4th of July / 4.5 Week Update

The Celbration was smaller this year than in years past, but the weather was absolutely perfect. Of course the island was calling, and the children being one year older enjoyed it even more... The Willards, Stracks, and Brodds made this years party - I guess this is the calm before the storm, as next year marks the 10th anniversary.

Mom and Linda took the paddle-boat for a spin

The kids enjoying some time outside of the water

As mentioned the weather was great, food was good, and no major injuries to report, so all in all it was a good day.

Changing gears to Violet. Since we missed posting her 4 week update, we will go with a 4.5 week update instead. After an up and down 10 days or so, she is off the O2 again. She needed a small dosage of steroids to help with the lung development, but it seems to be doing exactly what they are supposed to do.

The nurses keep calling her "chubby" (which is a good thing when you are in NICU) and today she weighed in at 4# 15oz, so just about to the 5# mark! A couple of days last week she was growing 2 ozs a day!

While I consider this bow 'a bit much', one of the nurses was quite proud of her achievements.

Taking a nap...

Taking another nap...

While it may not be obvious from the pictures, she does open her eyes from time to time. She has been making good strides towards wanting to nurse. The doctors will start to try bottle feeding soon to see how that works. Since that is one of the gating items to coming home, it is a good thing to get going on that.

She is in great hands and had a great weekend. She continues to grow, is sleeping in a crib, and breathing room air. Next year, she will be able to take part in the celbration in person!