Gracie was so awake and alert for her pictures. Ricky and I both took a bunch. It was so funny because I had my camera and iPhone and Ricky had his iPhone too. 
I went to visit Brody on Saturday night and gave him a bath and put him in his little outfit a couple of hours early. 
This picture explains Madi. The girl sleeps all day and night. She is awake about 2 hours total per day! Anyway, she really didn't care how we wanted to take her picture.We had a lot of fun. Cousins came over and trick or treated on our street. Our street had a grill out with chili dogs and frito pie. This was the first time everyone got to meet the girls (from a distance). The night was great except we were really missing Brody. Next year will be awesome!
Speaking of Brody, they lowered his pressure support to 3! This is great news. They are planning to wean this down to 0 and lower the peep down to 4 before they extubate him. I hope that we can make great progress this week. They finally lowered his calories in 22 (the girls are on the same). Really happy about this because he has gained too much weight too fast. His head ultrasound showed no new brain bleeds and that it is resolving still. Great news on that! I really feel that he is mentally all there. He interacts just like Madi and Gracie do. He will have his follow up eye exam on Tuesday and I am still waiting for the results from his renal (kidneys) ultrasound.
We have an extremely busy week here. Monday I have a TON of phone calls to make. The most important phone call will be to the health insurance company. I read somewhere that babies at home on oxygen get a home nurse standard across the board but health insurance companies don't volunteer a nurse, you have to ask for one. Guess what I will be asking for??? Tuesday the girls have their 4 month shots... YUCK! I hate it. Wednesday we will be recovering from shots. Thursday ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) is coming out to evaluate Gracie to see what services she qualifies for. Friday Gracie has an Orthopedic and Dermatology appointment. On top of all of this stuff, Ricky is on call all week which means very long hours during the week and having to work on the weekend. I might have a HUGE meltdown on Friday so check back on Saturday.
Goals for this week:
Brody vent changes
Home nurse for Gracie
Gracie's foot cast
Make it thru the week
Keep us in your prayers... we sure need them.
Krista
Hi AJ & UD thanks for emailing and checking in on us. I wish y'all lived closer.
