The Men (and Women) in Ellie's Life

If you are ever looking for Artie, Mimi or Oppa, please check around Ellie's little finger. It is quite possible that you will find the three of them hanging around there. The night before Ellie's surgery, Oppa slept with Ellie on his check in the recliner in E's room. I'm surprised that Ellie recognized her crib after Mimi and Oppa went home! And, do you think that spoiling occurs only at our house? Noooooo, even when we are in Huntsville, Ellie gets spoiled rotten! When we walk into Mimi and Oppa's house, Ellie is snatched from our arms. We don't get her back until we head back home. It is a rare moment that Ellie does not have Mimi or Oppa right near her. I have never seen my parents fight, but they will re-enact an episode of Jerry Springer when it comes to whose turn it is to hold her! :)

And, please don't get me started about Daddy. Ellie as much coughs in her crib, and Artie runs to check on her. Mind you, this is the same man who is deaf in one ear and "can't hear me" when I ask him to take out the trash. BUT, Daddy rushes to Ellie if she even THINKS she might be the slightest bit unhappy. Yep, before she cries.

As for me, I'm as cold as ice and NEVER pull her on the couch to get some lovin'! ;)

Another Day, Another Surgery

On Aug. 8th, Ellie had her second hemangioma surgery. This time, Mimi and Oppa were here to experience it. Once again, we had to starve Ellie from midnight until 9am (surgery time). As you can imagine, this did not phase our "I don't want to eat" baby. The doctor said this surgery would be much easier, since he didn't have to cut her tongue this time. And, he was right! The surgery, from start to finish, took about 30 mintues. As the nurses wheeled Ellie into the recovery room, the doctor came in and said that he thinks this will be the last surgery! Whooo hooo!!!! Of course, Artie said it was because the doctor's new Jag was paid off. But, as I type this two weeks after the surgery, I really feel he was right! There is no cure for the hemangioma, so she'll have it on her face until she's about 4 (according to what the doctor said), but hopefully the laser treatment/cortisone injection will stun the cells into not growing. We use to call it her "strawberry" because it was so red and raised. But, now it's just a little discolored and more flat. In fact, from a distance, you can't even tell anything was wrong!

OK---back to the surgery day. The nurses told us not to wake Ellie up, because she would be fussy. They encouraged us to just let her wake up on her own from the sleeping gas. Well, as the nurse was giving us this order, I looked over and there was Ellie. Wide awake! No kicking and screaming this time!!! It was almost like she was waking up from a nap. Right after we picked her off the gurney and they unhooked her from all the machines, we had to give her a bit of Pedialyte to make sure she was a-ok; she downed it! So, about 15 minutes later, we got the green light to go home where Mimi and Oppa were waiting patiently.

If I haven't mentioned it before, Mimi and Oppa are SO good for Ellie (and us). When we got home, they cuddled and kissed her, so Mommy could sleep (and Daddy could mow the lawn---ha ha!).

The rest of the weekend was spent spoiling Ellie (scroll up and read the part about Mimi and Oppa being in town) and relaxing.