Happy Thanksgiving!  We have so much to be thankful for this year-  starting with the three of us being home and Zoe getting better every day.  It's so crazy to think that we are all sitting here as a family,  sometimes I think we thought we would never get home.  We had a great dinner today at my parents with my sister and her husband and their daughter, Eva, my parents, my uncle Andy and Jason's parents, Mark and Margi.  My two brothers and their families came over for desert later.  It was a wonderfully chaotic, family filled day and Zoe loved every minute of it.  She was wide awake the whole time and sat at the dinner table with us watching everything happen.  My nieces and nephews got to hold Zoe briefly which made their day.  Zoe got to get dressed up in her Thanksgiving outfit, an orange jumper and striped tights- she looked so adorable!!  We have Thanksgiving dinner with Jason's family on Saturday and are looking forward to another fun filled family day. Zoe finally crashed out around 7:00 tonight so hopefully she will sleep through the evening since she was awake so much today.  The picture below is my parents with all 8 of their grandkids!!   

Happy Thanksgiving a day early.  Zoe and the two of us are doing great.  We have gotten into our routine and are enjoying our time with Zoe.  She now weighs  12lbs 5 oz, she has been putting on about half a pound a week.  Her cheeks are getting so chubby. She now is really aware of her hands and will direct a bottle towards her mouth and she can pick up a toy if it is sitting in front of her.  We started her new pulmonary hypertension drug, Bosentan, about a week ago.  Hopefully it will help.  We have another ECHO scheduled on December 11th to see if there are any changes in her blood pressures.  We have already noticed that Zoe's heart rate has slowed a bit and that she needs less oxygen to breathe easy, whether that is a result of the drugs or just time, who knows, but it is very exciting.  Over the last few weeks Zoe has been able to meet most of her cousins and her great grandpa on Jason's side, Baba.  She has also been able to meet her pseudo-cousins Elizabeth and William, who can't wait to baby sit her someday. 

Zoe and I had our first outdoor outing today!!  We didn't go very far but she loved it and was looking around the whole time (until she fell asleep).  It's so great to be able to be outside a hospital and smell the fresh air.  I know it's good for me and I'm sure it's good for Zoe.  Jason is looking forward to a walk with us tomorrow. 

So we've been home a week and a half and we're still surviving.  Zoe has been doing great, she seems calmer and her heart rate seems to have slowed a bit which is great.  She is still a happy, happy kid- except for those wet diapers.  Zoe turned 3 months old yesterday.  When I took her to the pediatrician on Tuesday she had put on 5 ounces in a week.  She now weighs 11 lbs 8 oz.  Her cheeks get chubbier by the day and her legs are looking much more rolly-polly. 

Just a couple days ago, Zoe discovered that she has hands that she can do things with.  She has started to grab and pick up objects and direct the bottle towards her mouth.  SHe has also started wanting to suck on whatever is near her mouth- including her own fingers.  SHe can also now roll from her back to her side, she can't make it quite all the way to her stomach, but hopefully soon.

Jason and I are startign to get into somewhat of a routine and are getting a bit more sleep these days.  We are trying to swap off feedigns which works most of the time, but not always.  And yes, we've already given up on one of the things we never wanted to do- we let Zoe sleep in the bed with us if she gets fussy in the middle of the night- anything for a few more hours of sleep!!  Zoe and I spend our days reading, playing games, working on our feedings and learning how to smile and coo.  She is still in awe of all things new  and loves nothing better than dancing around the house with me to Willie Nelson.  We are still waiting to start the new hypertension drug, Bosentan, so when that happens I'll let you know. We are also up for periodic visitors as long as you are healthy, no cold, no coughing and havenb't been around anyone that is sick.  We still can't have kids over around Zoe, but if yoiur kids want to see Zoe we can always have a "viewing" through a window.  Just call us and let us know if you want to stop by.  Thank you in advance to all the people bringing food over for Jason and I- we so appreciate it.  It's amazign how little I get done during the day (and I am a really good multi-tasker).

Sorry it's been a few days since I've written, but it's been a bit crazy.  Big news first....  WE ARE HOME!!!! (Or at least home at my parents place while they are in Hawaii).  The results of Zoe's Cardiac Catheter on Friday just showed that her pressures are indeed high and that she didn't respond particuarly well to Nitric or oxygen, so the next planf attatck is to strat her on the drug Bosentan and see what happens over the next few months.  Hopefully the combination of the viagra and Bosentan will do something to relieve the pressures.  In the mean time we are supposed to treat Zoe like a normal kid and start a normal life with her, so here we are.  We got discharged from Seattle Children's on Monday night and made it home by about 7:00.  Jason and I had spent the previous couple days learning how to give Zoe her feedings with the feeding pumps and how to give her medication.  We also had to learn how to put in her feeding tube through her nose, scary but not too hard to do and definetly a two personj ob!!  At about 5:00 on Monday we loaded Zoe into her carseat and walked outside with her, it was such a crazy, emotional, scary moment-  sometimes I think we though we would never get here.  Zoe was in awe of everything, she got to feel her first rain drops on her face (not so happy about that) and feel what wind and trees look like.  It was a long scary trip back across the water but ZOe did great- she stayed awake the whole time.  Home is a bit chaotic right now, we literally just dropped everything on the floor at my parents and tried to get Zoe settled in.  Since it was a rather sudden discharge, we had nothing set up at home.  Jason and I  have spent the last two nights sleeping on the floor in the rec room with Zoe in the bassinet.  There is still so much to take care of for her,  We have a 50' oxygen cord that is hooked to a huge tank , so we can pretty much get everywhere in the house as long as the cord doesn't get stuck.  Teh feeding pump has to be moved from place to place depending on where I have Zoe.  Her pulse oximeter, which measures her oxygen level, we are only using at night.  It's funny how scary this all is, yet at the same time since I have had three months to watch her in the hospital,, I know her oxygen levels are fine and it actually doesn't freak me out too much to not have her oximeter on during the day.  Jason and I are still trying to figure out some sort of schedule for the evening feeds, it's hard for one person to do it all because each feed requires movign machinery, not moving Zoe too much, so she doesn't throw up.  It's about a 70 minute process for each feed and you have to be aawake for most of it to make sure she doesn't throw up and then the machine has to be cleaned for the next feed.  We'll figure it ot eventually- everyone does right ? 

We had Zoe's first meeting with her pediatric doctor on Tuesday.  They needed to meet her and take all her basics because we will be going to see him once a week for quite a while just to make sure she is growing well and breathing well.Zoe wore her political statement in honor of yesterday (YEAH!!)  She seems to be doing greatat home, she is constanty checking everything out and seems totally intrigued by all the lights and noises.  Her cousins were finally able to see her through the glass door. 

Now back to Zoe's next feeding and an attempt to get organized.  Thank you all so much for all your help and prayers!!