Everything's Big in Texas!

I know what you are thinking, yes, finally an update. On Sunday Christella had her last day at the hospital. For discharge, they did her first set of immunizations which left us all teary eyed, she didn't so much as wince when they gave her the shots... showing us that her feeling was really just not there in her legs. This was heartbreaking. I knew that logically she would have little to no feeling, but that doesn't mean I wasn't wishing and praying that she would howl and cry when they gave her the shots.
It was good to leave the hospital with her. She smiled most of the evening and was able to ride in a "real" infant car seat for the very first time. I need to get better about taking pictures and posting them, I realize this. Soon, I promise. :) Christella still needs to gain weight and keep eating well. She will be having an MRI this week so that Dr. A. can see how things are all working. She has some tension and lack of "normal" movement in her hands and that is concerning, so hopefully the MRI will show what is going on. A really nice PT came to visit Christella and I before we left the hospital so he showed me some things that we can do in the meantime to work with her.
Helande is doing great. She is eating well and has gained over a pound since we got here! She is just so super sassy. We still aren't sure on her vision and she will go this Friday to the Opthomologist to get her vision evaluated. (Thanks to Dr. A. for setting this up for her!)
She will also have a scan this week to see how the fluid in her ventricles is doing and whether or not it has changed. Dr. A's gut instinct is that she will need a shunt, so that might be this week or next depending on when all the tests are scheduled for. (Hey nurses, we may be back!)
In other news... Lauren and I after taking the girls (and Angeline) to the doctor's yesterday went to the biggest walmart I have ever seen. It had it's own road. We laughed hysterically when we saw it, it was that large. We don't even have super walmart where we live so seeing these mega huge places like walmart and movie theatres with 50 screens (ok maybe that's an exaggeration) I find really entertaining. We were only asked twice in walmart if the three babies were TRIPLETS. I will likely get to the point where I just say, yes they are triplets. lol
Oh, I forgot to add that Helande now officially weighs more than Christella. That is good news for H. but not so much for C. I intend to spend lots of hours daily just making sure that C. is getting enough in her. We were also given the GO to start on baby rice and baby oatmeal, so maybe her eating will help put the weight on. She was small to start with so after surgery and having rotovirus, it just seemed to get worse.
About Ange's...
I know that you all are wondering what its really like in Schniederville right?
It's very much like my house but without my family and without my cold rainy weather. :)
It has been so nice having Ange and Abby around to help out with the babies and there never seems to be a shortage of hands to snuggle and hold babies between Lauren, Grace and Sassy who all love baby holding as well. Everyone here is so laid back it would be hard to not feel at home here. Thank you all so much for opening your home to ALL of us (7 of us!) and of course for opening your hearts as well. And thank you for turning on the A/C last night and now I am well rested. (I was griping about being hot. I grew up in Ohio without A/C and now that I live in WA, we just don't get hot weather too often and we do have a window unit for those rare occasions. I guess I am just a big hot weather baby!)
Well most of the gang is waking up. This weekend we are planning to go to another town about an hour away and spend the weekend. My cousin Joe is graduating from High school so we will go to his grad party and spend some time with my extended loving family. :)
Love and thank you for praying! Pictures soon!
Sarah