Happy New Year!

My 1st Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year. It was a very fun one for us celebrating Eli's first. Rafe had a five day break from work so we got a lot of play time in with him and got to go see some of his family also. My mom and I got to do our Christmas Eve tradition of going downtown and walking Michigan Ave and the weather was great so Eli joined us as well.

On to the main topic, Eli, he is doing great! This coming Friday Jan. 6th he is going in for another cardiac catheterization and more than likely a stent will be placed in his left pulmonary artery (LPA).  When we did his post surgery follow up with Dr. Husayni, the pediatric cardiologist, we had a three hour appointment that included two echo's. They found that his LPA was being compressed by a larger artery so they are worried about it and want to check it out better and fix if necessary. If a stent is placed he will spend the night at Hope and have an xray and echo in the morning. There are of course risks and it is always scary when they are put under sedation and intubated. I worry about his throat and vocal cords.

My Un-Birthday! 6 months old

We saw his speech and physical therapist right before the holidays and they were happy with his progress. He has great neck control now and we are slowly working on sitting up and back strength. He eats rice cereal and baby food once a day and LOVES it! His bottom two teeth are about to pop out any day now and is currently causing him a lot of pain. Eli has such a wonderful personality and could spend the day laughing and smiling. He loves to stomp his legs down while laying on his back. I think he enjoys the boom it makes because he sure has some strong legs. He loves to grab and shake things and has learned that his toes exist and that they are fun to grab. He is a major flirt also. Oh yeah he also learned how to blow raspberries and is working on kissing us on the cheek.

New Years Eve!

For this new year I am hoping for nothing but progress and wonderful new adventures in Eli and our lives. He is such a smart kid and brings so much happiness to our world.