Rolling Over!

This weekend has been fun so far.  We've hit food carts on two occasions already this weekend, and today's lunch at the carts on Division and 30-something was awesome.  Korean BBQ tacos and some jalapeno topped macaroni and cheese!  Yum!  Cora enjoyed being toted around in her car-seat and stroller as we hit a handful of yard sales.

And Little Cora Bean surprised us by FINALLY starting to roll over.  She's doing it from tummy to back, and only when she has enough energy.  I really wanted to get a better video of it, but this was the only one she let me get this morning, and she did it right away with no warm up.  But afterward she just decided to lay down during tummy time, so it was a no go.

Even so, I thought I'd post the evidence of her new skills.



She is also spending way more time being happy on her tummy, which is great. And she's using her hands like crazy. She loves to grab our noses and cheeks and faces, as well as her own face. She is playing with toys, reaching and overall just impressing us with her talents.

What a little lovie girl!

Cora Meets Kai

 The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind.

Miss Cora and I went to Victoria for Grandma Avelle's first funeral, along with a good portion of the family.  Although my family has the talent for having fun in almost any situation, it was very sad to say goodbye to a woman who has been so important in our lives.  I kept expecting her to just walk in the room.  Instead we told stories of her antics over the years.  Such a hilarious woman, such a loving woman.  I can't believe how much I miss her already.  It was fun to talk to my cousin Cara about her recent conversations with Grandma about little Cora.  She told me that they spent about half an hour talking about Cora, and laughing at her photos and our descriptions of her little personality.  I've been told many times how much she was looking forward to meeting her new great grand-daughter, as well as her new great grand-son (my nephew, Kai).  I guess now I am grateful that she gets to see us all from above and that she won't be missing out.  But I know that we will certainly be missing out.

Part of the time in Victoria was spent going through her apartment and sorting her things.  Toward the end of a long day, my aunts decided to pass on to me one of my grandmother's precious possessions:  a pair of sweet little baby shoes that she has lovingly saved since her last baby grew out of them almost 50 years ago.  Each of her children wore the shoes and she kept them polished and stowed safely away. 

And beautifully, they fit Cora's little feet.  What a precious gift.  I hope to be able to keep them in the family as long as she did.

The trip was not without its joys too.  I got to meet my nephew Kai for the first time.  He is older than Cora by 4 days.  Quite something that the first babies among my siblings decided to arrive in the same week.  And because my sister Erin lives all the way across the country in Vermont it's been difficult to arrange a visit before now.  We were (and still are) planning to go to Christina Lake, BC at the end of June/early July to celebrate my Grandma Avelle's 80th, so that would have been their first meeting.  Now the long weekend will be to celebrate her life. The cousins will get another chance to play.  It will be fun to see how different they'll be in a few short weeks.  Already the development is happening so quickly.

The little cousins had some fun together for sure.  Totally fascinated and interested in one another, they got to have their first swims, spend time together in the playpen and just hang out.  Kai was totally enamored of Cora, getting so excited about her that he'd start shaking.  So so sweet.  And both cousins were admired by the relatives.

Now we're getting ready to enjoy a weekend here in Portland.  Planning to hit some food carts, take some walks, and get in some good play time since Daddy is done with school for the quarter (woo hoo!)

Farewell

You may wonder why there aren't a lot of pictures of a smiling Cora on these pages.  I wish there were more.  She is actually quite the smiley little charmer.  And lately her smiles have been getting more brilliant, adorable and hilarious.  She has been accompanying them with coos and goos of delightful cuteness, with little squinky eyes and her sweet baby love.  But of course, the second I point the camera at her, she looks at the camera.  And that darn camera doesn't make her smile.  Yet.  So for now most of her ridiculously addictive smiles are for me and Nick.  I guess I can't complain about that.

 Today those smiles have meant a lot.  Because I haven't felt much like smiling.  But Cora has persisted, in true Cora fashion, grinning at me through my tears.  Today my Grandma passed away.  It wasn't expected.  All year we have been looking forward to early July for Grandma's 80th Birthday, and getting excited for Cora to meet her great-grandmother, along with the rest of my mother's side of our crazy, wacky, and amazing family.

My Grandma was quite the woman.  Always so full of fun, humor and love, and willing to not only put up with, but enjoy, and even out-party the rest of us.  There is so much to say about her.  And about how very loved she has been by so many people.  How much I admire and respect her.  How much I wanted her to be able to hold my little baby.  But all the words don't quite seem sufficient. She has been so wonderful since Cora arrived, calling every few weeks to see how Cora, Nick and I have been doing.  Even going to the library to check out books on Down syndrome to learn about what to expect with her new grand-baby.  It's so hard to believe she won't be around any longer.

So I send my love to my sweet Grandma.  I know that you are with God now.  I wish you peace.  I hope for peace for the rest of us, because life will be less bright without you.

I love you, Grandma Mac.

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

A Perfect Repair

We are very excited to report that Cora went for her post-surgical follow up at the cardiologist's today and is doing great!  Her oxygen saturation is 100%,which is perfect for a normal healthy heart, and wonderful for a repaired heart.  Her doctor originally wanted her at 92% or above.  He said that her incision is healing well, and that the small scab remaining should heal just fine.

She had an EKG and an echocardiogram, and then he told us that her repair was perfect.  There is no valve leakage, which is incredible, since valve leakage with this type of surgery is fairly common and will often require future monitoring, and even another surgery, in some cases. But he said that everything looks great and she should most likely not need any other procedures for her heart, ever.  What incredible news.  The only thing we have to do is give her antibiotics before any procedures done in the next 5 months, and then nothing beyond that.  She will follow up in 6 months, and then probably only every couple of years after that.

It's hard to believe that my "heart baby" is going to have a healthy heart from here on out.  When she was born, the prospect of surgery seemed so removed, and the process of waiting and then going through it seemed so scary.  When we were told that she would go into heart failure and we would need to watch for those signs it sounded so big and so looming.  And in the NICU when they put her on diuretics the first time it was still such a shock for me, that her heart problems were starting so soon.  So hard to believe that they are already behind us.  We even get to stop her heart medication today.  Imagine a baby that will be off medication for the first time.  So thrilling.

During our conversation, the cardiologist again referred to the fact that she was in such significant heart failure before surgery.  This doesn't mean that the heart has stopped working.  It means that the heart can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs.  Lack of oxygen, pulmonary edema, and the pulmonary hypertension that result are the life-threatening results.  I know of another mother whose precious daughter's life was cut short at 4 months old as a result of the hypertension, most likely from waiting too long for surgery.

Thinking of this, I feel a sharp pang in my own heart, remembering how the skin at Cora's ribs sucked in with each breath, how fast and labored her breathing was, how pale her skin, how much she fought to eat barely half of what she needed to grow, how she gagged and wretched, fighting to keep her food down.  And I know that in another time my girl would not even be alive right now.  That even if she hadn't already starved from her inability to eat, her body would have given out and she wouldn't even be with us.  And I am so, so grateful for the medical care, for the surgeon, the doctors, the nurses, the medication, and the equipment that have saved my baby's life.  Because now we get to "treat her like any other baby," and watch her grow and thrive and live.

And we get to watch her smile, laugh (Yes, she started laughing yesterday), talk, coo, and practice holding her head up while sitting, stare for hours at her feet, learn to use those sweet little hands, and continue to captivate and charm us on a daily basis.  Every day really is so precious with her.  I know that soon enough, the days of fear and of watching her struggle just to breathe will be in the distant past.  We will get to have a lifetime to get to know her and to enjoy her and to help her overcome the other hurdles that will present themselves as she grows.

Thank goodness for it all.

Naptime Strikes

We are thankful that Cora sleeps through the night. She still has a mid-way feed, for which she rarely opens her eyes. And she sleeps until 7:30 or 8:00 every day, which is pretty good.

But the naps are tricky. She just doesn't seem to want to miss anything so she fights hard to stay away awake. She falls asleep at the breast every time, but wakes up so soon that I can't call it a nap. I imagine if I could sit and hold her through the whole thing it might work, but my need to get things done tends to discourage me from doing that. Occasionally she'll sleep in the Moby wrap, but even that's tricky.

Yesterday, Mother's Day, was another nap fighting day for her. And consequently, a grumpy day for her. Our attempts to capture me and Cora on camera weren't very successful either, partly due to Cora's grumpy face, and partly due to the fact that I hate pictures of me. I blame it on Nick's pictures, but the blame should probably go to my face, or my Mommy hairstyle that hasn't been touched in 6 months. Another raincheck for pictures of the two of us.

We spent Mother's Day largely holed up at home, doing a minimum of chores, and enjoying a lazy day together.

Cora, finally crashed out after her shenanigans.

Today Little Miss has been fighting sleep yet again. I tried a little bit of a "whine-it-out" session in the swing until her quivering lower lip threatened a real meltdown.

Then I rocked her to sleep and tried to transfer her to her bed, when BING! her eyes popped open again. I put her down anyway and left, turning on the monitor, ready to go pick her up when her complaining got too loud, but she is actually sleeping! Feels like such a victory!!

So funny how significant a nap can seem. And not even my own nap. But it feels like a grand break, indeed. And hopefully when Little Girlie awakens, her case of the grumps will have resolved.

Ah, she's up.  Well, at least that was 20 minutes of sleep.  The grumps may reign again yet.

The Unbearable Cuteness of Bean

Cora having a little tummy time on Daddy's chest from his perspective. Too cute!