Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Lilley & Grace

Yesterday Jenn & Lilley came over to visit! We got a chance to take a few pictures of the girls together!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

2 Month Check Up

Grace went in today for her 2 month check up!

She now weights 10lbs. and is 23 inches long.

She screamed/cried during her shots and a few seconds afterwards, but other than that she's been fairly good so far (knock on wood).


Hope everyone has had a great Thursday!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

2 Months Old

Grace is 2 months old today! :) Wow, does time fly!



Isn't she precious?!?! Grace has recently found her hands. She loves sucking on them. She does a lot of smiling now too. She loves to swing in her swing, read books with me, and snuggle with her Daddy! We go to the doctor tomorrow for her 2 month check up. I'm looking forward to seeing how much she's grown but not looking forward to those 2 month shots!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Hemangioma

Some of you may have seen or maybe not, but Grace has a hemangioma on her left shoulder. We took her to a dermatologist back in the beginning of June but I didn't feel as comfortable with what he told us so we took her for a second opinion on Monday.

Just a little background:
Hemangiomas are a type of birthmark that is a self involuting benign tumors of endothelial cells (the cells that line blood vessels). In most cases it appears during the first days or weeks of life and will have resolved at the latest by age 10. Hemangiomas are connected to the circulatory system and filled with blood. The appearance depends on location. If they are on the surface of the skin they look like a ripe strawberry, if they are just under the skin they present as a bluish swelling. Females are three to five times more likely to have hemangiomas than males. Hemangiomas may break down on the surface (ulcerate).

Hemangiomas go through three stages of development and decay:
1. In the proliferation stage, a hemangioma grows very quickly. This stage can last up to twelve months.

2. In the rest stage, there is very little change in a hemangioma's appearance. This usually lasts until the infant is one to two years old.
3. In the involution phase, a hemangioma finally begins to diminish in size. Fifty percent of lesions will have disappeared by age five with the vast majority gone by puberty.

When Grace was first born we thought it was a bruise that happened during delivery. If you look carefully in this picture of her just after birth you can see that the skin is red on her left shoulder...


After talking with the pediatrician while in the hospital it was determined that it was either a hemangioma or a port-wine stain but then later at our first dermatologist appointment he told us it was just a hemangioma. Now, here's a picture of it at just almost two months:

Grace's hemangioma is on the surface and under the skin, therefore she has the ripe strawberry look and the bluish swelling. In the past 2 weeks it had begun to ulcerate which means that the skin is beginning to break down in places. The doctor we saw on Monday seemed to think that Grace's hemangioma should fade for the most part by the age of 5. He took pictures of it to begin the monitoring process and said he will be with us every step of the way to help us monitor it. He gave us medicine to put on the parts that have begun to ulcerate. There are 4 small spots. We go back on July 15th to see him again to determine if the medicine is helping the ulcers. This doctor showed us before & after pictures of another little girl who had this same type of hemangioma on her arm and it was amazing the difference after a few years. Just thought I'd educate those that read the blog about Grace's hemangioma as well as to document it on her blog so that when I print it out into a book there will be something about it in there for her to read one day.

We are so blessed to have a beautiful, healthy baby girl! :)

Monday, July 6, 2009

4th of July Weekend

Grace was such a trooper this past weekend and LOVED all of her boating adventures! Friday afternoon we took a quick ride over to the Sandy Beach...


Scott & Jacquelyn playing CornHole


Saturday morning we all got up and went to Durants Island and spent the day. Grace slept the whole way there and the whole way back. There were lots of boats that went. We found a spot on the waters edge and played in the sand and the water.


Thursday, June 25, 2009

SMILE

I took this picture with my camera phone this past weekend & I thought I'd share it with you!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

6 Grandkids & 6 Great Grandkids

Nonnie & Grandaddy now have 6 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. The night after we went out for dinner we got together again for steaks on the deck. Here's the great granchildren...



And the grandchildren who made them possible! We have a picture of us sitting in the same order in the same place but only it was taken 5 years ago. Its cool to see how much we've all changed!