The Weekend in Pictures

Outside

Spring Evenings

It is so nice to get outside as a family and go for walks. Here are some pictures we took tonight before we walked to the library and ice cream shop :)

Very Exciting News

Most of you will remember that Ellie was born with paralyzed vocal chords. We have never heard her cry or make a noise. Once she got her trach, that was virtually impossible because all air goes in and out the trach tube, not going up near the vocal chords. There is a devise called a  passy-muir valve that is made for trach patients that allows them to take a breath in through the trach tube but then send the air out past the vocal chords and out the mouth.

At our appointment with the ENT last week, we inquired about getting one for Ellie. It required a downsize of her trach size and then a special valve to place over the trach.

Now for the exciting part. I have read that it is very difficult for a child to get used to the passy-muir and some do not even tolerate using it. So, we tried not to get our hopes up when we tried it out this evening. But Ellie totally blew us away, and did completely fine with the valve! Her saturation numbers are as good as always!

And... we heard our daughter vocalize officially for the very first time! We praise God for the noises that she can make!

don't worry, we caught it on video for you :D

Pictures

the blog has been seriously lacking pictures lately, so here are some updated ones for you.

first, Adam doing therapy with Ellie. She is sitting in her cousin Reed's bumbo seat, and Adam is using a vibrating brush for oral stimulation

second, here is an udated picture of Seth with his new haircut

lastly, here is Noah with his missing tooth. The other bottom tooth is now loose, so he is quite exciting for it to come out as well. Sorry about the scary picture...

Updates

Ellie is doing much better. She is pretty much off of the oxygen during the day. She had a fabulous day yesterday-awake and alert for most of the day. We were able to get out to our small group and had a very nice evening-we even walked there :) 

I've had to change my blog due to a massive spam invasion. It is a work in progress, so bear with me :)

Emily