5 Months Old!

Uncle Michael

Lisa and Joy Mozingo

Tammy

Cathy Miller

Tessa boating! Oh, did she hate her lifevest! She did like camping on the beach, though!

bath time!

Marcea, Tom, Cyndee, Papa and Nana Lola


Tessa and I just got back from our trip to Minnesota. We had a great time! Tessa actually did very well on the airplane. I was terrified about her first flight, but she hardly fussed at all either way! I felt like I was on a mini-vacation, for my mother never wanted to put Tessita down. Tessa had a great time with Nana Lola; drinking coffee with her (Tessa's was water) and taking Gracie for a morning walk. She is such a curious, happy baby. Papa and Nana Lola bought Tessa a swimming pool and a cute little swimsuit, so Tessa spent a lot of time in her pool. We got to visit Papa at work, have a coffee hour with friends, go out with the girls and go camping on the St. Croix River. We also threw Christina a wedding shower while we were visiting; it was nice to celebrate her engagement with her family! Tessa got to meet almost all of my friends growing up and old family friends. Everyone loved her, of course! :)

Over the last few weeks, Tessa has learned to giggle, sit up unassisted for a minute or so at a time, consistently roll over from her back to front, is starting to get up on her knees when on her tummy and seems to be interested in everything Jesse or I do. She is a little wiggle worm! It is so sweet to see her get excited about a toy or seeing someone walk into the room! She is changing so much so quickly!

While in Minnesota, we hired a photographer to come to Papa and Nana Lola's house. You can see a preview of the photos on the photographer's blog site: http://www.sewellphotography.typepad.com/. Scroll down to Aug. 21, 2008's "Heart of Gold" entry.

The second video below is of Jessie's little boy, Owen, and Tessa playing the piano. They were so sweet together, Tessa would have the biggest smile on her face after Owen would give her a big, slobbery kiss on the lips!

Oh, I almost forgot the most exciting news of all...Tessa's Cardiologist said she is doing fantastic and we are to get on with life as if she never had a heart problem! We see Dr. Duster in January, then once a year after that! Adios Pediatric Cardiology Associates!!

4 month checkup

This photo of Uncle Michael is from when he was visiting over Tessa's surgery; it was just too sweet to leave out!

Grandma Nancy got her a new sun hat. Could she be any cuter?

Tessa loves her Daddy!

Auntie Chrissy came to visit last week--we had a wonderful time.


Smiles!!

Tummy time!

Rice Cereal experience

Tessa had her 4 month well-baby checkup today. She weighs 12 lbs 2 oz, which puts her in the 25% for weight (a step up from her 10% last month!) She is almost 26 inches long, putting her at 95% for length. The Pediatrition said not to worry about her torticollis, it is very minor and will heal on its own. She said Tessa is as healthy as can be! She is like a new baby since she's been all healed up after her surgery! She is very content most of the time, unless she is tired or hungry (though she still doesn't really like riding in the car most of the time either). She loves putting everything she can get her hands on into her mouth. It is fun to see her play with her toys! She has still been drooling like crazy and has recently found that her thumb is a great thing to suck on--not quite sure what to do about that one yet! We are now able to pick her up under her arms again and she got her first real bath since the surgery last night. It is SO incredibly nice to put her surgery behind us and get on with life. Tessa has mastered rolling over from her tummy to her back and is very close to rolling from her back to her tummy. The Pediatrition told us to try introducing rice cereal, so we gave her some organic brown rice cereal with breastmilk tonight for the first time. She really didn't know what to think! Most of it went right onto her tummy and chest, but she was definitely interested in eating off a spoon. She seems to have even more to talk about lately and smiles almost all of the time. We even have gotten a short giggle out of her!

The video I put on here isn't the most exciting in the world, I just wanted to try it out!

Cheers,

Lindsay, Jesse and Tessa

Still Healing...

I hope everyone is able to find this new site. Tessa has had a good couple of weeks. Cousin Brady was in Castle Rock for a wrestling camp last weekend, so we got to see him a couple of times. Tessa also got to meet her Great Great Grandma Powell who flew out from California for Grandma Sharon's 70th Birthday party (that we were unable to attend because she is still not allowed to go to higher elevations). She has been talking and smiling up a storm! We have been back to our yoga class, going on walks and hanging out with her little friends; just getting back to our pre-surgery routine.

On a medical note: Tessa's fussiness subsided after a week or so and we were able to take her off the motrin and tylenol we were giving her every 4 hours. This weekend, however, she developed an infection in the top of her incision. It was a red crater full of puss that you could stick a Qtip in. We ended up having to drive to Denver Children's Hospital on Sunday so her surgeon, Dr. Campbell could look at it. He said it was a stitch abcess that got a most-likely superficial infection. He said we were free to go home as long as we kept an eye on it. It has been getting better, so I think we're in the clear. They put her on a strong dose of an antibiotic just to be on the safe side. The antibiotic has been upsetting her tummy and giving her diarrhea, which has been giving her a bad diaper rash. We've been active with dealing with it, so she will be fine. Dr. Duster (her Cardiologist) said she looks great and her latest echocardiogram looked fantastic! He took her off her lasix, so we're hoping her heart can tolerate well without medicine. She is finally gaining weight like crazy--she's put on almost 1.5 lbs since her surgery! We don't see Dr. Duster for another month! (this is a record since birth)

We've got a lot of fun activities coming up in these next few weeks... Aunt Christina is coming to visit on Monday; Tessa is so excited to meet her! Jesse's little brother is getting married on August 9--we're all part of the wedding party, so that should be fun! We were in the process of brewing beer for the event on Sunday when we had to run Tessa to Denver. Jake, Brandon and Matt finished the batch--so it could be an interesting brew! :) (just kidding, I'm sure it's fine) Tessa and I are also going to Minnesota to visit Grandma, Papa and Uncle Michael in mid-August. We plan to take the boat up the St. Croix River to camp on the beach for a night. We'll also be having a wedding shower for Christina while we're there. Uncle Charlie will be on a road trip out here during that week, but we'll get to see him before we leave for Minnesota.

Tessa's little friend she met at the hospital, AnnaSophia, had been eagerly waiting fot her new heart since Tessa's surgery. We are so very happy to say she got her transplant last friday morning and is doing well in the CICU. Her family would sure appreciate and thoughts and prayers for a healthy recovery.

Cheers,

Lindsay, Jesse and Tessa