Growing On Up

~Incredibly Happy Girl~

While this first, full week home has been a time of adjustment, it has mostly been a time of joy and amazement as our tiny girl seems to be growing right before our eyes.  She weighed 6lbs. 7oz. at her doctor appointment on Monday, and I am excited to see the comparison when we go for her next weight check this coming Tuesday.

~Just so sweet~

~I LOVE to play!!~

Although I would have termed Noelle a happy and content baby before this last hospital stay, there is now a marked difference in her; and the smiles hardly seem to leave her face!  It seems that each day brings more activities, new discoveries, more "talking", and so much growing in both size and development.  It has made us realize how poorly she was probably feeling for quite some time~especially since one of the signs prior to her heart failure was that she was no longer smiling and talking; and she is doing those things so much more now than ever before.

~Aunt Donna dropped by for some snuggles~

Now, the difference is incredible, and many people have remarked how much change they can see in her pictures...imagine the difference we see in person!  This does not mean we are "out of the woods" by any means, but it does demonstrate the effectiveness of her treatment and current medications; and we are very thankful for the close follow-up care she is receiving from our medical team, as well as the continued advice and care from our FMC NICU family, who continues to follow her progress and makes suggestions and voices concerns and thoughts with her care.  It is comforting to have the support and advice from people whom we love and trust and who know our daughter's history even better than ourselves.  Knowing that they have held "mini-rounds" on Noelle with the blog information and multiple texts and phone calls, speaks volumes of their continued love and care for our precious girl.

~Milestone!!  I'm starting to push up consistently!!~

~"I love my new WubbaNub!!"~

Noelle celebrated her first week home by starting to push up (she had done it in the NICU a few times, but only when VERY upset about something being done to her),  getting a WubbaNub (a soothie pacifier with a beanie attached to help her hold it in her mouth--regular pacifiers still choke her), smiling all the time, playing uninterrupted, and sitting up in her Bumbo for the first time! 

~First time in the Bumbo...what a big girl we have now!!~

Bob Buckley with FOX 8 will be doing another update story which is set to air tomorrow night during the 10:00p.m. news.  As always, you can watch it livestream here, or the clip will be available online after the news airs.  We are continually amazed at the relationships that God continues to develop through this situation and are thankful for the wonderful job that Bob and his photographers, Eric and Ferlon, have done through these past months, portraying the story in a way that God receives the glory.  As always, thank you for continuing to pray and for sharing in our joys with our sweet girl.