Elly had a terrific day yesterday for her 2 week old birthday! I am so amazed at her strength and her progress. She has been so amazingly stable that I am finding it harder and harder not to get too happy.

Yesterday was one incredible day for her. She got off the ventilator and is tolerating it just wonderfuly, she pooped and that is so wondeful because that means her intestines are healing. She is so incredible.

Our friends who are just so wonderful they took us to see our Bella yesterday. I was so happy to be told that I would be able to hold my little Bella! I got to hold Elly for 2 hours in Kangaroo Care which means she lay on my chest for 2 hours. I felt her warmth and her little body on mine. She got to feel my skin and we were both united again! She even made the same little movements that she made in utero, at least I recognized them as such. I heard her voice and her little cries because she does not have the tube in her mouth. How do you describe the feel of yor baby on against your being for the first time? I was holding my child and it has only been 2 weeks. What a gift!!

I was a little hoggish... Joe did not get to hold her but I will give him his turn today. I think he knew how much it meant to me and he was thoughtful enough to let me do it first. I held her so close to me and I just wanted our souls to fuse. I wanted to communitcate my love for her through my breaths. We were in unison in our breathing and she settled in so quickly. Did she feel my heart beat and recognize it? I don't now but she settled in so nicely that her vitals were even better than when we first got there.

Another friend of mine made her a preemie blanket and hat. I covered Elly with her first little blanket that my friend made. It was incredible because her little blanket smelled like her and I wanted to take the blanket home just to smell my Elly. Before we left, I put on her little hat and she looked so cute, of course, my camera's battery died on me and I could not take any digital pictures but we did have a disposable camera. Hopefuly in a week, I will develop some pictures. We leave the camera there for the nurses to take picutures of Elly during the week.

I was complete yesterday and I slept soundly having held my angel for the first time. Thank you for your prayers which have made this possible and for my dear friends who took me to my girl and my dedicated and loving sister in law who watched my other little munchkins.

We will visit her today and I will spend more time with her. I can't wait!! Now that I can hear and hold her... its just undescribable how I feel.

I am also deeply grateful for my sister in law Denise. She has been our angel through all of this. She is always there to watch the kids when we need. She is a truly devoted aunt and a most loved sister in law. Without her and Joe's parents, we would be in a bind with our other kids but they are always there for us when we need them. They have always been there for us including when we went through this journey with Joey. No words could express our gratitutde for such loving support by our family.

Forgive the typo's I am just a horrible speller especially when I am sleep deprived!

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