Mini Photo Shoot

Elliana has been more alert these last couple of days, so I decided to take advantage and snap some photos.  She is my little mouth breather... her lips are rarely closed.  At this point, she has Daddy's forehead and nose.  Her eyebrows, eye shape, and mouth are more like Mommy's. It's funny because MeeAe pretty much has the opposite features from us.  

Here she is almost 3 weeks old...

First week at home

MeeAe has adjusted so well!  She is such a great big sister!  Mae always has kisses to give her sister.  She has been our little helper, feeding sissy the bottle, checking on her while she sleeps, giving her hugs and love pats.  

She has also started to naturally regress, wanting to be called "Mae Elliana"  This would include sitting in Ellie's car seat, sucking on sissy's soothie, wanting to be swaddled in sissy's blanket, pretending to cry and make noises like sissy, having "tummy time" like sissy, even laying down in the bath like sissy.  It is all light hearted and Mae thinks it's funny.  We are so proud of her and her great attitude.  

Elliana has also adjusted well.  The noisy NICU prepared her well to sleep through noise and talking.  MeeAe and Hiro can run downstairs screaming down the hall and Elliana doesn't even flinch.  She has been quite the eater.  She is taking mostly my milk from the bottle, but we are working on breast feeding.  She gets stronger everyday.  She sleeps the majority of the time, but is starting to have some great awake periods!  She is full of expressions and little grunts.  She seems to be laid back and is very patient.  Ellie communicates mostly by her little grunts and saves her crying for when she is really upset.  It is usually short lived once her need is met.  

We are transitioning well as a family.  Daddy went back to work this week, so it's just us girls at home.  I feel like our family is complete.  :)

Mae in Baby Sissy's car seat (and eating one of Gma's cookies!)

Tummy Time

Sissy seems to tolerate this better than her older sister did

Good 'Active' Session

Team Effort

Our Family of Four

Early Morning Feeding Time

Dancing Pair!

They are so in sync

Starting to be awake more!

Oh yea, Mae wears bibs like baby sissy too

Visitors...

Elliana has started the process of meeting her family and friends.  She has slept through most of the visits, as she generally sleeps most of the time.  She gets that from her mommy. :) 

Sleepy girl

Elliana and Larry (Nana's new husband)

Nana and Elliana

Nana, Ellie, and Larry

Grandma (Great Grandma Sharell)

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Duck

MeeMa

MeeMa and Elliana

MeeAe and MeeMa raking our leaves!

She enjoyed raking, and kept saying "I do it myself"

Mamo (Hiro's great grandma)

Uncle Drew

Auntie Em

Homecoming Day!

Today we finally got to go home!!  The doctor removed the feeding tube on Saturday to test the waters and she started to eat like a champ!  We were so thrilled when we heard that we could go home on Monday if she kept it up!  

It has been a long two weeks, but it was worth Elliana being healthy upon coming home.  The NICU staff was amazing and supportive!  MeeAe was in good hands over the past two weeks and she adjusted so well.  

It has been fun getting to know Elliana.  Her personality is easy going so far.  If she cries, it doesn't last for long once her need is met.  She's a patient baby.  She makes her cute little baby grunting sounds at night and has a 'eh-eh-eh-eh sound' that she makes when being burped. She happily sleeps on her own (Mae didn't do that well until four months) and is pretty content. We'll see how she changes and grows over the next couple of weeks.

We got home during Mae's nap time so we put things away and waited for her to wake up.  Her face lit up when she saw her baby sister for the first time!  Right away she wanted to hold her. She was kissing her, holding her hand and saying that she loved her.  It was very sweet!   Mae even got Elliana to smile a couple of times too.  

We are so glad to be home and ready to start being a family of four. Thanks to everyone for being so supportive and for your prayers! We truly feel blessed with the people we have in our lives and can't wait for everyone to meet our little Elliana.

  

A couple hours away from going home

Getting in a last snooze

Hope she sleeps this good at home

Must have been a good dream

Saying Goodbye to the NICU

Made it back up to her birth weight (4lbs 10oz)

We made it!

Her first tummy time

Didn't seem to complain much

She's such a little peanut

Introducing MeeAe and Elliana

Mae couldn't stop smiling

Such a proud big sissy!

Love that smile

Daddy and his girls

Holding hands

Elliana thinks Mae is pretty funny

So sweet!

Sleeping again

Better than I imagined

Proud Mama!

Daddy has his hands full!

I love my girls!

Mae will make such a wonderful big sister

MeeAe's head is so huge compared to Elliana

So good to be home!

Day 11 in the NICU

The doctor today decided to try feedings without the tube and monitor her intake to see how she does.  So far, she has taken the minimum requirements so we are hopeful. 

It's nice to see her face without a tube and piece of tape.  She has had a total of five tubes down to her stomach from the time she was admitted in the NICU. She was getting so good at pulling them out that we had to put mittens on her hands to "restrain" her.  

She was on a 3 hour eating schedule, and now she gets to call the shots.  We are getting closer to getting her home!  She is almost back at her birth weight too.  

We are more than ready and excited to bring her to Mae and start being a family together.   If she continues to eat well, we will probably get to go home by Tuesday or so.  

Daddy and Elliana

She wasn't in the mood to smile

Clean after another bath

Last picture with her tube

Our sleeping beauty

I love getting to hold her

She is entertaining to watch, 

many facial expressions just like her big sister

Such petite features!

She's making us a present...

Will she sleep this good at home?

Day 8 in the NICU

We have been here in the NICU for a week now with Elliana.  It has been quite the roller coaster ride, having to divide our time between our two girls.  Mae has been in good hands and has been able to be home the majority of the time.  We try to have dinner with her every night and Daddy stays to tuck her into bed.  She has transitioned and adapted so well!  

Little Elliana has been off of phototherapy for a couple of days.  Now, she is working on taking all of her meals with either a bottle or by breast feeding.  She has had a couple of successful meals, but the majority are given to her by a feeding tube (a tube that goes in at her nostril and ends in her tummy).  The doctors think it will be a few more days before she is ready to take all of her meals by mouth.  We could be here through the weekend.  It really depends on Elliana and when she is ready.

It is fun to see some personality show through already. For the most part, she is sleeping most of the time (typical of preemies).   She likes to wake us up in the middle of the night, so we are working on changing that. :) When she is awake, she likes to look around and see what's going on.  Her eyes are like her big sister's. Daddy is a pro at feeding her with a bottle.  They have been getting good bonding time together.  

We have found a rhythm to our current routine.  Elliana has made huge strides. We are looking forward to coming home soon.

Her luxurious incubator bed (made with a heat lamp)

Peeking in at Ellie

Looking up at Mommy

Ellie's cool shades while under phototherapy

Cute hat from the NICU

Daddy feeding her dinner

Another hat from the NICU

and a third hat after we dropped the first two on the floor

Getting ready for her bath

She was quite content

All Clean!

And dressed!

Happy Halloween

Elliana is 3 days old today and has made huge progress!!  She was able to get off the CPAP machine yesterday at noon and has kept her oxygen levels up and is breathing with more ease.  She also has started taking a bottle of formula and whatever breast milk I can give her.  When she is taking larger amounts of liquid with each feeding, then she will get to have her IV out.  

We've gotten to hold her more and to skin to skin.  She also got a nice sponge bath so she is squeaky clean.

Her bilirubin levels were up today (jaundice) so now they have her on phototherapy.  Basically, she is naked with a diaper on and is laying in her incubator with an eye mask on. A special light shines down on her, which will help get rid of the bilirubin.  

We are looking at staying here 3-5 more days.  She has been a trooper and is strong, just like her big sister. We are happy she has done so well.

The video below is when she finished getting dressed after her bath.

Kangaroo Care (skin-to-skin bonding)

A 10 minute break from her CPAP

Taking the bottle

Kisses

Peeking

Sleeping Angel

We took a break from the hospital and went home to spend some time with MeeAe.  Uncle Nat, Auntie Erin and Hiro have been keeping her company.  She has enjoyed time with her Hiro and they have kept each other entertained.  We bought her a Halloween outfit; however, didn't have much luck convincing her to wear it.  Thankfully Auntie Erin found her a Dorothy costume and we made it work.  Hiro was a cute blue monster.  The guys took them out trick-or-treating and they made out like bandits. 

Sushi Hana for Dinner!

Dinner date with Hiro

Little Dorothy

There's No Place Like Home

Kisses from Mommy

Loves from Daddy

HUGS!

and KISSES

They are ready to go!