Six Months Old

Look alike?  I see more and more similarities
between these two

Wow, has it really been six months? That's what I tend to ask myself when I look back on our lives since Sloan joined us. What a wild ride it has been. This past half a year has flown by and creeped by at the same time. It's been such a challenging and rewarding experience, one that reminds me each and every day how blessed I am and what an amazing little girl we have!

Let's kick things off with Sloan's Six Month Stats:

- Weight: 15lbs, 12 oz (Her cereal twice a day seems to be helping to add some extra pounds!)

- Height: 2ft, 3in

- Milestones/Personality: Two teeth popped out since surgery, the bottom two to be exact. Sloan started teething prior to surgery (we could tell by all her drooling) and then after surgery she seemed to be in fast forward as they came in very quickly. I keep saying surgery has made her grow up, heehee. We've started to play peek-a-boo and she'll giggle and laugh at us. She also laughs at brother when he dances for her. Developmentally she seems to be on track cognitively but is still physically week. She has started rolling over from her stomach to her back again but hasn't ventured to really do her back to her stomach. Funny how she'll roll the way that gets her out of tummy time - the activity she despises the most. We've been working with her on rolling and sitting so hopefully those are to come soon.  Sloan also has discovered a new face & noise - she'll scrunch up her nose and start to breathe really hard till she gets a good laugh out of you. We've made a fun game out of it and we'll do it back to each other.  Here is a picture so you can get a visual on this one.  

My new funny face & noise.

I wasn't too happy with my mom when she was taking this picture,
but it is the best one to see my two teeth!

On the cardio front, we had a check up appointment with Dr Grifka this month and everything went well - we received a great report! When I arrived, and met with his team, I was able to spend some time with them talking about Sloan's surgery.  They actually both were able to go in and view Sloan's surgery so as you can imagine I had a laundry list of questions for them.  They told me that it was a very calm environment in the OR and that Dr Bove maybe looked up two times total during the procedure. There were maybe nine people total in the room, Dr Bove, his fellow, Dr Gifka's staff, a professor from Japan, anaesthesiologist, OR nurse and a few others. They had said that after the procedure was done, and the heart was beating again, that Dr Bove then spent time making sure everything was perfect - cleaned up any bit of fluid, cleaned up her scar, etc.  I adore that he's a perfectionist and seems to love and care for our little girl as much as we do.  When he was done, they said folks tried to speak with him but he expressed that the first thing he needed to do was speak to the Kyle and I.  How amazing is that!? He was worried about us - I cannot get over what a special person he is.

So all in all, we are wrapping up our past six months feeling really good and excited to kick off the next six (and many more) as a happy. loving family of four!

Hugs from big brother!

 

Stay-cation

Tomorrow will be two weeks since we've been home and three weeks since Sloan's latest surgery. She's been doing so well since we got home, and I can see each day that she's getting more and more back to herself. Kyle and I took off last week from work to settle back in at home (our stay-cation) and try to get Sloan back to some sort of a routine. It's amazing how one week in the hospital can put all of us out of whack! We had a few rough sleepless nights when we first got home, felt like we were back in the newborn stage. I think she may have been having those hemi headaches that everyone talks about. Now she seems to be sleeping more comfortably, we even have had a few recent nights where she hasn't woke up once!

During our week at home, we also were able to spend some wonderful time together as a family.  The weather was beautiful here in South Haven so we tried to take advantage of getting out for walks as much as we could.  We also had a few exciting developments for Sloan last week, she has one tooth that has popped through on the bottom (this could also be why she's had some rough nights) and we started her on oatmeal cereal.  She LOVES her cereal.  I was surprised how quickly she caught on to chewing and swallowing.  Hopefully the cereal will also help her pack on some pounds - she's a skinny little thing!

Later this month we go to see our cardiologist for a check up and Sloan will be evaluated again by a therapist to see if we need a little extra help with her development.  I'm eager to see how each of these appointments go!  I've noticed that she's a bit weak physically but mentally I am seeing her continue to grow & develop.

Here are a few fun photos from this last week:

I've discovered my feet, and am LOVING them!
I can't keep them out of my hands....or my mouth

Yummy, finally something other than formula - OATMEAL

Baking cookies with mom during our stay-cation

First time in my bathing suit.  Wasn't able to get out of the stroller
at the beach and feel the sand, but at least I was fashionable riding

Brother jumping on the rocks at the beach with daddy

It was a perfect week to break out the pool for Drake and he loved it...
especially when daddy got in with him :)

Big girl in my high chair!

You Won't Believe Where We Are Posting This From....

Happy baby being released!

....because I barely believe it myself!  We are HOME!  We were discharged yesterday morning and out of the hospital by early afternoon.  I hadn't mentioned anything about how close we were to getting out as I didn't want to jinx anything, but the plan this week was to leave Wednesday as long as Sloan passed one last x-ray on Wednesday.  And she did, with flying colors!

It's hard to believe that we are already home just one week after open heart surgery.  What an amazing little girl we have, she continues to inspire me.  Our plan now is to get in some much needed family time, celebrate the Fourth of July and get back to our routine.

Here are some quick photos from yesterday.

We are leaving....and not looking back!

Waiting in the lobby for dad, still cannot believe
one week from this photo she had surgery.  

Doing Well!

It's been a few days since I posted, so apologies for that, but on the flip side - things have been going really well for Sloan.  She has been recovering nicely and each day we see she's beginning to act more and more like herself.  Yesterday she had her chest tubes removed and she was taken off of the monitors.  HUGE step!  Since she's now not hooked up to anything we've been able to take lots of stroller rides.  Here's a few pictures over the past 3 days of us on a stroller ride.  I feel like in each one you can see how much more comfortable she is.

Sloan had a x-ray and echo this morning and both looked great.  Her x-ray is clear and her echo showed normal heart function and trivial valve leakage.  Now we just wait for hopefully more good news in the near future (hint hint...I'll let you guess what that good news would be so I don't jinx myself).