Eliza's Heart: The Saga Continues

I wanted a post title that would make it sound really dramatic, even though it isn't. So we had our early follow-up appointment with Eliza's cardiologist. (See earlier post for the back story)  I was all ready to announce that she only has 5 holes in her heart now (she had 6 before) but then I heard Jerel telling someone she has 3.  So now I'm all confused.  My version is that she still has one PDA (she had two before) and all four of the VSD's.  All of the holes she has are either the same size or smaller, so that's good.  We are set for another checkup in 6 more months to see how things are going.  The doctor seemed confident things would continue to improve and didn't anticipate any treatment being required.

So it was pretty funny because the reason we had to go in early for a follow-up was that our pediatrician was concerned because Eliza's weight had plateaued and that could indicate that she's having difficulty eating due to her heart problems.  Or it could indicate that she has two particularly small parents.  We are fully aware of this and realize we're pushing our luck hoping for at least one of our children to break through the 5-foot barrier.  Anyway, the doctor was trying to explain that he didn't think her heart was causing any growth issues, and said something like "Well, it could just be that...I mean...well, neither of you are the tallest people in the world..."  I just thought it was funny that he was tiptoeing around it, as if we aren't already well aware of the fact that we're short and that normal people don't need a step stool in each room of their house.  We're glad she seems to just be shrimpy, rather than being unhealthy.  He also commented at one point that babies who are malnourished because of heart problems don't tend to have rolls on their thighs like she does.  Maybe he thought we were in there because we were super paranoid?  We just went because the pediatrician told us to.  But even so, I do wish she'd grow; I'm getting bored of her 3-month size outfits.  By the way, this picture is in her current church outfit.  It's a dress my mom bought her that reminded her of a dress her little sister used to have.

The False Meaning of Easter

We all know what the TRUE meaning of Easter is, but on Saturday we went ahead and celebrated the fake meaning of Easter by going to an Easter egg hunt. My friend Tammy hosted one at her home. She has tons of land (well not tons, acres would be a better measuring tool for property) and had different areas for different age groups of kids. Zay had a good time filling up his basket (courtesy of Grandma Greene Jr.) with the plastic eggs. And, as you can see here, he also thought he was supposed to eat the egs. He had such fun that we kept letting him pick up more and more eggs and then when he looked the other way, Jerel would toss them from his basket back into the grass for him to happily find again.

The night before, the muffin fairy visited our house. I had told Tammy I'd bring muffins for the Second Breakfast meal that preceded the Easter egg hunt. Then I got a terrible cold. By Friday evening, I decided I'd just buy a muffin mix and do the easy way. By Friday slightly later in the evening, I decided I'd just buy already made muffins. I told Jerel my plan and he volunteered to go buy a muffin mix for me so all I'd have to do was mix it up in the morning. And then, I put my tooth under my pillow--wait, wrong fairy--And then, I went to sleep while he went to the store. Magically when I got up in the morning, there were fabulous made from scratch muffins all ready to go!

And so, while the TRUE meaning of Easter is the best part of Easter, the second best part of Easter is definitely watching cute kids hunt for eggs that are right out in the open in the "Ages 0-3" field at Tammy's house! (The third best part of Easter comes later tonight when I sample the chocolate in the baskets Grandma Atkinson sent...)

The Zoo

Today was supposed to be sunny and less cold so we decided to go to the zoo, It ended up raining, Oh and I should mention that Zay pulled the "period" key off my laptop so I will be using commas instead,

We went with Emma & her mom, The main attraction for the two of them was splashing in this puddle, We are both bad moms so we let them get as wet as they wanted, Isaiah didn't seem particularly interested in the animals; he would look at them when I pointed them out but he was mostly just excited to be outside,

As it turns out, Zay is afraid of elephants, We were looking at them and there was a trainer there who had the elephant put his trunk up and down, Then he had the elephant spray out of his trunk and poor little Zay just trembled and cried until we finally left,

Emma has never been to the Portland Children's Museum, so that is our next adventure, Zay & Emma play really well together (with other kids Zay plays next to them at best, but with Emma he actually interacts) and Emma's mom is willing to watch the two of them while I'm hiding away feeding Eliza, Despite the rain and the discovery of Isaiah's pachydermophobia, it was a fun time!

Eliza Eats!

As another step in trying to get Eliza to gain a bit more weight, we're trying to give her more solid foods.  For those of you who don't have kids, you should know that when people say "solid" foods they really mean "liquid" foods.  It's pretty messy.  Luckily we had Isaiah there to help by pulling Liza's hands out of her mouth throughout the process.

Pull up a chair

Courtesy of my sister, Theresa, we now have a second high chair so that Eliza can join us at the dinner table. It's exactly the same as Zay's and he has been very excited to have someone right across the table from him. It's cute how he sits up all tall in it and then her little head barely pokes over the top. I was a little worried when she was born that he'd end up not liking her, but he still does. He's funny though because sometimes he gets annoyed with her. He'll come and tell me "GaGa crying." And I say "Eliza's crying?" and he says "Okay (okay is his word for yes) GaGa crying all night." But he loves to give her kisses and binkies!

Our little mini

For those of you who are tired of hearing about how small Eliza is, please skip this post. Eliza is so small! She's not really much below average, but since we're used to our big boy Isaiah she seems tiny. Zay loved the Exersaucer. He'd bounce around and have all kinds of fun. So I pulled it out of the shed [realized it was moldy and spent 3 days cleaning it, sorry Theresa, but I promise it's back in as-new condition] and put her in it. Poor little thing--her feet don't even reach the bottom! She likes to sit in it and play with the toys, but I don't leave her in for very long because since her feet can't touch, I worry that the seat will cut off the circulation to her feet, and I have a 14-year-old paranoia about cutting off circulation to babies' feet (my sincere apologies to my niece Elise. I just didn't want those church shoes to keep falling off, so I buckled them as tight as they'd go...) Extra points for anyone who can see what movie is playing in the background. It's Zay's current favorite.

Conference

We just had conference weekend. It happens twice a year and aside from other more spiritual things, you happen to watch 4 hours of television. Jerel just gives in and falls asleep on the couch, but I at least try to fight it by keeping my hands busy. So I made this cute (?) headband for Eliza. It's nice because it's big open stitches, so when it slides down over her eyes she can still see out through the holes.

I also made this hat, wait, it won't upload the picture.  Anyway, I made this purple & yellow beanie for one of my brother's friend's kids in the colors of the school he attends.  It's part of my new not-making-any-money venture, http://www.chanceofshowerscrochet.com/ and should be a fun way to waste my time.

Eliza had her four-month checkup last week.  She's only in the 18th percentile for weight, which is okay except that she used to be higher.  Does that make sense?  She's not losing weight, she's just not gaining at a normal pace.  Because she has a heart murmur, they are being extra careful (for babies, their only "exercise" is eating, so if they have a hard time exercising that could mean the heart is not keeping up).  So we take her in again next week to check her weight.  If she hasn't gained then we have to go back to the cardiologist to have him do another ultrasound of her heart.  It seems a little tricky to me because if we go back in and she's gained 8 oz. they'll say "Oh, she's gaining weight fabulously!" but really she's had wet diapers that weigh more than that, so it seems to me like there's a lot of room for error here.  Jerel suggested just not changing her diaper and giving her a big feeding right before the appointment, so that she'll look like she's gained weight and we won't have to go back to the cardiologist.  As another alternative, I was thinking of feeding her as usual and actually getting an accurate picture of the situation...it's still up for debate.

It sure is different having a little baby! Isaiah was into 9 month clothes at this age and sweet Liza is still happily sporting her 3 month outfits!  The other day I was behind on laundry and Eliza was ahead on blowouts so I had to pull out some of her 6 month clothes to put on her and she was just drowning.  We sure love our little one and hope all will go well with her checkup!

Our outdoorsy boy

Isaiah loves to be outside.  It's not warm enough yet, but I let him out anyway.  I sit on the front porch holding Eliza and he wanders around the yard and plays with the rocks on the walkway.  He and Eliza have also been joining me on lots of walks lately.  He loves it when he sees airplanes fly by.  There is also some road construction on our walk and he just stares and stares at all the heavy equipment.  The other evening Zay wanted to go on a walk, so I put Eliza in the stroller but he didn't want to get in.  He walked and I assumed he'd jump into the stroller after a few minutes, but he walked the whole time.  He made it just over a mile, which took over an hour, but when you consider the little guy covers only about 3 inches per stride, that's not such a bad pace!

Big brother

Every month I take a picture of Eliza on this blanket in the same onesie and with the same doll next to her so that you can see how she's grown. (Check back once she's a year old to see my version of time-lapse photography!) Anyway, this time Zay wanted in on the action. He obediently laid down on the blanket, and after I commented on how big he was, he stretched out even taller. What a couple of cuties we have!