Grandaddy visits

My dad came to Houston for a few days this week and got to see Lia in person for the first time since she was in NICU. It was a great visit and Lia had so much fun spending time with her Grandaddy!!

Lia rolling over!!

Well, we knew of course that Lia was advanced, but she proved it to me a few minutes ago by rolling over for the first time on her activity gym : ) We decided to get it out to see if she might like a little tummy time and after only a few minutes she rolled over! So, I grabbed my camera and put her back on her tummy and she did it again (a little slower the second time around, but she made it!) Here is the video and a few pics...

Another obstacle...protein allergy

Poor little Lia, we just can't seem to get her well. Last week she started having blood in her poopy diapers. We went to the doctor on Thursday and she diagnosed Lia with a protein allergy. We had to switch her to hypoallergenic formula and I now have a very restricted diet (no dairy, eggs, red meat, nuts, corn, soy, or wheat - so I am eating lots of salad and veggies, oh how I miss my cheese!) We have read that it can take up to 2 weeks for the blood to go away now that we've implemented this new diet. We have an appointment for Sept. 25th to see a gastrointestinal specialist. If her symptoms totally clear up before that we may be able to cancel the appointment, but so far there has been no change. This condition is very common in babies though, so we are not overly concerned. Let's just hope things clear up over the next 2 weeks. I will keep you posted!

Hanging out...

With Daddy by the pool:


With Mimi:


With Mama:

Aunt Rachel's visit

Rachel came to Houston to meet Lia this weekend. She arrived on Friday and left Sunday. We had a wonderful time. It was great to see her as always, and Lia loved meeting her Aunt Rachel! Here are some pics from the weekend.

Lazy Sunday afternoon with Daddy

Just watching a little golf and NASCAR with Daddy on our favorite chair...

I think I look like my mom...

We got our mom's to give us pictures of me and Philip as babies. After looking at them both, we can see that Lia has lots of her daddy's traits, but she's pretty much a spitting image of her mom at that age. The top one is Philip, the other two are Katie. Take a look and decide for yourself!

Dinner at Sage's house

Last night we went over to Ryan and Keri's house to eat dinner. Natalie and Casey also came with their son Ashton. We got to see Mack and Jenny, Dustin, and Jeff and Beth too. It was nice to see some of our friends and get out of the house! Lia got all dressed up for her "dinner date" with Sage! We all had a great time!

Miller after surgery

Poor Miller had major surgery on Tuesday for his torn ACL. He tore his ACL back in April at the beach and we finally figured out that's what the problem was after first treating him with pain pills and taking x-rays to check for hip dysplasia which was the original diagnosis from the vet. Our vet ended up sending his xrays to Gulfcoast Orthopedic and they were able to diagnose the problem correctly. They had to cut his bone and put a metal plate in his leg to fix the problem, which was caused by a weird angle in his joint that he was just born with. He came home yesterday with a soft cast that will stay on until Saturday and a morphine patch that helps the pain but makes him feel disoriented. He is supposed to wear a cone on his head for the next 2 weeks when he will go back for a post op check up and will hopefully be cleared to walk around a little more. Until then, we have to keep him really still. Of course, I can't take seeing him run into things with that cone on, so we have taken it off during the day when we can watch him closely and it just goes back on at night so he can't get to his leg while we aren't watching. It breaks my heart to see him hobble outside to go to the bathroom! And last night at about 2 am he got stuck backwards trying to get in his crate with his cone on his head and I had to practically crawl in the crate with him to get him turned around which resulted in him falling down on his hurt leg - it was a long night! It should take 6-8 weeks for a full recovery, so we've got a bit of a long road ahead, but when it's all over his leg should be good as new. Needless to say, last night and today have been a little tough with watching him and listening to him whine constantly on top of little Lia's crying : ( Thankfully its almost the weekend so Philip will be able to help a lot on Saturday and Sunday. We can trade off so neither of us has to handle both Miller and Lia at the same time! And my mom is coming back to town on Sunday, which will provide me with some much needed relief and help me get caught back up on some things around the house and get a few more naps in :) Here are a couple photos of Miller from last night...

Water bill...

Here is a video of our newest discovery - Lia is fussy usually starting at about 6:00 every night and she just doesn't want to go back to sleep after she eats. We figured out that the sound of the bath puts her right to sleep. After hours of tears the other night, we ended up rolling her bassinet right up to the tub, turning the water on and letting her get some sleep for a couple of hours (and yes the water has to be running the whole time, if we turn it off she wakes up crying all over again.) I'm sure our water bill is going to be enormous, but we just don't care at this point, anything to get her to sleep!

4 weeks old! and a few pics...

Today Lia is 4 weeks old! She's growing fast and now measures 21 inches and weighs 8 lbs 4.5 oz. and that hair just keeps getting longer!

Here is a photo of Lia hanging out with the boys, Sage and Colt. She wasn't very happy about being on the floor : )

This picture is from July 31st which was our 5th wedding anniversary. Lia stayed with my mom while Philip and I enjoyed dinner out at Perry's - we had much to celebrate and be thankful for!!

Healthy girl!

Yesterday, we had an appointment with the pulmonary specialist to double check that everything had cleared up and that Lia was healthy. He ordered another set of chest x-rays and blood work to check her CRP levels again, so we went straight from the appointment over to the hospital to have the tests and x-rays done. The doctor was able to review the results immediately, and we were thrilled to get a call from him yesterday evening to tell us that her lungs were clear on the x-rays and her CRP was only .2!! He sees no need for a follow-up visit and gave her a clean bill of health!! We are so glad to have all that behind us, and to be reassured the Lia is ok. Here is a picture of her getting her chest x-rays.

She was such a good patient. And this time I didn't even cry when they drew blood (she of course was pretty upset, but I held it together and was able to settle her back down really quickly once it was over.) So, we don't have to go back to the doctor until September 10th when she will get her 8 week vaccinations. We have a few weeks at least before we have to worry about that!!!

Settling in at home

Lia will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, and we are starting to get settled into a routine at home. Mom left on Sunday, so this is my first week doing it alone. I am already behind with the laundry after only 2 days! We had Lia's 2-week appointment last Wednesday. She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and had grown an inch, now she's 20.5 inches long! Her hair is also growing pretty fast. Here is a picture of her after a nap - she had a full mohawk going on : ) The next photo shows her little belly button. The umbilical cord fell off last night and she just has a small scab left. The last is of her snuggled up in her papasan chair in the living room. That's one of the few times she has been content sitting in it. So far, she isn't a fan of that chair or her swing. She seems to prefer laying flat in her bassinet. Our doctor referred us to a pulmonary specialist to check Lia's breathing again just to be on the safe side. We think she is doing so much better, but it will put my mind at ease to get a check up and clean bill of health from the specialist. That appointment will be soon. I will keep you posted on how it goes.