5 Month Update

Leigh celebrated her 5 month birthday on Saturday. Of course her adjusted age is only 7 weeks. Either way, she has a lot to be proud of:

• She's now 7 lbs 4 oz and 19 1/4 inches long. This is roughly DHV's size at birth.
  
• She is taking all her feeds and meds by mouth now and no longer has an NG tube taped to her face.
• She has been in room air (no supplemental oxygen) for a week.
• She tolerated significant decreases in her vent settings very well this week.

As evidenced below, it appears that most of her weight gain is going straight to her cheeks.

Here she is demonstrating her fierce bottle skills (pre-NG tube removal). She is also modeling her very first Eagles outfit (more documentation to come).

DHV also has something to be proud of: his very first unchi in the toilet!

Birthday Weekend

It seems that 2 years have passed since DHV's arrival in this world. We're not quite sure how that happened but we spent the entire weekend celebrating it anyway. On Saturday morning we picked up some special friends to celebrate with.

Everyone loves ice cream cake!

DHV couldn't wait to get a taste.
But he did blow out his own candle and was quite proud of himself too.
The next morning he started demanding "gar!" (car) and "ish!" (ice cream) before we even got him out of his crib. He was a happy camper when he found his new matchbox cars waiting for him on his new DHV-sized table and chairs. Unfortunately he'd also developed a nasty runny nose overnight.

Good thing he knows how to wipe it!
The birthday boy spent most of the morning playing with the wooden train set that "Neen" (Janine) gave him. It even has an ambulance, a police car, and a fire truck - nice work Neen!

He did take a break for breakfast with Elmo and Snoopy.

And for a leftover pizza lunch with Dad. (That's right, it was also the Eagles' season opener on Sunday).

After his nap he found Grandma and Grandpa Vining waiting to present him with yet another gift. "Ooooh...."


... it's a DHV-sized ATV!

Buh-bye.
DKV is wishing we had this picture with the mullet!

Brotherly Love

Whenever we mention Leigh these days DHV's immediate response is "abba?" hospital?
Followed shortly by "yah-low!" yellow!

6 month hospital stay? $500 deductible.
1 month Yale Parking? $150
Giant box of twizzlers for the nurses? $5
Raiding the respiratory/oncology playroom for some yellow trucks to play with? Priceless.

DHV inspecting the sleeping arrangements with SHV.

DHV giving LRV a bottle! Very cool. DHV sat still for about 5 minutes, which is a long time for him. LRV is now taking full bottles all by herself about 1/2 the time, and she's pushing 5lbs 14oz.

Documentation of New Haven's little slice of Minnesota, Maltby Lakes.
An early autumn wind cooled us off on the walk home.

Movin' On Up

Leigh graduated from the NICU on Monday and moved into her private big girl room in the Respiratory Unit. She seems pretty happy there and has been behaving herself so far. The parental learning has officially begun and the work on the bottles continues. Here's how SHV and DHV found father and daughter upon arriving at the hospital this morning.

The staff did some decorating and greeted Leigh with open arms.

DHV showed her some brotherly love. (Excuse the blur - that kid moves fast!)

He clearly approved of her new digs.

Bottle!

Tonight Leigh had her first shot at the bottle since getting the trach. She did great, taking almost 2/3 of her feeding before tiring out. No oral aversion here!


Rumor has it that she'll be moving up to the respiratory unit on Monday, at which point our intensive training regimen will begin. Home preparations are already underway. We're officially in "go" mode here.

Lazy Summer Days

Most of our free time this summer has been spent at the hospital, but every once in a while some family help break us out of the funk. Here's Grandma V sharing her water with DHawk while Grandpa supervises.This weekend we drove up to Vermont for a night with Uncle Joe and Aunt Alice. DHV shucked his first ear of corn.

DHV ordering Janine to run, "Schnell!"
"They say let sleeping dogs lie, but if I'm sneaky I bet I can give him a kiss!"
Success!

"I lead my people to the water!"

What are these things?

DKV coined this "Frog Camp X-ray."

The men combing the weeds for insurgent frogs.
(After consulting our in-house legal council we released the captives.)

Helping Daddy inflate the boat.
Cruising the pond; no insurgents, but we did encounter a Great White Shark.

Waiting for a lift to the top of his jumping rock.

Interrogating a terrorist turtle that Joe caught.

Mr. Turtle, and his associates Mr. Tadpole and Mr. and Mrs. Salamander
were all released without charges.

Back at home Leigh got her trach and has been relaxing with a morphine drip. Here she is during a wakeful moment. She looks better without those hoses in her face and is breathing easier. We're anxiously awaiting a room on the respiratory floor so we can start discharge planning.

Croc

DHV loves fish. He asks constantly to go to the hospital and as much as we'd like to think that he is yearning to see his baby sister, we know that it's really more about the fish in the lobby. Thinking that he'd be in heaven, we packed up the minivan and drove to the aquarium on Sunday. He thought the fish were okay but had to be carried kicking and screaming away from his favorite attraction, this large plastic crocodile.