Sunday, November 25, 2007

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday with Jim's family in Laguna Beach. Jim's grandmother had us all over to her house and all his siblings (4) and their spouses and children were able to make it. Jim's family is spread out all over the place so it's a real treat when we can all be together. Here are a few pictures to highlight Amalea's first Thanksgiving.

Hanging out with Gigi (great grandma Krill)
Cuddling with Uncle Bryan (Jim's oldest brother)
With my ever so cute cousin Jack

Monday, November 19, 2007

Our trip up North

Here are a few pictures from our adventure last weekend.

Meeting Auntie Steph (Jim's sister)
Meeting Uncle Benny (Robin's brother)
Playing with Oma and Pop (Robin's parents)
All dressed up for my first wedding
Hanging out as a family
We had a great trip and were happy to see so many friends and family. Amalea is doing really well and recovering wonderfully from her surgery.

Monday, November 12, 2007


Wow, what a day. Amalea came out of surgery with a giant patch and a huge contraption to hold in her IV, not to mention that she was really yellow from the dye they had to use. It was alarming at first for me to see her in this state - all hooked up and bandaged.
The doctor said the surgery went well and that they got all the blood out. Amalea goes back tomorrow morning for a follow-up so the patch will come off then and we'll get to see the eye. The doctor said she still may develop a lazy eye, but they might patch her good eye and give us some exercises to try and strengthen the bad eye.
All and all it was successful - yes, she cried a lot and that was hard for Jim and I, but we know that she needed to do it. Yes, she threw up all over the floor and pooped a lot, but it's now six hours after surgery and she is keeping all her food down so that is great. The yellow color is already fading and should be gone by morning.

We are so proud of Amalea. Today she is 6 weeks old - what an amazing adventure the last 6 weeks have been. She weighed in at 10 pounds today!! I love this picture below because she looks so big to me in her jeans and uggs and holding her head up - she is perfect (even with her gigantic eye patch).

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Surgery Schedule


Amalea will be having her eye surgery on Monday November 12. The surgeon comes highly recommended and we got a great feeling from him when we met him. She will get to come home after the surgery (assuming all goes well) and then we'll go back the following day for a check up.
This pic is a little fuzzy, but I love it - Amalea is growing so well (and eating a ton!!!).

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Another doctor


This picture isn't actually from the doctor today, but is from a few weeks ago. In the picture you'll notice the bandage on her arm - she had to have blood drawn. They had to put a butterfly on her and I'm pretty sure they took 2 vials of blood. Amalea is a trooper for sure.
Today we saw a retina specialist and he confirmed the blood behind her eye. The good news is that she is not currently bleeding, however the bad news is that she does have blood built up behind her left eye (most likely from the trauma of the delivery) and they need to drain that blood out. Currently she has no vision in her left eye and because of that if we don't do the surgery she will probably develop a lazy eye and possibly some severe vision problems. The goal of the surgery is to remove the blood from behind her eye and after that she shouldn't have any vision problems. They want to do the surgery sometime in the next 10 days - the sooner the better so that her eyes don't develop incorrectly. Amalea will be under a complete anesthetic knocking her out for about an hour while they perform the surgery. The doctor is a specialist and said he has performed this surgery many times. He seemed confident in the process and in her complete recovery.
Though it is a scary process for Jim and I we know it is the best thing for Amalea. She is a strong girl and thankfully will not remember any of this. Thank you all for your prayers and phone calls through this process - it looks like the end is in sight and hopefully Amalea will have complete vision after the surgery.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Our Little Chili



Here are a few pictures from Amalea's first Halloween. These were taken before she threw up all over her costume :-)