Slowly but surely

Rory is doing better- she is no longer on antibiotics, they have removed her NG tube and today they wanted to get a sense of how much she was taking in so she was only drinking from a bottle (pumped breast milk with additional fortification to give her extra calories). The plan is to have additional bloodwork tomorrow to follow her anemia (they are hoping to either avoid transfusing her or wait until her directed donor blood is ready and available (grandma Jill donated blood specifically for Rory which requires 72 hours to process, they will hold this blood for up to 45 day or so and then release it to the general donor pool if Rory does not use it. By holding it for this length of time this blood will also be available for her second surgery, as yet unscheduled but most likely the first week of March). They're also following her weight and other markers. If all goes well, she may be home on Monday! Keep your fingers crossed.

Without being attached to IV's and monitors, we are able to walk around with her. She wandered around flirting today, showed off her striped black and white socks and spent some time relaxing with the black on white book (which was also an Alex fave back in the day).

Alex is doing well, looking forward to "baby sister" coming home. He's talked to her and sung to her over the phone a couple of times and has visited her in the hospital (he looks forward to the playroom!). Of course, he misses mama and dada but is now saving things to show mama or dada when they come home from the hos-ipal.

Today Alex enjoyed seeing the lions and tigers at the zoo with Nana where they were treated to hearing them "go roar!". Alex also got to see the zookeeper getting ready to feed the tiger .

Photos are disorganized and not uploaded yet, but we do have this one of Rory lounging and reading her black on white book.