8 Pounds

Can you believe it?  She is 8 pounds today!  I am so very excited with how well Hope has done at home.  She is consistently drinking 3 ounces every 3-4 hours and sometimes she will take almost 4 ounces.  I know...when she gets older she will wish that it took weeks to gain a pound...rather than the 5 minutes it takes me after I eat a big meal.

"Time passes quickly. Many parents say that it seems like yesterday that their children were born. Now those children are grown, perhaps with children of their own. “Where did the years go?” they ask. We cannot call back time that is past, we cannot stop time that now is, and we cannot experience the future in our present state. Time is a gift, a treasure not to be put aside for the future but to be used wisely in the present."

-Thomas S. Monson

First Bath

I know some people may find this hard to believe, but Hope had her first 'real' bath today.  We have been using these disposable washcloths on her since she came home from the hospital...for a couple reasons.  First is because they told us not to submerse her in water until six weeks after surgery.  That would have been in November, but we didn't have a baby bathtub.  We must have gotten rid of the boys because I couldn't find one anywhere.  The second reason is because the boys hate baths and have since they were born...so we weren't really looking forward to giving Hope a bath.  We thought she would spend the whole time crying and being upset.  Alas...we tried it and she loved it!  She is the only one of my kids that loves a bath.  She could have stayed in there all day.  That has to be something she inherited from me...I could spend hours laying around in the bath.

So Hard

It is so hard for me when a little baby with HLHS passes away.  Today I learned that Hailey did not make it out of the cath lab yesterday and I have spent most of the day crying for her and her family.  It breaks my heart to think about the pain and heartache her family is going through right now and also in the future.  Christmas is coming so soon and to think that they won't be spending it together breaks my heart.  Hailey was a real fighter in her journey and has earned her angel wings.  Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

I found this poem for Hailey's mom and wanted to share it here:

We wanted so much to keep you

We watched you day by day

Until with breaking hearts

We saw you slip away.

God watched you as you suffered,

And knew you had your share.

He gently closed your weary eyes,

And took you in his care.

Your memory is our keepsake,

With that we'll never part.

God has you in His keeping,

We have you in our hearts.

 Nothing can be more beautiful,

than the memories we have of you.

To us you were someone special,

God must have thought so too.

~Unknown