happy 6 month birthday!!!

hi sweet catherine=)

today you turned 6 months old!!! i can't believe it. you've had a very busy couple of weeks leading up to this, your first half-birthday. (mommy likes to celebrate half-birthdays--she learned it from your auntie robyn). you had such a great time with your great-grandmother. the first day or so we could tell you were getting used to her sweet face and curly white hair-you LOVE new people and spend lots of time studying their faces and showing them your smile, but we think that once she was there when you went to sleep and there when you woke up, you realized that this was somebody you needed to get to know. so you spent some extra time looking at her with your serious face. and you did get to know her. the third day she was here you two were the greatest of friends-i have never seen you smile so much at somebody!!!! you loved being in her lap and she loved seeing how you were learning to show what you wanted...like how you wanted to sit up in her lap instead of laying down all the time. she liked how you seemed to improve with using your hands even during the week she was here. we give her credit;) so on the wednesday she was here, you woke up with a fever. we went to see the doctor and all the tests came back negative-you got a shot of antibiotics just in case and we determined it was just a virus and you came back home. but throughout the day the fever got higher and higher and finally when it was 103.8 and you couldn't hold any food down we called the doctor back and took you to the hospital. i figured they'd probably keep you for a night and give you some iv fluids...but you were there in the picu for 4 days!!! your fever went away by friday night and it appeared to be a gi bug (you were throwing up and had diarrhea too), but they said they couldn't assume with a baby as "complicated" as you that anything was "just a bug". but all the tests continued to come back negative so they slowly worked you back up to taking your normal feeds and we took you back home sunday night. you got to be in the hospital mommy works in. that part was nice. i was just so nervous that you were going to leave the hospital with something much more serious than what you went in for. but no worries-you were all better when you got home and nothing else came of it. (mommy and daddy did, however, get what you got the day after we got home!!! everybody's all better now). and guess what else!? they took advantage of the fact that they could monitor your respiratory status 24/7 and weaned your ventilator much more quickly than we could with you at home. your respiratory rate was set to 35 when you left UVA, and during this hospital stay they were able to turn it all the way down to 15! we see the pulmonologist again this tuesday and i'm excited to see what the next step is for you. we're getting used to lugging your ventilator around everywhere we go, but it sure will be nice when we're done with it, right baby?? i don't think you're gonna know what to do with yourself when you're finally free=)

gigi and grandaddy came to see you last weekend. you had a great time=) they hadn't seen you in over a month and you had changed so much!!! you're lots bigger and doing things like reaching up with both your hands to touch our faces when we lean over you. that's my favorite thing you're doing right now=) mommy's getting very sappy lately...the other day i bent down to kiss your head and as soon as i smelled your hair i started getting all teary-eyed=) and sometimes i get teary-eyed when i look at you in the mornings when we wake up and you smile so big at me with your mouth wide open. you know that you smile with your eyes? that is another one of my favorite things about you. it's actually one of my favorite things about anybody=) when i lay down next to you to read a book, you'll look at the book with me but you always reach out and lay your hand on my shoulder. i love that=)

you are my favorite girl. mommy hasn't worked in almost 3 weeks because first you were sick and then i was, and that has been no fun, but we have had a great few weeks hanging out every day. we have lots of fun=)

i love you baby-happy first half-birthday=)

mommy