Thursday, December 22, 2005

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Christmas Tree

Hi all...here's a couple of pictures of our tree. Isn't it awesome? I think so.



This is one of our friends, Cameron XXXXXXXXXX, who said I could put this picture up as long as I didn't reveal his name. Well...Merry Christmas!!!


Oh....and Marcella is up to 8lbs 10oz...pretty big, eh?

Friday, December 16, 2005

Marcella's New Hobby



Today I was having a hard time getting Marcella to go to sleep, and after singing every song I could think of and I ran out of things to say, we decided to read some stories. It was fun watching her look at the pictures and smile. Her favorite book so far is Colori (which means colors, it is an Italian book that Lucia brought us). I hope that she grows up to love reading as much as Grace and Isaac. Have a great Day!

Monday, December 12, 2005

What's for Dinner?


Or I should say WHO's for dinner. We have found that everytime we sit down to eat Marcella wants to eat as well. In order for Jon and I to be able to both eat hot food, we have devised a way for Marcella to be happy while we eat. She loves being on the table. She is able to see everything and loves watching us.



I decided to dress Marcella up for Sunday even though we weren't going to church. I searched her closet for something that might fit her and I tried this. She went from Preemie outfits to a dress that is for 12 months!? It is a little big but she thought it was cute. (Caroline thanks for the tights, i love 'em)



To Grandmothers House we go. Grandma rescues Marcella after Grandpa tries giving her koolaid. She sure is going to be spoiled. We had dinner at Grandmas last night and it was delicious! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Life back to normal

Hey all....Life is pretty much back to normal. I'll be really glad when this semester is over. I'm almost ready to quit school...just kidding. I've just been amazed at the unwillingness of some teachers to work with me around this whole hospital thing. I'll probably get a D out of one class...a paper that was 5 minutes late that she won't accept...well...whatever. I'm not really too concerned about it right now. I know this would kill some of you out there, but I'm just not too concerned about grades. Pretty strange...whatever.

Marcella is up to 7lbs 14oz, pretty good considering she wasn't even seven pounds a couple of weeks ago. She eats like a maniac now. She'll nurse for half an hour, then eat three ounces of formula...do that every three hours or so. It's really amazing and a little humbling to watch her grow like this. Before we'd do all we could think of...spending an hour trying to get her to eat two ounces of formula, only to have her spit it up. Now it's like she's decided to fatten up for the Christmas Feast...seeing as she was pretty small when we tried to have her for Thanksgiving.



I've got a couple of pictures to share with you guys, so here goes:


Kristin took this when it started snowing over Thanksgiving. Really nice.


This is Lizzie....I'm sure some of you don't recognize her, but it really is her. Kristin took this picture, too.


My pretty wife!!

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Biopsy results

We got the biopsy results back, and the doctor said there was a lot of inflammation, most likely from chronic colitis, probably a result from the milk allergy. So it looks like Kanien is going to have a very sad Chocolate Free Christmas...and I'll join her for most things, but I'm still going to eat cheese. So all of you who were planning on sending multiple bars of swiss chocolate (or Hershey's), please refrain until February.

Monday, December 05, 2005

A few more hospital pictures

Here are just a few more hospital pictures for you guys.

Watching the mobile...she really liked it.


...still watching...


..looks at Kanien...


...looks at Dad...


...shot of the mobile...


smiling baby


even more smiles



...after her colonoscopy...When she woke up, she was so mad at that oxygen tube...she kept pulling at it and rubbing her head into the bed. I just took it off without really asking the nurse if I could or not. Then she said I could do it.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

We're Home!


As Owen likes to say. It has been the best 7 hours of my life! I am so glad to be home. When we got here everything was a mess and it took a bit to get it all in order, but we now have Christmas decorations up and have officailly watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas. So we are ready for it to come. I just wanted to Thank all of you for everything that you have done for us. It really has meant a lot. It is so great to have such wonderful Family and Friends. I don't know what we would have done without you. Thank you for fasting and praying for Marcella, we have truly been blessed and are grateful to the Lord for all that has transpired. I know it is because of your prayers that we are home today.

Just to fill you in case we haven't been able to talk to you, Marcella has C-diff. (clostridium difficile) It is a bacteria that everyone has, but she has too much of it, so we are treating it with Antibiotics. The only problem is, is that they tried two things as once, me going on this diet and finding out about the bacteria, so they are not sure which one is working. So the Dr. wants me to stay on my diet (which consists of eating fruits, veggies, and meat) for two months. Doesn't that stink. If I am not down to 120lbs by the end of it, she (the doctor) is going to get it. :)

Marcella is still one happy baby girl. It is truly amazing how happy she is. Did I mention that she is up to 7 lbs 7 ounces! It is amazing because in 6 days she gained 13 ounces. Almost a full pound. Thanks again for eveything. Jon and I feel very blessed to have all of you in our lives. We love you!

Thursday, December 01, 2005

More pictures...

I don't have much time for an update, but here are a few neat pictures.

Kanien's diet is the only major change...her stomach seems softer since she's started just the formula...so we're really hoping it's just an allergy. We haven't heard back from the second sweat test, but there are some pictures from it below.

She still smiles a lot!


Here's a picture of her looking at her mobile, she really likes it. I guess we'll have to pick one up after we get out of the hospital.


Sweat test...those are heating pads on her arms.


She looks pretty sad...


At least she got a nice lollipop....errrr...binky!!