Memorial Day Weekend

Greetings!
We are just waking up on the last day of a four day weekend! We had a blast!

Dan's birthday was the past week and we celebrated "Danivus" (a ten day celebratory period in lieu of a single day birthday celebration). Jonas and Elsa sampled some of Dan's mom's world famous coconut cake and kept coming back for more.

Elsa and Jonas also got to play with their friends Joshua and Sofia this weekend too. Joshua, another December 12th birthday baby, was great to see. Whenever he comes over, he always seems to teach Jonas and Elsa something new. Last time he was walking all over the place and the next day Jonas just took off walking too. Sofia just turned two and was a gracious host and let Elsa and Jonas chew on a lot of her toys.

When Joshua was over, Elsa tried and liked some pulled pork that Jen (Joshua's mom) brought over. The next day we had a slow roasting pork loin cooking! After many hours, it was melt in your mouth done and we added a little barbecue sauce to it. Elsa looked at it curiously for a second or two and then popped a small bite in her mouth. Way to go Elsa! Jonas, curiously enough, was a little indifferent to it.

When the camera is located (the camera has been found!), we will add some goofy pictures and movies from the past week. The picture of the dolls is a favorite...the dolls are wearing Elsa and Jonas's old preemie clothes!

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Syttende Mai

Greetings! Elsa and Jonas enjoyed for the first time some delicious krumkake this week in honor of syttende mai (Norwegian Independence Day). They were a little unsure what to do with it but each kiddo got a little chunk or two.

We also made it two weeks in a row to church and almost made it through the whole service. The kids want to start taking little walkabouts during the announcements.

Otherwise, this was just another great week. A weekly check in with the feeding specialist for Elsa gave us some more ideas to try with her for solid foods. Elsa had a couple of throw-ups during the week for reasons we aren't sure. However, her overall volumes continue to be really good. We are keeping our prayers of growth and healing for her as we try to put more weight on her.

God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

A nice quiet week!

Greetings!

After such a big week last week, it was nice to have a relaxing week for Jonas and Elsa. They played, crawled, walked, and laughed a lot this past week. We sprinkled in little naps here and there to round out the week.

Elsa continues to have solid numbers on her eating. She has acquired a taste for Nutella...so have Mari and Dan. Jonas has started to really enjoy the eating process. He will carefully pick up and inspect each piece of food before chomping on it. Parmesan cheese is hands-down the favorite food group for both kids.

Dan was a bit under the weather this weekend but he rallied for our first trip as a family to church. It was such a blessing to see so many supportive faces at our church and for the kids to feel the love in the sanctuary. God is great!

Such a great week! We should probably get back to our naps.

(Pictures: Jonas and Elsa with their first basketball; the kids enjoying their newest toy?; big smiles!)

God Bless,

Mari & Jonas & Elsa & Dan

The weigh in...

Greetings!
We had a busy week as we alluded to in our last post. Elsa had two big doctor appointments this week.

The first appointment was with the cataract specialist at mary bridge. We had been referred to him from the NICU specialist that we have worked with for the past year. The appointment went very well. We were very apprehensive about what cataract surgery might mean for Elsa and weren't sure if it was something that would be happening in the near future or in many years. Based on the specialist's opinion, Elsa's cataracts need to go. This means that in the next couple of months we are going to closely monitor her eyes and most likely schedule cataract surgery in July or August. To be honest, we felt very relieved talking with the doctor and feel very comfortable with the decision.

The second appointment was with the GI specialist. This was the meeting to look at weight gain and determine when to place the g-tube in Elsa. The dietitian had told us last month that Elsa should really be gaining between 12 to 17 ounces a month...she squeaked in last month with a 12 gain. This month we got her down to her skivvies and put her on the scale...(I will over dramatize this a bit--but we were holding our breath the entire time)
1 ounce
2 ounces
3..4...5...6
7..8...keep on going!!!...9....10...
11...12...(whew she at least hit 12)....
13...14...15...16...
17...18.... .. .. ... ..
19 ounce gain!!!

She hit a home run this month with her 19 ounce gain. The GI doctor came in and said that everyone else keeps telling him to just tube her but he sees so much promise and with a month like this he was completely comfortable waiting and seeing how she continues to do. We are hopeful that she continues to do so well. If she needs a g-tube at some point that is okay too. We are so proud of Elsa!!!

Jonas had a great week too! Lots of walking! He is helping type this post.

God Bless,
Jonas, Elsa, Mari & Dan

A big week awaits...

Greetings!

Elsa and Jonas have a big week ahead. On Tuesday, Elsa will get her eyes checked by the eye specialist. We are hopeful that this will be a case of monitoring for a long time and then corrective surgery in her late teens. However, if surgery is required sooner than later that is okay too--It is important to be able to see:)

On Friday, Elsa has her follow-up with the GI specialist. His recommendation is that we have surgery in the upcoming weeks for a g-tube for Elsa. We are holding out hope that she has packed on the weight this past month and can get a reprieve. However, again, it is too important to gain weight to not do it if her weight gain wasn't sufficient.

We are praying for good informed decisions in the week ahead.

God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas