Big Helper

She loves feeding...and it gives me free hands to pump!
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Heart Talk

Isaac's echo went well this morning. There were 4 issues they were concerned about from his first echo at 3 days old.
1. Mild Peripheral Pulmonary Stenosis. This is the 2 valves that go from the heart to each lung. They should form a "Y" shape or even a right angle, but Isaac's are at an acute angle. It's fairly common in infants because everything is so squished up in there. More than likely he will outgrow this by the time he's one. It isn't causing any problems, so no cause for concern. We'll do another echo in three months to check on it.
2. At birth, he had a moderate Atrial Septal Defect-a hole in the right atrium that babies have in-utero. Usually closes up by birth, but Isaac's hasn't. However, it's already shrunk quite a bit so the cardiologist was very encouraged by that. Again, no cause to worry-check it again in 3 months.
3. He also had small Patent Ductus Arteriosis. Basically a hole in a valve above his left atrium. That is gone!
4. He also has an acceleration of blood flow in his aortic artery. It isn't significant enough to cause concern, so we'll follow up on that in 3 months as well.
I really like both the cardiologist & his nurse practitioner. He said there is no reason to worry about any of these issues. They are all common in babies and they usually outgrow them by a year, sometimes five. So, praise the Lord! Thank you for praying for us!
Oh yes, he weighs over 9 lbs already!!! Big sister loves to walk around holding him (she's not allowed off the carpet!) And Isaac loves it when she sits in front of the Christmas tree so he can see the lights!

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Prayers...

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 11:30 Isaac has his follow up echocardiogram to check the heart murmur. Please pray that everything will be just as it should be, that the valve will be perfectly closed as it should be. Anna and Jacob (especially Jacob) have yucky colds, so Aaron is staying home with Jacob instead of coming with me (we didn't want to spread the germs to anyone else's kids!).

On an exciting note, Anna's school Christmas program is tomorrow evening! And she gets to stay at school ALL DAY (and eat lunch at school!!) since they're practicing pretty much all day. AND they get to ride a bus to the college to practice. She's a little nervous about staying all day, but she's really excited about the play! If I can get my computer working again, I'll have pictures (and hopefully video!) to post.

Sweet Dreams

Isaac must have some pretty sweet dreams-he always smiles, along with a dozen other expressions! I can't believe I caught his sleepy smile! I've been trying for several days. And with my phone, no less! Usually the flash makes him squint & frown. I can't wait until he smiles "for real" :)
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Improvise

Necessity (or is it desperation?) is the mother of all invention, right? Since all of my makeup & such is in our bedroom, which is also Isaac's "nursery", I had to find some way to get ready that wasn't in the dark! Thus, the blanket over his bed. :) I could have taken everything into the bathroom, but this was much easier!
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Its Beginning to Look...

A lot like Christmas at our house!! Christmas is easily my favorite holiday. Not only for the obvious Reason, but I just love the ambiance of the lights and some of my favorite memories are from Christmases past. I could spend a fortune on decorations :) and I coerce Aaron into putting up lights outside every year. I cannot even fathom not having lights up outside! I guess I come by it naturally if you've ever seen my parents' house! This will be the most challenging year to decorate-with 3 little ones, one who requires a LOT of Mommy (he thinks he's starving after an hour!!) and two big kids who want to help, but then they don't, but then they do... :) And of course not having all my energy back yet. But I'll get it done...for the most part anyway!
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Do What Ya Gotta Do...

To survive some days! Aaron has to work this evening & well...they're not screaming at each other so I don't care!!!
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