Valentines Day Photos and A General *Gabriella* Update - Holter Heart Monitor Results Are Back

I think this might be one of the longer stretches I've gone since posting an update to the blog. Time has just gotten away from me lately. For example, I started this post early this morning and here it is, closing in on 5pm already.

Hard to imagine that Valentines Day has come and gone already, but indeed it has. I managed to get some pretty decent photos of Gidget.

Here are just a few....

This is probably my favourite. She has the most delightful smile and it extends all the way from her adorable little mouth to the corners of her eyes. Such a cutie if I do say so myself. And well, I do, and often, as I'm her mum.



And a couple more that I sent out as e-Valentine greetings....



Here is one with the V-day bear that Gidget gave to her Daddy. Awwwwwww.




Bubbe and Papa W. (my mom and dad) and Uncle Jacob also got Gidget her very first teddy bear from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. She loves it!



Daddy sent mum a dozen tulips, as they are my favourites and in the middle of the bunch of tulips was a single red rose for daddy's little "Rose". Maybe, if I can remember, I'll post a picture of the arrangement.

All in all it was a pretty good day made better by just knowing that this is the LAST V-day Gareth and I will spend apart. Just a bit over two more weeks now and Gidget and I will be in Manhattan for a few months. It'll be nice to soak up all the attention and love from Daddy. And I know he'll be in absolute heaven being wrapped around his little girls finger as I'm sure will be the case. Well it already is.

This morning we got a very early telephone call from Dr. E, Gidget's cardiologist who gave us some wonderful news.....the results from the Holter heart monitor that Gidget had to wear for 24 hours last week had been read and analyzed and there is absolutely no sign of any of the extra beats, dropped beats, or bigiminy or trigiminy that she had whilst in the NICU after her birth! We are so excited and happy about that! Dr. E wants to follow up with her when we return from Manhattan and get another echocardiogram just to make sure things are still the way they should be and then he suggested once every 6 months after that - a follow up visit and echocardiogram until she is two. He said he doesn't really expect the ECG's to show anything but it's just a precautionary measure.

I'm thankful she continues to do so well and has no lasting effects from all she went through after birth. I still shudder just thinking about those very dim days. I probably will for the rest of my life.

I can't believe though how fast time goes by. Before posting this I was sitting there going through her clothes already and preparing to pack the first box of her clothes that had already grown too small for her.

There have been so many firsts these past few weeks. The very inklings of real smile that has now blossomed into a the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and which greets me first thing in the morning, at playtime, bath time, snuggle and cuddle time and sometimes in the middle of the deep dark night when all mommy wants to do is go back to sleep, I'll look down and I'll see those adorable dimples and those gorgeous gray-blue eyes staring back up at me and I can't help but look forward to all the many more "firsts" we've yet to experience and that I so look forward to. She is even starting to giggle and it's at the strangest things. Mostly funny sounds I make - when reading books to her or making sounds that various animals make, she'll giggle. What a sweet bubbly sound.

I've realized, whilst sitting there holding my precious baby girl in the deep, quiet moments of the still of the night, that I will miss cuddling her close, smelling her sweet fresh bathtime smell co-mingled with that unique "baby smell", and that adorable sleepytime nursing once she finally grows out of the need for night feedings....and that right now it's a mere interuption in my sleep, but in the bigger scheme of things, these are moments that bond me so very close to this wonderful little girl. And the whole sleep - well lack thereof- thing, it's really just a blip on the radar when it comes down to it. Of course, an 8 hour stretch here or there would do BOTH of us a world of good right about now. *lol*

I may be sleep deprived on occasion, but I'm also blessed to have a happy, healthy child who continues to thrive and is one of the gems in my crown and is a constant source of happiness, amusement, and joy in my life.