Happy Halloween! Helena wanted to show you her pumpkin costume! We didn't go trick or treating, but I took her to the seminary today to show her off.

We found out that she will have her catheter procedure on Thursday, November 9th. This procedure will give the doctors a good picture of her heart and help them determine when her next surgery will be. The nurse told me that Helena will not feel any of it and that she will not remember anything because of the anesthesia
that they use. I think it is probably harder on Aaron and I to see her go through it.

This is a day in the life of our family: Aaron gets all gussied up for work as a chaplain, Mary stays at home with baby and studies for her 2 classes, and Helena just gets cuter.

We went to see her cardiologist today and he said that she is progressing very well. They did an Echocardiogram and her heart still looks good. She will have to spend a night at the hospital in 2 weeks for a catheter procedure. They have to sedate and intubate her to do this procedure. The results will tell us when her next surgery will be. Currently it looks like it will be right after Christmas.

Helena is growing slowly, but her doctor that that is normal for cardiac babies. Her heart works pretty hard and so she burns calories like mad instead of storing them and getting chubby. She is in the 5th percentile in weight, but she is in the 50th percentile in height. She is tall and thin.

In other news, Helena will be a pumpkin for Halloween. And this Halloween will be the 8th anniversary of my and Aaron's first date. Wow, things sure have changed in the last 8 years.

This is an update just to say that Helena is doing well and that she is cuter than ever (and because her grandparents need to see some more pictures of her). She has been eating more lately and gaining weight. What a champ! We will hear more about when her next surgery will be in the next few weeks.

We took the tube out of Helena's nose last week and she is so happy to have the tape removed from her cheeks. Isn't she cute? She has been cooing and grunting and grabbing things.

I took her to a regular pediatrician on Monday for the first time. Up until yesterday she had only seen specialists. This was her first "well baby" check. She is well, but she is on the small side of all the scales. We will have to keep trying to fatten her up. She is thriving and happy though.

She loves to sit in the activity chair that she got from some dear friends, Abby and Kevin. And in the above picture, she is wearing a viking medallion given to her by her cousin Jacob. He is very interested in those ancient sea farers. Helena's viking nickname is Helena-Lives-Through-Squalls. She has certainly lived through many squalls in her short life.