Our Silly 5 Month Old!

This silly girl loves to play, especially with her feet. She loves to be bare foot & naked! Page can hold her rattle for extended periods, sit supported, & recognizes familiar faces. Stranger anxiety is starting to set in & she is particularly fond of mommy & daddy ;) Page has started to laugh out loud which has been lots of fun! This little girl is so alert & curious about the world. It's so fun to watch her grow!

Page Laughing :)

Merry Christmas!

Cardiology Appointment

Page had her cardiology appointment with Dr Puntel today. The little one had to miss her afternoon nap but still did a great job! The doctor was impressed by all of her distraction toys. Page laid through the echo while watching Sesame Street & playing with a light up toy. Page's whole is still the same size but this is to be expected. Page weighed 11lbs 11oz at today's appointment. Dr Puntel is not concerned with Page's weight. Yes, she is small but she continues to grow & is hanging on the growth chart. We were please to hear this. We will follow up with Dr Puntel in 6 months unless Page gets a respiratory infection. We hope to keep her healthy! Miss Page was so tired she fell asleep on the drive home & slept for a good hour in her car seat. Its hard work being a baby ;)

Rice Cereal

Page wasn't a fan of the rice cereal in her bottle, so we decided to try it by itself this week. Page didn't really eat it. She mostly just played with it in her mouth & then spit it out, but she didn't hate it. It was probably a strange sensation for her & she still may be a little young. We'll try a few more times & see if we can get Page some extra calories. A few pictures of Page's first solid food experience :)
Here we go

What is this???

This is okay :)

Talking...

This is what it sounds like at our house...

Some Raspberries before Bathtime :)

Talking in the Morning :)

Scooting

Page has started scooting during tummy time. She decided to roll over in this clip, but here is a short scoot!

Appointments

Page had her 2nd Synagis injection last night & her 4 month well check this evening. The Synagis injections are going well. Page will get an injection every 28 days through April to prevent RSV. Page is doing well developmentally & continues to grow. She weighs 11.4lbs (6%), is 24.5 inches long (60%), & her head is 15.75inches (25%). Her weight is low but Dr Valenzuela isn't to concerned. We know that Page has an ASD & despite her tiny size she looks good! We are going to try adding rice cereal to Page's bottles for extra calories. Hopefully, that goes well...Page can be a little particular :) We see the cardiologist Dec 22nd & look forward to hearing Dr Puntel's perspective. Page had a fever at today's appointment (101.3). They swabbed her to rule out the typical viruses & luckily that came back negative. Dr Valenzuela thinks the fever is most likely due to the Synagis injection. We will have to go back in next week for immunizations. Note to self...do not schedule appointments back to back :)

4 Months Old!

We can hardly believe this little lady is 4 months old already! Her 4 month well check is on Friday & we are excited to see how much Page has grown. She has been eating like a champ since starting the Zantac! Page has been talking up a storm this month. She loves making raspberries & babbling (squealing). She has great head control, continues to roll over, & is starting to scoot herself. It won't be long until she's crawling all over the place! Page is so much fun & we look forward to all the next month will hold :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Reflux?

Page visited the pediatrician again today. She has been fussy & not eating well the past few days. It seems like her stomach has been bothering her. Dr Valenzuela was off today, so Page saw Dr Laks. Dr Laks thinks Page might have reflux so she started her on zantac. Page is gaining weight but not as much as they would like to see. We are hoping the zantac will settle her stomach & help her want to eat more :) If things go well, we don't need to follow up until her 4 month well check at the end of the month. I'll leave you with a picture from this morning...

Page in her new bumbo...hmm, isn't a little early for this mom?

What About Patch???

In case you were wondering about our other child...Patch is doing great! As you can see he has adjusted to sharing the house with his little sister. As usual, he likes to be in the middle of whatever is going on. He is really good with Page & is protective of her. He knows her cries & if Page is particularly upset about something, Patch is right there to check out the situation ;)

Page's Baptism

Page got baptised last night! We are so blessed to have this baby girl in our life. We have so many hopes for Page, but most importantly we hope that Page will live a Christian life. We promise to do our part to guide her on her faith journey.

A few pictures...

Page getting baptised
Our family :)

A picture with father John

Page with her parents & godparents

Kelsie's family

Cole's family

Page is so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Thank you to everyone that was there to share her special day!

Rolling...

After a month of not cooperating during tummy time, Page decided today was the day to not only hold her head up, but to roll over on her own! She was so proud of herself & I was a little proud too ;) I made her do it 4 times! The first 3 times she rolled over so fast, I had to have my mom be the videographer. Enjoy...

Happy Halloween!

Page's First Halloween :)

Our Tired Little Skeleton

3 Months Already!

Miss Page is 3 months old already! This little lady loves to smile, make raspberries, mimic, & interact. She is a social butterfly :) Page loves lights...her mobile, toys, & even the television. I foresee TV restrictions in her future! She can grasp her rattle & enjoys shaking it around. I think she might be left handed. She is very strong & does well with holding her head, but refuses to lift it during tummy time. She will however roll from her tummy to her back if I move her arms up above her head.

In other news, we made it through our first week with mommy back at work. It was a big adjustment for all of us, but went really well. Page still doesn't like the bottle, but has been drinking from it all week! I am so thankful for my flexible schedule. I was able to see most of my patients in the mornings & work from home in the afternoons. It made all the difference :)

Our Strong Willed Child...

My mom & I took Page to the doctor yesterday. She had been sleeping more, playing less, & fussy the last couple of days. Monday night she kept touching her right ear, so Cole & I thought she might have an ear infection. Page doesn't have an ear infection. What can I say....she doesn't talk so we had to make sure :) She is probably going through a growth spurt & found her ears! We did have a productive visit with Dr Valenzuela. We talked about Page's dry head, tummy time, the waiting room, & what to do about Page not taking the bottle.

Page really doesn't do much during tummy time. Most of the time she just lays there sucking on her fists. Dr Valenzuela did some tummy time with Page & tried a few things with her. Page was not happy about this & really didn't cooperate. However, Dr Valenzuela isn't concerned since Page is so strong & is able to hold her head. She says it's behavioral. Isn't it too early for that?! On a related note, Page is really maturing socially & doing great with her fine motor skills. She loves to smile, mimic, & interact. She also enjoys holding her rattles & shaking them around.

The respiratory season will soon be here, so Page will start using a private entrance when she visits the office to avoid unnecessary infections. What a relief!

Dr Valenzuela tried to give Page a bottle while we were there. She has lots of experience working with NICU babies & thought she might be successful. Unfortunately, Page did not cooperate. Dr Valenzuela thinks this is behavioral as well. Really?! She called Page a strong willed child & mentioned that she hasn't seen a baby with such a strong preference for mom. With me going back to work next week, Dr Valenzuela doesn't want Page going more than 4 hours without eating. Page is already on the smaller end of the spectrum & eats small amounts frequently, so her not eating is a concern. I will be coming home during lunch to feed her and Cole & my mom will keep trying the bottle. We have a weight check scheduled in two weeks to make sure Page isn't losing any weight.

I am super anxious about going back to work. I wish I could stay home forever. I just love my strong willed child :) At the same time, I am thankful to have a flexible job & my mom taking care of Page. Praying for a smooth transition & successful bottle drinking!

2 Month Appointment

Page had her routine 2 month appointment yesterday. She is doing great! She weighs 9lbs 13oz (25th percentile), is 23 inches long (75th percentile), & her head circumference is 15inches (30th percentile). I couldn't believe Page grew 2 full inches this month! Dr Valenzuela was happy with these numbers since Page is growing consistent with her growth chart! She isn't worried about Page throwing up & attributes the throwing up to her stomach getting too full. Page tends to look to the left & hasn't been using her head as much during tummy time. Dr Valenzuela showed us some neck exercises & wants Page to do 15 minutes of tummy time twice a day (even if she's not happy about it). Miss Page has some serious play & bottle time ahead of her :) We also discussed getting Page out of the house. We still need to be cautious, especially around children, but can start getting out a bit! Page had her immunizations yesterday, so today she has a fever & doesn't feel well. Poor baby! Page's next well child check up is in 2 months, but Dr Valenzuela wants her to get the RSV vaccine to help protect her throughout the respiratory season. I think that sums up our visit. I am so thankful Page is doing well & that we have such a wonderful pediatrician!

Page is 2 Months Old!

Page is 2 months old today! Being sick took a lot out of this little lady this month. Many of her days consisted of mostly eating & sleeping. Within the past week, she really seems to be feeling better & her personality is starting to show. She has done lots of smiling & playing and found her voice. We haven't seen any more rolling, but I foresee a lot of this in the coming month!

Page was full of smiles during her 2 month photo shoot this morning, but the flash can be quit distracting to a 2 month old :)

Page has her 2 month well check with the pediatrician today. I'm hoping that she is at a healthy weight despite the throwing up.

Bath Time

Page is feeling much better, but she is still having feeding issues. She has been throwing up 1-2 times a day & will not take a bottle. We see the Pediatrician on Thursday for her 2 month check up. Poor girl has to get 4 shots!

We do have some wonderful news...my mom will be watching Page for us when I go back to work! We cannot put into words how thankful we are. She is the best :)

I will leave you with a bath time video. Page just LOVES her baths!

Play Time...

Even though Page hasn't been feeling well, she still finds time to play. She loves to play in her activity center. She moves her arms & legs and bats her arms at the toys. Enjoy...

Cardiology Appointment

They detected a murmur during Page's first hospitalization at PCH. The EKG was normal but since an echo wasn't done & Page has had feeding/respiratory issues the Pediatrician wanted a cardiology consult to make sure we weren't missing anything. Page saw Dr Puntel yesterday. They repeated the EKG & did an echo. We found that Page has a moderate Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), 5-6mm, which explains the respiratory issues. This means the wall between the collecting chambers of her heart did not completely close & left a hole. The hole may close on its own but Page can easily acquire respiratory infections. The hole could take 2-3 years to close. This size usually takes 18 months to 2 years, if its going to close on its own. Dr Puntel wants to wait at least a year if possible before doing any surgery. It will all depend on how the respiratory illnesses affect Page. The cardiologist will monitor Page for progress, but does not want her going to daycare. We are looking into different child care options. Anyone interested in watching the little one? At this point, all we can do is wait to see if the hole will close on its own & try to avoid illness!

Another trip to PCH :(

After coming home from the hospital, Page was feeling a little better. She was a bit fussy & not sleeping well, but we thought she was getting better. She had a chest xray after being discharged from the hospital. It showed bronchial irritation a sign of reactive airway disease (aka Asthma). We got a breathing machine at our one month appointment & gave Page a couple treatments. She seemed to be doing well, but 5 days after being discharged from the hospital she started to decline. She had increased secretions, a fever, was lethargic, & had mild respiratory distress. We took her to the pediatrician & were immediately sent to PCH. Page went through another full work up (LP, IV, labs, urine cath, nasal swabs, & chest xray). It was a rough night for all of us, but Page was a trooper! The chest xray showed pneumonia & Page still had an elevated white blood cell count. We were admitted for 3 days & received great care from the pulmonary nurses I used to work with. Page received antibiotics until all of the cultures came back negative. The negative cultures indicate viral pneumonia which most likely developed from the respiratory virus she had the week before. We are now home & Page is doing a little better, but is still not feeling well. She doesn't have much energy & is not eating very well, but seems to be heading in the right direction. We hope she is feeling better soon & never visits the hospital again!

1 Month Old!

Our baby girl turned one month old on Monday August 29th! Even though she hasn't been feeling well, she is growing like a weed! At her one month appointment, she weighed 8lbs 10.5oz (50th percentile), was 21.5 inches long (75th percentile), & her head circumference was 14.5inches (50th percentile). It is fun to watch her develop! Page likes to be held & rocked, energetically moves her arms and legs, & enjoys looking at faces. She has also started to coo, follows moving objects with her eyes, holds her head erect for short periods of time, & smiles all the time (just not purposefully). Page rolled from her back to her side last week & has started teething! The pediatrician says she should have at least 2 teeth by 4 months.

Our big girl...
We can't wait for this little one to be feeling better, so we can really play :)

A Trip to the Hospital :(

Last week we made a trip to the Phoenix Children's Hospital ED. Page had increased secretions in her mouth that were making it nearly impossible for her to sleep. After a couple hours of suctioning, I took her temperature & sure enough she had a fever. She was also lethargic & not eating very well. I called the doctor's office & they recommended using saline nasal drops with suctioning & watching her fever. When the fever went up we had to take her in. Her temperature had gone down by the time we got to the ED, but they wanted to do a septic work up anyways (LP, labs, & cath). The CSF & urine were normal, but she had an elevated white blood cell count. They admitted us for 48 hours of IV antibiotics. While in the hospital, they did a nasal swab to test for respiratory infections. Luckily, the swab came back negative.

In addition to the respiratory stuff, they detected a small heart murmur while we were in so they did an EKG. Luckily, the murmur ended up being nothing to worry about. Page also had a diaper rash so they had us use a couple different creams. We were discharged after the 48 hour cultures came back negative. They said she probably had a virus that they didn't test for. It was a long couple of days & really hard to watch our baby girl have so many invasive procedures done. However, the nurses were amazing & it was nice to see our PCH friends :) We are happy to be home!

A couple pictures from the hospital...

Our little tropper
She did a lot of sleeping

Sleeping through her EKG

Going home!

Newborn Photos

Get ready for a long picture blog :) These photos were too cute to leave any out! We are so lucky to be this little girls parents. Enjoy...

Thank you Kari for taking such amazing photos! We will cherish them always.