..not to worry, whistle I'll be there.

Back again from LA today and I have to say that although I wish I could have stayed for days on end and stared at that tiny angel in the bed warmer forever, it was a lot easier coming home this time. Well, easier and harder...easier because she is just doing so, so incredibly well that it made me feel safe to leave her knowing she would be ok...harder because I had Ri in the backseat for the 3 hr car ride home and I could only toss so much plastic fruit back there. My car looks like a produce section.

So Ella had her chest closed today and made it through without a worry in the world! Literally, since the day she was born she has carried on like a perfectly healthy newborn baby, its completely amazing. I'm starting to think she was faking the HLHS and just wanted to be on tv...;) Seriously though, with the exception of one or 2 momentary heart rate drops (slight) and a reoccuring case of the hiccups (precious), Ella has been doing better than any of us, Drs included, had expected. She was taken off of her Epi (did I spell that right?) today, which I guess is a medicine that speeds up her heart rate for her...but she's doing it on her own already, so they took her off! Also this Tuesday they are planning on extubating her, which is the opposite of intubation where they had inserted a tube down her throat to add air to help her breathe...so basically, goodbye tube!!! :) One nurse also told Lissa & Brady they may be able to hold her in the next day or so....lets keep our fingers crossed. :) Ella has also opened her eyes quite a bit the last couple days and I'm bitter because I wasn't there for it! I did see a video though and she is absolutely breathtaking...peeking all around and blinking ever so slowly...trying to take everything in. Her daddy has been singing the beautiful song he wrote to her and both he and Lissa talk to her all the time and tell her about everyone who can't wait to meet her. I'll even admit, everytime I was left alone with her (ie: Liss went to the bathroom), I sang to her "Umbrella,"...the pretty, slow, Randy-Hose-dance version..not the fast Rihanna one. :) She told me she likes my singing the best, Brady. ;) haha...never. :)

So yesteday I had decided to go down to LA a day earlier and suprise my dad & Laura (and pretty much everyone else), because they'd flown in from CO a few days earlier and haven't seen Ri in a long time. Brady's mom, Susan and step-dad, Brad, got into town on Friday night from Utah, so come Saturady, we had a quite the gang at CHLA. You're only allowed 3 visitors at a time in this particular wing, but we kinda sorta got 10 people up there...not into Ella's room, of course, because there's good reason to limit it to a few...but the waiting room was completely empty and we took over. :) Ella is looking better and better everyday and her puffiness is going down rapidly as they drain her fluids....I even got to kiss her sweet little hand and the back of her head! Lissa can't even kiss the back of her head bc she's too short to lean up and over her bed warmer...:) One of the benefits of being tall today. :) We all took our turns visiting in her room, had a great lunch and then mom and I went over to the Ronald McDonald house (where Liss and Brady are now staying), to put Twisty down for a nap, so I could work on the message board to Ella. The Ronald McDonald house is soo nice, I can't believe how generous that place is. Their room looks like a standard, nice hotel room...a couple  beds, bathroom, big window, dresser & closet...and the tiniest flatscreen I've ever seen with 3 channels on it. Thank God for laptops.

We all ended the night by going back to "our" hollywood apartment, (thank you so much to the wonderful men who loaned this to us...I dont know them personally, but my family does, and you are rockstars) and visiting, watching some Gabba and giving Liss and Brady our poster board we ALL made for them! Thank you so much to all of you who sent me messages to Ella so I could put them on that board...they were all beautiful and I really think its something they'll treasure forever...and something that Ella can read someday. :)

Today I only briefly was able to see Ella because I wanted to hit the freeway right at Ri's naptime, but I kissed her precious cupcake head and told her I'd be back very soon and to not cause too much trouble without me. I also thanked her beautiful guardian angel, Lauren, who I know was standing right beside her the whole time, as she has been since the moment Ella was born. You are dearly missed, Lauren, but I'm eternally grateful to have you protecting and watching over my baby niece. We all are. <3

"Pay attention to your dreams - God's angels often speak directly to our hearts when we are asleep."