Happy July 4th!

Oh yes...it is that time of year again when folks break out the illegal fireworks and kids run around with sparklers in the night.  We are quiet folks and are enjoying a nice little BBQ at home.  For being sunny San Diego, it was definitely not sunny today. It felt more like Bay Area weather in the winter - overcast and gloomy.

We went to visit Kalista in the early afternoon and plan to go back later this evening.

Kalista enjoys her soothing crib toy

Kalista is now up to 70 mL full feeds through the NG tube.  Her next swallow study is going to be in two weeks or so to see how she does when she swallows fluids.  Cross our fingers, hopefully she can swallow both thin fluids and thicker nectar-like fluids.  If you can recall...we didn't do so well on the first round of testing last month and found out she was a silent aspirator..hence the NG tube for feeding.

Kalista has been sleeping and resting quite a bit when we visit.  Her "waking up" routine is pretty cute with her stretches and face rubbing.

Kalista waking up from her beauty sleep

Update on Jen:  She went to her primary care doctor on Friday since Kalista has the yeasty beasties (thrush) and found out that she is clear and not affected.  Yahoo!  Good job mama! So we can continue our "dry" breast feeding sessions (meaning Jen expresses milk with the breast pump first and then has Kalista go to the boob).  Kalista has been doing very well with latching on and sometimes seems eager to get the job done with our sessions.

Update on the dogs:  Yes...we have two dogs, Joey and Bella and they are doing well.  Joey is a Shiba Inu and Bella is a chihuahua-pug mix.  Today is Joey's 12th birthday.  He's an oldie but goodie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEY!!!!

Joey enjoying his peanut butter ice cream

We feel bad sometimes since the dogs don't get to go with us to visit Kalista and they don't get out as often as before since we are away for most of the day. We're glad they have each other to play with though. Their highlight of the day is when we bring Kalista's blankets and items home to be washed, we make sure they sniff them. Joey and Bella are getting to know her scent better every day.  Joey goes to town when he sniffs and digs his nose in there.  Bella, on the other hand, likes to lick everything we hold in front of her face. We heard it is the best way to introduce a new baby into the house and make the transition of adding another member to the pack a lot easier.

Hope everyone has a great July 4th!  Have fun and be safe out there!