Merry Christmas

All dressed up

We had a great Christmas. Christmas eve we went to Claudias (Matts aunt house)to celebrate. Cassie did just fab!! I was ready for her to be a complete wreck with all the people but she did just great. She loved the kids!


Walking with Grandma

On Christmas Day we opened presents under the tree with coffee. Cassie was so cute opening her gifts. We had both sets of grandparents come over to open gifts and have dinner in the afternoon and again Cass did awsome with everyone.


Opening presents


Playing with the other kids

Today we went to my parents to celebrate again. She has had a busy past few days and were so proud of her, that she seems to be getting better with others.

I have also started to brush her teeth, now that she is getting more than 2 I decided I need to start. She fought me the first 2-3 times where I had to actually pin her arms down and kinda open her mouth. Tonight she surprised me...I took out her toothbrush and said "its time to brush your teeth" she laid there and just opened her mouth and let me brush away. Wow! What a good little girl. I think she acutally enjoyed it.

Pictures and an Update

Cass kept trying to kiss me in this picture

We have been doing great. Cassie is doing awsome. She seems to be getting better with her stranger anxiety, she still has it but it seems better. She loves other kids. Her Uncle Jim was over with his girlfriend and her 7 year old daughter and Cassie loved her. Uncle Jim also brought over an 8 week old puppy they got, was he ever cute.


Talking on Mommys cell phone

Yesterday was a long day because Daddy was gone. We went to Kmart to practice our walking skills and give both of us new things to look at instead of walking circles in the house.


Still on the phone

I think I'm going to grow out Cassies bangs, she has so much hair and it totally has a mind of its own. It will be intersting in the growing out process.


Just up from a nap

Were looking foward to Christmas and being with family. Last Christmas we went to our familys and Cass was only 2 months old, we had to bring her feeding tube with us..it was then that she started to projectile vomit because the dietican was having us pump to much into her. Not fun. I stopped listening to what the dietican said and followed my own Mommy instinct. Still makes me mad to think about it...he wouldn't listen to me and was just going by his numbers. What a difference a year makes. Last year I don't think I could picture that the following Christmas we would be done with everything...we are SO grateful!


Yup....still on the phone


Looking dazed and confused from her nap


Play date with her friend Adelyn

Puppy!!!

New ways to get around

All of a sudden Cassie has decided she is actually going to try and find different ways to get from here to there...she must be sick and tired of waiting for me to help her out. I have been making her spend more time alone playing and giving her more time to figure things out on her own. She never spent much time on her belly because of the g-tube so now that its out we are making up for lost time. Today she was sitting in her bedroom and I was doing some chores, she ended up on her belly and instead of crying for me to help her stand she decided to try some new things. First she was in a pike position and then she would get up on her hands and push backwards...she scooted herself out of her bedroom into ours. It was so cute because you could hear her huff and puff with the effort and she was mighty proud.

Then in the kitchen she figured out she can push with her hands and this will slide her tush along the floor if she is wearying slippery pants....that was fun! She pushed her little booty all around the kitchen. She was quite entertaining today!!!

On the walking front she is doing awsome. She walks unassisted between Daddy and Mommy every day and has even walked to different rooms by herself.

We went on a playdate this afternoon, it was so nice to get out. The girls babbled and played while we had snacks and coffee. My friend had to run an errand and asked if I could stay to watch her daughter, which of course is no problem. Her daughter is 7 months old, I told both girls there couldn't be any crying for 20 min because I was outnumbered....they both did awsome, just played while I drank my coffee. Honestly if one would have started to cry it would set the other one off and I only have so many hands. Thank goodness they cooperated!

Thursday

This morning it was 3 degrees!! Brrr....
We usually have a play date on Thursdays but decided to stay put this whole week so Cassie's tummy can heal, plus it was so cold today I can't imagine walking outside with her even for a couple of seconds!!!



So today we just practiced walking....like we do EVERYDAY!! She has started taking her first steps unassisted. My heart goes into my throat just waiting for her to come crashing down and knocking her head into a table or on the floor. She will hang on to something and eye the next object she wants to walk to, get up her guts and make a dash for it...she has done pretty good and is so happy with herself.


Her hair is just out of control!! I wet it down in the mornings but once its dried it is everywhere. She doesn't like barettes and will pull them out, I now take hair band and pull the portion of hair that has a mind of its own into a tiny ponytail at the back of her head and wet it down...it seems to do the trick. I also think I am going to grow out her bangs....that will be interesting.

Good as new!

In her new footsie pjs

Cassie is doing awsome after surgery. She is so happy and she no longer has bouts of pain because of stomach acid leaking out. She is playing, laughing and happy...we are so blessed and thankful that everything is over and this is our first holiday without anything medical going on!! THANKFUL!!


Today after a nap


Today I made lasagna while Cassie played so all I had to do tonight was pop that puppy in the oven and heat up some Texas Toast. Tomorow I plan on doing a roast since it seems like roast weather. We are in for a doozy of a snow storm tonight...they are saying up to 13 inches so I figured after Matt gets home from work tomorrow we can have an nice filling meal before he has to head outside to snow plow.


Athena and Cassie....


Athena always there to eat what Cassie doesn't want

Cassie ate like a horse tonight...For dinner she ate spaghetti, 1/2 an avacado, tons of cheese, tons of manderine oranges and a tub of fruit. She had a nice warm bath, watched Little Einsteins with Daddy and is now snug as a run in bed.



She loves cheese so I try to put new things on cheese or under it to trick her..

We are....

HOME!!!! Everything went great. She was pretty sleepy yesterday before surgery, could be because she didn't have any energy because of not eating all day. We gave her the sedative which went easier than I thought. We then walked down to the surgery holding area. When it came time to hand her over to the nurse she actually surprised me and did very well....there was just a little whimper. They did have problems getting the IV into her, it took them 7 pokes and she already is starting to bruise. Surgery took about 2 hours and there were no complications. I asked our doctor if he thought the hole would ever have healed on its own and he didn't think so, he said there was a very well established tract so its a very good thing we went ahead with surgery. While in the surgery waiting area we saw Cassies Crainofacial surgeon, he was surprised to see us but it was nice to say hi to him. He is very talented and awsome at what he does! If it weren't for these doctors where would we be? They put so many hours in at the hospital and I am so thankful for them.

Recovery went great, they checked her vitals every 2 hours for the first 6 hours and then every 4 hours. At first we thought she may be getting a fever but it did subside. At 9pm her IV went bad, the nurse had to take off her IV Board and push the IV around in Cassies hand (painful) but she got it working and Cassie slept all night. This morning she ate breakfast and we went for a walk around the halls with Daddy pushing her IV pole behind her, then we got the orders to be dishcharged. Yipee!!! We are so blessed and thankful that everything went well and its all done.

I think we tend to forget how blessed and lucky we are just for the little things. I hate spending the night at the hospital and I don't like Cassie to have to be there hooked up to all the monitors. I know there are so many children and familys who are very sick and have been at the hospital for a long time, my heart goes out to them. We are just blessed to be home today, have Cassie sleep in her own bedroom and to sit curled up on the couch tonight eating pizza. Its the little things.

Thanks to everyone for thier thoughts and prayers!!

Surgery today

I am anxious!! I have barely been able to eat anything today because my stomach is in knots. You would think it would get easier being this is the 4th surgery but it does not! It is SO hard to hand over your child who is screaming and holding out her arms to you to the doctors to bring her back into surgery. I know I will break down in tears just like last time. This surgery is tough on me and I am sure her because its not until 3 this afternoon. She can't eat any solids or milk after midnight, she can only have clear liquids. This morning I tried feeding her some jello, which I don't think she cares for. She took 6 bites of it. She also took some chicken broth. It wasn't alot but at least something. She is actually napping now. I am hoping she has a decent nap and when she wakes up we will head to the hospital, we have to be there at 1:30. This surgery will not be nearly as horrible as the cleft plate surgery, its nice because it really is the end of a chapter. The g-tube site will be stiched up and we no longer have to wait for it to heal while she is in pain, changing gauze, applying ointment - it will be closed. We have also been spoiling little Cass, anything she has wanted we have gave her to just stop her from crying so she wouldn't cause the hole to leak...once its stitched up she is going to realize she doesn't get everything she wants. :)

We should be home early tomorow. This is not a 24 hour stay, just overnight so if all is well we will be discharged in the morning.