12 weeks old...Miss Eleri is 3 months!

Today Eleri is 12 weeks old, and once again I find myself in shock at how fast it went by. Eleri is such a joy and really enriches our life and our family. She loves smiling and talking away. Her smiles just make our day! Eleri has started to laugh on occasion too, it is so funny and precious. She loves her big sister, especially when Mali reads to her, but has shown that she needs her space too. Eleri is lifting up her head great and is even attempting to sit up straight in her car seat. Eleri loves her hands! She almost always has her fists in her mouth sucking on them, as you can see in one of the pictures. She is also beginning to follow her hands with her eyes, and it is too cute. Eleri has been sick so much since she's been born, so much more than Mali ever was, but she finally seems to be over this round of cough! The doctors say it is just drainage every time! She isn't a huge fan of her tummy time and usually rolls over pretty quick after I put her on her tummy. Naps are a little bit of an issue right now, she is always waking up 45 minutes before she needs to eat, but is still sleepy. It seems that each day I vow to make it the day we work on it, but then something else comes up. She is also not sleeping through the night, but I'm not surprised. However, she really just fusses and if she gets her pacifier or I feed her goes back to sleep fairly easily. We've decided that tonight is the night that she will move out of our room into her own. We'll see how that goes, since I can't nap during the day, the 5 minutes dozes I get help me out at night, but I'm afraid with her in her room I won't get back to sleep as quickly. However, she is outgrowing the cradle, so I suppose it is just time! Mali was out of our room at 2 months. I'm realizing how different #2 is! It seems that we are always on the go. Thankfully, Eleri has finally stopped screaming in the car and relaxes and sometimes falls asleep. Despite my efforts to keep our house loud and never silence Mali, Eleri still is sensitive to noise and wakes easily. Besides having to share affection and attention with her sister (who often gets the short end of the stick), Eleri is just doing amazing. Last Friday (at 11 weeks) she weighed 12.1 (just to compare, which I really need to learn NOT to do, Mali was 12.7 at 11 weeks). We sure love our girls are trying to enjoy these precious gifts God has given to us.
And a video of Eleri:

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Eleri's heart

This picture is a picture of a normal heart, and it is Eleri's heart! Dr. Flippin gave us "one for the baby book." I thought that was kind of funny.
I kept trying to think of a clever title for this post, but just couldn't. So, I will just get to the facts of the appointment. We went to see Dr. Mindee Flippin in Lubbock yesterday. She did another ultrasound and an EKG on Eleri. I'm so thankful we went to a specialist and she was a wonderful doctor. She did see a tiny hole in Eleri's heart. She was not concerned though and thought she will probably just grow out of it. She reassured us that this will not impair Eleri's life AT ALL and we will not see ANY symptoms whatsoever. Dr. Flippin said that worst case scenario, Eleri won't be able to scuba dive!:) She said that the hole was a tiny pin prick size. She reassured me over and over that was okay and was nice enough to tell me to call her if I need to, saying that she does "Mommy calls" all the time. We loved her, bare feet and all!:) Also, while doing the scan, Dr. Flippin found that the blood was rushing through Eleri's pulmonary artery very fast. This is called Pulmonary Stenosis. She wasn't concerned about this either, and said that most likely this will correct as well. Eleri was very active and was trying to pull out of the swaddle they had her in, which could be why the blood was going fast. Also, the blood was going just a little above normal limits, so it was really nothing major. So, we will go back in 8 weeks to have her re-evaluate the hole and the Pulmonary Stenosis. Again, Dr. Flippin said none of this will impair her life, and gave us the worst case scenario that we come back in 8 weeks, then 3 months, and then yearly, and she may need antibiotics before dental surgery and can't scuba dive. To sum it up, there is something wrong, but not anything major or anything that may not correct itself. I don't feel "relieved" but I'm so very very thankful that it is not anything worse and that these problems will all correct, I guess I just don't want anything wrong with my sweet baby. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, and as Dr. Flippin said, we will just pray that next time she sees nothing!




We also got to visit the Dallas family while we there. It was a quick trip but as always they were so wonderful and accommodating to us! Beth let Mali stay at her house while we had the appointment. We met them for lunch at One Guy's! It has been so long since I've had a calzone, but it was great. I think the kids all enjoyed sitting at the bar eating pizza (well at least Calyn and Abby were eating).

GOAL!!!!

This morning Mali had her first soccer game. She did pretty good. I was proud of her for sticking with it and I never heard her complain. She asked for blankie a few times though. The highlight was when she ran past Eric shouting "someone has a bug in their hand". Mali was a little more interested in just running around and staying at the back of the pack. Papa and MeeMee came to watch and Papa promised her a piece of candy each time SHE scored a goal, she seemed to misinterpret this to mean ANYTIME a goal was scored, even by their opponents, and would look over at Papa and hold up the count! I'm pretty sure Mali's team won. They scored a ton of goals, although Mali didn't score, but she had fun. The girls finished up with a cute cookie as snack. I had thought I'd just go to Dollar Tree when it was our turn for snacks, but it looks like a certain precedence has already been set!




A video of Mali in action, she is #12

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Mali is #12

Welcome Baby Jove!

April 14th at 5:15am, I became an aunt. Jordan and Chrissy welcomed baby boy Jove! We went to Dalhart to meet him yesterday. But, I forgot my camera!:( It was a great to meet Jace (Christie's new son) and they got to meet Eleri. The White's sure are expanding.
Here are Terry's pictures:
http://albums.phanfare.com/2791467/3733554#imageID=66062352

Jesus Paid it All, All to Him I owe

This year we got to celebrate Easter Sunday with two children, yeah! I enjoyed praying for the day that they will truly understand what was done for them on the cross. I was reading this week about how Jesus said "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do". I've always thought of it in the context of the soldiers and Jews that "crucified" Jesus, but this year it hit me that Jesus was saying this about all of us that would come after that point and sin, like my girls. They don't know what they do, but Jesus saw their sin on the cross and chose to die for those sins right then.
This is one of my favorite favorite hymns/praise songs and I just feel like it fits EXACTLY with me and where I was:

I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small!
Child of weakness, watch and pray, find in Me thine all in all."

Lord, now indeed I find Thy pow'r, and Thine alone,
Can change the leper's spots and melt the heart of stone.

For nothing good have I whereby Thy grace to claim-
I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calv'rys Lamb.

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
"Jesus died my soul to save," my lips shall still repeat.

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain-
He washed it white as snow.
OH PRAISE THE ONE WHO PAID MY DEBT AND RAISED THIS LIFE UP FROM THE DEAD!!!!

I had to reflect on the real meaning of this celebration. Now to our other celebrations. Mali and I spent the week talking about Jesus dying on the cross for us and rising again. She is starting to grasp it some what and wants Jesus to live in her heart to, but I'm not sure she is quite there. We went to our church Sunday morning. After "the clubhouse" (What Mali calls her church), she said she learned "The Good News, Jesus is Alive!" I'm thrilled at what she is learning. After church, we went to Dalhart for an Easter lunch with Megan and Chris and Jordan and his family and then an Easter egg hunt. Here are some pictures!

Heart update

Quickly just wanted to update everyone on Eleri's heart murmur diagnosis. We were scheduled for an echo on April 14th but were told by BSA that we would have to pay $1,000 up front for the echo to be performed. Long story short, we ended up getting referred to a pediatric cardiologist and were scheduled for June 23rd. That wouldn't work for us, so we will be going to see Dr. Flippen in Lubbock on Monday at 3:30 to have her take a look at Eleri. This gets around the charge for the echo and we will only be responsible for our co-pay but will get an echo and EKG if needed! Yeah. Keep praying for our sweet baby girl. I'm just amazed at how many people God has put in our path that have had this themselves or their babies have had this, it has brought encouragement to us in a difficult time.

We've been unplugged

I feel sooo loved! I've had several people ask where I've been...Brandon has had our computer so we've been offline, but not anymore. I'm surprised at how much like an arm a computer is, I've been lost without it! I have several updates to blog about, and hope to catch up soon!