Update!

I knew time flies, but I had not realized that it has been 4 months since I last posted!!! Where has that time gone! I am laying here thinking about Miss Ella and decided that I need to update everyone on her progress. There is a lot so I will do my best to keep it short. I will also add some pictures when my camera is charged (lost the charger, had to order a new one, so I am patiently waiting).
Ella is 10 months old and getting longer everyday. Unfortunately she is not getting heavier. She weighed in at a whopping 12 pounds 10 ounces. Much smaller than we want. That earned us a trip back to CMH to see the nutritionist. I really liked Amy and she gave me some fantastic ideas and is really not overly worried. In the meantime, Ella still has the Mic-Key button (gtube). I have finally come to terms that I have a love/hate relationship with Mic-Key. I hate that she has to have it. To me, it feels like that one last thing keeping us from getting off this horrible medical ride. It is yet another daily reminder that she was so sick and that she is still having some struggles that I can not fix. BUT on the other hand, she does need to gain weight so instead of worrying about how I am going to get her to eat with out forcing it into her mouth, I can just hook her up. For example, she really was not in the mood to eat today, so she is sound asleep, hooked up to her feeding pump getting in some much needed calories. Easy as pie........until I have to unhook her. I am PETRIFIED that she is going to pull out her Mic-Key button so I have all of her tubing taped to her body. I mean TAPED!! I figured for the rest of the night, I will unhook her from the bag tubing and tuck the small tube into her pj's. (I might have to post a pic of what feeds entail for those that don't know!) In the morning I will just hope and pray the tape comes off smoothly.........
Ella continues to have Jen, the occupational therapist, come about every two weeks. We really like Jen! She has helped us with so many things. Her main focus is Ella's ability to eat. We are working on solids but she has this nasty gag reflex so we are teaching her to work through that. She has also learned how to sit up which was actually very difficult for her. Just in the last week she is finally able to do it without supporting herself by leaning. This has less to do with her muscle control and more to do with a small bottom and very thin torso. She has very little to balance herself on! I cannot hardly wait to show Jen in the morning how she can crawl on her knees and pull herself up!! There are some things that I have noticed that Ella is somewhat delayed on, but for the most part, she is right on target!!! The doctors have really been impressed that she is really not 2 months behind!
Ella really is a little miracle baby!! Not a day goes by that I am so thankful and proud of her and her big brothers. I am so honored that God choose me to be the mother of such amazing children!!
Her pump is beeping which means she is done eating, so I am going to go get her unhooked, figure out what to do with her tubing, and go to bed. The best part of the going to bed.....it's not 2am! She went to daycare today so she is POOPED!! Thank you Karen!!!