Update

On Friday when I picked up Delaney from day care, Sarah the day care worker told me that Delaney had cut loose the loudest burp that Sarah had ever heard from a baby. Daddy's little girl...

Yesterday we went to Deepa's birthday party; it was Delaney's first visit to an Indian restaurant. She didn't sample any of the food, but she did visit just about every corner of the table and met some new people.

Today she went on her very first trip in her stroller, as we went for a walk with Deepa and Maya. Delaney spent most of the trip sleeping, but while she was awake she enjoyed looking at the passing trees.

Yesterday was Delaney's 5-month birthday (already?), so there are new pictures in the web album.




Delaney does tummy time and explains...something.

Updates

Last week Delaney had her 4-month appointment, which went really well.  Her weight was 10 lbs 3oz. (less than 3rd percentile), her length was almost 24 inches (25th percentile), and her head circumference was 16.75 inches (75th percentile).  Obviously her head has experienced a bit of a growth spurt.  I'm not gonna say"orange on a toothpick", but there you go.  Actually, Mom tells me I had a bit of a large noggin as a youngster also; the doctors had her measure my head frequently so as to make sure it wouldn't swallow the sun.  Or something like that.

On Friday we took Delaney to visit the doctors and nurses at the St. Elizabeth NICU.  It was fun to see the people who did so much to take care of Delaney (and us), and they marveled at how much she's grown.

Today Delaney went in for a developmental check-up.  Basically, if you go through the NICU, they keep track of you for a few years to make sure you're hitting all the developmental milestones;  Delaney is right on track.

Also today, we got the official word: it's endex for the heart monitor.  Delaney is now free of all the wires; which means she can now wear clothes with zippers as well as two-piece outfits (and they're just sitting on the hangers, waiting for their chance to shine).  It also means she'll be easier to carry around and do things with; now that the weather is better we'll try and break-in the stroller.

Yay for Lazlo's!

Yesterday Delaney went to her first restaurant, the south Lazlo's. I had a really good burger and Delaney...well, Delaney just sort of sat there.

We also weighed her, and she's now tipping the scale at 10 lbs (almost) even.

4 Months!

Wednesday was Delaney's 4-month birthday. She celebrated by spitting up on her nice yellow outfit.
Papa Wayne and Grandma Janice are here for the weekend, and DJ is always happy to have visitors, especially if they feed her.

Grabby Girl

Delaney's really working on the hand-eye coordination, and is really interested in grabbing, well, pretty much anything she sees (including Daddy's chin). She's not always capable of completing the grab, but she's working on it.

Last week DJ started daycare, and didn't really seem to mind. As long as someone's around to feed her she's pretty happy.

Grampa Terry and Grandma Kathy were here Wednesday through Sunday, and enjoyed hanging out with Delaney. I think they were impressed with the variety of noises she can make (not all of them polite and ladylike).

Dad and I went golfing on Saturday. The temperature was somewhere in the low-40s, so it was wee bit chilly, but it was a lot of fun. Don't ask what the score was.

New pics are in the album...

So far so good

Day care seems to be going well. I'm still getting a feel for the new morning schedule, but I'll get there eventually.

Jessica is in San Diego until Friday for a quarterly meeting; my parents arrive tonight so they can have some quality time with DJ Mac.

Delaney's really digging her hands; you can almost see all the connections being made.

Updates

Much mahalo to Jessica's sister Heidi for coming all the way from Cali to watch Delaney last week. We really appreciated it, and Delaney enjoyed meeting Aunt Heidi and Cousin Lacey (as far as we can tell). If any other Cali people are interested, the line forms to the right.

Heidi also took some really good pics, which are now in the album. Delaney looks really different without the oxygen tubes.

Yesterday we noticed Delaney making several cross-eyed examinations of her hand. Very cool, and kind of funny when her hand distracts her from crying.

Today's the big day...first day at day care.

O2 - DONE!

Delaney went to the hospital for her sleep study last night. This morning's verdict was...no more oxygen! She averaged a 95 oxygen saturation level, and only de-satted 33 times (as opposed to January, when she had over 300 desats); the desats that she had last night were only by a couple of percentage points, and she bounced right back up. She still has to wear her monitor for another 4-6 weeks, but we can handle that. We're really excited to get rid of the oxygen, it'll make it much easier to move around with her and it'll give her cheeks a chance to heal (they're pretty irritated right now).
Her latest weight is 9 lbs 5 oz., she just keeps growing and growing.

Next big event is day care - March 17!

A few updates-

Delaney spent the week with Kristen. They had lots of fun together and Kristen never once ran screaming from the house! Just kidding - it was a great week for both and Kristen said it went too quickly.

My new job is going well. I'm now at The Governance Institute. Its mission is to provide board training and development to hospital boards. Everyone is very nice and it's taking a while, but I'm figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing and think it will be a very rewarding position.

On Feb. 13 I broke two toes on my left foot. Graceful, I know. I got to start my new job with a hobble and a smile. One toe was broken clear through and had twisted (because it wasn't attached to anything) so the doctor had to twist it back and tape it. I wore a funny boot for about 2 weeks and now I'm back in regular shoes.

Joe is home with the wee one this week and then Aunt Heidi and Cousin Lacey are flying in from California to spend the following week with us.

Everyone should send us good thoughts on March 11th. That's Delaney's next test to see if the oxygen can be removed. I'm sure we'll post more about that later.

-Jessica

Weight Weight

We visited with a new pediatrician last night, and Delaney was weighed at 8lbs 14oz.
Moving right along.

3 Months!

Delaney hit her 3-month birthday yesterday. I've said it before, but it's hard to believe it's been that long (or that short).
She's a regular cutie.

Here's her 1-month picture. Feel free to compare and contrast.

More pictures are in the album. Enjoy!

Hangin' with Delaney

I took the week off to stay home with Delaney, since Jessica started her new job on Monday. Everything's been going pretty well, and neither the house or the baby have exploded (but I don't want to jinx it).

She's started smiling more and more. Last night she was grinning after spewing all over Jessica; I told her that wasn't very polite.

Smiley girl

New pics in the slideshow, check 'em out.

Last weekend Delaney got to meet her cousins Ian & Erin. I wasn't there, but I understand a fine time was had by all.

Delaney's been engaging in some sporadic demonstrations of her smiling abilities, which is just so dang cute; unfortunately it's not always easy to grab a picture of said smile.

She's also been stretching out her nighttime sleeping, which we heartily applaud.

Here's the video of Delaney's sequestration removal.

Pretty cool, and amazing that they can do so much in such a tiny space.

Segment 1: The diaphragm, the sequestration (we'll call it "Ted"), the lower lobe of the lung, and the upper lobe.



Seg. 2: Ted has caused some scar tissue that's a bit sticky.




Seg. 3: Ted's scar tissue will now be removed. Do you smell smoke?




Seg. 4: Ted's blood supply is provided through this here artery.




Seg. 5: Clips placed on the artery.



Seg. 6: Ted is cut loose.



Seg. 7: Bag is inserted and Ted is placed in bag. Hefty, Hefty, Hefty.
Bag is pulled through the larger incision. So long, Ted. Smell ya later.




Seg. 8: Suction.



Seg. 9: Chest tube inserted.

Miss Delaney goes to Omaha

We went to Omaha Children's Hospital today for a follow-up appointment with Dr. Abdessalam, Delaney's surgeon. He says she has recovered really well. He also showed us video of the procedure, which was very cool;he's going to send it to us, and I'll try and post it here.

Delaney's starting to show us some real smiles, which is pretty cool, even if the biggest one came right after a big fat spit-up.

2 Months!

Yesterday was Delaney's 2-month birthday. Hard to believe it's been that long. Heck, it's hard to believe it's been that short.

Denied!

We picked up Delaney from the hospital this morning, where we found out that Dr. Neyazi would like to keep her on the oxygen for another six weeks. She's not having any more apneas, but her oxygen saturation average needs to come up a couple of points. Sort of a bummer, but it's better in the long run.

After that we went to her two-month appointment, where she received 3 vaccination shots. That was fun. I think we officially reached her last nerve and trampled all over it. Since then she's been alternating between deep sleep and hair-trigger meltdowns. So yeah, fun times.

Slug bug!

At Vanessa's request, here's the Civic's predecessor, circa 1987. This is just after Dad and Stephanie drove it from Colorado (having purchased it from the Dukes) to South Carolina. It was showing off a little more rust and primer by the time Vanessa saw it (1990?).
It's probably in a junk heap somewhere, but it was a good first car (mostly), full of (mostly) good memories.

edit: The more I think about this, the more I think the picture is actually from 1988, right before my high school graduation, mostly because the picture was taken with a camera I didn't have in 1987.

Expensive babysitter!

Delaney's at the hospital tonight, getting her pneumogram done. We'll pick her up tomorrow morning, and hopefully find out that we can take her off the oxygen (fingers crossed).
Awfully quiet around here...

Zounds, Seven Pounds!

Delaney hit seven pounds yesterday; I'm not sure if seven pounds hit back.

She's doing really well, and has apparently decided that, for the most part, if she's going to spit up or provide any other kind of bodily fluid, she's going to do it on Jessica. I in no way condone this shameful behavior.

More pictures are in the web album, add some captions if you like.

DelaneyJeanette