Unhooked and Heading Home!

Monday, June 30

No more EVDs!!!!! Mike watched as the neurosurgery resident took the drains out of Elijah's head. They were stitched in place so he had to remove the sutures and slide them out. Then he had to put two stitches in each hole to make sure that no CSF leaked out. Mike said that the fluid spurted out a bit when Elijah was crying before the doctor put the stitches in. That's exactly why I couldn't watch that procedure. It's a good thing that Elijah has two parents!

Margaret and Lorinda, our two superstar friends who are nurses!

Tuesday, July 1
First time Elijah is vertical in a week and a half

Checking out Dada

Elijah was disconnected from all of the monitors so that I could hold him in the chair. Things were finally starting to feel a bit normal again.

"They want to take my blood pressure again?!?!"

"Mmmm, this hand is surprisingly good!"

Elijah has found his fingers and hands since his surgery.

Wednesday, July 2
Ready to head home!!!

The incision. You can barely see the two small stitches where the drains had been. The sutures on the large incision are absorbable so they were gone in about a week.

No more tubes or wires!!!!!! I'm free!!!!!

Elijah and Mama-getting ready to go home!

Self-portrait

One Happy Dada!

Another great nurse, Alyssa

Waiting for Dada to come pick us up!

Happy to be home with my big sisters!!!!!!

We can't even begin to thank our family and friends for all of their love and support throughout this whole experience. We know that all of those prayers and good thoughts worked wonders!

Happy Belated 5th Birthday, Isabella Nicole!

Little did we know that we would start June 18, 2008 much like we did June 18, 2003-at a hospital. In 2003, I went into labor unexpectedly 8 weeks early, and Isabella arrived after only 6 short hours. She spent 6 weeks in the special care nursery until we brought her home on July 31st. This year Isabella was able to admire her birthday sign and decorations in her room and open several presents before we headed to Children's Hospital for Elijah. (Much more on that subject in my next post).

5 years old
June 18, 2008

4 years old

*2007*

3 years old

*2006*

2 years old
*2005*

One year old
*2004*
(If you click on the picture, you can see frosting handprints on Isabella's head!)

June 18, 2004

We celebrated Isabella's actual first birthday in California at my cousin's wedding!
Isabella with GiGi and Great-Grandpa

One day old

June 19, 2003

You would never guess now that Isabella was a 32 week preemie!!!

Birthday Bash

Even though Isabella and Sienna's birthdays are only 8 days apart, I swore that I would never have a joint birthday party for them because I think that every child deserves to have their own special celebration. I felt strongly about that until I figured that it would be fun to have one big party since many of the girls' friends are siblings and they'd come to two parties anyways. I suggested that we have one party and rent a moon bounce, but I assured the girls that they could each choose their own theme and have their own cake. It just so happened that we were able to have the party on June 14th-exactly in the middle of their birthdays.

Knowing how frugal my husband is, I figured that we could save the money on the delivery fee for the moon bounce and he could set it up himself with the help of our nice friend, Mark.Being the handy guys that they are, they had no trouble setting it up.
It was a hot day so the kids had fun running through the sprinkler and then jumping and slipping in the moon bounce.
We were able to squeeze 20 kids (and their parents) into our basement for pizza and cake.
Sienna chose My Little Pony for her party, so she had a pony cake.
Isabella chose a Batman theme since she's friends with lots of boys who are into superheroes. She also likes to watch the Batman cartoon with Mike-much to my chagrin.
The five year old birthday girl!
Isabella and Sienna's friend, Aaron, gave the girls this sprinkler for their birthdays which all the kids loved!
Magic Mike made another appearance at the party.
The good old "broken wand" trick. Works every time!
Our good friend, Lorinda, came to help and couldn't resist taking a turn in the moon bounce.
I thought that I'd give it a try, too!
Isabella loves her new Batman costume!
She admired herself in the mirror!
We enlisted the help of our other neighbors to deflate and roll up the moon bounce. It was a tad bit heavy!
What a busy but fun day!

Last Day of School

Isabella had one last day of school after her graduation.

June 13, 2008

Sarah and Isabella

Last preschool pick-up!

Wiped out!

Looking back...

Very first day of preschool
John and Isabella
September 2006

Isabella and Sarah-September 2006

June 2007

First day of second year of preschool
John, Isabella & Sarah
September 2007

Little Siblings-Lauren, Luke & Sienna
September 2007

We'll have to recreate this picture when these three start preschool this fall. They're all going to the same school, but we're not sure if they'll all be in the same class.