Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

How the time goes by. I had to pack up all of Tessa's summer clothes (and there were A LOT!!!!) and now pulling out her fall stuff. I never thought after holding that 5lb baby that she'd ever fit into what she is now. It's so sad....I have 2 HUGE totes full of clothes and another 2 just waiting for colder weather. How can one little kid have so many clothes?!?!? GO VIKES!!!!! (Thanks for the outfit, Auntie Becca - this outfit hasn't brought the VIKES luck with the last two wearers: Ashley & Sophie...and so far it appears that Tess isn't helping either!!!)

8 Month Update

It's been a whole month since any new news was added about little Miss Tessa - not that the flash hasn't been going off on the computer! Tessa has had quite a few weeks - she got a cast on and got it off on Friday. Only a few tears were shed when the scary machine cut off her cast and only a few grimices by Mom as I watched a circular blade aimed at my baby's arm. Sounds like a vacumn...I don't think so! I've never seen a vacumn shred through fiberglass like that thing did. But all if all - her hand looks good. We need to work on her using her right hand now but she is flexing it and trying to pick up things with it although it is still pretty week.

It doesn't seem possible that in only 4 days she will be 8 months old. Where has the time gone? Bought some new sleepers for her (6-9mo) and poor Aaron looked a little sad when I showed them to him. Now that the cast is off - we expect rolling over to occur at any moment and as long as the dog is in front of her - she is willing to tolerate being on her stomach. Tessa is about the only one who can tolerate Josie's bad breath and kisse! YIKES!!!! Here are some pics from the past few weeks:

Aaron and his best friend Kyle with Carter and Tessa. The boys all grown up!

Our little movie star - hamming it up!

Hey, you're dressed like me again...stop it...will ya!

Here's the cast!

Here is Tessa with her purple cast. It looks a lot worse than it is. She woke up this morning just as happy as could be and doesn't really realize that she can't use her right hand until she wants to play with a toy. She is pretty much right-hand dominated so the next 4 weeks will be interesting.

She hasn't clubbed the dog yet with the cast but has hit mom a few times (on mistake, of course) with it. It stings a little.

Hasn't had any meds since last night at 6:30pm to help her sleep. So that big bottle of medicine will collect dust on the shelf.

Came home yesterday and had a nice surprise in the mailbox from my cousin Lori who is will be going through her own surgery experience with her little one on Monday. We are thinking of her family too - Dylan will sail right through it.

We survived surgery!

Took this pic last night - it was as if she was telling me..."here it is Mom - take one last picture!"

Everything went a-ok today. Got up this morning and left the house around 4:30am and got to the hospital by 5:50am - the drive felt like we were driving to the opposite side of the state - it was oddly reminiscent of getting up to drive to Ohio to visit the rellies! We opted not to take her to the door of the operation area - figured it would be too hard to watch her go through the door. Instead, they wrapped her up and took her down - they said that she was laughing and smiling until they put their masks on and then gave them the look of, "hey, what do you think you're doing!?!?!?". Pretty good for a kid that hadn't ate anything since 11:30 the night before!

The staff was wonderful and surgery took exactly the 45 minutes that the dr said it would. She was pretty groggy when she woke up and was not happy - I've never heard her cry that like before. So they brought us back to recovery earlier than normal. Have to say that I tried to get her to calm down and nothing worked - but Dad on the other hand...he had the magic touch! After that she was pretty much our easy going kid - smiling and watching everything going on around her.

She has pretty much slept the day aways since we got home, along with Mom and Dad. We're just waiting for her to club the dog with her cast - it completely covers her hand and is all the way up past the elbow - it looks like a giant purple club...yes, we picked purple because Dad thinks that is her color and a little extra luck for the Vikes this year! The cast will come off on August 29th!!!

Looking forward to a quiet weekend at home to see how she adjusts to her newest accessory!

Surgery Today

The date has finally arrived - Tessa will now have 10 fingers instead of 11. Her "extra digit" on her right hand will be removed today at 8am at Gillette Children's Hospital by Dr. Bohn (yes, it's pronounced "bone" - sort of ironic).

We need to be in St. Paul by 6:30am so that means a VERY early morning ride in the car since we're about 90 mintues away.

The surgery will be about 45-90 minutes long and will result in one less thumb and a cast on her arm that she will need to have on for 5 weeks. I'm guessing that will slow down the whole trying to crawl thing.

Looking Back

I started taking pictures of Tessa as she hits each month. The goal is that by the time she reaches a year she will fit into her 12-month onesie. I'm not sure if it will or not though - she is still wearing 3-month shorts! The 6-month ones fall right off of her! It is hard to remember her so small, especially after holding our new nephew. You can see though that the onesie is getting a little more snug as each month passes by!

6 Months Old!

It can't be possible but Tessa is 6 months old and what a lucky girl - she got to celebrate the day along with the USA! So for the special occassion, she got to spend the day with BOTH sets of grandparents and her Auntie Kari. Everyone had equal Tessa holding time - there was lots of food and she even got her first taste of a pool. All in preparation for the annual Gilbertson Pool Party next weekend. It took a little time but she got used to it and you can tell from the big smiles - LOVED IT - or else, it was all of the attention given to her.

We're gearing up for her big surgery day on August 1st. It will be more traumatic for Aaron and I than for her (and maybe the dog - as she hits her on the head with her cast!). Otherwise, just enjoying the summer. She has learned to make bubbles and noises with her tongue - always fun when she does that out in public!