***DISCLAIMER*** Cross your fingers while reading!!

***Before you read this post I want you to cross your fingers, knock on wood, rub your belly and tap your head .... anything and everything you need to do to make sure we don't jinx anything.***

Pending the outcome of her eye exam today, Peanut is scheduled to come home on Sunday. As in January 14th. As in three days from now. The doctors have been watching her eyes weekly to make sure that the blood vessels in there are growing properly, which they're not. When they start to grow all crazy they can attach themselves to the retina and even detach the retina causing blindness (that's why Stevie Wonder is blind). If the blood vessels don't stop growing she will need laser surgery on both eyes to stop the advancement. For that surgery she will need to be put on both the paralyzing drug and the ventilator, so she would need to be in the hospital for a few days. Therefore, if they think she is going to need that surgery in the very near future there's no sense in sending her home only to have to turn around and readmit her in a few days. As much as I'm itching to have her home I would rather wait until she's ready. The doctors are also performing a sleep study on her today to see why her oxygen saturation still drops every now and then. They put a bunch of straps and probes in and on her and watch her for 12 hours to determine if she's having problems with acid reflux or apnea. Both of these can be controlled with medicine - prilosec for the former and caffeine for the latter. And yes, I already asked, and no, she can't have coffee. So, in the next 24 hours after her eye exam and sleep study we will know more. Either way, she should be home within the next 1.5 weeks (again, knock on wood).

In the last two weeks Charlotte has been growing by leaps and bounds. Yesterday, she weighed in at 4 pounds, 1 ounce. She's also taking almost all of her feedings by bottle. Getting all that sucking, breathing and swallowing coordinated is difficult. One of the nurses suggested that I try to suck on a bottle to see just how difficult it really is and HOLY COW! Give it a try if you ever get the opportunity. It's really hard! I actually hurt myself trying to get something out of the nipple.

We did get a bit of not-so-good news the other day when she failed two hearing tests. The tests weren't very accurate as far as what she could and couldn't hear, but I was told that she probably had some degree of hearing loss. HOWEVER, after several requests I was able to get a ENT doctor to have a look at her ears and she has fluid in both canals. So, we're hoping that that is the culprit and she's been put on antibiotics and we'll bring her back for a retest in a month. Like everything else, we'll just take it as it comes and keep our fingers crossed.

Brian is going to be starting a new position with his company over the next few days and he's pretty excited about that. His territory will still be close to home, but he's going to be adding some new clients to his repetoire and he'll be focusing more on sales. The plan is for him to relinquish his pick-up for another smaller vehicle at some point, so we're a little bummed about that.

Speaking of vehicles, I have a 2001 Chevy Venture Warner Brothers Edition minivan for sale that seats 7. Let me know if you or anyone you know might be interested.

We hope everyone had a safe and happy new years! We celebrated the new year with Charlotte at the hospital, however we were on our way home to bed by 12.05am. I guess the days of drunken debauchery are over for awhile.