The Lehmkuhls

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Maddie's First Holiday Season!

A lot has gone on since my last post. Maddie celebrated her first Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's! For Thanksgiving, we had a quiet dinner, just Mommy, Daddy and Nonni. We were unable to travel because Maddie's surgery was only two weeks prior to Thanksgiving; but you wouldn't have known it was only two weeks with how great she was doing! We also started solids right around Thanksgiving and this girl will eat anything. Except potatoes which I don't blamer her; they need some butter and sour cream. :) In December, Grandma Lehmkuhl came to visit and Maddie had her first encounter with Santa. She didn't hate it but she didn't love it either. We did get a smile out her, though. We also traveled to Northern California for Christmas and New Years. Maddie received several gifts but seemed more interested in the wrapping paper and ribbons than the actual toys. :) We spent New Year's with the Arata Family. Maddie and August are getting more acquainted since they will be best buddies soon; while we were in Nor Cal we found an apartment in San Francisco! So in three weeks or so, Maddie will be a city girl!

Here are some pictures from the past several weeks.

Um, green beans. JK she wasn't quite there yet.

Happy Turkey Day! (She was obsessed with sticking out her tongue that week)

Yay, I can break out the Xmas pjs! (And my tongue)

One of our Xmas card outtakes. Maddie kept getting distracted by people walking by

First solids...

Just chillin'

Mommy's camera is scary.

I. Just. Want. My. Toy.

Don't disturb me, I have a very important email to send.

Yay Christmas!

Xmas eve

Yes, she is almost always this happy.

CHRISTMAS!

Favorite Present: Ribbons and Wrapping Paper

Hangin' at the Aratas' NYE

New Year's Day: new year, new love

It's for you!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Maddie is 6 Months Old

I am a little late, but Maddie turned six months old last Tuesday! It was an eventful month for us. Maddie experienced her first Halloween; she was the cutest ladybug I have ever seen. Mommy celebrated her 30th birthday - yay me! Oh, and Maddie had that heart surgery thingy. :)

Sans the surgery and recovery, Maddie is a very happy and smiley baby girl. She is really starting to develop a sweet and giggly personality. She has started to laugh a lot - she loves Mommy's dance moves and awesome songs I make up. And sometimes I find her laughing for no particular reason at all. Every toy she has goes directly into her mouth, her favorite being her crunchy book. We also started solids a couple weeks ago and she is just now starting to get the hang of it. Even giggling while she eats.

This month was a tough one but we are so happy that her surgery is behind us. Now on to our next chapter.... Our move to San Fran in January!

Oh, the paparazzi!

I'm cute

Halloween party at Auntie Allie's. We went as new a Mom and Dad. :)

Jake really wants to hold Mads on his shoulders..

Sunset in CDM

Giggly pumpkin

Giggly pumpkin 2

Whoa, that is a big spider.

Tummy time!

Way to excited to go into surgery

The smallest hospital gowns they had. Really?!

First breakfast walk post surgery.

Must. Put. Elmo. In. My. Mouth.

This seems fun....

Auntie Judy made me this beautiful blankie but I like the ribbon it was wrapped with more....

Xmas tree at Fashion Island

Really excited to be 6 months old.

Carrots, yum!

I am 6 months old! I showed heart surgery who's boss!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

All Patched Up!

Maddie's surgery was Thursday, November 10 and it went off without a hitch! She was in surgery for about 3.5 hours, only 30 minutes of which was the actual procedure. Dr. Starnes was able to patch up her hole in her heart and repair her pulmonary valve and she will not have to have surgery again. The most difficult part of the whole experience for us was walking with her to the double doors to the operating room and handing our little baby girl over to the nurses not knowing what the outcome would be. Of course, she looked adorable and shot us a smile as they took her away...

Right when she came out of surgery she was heavily sedated and had tons of tubes and wires connected to her. We were warned about what she would look like; it was scary at first but as soon as the doctors told us that she was going to be ok, we felt much better. Her recovery went extremely well, by Friday afternoon most of the major tubes and wires were off of her and we were able to hold and feed her. On Saturday night, we were surprised to find out that we were going to be discharged the next day. We were told she would be in the hospital for a week.

So a little over 72 hours after surgery, we were on our way home. Right when we got home she went back to her normal sleep schedule at night and is pretty much back to her daily routine. She is a little whiny but I think it is just because she is still a little sore from her surgery. But who could blame her ?! Besides not being able to pick her up under her arms for 8 weeks - which is taking some getting used to - and one medication she has to take twice a day, we just treat her like a normal little girl. It is amazing how fast she has bounced back from all of this.

Today, on her 6 month birthday (!), we had a post op appointment with her cardiologist and everything looks great! She had some stitches removed - I think she will forever dislike nurses now - and is now medication free. All we have to do now is have quarterly cardiologist appointments. I think we can handle that. :)

Here are some pics from her hospital adventure. Don't worry, I left out the ones that might make some people woozy.