Of Pools and Spoons

Elena having fun in her grandparents' pool.  A giant bathtub!  What fun!

She didn't want to stay in the boat - she wanted to be IN the water.

She loves it!

Starting Juliana on baby food - she says "Gimme dat food!!!"

Such pretty eyes!

Such a cute smile!  Messy, but cute.

June has been a blur.  We have spent the entire month at hospitals or doctors visits.  All the major surgeries (that we know about) are over and both girls are recovering nicely.

Elena still has arm restraints on often to prevent her from putting her fingers in her mouth (oral surgery) and is on a liquid diet.  It is very pitiful - she knows we are eating better food than her Pediasure milkshakes.  She will start making "om-nom-nom-nom" chewing faces when she sees and smells food, and will point at our food and sign "more" and "eat" but to no avail.  It will be great when we can move her back to mushy food and then back to solid foods.  Elena is a foodie in training and so having her choices be reduced to 1) Vanilla  2) Strawberry has been hard on her.  She knows she is not supposed to put her fingers in her mouth.  If we catch her with her fingers in her mouth, we fuss at her and put her arm restraints (her "no-nos") back on.  If she catches herself putting her fingers in her mouth, she signs "no" and "stop" to herself and will try to put her "no-nos" back on.

Juliana is recovering nicely from open heart surgery.  She has a big lump at the incision site, but the surgeon said this was normal considering how little nutrition before.  The surgeon was thrilled with how well she is progressing.  Juliana "talks" and babbles a lot more.  She eats a lot better and is getting stronger by the day.  She is still on a little bit of oxygen for her pulmonary hypertension.  Keeping the oxygen in her nose is a constant battle, as she delights in yanking the cannula out of her nose.    Even when it is taped down to her face, she still pulls it loose. She is close to crawling - she can flip over and roll to objects she wants.  She is getting better at sitting in a formed chair.  Her other hobby is yanking Kelly's hair.  She will wrap Kelly's hair in her soft little baby hand and then clamp down like an industrial vise.