the three of us.

lovely sleeping in a sling.

first dinner at home.

Elida loves papa's beard.

We have been home with Elida for a week now... and her little body has been healing really well.  The feedings every three hours come naturally to all three of us - a really nice shift from the continuous feed that Elida got from her feeding tube. It goes quite smoothly, we simply hook up a short tube into her "button", fill up a syringe with breastmilk, and let gravity gradually fill her belly!

I (amelea) am going back to work tomorrow, high time after an extra month off - thanks to a very generous staff at ArtPrize. It has been a fabulous three months, despite all of the unexpected challenges that we have all been faced with. Seth has promised to take Elida downtown anytime I need a family fix during the day.... which is very encouraging being that there will certainly be some long days getting ready for the big event.

A few other updates - in case you are wondering where things are at. Elida is scheduled to get her hip cast on a week from Tuesday (August 9th). We have a consultation with the surgeon tomorrow and will know a bit more of what that will be like soon. After the complications that occurred during sedation with her last surgery - we are quite concerned about this again (putting on the hip cast requires sedation - boo).  We are insisting the the ENT (ear nose and throat) Doctor that saved the day when things became critical last time be in the room this time around as well ... he has recommended a few names of anesthesiologists that would be better suited to work with Elida... Time for us to advocate for our precious little girl!!!

We start up PT again this week, and are also getting PT once a week at home through a fantastic program called Early On (http://1800earlyon.org/). We notice that Elida is moving more and with more enthusiasm as we work on strengthening her core muscles - especially her neck, as well as her arms that are still showing limited movement as a result of her arthogryposis. I apologize if all of this is at all confusing, it is hard to know how much to explain without repeating the same thing over and over. PLEASE let us know if you have any questions about how Elida is doing - we certainly love knowing that you all care for her and that you are keeping up with her progress and praying for her continued healing.

Blessings from our home to yours.