Isabella Danielle, born at 24 weeks and 1 day, 1lb 11oz, 12.5in

Zachary Michael, born at 36 weeks, 5lb 13oz, 18.5in

Alexander Charles, FULL TERM, 7lb 1oz, 20in

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Lazy Sunday

As Miss Bella packs on the pounds, her personality speaks up more and more. We are getting looks and waving of the arms indicating those non-verbal ques are popping into her little head by the second. For instance, when the suction ball goes towards her nose to clear the boogies, she promptly flings those tiny hands and pushes it out of the way...from both directions. So we have taken it as an indication that she is really ready for some interaction. Meaning that Chris gets to be the big kid he is and play with toys...oh sorry, BELLA'S TOYS!!! We have gotten some great interactive, talking/singing toys in the last few days from friends, which Bella has taken a liking to. She also got a pretty awesome swing last week; it swings, vibrates, plays music, and has a mobile. She really enjoys swinging, except when she absolutely wants to be held. Have we mentioned lately that she LOVES attention and being in someones arms. Bella also got to go on her first walk this past week. I took her by myself one day, but yesterday we took her and the dogs to the back pond to play fetch...the puppies had a blast chasing the toy and each other.

As Chris mentioned Friday, overall the doctors appointment went great. When I talked to Dr. Feist, he did mention that some of her blood work other than the bilirubin was elevated and will be reviewed further. Two numbers indicated that there were some elevated enzyme levels. They had taken some extra blood just in case there was a need more tests for chronic problems; the test results should be back in a week. Other than that we are supposed to go see the surgeon at the end of May to observe her hernia(s). We knew they were there when we left Virginia, as she has grown so have they...we aren't quite sure if it is one or two. Dr. Feist seemed to think they looked pretty good even though he felt a surgeon should give the definitive opinion.

Here are some pictures for the week. Peace & God Bless!





7 comments:

The Newlyweds said...

Bella is such a beautiful baby! What a blessing!

S. said...

I can't believe she fits in a baby bjorn! She looks amazing and so happy...Keep up the good work!

Candice said...

Love the one of her tummy being rubbed. Adorable! Isn't it amazing to see them so active after being confined to a NICU crib for so long? Rhys LOVES his Leap Frog Alphabet Ball and the Vtech Move and Crawl Ball. Those are the things that first interested him and he gets so excited to play with them. Hope all is well with you guys.

~Candice, Cody and Rhys

Unknown said...

Seriously, I cannot get over how much Bella looks like you, Machel (sorry, Chris)!!!

I can't wait to see more smiling pictures ... you know she is going to have an absolute killer smile!!

Parker's mom said...

Bella looks amazing! Getting so big! Many, many many kisses from us!

Anonymous said...

Miss Bella has some snazy toys! Mallory did not have anything like that 5 years ago! Give Bella a kiss from us!

Love,
Kim, Jeff, and Mallory

Amy said...

That's excellent that she's seeing Dr. Feist -- he's great! And it's still weird to me that you're back in Texas seeing doctors in Lubbock when we met you here in Cville. All kinds of worlds colliding. :) Bella's so precious -- it's great to see she's doing well. Take care!