Happy 6th Month Birthday!

Suri Elizabeth,
What a month you had this month. You had your first Thanksgiving and you were an excellent traveler as we bounced back and forth from family to family. Then the week after you had to survive a whole week without mom. You and your father did quite nicely and even sent me daily pictures so I wouldn't miss you too much. The beginning of December was a little rough for all of us as you had your surgery on your right lung on Dec. 7th. Dr. Lund saw us on the 22nd and gave you a clean bill of health for the holidays. So here we are right before your first Christmas and Suri we couldn't be luckier parents. This year has had many ups and downs from job changes, to finding out you had something wrong with you lung, to your birth and then your surgery but one thing is for certain we are truly blessed that you are in our lives. We love watching you grow everyday and ever changing. This past month you have conquered sitting on your own, baths by yourself, getting up on all fours and scooting and finally you have your first 2 bottom teeth coming in. We can't wait to watch you become mobile this upcoming month and grow into the little lady that you are becoming. We love you so, until next month!

Love,
Mom and Dad

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

For Suri's first Christmas we have decided to stay in Sun Prairie, WI. It was a hard decision because we would love to be home with all of our family and friends but with her just 2 weeks out of surgery we feel as though traveling 5 hrs one way wouldn't be the best. So we wouldn't miss anything this year as a Christmas gift from my Aunt Karen we received a webcam so for those of you in the Skype world we are now up and running and our username is SuriBird. So here's wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Fashion Diva

Living in Wisconsin you don't go an hour without seeing women wearing tights and ugg boots so Suri wanted to make sure she fit in. Thanks Michelle Burk for the adorable boots!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Suri's first snow day, well not really a day but more like 10 minutes, and boy did she love catching the flakes in her mouth.

There is no place like home

So after 3 1/2 days in the hospital we were sent home yesterday afternoon around 11:30. Suri had to have 3 chest xrays on Thursday before they finally cleared her for discharge. Now all we have is a follow up on Dec. 22nd with one finally xray and if that is good we can put this all behind us. They were able to extract all the cysts from her lung and only had to take 10% of the lung with them. So she shouldn't have any issues breathing or anymore cases of bronchitis etc.. than any normal child. We truly were blessed that they caught this early and we were able to get them out before she would actually remember the surgery. This was definitely harder on mom and dad than I think her because if you watch the video below you can see that she is back to her normal playful self.

Chest tube is out!

It is 3:30 and we got the green light to take the chest tube out. Now we wait to get another chest xray to see if everything is good and then if so we will be released tomorrow. So keep the wishful thinking and prayers coming our way because we want to take our baby girl home.

Snowed in

So God has a funny way of working. Here we are in the hospital with our baby bird watching the snow come down and Madison shut down with no signs of the snow stopping. Already we have received 15-18 inches of snow and the schools, cabs and even the city buses are not operating. So there is no where else we need to be but here in the hospital getting her better.

The newest update at 10 am is that there is air in her right lung that shouldn't be there and it is compressing it. So the chest tube has to stay in and we have to still be hooked up to the wall unit that is drawing the air out. In an hour they are going to wet seal her tube for a few hours and see if air is still getting in. Run another chest xray and if there is less air than her 9am xray then out it comes if not, we are here until Friday.

Suri has been an excellent patient smiling at everyone, trying to roll over with tubes sticking out of her and is even eating solid foods again. She truly is a blessing and maybe this is God's way of slowing us down around the holidays to truly count our blessings.

moved to the peds floor

"ET phone home"

Yes Asif did get up in her crib with her

So today was better than yesterday and tomorrow will be even better. This morning Suri came out of her fog and started to return to normal. She was able to get her catheter out at around 10:30 then at 3:00 we were moved to the 5th floor which is a peds floor and out of ICU. Once here Dr. Lund took Suri off of the morphine and gave her heavy duty Ibprofin which is administered every 6 hrs. She is doing fabulous on this and was able to move around a lot better without any pain.

Suri also took her first foods since surgery: a whole step 2 of apple, banana, strawberry, 2 oz of rice cereal and 3 oz of formula. She was a hungry girl. She just went to sleep at around 8:30 and so are mom and dad. Here's wishing pleasant dreams to all of us. Thanks for all the continued support, love and for checking in. We love you all.

ET phone home

Suri received a fun light on her finger to monitor vitals and she thought she was phoning home like ET.

Recovery in the PICU

So after a 2 hr surgery we were finally moved to the PICU for the evening. Suri has a chest tube still in and it will remain in for 2 days and a catheter which will be removed in the morning. We hopefully will be moved from the PICU to a normal floor in the morning.

Here is a quote that has gotten me through the day from Arizona on Grey's Anatomy:

"This is general surgery on a miniature scale. These are tiny humans. These are children. They believe in magic. They play pretend. There is fairy dust in their IV bags. They hope, and they cross their fingers, and they make wishes, and that makes them more resilient than adults. They recover faster, survive more. They believe."

Thank you!

Thank you thank you for all your thoughts, prayers and well wishes. Suri is done with her surgery. They were able to do a lower wedge which means they only had to remove 10% of her entire lung (30% of the lower right lung). She has a chest tube in which will remain in for the next 2 days to make sure the lung seals itself and no fluid can get in. Don't worry Suri won't feel anything because she had an epidural and for those of us that have had one, they are glorious. Dr. Lund said that she won't even miss it. Keep posted for more updates! Love you all.

Here we go, let's get this over

Right before surgery.
Suri was very intrigued by the light on her foot and the remote. She only paged the nurse once. Suri was also extremely helpful with the blood pressure cuff and putting on her ID tag.

First Babysitter

Suri had a very busy month of first's: first fruits, first CT scan and first babysitter

Happy as a lark with our neighbor Dan Seeley and his wife Jessica Seeley.

Yep that is right. Asif and I went out on our first date without Suri. Oh what's that you say "How did Suri do?" well she did fine but how did we do? Well we headed out at 6:30 and only checked our watches 3 times before finally calling home at 8 to see check in and when everything was fine we decided to stay out until 10:30, yes a whole 10:30. Don't laugh that was an hour past our usual bedtime and we would have been home sooner but we thought Suri deserved a night without us too.

Happy 5 Month Birthday!

Little Love,

You have changed leaps and bounds this past month. You are not really a baby baby anymore but more like a little lady. This past month you have found your voice and love to say "HA-EYE" which I think is your way of saying Hi. You also love to make a wet razzling noise.

This month you have conquered rolling over both ways from back to tummy and from tummy to your back. You also love pulling your socks off and your favorite toys are your yellow giraffe rattle, your lady bug ball, and your pink ball.

You have also discovered your love of solid foods this month. You have conquered cereal, applesauce, green beans, peas, peaches, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, prunes, pears and your favorite is bananas. Even though you love these things you still spit up like a little fountain usually requiring a whole family outfit change on a daily basis.

At your Doctor appointment earlier this month you weighed 16lbs. 12 oz and were 25 1/8 inches long. You love to stand and even try to walk when I hold your hands. You love to walk towards your Addy and immediately burst into giggles once you get to her. I already feel for both Addy and Wrigley because you have been eyeing them for months and once you are mobile they are in for a world of trouble.

You father has done a fabulous job dressing you these past few months and even earned himself a coffee mug with worlds greatest dad on it. He loves tights, leggings and layering you in all different colors and patterns and your daycare ladies get a huge kick out of it.

You are changing so quickly my lady love and your father and I are just taking every moment in and loving it one day at a time.

So this week we found out that our little Suri Bird is going to have to have surgery on her right lung. This is something that wasn't unexpected but we were hoping that the cysts hadn't grown and that we wouldn't have to have surgery, but they are still there and rather large in my eyes. So what this means is on Dec. 7th they will give Suri general anestia and then they will give her a chest tube, epidural for pain and then they will make an incision on her right side to go through her ribs to her right lung. At this time they will remove 30% of her right lung that contains the cysts and insert a tube to drain any fluid and to make sure her lung is inflating. Finally they will close her up and then she will be taken to the ICU for the night. After that night we will stay at UW Childrens Hospital for 3 more days to monitor the function of her lungs and to make sure she is tolerating the pain and eating properly. Then we should be released that Thursday. Many of you have known this for a while but for those of you that didn't please just keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Suri is a tough little girl who is excelling in everything that she does and this too she well excel at and get through with flying colors.

Rubber Ducky

She has definitely figured out her feet more so than her hands

Sheer Exhaustion

Hanging out with our neighbor Dan watching some Sunday afternoon football
The excitement of the game is almost too much for Suri, so she is hanging on to Dan's finger for some stress relief

Taking a snooze during halftime

The Bears were losing so bad to Cincinnati she decided not to wake up for the second half

Squash

Suri's not a huge fan of squash so maybe this week peas?

Happy 4 Month Birthday!

Suri Elizabeth,
You are 4 months old and definitely more than average (at least that is what Dr. Coert said). Today you went to your 4 month wellness checkup and had to get a round of vaccines which is especially important nowadays with the crazy spread of the H1N1 swine flu. You couldn't get that vaccine yet but we will do all that we can to protect you. At this checkup you weighed 15 lbs 13 oz which puts you in the 91st percentile, 25 1/4 inches long which is 85th percentile, and your head was 16 1/2 inches which is 76th percentile. Dr. Court said you are advanced for 4 months with standing and bearing weight on your legs and that you should be an early crawler and walker. So Dad and I say we raise good stock!
Also this month you have moved on to rice cereal and you have learned to roll from your tummy to your back. This latest feat is a monumental moment but at 2 in the morning you can't quite figure out how to roll back which causes you to scream until we come in and flip you over. You love to get 'so big' and stand on mom and dad's legs. You have also officially discovered your hands and love to chew on them and slobber on anything that you can put in your mouth. You have such a big personality and are such a happy baby. This month you also had your first cold which you got through like a champ thanks to the goober getter (aspirator) which you hated with a firery passion.
Suri your dad and I are so incredibly lucky to have you in our life and like one of our favorite songs says "I love your love the most."

DA BEARS!

Cheering on her favorite football team!

second time around

Suri is figuring out the food thing. She is successfully wearing only half of it now :)

Suri learning to roll

Since this video was taken, Suri has successfully learned to roll over. She goes from tummy to back but still hasn't figured out the back to tummy thing yet.

World's Best Dad

Asif has been really campaigning for a world's best dad coffee cup ever since Suri was born but Suri and I have decided that we wanted him to work for it. So for the past few weeks Asif has been in charge of getting her ready in the morning and here are a few of her outfits. We will let you vote on if he qualifies as World's Best Dad!

Baby's First Food

Total Shock!

Now she was getting the hang of it
Actually getting more in her mouth now than on her.

3 vs 3

Suri Bird,
Well September was a time to celebrate 3's. It was your 3rd month birthday and your father and I's 3rd year anniversary. During this month you have become a VERY smiley baby. It is amazing how much of a personality you have now. You love being talked to, by anyone, and will instantly coo right back at them as if you are carrying on a conversation with them. You also continue to amaze us by sleeping through the night just like you have since you were 7 weeks old. The best thing about sleeping through the night(besides the fact that we are all rested) is that in the morning you greet us with the biggest brightest smile ever. Also this month you have learned how to use your hands. You love to grasp onto blankets, your teddy bear blanket (which is your favorite) and our hair-OCH! Also this month you celebrated your first Eid with your grandparents, your aunt and uncle and many cousins. You were fascinated by the mounds of present and loved the bottles and naps you got that day. Don't worry Suri, many holidays will consist of eating and naps. Baby Girl, you are absolutely perfect in every way and everyday your father and I love you more than yesterday. Keep growing, keep smiling and keep our life interesting because we are so blessed to have you in our life.

Until next month,
mom

Eid Mubarak

This was your first Eid and we celebrated at Aunt Monica's and Uncle Syed's. Iffat and Grandma and Grandpa were there along with Simon, Charlie, Addison and Wrigley. It was quite the zoo with all the dogs and gifts galore but you had a wonderful Eid. Grandma and Grandpa love to spoil you and now you have a new wardrobe(luckily it is for 6-9 months), a giant 5 ft catepillar, a musical octopus, a nusery rhyme bear, and a new Orbit Toddler car seat because soon you will need it. The best part of the day was relaxing and enjoying time with our family. You loved playing with Syed Brian's toys especially his red car and alphabet mat. It is amazing to watch you interact with Syed Brian. He is fascinated with you and loves to smack hands with you. The 5 month age difference between you and Syed Brian allows your father and I to see where you will be at in just a few short months. I look forward to watching you sit up on your own (you are soooo close, you currently sit up in your bumbo seat by yourself), crawl towards your toys and of course play with your precious dogs.

Curious Little Bird

Suri is changing so much and this video just shows how strong and curious she is.

It's hard to be this cute...