Swinging Smiles

Lucia enjoying her morning vestibular workout in her swing.

Man at Work

We no longer have the luxury of belonging to an HOA so it is up to us to perform all the lawn maintenance duties. Gotta love the white socks with sandals look!
Nice work Rojelio.

Sittin' Pretty

Lucia has begun to use her high chair. She is not yet eating in it, but enjoys sitting with us at the table during meals, being in the kitchen with Annie while she cooks or does dishes, and it is the perfect height for her to enjoy Sprout. Yes, we do allow our infant to watch television every now and then.

To celebrate her three-month birthday we surprised Lucia with a Bumbo. She loves it.

Manny

When Lucia was about one-month old we noticed a very small bump in the area of her left eyebrow. Annie thought Lucy may have bumped her head while becoming more brave with her head control.

Days later the bump was not going away. A week later the bump was getting bigger rather than smaller. After trips to the doctor, an ultra sound, and an MRI it was determined Lucia had a cavernous hemangioma. Basically the bump is a benign tumor filled with blood vessels causing it to have a purplish-blue appearance.

June 5, 2008

Since then her bump, we call Manny for short, has grown. Because it is so close to her eye it is affecting her ability to fully open her eyelid. She sees a pediatric opthamologist to monitor her vision on a monthly basis.

Usually treatment is not given, but Lucia will likely get steroid treatments once her eyelid does not expose her pupil. Otherwise if her developing brain does not use that eye it will shut it down and she will lose all vision in that eye. The treatments will help Manny shrink.

Typically hemangiomas will go through three stages: proliferation (growth, could last up to 12-months), rest, and involution (shrink). Going through these stages typically takes years. About 50% of the lesions disappear by age five.

Lucia's last visit to her pediatric opthamologist revealed she developed an astigmatism in her left eye. Her current course of treatment consists of patching her good eye for a couple hours a day and wearing glasses.

Lucia & Manny chillin' on July 19, 2008

Let the patching begin July 24, 2008

Under the Knife

She kissed her husband goodbye. The anesthesiologists wheeled her down the hall. The experienced surgeon walked into the OR. Got down to business. He sliced four incisions into the young mother's abdomen as she lay helpless on the operating table while under the miracles of modern day anaesthetics.

Slice . . . slice . . . slice . . . slice . . . poke . . . poke . . . poke . . . snip . . . snip . . . YANK . . . stitch . . . stitch . . . stitch . . . stitch . . . .

Yesterday Annie had laparoscopic gallbladder surgery. No complications were experienced. Recovery is going well. Her abdomen feels like she did a hundred million sit-ups.

Annie before her first surgery ever.

Annie in the "bear hug." It's this gown that a tube plugs into, it puffs up with air and you can control the temperature. Research shows patients that are warmer pre-surgery do better during surgery . . . take it as you will.

Barbie to the Rescue

Lucia is two months old today if you can believe it.

She had her two month check up today. She's up to 10lbs 1oz and is 21.5 inches long, right around the 50th percentile for both. She had three shots and her blood drawn, which took two attempts.

Our little girl had a rough day being poked and prodded. But some Tylenol, two Barbie band aids and a rest with her Papa did the trick to make her feel better.

Movin' On Up

The move is on.

On Wednesday the packers came. It only took two packers 6 hours to pack all our stuff up in boxes. A task that would have taken us weeks.

On Thursday a team of three came to load everything onto the truck, which took them a mere 5 hours to do. That would have been a full days worth of work for us.

On Friday they drove our treasures to the new house and unloaded in a record 3.5 hours. What would have been another days worth of work for us.

Our job was to sit back and stay out of the way. Moving like this was very convenient, especially with a newborn.From now on a prerequisite to any job acceptance is if they provide the relocation. Thank you NIH.

We will officially take up new residence on June 30, 2008.

Swingin' in the Trees

Lucia loves hangin' out in her Rain Forest swing . . . swinging with her animals, not to mention the great vestibular stimulation she's receiving.

Daddy Time

Daddy and Lucia spending some time together. Notice the tinge of jealously in the background.

Daddy and Lucia watching the Muppet Show on You Tube.

Rojelio told me Lucia said she wants a Fozzie Bear doll. Maybe she can hold off 'til Christmas.

Whoozit Among Us

Pretty much ever since she was born Lucia has been begging us for a Whoozit. So we took a trip to Maryland to look for housing and told her if she was a good girl we'd stop and get her a toy. Of course she complied and is now the owner of her very own Whoozit. I guess even baby dreams do come true!