Great News!

We visited Catherine's cardiologist at Hopkins today. Catherine had an EKG and she was sedated for an echocardiogram. Her cardiologist said that based on the pictures taken during the echo she is very pleased with the results of the surgery. Catherine no longer has to take any medications and we can wait 3 months before returning to see the cardiologist. What a relief! It has been a little over a year since we found out about Catherine's congenital heart defect. It's hard to believe that everything is looking good right now and for the first time since Catherine was one week old we don't have to worry about any meds for her. We also no longer need to measure and keep record of every bottle that she has. So many welcome changes for us!

Catherine also visited her pediatrician this week for her 9 month check-up. She has gained about a half of a pound in the past 2 weeks. The doctor said that even though her weight gain has slowed she still gained a good amount of weight between her 6 month check-up and now. The doctor also said that it was time to start giving Catherine food. So we have started feeding Catherine rice cereal along with squash. I have some pictures that I'll post later. Overall, the feedings are going pretty well considering she doesn't seem to care for squash. Dave is planning on trying sweet potatoes tomorrow, hopefully she'll like that taste a little better.

Christopher continues to be a wonderful big brother. He wants to help feed his sister and he is always worried about where she is and what she is doing. Recently Christopher told Catherine, "you are the best baby sister."

Happy New Year!

For the past week and a half or so our darling little girl has not been sleeping through the night. We understand that she is a baby but waking up this often was so unlike her and especially since she is 8 1/2 months old. Before her surgery and even for the week after we were home Catherine would sleep from 11 p.m. to about 6 a.m. with no problem. She has been waking up around 11, then 2, then 4:30, and sometimes she wants to stay up at 4:30/5:00. We thought that maybe this was due to hunger. So we thought that we would try to fill her up as much as possible during the day. On Tuesday, Catherine had her first food from a spoon and she did great! She ended up having three servings of rice cereal that day. Although she did well eating the cereal it did not help her sleep through the night. So we started to think that maybe she wasn't feeling well. She had been congested in the mornings and needed her nose suctioned out but after it was cleaned out she seemed to be fine until the next morning. On Friday we decided it was well worth the $15 co-pay to get the pediatrician's opinion.

Catherine's pediatrician seemed to think that even though her lungs sound good, she has an upper respiratory infection. So she prescribed an antibiotic to be taken for 10 days. So far Catherine has had 6 doses over the past three days. It seems to have helped a little so far. Her nose was not so clogged this morning and she slept better last night.

While we were at the doctor's office Catherine was weighed. I'm so excited, she now weighs 13 pounds 4 ounces. She gained 29 ounces in 18 days! From the time Catherine was born until her surgery she gained about a half ounce a day. Now she has gained about an ounce and a half a day. It's amazing that she is gaining 3 times as much weight in a day. I wonder if she'll keep up at this pace or if she'll slow down a bit. Our next visit to the pediatrician will be on January 19th for Catherine's 9 month check-up.

After being out of work for four weeks to care for Catherine and celebrate the holidays, I will return to work tomorrow. I will truly miss being "mom" during the day but I know that the children will be in good hands with Dave. Christopher also returns to school tomorrow, and his regular routine with Pop. My Dad picks him up in the morning, takes him to school, picks him up from school, then they spend the afternoon together. They will be working on taking down the Christmas decorations tomorrow. Christopher loves to be a helper and do chores, he is in charge of feeding our dog Sally twice a day. He is such a good boy and a loving big brother. We are so lucky to have two wonderful children! I know that may sound sappy but after seeing a little boy lose his life (in the PICU while Catherine was in the hospital) it really makes us feel grateful and very blessed for what we have.