Updated Photos

We just added some photos of Kalista's trip from last weekend and time spent with Grandma and Grandpa when they were down visiting.

Playgroups and More

Hello everyone! We have had one very busy week. Grandma Evelyn and Grandpa David were in town for the first half of the week. It was great having a few extra hands around the house. We love visitors...especially family. Kalista loved spending time with her grandparents. She also had a chance to spend time with her cousin, Lexington, over the weekend. He turned one this past December...so they are close in age.

What else have we been up to? Well....we have been doing some mini renovations all over the house and moving furniture around. In the process, we decided to convert our living room into a large play room. It seems to be a big hit for the little one. She loves spending time playing with all her toys and flipping through her books. Kalista has also started a new phase in self exploration. She can't seem to get enough of the buttons and zippers on her clothes. She has also found her belly and rubs it like Buddha sometimes. It's actually pretty cute when she does it!


This past Wednesday, Jen and Kalista finally made it to the bimonthly "Baby and Me" playgroup at a local elementary school. They got to meet some great moms and babies. They even met up with Kalista's teacher over there. Kalista instantly recognized Miss Jodi to give her a hug. She had a blast and tired herself out, as she fell asleep on the way home. As usual, she was quite the social butterfly that day and made a lasting impression on many.

The Weekend Already?

It is a restful weekend all right. Matt and Kali are picking up Matt's parents in Los Angeles this weekend and bringing them down to San Diego for the week. Jen is holding down the fort and caring for the dogs, since it is wet and wild here with the recent storms.

Kalista attended her first individual occupational therapy session this past Thursday and cried through most of it since she is just in that phase. We swear she does eat and drink at home. Occupational therapy via Skype may be the answer...too bad OT involves hands-on activities with Kalista though....doh!

Kalista and her teacher, Ms. Jodi, get along very well and we have been working on a little sign language, mirror play and possibly getting Kalista more mobile on a scooter board. Jen found a great deal on a plant stand on wheels at IKEA for under $5....so we'll see if that will work for now. We are thinking since Kalista doesn't want to crawl, she can sit on the scooter board and use her legs to scoot around the house. Obviously, we want her crawl, but that tummy sure gets in the way when she stretches out her legs. She is definitely motivated to get going, we just need to find a way. She is starting to hop on her butt to get from one spot to another. It works but it takes 15 minutes to get 3 inches....not very efficient.

Ding Ding...Time to Eat

Here is the latest video of Kalista's road to becoming a FOODIE:

YOU GO GIRL!!!

Sorry the video is not top notch..our cell phones have limits.

I'm Nine Months Old!

Oh my...we have some excellent news as Kalista turns 9 months old. Thanks to the stomach flu....it has spurred an eating frenzy. We turned a bad thing into something good for once! Kalista no longer retches and is taking food by mouth in larger quantities. She now opens her mouth wide so we can spoon baby food in. It is so amazing!

She brings her sippy cup to her mouth, but still finds the task of sucking very labor intensive and starts crying. We have transitioned her from the Joey pump for food delivery to bolus feeds directly into her g-tube since we found out that it is the pump that makes her retch. She can now tolerate us infusing her meals into her within 20-30 minutes, which is so much more convenient for all.



We are so thrilled to be able to share this awesome news! It is a grand milestone and we couldn't be more proud of Kali and her new desire to put everything in her mouth. During bath time earlier, she even gave all her bath squirt toys big slobbery kisses.

All Is Well...FINALLY

Whew! Everyone in the house is back on their feet again and have made a stunning recovery. We may have spread to each other the entire flu and cold season germs all in a matter of three weeks... but hey..if it means no more ailments for the year then it was worth it.

We saw the pediatrician yesterday and we have been weaning her off pedialyte since she is still not having the best looking diapers yet. Hopefully by tomorrow she can return to her full milk amounts and tolerate it.

Due to the craziness of this week and slow recovery, we had to reschedule Kalista's cardiology appointment and sedated echocardiogram. We couldn't follow the regimen of not giving Kalista anything to eat or drink for a few hours, given all that we have been through this week, just to be sedated. It took them almost 9 months to realize that they should have double checked to see if her PDA ligation surgery was successful, a few more weeks won't matter.

It was also supposed to be Kalista's first one-on-one OT session this week, but we had to be put that on hold until next week. She's hungry, but not really in the mood to eat still. A few finger swipes of applesauce here and there, but that was it. Hmmm...stubborn (just like her mama)!

Kali Is Home

Today was a long day. The stomach bug whipped through the house with no mercy. Kalista made a good enough recovery that they set her free late this afternoon. We can still hear her stomach gurgle, but she looks so much better than a few days ago.

She made some new nurse friends in the Medical/Surgical Pod, but we hope that we won't have another visit for a while.

Here are a few cute pictures at the baby hotel (aka Rady Children's Hospital):

Welcome back home baby love!

We're Back...Round 2

Just our luck...this is our second trip to the ER in the past two weeks. The first round was the RSV thing and now it's because of the stomach flu. Darn those viruses!

How did it all begin???

It all started Thursday around 10 pm when we noticed that was retching almost every 10 to 15 minutes and then at about midnight she started whimpering and squealing in pain. That is when the diarrhea started and it didn't get better after that. We just thought it may have been from sour milk or something and changed out her bag and tubing on the pump to give her fresh formula instead. We decided to wait and see if it got better since she didn't have a fever or any other signs. Kalista was fine for the morning and even swung on the swings at the park with Matt. By 5 pm, she was floppy and lethargic. Matt said she looked drugged out and zombie like. So...that's how we ended up where we are right now.

We checked into Rady Children's ER Friday night and they examined her and infused her with IV fluids due to apparent dehydration. They worried about her WPW heart arrythmia because her heart rate was at 230 beats/minute and she is normally in the 130s and 180 maximum when she gets super mad. In the end, it was just due to her dehydrated state and they didn't have to give her a drug called adenosine. We were admitted eventually and Jen stayed overnight while Matt went home to rest for work the next day. Kali has been such a trooper through it all. She got poked at least a dozen or more times since they need to take samples to do tests and measure all these different levels from her blood. She has officially become a human pin cushion.
Ouchie wowchie!

It's nice that we have a large room all to ourselves so Kali can rest and sleep more soundly. She is actually sound asleep as we update this blog. She is still a little weak and falls over when we sit her up, but she looks so much better than early Friday morning into Friday night. We just hope that she gets to come home sooner than later.

We can't believe how fast it hit her.

BEFORE (Thursday)

AFTER (Friday)

For sure, she is definitely a lot stronger and more lively today compared to yesterday. She has been giving those lab assistants a run for their money when they come to stick her.


The oddest thing we noticed, since this all happened, is that we have not heard one retch from Kalista. It's like the retching is completely gone. It leads us to believe she might have a reaction to milk or milk-based formula in her stomach. She is doing spectacular on the Pedialyte she is getting right now...no retching or anything. Hmmmmm......explain that GI clinic! Should we try soy?

Happy Lunar New Year!

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY

Yes...it is that time of year again. We cleaned our house and swept away all the bad luck from 2010. We packed our red envelopes for all you young single folk out there. We have become vegetarians for the day and we are avoiding sharp objects so we don't bring bad luck for 2011 (yeah...it's superstitious...we know).

We just found out that the second day of New Year's is to celebrate the birth of dogs. Evidently, we are supposed to be super kind to all dogs and treat them like kings and queens. Never knew that...thank you wikipedia! It looks like Joey and Bella will be feasting tomorrow.

So Big!

Kalista always seems to surprise everyday with her new talents. Over the weekend, she decided to show us her bubble blowing abilities (a.k.a."motorboat", according to our neurologist) and standing up on her own with a little help of course. It's pretty cool to see her learning all these new skills. She is getting so BIG!

BLOWING BUBBLES
(Starring Kalista and her mouth)

LOOK.....I CAN DO IT!
(Starring Kalista, Joey and Bella)