My Little Learner

We were given a video a few weeks ago by a friend. It's called The Letter Factory, and is a Leap Frog product. It basically goes through the entire alphabet, identifies the letter, and then the sounds it makes.
Paige LOVES this video. The first week we had it, she asked to watch it DAILY! Sometimes more than once.
Mommy also LOVES this video. Paige now sees letters all around her and either yells out the name of the letter OR the sound it makes. Every time we drive by Kmart (which is often since it's right down the street) she yells, "I see a K! Kick!! Mommy I see a K!" It is so awesome to hear the excitement in her voice. It's almost like she has cracked the code and feels like all these things we call letters aren't just scribbles and loops. They mean something and she knows it!
Her language amazes me everyday. She says things that make me wonder, Where did you hear that? It's also a reality check, as I need to watch everything I say around her little sponge brain! :)
Paige has definitely brought me tons of joy these past few weeks. She is growing and becoming a little girl so fast. I am enjoying watching her pretend, communicate and play just like a preschooler would. I am so thankful that I get to be home and experience all of this with her.

The Waiting Game

We are now 36 weeks along. Only 4 weeks left for full term.

We met with Dr. MacDonald, our surgeon, last week. He sat with us for about an hour and a half discussing the different scenarios we might take with Eli. We have complete confidence in Dr. MacDonald and the surgeons at CHCC. One thing he did confirm is that we won't know anything for sure until after Eli is born. We won't know what procedures, surgeries, and treatments will be taken until then.
Essentially, here's the tentative "plan". I will go into labor naturally. No planned C-section, YAY! In fact, the cardiologist and surgeon both want Eli to go full term and through vaginal delivery if at all possible. His lung development is extremely important, so an early C-section is not in his best interest. Just after delivery, he will be given a medication that will keep his PFO open. We will have the opportunity to have a little time with him before he will be transported to CHCC.
When Eli gets to CHCC, Dr. MacDonald and Dr. Heragu, his cardiologist, will be waiting. They will do an ultrasound on Eli's heart and an X-ray on his lungs. The results from these tests will determine if he needs the immediate balloon cathedar to open up the PFO. They will also tell us what type of surgery and how soon it will happen.
Dr. MacDonald did give us all the scenarios, but really thinks we will have to take the path of the Norwood procedure. This will probably happen 3-10 days after birth.
So now, we are playing the waiting game. We wait until Eli decides he is done cooking. We wait to see what his heart does on its own. We wait to see how God is going to use us and Eli to bring him Glory.

Ultrasound Update: Week 34

Once again, to keep it simple, nothing has changed. Eli is still growing normally and is on target to his due date. The cardiologist found no changes in his heart, so that is good. We didn't find any additional problems. The immediate concern still continues to be the patent foramen ovale (PFO). It is currently still open, but restricted, as it was before.

The cardiologist didn't see any reason for us to return for another ultrasound before Eli is born. It is getting more difficult to see his heart, because his bones are beginning to calcify. They really had to look hard beyond all the shadows the ribs were creating already. Now we just get to wait until he is born to do an ultrasound on his heart.

We have an appointment with Eli's surgeon on Wednesday, the 14th. This will hopefully be an informative one as far as what is expected to happen with Eli after he is born. We are hoping to get a better idea of timelines and what to expect for surgeries from this appointment.

Until then, please continue with the same prayers we have requested before...

1. Continued development of the mitral valve and left ventricle
2. Increased growth in the patent foramen ovale (PFO)
3. That we can be bold with our faith to everyone in this process

Paige's First Haircut

We finally took Paige in for her first haircut last Friday. Granted the poor girl didn't have any hair until she was one, but it was finally long enough and we needed to even it all out. We took her to Irma, the hairstylist I have gone to for 15 years. Paige goes with me to the salon when I get my haircut, so she is familiar with the place and already knows Irma.
The day before, we were talking to her about getting her haircut and visiting Irma so she wouldn't freak out when we plopped her in the big chair.

She was GREAT! She sat so still and didn't even cry! She even smiled for Daddy and the camera! Her hair looks good and evened out. She is beginning to look like a little girl, not a baby anymore. :( I'm even getting brave enough to curl it every once in a while now. It looks really cute when it's all curled out.

New Christmas Traditions

Like posted earlier, this was the first year we really started with our family Christmas traditions. Of course, we taught her lots about baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the manger, the real reason we celebrate this holiday. She can look at nativities and name off the major people and tell you about baby Jesus sleeping in the manger.

Our Chirstmas started a week early when Grandma and Grandpa Salt came down from Montana. We got to visit with them for a long weekend, and had a gift session then. Paige got an art easel, complete with paints, markers, and chalk. It's difficult to keep her away from it. She is really into drawing and trying to write letters and names. It's gonna be a great thing to teach her letters and words on as she grows.

We also started teaching Paige about Santa Claus. On Christmas Eve, we went to the Candlelight service at our church. Then we came home and made cookies just for Santa. It was fun having her on the counter with me, punching out shapes and decorating the cookies. After the cookies, we headed over to Richard and Terri Heckman's house for their traditional M&M hot chocolate. Yummy!

Christmas morning, Paige woke up to find all her cookies gone, and new presents under the tree. We have never seen her dance around and get so excited about presents before. But she knew that Santa came and visited her house. She loved everything he brought, especially her new baby!We spent Christmas day out at Nanna and Nanno's house. She had tons of fun playing with her cousins, Hannah, Dominic, and Brooklyn. Nanna got a new play kitchen at her house, so the girls played for hours out there, cooking and serving dinner.

The day after Christmas we went down to Pappa and Grandma's house in Bakersfield. More presents were opened there (see her pretty Princess Paige outfit in the previous post). That evening we went out to CALM (CAlifornia Living Museum), a small zoo, where they put up tons of lights. It was beautiful! It was fun to take Paige out there to see the figures. She seemed to enjoy finding them and naming all the ones she could. She especially enjoyed the animated ones!
You can imagine that after all these festivities, we were exhausted! Christmas is tons of fun, especially when seen through the innocence of a little girl.