us some home excersizes and stretches to help fix the problem. We have to do this consistently and many times throughout the day. That is why she is my new project. If we work hard enough her head will re-shape on it's own and she won't need a helmet. Within a month or two we should know how we are doing and how her head has changed and if she will need a helmet or not. This should be fun especially with Noelle's stubborn, yet cute attitude. Wish us luck! Noelle sleeping next to Dad.

Noelle has learned this spitting thing. It's really cute and I think she does it to get our attention.

Tribute to Eric

Today marks a year since my brother Eric passed away. This last Saturday (May 16th) was his 19th birthday. My Mom and Dad decided to do something special to observe his birthday as it was also the day he went in to the hospital last year. They wanted to spend the day with our family, and invited my Dad's side to come and observe it with us. All of us met Saturday evening at the cemetery. They had about 20-25 balloons and paper for all of us to write Eric a note on. Afterward we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Eric. All the notes were attached to the balloons and then the balloons were released. After that we all met at my parent's house and my dad barbecued hamburgers and hotdogs for everybody. It was a really neat experience. When we started singing "Happy Birthday" I started crying and really felt close to Eric. This year has been hard for my family. Especially my parents. It really makes you look at things differently when a family member passes away. You always feel that it will never happen to you. Our faith has been pulled and stretched in so many ways. I know we all have grown closer to each other and to the Lord because of this. His plan of salvation becomes so real. I know it is true and that the atonement is real. He can lift and pick us up when we just can't do it alone. I know Eric is happy and is healing and becoming closer to the Lord and to us. This year we were blessed as my sister Alyson left on a mission and my daughter, Noelle, was born. I know Eric had something to do with all of that and that he was there at those special moments. Eric has the biggest heart and he was always friendly to those around him. I hope he knows how much he is loved and how much we miss him.

These pictures are of Eric at my wedding in December 2007. I love Eric in the little girls apron. It's so like him to put it on and make fun of it :).

When Eric was getting ready for my wedding stuff he wanted to really look his best and wanted to get some brand new, bright earrings for that day. As you can see in this picture, he did just that :). He makes me smile so much.

New Blog

So I decided to create another blog. It's called "Recipes, etc..." As I am not a great organizer I decided to make this my place to organize my favorite recipes and any other random thing that is on my mind, hence the "etc" in the title. I would love to get your comments and opinions. Also I would love to receive different recipes from anyone who wants to share them. This blog is just for fun. Please share it with others. Thanks!

My other blog: Recipes, etc...