Can You Feel the Excitement Rising??

Alrighty! I just got the mail today and got my last few cards to enter into the Blog Candy for a Cause II! I will be entering the names into my spreadsheet, printing out all of the names, throwing them in a bucket, and letting someone in my family pull the lucky winner out! And did you see that the blog candy grew again?! If not check out the latest additions HERE. I am completely floored by the generous nature of my fellow stampers and cannot believe the response I received! I will give all of the totals and show pictures of the box I made to put them all in tomorrow when I announce the winner. I can't wait to show you the box I did...I am so very proud of how it turned out.

Anyway, that all is for tomorrow. Today I wanted to share the latest update on baby Francesca. I happy to report that she had her first taste of breastmilk...through a tube. I don't know the logistics of how she stored it all or what she did with it all, but I am so proud that my friend Maureen was able to pump this entire time to maintain her milk supply so that her baby girl could get some of that important liquid! On the bad side, Francesca had low blood platelets and they have not been able to determine why...so prayers are still needed. Here is the post in their words:

Posted 1/1/09:

"Happy New Year and Happy One Month Birthday to our Sweetest Francesca!

Francesca woke up for the new year just before midnight, to ring in 2009 with Mommy and Daddy. Since then, Francesca has seemed to have a good day, with a couple “forward steps”. Her oxygen saturation and blood gases have been good enough for the ventilator to be weaned to 66% oxygen today. Francesca was also able to have her first feeding of breast milk, which was fed through an NG (nasogastric) tube. She appeared to tolerate the feeding well! They still have not figured out why her platelets have been so low, so we are still waiting on that.

We hope 2009 will continue on with this positive trend. We know Francesca still has a long road ahead, so we are sure to treasure each “baby step” forward she takes. She seems to be getting more and more adorable every day.

We hope you all enjoyed a safe New Year. Let’s pray that 2009 will have lots more forward steps for our Sweetest Francesca."